Chapter: 618 – New City Life

Tala didn’t bother to hide her wide grin as Lea danced in a circle, exclaiming at the taste of the pasty. The girl had obviously had hand-pies before, even those filled with meat, but different cooks put different mixes of spices and other ingredients in, and there was a simple pleasure in experiencing those nuances.

Lea had a leg up in that department as well, in that her senses and tastebuds essentially never dulled to even exceedingly familiar flavors.

Around them, various passersby smiled at the clearly-young woman’s enjoyment. Many of the young men—of which there was a disproportionate number—did double, or even triple takes at the unusual, porcelain beauty.

Thankfully, extra glances were the most that Lea elicited at the moment, and Tala was grateful for the uninterrupted time with her family.

They’d arrived with little fanfare, helping the caravans get to the various workyards that were ready for them. As this was the final stop of their caravan, Tala wouldn’t be keeping the passenger cargo-slots charged any longer.

She was free of that responsibility.

The portal into Ironhold was in place in yet another workyard, and the exchange of goods was well underway.

That left Tala, Rane, Lea, and Terry completely alone and on their own for the first time in weeks.

Lea was enjoying her first meat pie in this city. Terry was munching on bits of jerky that Rane was tossing out for him, and Rane—other than pulling out bits of jerky from a pouch at his waist—was holding a meat pie in his other hand, taking slow, deliberate bites, enjoying it at least as much as Lea, even if he was expressing it in a more subdued manner.

Tala was enjoying her own treat, but she also felt grumpy. She had wanted to buy two, but she’d quickly realized that she couldn’t actually hold two due to her missing hand.

It was an incredibly silly thing to be upset over. After all, not only could she simply go back to buy another at any time, but she could have, in theory, held any number of pies with her aura, will, and authority. Still, it rankled.

-Well, we also have potential other stop-gap solutions.-

Tala sighed internally, not wanting to drag her family down. I know, but I don’t want to form a white steel or iron hand.

-…but you want to form an entire body…-

She hesitated at that. I… did not think of it that way.

Alat huffed a laugh. -Of course you didn’t. You’re thinking in terms of fixing the body you have, rather than Reforging it into the one you want. That’s understandable, it only happened a couple of days ago, but you need to think long term. I don’t want to say that this is a blessing in disguise, because that trivializes the injury, but you can make it something that can benefit you in the long run.-

Tala agreed, and almost started forming an iron hand where they stood, but thought better of it at the last moment. The citizens of a new city were heartier than most, and they were used to odd occurrences, but there wasn’t any reason to add to their already stressful lives by such a public display.

-When we get back to the sanctum.-

When we get back.

So, instead, Tala turned her focus outward once more. Lea was gushing to the vendor of meat pies, and Tala allowed herself to feel the tugs on her heart at the sight.

First, her daughter was often so like she, herself, had been, but without the jagged edges Tala had acquired over the years. Second, the meat seller was an older woman who reminded Tala of Greta.

More than a year had passed since the woman’s passing, and so even the opening in the little culinary square in Bandfast, which had been held vacant in respect and memorial for her passing, was now filled. To humanity at large, there was no evidence that the woman had ever been there.

She matters to me, even still.

-Yeah, not because of what she is doing—which is nothing—but because of the effect she had on you while she lived.-

And through me, the effect that she will have.

-Exactly.-

Something about that resonated within Tala, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Alat seemed to have a moment of expectation, but it passed for both of them as Terry flickered to Tala’s shoulder and head-butted her. “Gah!”

Tala almost dropped the remnants of her pie even as she batted at Terry with her other hand… which meant that she vaguely waved at him with her stump.

She grimaced, shaking her head. “Don’t startle me like that, Terry.”

He gave her an intense squawk, staring into her eyes.

She almost missed him briefly flicker away to catch the bit of jerky that Rane tossed.

After staring for another moment, he worked the meat in his beak—eyes locked on hers—before throwing his head back and quickly swallowing, then returning his gaze to hers.

Tala snorted. “Stop thinking and enjoy good food, eh?”

Terry bobbed his head and chirped, clearly happy that she’d immediately understood.

“Fine.” She took the last bite, licking her fingers and heading back to the stand. They had time for her to get another.

The kitchen-cart was closer to a small wagon, now that Tala really considered it, with the woman and her assistants actually standing within it as they moved around to make the food for the customers that regularly stopped on their way past.

It was set up on the edge of a massive, clearly newer park. In the years to come, there would be forested sections, shade trees, and unless Tala misunderstood what she saw, even several places with edible landscaping prominently featured.

At the moment, however, the trees were still getting established, and given the fact that it was early winter, there weren’t any flowers or fruits in evidence. True, the oldest trees were nearly twenty-five years old, but that hardly made for truly majestic trees.

-No, that’s not true, take a look.– Alat highlighted a few things to Tala’s perceptions, and Tala found herself pleasantly surprised.

Oh! Thank you. It seemed that some places within surrounding parks—and even a couple within the park they were beside—contained far older trees, and clearly native landscape that had been meticulously maintained through the establishment of the city.

The infrequency of such spoke to how difficult maintaining the virgin landscape clearly was, but the team responsible for initial clearing and construction had obviously made an effort to keep some of the flora that had grown up since the last cycle.

She wasn’t sure why, but Tala found that gratifying. Humanity was far from perfect, but they did try to do right by the world around them. That we do.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The roads around the park, and going out throughout the city, were paved with a variety of methods ranging—on the mundane side—from cobblestone to poured stone, and on the magical side, they’d already seen a few places where someone with a talent for stone had fused the ground to massive, textured creations, reaching deep down. Those sections were fascinating as they incorporated pipes that meshed with other such fixtures in the ground around them as well as quite a few places where the passthroughs weren’t in use yet, but were there, ready for if and when the needs of the city changed.

Additionally, they seemed to have intricately crafted expansion joints that were meshed in ways no natural—or even mundane set—stone could, ensuring continued unity without introducing the dangers of true, monolithic blocks.

They were still near the outskirts of the city. The city walls in view were so new that they practically sparkled. So there were no dedicated residential buildings, and the few residence additions were attached to businesses of one kind or another. Many of those looked to be more like military barracks than true homes, as many of the current residents were there to make money and work toward a better life.

The acquisition of that better life would come later.

The people walking the streets were, for the most part, tough and clearly used to hard labor. Even so, essentially no one seemed to be bent by the strain. There was an energy about the entire city, a vibrancy of growth and expectation, and the average citizen seemed to revel in that.

Those who were here, those who had braved the dangers of the wilds to face the dangers of a new city stood to gain so much in the coming years.

As she’d already noticed, most of those present were men, and most of those were on the younger side, clearly having come largely from the demographics without established careers.