144, 2/2

Star Song’s Clan Mountain was divided into roughly three sections, like a cake. The bottom section held many public-ish spaces, such as the Gathering Room that Ezekiel had attended a few nights ago, inner disciple dorm rooms which were cramped but not too badly cramped, and many cafeterias and other such ‘public’ spaces that Ezekiel had seen, but not visited. From what he had heard before now and gotten the chance to see only a few times, the inner disciples, located mainly here, were afforded a great deal more prestige and learning than the initiates and outer disciples who lived at other locations inside and around Eralis, at other, smaller locations.

The second layer of Star Song’s mountain held the main classrooms and a few Elder offices, as well as a few operational spaces of varying needs. Rooms full of weapons next to rooms without any weapons; armory and training space. Multiple rooms full of books; personal collections as well as an obvious library. Rooms which were blocked from his mana sense, layered with lead walls. There were also quite a few places in the center of the mountain that were blocked from his mana sense because of magic, instead of being hidden due to anti-magic.

The second layer was also home to many ‘public’ spaces located on the exterior of the mountain. The stone courtyard where Ezekiel handed out the Intelligence ring was on this second level.

The top third of the structure belonged to a few nice gardens and forests, and many smaller, private houses, but was mainly dominated by three wooden pagodas that rose from the three peaks of the carved-out mountain, like grand decorations on an even grander cake. The two smaller pagodas were each roughly twice the size of his own three-story mansion, back in Spur. Each of those pagodas looked exactly the same, with one pagoda located northwest of the central peak, and the other pagoda located south.

The central pagoda resembled the other two pagodas, but larger. It was a minor skyscraper at nine stories tall and half that wide, only decreasing a little in diameter with each subsequent upper floor.

Now that they were closer to the south pagoda, which seemed to be their destination, Ezekiel could mana sense the inside of the structure.

It was nice inside. Everything was made of wood and cloth and was the height of luxury. There were people inside, too. Servants, for sure, but also higher ranking people on the second and third floors. The place certainly had more room for more people than what it currently held, so Ezekiel wasn’t worried about being cramped. Which rooms were his? On the fourth floor?

Ah! And he knew those people on the second and third floor. Well that was interesting, but he’d meet them sooner or later, for sure.

But what was also interesting was the building itself.

Disregarding all the embellishments of wood, and paint, and strengthening wards, and everything that was not actually structural, Clan Star Song’s entire clan mountain was constructed mainly of stone. Probably. It was a dense stone at the bottom, but up here, it got denser. Some parts were incredibly dense, in fact, but up here, that density was made apparent in the structure of the ‘wooden’ pagodas. They were not wood at all; the pillars and rafters, floors, walls, and otherwise, were made of the same super dense stone as the rest of the place.

… But was it stone, at all? Ezekiel saw few anti-[Stoneshape] runes in the place, now that he started to really count and notice them. They were certainly there, but there weren’t many of them. Not enough for a mountain of this size, at any rate. Maybe just to protect the stone that was directly near to them?

Elder Arilitilo had explained most of what Ezekiel had seen, as she guided him through the mountain, and other people got out of their way. She even mentioned, a few times, that his accommodations would be his for as long as he desired. She pointed out her offices, and Xue’s offices, and a few other important locations. She pointed out the location of her house on the edge of the third floor; should Ezekiel need to find her and she wasn’t anywhere else, he could leave a message there with the staff.

But she didn’t mention the density of the stone at all.

As the southern pagoda loomed and the open archway ahead led to the first floor, Ari said, “Southern House is the guest house of Clan Star Song, and as such, we have a few people in residence.”

“I am happy to have neighbors. I wasn’t expecting to see the Scion of Devouring Nightmare again, or here, though.”

They stepped into the first floor of Southern House, and the foyer was exactly as opulent as Ezekiel had already seen. Dark wood floors that were not wood at all. Cream colored plaster that covered a stone-or-maybe-not wall. Red and gold running carpets. Round windows with nice views of the surrounding Alluvial District. Vases on pedestals. Running water in a central fountain that was surrounded by a coiling sculpture of Rozeta that reminded Ezekiel of the Rutherford model of the atom, but more stylized and not very atomic at all. Rozeta was chasing hovering pearls, though, so that was kinda funny in an odd sort of way.

Above the sculpture was open air; a hole in the center of the pagoda that ended at the fifth floor. Staircases to the sides of the fountain coiled up and down through the pagoda, twisting around in a double helix, to landings where bedrooms and other rooms waited.

The top two floors seemed to be relaxation spaces, or something like that, with the top floor completely open to the world, and lounges scattered around for people to sit on.

The main kitchen was down here, beyond the sculpture of Rozeta, and already filled with people who were putting together dinner and otherwise. It was evening already, and the operation inside that kitchen was an undertaking, with at least ten cooks already hard at it.

Looking up, the rooms had kitchens, too, but they seemed small. The kitchens of the current occupants on the second and third floor appeared small, and also in disuse. Nobles weren’t supposed to cook for themselves, and Ezekiel wasn’t comfortable with that, but he was glad his room still held the option.

Ari paused inside the pagoda, and Ezekiel paused beside her.

She said, “As you have seen, Scion Hangzi Devouring Nightmare is currently in residence, as well as his younger brother Warzi, his aunt Yorza, and their attendants and guards. High Clan Devouring Nightmare is in town to oversee our progress with chelation, and so they are rooming here, on the second and third floors. You will have the fourth floor to yourself.”

“Huh.” Ezekiel asked, “That kid who was outside our Healing Magic lesson? Warzi?”

Ari gave a small, polite smile, and said, “You may be as informal with them as you wish, Scion Ezekiel, but most of us would call our betters ‘master’, at the very least. Young Master Warzi was indeed in the hallway during our lesson. Scion Hangzi and his aunt, Mistress Yorza, are often found in our potion houses, or whatever other operations they desire to inspect, as is their right as High Clan.”

Ezekiel stepped back, bowed quickly, and said, “Thank you for your guidance.”

Ari glanced outside at the grey skies and the dimming light, then asked, “Do you have plans for dinner?”

“Not yet. Do you have any suggestions?”

“I do.” Ari said, “Our Cooks here are some of the best in the world. If you have anything specific you wish to have, let them know before and they can likely create whatever you wish. The servants in this house are here to see to your mundane needs, at any hour of the day. Please take advantage of our hospitality. It would not be bragging to say that the fare here has satisfied many members of High Clans long before now, and will continue to satisfy all those who come after.” She added, “Besides that, I recommend you try some of the restaurants in Eralis. I am fond of a place called the Open Kitchen, down on Tiralis Road. There is a small guidebook in your room that can direct you to other locations.”

“I look forward to whatever is offered, and whatever I can find.”

“Let me know if I can make something more comfortable for you. Do you have any questions before I go?”

“Yes! What is this dense stone?” Ezekiel tapped the floor with his feet. “It’s layered everywhere, but it’s highly present up here.”

“Ah!” Ari smirked, saying, “This is one of the many secrets of the Clans that I cannot tell an outsider, no matter how much they have assisted us. I can tell you that the stone you are seeing will not warp under [Stoneshape], or any normal application of that line of spells, and that it is much lighter than stone. Many people with a good mana sense say it is dense, but it is merely strong. It is actually rather light. Without it, we would never have been able to build our fortresses as high or as decorative as we have.”

“Oh! That’s… That’s fascinating. Interesting way around that [Stoneshape] problem, isn’t it? Just… Just make a spell that Shapes items that no one else can Shape! That’s some nice lateral thinking. Okay. Well.” Ezekiel said, “Thank you for the guided tour, and the lessons— Ah. What about [Teleport] and such? And [Ward]ing? Are those frowned upon? Inside my rooms?”

Ari smiled softly at Ezekiel’s exuberance. She said, “Now that you are a guest, entering and leaving your rooms is perfectly acceptable, but other than that, please keep the Spatial movements to a minimum. Protecting your rooms is also done at your own discretion. Thank you for coming to Star Song, Ezekiel.” Ari said, “I will be seeing you soon.”

“See you later.”

Ezekiel watched her go, then turned to his people, asking, ‘So that seemed okay?’

Tiffany snorted, then moved ahead, saying, ‘I already know which bed is mine!’

Paul just shrugged, sending, ‘We’re not in any immediate danger.’

Ezekiel smiled at that. Paul’s proclamation was good enough for him!

The three of them went upstairs.

The rooms were great. The neighbors were in their own rooms, but they were all doing their own things behind closed doors, and did not seem to care that other people had moved in above them. Maybe they didn’t hear. The floors and walls were damn solid, and well insulated. They muffled the sound well. Whatever material the walls and floors were made out of was nice.

Ezekiel guessed it was carbon fiber, or some other application of carbon.

Something with great molecular bonding, for sure, since that was one possible answer for how something that looked dense was actually light. Gems and crystals and such were denser than other solids, like wood, because of the structure of the item itself.

But Ezekiel recognized that he might be seeing something that wasn’t there. He wanted someone else to have invented this much Particle Magic long ago, without truly understanding what they had done.

Wouldn’t that be neat!

How would the creator have gone about making such a spell, though?

They’d have to isolate the parts of the 2 kilometer tall trees of the Deep Forest of Glaquin, for sure. Those trees were dense, like this, too.

… And that was where the dragons were.

Huh.

Okay. Shove that thought to the side for a moment.

The walls here were about as dense as trees of the Forest of Glaquin, which might have naturally occurring graphene or carbon nanotubes inside them, as those things were also super dense but able to grow that tall without collapsing under their own weight. Slices of those super large trees were everywhere in Treehome… But… They were heavy as stone. Hm. Okay. Dead line of thought there—

No. Wait.

The slices of trees still had water weight. Which meant that the living trees were still subject to weight concerns. Water was heavy, yo! Did the dried wood weigh less? It likely did. This was something to check out— He could just ask Tiffany.

But those trees were alive, and living things could make themselves lighter through magic, negating their own water weight. Ah. Yes. That’s that mystery solved. Those Deep Forest trees made themselves lighter with magic. Ezekiel saw a lot of magic in those trees all the time.

Gravity was strange on Veird in that once you got below the surface, many things that should collapse, did not collapse. Mountains even floated down there, like they did in the Brightwater, which was 30 kilometers below the surface. But on the surface, things got heavy and sank. Tenebrae’s floating castle was a big deal, because it existed outside of the Underworld. Other large structures on the surface were big deals, too, like this clan mountain under Ezekiel’s feet. Tenebrae’s castle was surely stone, though, wasn’t it?

There were many ways to magic, and many of them were not obvious.

So maybe this stuff here in Star Song’s clan mountain wasn’t carbon nanotubes at all.

Ezekiel discarded that train of thought, and tried another.

The stone here was not ‘stone’, and it probably wasn’t ‘tree’, not exactly, so then it had to be some [Stonetreeshape] spell, or something? ‘Tree’ had to be in there somewhere, since there were ‘root-like’ structures that went through the whole of the mountain… Though they certainly didn’t look like roots. They looked like rebar. But they could be roots, if one were to think outside the box.

Okay. He was getting way off track. And now he had another thought to occupy himself.

Ezekiel had the [Tree of Light] spell and Yggdrasil used that spell on himself all the time. [Tree of Light] made Yggdrasil practically weightless. The large trees of the Forest likely used the same sort of magic, but different. The arbors also used similar magic, for sure.

Yggdrasil was fine for now, as he was underwater, but if he was the same tree, but located outside of water, without [Tree of Light]? He would have collapsed on himself many times over. If Yggdrasil’s [Tree of Light] ever failed, the same thing would happen.

… Ezekiel needed to invent a [Carbon Nanotube and Graphene Treeshape] spell, or something, just to further reinforce Yggdrasil. As a plus, Ezekiel could use such a spell for cheap, impossible to Shape-and-kill-the-people-inside construction. He had seen that tactic used, once, back when he was facing the Halls of the Dead and their Queen Daydropper and they attacked the temporary stone houses of the Odaali-in-Exile government.

It was considered a war crime to Shape a place with people still inside, with the intent to harm. That crime was on the same level as intentional murder, and laying [Force Trap]s around a town.

Even if the dense and light ‘stone’ he was seeing around him was not stone at all, it was a good idea to make graphene lumber; can’t Shape that shit! Not easily, anyway. Nice lateral thinking, old mage of the Highlands, whoever you are!

Anyway!

This was good construction, here. Ezekiel had once heard Al say that stone buildings could only be built from between 10 to 15 floors tall, and this Clan Mountain was much taller and much more complicated than a simple stone building inside Spur.

Yes.

He needed the [Graphene Treeshape] spell he was thinking of, and he needed whatever spell it was that helped them make these ‘clan mountains’, too.

Ezekiel hadn’t been in their new rooms for ten seconds, scoping the place out, thinking about graphene and trees and stones, before he said, “Okay! Looks great. Let me just set up the defenses…” After another thirty seconds, with dense air filling the rooms and [Alarm Ward]s set here and there, he said, “Let’s go check out with the Sour House.”

Magenta light whisked them away to their previous hotel. Clearing out of the Sour House took less than five minutes. Ensuring the proprietor that nothing was wrong took another five; they had just been offered some rooms in Star Song. After the mention of Star Song, and after some light obsequiousness on the proprietor’s part to ensure that Ezekiel was, in fact, not unhappy, Ezekiel departed in another flash of magenta light.

When the proprietor went to clean the rooms, they’d find some extra gold and a thank you note. Ezekiel hoped that was good enough to soothe any hurt feelings.

Reappearing in his new rooms, Ezekiel packed his books and other stuff away in the small bookshelves provided, then went down to the kitchen to find out about dinner.

He got the distinct impression from the kitchen staff that they would prefer to neither be seen, nor heard, and if they had to be, then they’d be more comfortable talking to Ezekiel’s ‘servants’ instead of him.

… He let Tiffany take care of dinner, then. Tiffany gave him a polite nod, as he walked away, and she started talking to the cooks and Cooks, all of whom were suddenly much more relaxed.

Ezekiel went upstairs and made himself tea, then sat down by a window to read about medicine and wait for dinner. Paul settled in on the other side of the room, with his own books.

Soon enough, Tiffany came back, and with a slight smile, proclaimed, “Dinner will be served post haste, master Ezekiel.” In an easier tone, she added, “An hour.”

Ezekiel chuckled, then got back to reading.

Tiffany settled into another chair in the room, and picked up her own book.

– – – –

Ezekiel’s eyes drifted to the small knife he had sitting beside him, in preparation, but he frowned, and looked away again, back to his book, back to reading.

He had grabbed the knife from the kitchen in a spat of whimsy and consideration. But now… He was trying to get over the idea of self mutilation for the sake of magic. It was almost odd how he was having this feeling, now, after everything that had happened to him, and after everything that he had done to himself for the sake of magic. He had even ripped rads right out of his own chest that one time, and that had been no small thing!

That had fucking hurt!

But having unexpected pain from magic creation, while having a spotter, was a lot different than seeing a knife and knowing that the best way to learn healing magic was to stab oneself.

… And then he looked at the knife, again.

Tiffany noticed. She had noticed the knife when she had walked in and then again when Ezekiel had glanced at it, but she didn’t say anything.

She did now. “You gonna stab yourself with that?”

“I am thinking,” Ezekiel said. “It was Ari’s suggestion. But…”

She teased, “You want to stab my arm, instead?”

“Gods no!” Ezekiel exclaimed, “That’s even worse!”

Tiffany laughed. “Want me to stab you?”

Ezekiel considered. “… No.”

Without looking away from his novel, Paul said, “I did not expect you to have this problem.”

“I didn’t expect to have this problem either!” Ezekiel said, “Not the problem of needing to stab myself to have something to heal, nor the problem of being squeamish about it, either.”

Tiffany scoffed, got up, and plucked the small knife from the reading table. The ‘weapon’ wasn’t sized for orcol hands; it was little more than a paring knife. In her hands, it looked like she was holding a box cutter.

She stabbed the meat of her hand.

The knife! Just! Went in!

Ezekiel winced. He shivered. He went, “Erraughhh.”

Tiffany laughed as she retracted the blade and cast a grey magic over her hand. Her wound sealed completely. “Orcols heal better than you small people. It’s really not a big deal if you want to try some healing magic with me.” She held up the knife and exaggerated, “For my next [Strike], I’m gonna try again to drive it all the way through my hand!”

“No no! No.” Ezekiel got up and held out his hand, “Knife please.”

Tiffany smirked, handing him the bloody knife.

First he cast a [Cleanse].

He stared at the gleaming paring knife. Odin twittered on his shoulder, and also on the windowsill and on the back of his chair, unsure. He could do this. He could stab hims—

He stabbed himself. Straight down into his forearm! Full Strength! Wham!

The knife didn’t do jack shit. It skittered off of his magenta [Personal Ward]. The dense air of the room wasn’t a problem, for [Prismatic Ward] didn’t impede the people who were allowed inside. The problem was, he just had a lot more [Personal Ward] than he had the ability to easily damage himself.

Ezekiel said, “Ah. I’m not sure I want to lower my guard, though.”

Tiffany, now serious but playing it off like it was nothing, said, “We are being watched. Have been this whole time. And even before.”

“Yup,” Paul said, flipping the page of his novel.

Ezekiel said, “Kind of an odd person to pick to watch us. Odder still that he’s able to use his mana sense to see through the [Prismatic Ward].”

“He’s uncommonly skilled, but he’s surely not the only one.” Tiffany said, turning her gaze down, then to the left. “You could put up some actual privacy spells, Ezekiel.”

Ezekiel turned and directly stared at the source of the spying, and said, “It’s possible that he’s as worried about us as we are of him, but I’m not sure.”

Down on the second floor, the same white-skinned young kid who had watched over half of Ezekiel’s lesson with Ari, sat on his knees, with his eyes closed and his mana sense wide open. At Ezekiel’s and Tiffany’s words, and at their down-turned gazes, the kid looked up at them, and startled. His eyes went wide as he flopped out of his seated position and scrambled away, screaming, to touch upon a magical item.

A sphere of magic popped up around him. Other people near the kid, mostly guards, noticed the scream and the scramble, and started moving. Yorza rushed out of a side room, toward the kid, to comfort. Hangzi looked up, scanning around, but seeing nothing. No one down there but the boy had a mana sense, or the people who did were good at pretending to not have that capability, for none of them returned Ezekiel or Tiffany’s gaze.

But it didn’t take long for them to get moving upward, anyway. They had surely seen that new people had moved in, but they hadn’t needed to do anything about it until now.

With a sarcastic tone, Paul set down his book and chided, “Are we scaring children now?”

“Hey now!” Tiffany said, “The little shit was staring at us and probably reading Ezekiel’s books.”

Ezekiel said, “I just need to know if it’s a kid with a mana sense, or if it’s a [Polymorph]ed person, meant to spy on us for darker reasons.”

The Scion of Devouring Nightmare, Hangzi, and his obvious aunt, Yorza, rushed up the stairs, likely to inquire, probably rather strongly, about what Ezekiel had done to the younger one, Warzi, who was probably still inside his bubble. All three of them wore white garb with black ribbing; everyone else in those rooms only wore black.

Paul got up and said, “Let us ask them, then.”

Tiffany smiled, saying, “And it looks like dinner is ready, and the cooks don’t know this is happening up here.”

“Then hopefully the prospect of food will get everyone to calm back down, quickly.” Paul said, walking to the front door. “Hopefully.”

He opened the door just in time to see Hangzi and then Yorza rush onto his fourth floor. The two white-skinned demis glanced at Paul in the doorway, then looked past him, to Ezekiel. There was no recognition in the woman’s eyes, but Hangzi was a different story entirely. Hangzi stopped in front of Yorza, eyes wide, his heart suddenly beating hard as a tiny sweat broke out across his forehead. He was completely surprised. Yorza bumped right into him, cutting off whatever it was she was going to say.

Paul stepped to the side of the door, out of the way, and Ezekiel stepped forward, but not out of his room, or out of the dense air of the space.

Yorza ignored whatever was happening with Hangzi, went around him, and came up to Ezekiel. Still two meters away, she demanded, “There will be no spying on my nephew!”

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“Counterspying,” Ezekiel said. “Not spying.”

Yorza went from mad, to apoplectic.

“You dare!” Yorza spat, “You shouldn’t even be in here! Who are—”

“Big Sister,” Hangzi said, stepping to her side. “This is Scion Ezekiel Phoenix; the one who found Tadashi and who dueled Scion Caina to a draw.”

Yorza glanced at Hangzi. Their black-armored guards had run out of the room with them, but they hung back on the stairs, and behind their masters, while Yorza and Hangzi confronted Ezekiel.

Ezekiel said to Hangzi, “Greetings, Scion Hangzi Devouring Nightmare. I did not expect to see you again so soon.”

Yorza turned back to Ezekiel. “I will not have you spying on my nephew. Do it again and I will have your head.”

Hers was not an empty threat.

And wasn’t this a novel situation! This was strange and new enough that Ezekiel wasn’t quite sure what to do with his sudden anger as that anger turned to rage inside his chest. She had threatened him. Openly. It was not an empty threat, but…

Her and what army?

Okay. She had an army, for sure. Somewhere. Wherever!

But even with her army!

He could destroy anything they sent at hi—

Ezekiel calmed himself, breathing out through his mouth, and deescalated, saying, “I merely wish to know if he is a gifted child or an impostor, and if so, are you a party to the facade, or not.”

Yorza’s eyes went wide. She yell—

“Big Sister!” Hangzi shouted. Yorza calmed, slightly, but also not at all. She was hiding her anger, just like Ezekiel was hiding his own. Something passed between the two people of Devouring Nightmare that was neither word nor telepathy, and Yorza stepped back, letting the boy take center position. Hangzi said to Ezekiel, “My brother is gifted. He has gone through many tests to ensure he is who he is. Do not broach this topic again. Do not scare him again. He is merely curious. Let him be curious and do not provoke him again.”

Hangzi seemed to be telling the truth as though his life depended on it. Ezekiel felt mollified, slightly, but he was still angry that Yorza had truly threatened him. But he had threatened Warzi, first, maybe?

Eh! He hadn’t, but the kid certainly took it that way? Little shit shouldn’t be spying on people. What did he expect to happen? What the fuck was this, happening in front of him right now? Some ploy?

Whatever the case, this reaction was over the top. This anger did not need to happen.

Ezekiel tried to let his anger go.

Ezekiel calmly said, “If one stares into the depths, the depths stare back. If he is not prepared for that, then he should close his eyes, or not use his mana sense in such an unprivate area.”

Yorza silently raged behind Hangzi. She was not willing to let her anger go.

Hangzi merely said, “We are aware, but he is special. He does not always understand what he sees, or who he spies, for he is only seven. I ask you for dispensation due to his youth.”

“Fair enough.” Ezekiel said, “But all we did was look at him.”

Yorza said, “Your [Prismatic Ward] intrigued him, and it is our legitimate right to see whatever we wish to see inside Highland territory! So let Warzi look if he wants.” She spat, “And don’t look back! As you say, dangers hide in the depths, and our depths are much deeper than yours.”

Ezekiel decided to…

Not push her.

He said, “Fair enough. Apologies, Mistress Devouring Nightmare.” He turned to Hangzi. “Apologies, Scion Devouring Nightmare.”

Yorza narrowed her eyes, searching for a lie. If she found any it would be a result of her seeing shadows where there were none. Hangzi stared at him too, no less searching than his aunt. On one hand, Ezekiel had no reason to antagonize Devouring Nightmare unduly, but on the other, a child with a mana sense like that only had two possible explanations, and while a prodigy was to be nurtured, a cuckoo was to be killed.