Chapter: 574 – I’ll do it

Tala and Rane got up before the sun rose, taking their time and even enjoying a lengthy bath as they watched the glowing, ever shifting landscape through her portal-window.

“You really are getting so much more skilled with Kit.”

Tala shifted to be able to give him a long kiss. “Thank you.”

“I mean it. I remember when you struggled to do even minor modifications on the exit from this space, but now? You can deny anything you wish from entering, even light, and you can do so in a single direction at time.”

“Thank you.”

He chuckled. “Truly, it is masterful.”

She gave him another kiss. “I believe you.”

He opened his mouth to continue speaking, and she kissed him again.

“Enough talking, even if it is sweet.”

He put on a show of fake grumping, before he chuckled and drew her close, tucking her against him, their faces turned toward the view.

When Mistress Petra contacted them, informing them that breakfast was ready, they got out and got ready before moving themselves to the dining hall.

Tala shifted the view-portal to take up one wall of that space, and Mistress Petra gasped, pausing near the exit. “Oh, my. That is lovely.”

Tala grinned. “Isn’t it, though?”

The woman hesitated a moment longer to take in the sight, and Tala didn’t mind in the slightest. She did take the moment to really examine the woman.

She and Rane still tried to have dinner with them at least once a week, even if it was occasionally put off. Still, she rarely just looked at the other woman.

-She looks tired. Not weak, not exhausted, but still somehow…-

Older. Her true age is catching up with her. And while she could probably hide it through her own efforts, or outside magics, it seems that she no longer wishes to.

-Yeah…-

Mistress Petra seemed to sense her gaze, because she turned, meeting Tala’s eyes. “Mistress.” The older woman smiled. “Is there anything else that I can do for you?”

“No, Mistress Petra. The breakfast looks amazing.” After a moment’s hesitation, Tala added. “Is there anything that I—or we—can do for you?”

The woman smiled, then gave a shallow bow. “No, Mistress, Master. Honestly, while working with you two, Simon and I have seen and experienced more than we ever thought that we’d be able to in our waning years.”

She chuckled when Tala’s face fell.

“Don’t fret, Mistress Tala. We’ve lived good lives, and we’ve still got decades of healthy living remaining to us. Just because we couldn’t survive a Refining doesn’t mean we’re addled or broken, not just yet.” Her smile grew. “I’ve still got grandchildren—and stars willing great-grandchildren—to see born and raised.”

Tala nodded slowly. “I know. I am also aware that the time for that is sooner than ever. You will be missed here, when you move onto that phase.”

The older Mage patted Tala on the shoulder as she moved to depart. “I’m sure, and I will miss being here, but I will go where my children are. Nevertheless, that time is still a few years off. Fear not.”

And after another shallow bow, she departed.

Rane put his arm around Tala’s shoulders. “Time is a funny thing. We are so young, yet already we have immortality in our grasp. I know it’s messing with my head.”

“Yeah. It never really feels real—or maybe the right word is important—until we bump up against the edges like this.” She frowned after the departed Mage.

“Indeed. In every city, we pass those whose great, great, great grandchildren will pass from old age while we remain as we are, and that fact doesn’t even cross our mind as important. At least, it simply doesn’t cross my mind.”

Tala shook her head, going up on her tippy-toes to give his cheek a kiss. “Mine either, love. Come on. The food is hot. Let’s eat.”

Rane cocked an eyebrow, looking back and forth between Tala and the food which they both knew would stay perfectly ready for as long as Tala wished it to be so.

She chuckled. “I didn’t say that would change, but I’m hungry.”

He grinned in return, and they settled in, watching the last minutes of luminescent beauty through the view-portal as the sun began to rise.

* * *

Terry joined them in their travels about halfway to Bandfast from the inner-fire fount. By his demeanor—and the fact that he immediately flickered to curl up on Tala’s shoulder and fall asleep—he had satiated himself on some herd of arcanous creatures or other.

Tala and Rane were taking their time, and so it was well past midday—and Bandfast was only barely in sight—when Alat gasped. -Tala… I…-

Tala detected the utter panic and sense of uncertainty in her alternate interface, and she pulled herself to a stop, hovering in the air some twenty feet off of the ground.

Rane landed below before turning to regard her for a moment. He then leapt up and drained himself of kinetic energy to come to a stop beside her, keeping the working going at a low level to stay in place. “Tala? What’s—?”

His eyes widened as Enar seemingly began speaking with him.

Alat? Tell me, NOW!

-Nalac’s and Illie’s masters are dead. There was a breach in the mines, and their group was the closest. They called for aid, but it took precious minutes for help to arrive. Apparently, there were several breaches at near the same time, and theirs was the last responded to.-

Tala felt rage boil up within her, even while sensing that Alat wasn’t telling her everything. Why were they last?

Alat sent soothing sensations, though the effect was marred by Alat’s own, evident agitation. -Because they engaged last, and called for help last. Additionally, Masters Balin and Ori were some of the most experienced of the group leaders.-

Tala took a deep, calming breath, but as Rane wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and speaking into her hair, she felt her selfcontrol breaking down. His words—obviously meant to comfort—were not helping. “I’m so sorry, my love. I’m here.”

Now, Alat. Tell. Me. NOW.

The alternate interface was clearly struggling as well, her emotions in utter turmoil. -Illie… she was dragged down and slain just after the masters. She’d already been bitten and influenced by a venom. Even so, she found a way to be in the rear of their retreating group. She was overwhelmed while protecting the retreat of Nalac and the guards. Because of her efforts, and those of the masters, there were only three deaths in their group. Everyone took injury, but none of the mundanes died.-

Tala felt as if a buzzing tone rose up within her mind, slowly drowning out thought and outside input.

She only barely heard Alat finish her explanation. -The other groups, even with Refined Defenders coming to their aid, had catastrophic losses. More than fifty guardsmen died, along with a dozen Mages and magelings. That’s not even counting the miners who died before the breaches were recognized. It was a pack of spawners, all somehow Magical beasts, bound to territories deep below, all around the city’s deepest mining tunnels. Apparently, Masters Balin and Ori held off the strongest of them, and their efforts—along with Nalac, Illie, and the guardsmen—allowed for hundreds of miners to evacuate their sector relatively uninjured. The other groups allowed similar numbers to retreat, but there were still losses across the board.-

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Tala latched onto one fact. They were attacked by Magical creatures?

-Yes.-

So, those who killed her are going to come back?

-Well, yes. The city is pulling together a group to delve in and deal with the threat before it can rebuild and return.-

I’ll do it.

-Tala, we—-

I will get it done. She pulled back from Rane, feeling Terry snuggling against her neck. “We’re going to Arconaven, and I will handle this.”

He gave her a long, long look, searching for something within her eyes.

Tala began building arguments within her head, preparing herself to fight for her right to—

“Okay. Let’s go. I’m here for you. If you need to do this, I’ll be beside you every step of the way.”

She only hesitated for an instant before she overcame her surprise and nodded once, moving them into their sanctuary, where they appeared in their thrones.

A portal opened on the superficial and Tala guided a flier to exit. Tala attached a mini portal to it, within the small ‘cargo space’ within it. A moment later, it took off, hugging the edge of safe speeds as it tore northward.

Her emotions were roiling, but she focused all of that into the task at hand. She shaped her aura and on pure instinct enfolded it with reality, void, and magic, altering the quantity and distribution of all three as she pushed the speed limits until she found a means of going faster than ever before.

Void and reality funneled, negated, and absorbed the magic in front of the flier while she dumped power straight from Kit into the wake, matching the speed of expulsion to that of the flier’s movement, leaving a mostly identical, static concentration behind them.

The result was almost no resonance before or around them and no ripples behind.