Chapter: 313 - Catching Up (Patreon)

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Tala stood frozen in the street, staring at her father nearly a block away from her. In the dark of pre-dawn, under the clouds and the still falling snow, there was almost no chance that he could see her, yet.

The man was clearly freezing, and he was just as clearly waiting for her.

-You don’t know that.-

Oh?

-Yeah, he’s quite well bundled. He might be fine temperature wise. As to why he’s outside? He could… just want some fresh air for his health?-

Tala scoffed and shook her head. Not likely.

She was suddenly torn.

She could simply stride past him into the family shop and ignore the man, but knowing him, if he had set his mind on something, he’d be planning on standing as she approached and blocking the door if she tried to move past.

She could just move him. She was easily strong enough to move him, bodily.

There would be some catharsis in that, but it would also be bullying, and she didn’t like how even the idea made her feel.

She could go around back? Hop the back wall and come in through the kitchen….

Then, she’d have to face her mother. Step-mother.

-Now you’re just being petty and delaying.-

Tala growled.

She had no idea why he was outside.

What did he want to say or do that he didn’t want anyone else to hear?

Is he so naive that he thinks no one will be watching or listening at the door?

-You could stand out here until both of you freeze. Does that appeal?-

I don’t actually think that I’d freeze even in the void.

-Of course you wouldn’t, you’d overheat. That’s part of the issue.-

Fine, I don’t think I’d freeze if I stuffed myself into a glacier for a hundred years.

-Now you’re just being argumentative.-

Now you’re being pushy.

Alat sighed. -Tala. What do you want?-

She growled again. If I knew that, I’d have already done it.

Even so, she started forward once again.

Her father did see her coming and stood. “Tala.” He called to her, then seemed to hesitate. “Mistress Tala, may I have a moment of your time?”

She stopped in the street in front of the shop, a good two paces from him.

They were surrounded by mounded snow, and more was falling as they stood in awkward silence.

Finally, she shook her head. “What do you want?”

She could hear the small smile in his voice as he responded, “A moment of your time. Didn’t I already make that clear?”

“For what?” She snapped back.

He sighed, visibly deflating just a bit. “Can you open your eyes? I know you don’t want to see me, but that’s… It’s hard to talk to you like this.”

Tala froze. My… eyes? Her eyes were covered in iron, so they were closed, but she had her through-spike active.

-And the illusion mimics the real you.- Alat sounded a bit chagrined. -I did not think of that…-

Clearly I didn’t either. She opened her eyes, maintaining her iron covering.

It felt weird to have iron on her eyeball, but leaving any gap could cause a distortion of the magic reflected back.

Her father nodded. “Thank you.”

Tala gave a strained smile. She was slightly hurt that he’d thought she was being so childish, but what else would he assume? She certainly wasn’t going to take the time to explain things to him.

“I wanted to talk with you about Dagan and Alva.”

“What about—” But she cut herself off, slowly nodding. “They’re turning twelve in just a couple of weeks.”

-Yes, they are! That is a fact that we both know and remembered… and simply didn’t consider.-

Not helpful, Alat.

“Yes.” His voice was firm.

“So, they want to go to the Academy, I assume?”

“They do. Illie and Nalac send messages so full of wonder about what they’re learning and seeing that it’s hard not to be drawn in.” There was only a hint of recrimination in his tone. “Add to that Latna’s new apprenticeship and—”

“What?” Tala cut him off.

He winced, shaking his head. “She’ll tell you herself.” He half glanced over his shoulder. “I’ve already probably said more than she’d prefer.” He deflated further. “But we’re getting off topic. I want you to convince them it’s a bad idea.”

Tala couldn’t help it. She barked a harsh laugh. “You? You want me to convince my siblings to stay away from the Academy? Are you serious?”

“I know, Tala—Mistress Tala. I know I have no right to ask, but—”

“No right? A random stranger has no right. From them it would be odd and out of place, from you it’s an insult.” She felt herself flushing under her iron, and she was filled with a desire to punch the man. Only a complete certainty that it would kill or cripple him stayed her hand.

“Don’t you think I know that?” He snapped, and the heat in his tone actually took her aback for a moment.

She mentally pulled back, trying to assess the situation and her own emotions, but he continued before she really had a chance to sort through it all.

“We lost you. Again. Every one of the children…” He closed his eyes and seemed to be fighting to keep himself stoic. “They mourned you. You were dead, and it nearly broke this family.”

Tala was at an utter loss for words.

“Aside from the loss itself, I was to blame. I was the reason you were a Mage. I was the reason you weren’t here. I was the reason why you were out in the wilds where you could simply vanish without a trace. Me, and they all know it.”

It was hard to see under all the layers, but Tala finally noticed something that had been tickling at the back of her mind. He had lost a lot of weight. He’d never been fat, not really, but he had been a bigger man.

Now? Now, he looked like… Like three months out from the edge of starvation.

“What do you want me to say?” Her voice was quiet, but it wasn’t soft. “Do you want me to absolve you? Do you want me to lie to Dagan and Alva?”

“No!” His voice was equally quiet and equally harsh. “Tell them the truth. Don’t sugarcoat it. They are children, and they don’t understand the dangers. Your return just cemented the invincibility of Mages in their mind, even though they know families who have lost so, so many.” He shook his head. “I don’t want absolution. I am not the reason for your success, but I am the reason for your hardship. There is nothing that I can ever do to change that, and I don’t expect you to ever forgive me. But please.” He looked up and met her gaze with incredible intensity. “Please don’t make the mistake I made. Don’t send more of this family off to die.”

The silence that only seemed to exist among new-fallen snow grew around them. Tala didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything.

Finally, her father shook his head. “That’s all, Mistress. Thank you for your time.”

Without another word, he turned and opened the heavy door, letting out a wave of warmth and nostalgic aromas.

Tala followed him inside, maintaining the silence, stepping into the reception area of the alchemy shop, and shutting the door.

A voice came from the back, “Dad? Are you back? Or is that Tala?”

The speaker was clearly more excited at the second option. Did he actually somehow finagle a way for them to all be elsewhere?

She was somewhat impressed, despite herself.

Her father glanced at her before calling back, “Actually both. She arrived as I was just outside.”

That started a cascade of noise, most of which had ‘Tala!’ mixed in among various other exclamations and the sound of objects clattering.

Tala probably could have parsed it all, but she didn’t feel the need.

A pile of young people came spilling out through the door into the back, and they swarmed her like a plague of locusts.

If she’d been mundane, Tala had no doubt that she’d have been taken to the ground by their exuberance.

As it was, she found herself with half a dozen little people hanging off of her or in some way trying to give her a hug in the center of a larger group. The air was filled with greetings and clamor for others to move out of the way.

A few of the smaller ones were poking at her and commenting to each other how she felt like a statue.

Tala simply smiled and added power to her voice, ensuring that it would carry through the hubbub. “Hey. It’s good to see you all.”

Everyone stopped instantly, fully orienting on her rather than those in their way.

Her dad shook his head, huffed, and stepped through the door into the back.

Her brother Dagan’s eyes were practically glowing as he spoke into the silence, clearly intending to talk to himself, “That’s so cool.”

That broke the other siblings out of their surprise, and the avalanche of greetings resumed.

It took a full five minutes before everyone was satisfied.

When they all quieted down once more, Latna stepped forward, clearly having been tasked as the spokesperson, “Do you want to eat here? Or should we go elsewhere to catch up?”

Tala considered. “Have you all eaten?”

Latna shrugged. “We just put the food out for breakfast.”

“Ahh. Well, I don’t want to interrupt that. It’s probably getting cold. Go, eat. When you’re done knock on this door.” Tala tossed Kit against the inside of the front door of the shop where the pouch expanded and blended in seamlessly.

Her eldest sister tilted her head to one side and frowned. “What did you do to our door?”

“Nothing special, but if I want, it can now lead into my place.”

That got an excited murmur that Tala immediately realized she needed to head off before it could grow.

“Not forever! Just until I take back my pouch.”

There was a collective groan of disappointment.

“Now, go! Eat. We’ll talk as soon as you’re done.”

Tala opened Kit and walked inside, out onto a warm, sunny, grassy hilltop.

She turned around and grinned at their astonished faces. “Don’t take too long, now.”

The door closed but didn’t disappear on Tala’s side.

She wanted to make sure they came out beside her when they came.

-You know, you’d know if anyone knocked, no matter where the door was. Then, you could instantly move it to your side.-

Even so… If something went wrong, now would be among the worst times.

Alat sighed, not arguing with her clearly unassailable logic.

As expected, Tala did not have to wait long.

Soon enough, a tentative knock sounded on the door that stood, unsupported, on the hilltop beside her.

“Come!” Tala called back, and the door opened on its own.

The three of the four youngest stood outside, only missing little Sella to round out the set.

These three had been basically unknown to her before her frequent visits the year before. They’d been a baby or not born when she’d left for the Academy.

“Come on in.” She smiled. “It’s perfectly safe.”

Voices called from behind the three, a mixture of protests and demands that they wait. The three boys shared a mischievous grin before walking through as close as they could squeeze together.

The thunder of running feet followed close behind, and the others practically dove through the door one by one after the three, until they all had joined Tala on the hilltop.

While Kit couldn’t handle all of them for an extended period a couple of hours here and there shouldn’t cause an issue.

With an unnecessary gesture, Tala closed the door, and it vanished, causing several of the siblings to gasp.

“Now,”—she clapped her hands together as she looked at each of her twelve present siblings—“let’s catch up, shall we?”

*  *  *

The day passed quickly.

Terry came by for a bit to play, but he still seemed a bit off, more contemplative than his usual self, and he didn’t stay around for that long.

The Zuccat children were introduced, but Tala had previously asked for this first morning to be strictly her family, so they also quickly moved on to other things, promising to meet up to play with the kids close to their own ages later on.

Tala entertained her siblings with heavily edited retellings of her various… adventures.

She didn’t sanitize them to make them seem less dangerous. More than anything she left out the parts that would be too confusing, difficult to explain, or that would complicate their advancement if they chose the path of a Mage.

And there’s no need to mention all the loot I got on the way out.

-Yeah… treasure is never the greatest motivator for safety.-

She knew that she was doing what her father had asked, in a way, but it wasn’t because he had asked, so she bore it and did as she’d planned.

Mistress Petra provided lunch.

The two of them had discussed just that before the trip to Marliweather, and Mistress Petra would be providing meals for her siblings whenever Tala requested, though they would need to refill their stores if it was too often.

Latna stepped out early on to let their mother know that the kids would miss lunch but be back for dinner.

Their father apparently was minding the alchemy shop for the day to give the siblings time together.

When evening rolled around, and dinner time had nearly arrived, most of the siblings left to help with the final preparations.

Only Latna stayed behind, and she even closed the door behind her last sibling, turning toward Tala. “You know, you could join us.”

“I know, but I'd rather not.”

“Mom and Dad?”

“That is a part of it.”

“What’s the rest?”

“Your house isn’t my home anymore, and I don’t want it to be. This is.” She spread her hands out, indicating their surroundings.

The siblings hadn’t gotten the tour—Tala had planned that for the next day—but they had learned a bit about what Kit was.

In the end, she hadn’t been entirely effective in keeping away from mentions of loot.

“I don’t want to rejoin the family, Latna. I love you; I love our siblings, but I am not one of you. Not anymore.”

Latna shook her head. “Do you really believe that? That you can just decide to not be one of us anymore?”

“Being a Karweil has meaning, Latna, and it no longer applies to me. There have been good and bad Karweils, and I’ve severed my connection to all of them.”

“And your mother?”

Tala winced slightly but shook her head. “I don’t know. I never knew her, and she didn’t have any family that I know of.”

Tragedies like Lyn’s family weren’t everyday occurrences, but they did happen often enough that it wasn’t that unusual to find lone remaining members of a family. In those cases, tragedies didn’t just ignore the survivors forever, so even Tala’s mother’s story wasn't that odd.

She only hesitated a moment before continuing, “If she were alive? I don’t know. I might have more pull, but that’s not how it is.”

“You know… she chose him. She chose our father.”

Tala scoffed. “That could have happened for any number of reasons.”

Latna arched an eyebrow. “Really? You think she chose to marry a man without good reason?”

Tala held up her hands in concession. “I didn’t say those reasons weren’t good.”

Latna shook her head. “You’re justifying.”

“And you’re trying to play out an argument you had in your own head against a ‘me’ who doesn’t exist.”

She froze at that. After a long moment, she nodded. “You’re right. That’s a fair assessment. I apologize.”

Tala watched her sister slump just slightly. “I know you mean well, Latna. You will always be my sister, even if we aren’t in the same family. Just like when you get married, I won’t be a part of that extended family either.”

Latna smiled at that. “I can understand that, but you will still be connected to them through me.”

“To that, I completely agree. But that doesn’t make me a part of it with you.”

“I suppose…” She still seemed like she wanted to argue, but finally, the younger woman shook her head. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk with you about.”

Tala felt a rueful smile pull at her lips. “Oh? What is it, then?”

“I’ve taken an apprenticeship.”

Tala almost said that their father had told her that already, but she stopped herself. That would turn the conversation in an entirely undesirable direction. “Oh? What did you choose? I thought you enjoyed alchemy.”

“I do.” Latna smiled animatedly. “I see this as enhancing my alchemy. I’m studying magic.”

Tala frowned slightly. Does she have more magic in her system than before?

-Maybe? I don’t think so, though. There’s no discernable difference from the last time we saw her.-

And there are no inscriptions…

Latna held up a hand. “Before you fall into contemplation—spinning your mental wheels all over the place—I’ll just tell you. Master Leighis is starting me on the theory and foundations. He thinks I’ll be ready for a keystone and basic ancillary inscriptions in a couple of years.”

That’s not how the Academy did things at all, but Tala supposed that the Academy was a non-standard location that might allow for a different order of operations. “So, Master Leighis is teaching you?”

Latna smiled happily. “He is. He’s a wonderful teacher. Apparently, he’s only had one apprentice before, but they were inducted as a full Mage. So, you could say he has a perfect record.”

The younger woman giggled slightly at her own poor joke, and Tala cocked an eyebrow. “I see…”

“Isn’t it exciting? I’m going to be a Mage, too!” Latna did seem very excited.

“I’m glad that you’re able to pursue something that excites you, yes.” And maybe someone?

-You could ask.-

Of course I could.

-…but you won’t.-

Nope.

Latna beamed. “I’m glad. I could hardly wait to tell you, but I wanted to do it in person.” Her countenance fell a bit. “I had only just decided to go through with it when we got word that you’d vanished…”

Tala gave a wan smile. “I am sorry for how that hit you all. I definitely would not have chosen it.”

“I know.” After a moment, Latna added, “We know that it wasn’t something you chose. We… we had just begun to see you again, just begun to get to know you again, and then you were gone.”

“Well, I’ll be staying in touch more from now on.”

She gave a half smile. “But not visiting often?”

“Probably not too often, no.”

Latna sighed. “I guess that’s to be expected.”

She glanced back at the closed door.

“So, are you just going to wait in here until tomorrow?”

Tala shrugged. “Probably. I have a lot to do, and this place isn’t exactly small.”

“Alright.” Latna smiled. “Goodnight, Tala.”

“Goodnight, Latna.”

The younger woman hesitated for an instant, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her older sister. “I’m glad you’re back.”

Tala returned the hug, curling into the familiar embrace. “So am I… So am I.”

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