Chapter: 302 - Arrangements (Patreon)

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Tala listened as Master Simon started to go over a number of rather interesting ideas.

Apparently, there were quite a few explorer type Archons who wanted to be able to get their findings back to the cities in case they died, so there were a plethora of plans for doing just that. They ranged from the insane to the possibly reasonable.

Even so, before they could delve too far into it, she had a realization. Wow. With all the other stuff, I can’t believe I dropped that.

-Yeah… that’s on me too. Your stress is really bleeding through.-

Well, I need the help, okay?

-I know, I know.-

Tala cleared her throat, causing Master Simon to pause. “My apologies. I figured he would have shown up by now, but there is someone you should meet.”

“Oh?” Mistress Petra looked around. “Is there someone already living in here with you? I thought this space was yours alone.”

“Yes, but it’s best if you just meet him and see for yourself. Terry!” Tala infused a little extra power into the inscriptions around her vocal cords and lungs, allowing her voice to carry further without the need to scream, shout, or even raise her voice. In essence, the magic gave her words more weight, allowing them to propagate further before fading.

She’d used the technique only a few times before, and she had been satisfied with the result every time.

Terry flickered into being on her shoulder a moment later.

He squawked questioningly before headbutting her cheek and looking around.

The children’s eyes widened, and they crowded close with wonder evident across their faces.

Terry glanced to Tala. Clear questions were carried in that look.

Tala smiled and nodded. “Friends, mundane.”

He trilled in acknowledgement and flickered down to appear on Metti’s head.

The little girl froze in surprise, looking up without shifting the terror bird’s perch. “Mom… Mom! It’s on my head!”

Her voice was uncertain as she tried to determine if this was cause for concern.

Mistress Petra looked to Tala, and Tala smiled. “He won’t hurt them.”

The mother relaxed, but still seemed quite ready to interfere. “He’s fine, my little love. Be gentle and try not to startle him. Even the gentlest creatures can lash out if they are surprised or hurt.”

“Yes, mama.”

Having broken the ice a bit, Terry began flickering around, poking and prodding the children. It didn’t take long before they understood that he wanted to play a game.

From there, he easily nudged them into understanding the rules.

Master Simon and Mistress Petra came closer to Tala, eyes fixed on the developing situation.

He leaned in close and whispered, “He seems much too intelligent to be a baby terror bird, and much too… tame. Is he some dwarf-subspecies?”

Tala shook her head. No cause for, or benefit in, hiding the truth. “No, his magic lies in dimensionality. He’s actually rather massive, but he does his best to choose his size to fit the situation.”

Mistress Petra gave Tala a startled look. “So… he’s as big as you or I? Isn’t that dangerous?”

Tala shook her head. “No, he’s actually much bigger. As to him being dangerous?” Tala shrugged. “Obviously he is. He’s a predator. But no, he is not dangerous to us, and I have never seen him harm a child. Not even when that child did her best to poke him in the eye.” She shook her head with a small smile, remembering her sister, Sella, chasing after Terry all through the park near her childhood home. “Regardless, his intelligence is at least equivalent to most people you could meet, and while he can be… inhuman in his hunting practices and idiosyncrasies, he and I are partners, and he has never harmed anyone or anything without cause.”

The two parents continued to watch the playing quartet with hesitation.

She sighed. “He often is out and about with me, but he does live in here, too.”

Terry let the children get incredibly close, even occasionally brushing his feathers.

When he allowed the contact, he would let out a trill to indicate that he would be pursuing. What followed was ten short chirps, in perfect cadence, before he flickered after the children, herding them all together, and only when they were clustered into a group would he touch all three at once, making them the chasers once more.

“He is terrifyingly effective.” Mistress Petra still sounded nervous.

Tala nodded. “His species hunts in packs and hunts herds. Even by himself, he is a truly peerless hunter.”

Terry glanced her way, straightening and preening. He then flickered away just as Segis would have fallen on him.

They watched in relative silence for quite a few rounds of the game.

Finally, Master Simon tilted his head to the side. “He only lets them touch him when they are balanced when they would make contact…”

Mistress Petra nodded. “I noticed that. And he also seems to reward them when they work together… is he teaching them how to hunt?”

The parents looked toward Tala, and she shrugged.

Even so, she smiled encouragingly. “I’m not sure, but that does sound like him, yeah. It looks like he likes them.”

The two nodded slowly in response.

A few minutes later, Metti sat down to take a break, laughing and breathing heavily. Terry seamlessly shifted the game to focus only on the older two, now solely allowing contact when they worked together and didn’t overcommit.

Master Simon glanced towards Tala. “Well, they seem well taken care of.”

She quirked a smile in return. “They do. I’d love to hear more of your ideas.”

The family didn’t stay too much longer, and Tala and Master Simon made an appointment to meet up the following day to continue the discussion for features to add to Kit.

Most of those they’d already discussed were simple enough enhancements, like tying any Archive connection through her own link if she was closer than any other Archive node, and they weren’t in a city.

Master Simon also stated that he would want to research the specifics of the sanctum a bit more before putting together a blueprint for their living space.

Tentatively, Mistress Petra agreed to come the next morning to start working. The kids had school, and would continue attending it until Tala left Bandfast, and the family wouldn’t move in until the quarters were complete, but they tentatively agreed to come under her employ.

YES!

-Hey, see? That didn’t go so badly.-

Terry. Terry is the master, here.

Alat huffed a laugh but didn’t argue.

Mistress Petra smiled at Tala’s apparent glee, even though she obviously couldn’t hear her thoughts. “I’ll start with something rather simple for your breakfast and try to familiarize myself with your facilities tomorrow. Let’s plan on my providing you with breakfast and dinner?”

Tala nodded. “Unfortunately, I am still not quite ready for meals made with the food in here. My advancement hasn’t fully settled as of yet, but I should be able to eat meals with ingredients incorporated.”

Mistress Petra nodded. “I’ll want to gain access to the Culinary Guild’s new treatise on the preparation of harvests for human consumption.”

Tala brightened. “Oh! They have it widely available already?”

“They do, it is on the expensive side…” Mistress Petra frowned.

Tala waved that away. “I’ll see to it.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Consider it handled. I’ll get it to you along with your Archive tablet—” She looked to Master Simon.

“Tomorrow. There are several standard models in stock at the guildhall, and I can initialize them for our family.” He glanced toward his youngest, who had once again joined in the fun with Terry. “There’s even a couple… robust versions, meant to take harsher environments, rougher treatment, or…”

Mistress Petra smiled. “…children. Never were there creatures more able to find the weak points of any object.”

He snorted a laugh. “Isn’t that the truth.”

Tala turned toward the playing group. “Alright you four, time to wrap it up.”

The kids turned, immediately groaning and starting to complain.

Terry flickered to each, bumping them to fall into a startled pile before he appeared on Tala’s shoulder with decisive trill.

Segis opened his mouth, obstinance clearly painted across his features, but Terry simply leaned forward and repeated his trill, a light of utter conviction in his eyes.

Segis closed his mouth.

Mistress Petra looked back and forth between her son and Terry. “Well. That is quite something.”

Tala caused the doorway out to come into being just beside them, as the children obediently scrambled to their feet.

Goodbyes were exchanged all around, and the guests thanked Tala again for the meal.

Then, they departed, the door closed and vanished, and Tala was left alone in the now oddly quiet sanctum.

Terry looked around, seeming almost forlorn.

“Do you like them?”

He chirped a couple of times, seeming to feign indifference.

“It will be nice to have some more consistent company.”

He let out a grumpy squawk and headbutted her.

Tala laughed, scratching his neck under his feathers. “You are a blessing and a half, Terry, but it’s nice having others around as well.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, then let out a huffing honk of resignation.

“Yeah.” She hesitated a moment before looking at him once again. “You know, we need to talk about us at some point.”

Terry met her gaze and tilted his head to the side.

“My advancement should be able to sustain a bond with you quite soon, and such a bond could give you a lot of benefits.”

He settled down, shimmying to get comfortable.

“It’s only if you want, but it would link us effectively forever. It would definitely extend your lifespan, at least so long as I survived, and it might actually allow you to become stronger.”

In an instant, he flickered away, and Tala didn’t even have time to register his movements as he somehow tripped her up, and pinned her to the ground, sitting on her chest. He then let out an obviously mocking series of soft trills in her ear.

“I never said you were weak.” She laughed. With a quick motion of her own, she launched herself up, and regained her feet. She probably could have foiled his demonstration, but she knew he wasn’t going to hurt her, and she was still not supposed to be fighting. Soon.

Terry was already back on her shoulder, snuggled down against her neck.

“It’s up to you. I like you how you are, but I wouldn’t say no to making our bond stronger.”

He opened one eye to give her a long look. After an almost uncomfortably long time, he exhaled long and slowly. Finally, he gave a decidedly affirming chirp.

“You’ll think about it?”

Another chirp.

“That’s all I can ask for.”

Tala lowered herself to the ground, and together, she and Terry stared up at the fake night sky.

“I wonder… is this real, somewhere?”

Terry huffed, clearly disinterested.

“No, it is interesting. Did this night sky come from the arcane artisan’s imagination? Or did they somehow divine a night-sky from elsewhere in reality?”

He did not respond, instead snuggling closer and gazing upward.

In the end, the origins didn’t really matter.

All that mattered at that moment was that the stellar vista was stunning and expansive in a way that filled her mind, body, and soul with peace.

*  *  *

Lyn looked up at Tala with an incredulous expression. “Why now?”

It was the morning after the dinner with Master Simon and his family.

Tala had awoken bright and early to let Mistress Petra into her sanctum, finished the breakfast she brought along, and come out to find Lyn and Kannis about to head off for work.

It was then that Tala remembered something as she lamented her lacking bank account despite all the favors she was owed. “Well, I have been rather busy with other things, and it just hadn’t come back to the forefront of my mind.”

Lyn was staring at the list that Alat had compiled of all the mundane treasures that Tala had absconded with when she’d raided the House of the Rising Sun, among other places. “This is a ridiculous collection of items. Why do you even have these things?”

Tala shrugged. “Well, I didn’t have time to identify every item, so I just grabbed everything.”

“Clearly.” Lyn looked at the list and read something off. “’One slightly broken mantel clock?’ Why?”

“When I scooped it off the mantel, the glass cracked against a little statue.” Tala shrugged again. “It’s still got some worth, and I wasn’t going to take the time to take it back out.”

Lyn just shook her head. “And you want me to sell this for you?”

“Yes, please.”

"Wait... Tala, there's a massive table on this list here... Why didn't you use that?"

"That one?” She glanced at the indicated line-item. “That was too big."

"You could have eaten outside?"

"I have a dining room, Lyn. I'm going to dine in my dining room."

"Fine. What about this one?... how many tables are in here?"

"Only two dining tables of proper height. Most people forget that arcanes come in all different sizes. One of the tables is ridiculously large, and one far too small. It’s a miracle I got four dining tables in my rampant pillaging. Everything else is a side table or some other odd thing. Of the two that are properly proportioned, one was too big—as already mentioned— and the other's a big circle. Who wants to eat on a massive circle? It’s like ten feet across!"

Lyn sighed, shaking her head. “Are there dishes on this list too?”

Tala gave her a flat look. “I didn’t raid a kitchen, Lyn. I went through a living area, not a dining area.”

Lyn still looked utterly baffled, even if she did let the matter of the tables drop. “I don’t have time for this, Tala.”

Tala grinned triumphantly. “No, you have a mageling for this.”

“Hey!” Kannis had stayed out of the conversation, but she clearly had a stake in the results now. “I have better things to do than sell off a pile of…” She trailed off as she looked over Lyn’s shoulder at the list she had in hand. “Did you rob some merchant? Just take everything from his house?”

Tala tilted her head. “Sure? I mean, they’re from an arcane House we were raiding, but near enough.”

Lyn grimaced as Kannis’s eyes widened. “By ‘House…’ The way you said it… that’s something important?”

Tala shrugged. “Yes. Think of it like a guild, here, but more insular and less focused. They control sectors, cities, and production trains rather than specific function in their society. They don’t work together, as a rule, but they aren’t hostile to each other, except for surface level rivalries.” She hesitated. “With some exceptions. Some Houses hate each other for whatever reason.”

-We never did ask.-

We got books on it as part of our training, but even Tali didn’t care very much.

-If it wanted to hurt ‘Master’ she’d kill it. She wasn’t overly concerned as to why they hated him.-

Isn’t that the truth…

Kannis seemed to be struggling a bit. “So… you raided one of these Houses?”

“Well, a main hold of one, yes.”

“And the equivalent would be if you decided to assault the Caravan Guild and take their stuff?”

Tala hesitated. “Does the Caravan Guild actually have a high level Archon?”

Lyn nodded. “Not always in Bandfast, but yes, we have a few Refined.” She glanced toward Kannis, then seemed to shake her head in resignation. “The gap between Refined and Paragon is as vast as it is seemingly simple to cross. Most upper members of the various guilds fall in that range.”

Tala cocked an eyebrow. “That’s good to know. I can never get a straight answer.”

Lyn shrugged. “It’s mostly what I’ve pieced together from meetings with upper bureaucrats.”

“Good to know…”

Kannis cleared her throat, clearly still a little shaken. “But all that to say, these things are from the arcane ruling class?”

Tala nodded. “That’s a reasonable assessment, yes.”

Lyn sighed, glancing over and presumably manipulating something work related on a slate beside her food. “That will complicate things, too. Do you want to sell them for what they are, or what they were?”

“Huh?” Tala frowned.

Kannis was nodding, however, clearly understanding what her master meant. “You could sell them pretty quickly just as fine furnishings and oddities, but you would get vastly more if you sold them as items stolen from arcane lands. You’d have fewer buyers though, so it might take longer?”

Tala thought for a moment. “Well, I need some money now, but I’d prefer the biggest payout possible.”

Lyn frowned. “This doesn’t include anything magical, right?”

“No, I told you that this was just the mundane items.”

“Are you going to sell the magical ones too? Or have you already done that and spent the money?”

Tala hesitated. “Yes? Yes, I am going to, no I haven’t already done it, and no, I definitely haven’t spent the money already.” Alat had put together that list, too, and it was far shorter. Arcanes didn’t really leave their magical items laying around. “I haven’t gotten to that, either.”

Lyn huffed a laugh and shook her head. “Well, I guess I can understand, with all the work you’ve been doing.”

Tala gave her friend a narrow-eyed glare. “Hey! I have been recovering.”

“You could have taken a nice refreshing walk to the Constructionist Guild and sold that stuff off. Or you could have done the selling one of the numerous times you were there already. Right?”

Tala grumbled. “Fine. You’re right…”

Lyn shook her head. “So, you want our help selling your non-magical loot.”

Kannis interjected, “Booty?”

“She’s not a marauder, Kannis.” Lyn shook her head. “This is not a fictional tale of flying ships and sword duels amidst storms.”

Kannis grimaced. “It would be better if it were.”

“Only according to some.”

Tala cleared her throat. “Anyways. Yes. I’ll be going by the Constructionist Guild today, and I can sell the magical stuff, then.”

“Alright then.” Lyn tilted her head to the side. “Twenty percent.”

Tala blinked at her in shock. “What? Last time you only took ten!”

“Last time we were both working for the same guild, and it was a simple job. If you want us traipsing around to find people who will value high-end, pilfered arcane decor, it will be much more work.”

She groused a bit, but finally, Tala agreed. “Alright, you win. I need the help.”

“Great!” Lyn pulled out a slate with the contract already built out.

Tala narrowed her eyes. “How do you have that ready?”

“It wasn’t hard to put together while we talked.”

Well, that explains what she was doing… So, not work related? “I didn’t think you had an Archive slate for home use.”

Lyn shrugged. “I’ve been bringing work home for the last couple of weeks. So, I had it ready to hand. I can use it for various tasks when I have it checked out.”

Tala was still suspicious, but finally, she sighed. “Fine.”

She looked over the simple contract, and they both confirmed it.

“Thank you, I suppose.”

Lyn smiled in return. “It is always a pleasure working with you.”

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