Chapter: 497 – The Sooner the Better

Tala’s attention returned to her iron, her connection to it, and her authority over it. She let out a long sigh, realizing that she had a long way to go. This is a bit tenuous for our more grandiose plans at the moment. I think we need more practice to be able to have as much freedom with the iron as I foresee being possible.

-Well, then. Let’s get to it.-

Indeed.

-You know what this means, right?-

Tala sighed but then nodded before smiling. Snap drills.

And so they began. At unexpected intervals, Alat was going to pull Tala’s aura away from one or more of the iron spheres that Tala would have held about herself.

Tala had to maintain her authority over the bereft iron and keep it from being voided.

The first time—less than five minutes later—Tala failed utterly, the sphere which had been resting against her navel voiding in an instant.

She staggered at the horrific feeling of loss as it threatened to overwhelm her.

That had been her iron.

Tala let out an unconscious growl, the world around her flexing oddly without her realizing it as she unknowingly armored existence around herself against further violation.

Alat noticed—even if she had absolutely no idea how Tala had done it—immediately pulling Tala’s aura away from the iron ball that was resting between her shoulder blades.

The iron didn’t even waver as Tala’s authority on everything around her was beyond question in that moment.

Still, the second alteration so close to the first was a jarring experience, sufficiently so that it pulled Tala back to conscious thought.

She’d felt what she was doing, a broad grin spreading over her face an instant before she dropped to the ground in a pained spasm.

Alat had tricked her into using a ‘muscle’ that she’d not known she had, though she’d been using to a small extent up to that point here and there.

That little use had let it respond to her unconscious will, and as it was used so powerfully and with such a force of will behind it, it was immediately over-strained.

As when she’d first gotten control of her aura, she now had an entirely new something to deal with, that she’d always, unknowingly, been manipulating and working with.

Unfortunately, unlike with her aura, which she’d used to a large extent for years, even without realizing it, this authority was like only moving around within Kit by twitching her leg muscles so that Kit knew how to move her. Now, she was trying to walk in Zeme, and the muscles had to do more than just twitch.

Thus, her current predicament.

As she lay on the ground in metaphysical pain, she felt herself move a bit closer to Paragon. Well, honestly, she’d moved earlier as she had her series of revelations and then put them into action, but she only really noticed in that moment as she strove for—almost—anything with which to distract herself.

-Well, authority manipulation isn’t required to reach Paragon, but I suppose it does line up perfectly with part of what you were missing. It is directly connected to how you relate to and interact with the world around you.-

Tala groaned again, this time in acknowledgement.

A moment later, Rane appeared beside her, having moved himself straight out of the sanctum to be at her side.

He looked her over before sitting down and easily lifting her to cradle her in his arms. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

She grunted, nuzzling in against him.

“I felt your soul… twitch in a way I haven’t felt before.”

She nodded, wetting her lips before explaining everything to him.

He listened carefully until the end before smiling. “First, that is an incredible discovery, and I am in awe at what you’ve been able to accomplish.”

Tala pulled back and gave him a narrow eyed look. “But…?”

His smile grew a hair. “But, that sounds like something that you should have had someone else with you for.”

She blinked a few times in confusion. “Well… I did?”

He shook his head. “Alat is you, Tala. You know that. If you go down, most likely she will as well. Anything capable of disabling you in any meaningful way will most likely affect her, too.”

-Well… rust. I didn’t really consider that.-

Yeah, me neither, as obvious as it is. She sighed but nodded. “I hear you. You’re right. It would have been better to have someone else here. I won’t do it on my own again.”

“Thank you.” He gave her a tight squeeze. “Now, what are your next steps?”

Tala laughed, squirming her way out to give him a kiss. “I love you, and I love that you know where my mind is.”

“Of course. This is nothing compared to some of what I’ve seen you do.”

After talking things through with Rane, Tala and Terry moved their training of the Talons out of Kit so that Tala and Alat could continue training with authority, without relying on Kit, directly. To further facilitate the training, Tala always maintained at least two iron spheres hovering near her, though they started resting against her skin as with the first test.

That way, there was always a Talon nearby who could at least go for help if something went wrong.

She was able to keep the iron under her authority, though she felt the strain of doing so in her very soul.

Over time, she became able to move the spheres to being against her elk leathers rather than her skin. Then, finally, she was able to move them outward at steadily increasing radii.

* * *

Thus, a full six months passed at the site of old Marliweather.

Tala and Rane had Tala’s siblings come out for a visit once during that span—arriving and leaving from teleportation circles in the sanctum—and Tala was even able to engage with those who were pregnant—along with the newer little ones—without being too emotionally drained after they’d all departed.

It was clear that some of those who knew her better noticed that something was off, but no one pressed her, and she still hadn’t chosen to share with anyone apart from Rane. Though some—likely at least Terry—might have started to guess.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Finally, it came time to move on from old Marliweather.

They could have stayed for years longer, slowly working to repair the damaged Reality bit by bit, but they had already done a sufficient variety of tests that the council had more than enough information on which to run in-depth analysis, and that would take years.

Tala had no desire to create, sustain, or even join another research outpost, and she was beginning to find her distractions less distracting.

Even with six months of intense conditioning, the Talons simply couldn’t fight against her all the time, and the last thing she wanted was to somehow make things around old Marliweather worse because she ‘just wanted to do something.’

So, all the roving groups of Talons were recalled, the Ironhold citizenry were ushered back from their countryside ventures, and the gates to Irondale were sealed.

In the end, Tala, Rane, and Terry stood alone in the middle of a rather trampled-down section of the plains, the summer grasses already starting to slowly work their way back upright, even after the recent foot traffic.

Her arm was around his waist, his over her shoulders, and Terry was perched atop Rane’s head—the highest such place currently available.

They all looked north, toward the forest that they couldn’t quite see in that direction.

Terry flickered down to the ground before them, now as tall as Tala, stretching his wings and beak toward the sky before letting out an excited trill.

That made the couple chuckle. It was just about time to leave.

Even so, Tala’s mind was wandering slightly and one thing had stuck in her thoughts, then. It wouldn’t go away, so instead of burying it, she looked up at her husband and verbalized it, “If things had gone differently, our first might have been arriving in the next months.”

Rane could have argued or pushed back, Tala even sensed the slight hesitation that showed that he considered doing just that, but instead, he gave her a squeeze, bent over and kissed the top of her head. “I’m here.”

Those simple—seemingly unrelated—words sent a wave of relief through Tala, and she slumped against him. “I know.”

They stood there for another long moment before they shared a quick kiss and separated.

Terry flickered to Tala’s shoulder and headbutted her cheek, giving a low, comforting chirp.