Chapter: 321 – Welcome to Alefast

Here Begins Book 9

Tala kept up the pace of a light jog in the crisp, night air.

She and Master Cazor had spent the whole day experimenting with iron in various capacities.

In almost every regard, their experimentation simply confirmed what was already suspected about Tala’s control and manipulation over iron.

So, more than anything, it was a relaxing change of pace and a fun new method of training.

Thoughts of the day drew her mind toward the times before, and she cast her mind back over the last month or so, using the regular cadence of her footfalls to lull her into internal contemplations.

She was glad that she’d spent all of the time that she had with her siblings. While she still felt a bit awkward around them, it was gratifying to actually feel like she had younger brothers and sisters once again. It was funny that, in many ways, she was a parental figure to most of them, given her role as an established adult overseeing their rightfully childish play. Maybe more of a crazy aunt.

-Yeah, I could see that.-

She had undeniable authority over them in some regards, especially when they were visiting her, but she also had proven that she didn’t see herself as obligated toward them at all.

-Yeah, definitely more of an aunt than a parent. But, hey! You’re a fun aunt!-

Tala smiled at that but didn’t reply. She didn’t feel the need to.

Apart from her time with her family, her training was coming along well.

While sparring with Terry was an exercise in futility if she were simply focused on victory, she felt like it was a wonderful whetstone upon which to sharpen her reflexes and combat awareness, among so many other facets of her abilities.

Even so, it really was a shame that she didn’t have any venue in which to practice her full suite of abilities and deploy her full arsenal. Hopefully, this next venture would provide such.

That brought her mind to her encounters in the wilds.

The upland tiger had been an insane opponent. The more she’d considered it, the more she was uncertain if she would have been able to triumph, even without restrictions.

She thought she could have, but she wasn’t sure and that worried her. She needed such opponents to push herself, to try herself against, or she was going to stagnate.

There was also the Mage that she’d watched become a fount, and then subsequently sent on to the next world.

She’d been paid basically as soon as the job was done—Mistress Ingrit had seen her memory and instantly verified the job was done, so that hadn’t been a problem. It was an easy, if sparse, source of income that she should keep in mind.

There were also all the half-formed insights that she’d caught glimpses of through the process, but those would take a lot more discussing and fact finding before they bore any fruit.

No, what had been an issue was finding that man’s family.

Alat had taken on that task without even having to be asked, but even with a month’s time, she’d been coming up blank.

-It is rather frustrating. No one matching his description has gone missing or been known to have departed to become a fount in the last three months. I checked with key individuals in Bandfast, Marliweather, Arconaven, and even Retindel. Nothing.-

Why did you restrict it to those cities?

Alat made an irritated sound within Tala’s head. -Because I can’t just blanketly bother city officials across all of humanity over a single Mage. I need to be strategic on who I inquire with and how I follow the threads that I find. People are usually okay with being reached out to individually, even for small things, but if it comes across as a ‘I just messaged everyone, you all solve my issue and tell me the answer’ people would likely get irritated.-

Ahh, yeah, that makes good sense.

-I’m glad that you approve of my methods.- There was a bit of humorous mocking in the alternate interface’s tone.

Tala felt herself smile. Thank you for handling it, Alat.

-It’s what I’m here for. I’m glad to help.-

Their conversation, and Tala’s internal musings, moved on from there as she continued her night-run to Alefast, Waning.

While she had considered staying in Bandfast for the night after her day with Master Cazor, she honestly hadn’t seen a point.

She didn’t need the sleep.

She’d already said goodbye to Lyn and Kannis, and waiting until morning would only delay her arrival, needlessly.

On the funny side, she’d already had to skirt a caravan encampment during her jog. Doing so had reminded her of her own first contract between these two cities and had caused her smile to settle ever more firmly in place.

As to this trip, Tala wasn’t moving as quickly as she could have, but she wasn’t going slowly.

Terry had declined to run with her, so she was truly alone as she traversed the dark landscape.

Fully wrapped in iron, she wasn’t announcing herself as a tantalizing target and her magical resonance was reduced to the extreme. Even so, there were still some limits to the speeds she could safely travel at, if she were inclined to push herself.

I really do need to discuss such things with Master Grediv.

-There does seem to be a lot in that category, doesn’t there?-

Undoubtedly, yeah. There will probably be other powerful Archons in the area too, right?

-Oh, absolutely, yes. By the records and inferences that I can find, there should be at least two hundred Archons who are Refined or more advanced.-

That was… a lot.

–Yeah. I was surprised by the number too. Though, when you think about it, it sort of makes sense. All told, there are just above two and a half thousand Archons who are Refined and higher, across a human population of well over ten million. Let us not forget that Refined and above don’t die of old age. Therefore, there have only been that many… ever. Neglecting, of course those that have been killed, which I would hope is not that many.-

Tala found herself nodding, her smile gone. And even so, they are less than two-and-a-half percent of one percent of humanity.

-‘We.’-

Hmm?

-You should have said, ‘we are less than…’ You’re one of them.-

That was… an oddly horrifying thought.

On one hand, she didn’t feel very special. She knew of quite a few beings and creatures who were her equals or even betters in a fight, and that didn’t factor in other situations such as topical expertise.

On the other hand, she knew that she’d had an unusually successful road. The challenges that had come her way had been overcome by the skin of her teeth alongside her obsession with healing and defensive magics.

If hers was the only way to reach Refined, she’d be surprised there were even as many as there were.

The longer road is easier in some senses, I would guess.

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-Fewer sheer cliffs from which to fall and die is my estimation, but the wandering paths seem to rarely point toward the summit.-

Yeah, that’s a good way to put it.

Still, looked at in another light, having two-and-a-half thousand people as magically advanced as she was, or more…

It’s no wonder that the major Houses don’t attack us. We’re terrifying.

-But not strong enough to fight them all, and they would unite against us if attacked.-

Hence the balance that Master Xeel explained to us. Tala felt like that had been so long ago.

Thinking once again about combat effectiveness, she had to admit something else: There were those less magically advanced than her who would be able to match her as well. Most of them had depths of knowledge and experience that she was decades from even beginning to approach.

A smile was beginning to creep back onto her face. We’re doing pretty good, aren’t we?

-Humanity is on a slow track, but yes. I think that we’re going to be fine if we can keep on keeping on.-

Tala felt her back straighten just a bit at that idea. Her people were doing well, in the grand scheme of things, and she was a part of that.

She and Alat discussed dozens of little things that had been plaguing the edges of their mind as Tala took her time traversing the terrain.

She also took a bit to read while she moved as well, but all told, the journey was mainly a relaxing little jog.