The next day was a mess of organization. Training was truncated to make more time for packing. Saul briefly met with the two servants that would accompany them and the stout horse that would pull them. Packing the portable hole required laying out supplies over a huge area of a lot at the back of the estate, then directing people in how to stack it all in the large hole once he unrolled it in the middle of the piles. A ladder had to be carefully affixed to the side before they could make any progress. The opening was eight feet across and just over eleven feet deep.
He went to the library with a small team of servants in the early afternoon. The two medium chests they brought were just enough to contain his myriad requests. While they were being carried back to the estate, he and Toby sought out Sister Young. There wouldn’t be any fanfare to their departure, so Saul wanted to make sure she knew he was leaving the next day and say goodbye. On the way back, he picked up the weekly duties for House Ficial.
The rest of the day was taken up going over the carriage they would be using, having some supplies packed onto it for appearances, then filling the storage satchel he would be using personally. Saul wore the Greater Mail of Undying for the last part of the day at his parents’ insistence. He proved able to keep it operational for an extended period with an acceptable level of strain. His situational awareness suffered, but he shouldn’t be fighting regardless.
Dinner was held in the Lazarus Building with just his close family and four kinds of duck. Saul wasn’t much for conversation by then, having used the mail for nearly five hours. He skipped the sitting room for the evening. Taking the mail off for a bath felt like taking a bag off his head, filling it with water, and hanging it between his eyes. It was the most acute focus headache he’d ever felt by far. He stumbled into bed without finishing packing his vault into the storage satchel.
The following morning, he joined his family in the training room for the first time in several days. Everyone did some sparring with him, and delivered private farewells. Afterwards, Joel had to come let him seal his room long enough to pack away the rest of his fragments. After a few minutes, Junia joined them, pulling both men into a hug.
“Remember not to read the whole way,” she instructed her son, “and don’t try to make the trip as fast as possible. Let yourself enjoy the new places and people.”
“Precisely,” Joel added, “this won’t be the only trip you take in your life, but it is all about you. You can take an extra day here and there to appreciate new things. Just keep your eyes open for when things go wrong.”
“But if you aren’t back in six months,” his mother continued, “I’m sending Joel to find you. Your grandfather can take the lead of the house for a couple months.”
“I’ll make sure I make the most of the time,” Saul said, making a halfhearted attempt to pull out of his mother’s grasp. “I love you.”
She let go, and Joel gave him a hug as well.
“You’ll do great, son, now, go get cleaned up and ready to leave.”
He heard them pause when they left his rooms, then a moment later, Michah appeared.
“I told the servant that was waiting that I’d take care of getting you cleaned up,” she said.
“Sure, thanks.”
She poked him a few times, muttering “Clean”, then looked at his curly nest of hair.
“I’ll change before you wet it down,” Saul said, “hang on.”
He stepped into his dressing room and mostly closed the door.
“You’ve been training and doing things with Toby a lot over the last few days,” Michah said from outside.
“Yeah? He’s kind of my bodyguard right now, Bart’s too new.”
“How has that been?”
“I’m starting to get to know him. He’s nice. I’ve enjoyed talking about the potential of his abilities with him.”
“Shocking. What does he like to do?”
“Other than social lunches and doing whatever with his friends?” Saul thought for a moment as he shimmied into a pair of tight travel pants with leather sewn into the crotch and inner thighs. “He has an interest in choreographed fighting performances at the Bellatheon. Understanding the ways that abilities can work together, especially with other people’s, is apparently an important part of it.”
“I guess that makes sense. You about done?”
“Yes, just a second, Mirror”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to be using cantrips?” she said, pushing the door open and leaning on the frame. Saul was standing in front of a mirror that might charitably be described as an oval.
“They’re nothing compared to keeping that mail going. Do you think the satchel blends in with this tabard?”
He had the mail and satchel on over his black tunic, but under his short sleeved plain tabard. The only signs of its presence were a leather strap running diagonally across the opening in the tabard and a slight bump under it on his left hip.
“Maybe move your money pouch to the left side?” she suggested.
Saul untied the small bag and moved it, obscuring the satchel’s presence. Michah wet his hair down, then gave him a hug and left. He did a once over of his rooms to make sure he wasn’t leaving anything he would need, then paused for a moment in his lounge to look around at the room that he wouldn’t be returning to for months. He ended up grabbing a couple books from his shelf for just-in-case comfort reading, including a short one his mom had written for him just over a decade ago about some of her biggest fights with monsters.
Leaving the Lazarus Building, Bart was waiting for him, trailing him to the back of the estate where the grounds abutted a frontage road. Saul looked over the carriage, which had some supplies secured to the top and stored in three chests strapped to the back. The portable hole with the actual supplies was folded and buttoned, looking like a horse blanket, and placed in a small chest behind the driver on the front of the carriage. Satisfied, he walked over to his father and uncle.
“We’re ready to go momentarily,” Saul said, glancing over at Toby, who was saying goodbye to his parents and little brother.
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“Let us take a final look at the interior,” Joel disagreed, walking toward the rear door on the carriage. Nathan followed, leading Saul with a hand on his shoulder.
None of the three men were tall, but the ceiling of the painted wood carriage was still low enough that they had to lean slightly even at the back. The interior was separated into four parts: a small, comfortable front sitting area with floor storage, a relatively large back multipurpose area, two tiny private sleeping rooms, and a narrow hall connecting them all. The flat top of the carriage also had a low railing and benches in front.
“Which of these will be yours?” Nathan asked, standing between the sleeping compartments.
Saul peered into each for a moment. Both had exactly enough floor space for a small cot and no more. The foot of the cot could be lifted to give a nominal personal area. The only difference between them was the precise arrangement of the drawers and shelves built into the wall.
“The left one,” he replied, indicating the room with slightly more shelving.
“Excellent, time to get this show on the road,” Nathan said, folding away the cot in the room and stepping in. He shimmered for a moment before stepping back out of the room, while a second, identical version of himself remained in the room.
“Is this the pool-level effect of Afterimage?” Saul asked, moving between the two Uncle Nathans and scrutinizing each in turn. “Which one’s real?”
“Not telling,” they said in unison, each patting one of his shoulders with a bright smile. Saul felt both.
“Nathaniel, pass over the domain, I need to get going,” Joel interjected, pulling up his sleeve to reveal a thin leather band with the symbols from two icons intermeshed across it. “Saul, he’ll explain the details later. This is need-to-know only, even within the house.”
The Nathan still in the room leaned over to touch the leather band. After a moment, the carriage seemed to lighten ever so slightly. Room Nathan then put a finger to his lips and closed the door.
“I’m looking forward to working with you!” Hall Nathan said to Joel with a cheeky grin.
“Be silent. I’m warning you now, if you have an existential crisis, keep it to yourself.” Joel replied, unamused.
The Nathan winced slightly and looked down at its own hands for a moment, clenching and unclenching them. Abruptly, it turned to Saul and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Have a great trip, nephew, I love you.” It then marched out of the carriage, throwing the door open. “Let’s get going everyone, we’ve all got places to be!”
Joel followed it stiffly, and Saul ducked out and was immediately rejoined by Bart. Toby came over after a second, carrying a small bag.
“I took the room on the left, when you’re facing toward the front of the carriage,” Saul told him, “if you’re ready, go ahead and get settled in the right one. We’ll leave momentarily.”
At the front of the carriage, the servant couple, Ziba and Dinah, were standing next to the horse talking while Dinah checked its harness. Both had wide smiles.
“Is he ready to go?” Saul asked.
“Yes, my lord,” Dinah replied, turning to bow deeply, “we can leave whenever you wish.”
“Good, let’s go.”
Saul led Bart and Ziba to the rear door and climbed in. There was a weighty thunk, and he turned to see that Bart had been scanning the area as he climbed up and cracked his head on the low doorway.
“Are you alright?” Ziba asked from behind him.
“That…didn’t hurt?” Bard said with surprise, rubbing the side of his head.
“You’re ensouled now,” Saul said, moving back to let the two enter, “You’re made of sterner stuff.”
He stepped through the short hallway into the sitting area, where plush couch-like seats were built into the sides of the carriage. It also had a slanted door that opened inward from behind the driver’s bench. He opened a small hatch in the door and told Dinah to go. The large carriage lurched as the horse pulled tight against the harness, then they were on their way. Saul glanced at the other two in the room, trying to think of a way to get some privacy for a few minutes in the small space.
“Hey, Saul,” Toby said, emerging from his room, “mind if I go up to the roof for the trip out of the city?”
“Go ahead!” Saul replied, latching onto the chance. “Bart, you go up too, to keep an eye out for anything shifty. Ziba, I don’t need you for anything at the moment, so do you…?”
“In that case, I would like to sit with my wife up front, if I may?” Ziba asked, and Saul nodded.
Ziba quickly unlatched the front door, braced himself on the frame as the carriage swayed slightly, and pulled it closed behind him. Bart paused for a moment, before following Toby to the ladder in the back room and up through a hatch in the ceiling. Saul waited a full minute, then opened the door to his room. The cot was down again and Uncle Nathan nowhere to be seen. He lifted the cot to find the man lying face down, head on his cupped hands.
“None of the others are inside the carriage, we can talk,” Saul told him.
“Good thinking,” Nathan said, shooting to his feet with a push-up, “I had thought I’d need to wait until we were out of the city. For your sake, I hope that ‘bed’ is more comfortable when you’re lying on top of it.”
“It literally has to be,” Saul said, eyeing the hinged board that was the underside of the cot. “Anyway, I take it you’re here for protection?”
“Just until you hit the border, but yeah,” Nathan confirmed, “I suggested keeping it a secret to increase the chances someone takes a shot at you.”
“Great, now, what was that ability you used? I didn’t know you had any illusions that good. The ones I’ve seen are only one or two colors.”
“‘That ability’ was the second house secret you’ve learned in as many days. You’re moving up in the world, kid!”
“It does feel nice to be trusted with more,” Saul acknowledged. “Can you tell me any more about that power, or are the details also a secret? Dad mentioned something about your domain, but I understood it to be a simple illumination variant.”
“I can tell you, just don’t talk about it. My domain was just light when it first awakened, but I tried something different when I chose my pool fragment to advance it; I went with beast.”
“Ooh, that is different. The Fool, light, and beast. I wouldn’t know what to expect out of that, but I guess some kind of autonomous illusion makes sense.”
“It does a lot more than I would have thought,” Nathan said, “but it has some odd limitations. I can’t just make an illusion of anything, it has to be a person or animal, and they have to be nearby in order to make a copy with my domain. Past that, though, the illusions are practically real.”
“That’s the most extreme domain variant I’ve ever heard of. Even when they have limited targeting, they usually project over an area in some way.”
“It does start that way, with the original illumination creation and control. When I use the pool effect, it’s a bit like pouring the area of light into a person shaped mold and solidifying it. I visualize it like something of a cake mold. Did you have room for any cakes?”
“No, proper baked goods were too space inefficient,” Saul sighed, “we’ve mostly got dried meat, potatoes, and stew packets. I haven’t read much about elven food, but I assume they have some kinds of bread we can buy.”
“They use a lot of corn, from what I’ve seen in Chelou.”
“That’s the city we’re heading for right over the border. Do they have a lot of corn ‘bread?’”
“I like to take a day trip there every couple months, when a duty puts me in that direction,” Nathan said, “they like me more than most humans. I’ll let you experience everything for yourself, but I could stay with you long enough to introduce you to a shady character that I know!”
Saul squinted at him, “was that a pun?”
“Probably! Now, I’m going to stay hidden in your room until you’re out of the city. I’ll say hello to everyone else after that, but I’ll still stay out of sight of the outside.”
Saul helped him get back under the cot, then stood in the hall, unsure what to do. He could read, but the sooner he started reading, the sooner he’d run out of books. He only had two chests full to last him around two months. In the end, he alternated between sitting on the cushions and unsteadily pacing in the modest space of the back room.