Tala held the figment of Alat for nearly five minutes, before the alternate interface pulled back. “You know, I’m not real.”

Tala smiled kindly, “I know this body isn’t real. You, however, are.”

“Fine, but my point is that you just hugged nothing for a long time.”

She huffed a laugh. “And yet, it helped.”

Alat glanced away. “Yeah, I suppose it did.”

“We have a bit more time.”

Alat shook her head. “No. I’m… I’m okay.” Still, she didn’t meet Tala’s eyes.

“What is it?”

She looked up then. “What will happen to me, when you die?”

“When we die. Our soul will pass on.” Tala shook her head. “You know this as well as I, Alat. The soul is as far removed from the consciousness as our body is from our mind. The me that is our soul is as much you as me, meaning Tala. I don’t know what dying will look like, nor what it will mean for the me that I think of as me. Regardless, we’ll face it together.” She hesitated for only a moment before adding, “But not anytime soon.”

Alat chuckled. “Yeah, not anytime soon, if we can help it.”

“If we can help it.”

The two regarded each other for a long moment before Alat gave a little wave. “This is actually a bit difficult to maintain, so I’ll”—Alat faded from view—-go back to talking like this.-

“As you wish.” She frowned in thought before asking, “What is the bottleneck? Can we make it easier for you to maintain manifestations?”

-It’s a couple things. First is that I’m still new to it, so I need more practice so that I can do it more efficiently. Second, it’s a new way of using our mind, which seems like it should fall under the ‘practice’ thing, but it’s more like a mental muscle that we need to work.-

“Ahh. Well, feel free to practice more, and let me know if there’s anything that we can do to improve it, because it’s rusting useful for a lot of things.” Tala smiled. “Including you being able to have a form, even if just to me.”

Alat hesitated for a long moment before responding. -Thank you, Tala.-

“My pleasure, Alat.” Tala stretched slightly, still feeling stiff from her unexpected sleep. “We’ll have guests soon…”

-We should get cleaned up.-

With an act of will, she was above the river that flowed around her sanctum.

She dropped in without ceremony, splashing and wriggling about.

Another act of will took her to the sparring ring, where water poured off of her.

She might have been able to leave the water behind, but she hadn’t really tried that before, and now wasn’t the time to experiment.

Around her, she felt the togetherness of the nodes of reality that made up this part of Kit. Her working had been increased to astronomical levels, and Master Simon still couldn’t find any real benefit or change, even though it felt obviously different to her.

The nodes simply couldn’t get closer together. Tala’s working didn’t seem to be able to affect their base nature or to reshape them even with all the power she’d put toward doing just that in the last weeks.

But she was getting off track. She wasn’t here for her augmentation of intra-reality connections.

She aspect-mirrored her elk leather’s extreme self-repair onto her body's surface. As usual, it was so perfect as to prevent anything from keeping hold of her. This caused moisture and grime to cascade off of her, leaving her almost perfectly dry.

Her skin had taken in some moisture, and that was now part of her from the magic’s perspective. So, it was not shed with the mirroring, but otherwise she was completely refreshed and free of the usual inconveniences of such a quick cleansing.

“Thank you, Kit. That would have been much harder without you.”

Kit did not respond, but Tala smiled vaguely toward the center of the sanctum nonetheless.

A moment later, Tala felt the knock on Kit’s door and willed herself back to her sitting and dining room.

Mistress Petra had already set up the larger table and chairs. “They are here, Mistress Petra.”

The woman, by now quite used to Tala popping out of nowhere at nearly any time, simply gave a shallow bow. “Dinner is ready.”

“Thank you.”

“It is my pleasure.”

Tala flexed her desires and the door leading out appeared on one wall. She walked over and pulled it open, revealing four people making small talk within Artia’s shop. “Good evening, and welcome.”

Artia, Adrill, and Brandon were known to Tala, but the fourth was new.

A young woman—probably barely a year younger than me, if that—stood beside Brandon. Her stance made it seem like she wanted to be holding his hand but was uncertain if she should.

-Don’t you dare call her out on that. It’s cute.-

I wasn’t planning on it. That would be incredibly unkind.

The four bowed and Adrill spoke for them, “Thank you for the invitation, Mistress Tala.” He gestured toward the girl. “Allow me to introduce Kedva Deas, my son’s intended.”

The woman stepped forward and gave a deeper bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you at last, Mistress Tala. I have heard many things about you.”

Tala almost asked if they were good things but decided to avoid that trope.

-Oh! You could say you’ve heard absolutely nothing about her. Really dig in the knife.-

I thought we were being kind?

-I didn’t think you’d actually do it. I was just having fun.-

Fine. A smile pulled at Tala’s lips. “That is kind of you to say Kedva, you are most welcome in my home.”

Tala stepped back, then, gesturing for them all to enter, which they did with alacrity. The door closed behind them, vanishing without a trace, and without the disappearance being noticed.

“Welcome, Artia.”

The woman gave Tala a hug. “Thank you for having us.”

Terry flickered to Tala’s shoulder, startling the mundanes, but not overly.

Adrill and Brandon gave deep bows, Brandon speaking this time, “Master Terry. Thank you for greeting us.”

Tala turned to regard her friend. “Terry? What did you do?”

Terry preened just a bit before trilling contentedly.

Tala whispered, “That’s not an answer.”

But no answer was forthcoming so she dropped it.

Kedva held out her hand toward Terry hesitantly. “Is he friendly?”

Tala opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated. How the rust do I answer that?

-Very, very carefully.-

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Terry was eyeing her, clearly curious what she would say.

Blessedly, Tala was saved trying to perfectly word an answer by Brandon, “He isn’t dangerous unless he wants to be. At least from what I’ve seen.” The young man shuddered, and Tala would have sworn he heard him mutter under his breath, “Poor chickens…”

That seemed to satisfy the young woman, who smiled, reaching forward again.

Terry let out a sighing trill before flickering to Kedva’s shoulder.

Kedva froze, her eyes shifting to try to look at the avian perched on her without moving her head.

The terror bird regarded her critically before flickering to the other shoulder and repeating his examination.

She held perfectly still until Terry was finished, and he flickered to stand on her extended hand.

That caused her to yelp in surprise at the sudden weight, and she involuntarily pulled the hand back, drawing it to her chest, where Terry leaned in and headbutted her sternum.

Tala grinned. “He seems to like you well enough. Let’s take a seat.”

The group moved to the pre-prepared table, taking their seats at Mistress Petra’s direction.

Terry stayed on Kedva’s hand, and despite her initial panic and uncertainty, the woman seemed to get used to the bird, even stroking his head seemingly without thought.

Tala noticed and asked, “Kedva, do you have any experience with birds? I am in need of some expertise with regard to keeping and breeding fowl for food. I recently… I have more birds than the facilities in here were built for, and I find myself without convenient ways to deal with them.”

In truth, Kit was keeping the new acquisitions contained, protecting the ecosystem within the sanctum from being ravaged by so many avians.

Kedva shrugged. “I know little. I would have had some contacts for you, but they recently sold the rights to their caverns to my family. I think they were eager to leave the waning city, and they got the opportunity to sell their stock, so they took it.”

Tala opened her mouth to comment but thought better of it. Yeah, that’s not relevant.

When a plate was placed before Kedva and Terry, he went to snap up some meat from it, but she bopped him on the beak. “No, Terry. This plate isn’t for you.”

Tala’s eyes widened.

Brandon and Adrill stiffened.

Terry slowly turned to regard the young woman, eyes narrowing.

-I am not helping you hide this body.-

Well, she is already in Kit…

Kedva seemed to be oblivious of the razor’s edge she walked as she grabbed a small piece and held it up. “It’s rude to take from others' plates. Here, you can have this.”

Terry pivoted to regard the food in her hand for a long moment.

Tala cleared her throat. “I recommend that you toss it.”

“Oh? Where?” Kedva looked at her with innocent curiosity.

Tala shrugged. “Anywhere.”

Kedva looked hesitant, but then she seemed to decide that Tala wouldn’t get mad if she did as requested. Kedva tossed the meat over her shoulder.

Terry flickered for just an instant, and the meat was gone.

Kedva let out a happy gasp. “Did you just…?”

Terry bobbed a happy acknowledgement.

She giggled. “That was amazing! You’re such a clever bird.”

Terry preened as she stroked under his chin.

That relieved the tension, blessedly, and the meal proceeded well from there.

Kedva quickly took to tossing bits of food for Terry, and that helped keep any silence from becoming awkward.

The Deas family, as it turned out, had deep roots and long-held ties in Alefast, their ancestors having moved to the city at the founding.

As conversations around family would, given the present company, the topics of conversation obviously came around to Mages and magic.

Kedva looked away, tossing a saved bit of food for Terry to flicker and snatch before returning to Tala’s shoulder, where he’d spent the majority of the meal after his initial greeting. “Honestly, I doubt I’d have gone to the Academy. Only one of my cousins went from our entire extended family. Though, now a bunch of the boys say they regret the decision to stay home, seeing the intense battles outside the city.” She looked to Tala and smiled. “It’s hard to see such power within humanity and turn away from that potential. It’s easier for me, I suppose, because I never had that potential to begin with.”

Tala almost brought up the fact that she had an arcane advancement manual, but she’d kept from mentioning it even to Adrill and Brandon. I won’t let that be a factor in their decision.

-Just a perk when they agree?-

Sure, you can look at it that way. I don’t want them looking back and regretting the choice to come work in here. She had long ago decided that she’d like the Feshua family to come and work within Kit. She was just slowly maneuvering to make it happen in an ethical manner.

-Yes, no kidnapping.-

“That’s a healthy way of looking at it.” Artia had spoken up before anyone else could comment. “Me, I never had a mind for magic, not using it anyways. I do enjoy what my Adrill tells me about the artifacts we carry in the shop, and I find the flows of power mesmerizing when I assess harvests.”

Adrill smiled. “Magic is a fascinating thing. I don’t know if I’d ever want to use it directly, but indirectly? That is such a fun way to explore our world.”

Mistress Petra was bringing around dessert then, and Kedva’s eyes flicked to the woman. “What about you, Mistress Petra? You are a Mage, but you are also pursuing life and work outside of using that power.”

The Fused glanced toward Tala briefly, but there had never been an issue with Mistress Petra talking before so neither of them assumed there’d be an issue now. Thus, she smiled to the young woman before responding, “Well, I’ve lived a long life. I tried to devote myself to the power and magic, but no matter what I did, I was hollow, incomplete and unfulfilled. My Simon and I both felt the same. It wasn’t until we set aside our—honestly fanatical—pursuit of magical advancement, settled down and had our children that we both found enough peace to…” She hesitated a moment, clearly choosing her words carefully. “…to be at peace with ourselves.”

She laughed a bit at that.

“As circular as that sounds. Even good things, if pursued overzealously, can become bad. I don’t wish I wasn’t a Mage, but I do wonder what would have happened if we’d started our family sooner. Now, we only have three left at home, and one will be leaving in barely a couple of weeks.”

That got Kedva’s attention.

Tala smiled. Karsa was leaving for the Academy in just under two weeks, and the girl was excited to the extreme. She’d been peppering Tala with questions whenever their paths crossed, and Tala had even taken a bit to sit with her and get a large chunk of them handled at once.

She apparently assumed that her parents were too far removed from the Academy to really understand how the place was in the current times. To be fair, each of them had been away from the Academy for more than four centuries, so the girl had a point.

Mistress Petra saw Kedva’s interest and elaborated just briefly. “My Karsa is leaving for the Academy, so this is actually an interesting conversation with that in mind. I don’t know what she would do if she didn’t move toward Magehood, but we are all different. Our souls are made for different paths. Not everyone can be a farmer or a scribe or a smith, and we need all of us for humanity to survive and thrive.”

There was a round of nods, as they turned toward dessert and the conversation moved on.

* * *

Tala and Kedva stood with the Feshua family and the Zuccats together in the teleportation room, as Karsa readied herself to step into the prepared circle.

The families had gotten closer over the last weeks as Master Simon had worked ever more with Adrill and Brandon, and Artia and Kedva had spent long evenings with Mistress Petra and Karsa within Kit.

Tala had spent a bit of time with each group, but not nearly as much as they’d spent together.

At least that had been the pattern so far, Karsa was leaving, so she would no longer be a part of that group.

And Tala would be leaving on another mission soon, so the families’ time together would be on pause for that trip.

There really do seem to be more cells coming to our notice than expected…

-Focus, Tala.-

Right!

Karsa was going around giving goodbye hugs. Those to the Feshua family were friendly, those to her father, mother, brother, and sister were heartfelt and the girl had tears in her eyes when they were done.

The hug she gave Tala was firm and full of warmth. “Thank you for talking with me so much. I really feel a lot better about going with all that you told me.”

“I told you how terrible it was.”

“I know!” The girl giggled. “And if you had such a terrible time and came out so well. I’m sure to be alright.”

Tala laughed at that. “You’ll do well, Karsa.”

“Thank you, Mistress Tala. I am glad that my family is with you.” She smiled, “I’ll tell your siblings you miss them and are thinking of them.”

“Thank you, Karsa.”

She then turned back toward the teleportation circle, hugging her mother and sister once again on the way to her place in the spellform.

Everyone waved as the girl straightened her back and strode to her place.

The Mages nervously looked to the Refined in their midst, but Tala simply smiled. She’d already had a talk with them, telling them plainly, “This is your task, not mine. I’ll not interfere.”

Still, the Mages had it drilled into them to defer to Refined or Paragons if they were present.

Nonetheless, they were professionals, and they did their jobs as such.

A moment later, power pulsed through the room, the magics reaching up and seeming to tear the young girl apart to Tala’s enhanced vision, exactly as expected, each piece being cast into the void to be caught by the receiving scripts at the Academy.

Karsa was gone.

Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva gasped, never having seen a true teleportation before.

Artia smiled, leaning in, “Just as I remember it, when my brother went off to the Academy. We should go visit him at some point. I think he was in Clevenhold, so it’ll have to wait until after the waning.”

Mistress Petra, Master Simon, and their two children bid the others a goodbye, the family taking a day to just be together after Karsa’s departure.

They’d taken the previous day as well to spend with her. This day would help recement the family ties without the missing member present.

It seemed odd to Tala, but she supposed they’d done it quite a few times before with some success. So, who was she to argue with their methodology?

Artia and Adrill headed back toward their shop, arm in arm, but Brandon and Kedva hesitated, looking around the domed room.

Tala walked over, feeling a pull to talk with them, “Hey, are you two alright?”

The two startled but turned her way with smiles. It was Kedva who answered, “Oh, we’re fine, Mistress Tala.”

Tala looked toward the spellform that was actively being refilled with precious metals. Thinking about what could have been?

-Possibly.-

She frowned for a moment, before making a decision. With a firm nod, she smiled, “Come on. Let’s go to lunch. My treat.”