Chapter: 571 – Allotted Hour

Contrary to Tala’s assumptions, they didn’t all enter the stump. Only then did she remember that the interior of the stump had been a bit of a private research space for Mistress Noelle, so it made sense that the woman wouldn’t want to take tea in there with the three of them.

Maybe if it was just Rane and I, since we’ve already been there?

-I suppose we’ll find out eventually. It doesn’t seem like Mistress Xakiri will be around that long. She likely will want to hunt up an Inscriber.-

True enough.

Instead, they all went to an inset half-room that was made complete by a heavy, overlarge awning and glass panels, spaced just far enough apart to allow some airflow without really making the area subject to the weather outside, mild late-fall day though it was at the moment.

A table was already set for four, and Tala had seen servants—or less advanced Mages—setting it hurriedly as Mistress Noelle had walked her, Mistress Xakiri, and Rane over to the stump and through some superficial passages to reach it.

The large teapot was already steaming, and when Tala looked around for coffee, Mistress Noelle chuckled. “No coffee at the moment, my dear. We will enjoy tea together.”

With a sigh, Tala sat and took up the cup that the older woman poured. The tea was dark and had an interesting, almost nutty flavor.

-How much do you want to bet this is mushroom tea?-

I would bet a lot that this is mushroom tea.

-No, no. I want to bet it’s mushroom tea. You have to bet that it’s not.-

I will not take that bet.

-But, Tala, you literally can’t lose.-

She took another sip to cover her sigh.

After everyone had taken a sip, Tala noticed that Mistress Noelle was regarding them critically. As such, Tala closed her eyes and focused inward. She couldn’t detect anything, but she still suspected that the woman had just performed some kind of experiment on them.

-Yeah… that was rather expected.-

Indeed.

Mistress Xakiri thanked Mistress Noelle for the tea—even if it was obviously not her flavor—before turning to Tala. “So the Leshkin.”

Mistress Noelle sighed, interrupting. “Ahh, if that is to be the topic, I know what you do already, Mistress Xakiri. I’ll return in one hour to talk with those two.”

The other three stood and bowed as the older woman left, not giving them the time to say anything further.

Tala examined the woman’s aura, and it showed that Mistress Noelle was simply Refined, but she was probably at least a Paragon based on what she’d demonstrated. Tala honestly wasn’t exactly sure, and at the moment, it didn’t matter.

As the three sat back down, Mistress Xakiri began. “I assume that you know that the Leshkin are an odd sort of semi-hive mind. They are individuals, but for the most part those individuals are indistinguishable. They are separate, but they are also somehow inseparable. They can communicate with each other regardless of magical interference. My understanding is that you’ve met Master Saliocas?”

Tala simply nodded.

“Good. Then when I say that he is unable to prevent them from communicating, that will mean something.” Mistress Xakiri waited expectantly for confirmation.

Tala grunted in acknowledgement. Rane gave a slow, thoughtful nod, having been filled in on Tala’s conversation with the older man.

“That makes things easier. Now, I say they are indistinguishable, but there are also oddities. One particular Leshkin always manifests a red bloom over its left ear when manifesting as a lesser, and always makes the soldier, knight, or juggernaut it is a part of wield a spear and shield.”

Tala frowned, but held her tongue so as to not interrupt.

“It is actually this oddity that first caught my interest as juggernauts only very, very rarely use that combination of weaponry. I suspect that this one spirit is the basis for at least one of the Leshkin Generals when those manifest, but I have not had a chance—nor come up with a means—to test that theory.”

Rane chuckled. “All Leshkin are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

Mistress Xakiri frowned for a moment then shrugged. “It’s obviously self-contradictory, but yeah, it fits. I can kill any lesser with the exact same sequence of attacks and feints. They do not deviate in how they act or react to stimulus. It is safe to say that the lessers don’t learn, even as a collective. They start to show learning behavior at the soldier level. Knights occasionally seem to recognize attack patterns and anticipate traps that Leshkin have fallen for before, and juggernauts seem to actively observe and adapt.

“It is common knowledge for those aware of the existence of the generals that they are incredibly strategic, and make great strides and improvements from one Leshkin war to another, seemingly incorporating everything that the collective learned and experienced in the intervening centuries. Some have even theorized that this is why the generals go dormant, so that they can learn from and incorporate their new experiences. We don’t really have a way to know one way or another.”

The woman stopped to take a long pull of her tea before continuing.

“Now, I say that lessers never change, that is true for the length of every cycle, not when taken as a whole. After the next war, expect all those base behaviors to have changed, and the lessers to be—yet again—more dangerous than ever. It is like the generals—or royals or some other authority—rejiggers their instincts and behavioral attitudes each cycle. They manage that change, and it’s a pain to deal with every time.”

Tala frowned. “Assuming that’s true, I’ve noticed two oddities with the Leshkin.”

“Oh?” The woman leaned forward. “What were they? Maybe I can explain what you came across.”

Tala shrugged, not really feeling a need to hide what she experienced. “First, they seemed to specifically dislike me, and no one has been able to tell me why.”

The woman grunted. “Can you explain your gear and skill set when you first met them, or when you first experienced this ‘dislike’?”

Tala did so, and the woman started chuckling fairly quickly.

“You coated yourself in iron dust? That’s… huh. It might be the gravity magics, as some of the more effective mages last war were gravity based in their fundamental understandings, but I don’t think that’s it. It also sounds like you got a reaction before using any power or spell form. Did I understand that correctly?”

“Well… I have some magics on constantly, but otherwise, yes, I believe so.” She glanced to Rane who shrugged and gave a tentative nod as well.

“Your healing and reinforcement magics? I don’t personally see why that would be an issue.” She nodded once. “Alright. Then, I think it was the dust.”

“Oh?” Tala leaned back in surprise, taking another sip of her drink without thought before grimacing and placing the teacup back on the table, further away this time.

Mistress Xakiri noticed the action and chuckled, moving her own teacup further away before continuing. “Yeah. Apparently, near the beginning of the last war, we took to releasing clouds of iron dust through various methods. While it didn’t sever the connection with the collective, it did disrupt communication to a certain degree. Seemingly as a counter, the Leshkin set the lessers to go into a frenzy when they detected the dust. That way, they wouldn’t be easily taken down while the command channels were so disrupted. I believe they also targeted those with the most dust ‘about’ them, as they were responsible. So, it was an attempt to dissuade the tactic. Either way, it quickly became untenable, and the release of iron dust fell out of favor.”

Tala frowned. “Why did no one warn me? Why couldn’t anyone else figure that out?”

Mistress Xakiri grinned. “They try thousands of crazy things every cycle, in an attempt both to get a new edge and to counter the growing capacities of the Leshkin themselves. I only know about it because I know about all of them to one degree or another. That tactic stands out to me, though, as it was something that was both highly effective and quickly abandoned, given that they were able to hard-counter its benefits. Not to mention it had a tendency to cripple most Mages caught in the spread. Since I doubt anyone else has used iron dust around them since, it hasn’t come up, and so memory of it wasn’t reinforced to allow for easy recall when your issue arose.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Tala grunted. It was frustrating, but it did make sense. Her own perfect memory was hardly standard, and even with that, she didn’t always think of overlaps and corollaries when she probably should have.

“So? What was the second thing?” Mistress Xakiri was leaning back, clearly feeling a bit happy that she’d been able to provide an answer to Tala. After all, Tala, Rane, and Terry had likely saved the other woman’s life, and she was gratified to be able to pay them back, even in such small ways.

Tala suppressed a bit of a grin before shrugging in a bit of feigned self-consciousness. “Well… they run away from me now.”

Mistress Xakiri blinked a few times, leaning forward in immediate, focused interest. “…What?”

“You saw the memory. The experiment I performed? Ever since then, the Leshkin have run from me whenever they sensed me nearby.”

Mistress Xakiri hesitated a moment, then suddenly, she was pulling a slate from the pouch at her waist, hastily starting to take notes. “That’s what you did then? At the caravan? When you drove them off? You basically let them know it was you?”

“Essentially, yeah.” Tala almost grabbed the tea again, but she stopped herself, instead willing for the cup to move out of easy reach.

“And they simply ran.” A gleam entered Mistress Xakiri’s eyes. “Mistress Tala, this is huge.”

Rane’s eyes widened, and he started laughing. “Oh! That’s wonderful.”

Tala frowned, a bit frustrated at not figuring it out. “I don’t understand.”

Mistress Xakiri motioned to Rane. “Master Rane, it seems like you worked it out?”

“Indeed. Do you remember the Path of Remembrance?”

That made Mistress Xakiri frown, but Tala suddenly got it. “Oh… Wow… Yeah. Matching someone’s aura.”

“Exactly.” Rane grinned.