Millennial Mage

Tala knew she was smiling as she watched the three Sunnydalian arcanes practically salivate at the possibility of access to Honored—Paragon in human terms—levels of power.

“Yes.” Lyn said simply, her own smile polite. “Due to the nature of our hold, it accrues power gradually in a manner that is visible but sequestered, inaccessible without proper authorization. I will emphasize that it is not an infinite resource, but is abundant enough for us to trade it under the right circumstances.”

Tala was honestly torn. Due to the nature of Kit, no matter how long the arcanes stayed within—so long as they didn’t try to destroy the power—they would only ‘use up’ as much power as they could hold when they left. To her and Kit, that meant that an arcane moving in for a lifetime and never leaving would be less of a usage than one stepping in for five minutes, filling themselves to the brim and walking out.

Lyn had, of course, prepared a private, tiered list to reflect some of that in the pricing that she would aim to extract. The plan was to sell ‘sessions’ that were cheaper per hour the longer they were, but which would end should the arcane leave Ironhold at any time and for any reason.

Beyond that, though, Tala hadn’t needed to inquire.

The three arcanes exchanged long looks before they turned back to Lyn with obvious eagerness. It was Liam who spoke next, “Are the facilities such that long stretches can be spent within, in relative comfort? Or are they like the chambers rented out by the Major Houses? Little larger than a coffin for our burial.”

There was tension in the air, but something about their positioning, body language, and tonality made Tala think that they would be excited either way. Lyn gave a soft smile, one with almost motherly understanding. “Due to methods that we will not reveal, we can allow you access to power at this density anywhere within our hold. As I said, even if you do not wish to trade for this, you will be able to see the magic yourself throughout our home. It will simply only be accessible for the times agreed to. During those times? You may go about any activity you choose—so long as it is allowed at all—without the density you are submerged in, and have access to absorb and manipulate, being affected.”

The three visibly swallowed.

Tala almost laughed due to the synchronicity of it, but she held her features stoic.

There was going to be a lot of negotiation.Negotiation that Tala and Rane weren’t needed for.

Even so, Tala was not willing to leave Lyn alone, and she didn’t feel that exposing the Talons would be wise at this time. She wanted them to be a hidden card, just in case. Moreover, inviting Ron or other talons out would make their quick loss of power evident, especially over the span of a long negotiation session.

Thus, Rane and Tala settled in to be Lyn’s protectors for the afternoon.

At least we have a pleasant scene to look down upon.

* * *

Tala stared at the strange material before her.

She and Lyn were in her sanctum, sitting in comfortable chairs, regarding a funny lump of substance on the table between them.

It looked like a cloud as it rested on the ground. Or maybe it more closely resembled a bundle of wispy cotton or wool, but far, far lighter than either.

“This is some sort of… what is it again?”

Lyn shook her head, patient as always, though she had a knowing smile regardless. “Cloud elemental fleece.”

“And this is spun and woven into clear stone blocks.”

She gave Tala a look, the smile briefly fading for an incredulous expression. “Now you’re being purposely obtuse. The words are odd, but the fleece is woven into clear boards that can be used for transparent constructions that don’t dissipate for at least a few years if properly treated and cared for.”

Tala sighed. “And we got…?”

“A dozen bundles of the fleece, a treatise on the refinement techniques, and ten of the boards, treated properly to last at least a year without any maintenance.”

“Why did we get these?”

Lyn sighed, took a sip of her tea, and answered succinctly. “Several Constructionists indicated a desire for them, should we have the opportunity to acquire the specimens.”

“And we have the opportunity.”

“Oh, yes. Honestly, the Sunnydalians would have a truly astounding trade deficit with us if we let them. Unfortunately, there is simply nowhere that we could use that banked value to our advantage. We expect to have a similar issue with anyone we encounter who might accept such.”

“What did we give and what did we get?”

Lyn gave her a long look. “First, you were literally in the room. Second, do you actually care about all the little details?”

“...fine. Broad strokes? Your summaries are always appreciated.” Tala took a quick draw of coffee, giving her friend an innocent look.

Her adjunct huffed and shook her head, a smile returning to her face. “Fine, but I still don’t see why you don’t just remember what was decided.”

“It was boring to experience, Lyn. I don’t want to relive it again even in memory.”

-And you want to have a bit more time with your friend before she rushes back to her own bureaucratic work.-

…we need to schedule some time to just catch up.

-I’ll get on it after this if you don’t manage to make it happen on your own.-

Thank you.

Lyn took a long breath and let it out slowly, but she didn’t object further. She simply took another sip of tea and dove in, “Our citizens can trade with theirs. One hundred Sunnydalians will be visiting Irondale for the next week, where they will be fully subject to our laws, and will not use any power, simply be immersed in it. They will even completely empty themselves before exiting—that was less of a lift than I expected, actually. They will have to pay for their own food and housing from the citizenry while they are there. Beyond that, the officials of Sunnydale will review the application of any of our residents who wish to join their community, and they will not prevent any of their citizenry from applying for residency in Ironhold.” Lyn took a breath, clearly ticking through other items in her mind before finally coming to another that Tala would be interested in. “We will also have passage included for the time we are here, as the village is still on the move, and we will be given one of the magical constructions that allow for ‘nearby’ communication between the traveling settlements.”

“And nearby means within fifty miles, right?”

“When on its own? Yes, fifty miles is about the limit of it. Even so, it can be amplified to function for up to two-hundred miles if the other side is similarly amplified.”

“Not further?”

“It could be increased to work further, technically, but as no one else has done so, there isn’t much point. There is also an ever increasing potential for the form of communication to be detectable and to draw unwanted attention.”

“Right. And they don’t use the Archive?”

“Not for communication. There are apparently a lot of technical reasons that I didn’t ask about—neither did you, so don’t complain. They did request that we limit our Archive communications while here, as well. While Archive connections can’t generally be intercepted, they seemingly can be detected in sufficient quantities, or by the ‘right’ creatures.”

“Fair enough. Ironhold has been informed?”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it’s taken without the author’s consent. Report it.

“Yes. We’ve already altered our connection to honor this request with the help of Master Simon’s group… as you well know. Did you want me to summarize my understanding of what he and his team did?”

Tala hesitated for a while, remembering the information herself. “No… Thank you, Lyn.”

Lyn gave a little smile, then cut to the point. “So, do you want to get dinner in a couple of days?”

Tala only hesitated a moment before she grinned. “I’m that transparent?”

“You have literally perfect memory, and while I know it wasn’t the most enlightening thing for you to listen to, you were paying attention.”

She sighed. “Fine, fine. Yes. I’d love to grab dinner.”

“Wonderful. Shall Rane join us?”

Tala felt torn. She loved her husband and enjoyed spending time with him, but he had been encouraging her to get some time with Lyn, too. He’d noticed that she missed her friend… “No, I think it will just be us.”

“Alright, then. I’ll arrange the exact timing with Alat.” A sparkle of humor entered Lyn’s eyes. “Do you need me to tell you where your husband is right now?”

Tala huffed a laugh. “No, I know he’s looking at the flight-engines with Master Simon’s team—now that they’ve made the changes to Ironhold—and the local constructionists.” She gave Lyn a flat look, only ruined by the twinkle she knew was in her eyes. “Come on, Mistress Lyn. I was in the room when it was discussed, and I have a perfect memory. Why would I need you to tell me?”

Lyn took on a faux look of contrition and gave a shallow bow. “Of course, Mistress Tala. I apologize and abase myself before you.”

“Very well, you shall be forgiven… this time. Don’t let it happen again.”

“You are too kind.” Lyn straightened, grinning. “How is Terry doing, by the way?”

“Oh, he’s having a blast. That crazy old lady creature is apparently giving him a merry chase, and he couldn’t be happier. That likely means he’s courting death, but he enjoys the hunt so…” She shrugged.

“Do we need to go after him?”

Tala shook her head. “He conveyed through Alat that he doesn’t want us to. He’ll either get her, get bored, or die. For the first two, he’ll come after us himself. For the last, I’ll re-corporialize him wherever we are at the time. He’ll lose a lot of potential mass since I won’t have his current body to work with, but he enjoys eating well enough that it shouldn’t hamper him too much except in the very short term.”

“Very well. Do you mind willing me into my office?”

“Not at all.” With the gate to Ironhold already set up in one of the main markets of Sunnydale—where most of the traveling village’s mini-holds were also anchored—Tala couldn’t open another portal for Lyn to step through herself.

As she moved Lyn—flickering her briefly back to Zeme then into Ironhold—Tala took a moment to examine the holds that were just outside of her own. She could see their veiled dimensionality around her and Kit. While she probably could most likely pierce the secrecy to look inside, doing so would likely set off alarms and be an overall hostile act on her part. Thus, she contented herself with studying what she could see… for the moment.

Lyn had asked for the secret of arcane hold creation, but unfortunately, the method of creation for the little holds was not known by anyone here. They did convey where essentially all the moving settlements got them however. The place where the holds were also maintained as needed.

The Mountain King’s metropolis to the south-east.

Because of that, they had considered earning enough credit of various kinds to go there and purchase the methods—or at least a couple of large holds—but, sadly, that was not in the reasonable list of destinations for this trip… even if it wouldn’t be that far of a detour…

-I still say it would be a fun stop.-

If they even let us come near. Those dwarves aren’t the friendliest with gated-humanity, even if they aren’t overtly hostile, and the Mountain King himself is on par with Anatalis or Vidarra… It seems an unnecessary risk to enter into his area of absolute authority, especially coming with a request that places us firmly under its weight.

-Look at you, being all responsible.-

Yeah… She still really wanted to go… She’d talk it over with Rane.

-The Academy isn’t that far out of the way either.-

…No.

-Yeah, I thought not. Even if it wouldn’t be detrimental to our magics to go there, it would require crossing through some of the Great White North, which would be a bad plan for us at the moment.-

Tala turned back to regard the odd bit of cloud elemental fleece. This is a strange, wonderful world, and even after all our adventures, we really have seen so little of it.

-I know, right? Isn’t it exciting?-

Tala grinned to herself. Just a bit, yeah.

But before anything else, she had one quick stop to make.

* * *

Tala stood before Walden in his forest.

The great, immortal elk regarded her for a long moment before shaking his antlers. “No, I do not wish to change our agreement. I will answer questions paid for in dimensionality, regardless of who asks them.”

Tala relaxed, grateful for his willingness.

Lyn had already included his information in the list of goods that Irondale could offer.

“How are things faring for you, here?” She didn’t often visit the elk, except to ask questions. Though, to be fair, that was because he didn’t seem to want to be disturbed.

“All is well. My forest grows, I am content.” After a moment, he added. “Congratulations on your advancement.

Tala felt her eyes widen. “Oh! Thank you. My advancement didn’t cause you any issues, did it?”

It really shouldn’t have. Walden couldn’t tap into the power within Kit, with rare exception, but it still might have been an issue.

The elk blew out a great, almost trumpeting breath. “I will confess the alteration of the underlying power within my domain was… startling, but as I cannot access it regardless, it changes little for me.”

“Well, that’s good then…” She frowned. “You still do not have any desire to access the power? I am sure we could find something that you could offer if you wished—”

Walden shook his head in negation, cutting her off. “No. I have no need. I get the power I desire from my forest, and the fact that it is suffused with power is enough for me.”

She frowned. She hadn’t considered that. She was already giving him power indirectly, then.

She could lower the power density of his forest, but that would require a venting of the magic within, which would be a waste to be sure. The solution she had for the Talons wouldn’t work.

Her rooms of ‘lower density’ were simply rooms in which the Talons couldn’t access as much power. It was effectively the same thing, except she didn’t have to shed magical power into the void.

If she did ever lose power, she could reduce those in truth without any ill effect to help maintain the desired levels more broadly, but that hadn’t been required yet.

She frowned at that. Why did she even need the power? She hadn’t ever used it.

It emphasized that she was likely not living up to her destructive potential. Her artificial lung aside, she had all this magical power, but she didn’t really have anything to use it for… But she was getting off track.

-So, are you alright with Walden growing in power due to our own advancement?-

Given it’s relative to us, we should maintain preeminence and he shouldn’t be able to escape because of something like that.

-True, assuming that his power doesn’t work differently than we understand.-

Fair enough. Can you ask Master Grediv in a way that doesn’t reveal that we’ve already advanced?

-Absolutely. Leave it to me.-

Thank you.

She shook herself and refocused on the massive elk. “I apologize, Walden, I got lost in my own thoughts. Is there anything else that I can do for you while I’m here?”

“Nothing, Tala. Good day to you.”

“And to you, Walden.”

Without further delay, she willed herself out of Walden’s forest. She had a few things to consider.

* * *

Tala made one last stop by Lupe’s park, the glass phoenix coming forth in the form of a woman just after Tala arrived.

Tala quickly checked and ensured that Kit was still going to block the horrid sound of the creature’s movement and allow her true voice to come through.

As such, it was a musical lilt that greeted her, “Mistress Tala. It is a pleasure to have you visit. To what do I owe the honor?”

Tala smiled, “We are visiting the wandering wilds, and we will be having guests, both human and not. I wanted you to be aware.”

The clear face turned to regard her, and even though Kit was removing the sound, Tala could almost feel the fracturing of Lupe’s glass as the woman regarded her. “Do you wish me to stay out of sight?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. They cannot violate the strictures on you any more than you yourself can, and you are already aware that you cannot pass through the portal out, whether it is open or not. I simply did not wish you to be ignorant or alarmed if you saw those who you do not know.”

Lupe bowed, her whole being cracking. “Thank you, Mistress Tala.”

Tala felt a welling of irritation, though not at Lupe. She could see Lupe, all of her. She could see the connection to the big ball of glass within her ‘hanging’ space. Tala could even see some magics around the creature, likely at least partially responsible for some of her current state.

Even so, she couldn’t actually discern anything detailed. If Lupe had stayed still, Tala would have been hard pressed to know exactly what she was.

Our threefold sight is failing us… No, that wasn’t right, but she didn’t have the headspace to put in proper context.

-After we leave Sunnydale?-

Definitely.

Lupe stood up straight after the bow. “If there is nothing else, I was meditating on the utility of surface compression beyond the extent of the interior.”

Tala blinked a few times, shook her head, and gave a rueful smile. “I cannot say that I understood that, but it seems that we are both preoccupied in our minds at the moment. Please let me know if you need anything.”

“I will. Thank you.”

“Good day.”

“Clear thoughts be yours.” And without awaiting a reply, Lupe melded with her pane of glass once more, leaving Tala to her other tasks.