Chapter 275: Into the Weeds

Chapter 275: Into the Weeds

Tala continued to eat the free food provided by the Archon compound of Bandfast.

Mistress Ingrit had just finished the most basic summary of her time away, and Tala was honestly a little surprised at how little of it fell under the anyone can know this classification.

-Really? Youre surprised?-

Well probably not, no. Ive gotten a bit used to learning almost anything I wanted to know, and humanity doesnt really work that way.

-Well, it does for you and anyone of the upper echelons of power. Do you really think that it would be a good idea to tell the average citizen that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of high-powered arcanes, hostile to humanity, less than a thousand miles south of us?-

Yeah that would not end well, and its not like they could do anything about it, regardless.

-Precisely.-

As Tala had expected, the questions asked by those present were numerous and varied.

Many were answered with either a We will discuss that later. Or You are not permitted to know that answer at this time. Or Please submit a request, and we can discuss your acquisition of that information. That would require more detail than this meeting is intended to convey.

Even so, noon came before Mistress Ingrit called an end to the questioning, bringing with it a replenishing of the available food and drink.

Blessedly, none of the questions had been of the type that Tala was required to answer. To be sure, they all could have been answered by her, but those that received answers, received them from Mistress Ingrit in Talas stead.

Throughout that time, Tala had little to do, and so she ended up talking with Lyn and Rane as quietly as they could. They didnt discuss anything of substance, staying away from the meeting's main topic, instead just chatting about small, inconsequential things, like in the good old days.

Lyn looked at her friend, askance. Tala, what nonsense are you spouting?

Tala frowned. What?

You said, No ones afraid of being alone in the dark. Thats like the most common fear people have, Tala.

Tala lifted one finger in victory. Ahh, but thats not true. People are afraid that they arent alone in the dark.

Lyn blinked at her friend, then her eye began to twitch. I did not need that in my head

Nearly an hour and many topic changes later, Tala rolled her eyes. Rane, I dont care how you describe it, pancakes are not all crust, unless you make them wrong.

Crust is the harder, outer portion of bread. Pancakes are so thin that they are all crust. The large man was insistent.

Their conversation moved in ebbs and flows.

Rane had to control himself as he practically threw up his hands. Lyn, what are you talking about? Nature and day are way closer than nature and night.

No. Night is the natural state of existence. It takes the sun to temporarily banish the night. Without constant effort, without the constant expenditure of energy, nature is just night.

They werent arguing, or trying to change each others opinions. They were just talking, and Tala reveled in the normalcy of such a frivolous conversation.

After lunch, close to half of the attendees were dismissed, and then the rest got settled in for the next level of informational discussion.

As they were leaving, Mistresses Odera and Aproa came over to welcome Tala back. Mistress Odera, in particular, smiled as she patted Talas hand. Glad that you are safe once more, girl. Come see me when youve got your feet back under you. If you can.

Tala smiled, feeling a bit of tension bleed away at the older womans words. And she didnt even have to say anything comforting.

-We were really worried about her. Its good that shes still-

not a fount?

-Yeah. Maybe something that we learned can help her? Probably not, as arcanes are good at making founts, not preventing them.-

Still, we can see whats possible.

Mistress Ingrit clapped her hands after the door clicked shut behind the last departing Archon. Mistress Odera had been the only non-Bound among the group, even for the first portion of the meeting.

Now?

Now, Tala didnt detect anyone below Fused, save Lyn. Though, some kept their aura's fully retracted, and Tala didn't want to be rude by looking too deeply.

Alright, Archons. Now, we get into the meat of the information.

She turned and gestured at the wall behind her and an image that Tala recognized blossomed across it.

It was Be-thric.

Tala felt a shudder as her whole body tensed up at the mere sight of the arcane. At the same time, her mind sang out in glorious revelry at knowledge of his death at her hand.

Its okay to still fear him, even after he is dead. Rane hesitated. I assume he is dead, right?

Thats right, Rane saw the memories of my first two interactions with Be-thric.

Tala smiled at her friend. He is, yes. But I dont fear him, Rane. I never did. I feared his magic.

Rane cocked an eyebrow as he whispered his reply, Thats a ridiculous distinction.

No, it isnt, Rane. He, himself, wasnt scary, and that made what he could do worse. If hed been some sort of villain from a play, it would be easy to fear him and hate everything about him. Instead, he was too human. He wasnt evil, he wasnt worthy of fear, but he still had the power and the willingness to do things that were terrifying. Id fear anybody with that ability and lack of concern or restraint surrounding its use.

Thatstill seems like fearing him to me.

I wish hed been worthy of fearing. That would make it easier. Defeating a great villain can be liberating. Overcoming some guy with a scary magical ability still leaves the door open for others like him

Rane gave her a sympathetic look. That sounds awful. Thank you for being willing to say so much.

Lyn took her hand and squeezed it in camaraderie. Were here for you.

Mistress Ingrits continued speaking drew Talas attention back from her side conversation, and Alat filled her in on what Tala had missed, as if she hadnt been distracted.

A large part of that was the laws and practices surrounding the saorsa-collar. Shed gone over the basics before but the more intricate details hadnt been discussed.

As Tala tuned back in, Mistress Ingrit was refocusing on the memory and gesturing to the wall.

As you can see, that arcane has a magical device, that device will be used to modify the saorsa-collar, while it is active. Those of you with the capacity will be receiving a one-time glimpse of the record of Talas magical senses during the process.

The image began to move, showing Be-thrics modification of her collar the first time.

Tala hadnt thought too much about it at the time, but based on the reactions of the Constructionists in the room, she should have.

The Constructionists, and those with related professions, were wide-eyed and practically drooling as the memory ended.

Tala caught a few of the whispers. Specifically altering an artifact style item, while it is active. How could that be done?

The material of the modifying artifact was negated? Absorbed? What happened to it?

These and similar questions preceded a storm of splintered dialogues, referencing portions of the memory.

Rane leaned in. If I may ask, what was it like, having the collar around your neck?

Tala gave him an arch look. You mean, what was it like having the means of my execution affixed to me at all times?

He hunched a little. Yes.

She gave a sad smile. Honestly, I forgot it was there half the time. There was almost a perverse sense of security in it being there, even when I did remember it.

Lyn leaned closer, confusion and concern furrowing her brow. What? I dont understand.

Well. Tala sighed. If theyd discovered me, the real me, theyd have triggered the collar immediately.

Tala almost laughed at how unified their individual responses were. Shed hoped that the Library would be interested in those books. We have debts to pay, after all. What do we still owe?

-Three-hundred-eighty-one gold and twenty silver.-

Thats a lot but not that much? Tala didnt know how to feel. How much do we have?

-Two hundred eleven gold, eighty five silver and one hundred forty seven copper.-

Why one hundred and forty seven copper? Why not transfer that to one silver and forty seven copper?

-Because this is how it is held in your account, and I aim for accuracy.-

Fine, fine. She knew that most of that had come from Master Queue and the profits from the replication and sale of her comb.

She saw the man sitting near Master Boma and smiled his way once again.

He didnt notice as he was entirely engrossed in taking notes, or maybe making detailed requests for information. She couldnt quite tell.

In either case, she could pay off more than half her remaining debt almost literally with a thought. Am I rich?

-No, but you likely will be when all of this is over.-

Huh. That didnt clarify her feelings at all.

After a moment, she found herself frowning.

How much do you want to bet that the Refining process is usually expensive, and us needing a custom version will be more?

-I literally have no money, and youre probably right.-

We can negotiate with Mistress Holly? Shell be extremely interested in the reinscription device inside Kit. Maybe we could leverage that?

-Thats one avenue, yeah.-

Mistress Ingrit had moved on to the next set of memories, this one focusing on the artificial sun in her sanctum.

Apparently, humanity had similar devices, but humanitys versions had been developed entirely independently, so there were lots of questions and exclamations even from the brief glimpses shared.

They use a striated wave generation system? Thats insane! Why would they isolate and individually generate each wavelength?

Greater control over the light and the heat? We definitely have some trouble tuning our radiant units on occasion, and this would remove that tendency.

That only happens if you build the unit wrong. This is just needlessly complicated, but what about their cycle management? It looks like they tied the power variability in with the locational stability.

Yeah, that would force the change in intensity to be tied to the location of the artificial sun. Its certainly better to keep those two functions separated and differently regulated.

Rane was leaning forward, seemingly trying to listen in on the side conversations.

Im glad I got that booklet, and those books, on the artificial suns functionality.

-And oh, so much more.-

That caused Tala to smile. Her side conversations with Rane and Lyn had become less frequent as more of her memories had been shown, and the two of them showed more interest in what was being conveyed by Mistress Ingrit.

The Archivist was only giving the most basic of overviews, but it was still fascinating.

Tala, herself, found that the womans summary of Talas experiences was riveting, given that they were interpreted and told by someone else, putting a lens on them that shed never have herself.

When the latest ruckus calmed down, Mistress Ingrit folded her hands and lowered her head slightly. Now, we arrive at some more... uncomfortable information.

That got everyones attention, and even those who had been more relaxed and possibly starting to work on other things to the side straightened up and refocused.

This is the city center of Platoiri.

The room fell silent as the memory of the crystal and gold column came into focus on the wall.

It isnt easy to see, without magesight, but that is the magical heart of the arcane city. The scripting you see purifies the power flowing through the founts, and releases it into the environment. This is the chief reason that cities are so populous and compact. Each arcane wants to be in the higher magic density afforded by the column.

A voice came from the back of the room, one of the Archivists that Tala didnt know by name speaking in a bare whisper, but still easily heard by everyone, How many founts are in there?

The answer was simple, and Mistress Ingrit gave it plainly, Roughly twenty-thousand.

Color drained from a huge number of faces. More interestingly, however, were those who didnt look surprised.

Mistresses Elnea and Jenna were among those, as was Master Grediv and the other higher level Archons.

Lyn was white as a sheet, and Ranes eye was twitching. If Tala had to guess, Rane had known something about it, but not the full extent.

Mistress Ingrit continued. This is, unfortunately, not news. Most arcane cities are running on souls that they harvested millennia ago, so while it is egregious, it isnt something that is actionable. Not currently.

That brought a wave of grimaces, but everyone present managed to maintain their composure, especially because those that were most aggrieved each looked to their elders, and saw their lack of surprise.

Ahh, the atrocities of the past, how little we can affect you.

Mistress Ingrit cleared her throat, One thing that is new to us is confirmation that founts can depart if they choose to.

That caused a stir.

What Mistress Tala has brought back confirms that the arcanes, while they use founts as a resource, have a view of that resource's instability, and act in a way to keep their sources of power intact. It still is an abysmal situation, and they are using human souls, but in a way, they have a better means of monitoring and catering to those souls than we do.

A lot of people shifted uncomfortably.

Master Boma was nodding, and Tala remembered that the man had been searching for a means of communicating with vestiges. Hell be very interested to meet Rob too.

In the vein of these founts, I will briefly go over how they are used, in general.

What followed was a selection of memories, showing everything from the density enhancement room, the room that Be-thric had taken Tali into, to protian weaponry.

The fact that the founts in protian weapons served as a key source of magical power for the Eskau was of great interest to the Mage Hunters, as well as quite a few others.

The Librarian showed off the House of Bloods armory, through Talas memories of it, but stated clearly that they didnt have too many details on the items kept within.

Mistress Ingrit briefly covered gate-breaking and Master Himmal paid special attention to that, clearly intensely interested in the subject.

Rane and Lyn both turned to Tala, obviously aware that she would have been subjected to the process. Tala waved them off. It wasnt great, but nows not the time to discuss it.

They werent happy but didnt press her.

Mistress Ingrit didnt discuss holds directly, not quite yet.

Instead, she ran them through the traditions around Pillar and Eskau selection, as well as the culture around the raiding of the candidates of other Houses, both literally and violently, or by enticing them to switch loyalties.

Finally, when that was handled, and the understandable, but simplistic questions were out of the way, Mistress Ingrit turned to the last subject that related directly to founts: Holds.

She explained that arcanes didnt depend on the city column to power their holds. Instead each hold had its own source of power. She pulled up memories showing the intricate spellforms required to make that happen, and how it allowed for unprecedented control and customization of the dimensional spaces.

The main exception to this rule was, of course, ether holds.

Once again, everyones attention was highly focused, and at the end of Mistress Ingrits introduction to the topic, as well as a brief overview of void artifacts, she gestured to Tala, Well get to specific examples on those, soon enough. In the meantime, do we have any questions?

The room didnt quite erupt this time, but it was a close thing.

Yes, they did indeed have questions.