Chapter 12: One Has to Dream

Chapter 12: One Has to Dream

Tala turned to see that two Mages had just entered the lounge. Both were Materialists, one Creator and one Guide, and both seemed to specialize in ice and lightning. Interesting combination.

The two turned at Crans voice and smiled when they saw him. The youngers smile morphed into a wide grin, as he called back. Oi, yourself! They walked over, and Cran stood to greet them.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Tala followed his lead, and he introduced her. Renix, Master Trent, this is Mistress Tala. He turned to her. Mistress Tala: Renix and Master Trent.

She nodded her head in a slight bow and took their hands as they offered them, each in turn. Renix, it seemed, was the Creator and Trent the Guide. They were both taller than she was, with Renix being the taller by half a head at least. They had brown hair cut close to their heads, though Trents was slightly longer, darker, and curly. They both had the lean, careful physique of Mages, and faces with well used smile lines.

Despite their similarities, Trent was clearly older, likely ten years her senior, while Renix seemed barely older than she was. Might just be the attitude?

Pleasure to meet you, Mistress Tala.

Glad to meet you. Renix glanced down. Nice gloves.

Cran grinned and motioned for everyone to sit. Shes starting a new trend.

As they all sat, Tala felt her cheeks redden. I am not. But when she glanced around the table, she saw they were all smiling amiably.

Cran waved to the group, bringing their focus back to him. You three seem to be destined to meet.

Trent rolled his eyes. You are not destiny, Master Cran, no matter what your mother told you, in or out of the womb.

Cran snorted a laugh. I mean, you will be traveling together.

Oh? Trent glanced towards Tala. Youre going to Alefast?

Tala felt a small knot of tension evaporate. Not Marliweather. Seems so. She glanced at Cran and saw a twinkle in his eye, but he didnt comment.

Renix looked eager. Do you work alone? Are you the other defender of the caravan, or will you be our baggage handler? Where is your master, or do you have your own mageling?

Trent held up his hand. Easy there, Renix. Let her speak. He then turned back to Tala, his smile still obvious. I am curious, though.

They havent seen me, then. They dont know what quadrant Im of.

Careful, boys, she makes you pay for answers with food.

Trents smile widened. Well, why didnt you say so. He glanced at the now empty space before her. Lets get you something to eat and my mageling some answers, yes?

Tala held up a hand. No need for that, Master Trent. I am an Immaterial Guide, and I suppose baggage handler is as good a term as any.

Dimensional magic. The older man shook his head. Never could understand it, but I guess I wasnt meant to. He smiled again. Im a Material Guide.

And Im a Material Creator.

Trent gave Renix an amused glance but continued. Well be working, as a set, to help safeguard the caravan. I believe we have another Mage to collaborate with for that duty, but I dont know if they have a mageling.

Renix shivered. Is it just me, or is it colder in here than usual?

Cran glanced to Tala with a knowing smile and made a you should say something gesture.

Tala sighed. Like with Cran, they would soon realize it was her. Its actually me.

Trent turned his full focus on her, and his smile was gone. Are you leaking that much magic? What idiot inscribed you? You shouldnt go to back-alley inscribers, or youll die of magic poisoning before thirty.

She held up her hands. No, no. Nothing like that.

Cran sighed. Mistress Tala, just let him look.

Trent glanced to Cran, then back to her. Would that explain it, then? Do you approve?

After a moments hesitation, she nodded. Then, looked to Renix. You can, too.

She saw power ripple across both of their faces, and their eyes began to glow faintly. Their mage-sight inscriptions were identical in function, being much more complex than Crans, but they each had to be laid out slightly differently, due to the unique contours and size of the two mens faces.

Their reactions could not have been more opposite, without one resorting to violence or fleeing the room.

Renix leaned forward, a look of awe blossoming across his features. Amazing! How are you doing that?

She charged all ten scripts quickly. As before, she worked to envision exactly what her power was going to do and channeled the magic through that mental construct before it exited her hand to enter the inscribing in the wood. Also as before, each such empowering seemed to get easier, as her mind settled into the truth of her mental model and even adjusted it, ever so slightly, to match small variations from her expectations.

In the end, it took her about five minutes to charge all ten. It had taken longer than the day before, but shed also felt as if the open doors, and the actively entering and exiting workers, had slowed her down.

In retrospect, it had likely been unwise to allow them to continue working while she was actively dumping power into dimensional distortion magic. She might haveNope, not going to think about that.

Whats done was done. In the future, Ill ask them to hold off on the one Im actively charging. This was likely another thing a master would have taught her, if shed done a stint as a mageling. Or maybe not? The workers seem to know what theyre about, and they didnt hesitate to continue to work A master might also have alleviated her concerns. Id have known, one way or another.

She left the work-yard without fanfare, though she did smile and wave to the various workmen who acknowledged her.

In fact, more such smiled her direction, as she got farther from the cargo-slots, and she had a realization. With the iron salve, at any distance, it would be hard to tell that I was a Mage at all. She cocked a humored smile at that. I wonder why they think Im here.

She did not write that question in her re-opened notebook, though she did sketch out what she could remember of the inscribings on the cargo-slots. To her decreasing surprise, she was able to create a full sketch. Ill have to check it against the real thing, tomorrow.

To accurately render the depth, shed used various pressures with her pencil to create darker and lighter lines, also breaking up some of the lines to help emphasize their depth within the wood.

As the lines were magical in nature, her mage-sight had allowed her to see them, easily, even through the wood.

She had two realizations as she studied her finished work. First, shed never had the fine motor control to sketch so precisely, before. Even earlier this morning, her lines had been more hesitant, and less practiced, but in a no-longer-surprisingly-short amount of time, her movements had adjusted to her minds intent. My body and mind are better connected, making the refining of skills much faster. Or that was her best guess.

The second thing she realized was that the Wainwrights Guild would likely be less than pleased that she was able to copy out every layer of their spell-forms. Ill just keep that to myself, I suppose. That might make verifying the accuracy of her copy more difficult, but shed manage. Somehow.

Tala spent much of the rest of her morning combing the city for rooms to rent, either temporary or long term.

In short: Lyn was offering her a very good deal, if not so inexpensive as to be obviously charity. Even though it is

Money. Talas woes were almost entirely money related. Theyll be a little better, after I return, but with my ideas for Holly, on top of all the debt I need to pay off She was likely to have money problems for quite some time.

Instead of going by a restaurant for her lunch, as she desperately wanted to, she found the local food market, and used the last of her borrowed funds to buy dried fruit and meat, a quarter pound of butter to fill a small wooden box shed already purchased for the purpose, and biscuits. The latter she found in a little bakery which seemed to specialize in portable food for workers.

As such, the biscuits were dense, delicious, and filling. She still had to eat lunch, after all, and the butter shed bought didnt quite fit into the container. So, she ate one of the biscuits with butter and found herself satisfied.

The purchase of traveling food had been somewhat of an internal debate with her, as she was supposed to have her food provided for her on the trip.

That said, she had no way of knowing the quality or quantity of what would be offered. Another thing a master could have easily told me. And she was not willing to be at the mercy of whatever cook or quartermaster happened to be on the journey with her.

There was also always the possibility of some sort of disaster. Thus, shed eventually decided that buying a few days of such food was wise.

Her lack of funds had changed her mind, until Lyns generosity. Spend the money you have, Tala, and youll always be poor.

That wasnt entirely fair, as she could also eat this food in Alefast if she didnt need it on the journey, thus reducing her expenses overall, but she still felt fairly irritated.

Today was her last day in Bandfast, as the caravan would depart just after dawn the next morning. With that in mind, she wandered the city, taking in the sights and sketching many of them.

The shorter days and softer autumn light cast an almost dreamy aesthetic to the city, and she found herself enjoying each feature she passed, from the imposing, spell-lined city walls, to the small homes. She passed large block buildings that appeared to be apartment complexes and some that seemed to be factories, by the sounds coming from within. She passed people of every description and age going about their business throughout the city.

Honestly? It was exhausting.

The Academy hadnt been vacant, by any means, but it spanned tens of thousands of acres, and had a population that maxed out in the ten-thousands. Thus, there was never want for room.

This city, and every city, was teeming with people, and with her newly heightened senses, it wasa lot.

In the end, she sought refuge atop an outer wall.

The farmland stretched out beyond that wall, defensive towers flaring with power every so often to deter, or bring down, arcanous creatures that drew too close. Some people came and went through a nearby gate, and soldiers patrolled the walls at regular intervals, but overall? It was quiet.

What would it be like to leave the cities behind, forever?

She laughed at the thought. Even as a Mage, she couldnt survive in the wilds for very long. Her magics were finite and once they expired so would she.

Still If she were free of debt, and able to earn enough, she could spend most of her time away.

One has to dream, right?

She ate some of her trail food and drank from a waterskin as the sun sank below the horizon to the south-east. And thus, my last day here is done. Shed be back, but it still had a sad, sweet quality to it.

Ive only been here a week or so, and only conscious for half that. Still, she felt like she was becoming attached.

Tala laughed at herself, then. I want to go into the Wilds, forever! I cannot believe Im leaving this city I somehow love so much She snorted. Get it together, Tala. Youve work to do.