Chapter: 489 – Gifts!

Tala and Rane sat back down in their thrones as Tala’s family, Master Leighis, and her siblings’ parents moved back to mingle with the other guests.

Tala was still a bit emotional at both the thoughtfulness and the implication of her siblings’ gift.

-I’m making special note to get updated aura records of any future nieces and nephews.-

Thank you, Alat. I know that will mean as much to you as to me, and I appreciate it.

-Of course.-

She willed the depiction to hang on her dining and sitting room wall, and it moved at her desire. It likely wouldn’t stay there forever, but it was a good place for it at the moment. There, at least, she would see it many times each day.

Up next in the ‘big present’ line were Mistress Cerna and Master Clevnis.

Bows and initial greetings were exchanged before Master Clevnis spoke on their behalf. “We considered for a long time as to what to get you, and I think you’ll like what we came up with. This is from our entire Defender Unit.”

Mistress Vanga, Master Girt, and Master Limmestare gave waves from among those watching, smiling excitedly.

Master Clevnis’s grin widened as he pulled out a large crate from his own soulbound storage.

It was about two feet by three feet, with a depth of close to another two feet.

It thumped as he set it on the ground, sending vibrations up through the throne.

Alat was blocking Tala’s threefold perception from telling her what was inside, for which Tala was equally miffed and grateful. She wanted to know what it was, but the surprise would be better this way.

Master Clevnis opened the top with a flourish, revealing six, irregular, rounded cylinders, individually padded within the chest. Each was roughly a foot in diameter and nearly two feet long.

He pulled one out, and Tala instantly noticed the dark gray coating on the outside.

“This,” he paused for dramatic effect, “is a remote flier. Controlled via Archive connection, woven through with magics that allow incredible speed, maneuverability, and even stationary hovering at need. The exterior is coated in pure iron. There is no carbon in the shell, making it a near-perfect magical reflector and insulator. That makes it both more efficient and essentially invisible to magesight and the equivalents while essentially eliminating magical resonance.” He grinned widely. “There is also a small cavity within, large enough to store up to six of your pairs of siege orbs fully insulated within their own pure-iron bay, which allows singular or complete deployment.”

He gestured at the crate.

“These six are our gift to you, but the greater gift is the schematics and research that went into their construction. You can easily commision more at need, iterate on the design, or whatever you desire.”

Rane had an obviously excited gleam in his eyes. “Thank you, Master Clevnis, we will make great use of these, I am sure.”

Mistress Cerna cleared her throat, seemingly feeling the need to clarify something about the gift, “I would like to point out that we did not incorporate any perceptual spellforms, trusting in Tala’s own magics to make that a trivial concern. As those are generally the most difficult magics for this type of project, it did render our efforts easier than expected, hence six fliers instead of just one.”

She winked at the last, though she still seemed a bit embarrassed that they’d used Tala’s own capacities to make their gift to her less expensive. Regardless, Tala laughed. “Thank you, Mistress Cerna, Master Clevnis.” She then met the eyes of the rest of their unit standing nearby. “Thank you, Mistress Vanga, Master Limmestare, and Master Girt.”

Tala and Rane also thanked their unit’s families for the gift, gratitude and hugs being exchanged all around.

After they settled back in their thrones, they returned their attention to the now much shorter line.

Next was a nondescript man who gave a shallow bow.

Tala and Rane returned it, with her addressing the man on their behalf, “Master Lisa, it is a pleasure to have you in attendance.”

The disguised fox-man gave a vulpine grin. “It is my pleasure to be here. I appreciate the invitation.”

“Of course.”

“I present a gift to you on behalf of your… less standard residents of Irondale.”

Tala understood that to mean her non-human residents, and she gave a slight frown as she leaned forward in interest.

“With your permission, I will circulate knowledge of your Irondale among my kin, along with the attestations of three… irregulars. That will likely create a bit of a pilgrimage, and from each arrival, you should be able to extract resources, knowledge, and many other potential boons of various kinds.” When he said the word ‘boon,’ it had a particular emphasis that carried obvious weight.

What they offered was a gift, but it wasn’t a universally positive gift. There would be danger and difficulty, but it should work out for the best in the end.

“Also, if you do not wish for this, I will simply grant you a minor boon, myself, for use when you feel the need.”

Tala gave a bow of thanks. “Truly generous, my good Lisa.”

Lisa wasn’t a Sovereign by any means, but he was old, knowledgeable, skilled, and powerful.

Rane, Tala, and Lyn had a quick—Archive and alternate interface aided—conversation, which really meant that Rane, Enar, Tala, and Alat had a discussion, came to a decision, and ran it by Lyn, who agreed. Tala smiled. “We would be honored for you to inform your kin of Irondale. Would you consent to be the face of Irondale to them, should any come?”

Lisa had a momentary flicker of something across his generic human features. Then, he bowed low. “It would be my pleasure.”

With that, he moved off, back into the crowd, stopping near Master Cazor. Tala briefly made eye contact with the Mage Hunter and smiled. He smiled in return.

He looked a bit out of his element and a bit off kilter, but he seemed happy to be there, and they were definitely glad that he’d come.

Next up was Ron from the Irondale reborn, some of whom were in attendance. He bowed deeply. “Congratulations on your union. For you, Mo—” He hesitated, seemingly remembering her dislike of being referred to as ‘Mother’ and the fact that it was her wedding. “Mistress Tala, Master Rane. We of the Irondale guard,” yet again he spoke as if he’d wanted to call them something else, “present to you this gift.”

He held out a large, flat wooden box. Tala took it and opened it to reveal… seeds. “There are a lot of seeds in here, good Ron.”

“Yes, Mistress Tala. There are a thousand seeds each from as many different flowers as we could source.”

Her eyes widened at that. “That is quite the gift.”

“It will require some nurturing, but we know you to excel in that department.” He straightened, showing a cheeky grin.

Rane smiled in turn. “Thank you, Ron. This is the type of gift that will continue to give for years to come.”

They exchanged a few more words before he stepped back.

And that seemed to be the end of the ‘big’ gift givers, until a small form trotted out from among the legs of the onlookers.

A beautiful, black cat with purple eyes came forward with a dead mouse in its mouth. There were bits of white in the feline’s fur around its eyes and mouth, and it didn’t seem to be moving as spryly as it had last time that Tala had taken note of it. Even so, it seemed healthy and hale.

The cat laid the mouse before Rane and Tala before sitting back on its haunches.

There was a moment of silence before Tala leaned forward and scratched the top of the cat’s head. “Thank you, I suppose.”

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The cat meowed in seeming reply and then trotted off without a backward glance.

Rane was giving Tala an odd look. “What was that?”

She shrugged. “Just a cat. She got in here when it was being built, and she wanders about. It’s a bit sad that she’s getting up there in age.”

He gave her a flat look. “Tala, that cat just brought you a wedding present.”

Tala shrugged again. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve examined it thoroughly, I can see its entire being right now. Alat and Kit have seen everything it’s ever done in here. It’s just a cat.”

Rane gave her a skeptical look, then shook his head. “If you say so.”

It is just a cat, right?

-Yes. There is absolutely nothing magical about it. You saw it, it’s visibly older than before. It’s just a mundane cat… if a seemingly very intelligent one.-

Good. Tala sighed, glancing around. Why do I get the feeling that no one will believe that…?

-Because you grow in wisdom every day.-

She laughed at that then stood, Rane rising at her side. “Thank you, one and all. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to eat and get on with the celebration!”

There was a round of cheering at that, and they got down to celebrating.

* * *

Three days later, the last guest had departed the sanctum, and Tala and Rane stood in the Alefast Archon Compound, ready for the promised assessment of their advancements.

Afterward, Master Grediv would present the hold for Kit’s consumption.