Chapter: 523 – But of Course

Tala and Rane took slow sips of their drinks as they chatted a bit more with the leaders of Astraya, the conversation continuing until a bit after all four had nothing but empty cups before them.

Finally, Mistress Cae and Master Kalfeir both stood, prompting Tala and Rane to do the same.

Terry flickered back to Tala’s shoulder where he shimmied down into a comfortable perch—he’d been sitting right up against the front view window, seeming to enjoy watching the world go by before him.

Master Kalfeir gave a genuine smile. “We hope that your stay is a profitable and enjoyable one for you, and if there is anything that we can do for you, please let us know. We have not forgotten where we came from, even if we have not returned in some time.”

Mistress Cae gave a shallow bow. “And do be careful. There are a few hot-heads here from the House lands to the south, and they don’t particularly like gated. Those in charge of the various groups are generally good at keeping them in line—otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed to stay—but I don’t want you to be caught unawares.”

Tala immediately looked after Lyn. “My adjunct—”

Mistress Cae waved that off. “Out here, people sometimes get as far as Fused with enough frequency that such won’t mark her as a Cycler. You two, however? With your veil dropped, it’s unmistakable.”

Rane frowned. “What of you two?”

Master Kalfeir huffed. “We are known as the leaders here. No one is so far gone into bigotry that they will attack their hosts.”

Tala found herself nodding along at the obviousness of that. The Houses were often depraved, but they had their own type of honor and courtesy which they held sacred. Rane gave a slow nod to that.

Master Kalfeir met each of their gazes for a long moment. “You are welcome to fight duels or in other sanctioned clashes, but I will be very displeased if you destroy part of my home, or attack any outside of the bounds of propriety.”

As he spoke, Tala felt the level of authority he possessed over Astraya, not as an oppressive weight, but as an unambiguous promise and statement. His word was law, and it would not be violated.

They bowed again, and Tala gave what she hoped was a disarming smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Then we look forward to seeing you around our fair town.”

Tala and Rane took that for the dismissal that it was and departed.

As the door swung shut behind them, Rane turned to Tala. “Do you need me for anything?”

She shook her head, “Not at this moment. I just need to go place the gate for Ironhold… as soon as Lyn confirms where it needs to be.”

“Alright. I’ll get back to what I was doing then.” He gave a wink, leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, then vanished with a flexing of his will.

Terry trilled at her implicatively.

“Do you want to go to the sanctum, or Ironhold?”

He gave a squawk that conveyed that such was a silly question.

She opened a small portal into the sanctum, and he flickered through.

That complete, Tala closed the portal, replaced her armor, and headed toward the marketplace, where Lyn had communicated the portal to Irondale should be placed.

-And she just confirmed it. Apparently Cait just gave final verification and authorization.-

Alright, then.

It was a simple matter to find the central market. Most corridors and ‘main’ paths seemed to be oriented such that reaching that central hub was as easy as possible.

When Tala arrived, she found it to be a three story affair, open to the air above, with two massive passages going out toward the sides on the lowest level, clearly used for moving larger goods in and out.

An odd elevator of sorts was in place to take anything large—or a large number of people at a time—up to the various levels and even to Astraya’s roof.

Each of the three levels was ringed with a thoroughfare that seemed as fit for a small wagon as for a walkway, allowing easy access to the more than twenty holds that Tala was able to perceive.

It was also immediately apparent that the higher up a hold was, the more value it was given, at least if the ornamentation around the entries was any indication.

Or the higher holds are residence oriented, and lower down are less so or not at all.

-That stands to reason given where Irondale is to be placed.-

Ironhold was authorized for placement on the second level up, as it was a residence hold but also had business to be about.

The spot for it was obvious once Alat pointed it out. It was a stretch of plain wooden wall directly opposite her current position, across the large open area.

It wasn’t the only such stretch of wall, but there weren’t that many.

With an easy extension of her aura and authority, she encompassed the space in question, and opened the portal to Irondale.

That caused a commotion among the couple of hundred people moving from hold to hold or passing through this central hub of the town. To be fair, part of that might have been the fact that the portal seemed to open on its own, with no one nearby to have been the cause.

Irondalians immediately stepped out to set up signage, and within a minute—even as Tala watched—a steady trickle of people began moving in and out.

Most of those who went in came back out quickly, either with smiles on their faces, muttering excitedly, or both.

They’d most likely be back now that they’d seen at least some of what was on offer in this mysterious new hold.

Tala took a moment to people-watch. Here at the hub of activity, most of those moving around were human—almost all of those were gateless—but close to thirty percent of those she saw were still arcane, and at least a small portion of those had an air of dislike toward the humans whom they passed.

Outsiders, then?

-That seems likely. I doubt any with that attitude would stay in a place ruled by humans for long, at least not if they had any other option.-

It is interesting how hard it is to get rid of biases.

-Like the fact that you keep calling them arcanes within our mind?-

Tala shrugged internally. It’s what they are.

-And some find that offensive.-

Well, then they can challenge me to a duel. I’m happy to own up to the consequences of my choices.

Alat huffed a laugh. -Very well. As it stands, you might just get your chance.-

Tala turned her focus, but not her head, to regard the group that Alat had indicated.

It was a group of five elves, all Paragon—Honored by their scale of advancement—making their way through the other foot traffic.

They weren’t making a nuisance of themselves. There was no comical shoving or tripping of those they didn’t like, but the hauteur rolling off them was practically palpable.

They were even moving their aura and authority back away from any human who passed in what seemed to be an unconscious desire to distance themselves from the ‘lower’ species.

This wasn’t the kindness of preventing the power of their presence from harming those less advanced. No, their true aura was kept close to their bodies. This was the marginal extension of power which allowed for the quick use of magic in a close area around them.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

-Maybe they don’t trust themselves not to harm them?-

Maybe… She then blinked a few times. Wait… When have we been able to see the distinction there? It’s showing up to my magesight, but it feels like authority.

-Hmmm… It looks like magic to me. Maybe they are using their aura in a different way than we’re used to? And one that isn’t visible to what we had available before Refined?-

She grunted at that. Maybe…

Regardless, the elves would pass her by in mere moments.

She had removed her veil before talking with Mistress Cae and Master Kalfeir and hadn’t bothered to replace it.

She could tell the moment they truly saw her, leaning there on the railing.

It was the one on the right in the back who saw her first, immediately stiffening, and gaining his companions’ attention. Two others were equally shocked, but the two who felt the most powerful just gave grimaces and all but rolled their eyes at the reaction.

It was only then that Tala realized it was a group of four men and a woman. The configuration tickled at the back of her mind, and it only took a moment to recall Thron’s training.

-A noble woman of some note, maybe something like a Pillar, either with less battle acumen, or abilities that take time to utilize properly. If that’s so, she would be young to still be Honored in advancement.- After a moment, Alat amended. -Actually, the fact that they have all retained their advancement in the low ambient magic likely means that they are all more advanced than their auras would indicate, and that isn’t accounting for any veiling that might be in place.-