Millennial Mage

Tala grumbled even as she and Rane walked out of the arena.

“It’s completely unfair that you don’t have to contest my aura in order to manipulate the kinetic energy when we clash.”

Rane huffed a laugh. “How many times do I have to explain it to you? I alter the vectors while they are imparted. You’d have to overcome my aura to prevent it from happening.”

She grunted. He had told her dozens of times. She’d even managed to do it occasionally while they fought, but she still didn’t like it. “It’s still completely unfair.”

Truthfully, Tala knew that she could have beaten him in a real battle. Rust, even in a truly intense sparring session, she would be able to achieve victory. She hadn’t even relied on her Way of Flowing Blood in their fight.

That said, she also wanted to be able to spar against Rane in the coming years in Alefast, and no one enjoyed being crushed in a conflict. Maybe next time…

Even so, his ability to manipulate kinetic energy upon impartment was difficult to deal with. Definitely next time. I want to make sure I actually can beat it under sparring rules.

He shook his head. “I’ll buy you breakfast as an apology?”

Tala sighed. “No… Mistress Petra’s cooking is much better, and I think I want to be eating that exclusively.”

Rane gave her a startled look. “Are you alright? Did my magics affect you that much?”

“What?”

“You’re turning down food.”

She glared. “That’s not very nice.”

A small smile pulled at the side of his mouth. “Accurate though.”

She huffed but didn’t have anything else to say.

“You know, you can eat more than one meal. I’ve seen you do it before.”

“That is true, but somehow the food with my magic imbued within it is… more filling. As Mistress Petra gets better at maintaining the magical content it becomes even more so.”

“Huh, I hadn’t thought that would be the case.” Rane looked away, then gave her a side-eyed glance. “Does she have anything that I could eat?”

A smile tugged at Tala’s own lips. “Nothing magical, but maybe mundane. I’ll check.” She pulled Kit open, willing the internal side to come into being near the other woman. “Mistress Petra?”

The calm voice of someone who was obviously in the middle of something came back in response, “Yes, Mistress Tala?”

“Would it be possible to get a meal for my friend, when mine is ready?”

“You missed your breakfast, Mistress Tala. I have that ready, now. I can have something ready for your friend too, in under ten minutes.”

Tala felt a bit shell shocked. I missed breakfast?

She thought back on it, and yes, she had.

She had gone straight from Mistress Holly’s workshop to the arena.

Tala hadn’t thought about food at all, since she’d been so excited to test herself that she hadn’t considered anything else.

“Yes, that would be wonderful, thank you.”

“Happy to be of assistance.”

Tala closed the pouch and glanced toward Rane, seeing a truly concerned look. “I was joking before, but are you okay? I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you miss a meal when you were conscious enough to eat it.”

She grimaced. “I’m not that food oriented.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head. “If you say so, I suppose.”

They found a nearby park—as neither of them were really bothered by the cold—and waited for their meals to be ready.

Instead of filling the time with inane chatter, Tala and Rane simply enjoyed the silent stillness of a walking-park in midmorning, and didn’t speak even after they’d found a nice bench on which to break their fast.

A few minutes later, Rane turned to regard her. “So, you’re leaving for Marliweather tomorrow?”

She nodded. She hadn’t been circumspect about her plans. “I need to see my family, now that I’m back.”

“You’ll be there for… what? A month or two?”

“Something like that. It will depend on how things go. Plus there’s the travel there and back, but that shouldn’t take me too long.”

He nodded. “I can understand that. Family can be… complicated.”

She grunted in return, remembering her two interactions with his older brother.

“What about after? Do you have any concrete plans?”

She shrugged. “I was thinking of spending the Waning in Alefast: see what that’s like, help out how I can, learn what I’m able.”

Rane chuckled. “That makes it sound like a holiday or festival instead of something that most sane people avoid.”

She grinned in return. “Well, I won’t claim to be sane from a mundane perspective. For me? It might be a sort of holiday.”

“That’s a long holiday. I think it’s supposed to be a bit more than twenty years until the Waning is finished.”

That was true. She would be almost twice as old as she was now, when the Waning was complete. “Still better than waiting nearly fifty years to watch Makinaven’s Waning.”

“Yeah, and forest cities experience it differently.”

“Not to mention me and the southern forests don’t exactly mix well.”

“That’s the truth.” He quirked a smile.

“All that to say, I’m not fully decided, but I do think I’ll be moving over to Alefast, Waning.”

He nodded in understanding and didn’t interject again. He had already known that this was something that she’d been considering. So, she hadn’t expected it to be a surprise.

Even so, she’d never told him or Lyn that she’d made a final decision.

This was mainly because she hadn’t.

-Yes you have. You just won’t admit it because such a long commitment is scary.-

Hush, you.

-Master Nadro says you need to be more honest with yourself.-

Tala ignored that, waiting for Rane to comment further, and when he didn’t, she continued, “While based in Alefast—if I go that way—I’ll probably explore some, rather than just sitting behind the walls, but I definitely want to experience the Waning at various stages.”

If we do go, then maybe we can snag Artia, Adrill, and Brandon to aid in research?

-Yes, ‘if.’ They might be interested, once the Waning reaches its end.-

Rane nodded. “I understand it’s an interesting process, one you have to see to truly understand. There are far worse ways to spend the time, all things considered.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard the same.”

She felt a vibration within her power and opened Kit. “Mistress Petra?”

“Here you are.” The woman’s voice was cheerful and welcoming.

“Oh! Thank you.”

Two trays were passed out, one obviously for Tala, the other for Rane.

“Thank you, Mistress Petra.”

“You’re welcome, Mistress Tala. Are you in a place where we can exit?”

“Yes.” Tala set Kit on the ground, and she grew upwards into a door, which almost immediately opened to let the family out.

It was a bit earlier than they’d agreed, but the family each had people to see and places to go as a final goodbye in this city. There was no reason for Tala to force them to stay around.

Mistress Petra smiled, “Your lunch is already prepared. You should be able to grab it at your leisure.”

“Thank you.”

The older ones bowed to Tala and Rane, and Metti waved vigorously, before they headed off to do what they had planned.

With the family departed, Tala and Rane turned back to their breakfast.

Tala’s tray was loaded with at least four times the amount of food as Rane’s, and every bit of it was packed with power.

Rane gave her food a skeptical look before focusing on his own with a bit of confusion. “Wait, this tray is an artifact?”

She smiled. “The arcanes didn’t give me the items to host a large group, but my sanctum is packed with random conveniences.”

“Like trays that maintain the temperature of every part of everything they hold, independently?”

“Well, you don’t want your fruit or creme to get warm inside the crepe before you get to it, do you?”

“I…” He shook his head. “I can’t say I’ve ever considered that as a problem to be solved, but I suppose not.”

“That’s right you don’t.” She smiled. “And when I am eating this much, I can tell you: It is frustrating to the extreme to have much of what I eat come to a homogenous temperature before I get to it.”

Rane nodded at that. “I can actually see that, yeah. Room temperature food, unless it’s supposed to be that way, is often pretty gross.”

“Hence, trays.”

“And multiple because you often need more food than can fit on one tray?”

She huffed a laugh. “Well, yes, but also redundancy. Whatever I have that they provided, I have enough for me, at least five times over.”

Rane’s eyes drifted toward his food.

Tala grinned. “But enough of that. Let’s eat.”

He didn’t need any more encouragement than those words.

They ate their meal in relative silence, simply enjoying the excellent food and the lovely setting.

When they finished, Tala put the trays back into Kit, and they headed toward the guards’ training compound.

Tala had been… delinquent in addressing this particular group of people.

She had no obligations to them. The class that she’d been helping Adam with had ended well before she’d disappeared, but he was still an acquaintance whom she’d not seen since her return.

There were all sorts of justifications for the lack, but in truth, she just hadn’t prioritized it.

If it matters, you’ll find the time. If it doesn’t, you’ll find an excuse.

-That’s a little harsh. Sure, the aphorism is true enough under normal circumstances, but your circumstances were hardly normal. You’re only now fully recovered.-

Tala grumbled internally but couldn’t say that Alat was wrong.

Even in the cold weather, they still found the training yard full, as expected.

They were greeted when they stepped across the invisible dividing line between the yard and the street beside it, and one of those training went to see if Adam was available.

He was, and they spent the remainder of the morning briefly catching up.

There was an oddly uncomfortable distance between them that had never really existed before.

They both seemed to be aware that they no longer had any real points of commonality.

They also no longer had the caravans as a point of contact and overlapping purpose.

Due to his experience, Adam seemed to have noticed that Tala was physically on an entirely different level than she had been before, and even then, she’d been able to physically dominate as many guards as they could throw at her.

Moreover, Tala could tell by the way he moved that—at least subconsciously—he saw her as a threat, which had never been the case before.

Obviously, Adam knew she wasn’t going to hurt him, but it was similar to how she, herself, changed her actions when interacting with Kannis as opposed to with Rane, Master Cazor, or one of the others she’d sparred against.

She knew that she was always a bit more careful in how she moved around them, and now Adam was treating her the same manner.

In a way, it was an incredible compliment. He seemed to be able to tell that her foundational understanding and experience in combat had grown dramatically.

It was a pleasant visit, but as they parted ways, both Tala and Adam seemed to know that they’d likely never see each other again.

As Tala and Rane walked away from the training yard, Rane was giving her an odd look.

“What?”

“You. You seemed… off in there. Like you were obligated to be there and couldn’t wait to leave.”

Tala immediately grimaced at the accusation, but before she snapped back at him, she forced herself to mentally pause and consider. Were his actions a reflection of my attitude?

-Maybe? I think you were both feeding off of each other. He’s always been very perceptive, and I think he realized that you are not the same person who you were. More iron in the body and blood on the hands, as it were.-

She found herself nodding. “I didn’t feel obligated to go, not really, but it did feel awkward to be there.”

“Oh?” He prompted without being overly invasive.

“It’s odd.” She frowned. “When I was here last, I… I was so ignorant, so inexperienced. Now?”

They fell into silence, and Rane simply walked beside her.

Finally, Tala continued. “I’ve killed so many people, both directly and indirectly.” Her voice was small. “I’ve talked with Master Nadro about it some.” She huffed a short laugh. “It’s filled up a couple of our sessions, actually, but it hasn’t really felt as real as it did just now, being near Adam.”

“Why is that?” Rane’s voice was soft, genuinely inquisitive.

“Because he has spent his whole life training and fighting to protect others, and when push came to shove, I killed to save myself. I killed so many.”

Alat?

-Yeah. I’m on it.- The alternate interface would see if Master Nadro was available to meet up in the near future.

Rane was silent for a long moment, then he carefully asked. “Do you want to talk about it?”

After a long minute, she nodded. “I think so. Let’s go to Lyn’s to set up Kit and talk.”

And so, that’s what they did.

They spent the rest of the day walking the hills within her sanctum as Tala simply talked through her perfectly preserved memories of what she’d done to secure her position and when she was an Eskau.

They shared dinner while Tala continued to speak, but when they had finished, Alat interrupted.

-Tala?-

Yeah?

-Mistress Holly reached out via the Archive to verify that you are still coming by to show her the reinscriber before you depart.-

Right… Tala let out a long sigh. I don’t suppose we could skip out?

-She might legitimately chase you down.-

I could see that, yeah. A smile tugged at Tala’s lips.

-She’s also been far more patient about it than I think either of us expected.-

That’s rusting true.

Rane had turned her way. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just have to swing by Mistress Holly’s shop.”

He smiled and nodded, pushing himself to his feet, standing from where they’d been sitting the last hour or so. “I’ll let you get to it, then. You have an early morning tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve let Master Cazor know that we’ll do the iron experiments when I swing back through, so I don’t have anything keeping me from Marliweather.”

“I hope you have a great trip.” His smile was genuine and warm.

“Thank you. Are you going to be staying around here?”

“I think I’ll head back to Alefast, Waning. There’s a lot going on there, and Master Grediv probably has a long list of tasks for me by this point.”

“Oh.” She blinked a few times. “Alright then. I suppose I’ll see you there?”

“If you come that way, yeah.” His smile turned rueful. “Do you have any guesses on your timeline?”

“Not really. I’ll stay in Marliweather for at least a month… probably. We can stay in touch through the Archive, now, right?”

“At least while I’m in a city.” He gave her a knowing grin. “Not everyone has your connections.”

“That…” She hesitated. “That was an awful pun.”

He shrugged. “I liked it.”

Tala huffed a laugh. “Fine.”

The door out appeared, and Rane gave her a deep bow, as if they were strangers and he was trying show respect toward her, befitting her superior advancement.

She frowned. “Is that really necessary?”

He smiled mischievously as he straightened. “No, but it is proper. Take care of yourself, Tala.”

She shook her head, dismissing his antics. “Oh, I will. In the worst case, I’ll fight my way free.” She grinned before giving a self-deprecating laugh. “If it was somehow worse than what I’ve already been through, assuming I’m not instantly killed at that point, I think it would take a Sovereign Boon for me to win free. But there is not too much chance of that actually happening.”

Rane opened his mouth, clearly a bit at a loss for words. Finally, he shook his head and smiled. “That would be unfortunate, but you’re probably right.”

“Goodbye, Rane.”

“Goodbye, Tala.”

He bowed again, causing her to roll her eyes even as she smiled. Then, he turned to depart. “Oh, no you don’t. You don’t get to leave with that smug properness.”

She covered the distance between them in an instant, careful to close the last couple of inches slowly enough that her movement couldn’t be mistaken for an attack by his magics.

She latched on, giving him what she suspected might have been a painful squeeze. Serves him right, trying to leave like that.

Rane laughed, hugging her in return. “Take care of yourself, alright?”

“I will. I promise. You too?”

“I will.”

She gave him one more squeeze which he returned, and then he was gone, the door closing behind him.

Tala wished one of the communication stones to her hand, and Kit moved it there. “Is everyone back?”

They had arranged ahead of time that Kit would be back at Lyn’s house, so that hadn’t been an issue.

There was a short pause before Tala heard a voice coming back to her.

It was Mistress Petra who responded, “We are, thank you Mistress Tala. Are we leaving early?”

“No, I just need to move the entrance for a bit, and I didn’t want to strand anyone.”

“We appreciate the courtesy. We’ll let you know if we need to leave for any reason.”

“That sounds excellent. I’ll be bringing Mistress Holly to the dais for a demonstration in the next hour or so. It shouldn’t be disruptive, but if you feel magics from there, that’s likely why.”

“Understood.”

Tala let go of the stone, and Kit took it away.

Let’s go.

Twenty minutes later she was placing Kit on one of Mistress Holly’s walls, the inscriptionist looking more excited than Tala could easily remember seeing the woman.

-Want me to look through your memories to check?-

No, thank you.

The doorway opened, and the two of them stepped through arriving in front of the dais.

Mistress Holly gestured Tala forward.

Tala grinned at the older woman. “What, nothing to say?”

“Well, we got this far before.”

She shook her head, her smile turning rueful. “I suppose that’s true.”

Without another delay, Tala hopped up on the raised platform and walked to stand near the center, just behind the command seat that she so rarely used.

“Ready?”

Mistress Holly nodded, tossing out a handful of artifacts that would be observing Tala with what seemed to be incredibly advanced magesight, or something similar. “At your leisure.”