Chapter: 513 – Details of Our Trade

Tala and Rane drifted up through the protected interior of the expansive, incredibly powerful cloaking field, toward the village in the sky.

Specifically, they were headed toward a receiving platform on the near edge of the giant structure, large enough for a couple of caravan wagons to park side by side upon.

Not that they could get up here without insane difficulty.

Tala looked down at the more than a mile of open air below them—following the connection with her soul—to where Terry was seemingly still chasing the Baba Yaga. -He is really irritated that that creature attacked you all then tried to scamper away. He’s been trying to corral her toward the north as it’s the way she seems least interested in going.-

How is he tracking her?

-It’s unclear? He says he knows where he needs to be.-

Tala hesitated internally. Is it just an application of his concept, then? That’s not something that he’s ever been able to direct. It just happens.

-I know. He’s not said more at the moment, but it was the exact wording and sense I got from him when he was talking about his concept.-

She had a momentary thrill. Has he figured out how to actually control it? Or at least direct it a little?

-That might be the case, but at the moment he’s a bit too distracted to say more.-

Maybe something that Anatalis taught him?

-Could be, yeah.-

If that was so, it was incredibly exciting… and a bit nerve wracking. His concept had kept him alive and directed him to her several times. What if it no longer was as effective once he was influencing it? What if he pointed it in a direction in which he couldn’t come out alive. I guess with our bond he doesn’t need it to be as foolproof as it has been. He has some room to experiment.

-Yeah… it makes me a bit nervous too.-

Indeed… Regardless, Tala needed to focus on the upcoming meeting. She was already coordinating with Lyn, but she felt like popping the other woman out too soon could be detrimental.

There was a large door out onto the receiving platform, and Tala’s threefold sight saw several people heading their way, seemingly hoping to arrive just in time to greet Tala and Rane.

We aren’t in the most presentable of states. A ripple of will went through her elk leathers, straightening them out as well as—probably unnecessarily—weaving some iron through for added defense and readiness.

Still, she and her husband had picked up some water as they passed through the not-quite-clouds on their way up, and Tala took the moment to aspect mirror the correct features to shed that liquid from herself. As the water sluiced off of her, she glanced toward her husband. I shouldn’t leave him wet.

With an instinctive act of will, she mirrored the aspects onto him, and the moisture cascaded off of him as well.

Rane’s eyes widened, and he looked her way in obvious surprise.

Why would he have that reaction… Her eyes widened, and she then barked a laugh before feigning nonchalance. “Well, we are one, my soulbond.”

He grinned back. “I knew you were holding out on me.” With a wink, he kissed the top of her head. “Congratulations, my love. That is a meaningful stride forward.”

She squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

The air was quite cool up here, though as it was late summer, it wasn’t uncomfortably so—and it wouldn’t have been, even if she had been mundane.

The group that was just now exiting out onto the platform was a man flanked by a woman and a man. The man in front was dressed a bit more nicely, but it wasn’t to the extent of jewels or embroidery. It was more that the material was just slightly nicer and less worn, and the pieces seemed like a bit more effort had been put into their creation and ongoing care.

Huh… I don’t know that I’ve noticed such details before.

-Your perception has improved again, not necessarily in detail—I think you could have noticed these things before—but in the breadth of it. You’re taking in more details across your vision more easily than you did before rather than more detail in a specific area, or smaller details.-

Huh…

-Precisely.-

The second man was fairly obviously meant to look the part of a guard, even though he was only equivalent to Fused in apparent advancement where the man in front was seemingly on a level with Refined.

The woman’s aura—what she allowed to be seen—was orange-yellow as well.

So, two Mature and an Elder. Tala used the arcane ranking in her own mind because these were arcanes.

The woman was a green hue-man, where the men were both bird-kin of various kinds.

The guard evoked the feeling of a falcon and the leader an eagle even if Tala couldn’t pin down why those particular species came to mind.

Both still had human-like faces, with incredibly fine feathers across their features in place of the miniscule hairs that humans had. The leader even had longer, more mature feathers creating a sort of beard.

How would a feather-beard even work? It’s not like them plucking out the feathers would create an un-bearded look, and cutting them would look… odd?

-Probably either a species or an individual difference. But now is hardly the time to consider avian arcane grooming habits.-

That’s… fair.

The woman’s black hair was pulled back into a tight bun, the restrictiveness obviously mandated by the winds at this elevation. In fact, even as Tala watched, a strand was teased free by the tumultuous currents on the platform, and the hairs began whipping about.

Tala’s own hair was maintained in a perfect, thick braid, not a single strand coming loose. Oh, the benefits of having all my hair be exactly the same length.

Rane brought them in for a soft landing before retracting his magics. He didn’t let go of her hand, and she didn’t try to pull it free, enjoying the simple pleasure of the contact.

They both gave shallow bows as even with their veiled power—the veils having been rebuilt after their fight with the Baba Yaga—they were more advanced than those here.

The three bowed in return, matching the depth of Rane and Tala’s, despite their clearly greater power.

Rane took it in stride, and Tala saw it for the declaration of independence from the couple that the arcanes likely intended. Sure, Rane and Tala were more advanced, but this wasn’t their city.

A smile quirked at the corner of her mouth even as Rane oriented on her. This was her show, after all. “Greetings, I am Tala, this is my husband Rane. We come in search of information and trade.”

The man bowed. “I am William, and I am Prime Helmsman of the village of Sunnydale. My adjunct here goes by Anne, and my head of security is Liam.”

The other two bowed again as they were introduced.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Welcome to our home, don’t mind the monsters below.” He gave a roguish smile at the last.

Tala glanced around, taking in the fact that they were above most of the clouds. “Sunnydale? I can see the reason for the name.”

“Indeed.” His smile shifted to one of polite discourse.

“Thank you for the welcome. We offer you our pledge of peace, so long as hospitality is returned for our good faith.”

All three visibly relaxed, William speaking for them once again. “That is good to hear. We have had no ill-will toward nor negative interactions with the cycling cities, but your presence was not expected.” After a moment’s pause he half turned, gesturing back to the door. “Shall we take this meeting to somewhere more comfortable?”

Tala and Rane easily agreed.

They were led down the utilitarian corridor—obviously mainly used for the unloading of whatever vehicles or other means of transport that had come to the platform. Even so, ‘utilitarian’ on a flying village was still something to see.

It was of wooden construction, well worn and well sealed. The fasteners were brass and copper, seemingly artfully interspersed among the light-colored, tight-grained boards.

The construction and material was such that none of them caused even the slightest creak as they proceeded, and Tala’s threefold sight saw a network of structure below and around them which provided support and strength with a minimal amount of material.

-That makes sense. They are keeping this all up in the air, and that can’t be free. Keeping weight down where it’s possible just makes sense.-

Indeed.

Once they had walked a bit down the passage, Tala asked a rather important question, “My own adjunct stands ready to join us, at your leisure, and she may be more able to discuss the details of our negotiations than I.”

William gave her a side-long look. “Is she an adjunct in the human sense, or as the Major Houses do?”

Tala grinned in return. “The human, though she is not without power of her own.”

The Helmsman nodded slowly. “Very well. Should we send a craft to retrieve her?”