After dinner, they all sat at the roof looking at the stars. The elder couples were in each others arms, with Tercius holding Leo, and Aurelia making her head comfortable in his lap. Neiran went a few days back to visit his mother and her new family, and had yet to come back.
It was a family habit, to take half an hour at night before bed to just watch the stars and enjoy the silence. You could hear the river, and yet it didn't take away from that silence, but added to it, if that made any sense.
"There is just one more thing." Tercius said when they started to get up. He saw his grandfather stiffen as he got up, almost falling over in the process. Curse me and my understanding ways. he thought. I better hurry before the man bursts. Why didn't this happen to father, I would never allow him to get away with that so easily. he complained internally.
"Do you remember that Commander from yesterday?" he asked his parents.
"The one with the sandy voice? With the freckles?" his father asked with no pause. "The uniform…" he whispered near the end.
"... Ah...yes, that one. Did you meet some other?" How many Commanders of a town are there? he thought.
"No, there is only one." his father cleared his throat "why do you ask?"
"She made me an offer of becoming her aide, whatever that means. So I thought to ask. I wanted to do it earlier, yet it completely slipped my mind." he said, carefully avoiding looking in the direction of the reason he forgot it in the first place.
"You are a little young for that. They usually take a 12-13 year old for that. As for what an aide is... " his father went on to explain, once again reminding Tercius of his military background. Why did he leave the army? he inwardly wondered. He obviously has nothing against me joining them, otherwise he would have said something and not explained in detail what an aide is.
"Tercius is a bit tall for his age. He is even taller than Neiran, she might have just made an assumption about his age based on that." his grandmother raised a possible answer.
"We will think about this tomorrow, don't worry about it for tonight." his mother said finally with a yawn.
"Though tomorrow we proceed with... where we left off..." his grandfather said and went first down the stairs.
"I will stay a bit more." Tercius said as the others left, taking the sleeping children with them.
Looking up he saw the stars, the moons, a clear sky full of new possibilities.
***
The next day Tercius went for another try at transferring Energy. Not that the last time was a failure, it’s just that from what he gathered from the flustered elder the old birds decided to spend that extremely precious resource, that in the right hands would be worth who knows how much, as a little blue pill.
For the second try around they both knew what to expect so they prepared accordingly. This time his grandfather made preparations for himself to practice the skill right after the transfer. They brought a large rock into the central garden, and the elder sat in front of it, his legs folded.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"Yes, go for it." Tercius got an affirmative.
He placed his palms on the bare shoulders of his grandfather and repeated the steps. Draw a small amount, move it down the arm, then the palm, and… he forced the strand out and it disappeared from his sense in the same instant. He saw it with Energy Sight moving from the shoulders and slowly dispersing into small motes as it spread over the form of his grandfather.
"How does that feel?" he asked.
"A lot less intense than yesterday, I could feel it for a moment and then it went away." his grandfather answered.
"I used about a fifth of yesterday. Do you want to try to use the skill first or should I add some more first?" Tercius had to get a baseline for the amount that he injected into others. I have the skill to control it, so it’s easy for me. I need to find out how much each of them can take before side effects take place. he thought.
"I will try first, you go do something, I’ll be fine." his grandfather said.
Tercius went and took a seat at a corner of the garden that was in the shade and observed what his grandfather did. The elder slowly stretched his hands, his knuckled popping as he stretched each finger separately, then satisfied he laid his hands on either sides of the stone. His eyes closed, he sat unmoving before the object for a minute, moving his head a bit this way, then the other, changing positions for a better mental image.
Tercius always wondered why his grandfather didn’t create sculptures and sold those, instead of building houses and other buildings. Unlike Tercius, Ciron had that sense of shape and enough creativity to make breathtaking works of art, yet he never went that route. The closest he came to that was when he creates reliefs on the walls that he himself built.
The stone kept changing shape under the expert guidance, flowing like water where Ciron’s hands passed, then solidifying the instant they moved on. His grandfather took that stone, whose entire core was riddled with cracks at the start, and made into one solid ball. No weaknesses existed inside after he was done with it.
"Any progress?" Tercius approached and asked.
"So far, no. But we just started, isn’t that right?" his grandfather said and he could see the elder had great hopes for this. For some reason he wants this so much he would take unknown risks. though Tercius.
"Of course, just the start. And we won’t stop until we succeed." he made a promise to both of them.
"Good. Again." his grandfather turned back and they repeated the same procedure. Once again Tercius watched his grandfather remake the stone, only this time from a ball into a pyramid.
"Nothing?" he asked.
"Again." was the only answer.
***
Somewhere in the late afternoon his grandfather got a level in Stone Sense, and with that level Ciron’s single-minded pursuit ended for a moment as he came to his feet and broke into a wild laughter. His grandmother came and watched her husband with a slight smile on her face.
"Thank you Tercius." she said and went away on her business.
They got a sandwich to tame their hunger and continued with practise. Neiran came back at some point, and joined them in the garden. He and Tercius exchanged what happened to each these past few days, Tercius talked about the attack, Neiran about his mothers new husband and his family.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Mother told me something you need to know." Neiran said once most of the family gathered in the garden to watch his grandfather work.
"A few months ago people came by the village, claiming to be the new owners. They told all of them to pack their belongings and leave within a year. No one is to stay behind, at the threat of trespass." Neiran said shaking his shaggy brown mop that he refused to cut. "She also told me that weird people were seen wandering around, poking around the area, taking something from a few places…"
"Interesting…" his mother said, her face pinched in a deep concentration.
"What? Tell us." his grandmother pinched her daughter, snapping the younger woman out of thought and drawing a brief cry in protest.
"Why did you do that? I would have told you even without it." the bickering started.
"Hmm, yes but you would have first pretended a bit, so I just made you take a shortcut." his grandmother explained her reasoning.
"All right, all right. I think that they found traces of some metal or other element. Probably in large enough quantity for them to buy up the whole land and mine it after. If this turns out to be something valuable, then they would make hundreds of kvartas. Maybe even thousands, hells maybe even more. Oh let me explain that. Children, a kvarta is a hundred tretas, remember that." his mother explained, her voice getting louder and louder as she imagined the amounts of money that could have flowed through her fingers.
"That is the first what came to mind when you mentioned those men poking around. I think they are prospectors." his mother continued, stopping when she saw that her two most earnest listeners were stumped about the new term. A small smile returned as she endeavoured to clarify with great pleasure.
"A prospector is a man, or a woman, who seeks minerals, metals, any kind of desirable material really, then reports it to someone in exchange for money, or some other compensation." his grandmother quickly followed, not giving her daughter the chance to be the first.
Tercius and Neiran looked at each other, and each saw in the eyes of the other where this was going. Both slowly got up, then gently moved away from the epicentre of the imminent discussion.
"Mother. I thought we talked about this…" was the last they heard as they ran away from the garden, his father and grandfather following after them, showing great experience in the art of leaving those two at each other throat.
"I wanted to try for one more today, but with that in the background, I’d rather do anything else." his grandfather said. "Tercius I need to talk to you about something." motioning with his head to the side.
"Sure grandfather, what’s the matter? Some problem?" Tercius said as they moved away, leaving Neiran and Septimus headed for kitchen.
"I just wanted to ask if you gave any thought to something. Will you tell Neiran?" his grandfather asked.
"It came to my mind. I don’t know, I am still thinking about it." Tercius answered. "I want to do it, but you know how Neiran is, with just a bit of persuasion you could convince him of anything. Maybe later? Once he grows out of that gullibility."
"My thoughts precisely, I know the boy has a good heart, and it pains me to exclude him, but once he gets past his shyness he is as much of a chatterbox as your grandmother. And with none of her wisdom. Just look at it this way, you won’t be telling Aurelia or Leo just yet. You can tell him about those skills that require you to practice them in a visible fashion, but keep most to yourself for now. If my memory serves me, then for now you only need to tell him about Running." his grandfather said.
***
While the wind carried over voices of women arguing over long worn out subjects, the men sat in the kitchen eating and drinking. His grandfather in particular was eating almost triple what he usually did, which prompted Septimus to joke about wisely spent energy.
His father visibly deflated when he saw his innuendo fall on deaf ears, with Neiran having no clue, Ciron promptly ignoring him, and Tercius keeping mum, taking his grandfather’s side in the matter.
Long after they finished with their meals, his mother and grandmother came in, keeping the distance from the other, a ritual both did before they made up the next day. A process seen by all many times over the years. Both women had a bit of a hard-headed streak and neither wanted to admit defeat. So they pretended the next day as if it never happened.
Once they came in his grandfather asked Neiran to help him with something, and on his way out gave a wink and a nod to Tercius. So he took the cue and explained to his parents his decision about Neiran. His mother looked ready to argue it, yet his father agreed immediately and that made her stop. After a moment they all agreed that it was a prudent way forward.
Tercius would help Neiran, Aurelia and Leo with their skills, but do so with them none the wiser, until they had to be introduced to the secret. It was something Tercius thought as a good compromise.
After all, a passing touch could be used for transfer.
If I improve my skill to the higher levels, then maybe I will be able to control it even when it leaves my body. he hypothesised.
His grandfather continued to practise his skills that whole afternoon, with no further success, but that was to be expected. After all even for Tercius it took years of work with Meditation to get it to level 58.
Of course it was not his only focus of the day.
***
"Lets talk about your invitation." his father began that night on the roof. Tercius perked up and made sure to devote all of his attention to this.
"What invitation?" asked Neiran from the side. So he explained what the Commander offered to him.
"So, you will leave?" the boy asked, his face painted with the answer he wanted to hear.
"Brother where are you going? Can I come?" little Aurelia piped in, her eyes glittering in the moonlight, probably imagining some tales of grand adventures. I tell her too many stories. he thought.
"Alright children, this is a serious talk. I don’t want to make you go to your beds, so you will keep quiet. You can listen, but no talking. Understood?" his mother chastised them, prompting a rebuttal from Aurelia, while Neiran immediately pulled back into himself going into the "observation mode" he defaulted to when found in these situations. A finger wag from his mother promptly silenced the little girl, but she still made her displeasure known with a cute pout. He had to keep his hand still from the desire to pinch her small nose.
"So she just asked you about becoming her aide? Nothing else?" his father continued when the situation settled.
"She also asked about Running, but I told her I should talk to you all first." he replied. He informed Neiran of the skill earlier in the evening, and after Neiran saw the skill in effect with a small race they staged, he had to make a promise that he would explain how he got it.
"Yes, well then let’s start with this. You do not have to go if you don’t want to. Just making that clear. The army is not obligatory, nor has it been for decades. That said, all of those who sign up for a five year contract with them do get a LOT of doors open. New opportunities and such. The majority of the standing army are professional soldiers, the men and women who make their bread patrolling borders, going on offensive against the enemies of the Empire, defending from the occasional Beast, so forth. They get paid for these jobs, much as you two boys get paid by your grandfather for your work with him." his father explained.
"These professionals make up about a half of the army at any time, while the other half are the people that sign up with them for training that lasts from one year up to two, depending how much talent they exhibit. I have even heard of some going for two more, but those spots are rarely offered. Then after training they must do their five years in the army. You get a small amount of money each month, but that is essentially nothing. You could spent it all on three meals in a restaurant. Of course the army supplies them with clothes, food, everything they need during their stay there. This is about basic soldiers, if you manage to get a rank, then you get more money, better benefits and so on." Septimus cleared his throat, then continued.
"Now, this is a bit hard for me to do because on one hand I would like you to go, but on the other I do not." his father said and shifted a bit closer to him. "They have the best training you could possibly find, and I would like for you to have that. On the other is what you mentioned. That purpose. Do not be fooled here, they do give you a purpose, only it’s of their making. What happens one day when you refuse to do something vile and terrible and yet that is command from your superior? You decline? It does not work that way. You decline, you get sent to work at the mines for five years. Hard labour, getting up each morning, digging the whole day while having only one meal, then going to sleep, only for that same to happen the next day and the one after that. And then sent back to finish your time with the army. Of course it’s not this grim everywhere, there are some truly good people in the Army, people that are there for the right reasons. Only I fear those are few and far between."
His father looked up at the stars and stared for a moment in silence, then went on. "I was in the army training for my second year, was supposed to finish with training actually in a mere month. Then… well, lets not go there now. It’s in the past. Anyway I paid to get out of the training, the army, all of it. Quite a lot of money. My parents are quite well off, you see. Your grandparents…"
Tercius saw that the whole thing was entering into a territory his father found difficult. He felt a bit uncomfortable to be honest, sitting here and listening to this last part his father spoke of. I feel as if I am snooping on something private. he thought. But no, his father was telling him this of his own volition, so the least he could do is listen.
"That was over 14 season cycles ago, I was just a boy a bit older than Neiran now is. 15 season cycles, I think. Well, I left the army, a disgrace to my family, suddenly unable to do the things I did, the friends I had before didn’t want to have anything with me… It was a difficult time. Lonely. But then your mother came along and I honestly think that she is the only reason I still stand this day." Septimus said with a small smile towards Petra. "Maybe one day I will share the whole story, but honestly I just want to forget the whole damn thing." he said exhaling deeply, as if the mere mention of it poisoned his lungs.
"My experience with the army is… difficult, and if you wanted to go join the army, I think I would have broken your legs and kept the healers away. But an aide… as an aide you will have access to the same training, without the need to do army time after it. An aide is essentially an errand boy for officers, someone they use to do the footwork of their job. It’s a spot for third and fourth children of the noble and wealthy to make connections, while getting some training. I think we should go and ask the Commander a few questions before you agree to anything." his father finished.
"Lets do that then." Tercius said, "But not tonight. I don’t think the Commander would appreciate if we came for a visit at this hour." he joked.