GRANDMOTHER

Grandmother was surprised when she came down to breakfast and found her table empty. She felt a little left out, even as she was relieved. A server brought her morning tea. Grandmother sipped the liquid as she enjoyed the quiet of the morning.

Todd arrived with Grandmother’s breakfast. His spear was slung over his shoulder to free his hands to carry the food. He set the plate before her and settled into his customary seat next to the wall, where he settled his spear within easy reach.

Ah, Grandmother thought to herself, that explains the empty table.

“Good morning, Grandmother,” Todd greeted her.

“Good morning,” Grandmother replied. She took a couple bites of food. It was especially good. “Are you cooking today?” she asked. The food was always better in the inn when Todd was taking a turn. He was the best cook that Grandmother knew.

“Just for you,” Todd replied. “I cooked for the inn last night. I put together a special beer for Companion, to celebrate his first self-heal. I am calling it Londowntown Stout.” Grandmother was just about to say something about that being nice, when the meaning of the name sunk in.

“Do you think that is wise?” Grandmother questioned.

“I have a theory that intent greatly affects the end result. Alex was poisoned in Londontown because that was the intent. I sampled the wort and I am still breathing,” Todd responded. “I warned the innkeeper. She knows it is for Companion and to not let anyone else sample it unless there is a healer standing by.”

“They have to be able to cast at least tier two,” Grandmother commented. “Tier one doesn’t heal poisonings.”

“Innkeeper knows,” Alex replied.

“I suppose it will help pressure our young violet casters to learn to heal,” Grandmother commented. “Otherwise none of the reds will get to try it.” One of the first bits of knowledge Grandmother's party brought back to their Home Square was how to pick the color of your magic. Only orange became unobtainable, although Todd thought they might end up with their first human orange magic users soon. Companion taught them how to cast with sound, which was one way to get around the limitation of too few fingers. Their first generation of violet and yellow magic users were fourteen or fifteen, with a few in their late teens.

“Maybe I overreacted in Londontown,” Grandmother murmured.

“No you didn’t. They may not have wanted him dead, but as you said, healing in Londontown has its own dangers,” Todd responded. Grandmother returned to her food. Todd decided to move on to the next subject.

“Companion has told me of his desire to go to his people's square next,” Todd commented.

“What do you think?” Grandmother said.

“I set him a couple tasks to do before I would agree,” Todd responded. “One was to warn Alex he can’t drink the selkie beer. The two of them were obviously conspiring last night. I don’t think Alex will follow the warning. We’ll need to keep an eye on him, or we may find out I am wrong about intent the hard way.”

“What do you really think?” Grandmother said seriously. “Should we go? With the potential trouble brewing with Londontown I wonder if the timing is bad.”

“We should go,” Todd replied directly. “I know you will want to eventually. For some reason Companion wants us to go now. Having his help will be essential. We can use the transportation system with his map to travel directly into their square. There isn’t any trouble with Londontown yet, and honestly there is always something going on.”

“True,” Grandmother responded. “We can take the transportation system down to the south gallery and rest there a day to get over any side effects. If we use Companion’s transportation map to make the connection to his people's square I think he will have to make the payments. Keeping the trip short should cut the costs. The big problem is I don’t know how the last person will make it, since one of us has to send Companion through. Once he’s made the transit the last person won’t be able to use his map.”

“I’ll ask Harry to come with us to the Gallery,” Todd said. “He can push Companion through, wait at the gallery or return back here by himself. It will be good to get him out of the square.”

“If things go well, I don’t see us finishing up in a single day. We should take our own food. Even if selkie food doesn’t kill us, it might not be to our taste either,” Grandmother observed. Grandmother finished up the last of her food and pushed her plate away. She sipped the last of her tea.

“Companion should be down soon to talk to you and fulfill the second task I set him,” Todd said. “His late nights and early mornings are starting to catch up with him. Speaking of late nights, Alex is opening his shop today.”

“Is he? How has he done gathering inventory?” Grandmother asked. She caught the attention of the server and signaled she wanted another cup.

“I haven’t seen it myself,” Todd responded. “I heard about the opening last night.”

“How are Ellen and Sarah doing with their shop?” Grandmother asked.

“They have a shop too?” Todd replied before he realized he was admitting he wasn’t keeping track of their activities.

“They are putting together a magic store,” Grandmother responded. The server brought her second cup of tea. Grandmother thanked the girl for it, just as Companion came rushing down the stairs.

“Here he is,” Todd commented. Grandmother greeted the selkie. Companion shifted on his flipper-feet and gave a questioning look at Todd. Todd waved at Grandmother, saying without words; she is all yours. Companion settled his bulk onto his bench.

“Elder,” Companion started out unevenly, “when we travel to my people’s settlements, you must wear integrated cloth.” That seemed a little blunt, Grandmother thought. She saw a trace of a smile on Todd’s face. This must exactly match what he told Companion he must do. “If my people don’t realize your strength they may not act as they ought,” Companion explained. “We understand the meaning of the depth of your color, a glance and any selkie will think twice about doing anything too rash.” Todd’s face now held a serious look on it, with more than a trace of approval in it. It would appear this plea was above and beyond what he required.

“Hmm,” Grandmother said, as she pretended to consider Companion's request. She never wore integrated clothing in the human territories. She wore the same handmade leathers she wore now. They were not integrated and were unaffected by her tier. She needed to replace them often. They couldn’t be repaired like integrated armor. If there was a hole in the knee all she could do was sew a patch on. She got into the habit when she reached tier four and her magic started to stain integrated cloth. At the time, only red, blue and green cloth was available in the human region. Since Grandmother’s magic was violet the mismatch in color became apparent quickly.

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She hated wearing purple. Not only did she look awful in it, it made her stand out as unique for most of her life. Now when there were finally other violet magic users, her high tier continued to darken the fabric as long as she wore it. If she wore it too long, it was virtually black. Unfortunately Companion’s argument was a good one. It was very similar to the reasoning that led to her wearing integrated cloth armor when they found Companion. Companion’s first response was extreme fear. It was only when they made preparations to leave him unharmed that he changed his mind and made it known he didn’t want to be left behind. He stayed with them ever since. He was more important to Grandmother than that young girl in Londontown who called herself family.

“I will consider it,” she said to Companion. “If we go from here to the south gallery, I might be able to change into it there.” Companion gruffed his relief. “Can we use your map to take the transport from there to your square?” Grandmother asked.

Companion sunk down into his bench, defeat etched on his features. “I don’t know how to use the map,” he fluted.

“We know how,” Todd explained. “We didn’t believe we could talk you through it when we were last at the Gallery. You understand our language so well now I think we can.”

“My question is if we arrived through the transportation system would that alarm your people and increase the chance of conflict?” Grandmother asked.

“No, it is good. Everyone knows no one with violence in their heart can travel through the true god’s halls,” Companion explained. This was news for Grandmother. She supposed it would be easy enough for Control’s nanobots to monitor blood chemistry in travelers. Someone pumping themselves up for battle would have detectable levels of adrenaline. She needed to remember to tell Harry. He wouldn’t trust it to always hold true, but it might relieve some of the stress the discovery of the transportation system put on him.

“What did the others say?” Grandmother asked Companion. “Did you explain the danger to them?”

“Yes I tried. They all say yes. Alex told me the danger was more for my people. Sarah and Ellen both said they could not learn new skills without a risk,” Companion replied. Grandmother smiled. His comments were proof he tried to tell them it was dangerous.

“We will go after our rest,” Grandmother said. “Is today the last day? Or is it tomorrow?” Grandmother asked Todd.

“Tomorrow is the last rest day,” Todd responded.

“Ok,” Grandmother responded. “We will take the transportation system down to the south gallery. We’ll stay a day there to make final preparations before continuing to the selkie square.” Companion gruffed his approval, his happiness apparent. Grandmother sent him out to tell the others to meet before dinner tomorrow night for any final discussions.

“I may not be able to pay a green for every new spell,” Grandmother admitted to Todd. “I hope Companion will understand.”

“Even if the selkie know far more than we do, I doubt very many will be willing to share their knowledge with us,” Todd replied. “Just tell Alex to change his speech. Say we’ll pay a bonus for the first five new spells or something like that. You will still be honest and it might put some pressure on them to step up.”

Grandmother finished her tea, picked up her staff and rose to her feet. She told Todd she was going to look at Alex’s shop. Todd followed her.

The door to Alex's shop was wedged open. Grandmother was surprised to see she wasn’t the first shopper. It looked like the open door caught the attention of several of the other shop owners on their way to work. The blacksmith was running his hand across the surface of the ceramic workbench Grandmother helped Alex find.

“What do you want for this one?” the man asked Alex.

“That one is sold,” Alex responded. “It was snatched up as soon as I opened the shop.”

Grandmother looked around. Alex had been busy. He filled the entire space with pieces. There were shelves, tables, benches and chairs. Grandmother stopped to inspect a chair. The frame was steel, but the seat and backrest were wood. She wasn’t certain she had seen that seat before, although the backrest looked familiar. She was pretty certain she never found a use for it. It was another indication that intact modular pieces were more common in this area than around Londontown.

She spotted young Teddy helping another customer near the back of the store. The woman was looking at a double tall set of shelves. Grandmother recognized her as a worker in the butcher shop. Teddy was warning her that overloading the top shelves may cause the unit to topple. Grandmother wasn’t certain that was true. It would be on the Speedwell, but this was a shelving unit constructed of entirely structure produced parts. It would not be limited by simple physics. If Control wanted it to stand it would. Of course it was equally true that if Control wanted it to fall over it would too. It was probably a fair warning.

Grandmother was happy to see Alex already hired a shopkeeper to cover for him when he was away. She was really surprised when Alex told her he wanted to start a shop. She always thought Ellen would be the one. In settlements Alex was so light hearted and immature. Grandmother often thought of him as the youngest, even though that was actually Sarah. None of them really knew how old Companion was. Grandmother got the impression from him that among his own people he was older than Todd but younger than her. She asked once about when he expected to reach tier four and he told her he didn’t think he would. His people rarely reached tier four. He reached tier three later in life than those who would go on to four.

She circled around back to the front. A unique piece in the form of a round iron table sat in pride of place before the window. A bowl of small round rocks held a jagged spike of bronze. Grandmother liked it. She wasn’t certain what she would do with it, but she liked it. She gave Alex an encouraging signal since he was still talking to the blacksmith and headed out the door.

Todd was waiting for her in the courtyard. He was leaning against the outside wall of Alex's shop. He was thoughtfully to the side so his body didn’t block the view of the merchandise inside. Grandmother saw him push off from the wall the moment she stepped out the door. He shifted his hold on his spear into the one he typically used for travel. She noticed for the first time that there was a water flask and knife on his belt. He was wearing his red brigandine. That was not unusual. He wore it most of the time. Since it was integrated it flowed like cloth and was only slightly heavier. At tier four he probably didn’t even notice the weight. Her own worn leathers probably weighed more. She rolled her own staff in her hand and headed in the direction of the training yards. She too carried water and a knife. There was also a small bag tied at her back with travel food packed inside for lunch.

Grandmother crossed the training yards to the greenspace exit. Home Square’s exit was two stories above the floor of the green. A fountain shot water skyward in the center of the balcony. Staircases descended to the right and left. Grandmother took the right staircase down to the forest floor. She turned south southeast and took off at a run.

She wished she was going farther and could really give Todd a workout. At tier six she could run. It was a little weird. Improvements to her running speed at tier four and five ebbed with her age. That didn’t happen at tier six yet, even though over ten years had passed since she reached it. In the short run across the green Todd managed to keep up. He was tier four and still young.

She reached a glass door in the greenspace's south wall. She checked through the glass for any unexpected occupants, before pulling the door open and stepping through. The area was a rest. She’d discovered it three days ago. She didn’t think it was the same rest they found after the migration, but it was in a similar area. Not far from here was a grand staircase down. She didn’t go down the day she found it. Instead she’d continued her survey of this floor. Todd obviously knew she was leaving the square during the day. His plan seemed to be to follow her. She really couldn’t leave him wandering around the halls alone so she would take advantage of his presence and survey below in tier three space.

Todd stepped through the door behind her. He looked ready to run. His grip on his spear tightened when he saw her waiting.

“There is a grand staircase ahead,” Grandmother stated. “We’ll go down, turn north and cross under the green. We will switch to east-west halls on the north side. The idea is to illuminate as much as possible on the map. If you see something interesting, remember it. I am not slowing. We’ll compare observations and make notes when we stop. Ready?”

“Yes,” Todd responded.

Grandmother cast a tier five conceal on them. She turned and ran. Todd followed.