Tala was learning something about herself.

As it turned out, she did not like fighting the eye-beasts, and they were especially annoying up close.

Flow cut them well enough, but she was constantly under pressure from dozens of directions, the magic so thick that it was pushing her in an almost physical manner.

Currently, both of her Leshkin shields, and her three defensive discs were glowing with absorbed power—each a different color—as she did her best to move them with her aura, keeping them in place between herself and the given attacker.

At the same time, she was striking down thing after thing.

At close range, that was the only word that seemed to fit.

They were things.

Each eye stared with hollow emptiness, making the eye-beast seem more a conduit to a distracted mind than the physical form of a consciousness.

They made no sound of pain.

They didn’t try to avoid injury if taking a blow would allow another of them to land a hit.

They each acted with identical instincts and reactions.

It was creepy.

Tala was fulfilling her role within the unit, bodily keeping their enemies back as the others supported her.

Still, more than half of the monsters that she came across were at least mostly blind due to Master Limmestare’s efforts.

The unit was in a relatively tight cluster near the exit, with less than a minute remaining before Mistress Suile could reseal this nightmarish wasteland.

Terry had recovered enough in the last couple of minutes to help once again, but he hadn’t come back to being fully combat effective, so while he would have been an immense help, they were saving him as an asset for their final retreat. They were also hoping that he would be a bit more recovered by that point.

The avian had been in a bad enough way that he’d allowed Mistress Vanga to offer him some healing, and that had been a big help to his recovery as well.

He was on Tala’s shoulder, shifting as she moved, and practically dancing from foot to foot as he waited for the signal that it was his time to shine once more.

The beasts had enough magical weight that Tala couldn’t draw them into the void within Flow, but Flow still cut them well enough, stealing iron even from their alien blood.

With the stark reminder and near miss of Master Limmestare’s massive glass blade, Tala was incredibly careful to keep her strikes confined to the beasts’ torsos and legs.

As the time needed to maintain the cell came to a close, Tala was punching and kicking as much as using Flow, just trying to maintain space.

As she used her hands and feet for such percussive tasks, she controlled Flow using the ring around the top of its hilt between tossing it out and pulling it back.

She only had a few more siege orbs, but she was holding those back until—

“Now!” Master Clevnis’s voice came into her head via Alat.

Alat, targets!

Tala tossed out her last handful of siege-orb pairs, targeting each of the sixteen highly compressed spheres at a different beast, far back into the mass of creatures, mentally chosen and highlighted by Alat.

They were purposely evenly spread around the arc they were defending.

Sixteen supersonic cracks staggered Tala backward, but much less than the orbs blasting outward staggered the eye-beasts.

An instant later, she broke the workings and all sixteen exploded, throwing back even more of the creatures and leaving treacherous, frozen ground behind, littered with broken corpses.

That was the signal for Terry, and the little terror bird became a not-so-little avian of destruction.

Even with Tala’s clearing action, and Terry’s dervish of death, Tala still had to fight to retreat, her defenses awash in hostile power.

She was the last to step back through the entrance of the cell, leaving only Terry within.

Mistress Suile spoke sharply. “Tell me when.”

Tala glanced her way. “Start now.” Then, Tala shouted, wrapping power through the words to make sure they carried, “TERRY!”

Existence began to warp, the cell closing.

Terry flickered out onto Tala’s shoulder, more of his feathers bent, broken, and smoking than not. Still, he didn’t appear to have sustained any direct damage to his flesh in the short engagement.

Despite their valiant efforts, three eye-beasts came through the closing gateway after Terry, even as the cell resealed.

Blessedly, as they’d been told to expect, as soon as existence sealed the cell, the creatures stiffened and collapsed, dissolving into an oddly sandy smoke, which filled the air with a cloying, harsh smell.

They’d done it.

They’d finished maintaining a cell that contained a beast-god.

Everyone took a moment to just breathe, before Mistress Cerna cleared her throat. “You all were fantastic, Master Limmestare. You kept the numbers manageable, and you, Tala and Terry, you two managed those numbers beyond expectation.”

There was a round of agreement and smiles.

“Still,” the woman grimaced, “that was awful. I’m going to be putting in my report that there should be a minimum of three Paragons involved when they again work on this cell, unless the Refined are specifically chosen to counter those creatures.”

Tala shook her head. “I still can’t believe that they were merely figment-manifestations of the prisoner.”

Another round of agreement followed that.

It was Mistress Suile who responded this time. “Beast-gods are, often as not, lethal opponents for Sovereigns. It’s only because the beast couldn’t involve itself directly that we attempted this cell at all.”

“I can see why they trapped it, though. Imagine those things loose on the world, and anyone who falls asleep too close is suddenly a puppet, feeding power to a beast-god?” Master Limmestare shuddered, and Mistress Vanga grunted her agreement, a grimace on her face.

Mistress Suile had sat down on a chair that she’d presumably pulled from her own storage. “We are finished here. We can go as soon as you are ready for the return journey.”

Everyone exchanged looks, then turned to Tala. Mistress Cerna smiled questioningly, “Dinner?”

Tala chuckled. “It is about time. Yeah. Let’s eat before we go.”

* * *

Tala strode into the Gredial compound in the early morning hours, snow crunching underfoot, and beautifully roiling clouds overhead. A slight smile painted her features as she now knew that Rane would have been notified of her arrival.

That does make things so much easier.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The big man met her at the front entrance to the main building, “Tala? To what do I owe the pleasure, today? I didn’t expect you back from the latest cell for another couple of days.”

“The cell went quicker than usual.” Still, she grimaced. “It wasn’t that pleasant, though.”

“I’d love to hear about it, if you’re up for talking.” There was genuine interest across his features.

Tala smiled; she had enjoyed regaling Rane with the stories of the various cells they’d visited so far, both new and those needing a check-up or maintenance. “I’d like that, but I can’t right now.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I’m heading out of Alefast. I’m taking my first purposeful break from defensive duty.”

“Oh?” he repeated. Rane then seemed to think for a moment. “You’ve been here, working, for just about six and a half months, right?”

She nodded, “Exactly two hundred days… So, yes. I promised to bring Lyn and Kannis to Alefast once I was established, and I feel like I’d be coming close to breaking that promise if I wait much longer.”

He shrugged and nodded. “It’s kind of you to tell me in person. I was looking forward to our next game when you got back, but it can wait until Lyn and Kannis are here, or after you’ve taken them back if you prefer.”

She frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

It was his turn to be confused. “You’re leaving, right? We can’t play tafl if you’re not in Alefast.” He hesitated. “Well, I suppose we could play through the Archive, but that’s just not the same.”

She shook her head, deciding to not waste time trying to understand what he was talking about. “We’re wasting daylight, Rane. Get your stuff.”

He blinked at her, frowning. “What?”

She motioned toward the gates. “We’re leaving, and I want to get to Bandfast by tomorrow evening.”

“We?“

Tala stiffened, suddenly feeling awkward and hesitant, “Oh… I mean… you don’t have to come. I just assumed…”

He shook his head. “No! No, it’s fine. Yeah, let me grab a few things, and let my mom know that I’ll be gone for a few days.”

“Alright. I’ll wait here.” Tala had still yet to meet Rane’s parents, or really anyone else in his family. Truthfully, she preferred it that way. She wasn’t sure how any people could have raised both Furgal and Rane, and with her own distaste for her own parents, she wasn’t excited to add more people to her ‘I now have to politely interact with you’ list.

Less than five minutes later, Rane was back. “Let’s go. My sister and aunt are in town, and they’ve been wanting to meet you.” He glanced over his shoulder. “If we don’t go now, we’ll be stuck here all day at the very least."

“Your sister?” Tala frowned. “That’s right, I’ve not really met any of your siblings save… does she take after you, or…?” She knew that his aunts and uncles were spread throughout the human cities, but she’d not learned much more than that.

Rane shrugged. “She and I have always gotten along well enough, if not exactly well. Regardless, she’s older, so I suppose you could say I took after her? Though, she went to the Academy like most of my siblings. At the moment, she’s taking a break to reach toward Fusing.”

“Oh.” Tala glanced behind Rane. “What does she do?”

“She and my aunt work for the Constructionist Guild.”

Tala felt torn for a long moment before shaking her head. “Maybe when we get back.”

Rane shrugged. “It’s completely up to you. Shall we?”

Tala nodded, and without another word, the two turned and started to jog toward the northern gates of Alefast.

* * *

They were an hour outside of Alefast, running at a pace that Tala could keep for… well, forever really, when Rane landed beside her from one of his arcing leaps.

He waved a hand in her direction, so she slid to a stop, turning back toward him. “Are you alright? Is this pace too much?”

He shook his head. “It’s good practice for me, honestly. I just wanted to check: You’ve let Mistress Lyn and Kannis know we’re coming, right? They’re going to be ready to take a trip?”

Tala hesitated.

-I’ll do that right now… done.-

“Yes, yes I have.”

Rane lifted an eyebrow. “Did you just do it when I asked?”

She grimaced. “…Yes.”

He laughed. “That’s fine. They’ve got a day and a half before we arrive.”

He bent his legs for another leap, his magic coiling beneath him, ready to impart kinetic energy.

But he saw her hesitating and stood back up. “Tala? Are you alright?”

She nodded distractedly. “Yeah… It’s just that I should have thought about that. I only realized it was a good time for me, got permission from my unit leaders, and headed toward them. I didn’t even consider if it would be a good time for them.”

He shrugged. “That can happen. I’m sure it will be fine. Remember this and try to think of them more next time.” He smiled encouragingly. “Come on. We want to be well on our way before we camp for the night.”

Right; with Rane along, we’ll need to do that.

Alat’s voice came into her head with an exasperated tone, -You factored that in, Tala. You weren’t planning to arrive until tomorrow evening, and that gives you more than twelve hours for the long, winter night to pass.-

Oh… huh, that’s true. She smiled and turned to get back up to speed.

Rane bent and launched himself, his magics leaving the ground unaffected as he was simply imparted with motion upon himself, no backpressure required.

He’s right, he should be able to fly with that. He’s only lacking a bit of control and greater throughput.

-He’s going to be incredibly mobile once he’s Refined and has gotten used to the changes.-

That’s the truth.

She began to run, being careful to not push off too hard and disrupt the landscape.

They were both shaping their aura to mimic the form that Master Grediv had demonstrated for them.

Tala was better at it than Rane, but they were also going much slower than Master Grediv had taken them upon his blue disc.

They were also going slower than Tala’s unit traveled, but her unit didn’t much mind creating some magical resonance.

Calling down arcane and magical creatures was a bonus, rather than a detraction, for the fully combat-ready unit, though they did try to keep it to a reasonable level. No one wanted to disturb some of the near god-beast creatures that were known to live deep within the mountains to their north.

Though, those seem to be in hibernation of some sort. They’d wake up one day, and Tala was not eager to be a contributor to that wakening.

Rane's leaps were really the next best thing to flying, with him only touching down every few hundred yards, depending on the terrain.

He was constantly surrounded by a nimbus of power contained but not masked by his aura.

What that meant in practice was that his power was easily visible to her magesight but did not stand out like a beacon on a hill would to her mundane vision.

Tala, for her part, was mostly coated in iron, the main exception being her eyes so that she could practice unifying her voidsight, magesight, and mundane vision, rather than treating them as separate things. Her eyes were the best means of doing that practice she had been able to find.

Aside from her eyes, she uncovered her mouth and ears to speak with Rane whenever they took a short break or paused to choose a specific direction of travel.

They also had a short break for lunch, during which Tala began to talk about the Beast-god of Dreams and what she and her unit had faced within that cell.

Rane was suitably impressed, asking a lot of questions, and talking through their tactics, successes and places for improvement.

Terry came out of Kit every so often to flicker around through the surrounding hills and groves, but he never stayed out too long.

He was still rather exhausted from his fighting against the eye-beasts.

Rane called Terry over on one of the avian’s outings, and Tala saw Rane speaking and the bird preening, though she couldn’t hear the words.

Terry had a bit more pep in his flicker after that, though he still didn’t spend much time outside of Kit.

All in all, they passed a pleasant day, passing through well-known countryside.

When the sun began to set, they found a nice dell, sheltered by trees with the lower end of the small valley pointing to the east.

The trees were old and large, their branches mostly bare for the winter, though some few leaves still clung on here and there.

A little spring welled up near the top of the valley, just beside a short cliff, and the water flowed even through the snow, with a light mist of steam rising from the flow.

A hot spring? She didn’t remember such being marked on any map that she’d seen. Though, it was a rather small one, without any pool to speak of.

The little brook ran toward the east, exiting the small depression on that side, between the trees, making its way out into the wilderness, where it made an iceflow when the water’s heat reached its end.

Quite a few larger rocks were scattered about haphazardly, casting irregular shadows across the white and gray landscape.

The snow bore many small animal tracks, and some larger prints, as expected from around such a ready source of water this time of year.

All in all, it was a beautiful spot.

Tala placed Kit down against a low stone face on the high side, and the sanctum spread out, exposing windows along with the entrance door, making the cliff suddenly look like a quaint—if well appointed—house, dug into the rock and stone.

The windows were just that, so Tala was able to see into her own bedroom as well as the main dining room and one of the guest rooms.

Hmm… that’s unideal. With that thought, and her desires directed toward Kit, the windows became opaque from the outside, though they were still obviously windows.

Better. Thank you, Kit. She made sure to send her appreciation toward the cliff-house.

The cliff-house, of course, did not respond.

She stretched, looking toward Rane who was staring up at the clear sky, the last light of day fading from view and the stars beginning to be revealed. “Rane?”

“Hmm?” He glanced her way, his face still mostly pointing upward. “It’s looking to be a stunning night. I really am glad that it is clear on this side of the range.”

They’d passed through the cleft-pass early that morning, leaving the clouds behind, for the most part.

It had made the day all the more picturesque.

She smiled. “So it is. Shall we grab dinner? We can finish discussing the cell.”

He looked back up and nodded. “I’d like that. Can we eat out here?”

Tala felt her smile growing. “That sounds lovely.”