Chapter: 278 - Breakfast (Patreon)

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Tala left Mistress Holly’s workroom only to find Mistress Emersen walking down the hallway, a large mug of coffee in each hand.

The woman’s blonde hair was now free of her woolen hat, held in a tight weave that seemed to circle the Mage’s head. The older woman smiled. “Mistress Tala, I thought this might benefit you this morning.”

Tala took the offered mug, savoring the smell. “This smells amazing. Thank you.”

“Of course, Mistress.”

Before the Mage could move on, Tala decided to ask a question that was bothering her, if only just a bit. “If I may, why do you work for her?”

Mistress Emersen shrugged, not seeming surprised by the question in the least. “She’s the best.”

“Does she actually teach you anything?”

“Of course.”

“Is it… reasonable? Working for her, I mean.”

The woman huffed a laugh. “‘A fool cannot learn, even from a wise man, but a wise woman can learn even from a fool.’ Mistress Holly is no fool, and I strive to avoid that label as well. Work is work, and I’m here to learn.”

Tala found herself smiling. “I suppose that makes sense.” She lifted her mug in salute. “Thank you again.”

“You are most welcome, Mistress Tala. Good morning.” Without another word, she went on her way.

She didn’t really know what she expected, but she was glad that Mistress Emersen and Holly’s other assistants and workers weren’t universally trapped.

-Yes, you made sure at least one was here of her own volition.-

I’m not going to bug everyone, am I? She shook her head, taking another sip.

It was so good.

Now, where are Rane and Master Grediv?

She was about to call after Mistress Emersen when she heard voices from the front entry area and moved that way to investigate.

Master Grediv and Rane were in the waiting room, each drinking coffee from their own mugs.

It was the Paragon who saw her first. “Ah, good. You’re finally done. I assume that Mistress Holly is ready to speak with me?”

Tala nodded. “She is. Did you both sleep well?”

The men nodded, smiling.

“Yes, thank you, Mistress Tala.”

“I did, thank you, Tala.”

Master Grediv waved goodbye to Rane, and headed down the hall that Tala had just come from.

Rane shifted a little, straightening just slightly as he took another sip. “Shall we find breakfast? I imagine you’re hungry, and I could definitely do with some good food.”

Tala grinned. “I know just the place. Let’s see if Lyn can join us.”

They left their mugs in the designated place to one side of the waiting room, thanked the young man behind the counter this morning, and departed.

The sun wasn’t up yet, but the sky was beginning to lighten.

There were a few wispy clouds above them, but no sign of falling snow.

That which was already on the ground squeaked beneath their feet with each step, and Tala reveled in the pleasant cool on  her soles.

Her weight distribution scripts kept her from sinking into the snow, but it still pressed against the bottoms of her feet, and that was as good for waking up as the coffee had been.

Even though it was a brisk morning, the two Fused didn’t walk quickly.

Rane pulled out a cloak against the morning chill, sweeping it around his own shoulders, and only then did Tala realize that Holly’s workshop had been quite nicely warmed towards the end.

I suppose the temperature controls are rather effective.

-Even if they weren’t, it shouldn’t take more than an entire night to bring such a space up to a desired temperature.-

That’s true enough.

The street lights were beginning to dim, though a true brightening of the sky was likely nearly an hour off. Tala suspected that she could see the current change only because of her enhanced perception.

As they meandered, neither Rane nor Tala seemed to feel the need to fill the space between them with chatter, and Tala found herself appreciating the quiet comfort of Rane’s familiar presence.

It had been too long since she’d been among friends.

Thron could have been a friend, and maybe he still would be if their paths ever crossed again, but right now, she knew that her necessary deception had left him understandably reticent and suspicious of her.

Their last day together had undone some of that, but she would still have to be careful of him, at least initially, when they met again.

As the thought came to her, she realized that even after a bit of separation, she really did want to meet him again. But maybe not for a decade or two. I need a break.

Regardless, it had been far too long since she’d been with true friends.

She hesitated. That’s not really true anymore, is it.

-We’ve only been back in the human cities for three days, so it’s true enough.-

It’s kind of funny that my birthday is three days away.

She was going to be twenty-one. In the grand scheme of things, she was a child.

Well, by her age she was fairly child-like, but by her deeds and experiences? Not so much.

I’ve killed my way through uncounted warriors older than me, more experienced than me, and even many more powerful than me.

-I could count them, if you wanted.-

That’s not the point, and you know it.

-Yes, the point was to be melancholic and melodramatic.-

Tala grimaced, her mood thrown off. I’ve waded through rivers of blood to get back, and I never considered that cost.

Somehow, Tala felt a flick to her own forehead and immediately knew that Alat had sent the feeling her way. -Death is never light, but it is sometimes necessary. Stop trying to make yourself feel worse than you already are.-

Rane seemed to have noticed something, because he cleared his throat. “Are you alright?”

Tala shrugged. “Caught in… memories.”

He smiled sympathetically. “I can’t imagine what you went through, what price you had to pay to come back.”

That struck uncomfortably close to home, but before she could compile a response, he continued.

“If you ever want to talk, I’m here. If you never want to talk, I’ll still be here.” His smile grew a little. “I’m just glad you’re back.”

That hit a nerve, and she frowned. “How did you know?”

“Hmm?”

“How did you know I was still alive?”

Rane opened his mouth, but didn’t seem to have anything to say. More than anything, he looked at a loss. “I wish I could tell you, but I genuinely can’t.”

She sighed. “Yeah, you already said that.”

Silence fell again between them, and before it could become awkward, Tala gently shoulder-checked the big man.

Even the relatively light bump knocked him to the side a bit, and he snorted a laugh. “Heavier than ever, I see. You are going to be a terror in the ring.”

Tala saw a flash of arcane blood painting the world around her, figments of walls rising up in a ring, candidate Eskau slain with brutal efficiency.  We need to deal with Tali.

-Eventually, yes.-

Rane seemed to realize he’d said something wrong. “My apologies. I feel like I’m walking blind and constantly finding my foot in my own mouth.”

She shrugged. “It’s… It’s a lot, but I will be okay.” She looked up and saw Lyn’s house just ahead, then turned and smiled toward Rane. “After all, I'm home now.” She grinned slyly before adding, “And you putting your foot in your mouth is a very familiar part of that.”

She pulled the iron key to Lyn’s house from Kit even as Rane made mock affronted noises while they walked up to the door. She paused then, just holding it for a long moment.

There had been many times she’d wanted to pull this out when she was pretending to be Tali, but she’d never trusted herself or her emotions. It was too poignant a reminder of home.

There really is a lot that I need to work through. But first, she had to deal with something else.

Aside from the emotion attached to the key, there was another issue.

The key was iron.

The key was hers.

Tala could feel herself resonating with the key in her hands.

A blip of magic told her that Rane had activated his magesight, before he asked a simple question that warmed her heart, “Do you need silence or help?”

“Silence.”

She saw him nod in her mirrored perspective before stepping back, positioning himself between her and the street beyond, facing away. She smiled at that.

-That was kind.-

Yes, it was. But that wasn’t important at the moment. Let’s figure this out.

There was a pull from the key, or maybe it was from within her, but in either case, her aura flared from the key, and it seemed almost to fuzz.

No. The word was more an act of will than a fully formed thought.

The key resolidified, exactly as she remembered it.

Curious, she held the key in her right palm and placed her empty left beside it.

Iron dust flowed through her skin without pain or issue, taking on the vague shape of a key.

No matter how she pushed, it wouldn’t solidify into a usable copy, though she didn’t take more than a minute to try.

Why can I maintain the key, but not create a new one? And in the asking, she realized the answer. It is easier to destroy than create, and ‘not destroying’ is easier still.

As she explored her connection to the key as well as her own feelings and instincts, she realized a crucial difference between the key and the iron dust that had been in the smithy.

This is mine and with me. There is no danger of it leaving my sway, so I don’t need to take it from its current purpose.

-And in the smithy, if you’d left the iron dust, it would have been lost to you.-

Exactly. With that understanding, it made perfect sense. Dasgannach left the iron where they found it, until they themselves left. She wasn’t leaving this key, so there wasn’t any need to strip it of iron, though she knew that she still could.

“Huh.” She grunted before putting the key in the lock and unlocked the door.

Behind her, Rane turned, a carefully small smile pulling at his lips. “Better?”

“Yeah. I’m still all mixed up on so many things, but there shouldn’t be any present danger to me or anything else.”

As ominous as that sounded, Rane took it in stride, simply nodding and gesturing for her to proceed.

They entered, closing the door behind them, and a voice called out to them, “Hello?”

That’s not Lyn. “Kannis?”

A girlish gasp came from the sitting room. “Mistress Tala?”

The mageling came practically flying down the short hallway and slammed into Tala, in an attempt at a hug.

Tala caught her as gently as she could, but the young woman still groaned on impact, “Ow… you’re as solid as a rock.”

Tala chuckled in response. “And you’re still soft and squishy.”

Kannis pulled back, mostly ignoring Tala’s oddities, as usual. “I was there when Mistress Lyn got your message, but I still couldn’t believe it.”

Tala felt a bit awkward as they separated and used the moment to mirror the self-cleaning from her elk-leathers to her feet before shaking each one gingerly. No need to track muck from the street inside.

Kannis gave an appropriate bow towards Rane. “Master Rane, welcome.”

There was a moment of silence as Rane pulled off his boots before the mageling gestured them further in.

“Mistress Lyn just stepped back into her room a moment ago, I imagine she’ll—”

Lyn’s voice floated from the back. “Kannis? Are those voices? Is someone here?”

“Yes, Mistress! Mistress Tala and Master Rane are here.”

“Oh!” The sound of quick-moving, sure footsteps moved their way. “Come in, come in!”

Lyn and Kannis were both dressed for the day, despite it still being quite early, and when Tala thought about her time living with Lyn, that tracked.

I still get up earlier, but with winter afoot, it makes sense that they’re up and ready before the sun.

Instead of sitting, Tala decided to just address why they were there. “We’re actually going to get breakfast, do you want to join us?”

Lyn froze on the spot, looking incredibly conflicted.

Kannis smiled, glancing towards her master. “Go, Mistress Lyn. I can handle the morning duties.”

The older woman still looked uncertain. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely, it’s not like this is an everyday occurrence.”

“Thank you, Kannis. I’ll make it up to you.”

“It is my pleasure.” She turned and bowed to Rane and Tala. “It was a pleasure to see you both. Don’t keep her too late.”

Tala grinned. “We’ll do our best.”

With that, Rane put his boots back on, Lyn pulled hers on for the first time, and the three went out into the calm, early winter morning.

Breakfast was amazingly uneventful, and Tala just tried to take Mistress Holly’s advice and follow her own growing sense of what she needed.

She relaxed.

She let herself just be.

Honestly, it was stressful.

At first, she constantly felt like someone was watching her, about to attack, but once she had done everything reasonable to ensure that wasn’t true, she came to the realization that it was actually the absence of danger that was making her nervous and anxious.

She was used to being on edge, having her every word potentially be judged. She’d gotten to a state of numb acceptance, even taking fairly foolish risks at times, but the danger had always been there. She’d been in a den of rats while made of cheese.

-That is an awful metaphor.-

I’m working through stuff, Alat. Let me process.

-Fine, fine.-

Thus, now that she was out of danger, it felt wrong.

Like she was just failing to notice the hostile people who had to be there.

The genuine safety and security felt unearned and false, like it couldn’t possibly be real.

This had to be a trap, or an illusion, or a trick.

But it wasn’t.

One meal wasn’t enough time to truly convince herself of that, even though she desperately wanted it to be, but it was enough for her to catch the barest edges of the truth.

She had only begun her reconciliation with, and realization of, her homecoming.

She was more broken and ragged than she’d ever have realized, and now that she didn’t need to put up a front, she was starting to crack.

Yeah, I’m glad we’ve got a Mistress-Holly-enforced vacation.

As breakfast ended, and Lyn bid them goodbye, the woman hesitantly brought up one thing. “I will need you to drop by the Caravanners’ Guild at some point in the next couple of weeks so we can sort out your contract. There’s no danger of violation or anything like that, but we do need to tie up the legal loose ends.”

Tala felt her face twitch.

Lyn clearly noticed Tala’s reaction, because she held up her hands and smiled. “There really is no rush, and there is nothing negative to deal with. It’s just a formality, but it is a required one.”

Finally, Tala nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Lyn held up a finger. “When you’re ready, and not a day sooner.”

Tala smiled at that. “Sure. Are you sure you’re okay with me using your house, again?”

“I’ll say it as many times as you need: Yes. You are always welcome.” She looked to Rane too. “Both of you, if you need.”

Rane smiled. “Thank you, but I won’t impose upon the three of you.”

Lyn shrugged. “It’s up to you. Take care, today. I’ll see you soon!”

As Lyn walked one way, they walked the other and Rane glanced toward Tala. “What now?”

Tala shrugged. “I need to drop through the Constructionist Guild.”

“Right, to reinforce your sanctum.”

“Yeah.”

As he opened his mouth to respond, his eyes unfocused and he pulled a small slate out of his dimensional storage.

“What’s up?”

“Master Grediv reached out through the Archive. I’m needed at Mistress Holly’s workshop.”

“Oh? How did you know?”

“He had me add a simple script that he can activate through the Archive and alert me when he messages me through there. He was… less than pleased when I vanished on him for a few months.”

“Oh…” The time he wouldn’t talk about. “What does he want?”

Rane shrugged. “Apparently, Master Grediv believes I’m about ready to Refine, or at least start the process. He’s been pushing me this way since before I was a Mage, so it’s not unexpected.” He huffed a laugh. “He reminds me quite often that I’m actually a couple years behind some of his previous students.”

“Well, rust, personalized training is the way to go, it seems.”

“That is why the system is set up with magelings and masters.” He gave her a wide, knowing grin.

“You’ve got a mouth on you. When did that happen?”

He shrugged. “Would you prefer it on you?”

They both froze, midstep.

Rane flushed deep red. “That’s not what I meant!”

Tala started laughing.

He seemed to be torn between wringing his hands and grabbing her shoulders to emphasize that he had not meant that.

That just made Tala laugh all the harder.

It was a short while before she pulled herself back under control.

Those who passed them in that time gave them a wide berth, but seemed to be smiling as they did so.

Finally, Tala grinned up at Rane. “I needed that. It was a good laugh. Thank you.”

Rane scratched the back of his head. “You’re welcome, I suppose?” He glanced over his shoulder. “I should get going though. Reconnect later?”

“Sure. I’ll drop through Mistress Holly’s after I’m done at the Constructionists’.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

With smiles and waves, they parted ways, and Tala set out to have Kit repaired and reinforced.

One mostly normal breakfast. Tala felt a sense of foreboding that she couldn’t shake, even though she knew that it was her mind playing tricks on her. I wonder how many more I’ll be allowed?

-Tala. Is there anything I can do?-

I know you could modify my mind, but that wouldn’t be good on any level.

-Oh, yeah, one hundred percent that would be a bad idea. I more meant if there was anything you wanted me to look into or the like.-

Tala smiled to herself as she continued on her way, walking slowly, but not slowly enough to be a nuisance to those around her. Maybe begin parsing the books we have? I’d like to learn what they have to teach, but I doubt I’ll have time to go through them all on my own.

-Say no more. I’ll get right on it.-

Thank you, Alat.

-Happy to assist.-

No, really. Thank you, Alat, for everything.

There was a long pause before the alternate interface responded. -You are most welcome. Let’s get both of us sorted, eh? Then, we can tackle anything that comes our way.-

That, Tala had to admit, was an excellent plan.

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