Millennial Mage

Tala sat bolt upright as she felt someone knocking on her door.

Well, she felt someone knocking on Kit’s door.

The knocking was transmitted to her via two methods.

First, it came to her as an odd vibration in her magic where it resonated with the power within Kit. That point was quite close to her gate, and thus it was very startling to feel it vibrate.

Second, she felt like she could hear it, as Kit transferred the soundwaves to her vicinity whenever something like this happened. Even so, with her ears completely covered, it wasn’t really the same as hearing it directly. Kit couldn’t transmit the sound past her iron layers, after all.

With a quick flex of will, she mirrored her perspective to her bloodstars which were arranged around the bed.

She took in the overlapping perspectives with no little confusion, seeing that it was fully dark and the night sky of her sanctum was still shining down outside her window.

What time is it?

-About two hours past midnight.-

Who is up at this hour?

-Well… we are, now.-

Not helpful… How long were we asleep?

-We only laid down about two hours ago.-

The knocking came again.

Tala pulled the iron from her eyes and mouth even as she sighed and called the door to herself, causing it to appear beside her and swing open.

“Yes?” Over the last weeks, Tala had taken to leaving Kit on the front door of her family’s alchemist shop. From the way the knocking came through, the person was knocking on the inside of the door.

Kit wouldn’t have notified her if someone was knocking on the outside. The alchemy shop, and Master Leighis’ healing establishment connected to it, often got late night visitors, and the Archon had set up magical relays to notify himself and the master Alchemists in those cases.

At her command, the door swung open, showing the dark interior of the alchemy shop’s front room and a little girl standing there, her hand raised to knock once again.

“Sella? What’s going on?” Tala frowned, swinging her feet out of bed. Is she alright?

-I don’t see any injuries, and she doesn’t look afraid.-

What has her out of bed, then?

The little girl brought her upraised hand to her face, rubbing at one eye, “I tired.”

Tala hesitated. “Yes?”

“I wan sleep.” Her posture was one of near-petulance as if someone was denying her that which she most desired.

Tala was quite confused. Why would the little girl have gotten out of her own bed and come to Tala, simply to tell Tala that she was tired and needed to sleep? “Sella, it’s the middle of the night. What’s going on? Why aren’t you in your own bed, asleep?”

Sella walked with slightly unsteady steps through the open door and scrambled as she climbed up into Tala’s bed, dragging a blanket behind her. “I tired.”

Tala gave her youngest sister a confused smile. “Yes, Sella, you need to go to bed and sleep.”

She laid a hand on the little girls forehead, then cheek. No fever that I can tell. No hostile magics.

“Just like I was asleep in my own bed before you knocked.” She gently teased, with the barest hint of a smirk.

The little girl patted her new seat proudly. “Bed. Sleep.”

“This is my bed, yes. This is where I was asleep.” Tala felt herself smiling, even while she was incredibly confused.

To be fair, when she’d dealt with her younger siblings before, back when she lived with them, they’d all essentially been in the same room. It was also different because she’d been a lot younger at the time. Those two things—and many others—together meant this sort of interaction wasn’t something she had a basis for.

She felt completely out of her depth.

Sella seemed to want to come to the rescue, however. “You tired?”

“Somewhat, yes. I don’t need much sleep, but I do sleep.”

“I tired.”

Tala felt her mouth twitch as her mind continued to fill with a befuddling mix of amusement and frustration. “Yes, that’s why we both need to go to bed.”

Sella laid on her side, pulling her blanket over herself even as she patted the surface below herself. “Bed. Sleep. You and me.”

Tala took a long breath to level her emotions, fighting to keep a smile off of her own face. Be strong. Don’t let cuteness rule. “You need to go to your own bed, Sella.”

Sella shook her head, fiercely, “No. I sleep.”

“Sella.” Tala found herself rubbing at her temples while continuing to fight a smile. How is she so frustrating and endearing at the same time?

-She’s a child? It’s sort of what they do.-

Sella pulled the blanket a bit higher, snuggling down. “I sleep you!”

“Sella…”

“Pease.”

“Little one, you need to—”

“Pease!” Her little voice was filled with vigor and frustration. “I sleep bed. I tired.”

Tala was at a loss. “Sella, you can’t sleep in my bed. You know the house rules: Everyone is to sleep in their own bed, unless they are sick or injured.”

She scooped up the girl with ease, hugging her close and carrying her through the still open door.

“Let’s get you back in bed, little one.”

Sella curled inward, huddling against Tala and pulling her blanket up after her. “I tired.”

“I know, Sella. I know.” Tala was now openly smiling despite herself, unable to contain it now that the little girl had no hope of seeing it. “That’s why we need to get you to bed.”

She walked the familiar path through the alchemy shop, toward the girls’ room upstairs.

Her feet knew the way even though she hadn’t come this far into the building since she had left for the Academy.

It hadn’t changed much.

Her parents were creatures of habit and routine, as was required with so many children running around.

It was clean and well kept.

Anything else would lead to stress, frustration, and the beginnings of insanity.

The walls had been repainted and the floors seemed to have been redone, or at least resealed, in the nearly a decade since she was last here.

Even so, the stairs creaked in an achingly familiar way as she carried little Sella up them. Though, they were louder than they had been in her memory. I suppose I am older.

-And heavier.-

That’s true enough.

-And you have better hearing.-

Yes, Alat. As it turns out, there’s a lot that’s different.

She got up to the room with her charge and found the door open, the other girls sound asleep.

The doors to the boys’ room and their parents’ room were both closed.

Tala navigated the dark space with ease, her eyes capable of seeing in far less light than was in the darkened house.

She laid the little girl down in the bed that she had clearly vacated recently and tucked her in.

Sella straightened against her pillow, “I—”

Tala covered her mouth with a gentle hand, whispering quickly, “Shhh… everyone is sleeping, little one. We need to be quiet and courteous and let them sleep.”

Sella nodded seriously, and Tala removed her hand. Sella then whispered back, “You sing.”

“Sella, no. I can’t—”

“Pease, sing.”

“Sella…”

“Pease!” She was still whispering, but it was a near thing. She also reached up and latched onto Tala’s braid.

It was coated in iron, but Tala had learned early to will it to act normally, otherwise it would stab her or inhibit her movement every time she turned her head.

“Let it go!” Tala whisper-shouted as the child tried to use her head as a bell.

The little girl pulled back with a pout. “Sawy.”

Tala pressed her lips together in a firm line, but the little girl’s pleading eyes were the only response. Finally, she let out a defeated sigh, fighting back a smile. “Fine, but quietly.”

“Thank you.” Each of those two simple words were spoken slowly and distinctly, causing Tala to once again smile at the small girl.

She is too precious…

-You’re going to spoil the child. You should be firm. You told her ‘no.’-

I know… but she’s so cute.

-Too cute for her own good…-

She sighed. “Sella, even though I said ‘no,’ I have decided that I was too hasty in that decision and singing to you would be alright. That is why I am going to sing. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Tala searched her mind for an appropriate song. She knew several from recent plays that she’d seen with Rane, but none were really good lullabies.

So, she dug back, and back, and back, until she found one that appealed to her, and she began to sing.

She was able to modulate her volume using her inscriptions so that she could sing properly while still keeping it at a soft volume.

As the words came from her mouth, she remembered her father holding her and singing this song to her when she was sick.

One particularly vivid memory came to mind, where she’d had a particularly pernicious stomach bug, and while they had waited for an anti-vomiting tincture to take effect, he had held her, despite her continued disgorgements.

It had seemed to take forever to work, but looking back, it had likely been less than ten minutes.

Less time than hunting down a healing Mage would have taken. After that, they’d kept her dosed with the proper remedies until she was fully healed.

-He was always good at what he does.-

That he was.

Tala remembered snuggling against him and his sick-covered shirt and him hugging her securely as he sang, uncaring of the mess.

That was only one of many, many times he had sung this song to her, and she felt her nose tingling and tears building in her eyes at the many memories.

Blessedly, it was too dark for little Sella to see, and besides, the little girl was asleep before Tala finished the second verse.

“Sleep well, little munchkin.” Tala shook her head affectionately as she retreated from the room, pulling the door closed.

The house was silent as she made her way back to Kit, opening the door into her sanctum and directing it into her bedroom once again.

The dark room seemed a little more barren after hosting the precious little one, even for only a brief time.

Regardless, Tala was still emotionally and socially exhausted, so she wasted no time in returning to her bed.

As she got resituated for sleep, her mind was filled with the better memories from her childhood. There was unquestioningly a wide spectrum from the awful to the sublime to choose from, but she found that even her sleep was filled with only recollections of those happier times.

* * *

Tala passed the next day and a half in companionable gatherings, discussions, and play with her siblings.

Terry was around still, but he hadn’t sparred with her since the oddly intense match that felt more and more like a duel the more she considered it, in retrospect.

But those considerations were an unneeded distraction from the task at hand.

Her family had bid goodbye to the second set of twins that they were sending off to the Academy, and now Tala was walking them, alone, to the teleporter.

They had requested this exact situation, and they walked with firm steps, each holding one of her hands.

Tala felt a bit awkward, but that awkwardness was dulled by the warmth in her chest.

The trip wasn’t that long, since they only needed to go from the residential ring into the central area of the city, the teleportation tower being on the nearer side of that part of the city.

No one talked, but it wasn’t an awkward silence.

Dagan and Alva didn’t have any bags or packs as nothing would survive the teleport.

Tala had covertly let them know that they could probably sneak something through, as long as it wasn’t too big, and they tucked it under their clothing.

She hadn’t verified what they’d done with the information, but both had scampered off for a short time after she shared the secret, and Tala would have sworn that their clothing was a bit more lumpy than it had been beforehand.

Tala would be returning with their winter gear, so that the teleportation workers wouldn’t have to deal with delivering it, and it wouldn’t just vanish in the transportation.

She couldn’t honestly remember if she’d worn her coat onto the teleportation pad so long ago. After all, she’d been focused on her grandmother’s pillow, tucked within her shirt at the time.

-Focused on that, among other things.-

That’s true enough.

Still, she didn’t allow herself to fall deep into contemplations. Instead, she forcibly turned her mind back to her siblings, engaging them in some small-talk.

They chatted about what the two expected from their time at the Academy.

Apparently, Illie and Nalac knew that they were coming, and they were supposed to be waiting for them at the teleportation receiving area.

Tala let Dagan and Alva know that it might not be quite that seamless, and emphasized that even if their siblings weren’t within sight right away, they should be there to greet them soon.

Tala actually vividly remembered quite a few of her classmates being called out at various times because some sibling, friend, or relative had arrived.

She, herself, had only been approached once, when a slightly younger classmate from her Marliweather school had arrived at the Academy, but they hadn’t known each other well in school, so Tala had declined.

Looking back on that, she regretted the choice.

It would have taken so little effort and would likely have meant a lot to the other student. After all, if someone else had been available, they wouldn’t have approached Tala to go for the meet-up.

They had crossed paths later, Tala and the other student, and there hadn’t been animosity, but even Tala had definitely detected a bit of a chill.

The regrets of youth. It’s amazing how we view priorities when so young.

-Weren’t you just reading at the time? Sitting in a corner of the library, alone?-

It was a good book. Tala thought defensively. Or… I think it was. I don’t really remember which one I was reading at the time.

-That tells me all I need to know on that account.-

Tala huffed internally. Well, I was quite a bit younger then.

-It was less than ten years ago.-

Almost half my life ago, you mean.

-Just because you can say it in a way to make it seem longer doesn’t actually change the time frame.-

Well, ten years is still a long time.

Tala returned her focus to Alva, who was in the process of asking about the food offered at the Academy… again.

Tala found herself smiling as she once more went into the details of how tasty the food was, along with how closely they had to moderate and balance their intake with their exercising.

The Academy also paired it with strict coaching so that students didn’t swing too far either way and maintained a healthy view of themselves.

Even so, a lot of it was moot until each student stopped growing. It was more important to have the proper nutrition to grow than to maintain a perfect balance of intake and usage.

Tala didn’t go into all of the details, not by a long shot, but she did briefly hit the highlights.

It was still enough to fill the remainder of the time until they arrived at the teleportation tower.

Two older looking Mages met them just inside the doorway.

It was funny; looking back, Tala remembered being met by similarly old-appearing Mages, and she realized that they were actually just that: Mages, likely stalled out in their advancement. Even so, they were selected to meet with children heading off to the Academy because they had the appearance of being older and more distinguished.

Like convincing mundanes that a common bit of magic is special and difficult.

-I don’t know of anything like that, actually.-

Well, no… maybe some farmer convincing people that rotten meat or moldy cheese was a delicacy?

-Oh! Or some worthless, incredibly abundant creature is actually a sign of class, if eaten?-

Yeah, something like that… has that happened?

-Probably. If so, I bet the thing is pretty disgusting…-

The Mages both smiled at the children and bowed deeply to Tala. The woman, who stood in front of Dagan addressed her directly, deference still clear in her tone, “Mistress, thank you for bringing these charges this far. We can take them from here.”

Tala gave a slight nod back in return. “Thank you for the offer, but I will accompany them until they depart.”

The two exchanged a look, and the man spoke next. “We do not want you to have to spend your valuable time in such a manner. I assure you, we are quite practiced in seeing off the future defenders of humanity.”

She frowned, glancing at Dagan and Alva.

The two returned her looks with a mix of confusion, concern, and pleading.

Tala turned back to the two Mages and shook her head, “Again, thank you, but I will be accompanying my siblings until they teleport away.”

“Siblings?” The older woman glanced to the man, and they both bowed once again. “My apologies, Mistress. We were told to expect the two Academy entrees, alone. We assumed that you had simply accompanied them after seeing that they were traveling alone through the city.”

“Oh” Tala blinked a couple of times. “I suppose that is an understandable assumption. Now that it is resolved, shall we proceed?”

The five made their way through the tower, the Mages engaging Dagan and Alva in conversation, dispelling any trepidation and hesitation with obviously practiced ease.

Tala took the twins’ winter gear, tucking it into Kit as they pulled it off one piece at a time.

It wasn’t a long walk before they arrived at a room with two teleportation circles inset side by side.

Simultaneous teleportation was fairly common when teleportation was used, since each circle could only take one person. Thus, the towers were set up to accommodate side-by-side activations in at least some of their main rooms.

Tala called out Terry, and he gave a goodbye snuggle to the twins before returning to Kit much to Tala’s confusion and the obvious relief of the Mages.

We need to talk with him.

-After.-

Yeah, after.

All the human goodbyes had already been taken care of, save one.

Dagan and Alva tackled Tala almost in unison, hugging her tightly.

Tala returned the gesture carefully, ever cognizant of her own strength and their frailty.

-You know, they’re basically your height.-

Hush you. “Be safe, you two. Have fun, make friends, learn all that you can.”

“We will,” they returned, almost in unison.

“Give Illie and Nalac my best, but don’t feel like you need to attach yourselves to them. Make your own friends, find your own path.”

They nodded against her.

Tala just stayed there, holding them for a long moment.

The Mages, for their part, didn’t interrupt or hurry the process along in the slightest. While they hadn’t expected anyone to be with the children this time, they were clearly experienced with Academy students saying goodbyes in the teleportation rooms.

Eventually, the twins pulled back.

Dagan smiled, “Thank you for coming with us.”

Alva nodded in agreement.

“I was happy to.”

Without another word, the two walked to their respective spots and let the Mages know they were ready.

Alva shifted slightly, looking to the older man beside her spot. “How long will it take?”

He smiled reassuringly. “Ten seconds from when I say ‘now’ until you depart, and you will arrive in the same instant.”

Tala didn’t think that was quite accurate, but she wasn’t about to argue with the man in front of her siblings.

“Now.”

She felt the build up of power and waved. “Messages are hard to get in and out of the Academy, but I’ll try regardless.”

Alva rolled her eyes and smiled, and Dagan shook his head as he responded, “If you send anything, we’ll respond.”

“Hey. I’ll send something.”

-Well, you mean I will.-

And you are me.

-True, true.-

Alva twitched her head in a way that immediately drew Tala’s attention, likely that had been the girl’s intention. With a mischievous smile, she spoke quickly and softly, “We love you, Tala. Take care of yourself.”

Before Tala could open her mouth to respond, the teleportation magics activated, and they were gone.

Oh, that tricky munchkin. She waited until they were about to vanish to say that.

-Because she didn’t want you to be pressured to respond.-

I suppose…

The Mages went through the process of prepping the room for the next teleportation without actually refilling the now-spent spell-forms.

It only took Tala a moment to notice that they were putzing.

When she oriented on them, they bowed yet again. The woman addressed her, “Is there anything else that we can do to assist you, Mistress?”

“No, thank you. I will leave you to your work.”

“You are most kind. Thank you.”

Without another word, Tala turned and left, heading back toward her other siblings as she tried to ignore the bit of tightness firmly lodged within her chest.

They’ll be alright.

-That they will.-