Chapter: 484 – Rather Interesting Lives

Tala and Rane walked through Marliweather, enjoying the late spring day.

Irondale had been properly anchored, kicking off the flurry of trade and traffic that had become a regular occurrence whenever Irondale was anchored anywhere but Alefast. This time, there were another one hundred immigrants—across a few families—who would be coming in for final discussions and approval.

Apparently a good chunk of these gateless had come from as far away as Manaven. Lyn had guessed that most of the closer gateless who would be at all inclined to join Irondale had already done so.

Terry was frolicking in the wilds surrounding Marliweather, clearing out the dangerous arcanous creatures as something to do while Tala and Rane did what they had to do. The Marliweather Guard were incredibly grateful for his help, and that actually seemed to be meaningful to him these days, but Tala could tell that he was struggling to find a true challenge.

Charity hunting will only tide him over for so long…

Lupe was settling in well, and Lisa’s house construction had slowed as a result of him spending a good chunk of his time with the glass-woman.

-He still doesn’t really trust her.-

That’s understandable, given what she is, but he should know that we’re watching.

-He does, but I think spending the time with her makes him feel better.-

That’s fair. I can’t say we’re really any different.

Tala glanced toward Rane. “You know, all this dealing with Lupe—a glass phoenix—has me thinking about the clockwork thunder.”

“Oh?” Rane raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”

“Well, we’ve had a few good outcomes from cells, like the deal with Lupe. I was hoping that the clockwork thunder had a good outcome too.”

“That was the one Howlton was hunting for, a few years back?”

“Yeah. I mean, they might still be for all I know. It’s funny, because I feel like I now understand what they were actually doing. They were looking for the atrium to the cell. They wanted the ‘bribe.’”

“That was my understanding, too.”

She frowned slightly in thought. “You know, I’m still confused how it could have been so apparent on the outside of the cell. Isn’t the purpose of cells to fully contain the magical threat?”

“Yeah.” Rane’s eyes gained a far off look. “Obviously, we don’t really have any record of prisoners in the outer plains, but we do have some instances of bleed-through in the gated-human wilds. There was a heat-based being whose imprisonment in a cell—which was hidden in a hill—created the effect of a constantly flowing mini volcano, even though the hill wasn’t active in that way. The cell didn’t actually cause any sort of eruption. It just melted the rock and created a constant trickle of lava.”

“Oh? That’s kind of crazy. We haven’t dealt with any cells containing prisoners who are that powerful.”

Rane made his ‘that’s not quite right’ face. “Well, from what I understand, it’s not about power. It’s more to do with being so deeply connected with a concept, to the point that their mere presence forces the amplification of it. Even their proximity brings it to the forefront.”

“Well, I hope that Pareshti knows what he’s doing. I’d hate to find out Howlton has been destroyed somehow, or worse, that the clockwork thunder was freed because of Howlton.” She hesitated, checking her own prioritization of cataclysms. Yeah, she would prefer a town full of people she didn’t know get destroyed—knowing that most would probably survive—than a being like the clockwork thunder get free… whatever it actually was.

Rane grunted, then got a contemplative look. “You know, we could go and check it out.”

She gave him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

He gave her a little smile. “Well, we’ve got our honeymoon after the wedding. What if we took that time to travel a bit? I’d like to see the plains outside the encircling forests, maybe explore a moving city or two?”

Tala felt her expression brighten. “Really? That could be amazing. We’d need to pass through the northern forest, though. I don’t particularly want to fight my way through the Leshkin again.”

“Agreed. So, we could take up the pack on their invitation to visit as well.”

She grinned at the idea. “Terry will love that, yeah.”

“Then outward to the plains to explore and track down Howlton?”

“That sounds amazing. Thank you for suggesting it, Rane.”

He grinned in return. “Of course. It sounds like a great adventure with which to start our adventure.”

She chuckled then pulled to a stop as they reached their destination. Right… that’s why I wasn’t in the best mood, this is why I wanted to distract myself.

-Yeah. I figured that I should let you do so.-

Thanks… But now she was here.

She and Rane were at her siblings’ father’s house.

Rane hugged her around the shoulders. “Well, we’re here.”

Tala leaned into the embrace. “Yeah…”

It was a beautiful house, clearly demonstrating how much the family had come up in the world in the years leading up to its construction. It was well outside of the ‘new build’ timeframe now, but it was also clearly being well maintained.

Tala had seen it before—practically every time she was in Marliweather when she came to pick up one sibling or another—but she’d never been inside herself. They generally watched for her and came out when she arrived.

Until now.

She was here to go inside.

She took a deep, calming breath and strode forward.

Rane released her as she moved and followed a half-step behind. He was there for moral support more than anything.

Tala hesitated one last time before she straightened and knocked on the front door.

Before the second rap, he opened the door.

There was a beat of silence as they locked eyes. Finally, he broke the silence, giving a tentative smile, “Hello, Mistress Tala. Master Rane. Would you care to come inside?”

They nodded in agreement and followed him inside. Tala swallowed once and gilded herself. “Thank you for having us, Alan.”

Alan stiffened slightly at the sound of his own name, but then nodded, relaxing a bit once again. “Of course, Mistress. It is our pleasure to host you.”

A woman’s voice came from deeper inside the house. “Are you still waiting in the entry hall, dear? She’ll get here when she gets here. Waiting next to the door won’t make it any faster.”

Alan reddened slightly. “Marsha, love. They’re here.”

“Oh?” She poked her head out into the hallway and saw Tala and Rane. “Oh! Welcome Mistress Tala, Master Rane.”

She gave a deep bow.

“We are honored to host you. I laid out tea, coffee, and some light accompaniments. Would you care to sit?”

Tala nodded and gave a small smile. “Yes, thank you.”

She saw where they were being led, and began manifesting iron within her aura around the chair that she would sit in, in order to reinforce it. She wasn’t too heavy these days, but it was still unreasonable to expect someone to have chairs capable of easily holding more than four hundred pounds.

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-You could just use your iron to hold you up some.-

Yeah, but that takes active mental control. I don’t want a slip of focus to ruin a piece of their furniture. This won’t necessarily be an emotionally or mentally easy conversation.

-True. That’s fair and kind I suppose.-

Thank you. I’m trying.

-You could reduce your own gravity?-

Yeah, then I’d move oddly. I don’t want to be bounding around if I have to move.

-Right.-

Sure enough, they were led to the sitting room, and Tala was able to take the chair that she’d subtly reinforced.

The chair still creaked a bit, but not dangerously so. Just like when I’m at a restaurant.

-Though, you don’t have to reinforce those as much.-

That’s true.

-Don’t you get tired of having to be mindful?-

Tala gave a bit of an internal shrug. I chose to be this weight. I think it’s good to be so, but that’s my choice. It would be ridiculous for me to expect others to bear the negative side of my choice.