Chapter 260: Sleep?

Chapter 260: Sleep?

Tala and Terry ran.

Well, thats not quite accurate.

Terry flickered around, bopping to various hills, occasionally disappearing after some bit of prey or other, but always returning and falling into step beside Tala with ease.

Tala, for her part, loped, bounding more than anything else, springing forward with every step, the expanded surface area of each foot allowing her enhanced strength to really prove its worth.

There wasnt much snow near Platoiri, but she did find some in the deeper valleys and on the northern sides of the hills as she moved across the land.

It provided a haunting echo of home. The human wilds, for the most part, got a lot of snow in winter, but hundreds of miles south? There was little and that had been just one more reminder that she was in a foreign land.

As the sun moved down towards the horizon from high-noon, Tala began experimenting with magical resonance.

She increased the amount of power that she allowed into her aura and pushed it ahead of herself.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

Almost immediately, a resonance began to build, so she feathered the power back, softening the edges of her aura.

When she did that, the resonance faded before it truly began.

She sped up, pushing herself to move faster than shed ever moved on her own, except maybe when shed been fighting Io, but that had been in incredibly short bursts.

This was the equivalent of a dead sprint for the long haul, and she knew that she couldnt maintain it for very long, even with all her magics.

That said, it was actually fairly easy for her to approach magical resonance in the relatively potent zeme with her speed.

The magic in the air would barely have sustained an arcane Child, but it was almost double the density of the human Wilds, so close to an arcane city.

Not too close. Ive been running for hours. I might have covered close to fifty miles by now.

-A bit more by my estimate, but yeah, pretty close to that.-

She was going nearly twice as fast as shed averaged before, and her short window of time at this speed was closing, so she did her experimentation quickly.

She pulled her aura and power in tight, playing with the shape of it.

Eventually, she was able to find a shape that was almost aerodynamic, but had odd, irregular ripples across its surface, which seemed to keep the magic from resonating more effectively than a perfectly smooth shape did.

She doubted it was the best shape she could make, but it was good enough for now.

She slowed down, barely breathing hard thanks to her enhancements. Oh, I love being inscribed once again.

Still, she did feel an ache deep within herself from having pushed so hard.

-It was only about a day, right?-

It felt like an eternity. The entire time, I felt like an idiot a slow, weak idiot.

Alat huffed a laugh within Talas head. -Yeah, well. Youre better now.-

That I am.

Terry flickered back into his place, moving alongside her without getting too close.

Good hunting?

He trilled happily before flickering to her other side, just because he could.

How does he do that? He should have to go through the intervening space, given hes using dimensional magics, but he doesnt actually seem to.

-I think that his magics arent like the quickways in Croi, but Ill grant you that they bear some similarities.-

Tala grunted. Oh! Have you found any solutions for our unwanted passenger?

Tala, herself had been considering the problem of the dasgannach.

She hadnt come up with even another temporary solution, not yet.

She didnt really expect either of them to come up with something so quickly, but she was optimistic that they would. Something was tickling at the back of her mind, telling her that there was a solution that should come to mind.

She just hadnt remembered it, yet.

-No But could you do me a favor?-

Probably? Whats up?

-Can you run with your voidsight active?-

Tala shrugged, not even bothering to ask why for the moment. Sure.

And so Tala went back to running loping.

Terry cleared out any wildlife that might have been bothersome.

The miles sped on by.

The sun set.

Darkness fell.

When full night had washed across all that Tala could see, she slowed, allowing her voidsight to drop along with Flows return to its resting form.

I have had a long two days, Alat.

-I know. I wish that you could sleep.-

Tala grimaced, turning her focus to the slow burn of the Archon star, building within her left ring finger. I cant though, not with this in the works. It would seal off, my body would expel it, and Id be done for.

-You know, I could take over the working. Its not like I dont know what Im doing.-

Tala considered the idea. You havent really controlled my magic directly before. Have you?

-Not for anything important. Just little bits here and there. We share a soul, mind, and will. It should respond to me just as well as you.-

Tala grunted. That was sound logic.

Terry flickered to stand a bit away from her as Tala stood atop a snow-covered bluff, beneath a cloudless, starry sky.

Its beautiful tonight, isnt it? Tala tilted her head back to stare up and take it all in.

It was odd to think that the Doman-Imithe was what anyone up there would see, if they looked in towards Zeme.

What would it look like from the outside?

Terry looked up as well, raising his head in a manner that seemed to evoke a feeling of pride and mastery of all he surveyed. He let out a slow, soft trill, and Tala smiled.

Yeah. It is good to be free once more.

What do I know of that place? She considered, just letting her mind turn the problem over like she hadnt really done in recent memory. All reality is connected by threads. Nodules that are actual places. Manifestations formed around the connection paths, forged of figments of the observing mind and the dust of a previous world.

-Yeah.-

Tala laughed. There arent threads, here.

-Not really, no. I think your cross-stitching analogy was spot on. Zeme is the pretty picture the ancient workers of power forged, the Doman-Imithe is the remains.-

But, in cross-stitch, there is vastly more material on the back, than on the front.

She turned her thoughts more firmly onto her family. Nalac and Illie should be at the Academy still. Hopefully, they werent told.

But Tala knew there was little chance of that.

Maybe, we could go visit them?

-Inconvenient. Wed have to leave Kit behind and get reinscribed once we returned.-

Of course, because only things that are soul-bound to us

-Plus a little clothing.-

Right, right, only things soul-bound to us, and some clothing, come along

Tala felt dawning revelation building in Alat, even as the idea exploded within her own thoughts.

Thats it!!!

-The dasgannach is not bound to us.-

Teleporting should strip it out.

-The question is, would it take the iron?-

Tala shook her head. It shouldnt matter. Our soul knows we have a functioning body, so we should have iron in place when we arrive. It would be just like my hair when I came from the Academy.

Alat knew that too, but the idea was so fresh to them both that neither had thought all the way through the obvious implications and outcomes. -It might even force the thing out? Cause it to leap out of you at the last moment, so it wasnt obliterated.-

It might at that, but I doubt it. It has a strong desire to claim everything. Even so, thats a good point. Well have to have whoever is assisting in the teleport be careful and ready.

Just like that, she had a solidly workable solution.

It was simple, elegant, and completely within her means, assuming she could get to a human city before the Archon star fully formed.

She moved into her last stretch. How are we on timing for the Archon star?

-With as slow as were funneling power into it? We have at least a week.-

But thats if nothing happens to throw things off. Thats if things go our way. Tala smirked. How likely is that?

-I wouldnt bet on it.-

Yeah, me neither. So, somewhere less than a week, the sooner the better.

She shouldnt need to sleep again, but it would likely be wise to sleep every three days or so. That would slow them, depending on the route they had to take.

Tala stood, left her room, and went to the kitchen, still deep in thought.

It was easy to call up the base ingredients, and she began munching on raw fruits and vegetables.

She had a selection of butchered meats available as well.

That would be a great way to start the day.

She looked around the kitchen, hesitating.

-Youve never really cooked in here, have you?-

I have not, no. But you already knew that.

She sighed, realizing that she just didnt have time for a real breakfast.

Instead, she grabbed some readily made food. Sadly, what she ended up with was both vastly simpler and far less tasty than she had become accustomed to.

Even so, it filled the small ache of hunger within her well enough.

Terry was nowhere to be found, but he had his own diversions within the sanctum. Shed open Kit for him a little later.

The dasgannach didnt try to eat any of the knives or other utensils she touched in passing, so she wasnt quite sure what it would go after.

Maybe, its because all of these have a bit of magic to them? The restraining band had been magical, but it had also been deactivated when the slime-monster consumed the iron it had contained.

The magics in the tools, on the other hand, were always active, pulling fractionally from Kit via the schema in the dais outside.

Differences highlight parameters.

Tala didnt see the cat anywhere, but she still had some more mundane food in Kit that had been used for Thron and kept on hand in case she ever had guests.

She never had.

She laid out a cut of meat for either the cat or Terry.

She wouldnt be bothered no matter which ate it.

The cat probably has plenty to eat, besides this. The arcanes built an entire ecosystem in here.

She frowned. An ecosystem that wasnt balanced for the destruction a cat could bring.

Maybe she should find it and kick it out.

After a moments thought, she shook her head. That is not really a now problem.

-I recommend a reinscription. Nothing is too worn, but you put a lot of odd stresses on yourself that had to be repaired, and Id prefer we were topped off.-

Sure. It was a quick walk to her dais, and only the thinnest golden wires rose up to plunge down her throat before splitting apart to refresh her spellforms.

With that, her short, morning routine was done.

Tala called up the door out of Kit and stepped out into the early morning light of a mid-winters day.

The sky was a lovely shade of blue and practically cloudless.

The air was brisk, but not really overly cold.

Such were winters to the south.

Ill be home, soon.

Thinking about the weather and the time of year, reminded her of the rough date.

Nalac and Illies birthday is only a few days away, and mine less than a week after. I should be home in time at least for mine. It would be a fairly glorious present if she could teleport to the Academy for their birthday, though.

After all, she had to teleport anyway. Why not make use of the trip?

Tala had no idea if it was as easy as asking to go, though. Such a trip likely had to be approved by someone.

-Weve never checked.-

Yeah, thats what I remembered.

She took a deep breath and sighed.

And were going to be under heavy suspicion when we return. I imagine there will be a minimum of a few days of intensive magical tests of one variety or other, before were cleared.

-Theyre probably going to want to analyze every inch of Kit, as well.-

She pulled Kit off the rock face and bounded up the slope to have a look around. Thats probably true.

Tala spread her arms wide and basked in the sun. But thats an Im home! problem. Ill gladly deal with a few of those.