Chapter: 508 – Hidden

Tala set her teacup back on the table between herself and the arcane, Lisa, feeling quite comfortable in the chair sized—and supported—for her in the fox-kin’s home within Irondale. “Thank you for the tea. It is excellent. And thank you, again, for meeting with me.”

Lisa gave a nod. “Of course. You are most welcome.” He hesitated for the briefest moment then continued, “Before anything else, I must congratulate you, Mistress Tala, on advancing to Paragon. To be so Honored is rare for your species and your very existence makes all those you know and love safer. I imagine you are quite excited.” He smiled kindly, still keeping his teeth back. “I must also thank you for the increase in available power. I never imagined that you could put my little aspect-removing trinket to such use as you have, but I, for one, am grateful for your altruistic application of the magics.”

She gave a small smile around her next sip of tea, only answering after setting her cup back down. “Thank you, master Lisa, and you are most welcome. I would say that the advancement was a long time coming…”

As she trailed off, the fox-kin chuckled. “But it really wasn’t. Be careful, young one. Often those with such meteoric rises have similarly spectacular falls.”

He gave a contemplative look, and Tala let him consider for a moment.

“You are… I would definitely say that you are in a unique position out of all those I’ve ever heard of, and I am not referring to your level of advancement or your age. Never before has an Archon of gated-humanity been acknowledged by a Major House as an official member, let alone one with true power.” He gave her a careful look. “I do not know how your story will end, Mistress Tala, but I am eager to see how it progresses. Honestly, this—more than even the safety and potential longevity of your hold here—prompted my decision to accept your invitation. If you do not waste what you have earned—through competence and the twists of fate, both—you could be the herald of a new age on this continent.”

Tala coughed in embarrassment, took another long sip, and then gave a slight nod of acknowledgement before changing the subject with little social grace, “So, how are you settling in? Your home is mostly complete, I trust?”

He waved that off. “The physical rooms are done, of course, but properly aligning the other aspects—and getting them just right—will be the work of decades. Even with that project ahead of me, I am enjoying the greater freedom life here affords me. Thank you for that.”

Tala gave another nod of acknowledgement.

“In that vein, several of my kinsmen have been in contact with me in the last months—many seemingly concerned for my safety and freedom of movement—and I am happy to report that we do not have to be concerned that a motley squad of four-dimensional crafters will be breaking in here to rescue me any time soon.”

She blinked at him a few times. “Was… was that a concern? Wait, any time soon? It’s a concern for later?”

“It was a concern briefly, and my kin tend to be beings of whimsy and impulse. The mood could take them later on and then? Who knows.” He gave a vulpine smile and sipped his tea, prompting her to do likewise.

As she lowered the cup once again, she found her frown melting away. The tea really was fantastic. “I see. Well, thank you for heading that off… even if just for now.”

“Of course. Consequently, however, there are some thirty foxes who have expressed interest in immigrating here, all with various demands and requirements.”

Her eyes widened. “Thirty? That’s… That’s a lot, isn’t it?”

“Oh, absolutely, but there was never really a chance of them all coming.”

“Oh?” Her expression did a reversal, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Of course. One—my seventeenth cousin… I’m not actually sure how far removed—specifically asked that I and all the humans agree to depart, so that she could take up residence.”

That caused one of Tala’s eyebrows to rise. “Seriously?”

“Am I serious? Yes, that was the request. Was she serious? Likely not. I do not recall her being so foolish as to have actually considered that a possibility. More likely than not, she saw it as a test. She put a half-considered attempt in to test if this was a trap, something that would draw in our kind and consume them, putting out any bait necessary.” He sighed. “A clumsy check, but likely a good-hearted one. She is still so young, barely into her majority.”

“Oh? How old is she?” Tala was genuinely curious as she didn’t really know much about the fox-kin.

“I believe that she just turned one-hundred-fifty-three this past summer.”

Tala’s eye twitched. “And that’s barely considered an adult?”

“Of course. For our species, a hundred and fifty years is hardly enough to grant the wisdom needed to have anything meaningful to say. We reach physical maturity in our eighties, but that is hardly a reasonable measure for wise action, nor does the ability to breed mean you have anything meaningful to say or that should be listened to.”

“I see…”

Lisa smiled at her, letting the almost awkwardness hang in the air for a moment before he added, “Of course, we don’t use that same measure for other races.”

Tala grunted once, not really having a meaningful response.

“Regardless, you asked for this meeting. What can I do for you? Or were you simply hoping to meet in order to ask after my situation here?”

She hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. “We can get to the purpose in a moment. I think that it is important to know, will any of your kin be joining us?”

He gave a slow nod. “I am working with Mistress Lyn to accommodate the reasonable requests. I suspect that we will have five of my kind join us within the next two months, likely closer to the end of that time. When they have established themselves… I suspect there will be even greater interest.”

“So soon? Do we need to go anywhere to pick them up? Or…?”

“No, no. I will have an arrival anchor by that time…” When he saw non-comprehension in her eyes he added. “Ahh, yes. That will be a new concept to you. Consider it like your teleportation receiving arrays, but a bit less… physically destructive. We can launch ourselves through four-dimensional space with an incredible degree of precision if we have a proper arrival anchor to shoot for, and in that way our travel can be almost as fast, if quite a bit more dangerous to the unwary.” He took another sip. “Incidentally, we would not allow any child to take such a trip as there is too much that could go wrong and would need correction for a kit’s safety to be assured. Regardless, I am nearly done with my arrival anchor, and I will be facilitating the arrival of my kin in concert with Mistress Lyn.”

Tala frowned slightly. “Lyn approved this?”

“She did, as I’ve said. As a point of note, the anchor will also be my means of emergency egress in the event of disaster.”

“Oh? It can fling you toward another anchor?”

“…Technically no. I would need a launching array for that—which isn’t hard to build, even if I don’t intend to—but as there are currently no other arrival anchors, that is a trivial issue.”

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She frowned further. “Then, I don’t think I understand.”

“In the event of an emergency, I will be flung off into Zeme… somewhere. I will emerge in a somewhat random location and start over.” He shrugged. “It isn’t a good solution, but it is far superior to death… and your human teleportation magics do not play well with our soul-structure.”

“I see.” She felt like they were very far afield, and Lisa seemed to agree.

“So, with that settled, may I ask what brought you to my door today? As pleasant as your company is, I do have much work to be about, eventually.”

“Yes, arrival anchors, finishing your home, continuing to expand your artifact business.”

“Indeed.” He took another sip, waiting.

“Well, I was curious as to why you refused Anatalis’ invitation the other day.”

Lisa cocked his head to the side. “If the House of Blood were to send an official invitation to you, asking for your attendance at a dinner party, would you attend?”

She hesitated. “I… No?” She frowned yet again. “Maybe?”

That caused one of the foxes eyebrows to rise. “I see. You have surprised me.”

“Well, regardless, I don’t see how this answers my question. You were never a member of the Pack… Right?”

Lisa shook his head. “No, no. We are not… predatory enough to have ever received a test, let alone an invitation.”