Chapter: 560 – About Reforging

Tala decided to address the Reforged in the room… She decided to address the fact that the Reforged had Reforged… and he was in the room?

-Focus, Tala.- Tala could practically hear the eye roll in Alat’s tone.

Right…

Tala grinned at Master Jevin. “So, you did it. You remade yourself as you once were.”

The man laughed, clearly pleased with himself. “I have indeed. Take a look.”

He held up his hands and did a slow spin.

Tala did indeed take a look. The man was human through and through. The vaguely vegetative traits that had plagued him when last they met were entirely gone, and all that was left was a standard—if stately—middle aged, human male.

Rane offered his congratulations as well, and Master Jevin gratefully accepted.

Terry gave a trill of excitement too and got thanks in return.

Once the man had done a full turn, Tala grinned, meeting his gaze once again. “How do you feel?”

“Honestly?” He chuckled. “I feel a little lost. I’ve been striving for this since I was Bound, and now that I’m here?” He blew out a long breath. “On a personal level, I’m not sure what to do with myself.” A twinkle entered into his eyes. “I suppose that if I did know, I’d already have started Ascending.”

She shrugged. “Don’t you have a lot to do, running this city, preparing for the Leshkin wars… that sort of things?”

He waved her off. “Of course, of course. I’m not despondent or anything like that, and I did say on a personal level. Overall, I have many things that I am involved in and many tasks to complete. More than that, I have numerous friends and acquaintances.”

“Oh!” She interrupted quickly. “The Lord and Lady of Astraya send their regards.”

He hesitated at that. “Oh? I’m glad to hear from them. They live in a rather dangerous place, after all.”

She chuckled. “So do you, but I suppose that’s neither here nor there.”

“True enough.” He gave her a kindly smile. “I do appreciate your concern, but I am fine, and I will be fine. I more meant it as a commentary that I have a lot of free mental energy and time now that this is complete.”

“Fine, fine.” She chuckled. “I do want to pick your mind about Reforging, after all. It’s good that you’re done. I’d hate to pull ahead of you too soon.”

He huffed a laugh. “I’ve read the missives sent my way. If you’re to accomplish even half of what you’re attempting, you might take longer than I did.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed again. “Well, we’ll see. If that’s the case, I’ve got the time.”

“Spoken like a youngster.”

“The future is now, old man. Welcome to it.”

He chuckled again, even as he gestured over to a side table where he had coffee and tea set out.

When Terry began looking around, the Reforged smiled.

“This is for you, good master Terry.” He gestured to one side where there was a cushion against the wall, which was a window out to the exterior of the tree that had sunlight streaming in.

Beside the cushion was a mound of jerky.

Terry chirped happily and flickered over to the offering.

The three sat, and Tala couldn’t help but notice the fourth chair, but no one mentioned it for the moment.

They talked of little things, enjoying their drinks, catching up on subjects they’d spoken of via correspondence over the years.

Master Jevin had several questions about Tala’s various memories that she’d shared, and she happily obliged his curiosity, expanding on some of the context in a few cases, and going into the fallout and various results in others.

After a while, Master Jevin leaned back. “Speaking of your memories; there is another Archon who would love to meet you.” He chuckled. “The man has been pestering me for days since your first memories of the experiment with the lesser Leshkin were made available to upper level researchers.”

He hesitated then, leaning forward and locking gazes with her.

“Do you realize that there are quite a few of us who are practically poised, ready to snatch up any new memory you deem worthy of selling?”

Tala cocked an eyebrow. “Oh?”

He nodded sincerely.

Rane grinned, squeezing her hand. “See? What you share and experience is amazing.”

Master Jevin nodded again. “Indeed. The Mage I was just mentioning lives here, and he would very much appreciate some of your time, if you are willing.” After a moment’s hesitation, he shrugged. “I obviously cannot force you to meet with him, but I would say that he is worth your time. He’s a figure of some prominence even in times of peace, but during the wars? His processing and dissemination of information is unrivaled. You have your alternate interface, but he’s cultivated magics almost entirely bent toward that end. Last I checked with him, he had eight independent minds, all centered on his soul, all working together in perfect harmony. That is obviously not the only aspect of his power, but it is a notable one.”

Tala frowned, giving a slow nod.

Alat clearly picked up on her train of thought, cutting in to head it off. -Don’t you dare. One of me is enough in here.-

Yeah, yeah. I think adding another would be needlessly frustrating… She hesitated a moment before amending, Convenient in some ways though…

-No.-

Fine.

“What’s this Mage’s name?”

“Master Saliocas.”

“Alright. I’ll meet him. How about… in two days? My family arrives early tomorrow morning, and I think I have enough to do before they come as it is.”

“I’ll let him know. I assume he’ll reach out, directly, to coordinate.”

“That sounds excellent.” Tala hesitated a moment, refocusing on her purpose in being there with Master Jevin. “I do have one line of questioning before we go further. I imagine the ‘Reforging’ discussion will go rather into the weeds.”

He smiled. “Very well. What can I answer for you?”

“Well, your city here has extensive reality-stabilizing magics integrated into it, at least that’s what we thought we detected. Is that the case?”

He nodded, his smile growing. “That’s right. Your perception and understanding have grown by leaps and bounds if you were able to detect and understand that much.”

She smiled and gave a little self deprecating shrug. “That is kind of you to say.”

“So, what was your interest in those spellforms?”

“Well,” she hesitated, not quite sure how to phrase her question. Finally, she decided to just ask it. “Why are we not using such in all of our cities?”

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He frowned. “I don’t think I understand.”

“Those scripts, why aren’t we using them for every city, to help the gated within not harm Reality as much?”

He rocked back slightly, giving a slow nod. “Oh… I see what you’re asking. I think that there is a misunderstanding in your question.”

“Oh?” Tala frowned. What had she misunderstood?

“We do use them—to the extent we are able—in every city.”

“What? Really?” Tala couldn’t hide her genuine surprise.

He nodded. “Not these exact ones, obviously. These are very closely tied to the nature of this tree, but we use spellforms like them, created to be as strong as possible, given the power we have available and the other magics we need to have in place alongside them.”

She frowned. “I see… Would it be possible to completely mitigate the damage to Reality with enough power?”

He chuckled. “Yes and no. That is a bit like asking: If we embed enough diamonds in this wood, can we keep it from ever getting scratched?”

Tala instantly understood what he meant. “Ahh, the very act of using Magic to reinforce Reality damages it a bit?”

“A bit, yes. It’s a balance. To make it ‘invincible’ toward Magic, would be to replace it with Magic, and that is still destruction, if of a different kind.”