Chapter 403: Let Hope Begin

Chapter 403: Let Hope Begin

Tala was starting to get concerned about Rane, and it was beginning to grate on her nerves.

It had been a week, and Rane had yet to wake up.

From a Healers perspective, he was doing just fine.

No matter how many times she asked, that was their answer.

It was starting to get frustrating for everyone involved.

His body was continuing to recover as expected, but his mind had yet to put itself back together enough to allow him to wake up.

There was no neurological damage that could be detected, and it was true that sometimes people took up to a month to wake up after some Refining sessions.

Tala had been reassured of this.

Apparently, such a state of unconsciousness wasnt a predictable thing, either.

Sometimes a persons first or second Refining session would lay them out for weeks, and then, theyd wake up within minutes after their third or fourth.

Sometimes, people never had a long bout of unconsciousness at any time during their Refining process.

Regardless, she had to wait, and she hated it.

Tala continued her training, now with four iron shapes spinning around her head at nearly all times.

Shed managed to extend the illusion of the through-spike outward enough that no mundane could see those spinning, constantly roiling and twisting shapes.

That helped with the odd looks she had been getting, looks that usually changed to ones of recognition due to her minor fame as a Defender.

It was all a rather large inconvenience that she was glad to be rid of. Though, she was still recognized, just not as often.

She also continued her work as a Defender.

There were more assaults on the walls, but she mainly left those to her unit-mates. They had very kindly been letting her take on most of the interesting beasts that attacked up until recently, and so she decided to return the favor, simply acting as backup when needed.

She was no longer the newbie of the group, having been with them for the better part of a year.

Overall, Tala felt like she was in a weird sort of stalled state, even as she improved her various skills and capacities.

She had nothing that she was specifically aiming for, even though she was working to improve across the board.

The closest thing to a goal was the design, testing, and implementation of improvements to the now segmented Kit, and that was progressing well, just like everything else.

Still, she was looking toward an eternity of this.

Is that really what she wanted?

It didnt seem very appealing.

She often found herself grimacing or groaning at that thought.

It felt so passive, so temporary, so sisyphean.

I hope Rane wakes up soon

* * *

Tala was in the room when Rane woke up, another two days later.

He groaned, shifting in his bed before his eyes fluttered open.

She was at his side in an instant, taking his hand so he would know she was there. Hey.

His eyes tried to focus on her. Hey Whats oh

He closed his eyes again, and Tala gave his hand a light squeeze. Yeah, youve completed your second Refining session.

Rane lifted his other hand up high, making a fist. Success.

There wasnt much enthusiasm behind the gesture, but he was barely awake, and his throat was clearly incredibly dry, despite Healers keeping him well hydrated in general.

He let his upraised hand fall back to the bed even as he squeezed her hand in return with his other. He tried to say something else, but let out a dry cough instead, grimacing at the unpleasantness.

She manifested a bit of iron into the superficial and manipulated it into the shape of a hand.

The iron hand grabbed the handle of the earthenware mug and floated over to her, moving carefully to not spill the water it contained. Here, drink this.

She used her own fingers to move the straw around and against Ranes lips.

He took a careful sip, swallowed gingerly, and smiled, sounding much better when he spoke, Thank you.

Tala simply nodded in response, though she felt a small smile pulling at her own lips in return.

How long?

She instantly knew what he meant despite the few words.

She knew that Rane wouldnt care how long hed been unconscious. That was irrelevant, really, now that he was awake, and he knew that. He would be focused on what mattered.

He wanted to know how far hed gotten into the Refining session. You bore through the whole session. It ended when the construct cut the flow of power.

His whole body seemed to relax, almost sinking into the mattress a little, and he let out a massive sigh of triumph that was monumentally more sincere than his previously raised fist had been. Thats that is fantastic.

She smiled, even though he couldnt see it given his closed eyes. It really is, Rane. You did well.

He smiled again, eyes still closed. Thank you.

It didnt take them too much longer to reach the expanded area from which Tala could pull into her sanctum, and with a minor act of will, she and he were suddenly within Kit.

Rane stumbled slightly, and she helped to steady him.

Well, rust on me. Were we that close? I didnt think I was that out of it.

About three blocks?

He seemed to take a long moment to process that. How?

Tala thought for a moment, herself, then shrugged. Ive been working on extending Kits effective dimensionality.

He frowned, clearly looking irritated at his own confusion. I dont follow.

I should be able to draw anyone into Kit who is dimensionally aligned with the space within Kit.

He nodded, seeming to have reoriented on the current subject, and that was helping. That I understand, but Kit is dimensionally bound by the pouch, right?

Originally, technically, yes, but actually no. Especially not now that we are bound.

His frown deepened just slightly. Explain?

Just like my magic has an aura, Kits dimensionality has a range of authority, as it were. It is especially the case now that Kit is untethered. Her connection to the superficial only exists where and when we wish it to, and I am working toward getting her range to match Kits actual inner dimensions, but right now, Ive gotten it to about a three block radius.

Tala, thatsthats close to 2 miles across. Right? He frowned, clearly trying to do mental math.

Just a bit more than one, actually.

Still that is massive! That reaches outside the wall from Artia and Adrills shop, right?

It does, yeah, if just barely. Part of it is that there is some odd interference between how our cities function and extending Kits reach. It takes much more reach? Yeah, it takes more reach to reach outside the walls. Basically, it is harder to reach in that direction. She finished a bit lamely.

Rane grimaced, clearly trying to get his metaphorical feet under him, Is it a circle?

Its a bit oblong because of Kits new configuration, and of course, because of the city wall so near at hand..

Can you rotate that shape? Reorient it?

Tala tilted her head to the side. She hadnt considered that. Then, she shrugged and tried it.

It worked. She could feel the odd connection that she had to Kits reach sweeping through the near part of the city.

There were some odd limitations to what that actually meant.

The primary one was, while she could open a door anywhere within the spacejust like she could open a door to anywhere within Kitwithout a door, she could only pull sapient life into Kit from the outside.

Animals and items seemed to require some sort of opening to come through, which did line up with the vision shed had when bonding with Kit.

Therefore, it wasnt really an unexpected restriction or oddity.

Still, even with the restrictions, she understood the utility of what shed been working on.

She could move effectively instantly within Kit, and if she could push herself out of Kitand draw herself into Kitfrom a large area, she could move a bit like Terry, even if as a two step process and only when she was near soulbound storage.

Still, shed have to experiment with that in the near future, not at that moment.

But all of this was neither here nor there.

Rane and Tala were standing beside a small feast divided across two personal tables.

Talas spread was quite a bit larger than Ranes as well as being decidedly more magical, but his wasnt exactly small, and there were definitely bits of magic scattered throughout.

Ranes mind seemed to have moved to the food as well, because he began chuckling. You still have some with my magic left?

She shrugged. I think I always will at this point. It seems to breed true, and Kedvas got a good handle on things in that department.

Oh?

Yeah, there are two varieties that are useful with your magic, it seems. One which ends up with usable magic in its meat, and the other with it in its eggs. Sadly the eggs of the first and the meat of the second are quite useless to you or me.

Isnt that a rusting shame. He was grinning.

Tala chuckled in return. Quite.

They both moved forward and sat in their respective chairsjust within arms reach of each otheroriented to look out at the landscape before them.

They were in a little patio on the far side of the central hill of her sanctum from her dining area and bedroom, so the view was actually a bit novel to them both.

This really is a lovely place. Ranes voice was soft as he spoke, clearly settling into the moment and not wanting to disrupt it any.

Tala found herself nodding even as she spoke in response, Some good can come out of almost any bad.

He nodded too. Thats how to get over it He grimaced, likely realizing that he was in the middle of his current trial, or to get through it. We have to find the good.

Isnt that the truth.

They fell into silence for a long moment before beginning to eat, almost as if in sync.

They both smiled at the coincidence but didnt stop or comment on it. After all, they were both starving.

It was a fantastic meal, as they had come to expect from Mistress Petra and Kedva.

Each dish was worth spending time enjoying, and they tried to do so, even while they devoured every bite.

Around the meal, in the small spaces and between bites, they chatted about little things, laughed, and smiled.

But more than anything else, they simply enjoyed the company, reminisced about the past, and tentatively let hope begin to build about what the future might hold.