Ebon was the first to break the silence.

“M-marigold, she was-”

Harlow put his hand on her shoulder.

“You’ll stop being shocked by Harlan eventually. Cimmeria, how have you been?”

“Was that really-”

“Yes, and she is a lovely woman.”

He let out a jovial laugh.

“Redmond, good to see you. Now you know what it is like to raise children. And hey, it never gets easier, you just swap out which worries you have.”

“I guess I’m not that shocked. I just didn’t think they were actually close.”

“That man of her’s is a little crotchety, but she is a good friend to Harlan.”

“You sure are energetic today.”

Harlow flexed.

“Harlan used some of that fleshsculpting stuff, I feel 4 children younger.”

Aida turned toward Harlan who just shrugged, and then her husband.

“He did WHAT?”

“Honey, I didn’t want to tell you because I knew this is how you would react.”

She took a deep breath and tried, yet failed, to not be mad.

“How could you not talk to me about this?”

“Because you would say no.”

“You are acting like a child.”

“Have faith in-”

“Stop telling me to have faith in him, of course I have faith in him, because he wouldn’t go near you if he wasn’t absolutely sure it would work. But you should’ve told me, I just don’t like you hiding things from me.”

“But now that you’ve seen it, don’t you want a bit more pep in your step?”

While his parents argued, Harlan walked to Ebon.

“Is this your husband?”

“Yes, we’ve been married for a few years already.”

“Greetings, Sir Fomoria. My name is-”

“Edward Blackstone, formerly 2nd son to the Baron Balden, age 27, first marriage, 5’10, singularly dark aligned, went to the Greenfield academy in the central duchy of Greenfield, graduated top of your class.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Since Blackstone is family, that makes Ebon family, and I like to keep up on who my family is in relationships with. Ebon, can I have a moment?”

“You could’ve just asked to speak first before doing that to my husband. What do you want?”

“Time magic, is there anything you can tell me?”

“What can you do so far?”

Harlan skipped around her several times.

“Just this. So far I’ve not encountered anything that I can’t use this on, but surely there is a limit?”

“Try to skip again.”

Harlan found himself in a headlock.

“Huh, so, what did you do?”

“I latched onto your skip by seeing the pattern in your movement and I imagining a future where this happened. Time magic has a large mental aspect to it. Most people fear you, so they can’t imagine doing what I’ve done. There is also an aspect where you are moving through the timeline, so if someone is more powerful than you, your skips won’t work the way you want even if they don’t know you are going to do it.”

“So then if I do this.”

Harlan used skip again and found himself away from her, not behind her as he expected.

“Since I knew you were going to do that, I imagined a future where you did, but I moved out of your grasp.”

“Right, I think I understand. Thank you very much for this lesson.”

Aida stood with her arms crossed.

“Mom, can you try to do something?”

He used skip and got slapped on the back of his head.

Ebon laughed.

“Perhaps she should be the one learning time magic.”

Instead of getting to the conversation she clearly wanted, he walked right past her to his father.

“How bad is it?”

“Not quite hollering mad, but if she had a wooden spoon, she’d use it.”

“Both of you, here, now.”

“We are both here.”

“Harlan, how could you do that to your father?”

“I’d like to do the same for you, and I know you would refuse, so I thought seeing dad like this would change your mind.”

“We are going to have a talk when we get back.”

“That is all I want, an honest discussion of the pros and cons, not you browbeating me while dad tries to advocate for me.”

“A long talk.”

Balor and Brig were running their final checks for the fourth time, the old man was quite proud of what he made, even outside of the veil trains were an upper class transport.

After bringing out a shocked Redwall who hadn’t said a word the entire trip, they started walking inside.

“You call her Cimmeria?”

“Since I can see and talk to her more often with this train and the amulets, I’ve come to be friends with her.

I find it pretty funny when she tries to be common, she finds it funny when I try to be a noble.”

“Her simple meal when I first came here was far from what would be at our table at any given night.”

“But she tries, and that is the important part. So, how are things with you and Adina?”

“Great, we aren’t fighting about anything, and with her vision mostly functional we can do so much more. Not that I ever had any issue with sharing my sight, but it isn’t the same as her looking at the world with her own eyes.”

“Make sure you watch yourself. If you make it sound like you disliked her blindness she is going to take it personally, that was a big part of her life.”

“I know, the biggest problem for her now is that it was actually easier for her in some ways to use the magic to see. I don’t want to sound like I’m putting her down for being blind, not like she chose to be that way.”

“Good, remember, girls are sensitive, sometimes, or they are Ava.”

“Ava is sensitive, just not in the same way as some others.”

Ava, overhearing this, jammed her armored thumb into Harlan’s hip, which put a hole in his clothes, but didn’t actually hurt him.

“Did you enhance yourself again?”

“Stone Drake, I had to make new items just to maintain hover on me. I might’ve hit my limit unless I get taller.”

The clothes were already patching the holes since none of the fibers were destroyed, just cut.

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“I can’t wait to be that strong.”

“Even once we start, you need to work up to being this strong. I’d say six months to go from human to me. You must exercise and maintain a proper diet the entire time as well. I also don’t want you working.”

“But Breken needs me-”

“I’m not asking, I’m telling you. Six months is fast, if I waited for you to get used to your new power each time it would take closer to a year. If Breken really did need you, I’d send a me with him, but if you just want to go with him, then accept that it is going to take a long time for you to reach your full potential.”

“Send a you?”

“Yeah. I’m split between here and a field of flowers about 2000 miles away. Orcs were going to trample a field of rare flowers that are needed for a rare species of magical bees to survive. I’ve just pulled the head off of the chieftain and immolated their shaman.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Just a moment.”

A fenrir arrived, drawn by the blood of hundreds of orcs.

“You can have the bodies, I’m just here to protect the flowers.”

“Manthing, you smell… delicious.”

“Probably because of what I’m made from.”

Its four eyes moved independently and looked over his body.

“Are you sure you want to fight me? There must’ve been 300 orcs, plenty of meat leftover.”

“Shiftling. Cursed thing. Fake.”

“Harsh words.”

“Hang on, I need to go, but I’ll be back.”

“Harlan, dear, the party will begin shortly?”

“I’m being attacked by a Fenrir and its pack, I need to go help myself since he is weaker than I am.”

Harlan vanished through a gate.

“Cimmeria, don’t worry about it, I’m sure Harlan can explain when he gets back.”

Adina walked closer.

“Harlan got a spell from Xol and is splitting himself between two bodies. He sent the other Harlan on the mission because he wanted to be here.”

“Our Harlan, or the other Harlan wanted to be here?”

“Both of them are Harlan, but the original body. He also mentioned something about exercises in the book and pseudo-minds. But I don’t get those things really.”

“Harlan does have a manner of speaking to others as if they understand him. Lady Adina, I don’t believe we’ve ever had the chance to talk at length.”

“I’d rather just be called Adina.”

“Oh I know, I just wanted to hear you say it.”

“Why?”

“Because it would be rude to assume. That is a nice dress, simple in style, but high quality.”

“Harlan doesn’t care too much for appearances unless he is trying to send a message. Perhaps that has rubbed off on me.”

“I assumed it was due to your blindness. Do you have a preference in styles, or do you just wear what is comfortable?”

“I’ve seen myself through Harlan’s eyes, so I do know what I like.”

They moved to the ballroom where the party would take place.

Meanwhile Harlan arrived just in time to see that there was no Fenrir, no bees, and no flowers, it was an empty field. He just saw his other self shooting off spells into nothing. The only real thing seemed to be the hundreds of orc bodies scattered around.

The woman had a crow on her shoulder waved her hand and an invisible wave passed over the other Harlan, reducing him to liquid which poured out of the eye slits of the armor..

Harlan tried to leave through the gate, but it was already gone.

“A simple test. That is all I ask of you.”

Balor welcomed his group of guests onto the train.

“12th Princess Lilly, I am quite glad that you have chosen to grace me with your presence.”

The Princess and the royal guards who accompanied her stepped aboard.

She looked around before speaking.

“I was under the impression that Sir Fomoria would be here.”

“He was unfortunately called away on urgent business. Something about a mission from his god, orcs, and a field of flowers.”

“I do hope he isn’t fleeing from me.”

“Oh, no, of course not. When he heard you were coming he was interested in meeting you again.”

“Hmm. I find it unlikely that he did. And it is quite rude to lie to me.”

“Ah, but he did wish to see you again after the… incident which was your last meeting.”

“We shall leave without him then. This is business, and he has little mind for it.”

“Quite true. Please, you and your men must be seated before we begin moving. You will feel a slight pull back, that is simply the acceleration. Once we have reached top speed, you may stand again without worry.”

Lilly took her seat, though only one of the three soldiers sat with her. In fact, he sat a bit too close to her.

“Sir Balor, please, sit. And what of the man in the front of the train?”

“He is the operator, and must remain seated where he is to monitor the magic and ensure a safe and comfortable ride.”

Brig could’ve gotten up at any time after the train started without issue, but in the century and a half since he last met with royalty, he never had a desire to meet more of them.

Harlan stood, covered in blood, a cut across his side spilled his guts onto the clay.

“A very disappointing first showing.”

His opponent was a man with blue skin who stood 10 feet tall.

“He is impossibly strong, you will not beat him with that form of brute force.”

Another beam of void harmlessly splashed off of the man just as every other spell had.

“Fuck you.”

Harlan knew he wasn’t getting away this time, when he tried to flee the man had instantly moved to block him.

“Harsh words mean nothing from a dead man.”

Harlan flooded his body with imbibing, if nothing else, someone would be dying.

He leapt towards the man, spinning as he did to drive himself through the chest of the man.

Both of them now lay dying, the man from the large hole punched through his chest, and Harlan from the backlash of his own magic.

His own blood moved with too much pressure through his body and his capillaries burst one after the other, turning his skin purple with pooled blood.

As he laid there, hyperventilating until his lungs burst from backlash and his body broke itself down, the woman stood over him.

“The first round goes to The Little Shadow.”

She felt the push as the train started to move.

“It is more gentle than I expected.”

“It took quite some time for us to decide exactly how quickly the train should move to balance comfort, speed, and efficiency. This train can make the trip between the Blackstone manor and Fomoria manor 6 times before it must be given an hour to recharge.”

“Could it be run by the mana of a mage?”

“Theoretically, eight men, 25 years of age and with proper training for each spell needed, could run a train.”

“Interesting. So it is possible then.”

“Yes, though we have chosen the system of a single operator and then soulsmithing the entire train as well as using many mana gems.”

“But you’ve made it a single point of failure.”

“Within a public train, the driver's room would be heavily fortified. If anyone could get in without destroying the rest of the train, there is no difference between one man, or a hundred.”

“A public train?”

“Yes, and think of how many people could be moved, or how much cargo could be moved.

We’d sell tickets for seating and then more tickets for transport of goods for merchants.

The wear and tear is quite minimal as well, the train never actually makes contact with anything as it moves, so the connectors won’t lose themselves bit by bit from friction.”

She looked out the window and saw the arms which floated inches away from the stone rails.

“If they never touch, then why have the arms?”

“Those are in case of a loss of hover for any reason. They have wheels on them which could keep the train moving for a time, and to make recovering the train should it be needed easier. A team of horses could pull the train to the station with the same ease as it would a carriage. Every inch of the stone rails are enchanted as well to avoid breakage and reduce friction.”

“And stopping the train if it needs to be done without hover active?”

“If need be, a lever can be pulled which completes a series of magical runes carved into the train, this would then slow the train as quickly as it can safely be done.”

“You’ve put quite a lot of thought into this. Every question I was sent with had an answer.”

“Then I am to assume these questions are from his majesty?”

“Yes. Now we may move onto my questions.”

He looked at the sky as the crow landed on his chest, he knew it was the woman’s pet, and had his muscles not all torn themselves to pieces, he would’ve swatted it dead just to spite her.

Balor warned her to sit back down, and she did as asked.

“Why are we stopping?”

“We’ve arrived.”

“Unlikely.”

“This train moves quite quickly. 30 minutes, give or take, to cover 100 miles. Though really it is 107 to the Blackstone manor.”

“Then there should be no issues with stepping out to verify this?”

“Of course not.”

They all left the train to find the station of Fomoria.

Harlan had no issue with it being bare gray stone, but Balor made a mosaic on the walls showing the crest and turned the stone into white tiles with shaping and color magic.

Seeing the forest and having her guards use a few spells was enough to convince her no tricks or illusions had taken place.

Lilly lacked the power to actually make decisions on how to spend the national funds, but that wasn’t Balor’s goal from the start. He wanted her to just say she would bring the offers to her father, which would boost the renown of the project enough for other nobles to open their own vaults.

Adina was getting a little anxious about Harlan’s disappearance. He never fought a Fenrir before, and they were known to be quite strong. So she tried to call him, but instead of not getting any answer, the call failed to even connect.

“Lady Sable, might you have a room where I can privately talk for a moment on my amulet?”

“Of course. And you do not need to say my title, in this house, you are considered a friend.”

Adina made her way to the room, nearly bumping into a few people.

“Marigold, I hate to bother you, but I cannot reach Harlan. He said he was going to help his copy fight a Fenrir, do you think he could be hurt?”

“With two of him I’m sure he is fine, but why would he do such a thing as that?”

“The Darkness gave him a mission to kill orcs who were attacking a field of flowers that required a species of magical bees.”

“How odd. If anything went terribly wrong, I’m sure she would rescue him, but don’t tell anyone I said that.”

Marigold eyes went black, not that Adina could see them.

“He is just fine, have fun at the party.”

“Thank you very much, I was worried when my amulet was entirely unable to connect with him.”

“You are welcome. Goodbye.”

Marigold returned to the void to speak with the dark god.

“What exactly do you mean that you cannot find him?”