Chapter: 159 - One More Thing to Practice (Patreon)

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Tala surveyed the merging room one last time as Boma went to sit on the side in another open space.

With quiet solemnity, only mildly spoiled by his happy smile, he placed his hands down on the circles waiting for him there. “As discussed, I will be guiding the process and providing the shell of power, containing the merging. You will be fueling the actual process, however. Ready for that, Bound?” He was grinning.

They’d discussed price already, and Tala had paid before they’d begun. Six gold is way better than I could expect if I tried to merge these in sequence, rather than all at once.

Tala walked out into the room, careful to not disrupt or scuff Boma’s work.

Finally, she stood over her trusty leathers. You’ve seen me through a lot. Let’s make this official.

She grinned stupidly. You are me.

She let her aura expand and connected eight void-channels through her aura to the spell-form’s inputs, making the channels as large as she was able to with that many active.

Power roared through her as the spell-forms began to light with power.

“Bind it now.” Boma spoke calmly from the side, his own power flowing out of him.

Tala looked down, still straddling her outfit, and willed the bloodstar down and into the subtle, emboss-like residue of the spirit binding she’d performed months previously.

Join with me. Take of my power and lend me yours. She felt a pull somewhere deep within herself. It was as if she’d been doing soul-work exercises all afternoon. She almost staggered, but managed to maintain her balance.

Power exploded through the room, consuming the inscriptions in the floor, the materials, and Tala’s robe. Ah, rust…

After an instant of nakedness, the belt wrapped around her waist and cloth blossomed outward. In less than a blink, Tala stood in a cleared stone room.

She looked down at herself and laughed.

A simply stunning linen top covered her torso, cinched at the waist and her throat, but otherwise flowing loose. The back was open most of the way down her spine, and her shoulders were bare. The base of the top continued below her belt to midthigh.

The pants were snug without being constricting, and while under the upper garment, they were perfectly modest. Shoes had even manifested to cover her feet.

“Perfect. Thank you, Master Boma.”

He smiled in return. “Happy to assist.”

Tala gave a little twirl in her outfit, enjoying the feel of something against her skin besides leather. Though, the leather is still amazing.

With a thought she dove into the garments with her mage-sight and power, filling its reserves as she investigated.

There were dozens of paths of power within the clothing, but they didn’t give off the same sense as those within Flow. These were all much closer together, and she had the sense that the only changes were cosmetic.

The one that felt most familiar accepted the power she offered.

Leather grew out from the belt and the choker. Huh, the choker too? I wonder why that manifested.

The material flowed into the form of the elk-leathers as she’d worn them previously.

There were still ties up each side, starting at her waist and going up to her armpit, but they were now purely decorative, as she would never need to undo them again. The ties were of leather as well, of course, though she felt like she could change their appearance if she wished. This might be a bit too much customization for me…

The sleeves were loose without being billowy, and there were several minimal, stiff ridges that ran down the arms to hold them in place. Somehow, the stays didn’t inhibit movement at all. The ridges were evenly spaced around each sleeve, creating a subtly beautiful pattern, mirrored by similarly flexible, yet ridged features on the torso. The boning that held the shape, without inhibiting movement.

It was a masterpiece, or rather the perfect replica of a masterpiece. I’m so glad that it so wonderfully preserved what Merilin was able to create.

Both the first, linen-seeming outfit and this one breathed almost as if she were still naked, though she could also feel the clothing upon her skin.

The leather of the tunic was a light grey, nearly white, while the ties were marginally darker, offering a nice hint of contrast. Below the ties, the tunic continued down to just above her knees, providing some modesty and adding to the look.

The pants fit exactly as well as they always had before. They were a dark enough grey to evoke thoughts of thunder, storms, and torrents of driving rain. They moved with her, and the flare towards her feet was as subtle as it was functional.

Boma offhanded tossed a knife at her midsection. “Don’t block.”

And she didn’t.

The knife struck her in the abdomen. Wow. Is that all an enemy would have to do to stab me?

Where the knife hit, she felt the leather stiffen taking on a rigidity akin to an armored plate. To her mage-sight, there almost seemed to be the ghost of exactly that: an armored plate, protecting the garment from the attacking blade.

Instead of sticking into her tunic or her stomach, the knife deflected to the side, landing on the ground to skitter to a stop on the floor behind her.

The defense had taken power, though Tala judged that it was less power than it would have taken to repair a slit cut by such a strike. That also didn’t account for the magic and resources it would have taken to heal the wound that would have been inflicted as well.

That’s a nice improvement.

Moreover, the outfit now had a direct connection to her soul, her gate, and it topped itself off as soon as the power had been used.

That issue’s solved, at least.

Boma went to retrieve his knife, and Tala walked over to pick up Kit, Terry simply flickering to her shoulder.

Tala pressed Kit to her belt and willed it to be hanging there.

Her belt, strand by strand, broke and reconnected through Kit’s belt loop. Thus, in less than a count of three, Kit was back where it should be.

Tala pushed power down another path within her outfit, and felt magic and her garments ripple across her, leaving her standing in the loser fitting linen outfit from before. “Oh, I’m going to like this so, so much.” She looked to the Archon. “Thank you, once again, Master Boma.”

Boma gave a happy bow. “Once again, I am happy to have been able to assist, Mistress Tala.” As he straightened, he smiled. “Is there anything else we can do for you, today?”

“In fact, there is. What sort of Archive tablets do you have on hand?”

He frowned. “Archive tablet?”

And his good mood is gone. She kept a smile off her face. “Yes, Mistress Holly would like me to bond with one. She’s paying for the device.”

“I hope you know I’ll have to check on that.”

Even though Tala knew that she was correct and Holly would pay for it, she suddenly felt nervous, under Boma’s scrutiny. “Of course.”

He regarded her for another moment before grunting. “As for bonding. We should at least wait until tomorrow. Your soul needs to restabilize.”

Tala nodded. “Sure. Mistress Holly needed the tablet today, though, so she could work on some integrations.”

Boma gave her a long look, then sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t want to know. Come on.” He waved for her to follow him as he led the way out of the merging room and back towards an entrance.

When they were almost all the way back, he turned to the side, into a small sitting room. It was comfortable without being spacious. There were seats for up to four people, spaced for easy, quiet conversation, without being within reach for physical contact.

“Grab a seat.” He sat down in one of the chairs, and pulled out a tablet, beginning to search through the empowered device.

Tala sat down and flicked out some jerky for Terry. She took the moment’s pause to dive back into her garment, mentally flicking through the pathways.

Unlike Flow, she didn’t have to maintain power through a pathway in order to maintain that form. She only needed to feed magic into the change, then the outfit would stabilize once more.

In searching, she began to get a sense of what each path would do. I think that this one will-

She pushed power down it, and her shoes almost seemed to liquify, the material stretching out to connect to her pant legs and seemingly was absorbed.

Hah! I got it right. She hadn’t cut off the power, and she felt all of her clothing start to break down to be reabsorbed. NOPE! She cut off the flow of magic and looked down. The clothing had become a bit more malleable in texture, but instantly snapped back into shape.

She let out a long breath. Oh, good. I didn’t just magically strip naked in front of a Fused. She felt her cheeks heating, nonetheless.

Boma didn’t react.

Alright. So, be careful trying things out in public.

“Here it is. Mistress Holly put in a requisition for you for a clip-based, full Archive connection.”

Tala frowned. “What?”

“It’s a little, circular, metal clamp that you put around a writing implement, and any inquiry your make of the Archive is responded to by being written out.”

“How does it know what I’m asking about?”

“You write it out.”

Tala blinked back at him. “So, I have to have a written dialogue with the Archive?”

“In a sense, yes.”

Her eye twitched. “Why can’t I get a tablet?”

Boma glanced back at his device. “Well. Mistress Holly did add a note, here, in case you asked that question, or something similar. I assume you’ll know what it means: ‘We only need the connection, dear, not the fancy means of display.’ ”

Tala thought for a moment. “Oh. That actually makes a lot of sense.”

He gave her an odd look. “You know, even if you bind this to you, you won’t be able to process the information directly.”

“I know. Mistress Holly is modifying some of my inscriptions to make use of the link.”

“That’s…irregular.” His eyes slightly unfocused as his mage-sight came to life. “Yeah, you are still a Bound.” Power faded from his inscriptions. “You shouldn’t have the power density or…” He stopped, then shook his head. “You know what? It’s not my business. Mistress Holly won’t kill you or fry your brain.”

That made Tala vaguely uncomfortable, so she moved on quickly. “How much?”

“For the artifact version?” He hesitated. “Wait. You said she was paying for it. And this note says the same.”

Tala shrugged. “I’m curious.”

Boma cocked an eyebrow. “It’s a bit rude to find out the cost of gifts someone gets you.”

She snorted a laugh. “It is hardly a gift.”

He opened his mouth to ask, then closed it, shaking his head. “Right, not going to ask. Fine. It will cost five gold, and I’ll have to make it. There isn’t much demand for this style of Archive node.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

“Hey, they were quite popular some thirty years ago. Then, the tablets were invented, and that type became mostly obsolete. They still work perfectly, though. In fact, they are the chief way of replicating physical books from the Archive’s informational stores. The design is incredibly efficient. Even unbound, any Mage can empower it.”

“Alright, alright.” She held up her hands. “I didn’t mean any insult to the invention.” She frowned. “Wait. If she could send you a note on what she wants, and I imagine you can deliver it to her when it’s finished: Why did I need to tell you?”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t say the delivery fee is covered.”

She glowered at him. “When will it be ready?”

He smiled. “I can set up the process right now, but you’ll need to come back in a couple of hours to pick up the product.”

She sighed. “Alright. Thank you.”

“Happy to assist.”

*      *      *

Tala took the time until her Archive connection was complete to walk to Brand’s restaurant and get a meal, catching up with him and Lissa. It was a pleasantly large meal, and the company was nice, even if they were interrupted fairly regularly by a sporadic stream of customers.

Though the main meal was a hearty chicken and barley soup, with buttered wheat bread on the side, they also served her what amounted to a garlic broth that was shockingly good.

With her dinner taken care of, and acquaintances renewed, Tala went back to the Constructionists and got the Archive link before taking it to Holly’s workshop.

The inscriber didn’t deign to meet with her. Instead, her assistant received the empowered item, asked Tala to fill it with her own magic, and then thanked her for bringing it by.

Apparently, Holly would like to have Tala back the next day, around sunset.

Fine. That will give my soul enough time to level out, too.

That done, she actually felt a little lost. What should I do now?

After a bit of meandering, she headed back to the Guardsman’s training ground to get in another workout and to run through her martial forms.

*      *      *

The sun was setting when Tala finally finished her martial forms. I’m getting quite a few of these to practice.

Adam had offered the guard-students’ services in creating forms based around Flow’s ability to change shape. She had to admit it was an appealing idea, and she’d tentatively agreed. Right now, it feels like I’m constantly switching fighting styles. I need a coherent approach to what I’m doing.

In the private bath room, off the training yard, Tala opened Kit on the floor, tossed a bit of jerky to Terry, and dropped in.

As expected, Kit’s configuration was set up for her to bathe. These days, since she’d expanded Kit’s capacity, that meant that most of her stuff was in another part of the space, partitioned almost completely away from her and the inevitable steam.

The tub-like depression in the floor was perfectly contoured for her and her water incorporators were ready and waiting beside her comb and some soap.

“Now, I just have to undress.” She delved into the pathways of her garments and found the one she’d used earlier. Now, how does this work? Before, she’d thought of removing her shoes, and that was what came off first, though the rest had tried to follow.

I need to bathe. She pushed power down the channel, and her clothing retracted up, into the choker around her throat. Huh, not the belt?

As she thought about it, however, she realized that the belt would be irritating to wash around. That probably affected the manifestation. There was so much to learn.

“Bath time!”

Clean and ready to go, Tala climbed back out of Kit some time later.

She tossed another bit of jerky to Terry, which vanished without him seeming to stir.

She was in the linen, flowing halter-top and leather pants. She’d kept her shoes off. I’m getting the hang of this garment thing. Working with Flow for so long already had likely helped in her understanding and use of the clothing’s various forms.

One pathway had intrigued her since she’d first noticed it, but she hadn’t taken the time to try it out yet. All things in time.

She glanced around at the empty locked room. Now’s as good as any, though.

She pushed power down that path, and felt material begin to grow up her neck.

It took a lot more power than the other changes had, but it was still well within her ability.

Once her head was fully covered, she had a moment of panic. What if it stopped there? What if it got stuck?

An instant later, the material pushed outward, forming a great helm style helmet. She had a moment of irritation, given how hard it was to see.

She also had the realization that she likely looked ridiculous. Who wears a full helmet over a halter-top?

Then, as she contemplated her reduced vision, she had another thought. I can aspect-mirror!

With an act of will that strained her current abilities, she mirrored her ability to sense through her various sensory organs upon her now soul-bound garment, granting her enhanced capacities to that empowered item.

Suddenly, she could perceive all around herself. The flood of information was overwhelming and disorienting.

She lifted her hand to her head in reflex. That motion caused her perspective to shift in radically unexpected ways.

In that moment, the anti-vomit inscriptions finished burning through their metal.

Tala had a moment of calm as the last vestiges of their Magic rushed through her, then she fell to her knees and filled her helmet with her head still inside.

*      *      *

Having her head in a bucket of her own vomit was decidedly unpleasant.

Tala was able to gain enough control of herself to magically reach into her garments and dismiss the helmet. That caused her bile to slosh down onto the floor around her hands as she knelt on the ground, still heaving. Every motion increased her disorientation and nausea. She could smell the sick from all around, not just her nose, and she could taste it where it had splashed on her clothing.

Release the aspect mirroring, idiot!

She did so, and her vision narrowed to what felt like an alarmingly small field of view.

She panicked. Am I going blind?

A moment later, she realized that this was her normal vision, it only felt small because of how extreme the previous sight had been.

Not only had she been looking every direction at once, she’d been looking out from every part of her soul-bound clothing at once, creating an overwhelming number of overlapping fields of view.

She groaned, heaving one last time.

As Tala looked up, she saw Terry perched on a shelf, regarding her with a bit of concern evident on his avian face.

“I’m okay.” Her voice came out a bit thickly. She pulled out her cool water incorporator and took a long drink before continuing. “Mistress Holly did tell me that the anti-vomit inscriptions weren’t especially robust. I’ll have her correct that error in judgment.”

Terry trilled softly.

“I’ll be okay.” She smiled weakly at the bird. “I think I discovered something pretty cool, though.” She chuckled wryly. “Though, it does mean I’ll have one more thing to practice.”

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