Chapter: 653 – Borrowed Authority

Tala accepted the referred accolades for her champion’s success while Rane stood by her side, only a small smile—which tugged at one side of his mouth—ruining his otherwise stoic demeanor.

The celebration was continuing apace, several other fighters already having clashed for fun, accolades, or over some slight or other.

No one else challenged Tala, and the rest of her family remained unmolested at least with regard to direct challenges.

Lea was clearly irritated that her dad wasn’t getting the praise he rightly deserved, but she’d been forewarned about that cultural oddity, among many others.

Still, her daughter seemed to have no issue in accepting offered food whenever the servants came around, nor in engaging in light conversation with the few arcanes who spoke to her directly.

Terry flickered about every so often—only barely noticeable to Tala with her bond to him aiding in the detection—as he snatched bits of food that wouldn’t be missed, otherwise keeping a predatory eye on everyone in the vicinity. In this case, that meant that he was likely monitoring everyone within the hold.

Good Terry.

-He is the best bird.-

Quite.

As Tala thought about the overall situation, and the differences in arcane culture, she felt her thoughts catch on something. Knowing that meant she was potentially on the edge of something important, she mentally dove into it, trusting to those around her to keep her safe and from making an unrecoverable faux pas.

One of the strangest things in the given situation was that the arcanes who witnessed Rane fighting genuinely would not attribute the victory to him at all. At some point, he would be challenged directly, and whoever fought him would likely be surprised when he performed just as well.

Tala hadn’t really understood that when she had been here before, but it made perfect sense to her now, especially with what she’d just recently seen.

Authority.

When a champion was fighting for their master or mistress, they—usually a Pillar or someone of similar importance—would naturally and unconsciously grant their ‘stand in’ a portion of their authority and power, allowing their champion to fight above their perceived advancement, though rarely a full tier up.

As it happened on both sides—Eskau Sinaaq had decidedly had the weight of her House behind her—it usually wouldn’t be noticed as something that was important from a ‘fairness’ standpoint. If anything, the fact that those representing more powerful patrons ‘fought better’ in such clashes was simply to be expected due to cultural and societal pressures. As such, it was—at an almost unconscious level—recognized that such warriors essentially never fought as well when challenged directly.

To lesser extents, warriors would often seek favors from those they were interested in—whether romantically or politically—before fights as it was usually recognized that such would improve their chances of winning.

-Because fractions of authority are borrowed through such tokens.-

Exactly.

-Fascinating. We completely missed that portion of things when we were here.-

Of course we did. I doubt they realize it. At least the majority are likely ignorant. They just ‘know’ it works, and the trappings are a part of their culture. There is power in that too.

-Exactly. In this society, those who act in ‘approved’ ways have an infinitesimal portion of authority granted through that approval, while those who act against society have that same bit of authority acting against them.-

Tala smiled internally. It isn’t a lot, but it would be enough to give ‘how things have been done’ more inertia than it has for mundanes or even gated humanity.

-Indeed.-

They had, obviously, not explained it in this way to Lea. They hadn’t even conveyed most of this to Rane, because, in truth, most of it came from the observations they’d made over the last two hours within the hold. Though it bore up to both scrutiny and logic.

-I’ve added all our thoughts to the ongoing notes. I think I’ve seen at least Mistress Ingrit and Master Grediv looking through the logs already.-

Good to know. Thank you, Alat.

-Of course.-

Now that her eyes were opened to it, in fact, she was able to see the subtle ebb and flow of authority between various groups. It was almost like seeing their reality nodes and threads, and the visualization of authority was very closely tied to that, but it was distinct.

Almost like some of the reality threads are directional?

-That’s it!- Alat excitedly exclaimed. -It’s an indication of deference or subservience, and there is a distinct gradient to it.-

Yeah, some are barely deferential, but the servants toward the Revered City Lord?

-Practically a cliff, they are so far ‘below’ him in their connection.-

The only reason that metaphor didn’t hold up perfectly is that Tala could occasionally see a mutual granting of authority, as if each party saw the other as above themselves in some manner, so a simple gradient wouldn’t truly depict that accurately. There were also instances where two parties each saw the other as beneath them, but that didn’t actually grant authority either way, so it was basically just a flat line, even if there was something about it that distinguished it from individuals who saw each other as equals.

With these revelations, Tala looked around with new eyes, instantly feeling overwhelmed by just how much information was available to her perception.

Alat took as much in as she was able, cataloguing relationships and adding everything to the ongoing log of their time in the arcane lands. She was including visual and audio information as well, but due to the difference in senses and perceptions, the written notes were more than invaluable.

All told, the event passed with little else of note occurring. Partially, this was because the House of Blood was going to be having another meeting with Tala right after this, in the safety and privacy of their own hold.

Thus, while Tala had exchanged brief greetings with the various representatives of the House—mainly Pillar Sanguis, but there were a few high level adjuncts and representatives from other Pillars in attendance as well—they hadn’t been more than polite shows of mutual support and respect.

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Due to just who was in attendance, the event really couldn’t go on for too long, or the city would start to have issues of one kind or other, so after just under three hours—as measured from the time of Tala’s arrival—the Revered City Lord stood and clapped his hands, garnering the attention of the whole hold. “Thank you, one and all, for attending this small welcome for Eskau Tala of the House of Blood. May she, the House of Blood, and all of Platoiri benefit from her return. Even with the news that the Black Legion is once more an imminent threat, I see the future as holding nothing but good for most, if not all of us here.”

There was polite applause, and then the attendees began to depart in groups from three all the way to fifteen, quickly emptying the hold.

Tala—along with Rane, Lea, and Terry—and the House of Blood were the last guests to depart, having bid all their local supporters goodbye.

As they left—leaving the Revered City Lord and servants along with an Eskau from one of the Houses as the ‘token’ guard for the City Lord—Tala glanced back at the solitary vestige, centered in and powering the hold.

She could easily take it, free it, or both, but doing so would not be received well. Moreover, she was the best chance for gated humanity to find a middle ground with arcanes going forward, including reducing or eliminating the use of unwilling vestiges throughout arcane lands.

She would cripple her chance of that if she acted to save this one vestige.

With a bit of frustration before she set it aside, she turned away, walking back onto the plains and striding toward Platoiri, her family and House around her.

Eskau Meallain was sent back into Ironhold as otherwise she would be breaking her given word as well as the banishments placed upon her.

Beside the elven Eskau, their group continued undiminished.