Chapter: 648 – Paresh Again

Tala came up into a place near the center of the room, taking a moment to look around while Rane, Terry, Lea, and Honored Brandgul joined her in the room.

Just as she remembered, the room was ringed in glass, giving unobstructed views of the surrounding countryside. Additionally, there were scripts and magics embedded in the floor along with fully impressed spellforms that existed solely stone- or starward.

Interestingly enough, this time, she was able to see distortions in the glass, magics that had been too subtle, or too hidden, for her to notice them last time. The power within them subtly shifting, even as the village took rolling steps forward.

Is that how he’s able to see so much more than should really be possible?

-Possibly, along with the various display and observational scripts in the floor that you noticed before.-

That’s fair.

The room only had one occupant before they arrived, and he turned toward them as they came up the central stairs.

First, he wore what appeared to be incredibly traditional Mage’s robes of a dark green satin, and his feet were bare.

Beyond that, he had a few clear demarcations of a dragonling nature about him. His hands and feet ended in neat—but wicked-looking—claws. The backs of his hands, tops of his feet, and his bare arms were covered in small black scales, but his palms were bare. Horns swept up and back from his brow ridge, their base almost hidden among his long, scraggly, black hair.

Lea’s eyes immediately latched onto those features, a soft gasp of awe escaping her lips.

Even with all those traits so evident, his face looked human, or more or less human. A scraggly—but well-kept—beard matched his hair quite nicely, and his features were on the sharper, more angular side for a human, without crossing the line into seeming truly alien.

He had deep, dark circles around his eyes, the irises of which glowed a sickly green. In truth, he looked utterly exhausted, and that was just how he looked physically.

Magically? His aura was Honored, clearly earned in the arcane style, most likely bolstered and supported by his authority over the village and citizenry of Howlton. In fact, he seemed to have moved just a bit toward Revered, though if that was due to the increased population, practice with magical retention and compression, or something else, Tala was unsure.

He clearly had deeply impressed, natural magics that she couldn’t interpret, along with spell-lines of the same material that seemed to glow an unhealthy green, matching his eyes. Even with all the years of experience and study since she’d seen him last, Tala was still unable to suss out the man’s magics nor even identify the material of his inscriptions.

As before, the spellforms in his flesh glowed even where Tala couldn’t detect magic flowing through them, so it was something about the material itself. I forgot about those.

-Yeah, it definitely slipped my focus as well… He did say it was hurting him to have such inscriptions though, so I doubt it’s something worth delving too deeply into.-

True…

Still, despite all the man’s oddities, the strangest remained the fact that he had a gate, sitting within him in just slightly the wrong place for it to be his own, and just as before the gate in question felt like it had a flowrate similar to that of a Refined, utterly unchanged from when she’d seen it last.

His wife hasn’t chosen to move on yet.

-I don’t know that she ever will.-

A love for the ages.

-Indeed.-

As soon as they were all up and in, Honored Brandgul bowed toward the man who stood off to one side, “Head Pareshti, I have brought the visitors.”

Tala felt the telltale pressure and tingle of someone using a magesight equivalent on her before feeling the magic sweep across the rest of her family.

The man spoke softly, as if his voice were hoarse and he was trying not to strain it. “Greater Tala, Greater’s husband and daughter… Human yet not? Barely more than a child yet Bound in the manner of your… kin.” He hummed thoughtfully. “Be welcomed indeed.”

Honored Brandgul straightened, bowed again, and departed without a word.

Tala called after him. “Thank you for the escort.”

He hesitated, then nodded once and continued back down, out of the chamber.

Tala turned back to Head Pareshti. “Thank you for the welcome once again.”

The man quirked a smile. “And thank you for choosing yet again to not kill my men when they met you.”

Tala grinned, enjoying the symmetry from their first meeting, but it was time to part from that script. “This is my husband Rane—as you correctly saw—daughter Lea, and my bonded companion, Terry.”

The dragon-kin bowed slightly to Lea, just more than a dip of the head. “To meet the daughter of two so powerful is an honor, and I will be fascinated to learn more of your… unique nature.”

Lea gave a deep bow. “Head Pareshti, it is my pleasure to meet you as well. My mother has told me of the aid you offered her upon her journey through your lands. Thank you for that.”

“It was my pleasure then—and now—to be of assistance.”

“As to my unique nature, I am happy to exchange information for like kind. I have never met one such as you, and it would be fascinating to acquire such knowledge.”

“That it would, young one. I will consider your offer.” He smiled as he turned and bowed toward Rane, deeper this time. “A Paragon of gated humanity is an Honor of a different kind. I cannot express the joy I felt when I learned that the harried traveler found a companion of the soul.” His hand rested gently against his chest, right near where his wife’s soul rested, pulsing with quiet contentment.

“You do me honor.” Rane returned the bow in equal measure.

Finally, Head Pareshti gave the deepest bow yet—to any save Tala—toward Terry. “The hunter graces us with a visit in person this time. The prosperity of those we serve is our greatest reward, and I can see you are richly appointed indeed.”

Terry fluffed his feathers from where he rested on Lea’s shoulder, giving a chirp of solemn acceptance.

Tala cleared her throat, drawing Head Pareshti’s eyes back to her. “Thank you for your prompt meeting with us.”

He smiled. “I do my best to watch over all my people, and your arrival caused quite the stir. It was reasonable to meet you without delay.” His smile turned soft. “It truly is wonderful to see you again. I rejoiced when I heard you’d made it home, and that you had sorted your little… problem too. I will be curious to learn of that.”

Tala nodded. “I did indeed make it home, and now I have home with me wherever I go.”

His eyes flicked to her family, and sadness rolled through his soul and across that of his wife. “To have those you love close is a joy beyond question.”

“Indeed.” Tala swallowed, searching for a way to change the topic. “So, do you still wish to be addressed as Paresh?”

He chuckled. “If the Greater Tala so wishes, of course. I wouldn’t dream of attempting to command you.”

“Just Tala please, Paresh.”

“As the Revered one wishes.” His eyes twinkled. “If that is even an accurate title.”

She smirked. “That is quite the topic and likely not one for today.”

“I suspected not. Even so, it is rare that I feel one so easily slide beneath my authority. I am glad that you avoided the trap of so many with power. I would not have found an assault by yours pleasant in the least.”

Tala gave a sheepish smile. “Well, that’s a new thing for me, actually. I was ‘bludgeoning’ my way through the world until recently.”

Lea was frowning, clearly not quite understanding, but Rane’s careful expression—and Terry’s closed eyes—showed that they remembered what Tala had conveyed to them. Lea was not nearly advanced enough for the secrets of authority to be openly discussed with her.

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“Your hand is light upon this place, but even so, I’d not have enjoyed that clash either.”

“Perhaps.” He smiled. “After the centuries, I would be more of a wart within the flesh of the city than a callus to be shaved off.”

Tala grimaced. “Lovely metaphor.”

He shrugged. “It is what it is.” He gestured past them implicatively. “Please, sit. We need not stand on ceremony.”

Tala suddenly found a chair behind her, which not only held her greater than average weight, it was quite comfortable, just as she remembered. She hadn’t seen where it came from this time either, and that made her grin at their host, even as her family sank into their own seats.

She had felt the barest flicker of power just as before, but it didn’t seem to have either created the chairs nor summoned them. There still is magic in the world.

Alat sent a snorting laugh, but otherwise didn’t comment.

Paresh stayed upright, standing in the center of what seemed to be a control script for the walking village. This time around, Tala saw how threads of reality not only bound the man to the moving village, but also to the control scripts. It was a wondrous melding of authority, connection and magic at a level that would take centuries to understand, let alone replicate. She did feel that some of it was due to his unique inscription material, but not all.

“Your wife is with you still. That gladdens my heart.” Tala smiled.

Paresh gave a small smile in return. “I feel her love every day, and pray to the heavens that I will until the day I die, at which point we will both pass on.” A few tears leaked from his eyes, and he pulled out a handkerchief to dab them dry. His smile turned sad. “Though it has been long since she passed, I miss her laugh, her voice, her smell, her wisdom, her level head.” He shook his head. “But I am prattling on. You are here for a purpose, am I correct?”

“You are, and we are, yes.”

“Then let us hear it. Does it have to do with the curse that no longer lies upon you? I feel that you still have some traces of that creature—one of pure ravenous, jealous desire and the impetus to consume—upon your very soul.”