Chapter: 436 Bonus - Terry, Rane, Master Grediv (Patreon)

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Terry lay curled up on Tala’s chest, but he wasn’t really asleep.

He was rarely actually sleeping, even when he closed his eyes and pretended to be so. Even though he did use those times to rest.

Sleep still wasn’t very restful to him and hadn’t been for a long time except on rare occasions, but sitting with his eyes closed when he knew he was safe? When he knew his flockmate was watchful for danger?

In that was true rest.

She was growing so quickly, his little terror-ling.

Though she lacked feathers, she was of his ilk and that made him quite happy.

Still, though, he hesitated to solidify their bond as a bond.

He knew that she believed herself to be ready whenever he indicated his own preparedness, but he… he just couldn’t let go. Not yet.

She also wasn’t quite ready either, but he suspected that she’d be ready soon enough, whether she realized it or not. After all, she just needed to truly face the dangers of the path she walked. She needed to understand that death was not the worst thing that could happen to her.

She was already beginning to grasp that, so he wasn’t concerned.

In the end, he was the hold up. He saw the taking of the bond as a letting go of his past, and true or not, he wasn’t ready to do that. He wasn’t quite ready for that final goodbye.

In the meantime, he would be content here. He was content in the comfort of his flockmate and the safety of her presence.

  *

Rane faced his father across a tafl board.

On one side, he appreciated his father playing the game with him as he knew that the man was not only busy, but he saw such things as frivolous. On the other side, Rane was a bit irritated at the feeling of obligation that built within him because of that gesture.

That wasn’t really his father’s fault, as the man wasn’t actually responsible for Rane’s own feelings, but Rane still suspected that it had been his father’s intention to elicit such feelings. So, in the end the whole thing was a bit of a wash.

“So, son. You’re Refined now.”

No, I was Refined months ago. But he didn’t respond that way. “Yes. I am Refined... a Defender too.”

“And we all feel safer for that.” His father smiled.

It… seemed genuine. So, Rane smiled in return. He’d never disliked his father, but he’d never really felt close to the man either. A large part of that might have been due to being taken away at such a young age by Master Grediv, but even before that, his father had only occasionally spent time with him. So, that hadn’t actually decreased their interactions by very much.

His father moved an attacker to threaten Rane’s king, but that opened a path to the corner, if Rane could properly exploit it. “I was wondering if you had considered your future, and the future of the Gredial family.”

So, that is the purpose of this. With Furgal so thoroughly and publicly out of favor… Rane sighed, moving his first king’s guard into position to take advantage of the opening he saw. “I think that Master Grediv has made his feelings on such ties rather clear. I happen to agree with him. The Gredial family claims him as a patriarch, and he does function in that capacity to a limited degree, but beyond that? He barely interacts with most of the family. His interest in me would have waned along with my prospects of advancing, if I had failed in my bid to Refine.”

“But you didn’t.” His father said that as if claiming a great victory. “You have a chance to bind him to our family yet again, to give a greater touchpoint to the Paragon. You can ensure that our family continues in his graces for generations to come.” The man chuckled. “Your graces are already almost as noteworthy. With two such patrons openly supporting this house? Our house? We could reclaim our glory.”

“Father, humanity does not rule by fiat. Master Grediv’s legacy isn’t a singular bloodline traced from chosen successor to chosen successor. At this point, his bloodline is connected to all of gated humanity directly or indirectly. I would have my legacy take after his, uplifting us all.”

His father chuckled. “You plan on having that many children by Mistress Tala, then?”

Rane shook his head. “No, father. I intend my legacy to be a betterment of humanity as a whole, not just those who happen to share my name or genetics. Tala has much the same view as I do.”

“Of course she does. She comes from an impoverished family whom she rightly has cast aside. Her advancement and lack of other familial connections makes her perfect to help you ground the Gredial House in the public mind once more as a source of power, wealth, influence, and benevolence.”

Rane sighed, finally shifting his king to line up with the way of escape. The end of the game was a forgone conclusion now, even if his father didn’t recognize it. “Neither of us is interested in that type of life, that sort of legacy.”

His father waved that away, taking his turn with little obvious thought. “You say that now, but you’re young, you haven’t had any children of your own. When you have a few more years under your belt, and when you hold your first child, you’ll understand better. You’ll want to conquer the world for them, ensure they succeed no matter what it takes.”

Rane almost instantly refuted his father’s words, but he hesitated. Was it really worth arguing with the man? No, no it was not. “I suppose that might be possible. I don’t claim to be able to see the future, but as it stands now, I am not interested in what you are proposing.”

“Just keep it in mind. There will be no judgment from your mother or I if you ever shift your decision.”

Rane shrugged, moving his king to the corner to escape for the victory. “As you say. The future holds many things, father, and I would be a fool to say there is no chance, but please don’t count on it.”

His father just smiled.

“Thank you for the game. I have other business to be about, but I appreciate you taking the time.” With that, Rane stood, gave a shallow bow, and acted like his own king, making his escape.

Regardless, as he left, he somehow felt like his father had allowed the escape, both in the game and from the conversation.

He had no doubt that this would come up again.

  *

Master Grediv stood on the walls of Alefast, watching the zeme in the surrounding lands with trepidation.

He had lived through many wanings, quite a few of those were in cities that he oversaw at the time, but not all by an inch or a mile. Regardless, this was the most turbulent he’d seen the zeme… ever.

It was a subtle thing—like a rip-tide in the ocean, hiding under a placid-seeming surface, ready to devour the unwary, uncaring of the lives it swept away—but something was churning up existence on a deep level.

He’d thought it was one of the cells, and while it still could be, he’d have bet it was the Reality Mage—apparently named Reiki—once he learned of her cell. Unfortunately, her removal hadn’t changed things, and there was unlikely to be another like her. Though magic does tend to move in cycles. Maybe there is an unusual number of Reality magic-containing cells weakening all in close sequence?

It was unlikely, but he couldn’t dismiss it.

Rane’s continued progress was a great source of solace in this otherwise turbulent time, even if he had gone about it in a… less than ideal way. Still, he wasn’t basing his advancement on that girl anymore, which was an improvement. A spouse should add to one’s existence, not be the reason for it.

On the interesting side, Mistress Tala’s Irondale seemed like it was a nearly-direct cause of a slight increase to the rate of power flowing into the City Stone.

Apparently, gateless actually absorbed and used up more power than was generally understood.

In retrospect, that was incredibly obvious as they had to get the bits of magic their body naturally used from somewhere. Regardless, it had caused a minor—yet still meaningful—increase to the City Stone’s gains…

And that came back to the unusual waning.

They’d never had City Stones this full before. The Arcanes had been more subtle and circumspect in their probings of late, and he hadn’t had a chance to unleash his gathered power and authority in quite some time.

The City Stones may need to take a more active part in the upcoming Leshkin war, but that would definitely draw the Royals out of their expectant hibernation… Still, the issue was still entirely theoretical. After all, the previous two wanings hadn’t had any issues of note. They’d have to wait for the upcoming wanings to see if there were similar upticks.

It was worth confirming with other Stone holders.

The Anatalins seem to be moving as well, even if on their own timescale. Paragons and Refined had an odd view of time given their technically infinite longevity, but Anatalins were another beast entirely.

They were truly immortal in every way that Grediv knew of. That changed how they acted, how they planned. In fact, he suspected if they didn’t continually have one sireling among them, they might have completely unmoored their thinking from the passage of time altogether.

He did find himself grinning as he remembered the fight between Mistress Tala and the most recent sireling.

It was gratifying to see that the newest immortal gated-humans were up to the task of facing off with the other immortal factions…

That pulled the smile from his face. There were so many immortals that the girl was utterly unaware of. She’d met one of the foxes, and through him, she’d been introduced to the anarchs. There were a surprising number of those, most of whom just wished to be left alone. Beyond the anarchs, there were the Anatalins, the City Lords and Major Houses, the Mountain Kings and Sovereigns, god-beasts and the few in their limited factions who had likewise achieved immortality in some fashion—though the Anatalins really should be considered part of that group—and that was just some of the big players on this little continent.

He was left with a grimace.

No. He would not be draining his City Stone, nor recommending any of the other Stones be so lessened. At the moment, gated-humanity was still but a blip, but after centuries of work, their population growth was finally creeping above a bare marginal rate of increase. Their cities were safer than ever, and the culture had firmly incorporated the uncountable merits of large families as an ingrained trait.

He was glad that they’d suppressed the more militant schools of thought surrounding that belief. There was no call to force people to have children, let alone marriage. No path was for everyone to tread. As to those who did have them? Gated-humanity still needed as many children as possible.

They needed their population to increase, or at the very least be maintained.

Once again, Mistress Tala came to mind. She’d talked to him about going to the mobile cities, the villages. There were gated-humans there who could add to the cities if they could be properly integrated, but most were there because their particular personalities didn’t fit within the cities.

The mobile settlements were a better place for those who bucked authority in all senses, those who wanted to pursue their own interest above all. While there was nothing inherently wrong with that on the face of it, until humanity truly got its feet under it, such attitudes could kill them all in a very real sense.

As to gateless immigrants… well, gates were spiritually dominant in the heredity of offspring… but adding a flood of gateless had its own issues.

He began massaging his temples.

He didn’t like politics. He wished they could go back to being nomadic tribes, but that would lead to their downfall as surely as many other calamities would.

He needed to focus and then get back to his other duties.

The girl. The mobile settlements.

He would draft a proposal and get the input of the other city leaders. If Mistress Tala was willing, they would proclaim to those in the mobile settlements that their residents were welcome within the territory of gated-humanity once again. At least they were welcome, if they were willing to follow the customs and laws of the cities.

Such a policy might only lead to a trickle, but it just might give the cities the boost in population needed to truly set their roots deep, to finally make it impossible for gated-humanity to be ignored.

For better or worse.

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