Tala and Rane stood in the pleasantly chilly, winter air after knocking on Lyn’s front door.

“One moment!” Lyn called from inside, her voice easy to hear for their enhanced ears.

What is she doing?… oh. Huh. That’s an interesting idea.

-Oh! Yeah. That is an interesting idea. We might as well try it here, but if you bring another of those things… I suppose it won’t actually hurt anyone, so what’s the harm?-

Tala’s aura—just like all Archons’—extended stoneward and starward, even if just barely. So, Tala did the now insanely obvious thing and pulled one of her bloodstars stoneward, into her aura that was there.

Just like popping her head over a wall, she could suddenly see into Lyn’s house as if it were a model, cross-sectioned for her easy analysis.

Kannis was sitting in one of the chairs, flipping through a book with a cup of tea at her side, clearly taking a moment to relax between a day of mentally intensive work and a fun evening with friends.

The girl looked… more grown up, even after less than a year since Tala had seen her last.

Her inscriptions were more extensive and had a more perfected feel to them, as if they’d gone through a few iterations as Kannis had gained deeper understanding and expanded her abilities to work with her own magics.

The mageling’s magic and inscriptions were laid bare before Tala, especially given how relatively weak the girl’s magics were, but Tala held to propriety and didn’t inspect her more closely.

Lyn looked much as she always had for as long as Tala had known her. Even so, the woman’s inscriptions were slightly different, at least those that were visible on her exposed skin.

Tala looked a bit closer as Lyn approached the door, curious whether the changes to Lyn’s inscriptions were superficial changes or substantive.

Tala immediately flinched as she realized that she could actually see into the woman, the layers of her flesh as open to Tala’s mirrored mundane sight as the inside of the building now was.

Her star was barely stoneward, so the further away, physically, things were, the less she could see ‘around,’ but with Lyn now less than four feet away, it was almost like Tala could see every layer of the woman’s physical being.

Oh, that’s… that’s so hard to parse.

-Insanely useful, though. And now that we can see it in isolation, I can safely say that our bloodstars don’t bleed power like we do, even with our every attempt at efficiency.-

Alat was right. Using another bloodstar’s perspective to look at the one she held stoneward, Tala couldn’t see any power flowing from it in any direction. There was barely anything to make it stand out at all, even though it should have looked like an ember in the dark emptiness.

With all the magic streaming stoneward, it was actually a bit difficult to pick out.

Perfect.

Rane had noticed her flinch, but only raised an eyebrow in question.

Tala smiled his way. “I just found a better means of situational awareness.”

But I need a few more bloodstars… She could make one in less than five minutes, but that would have to wait.

At the moment, she pulled two bloodstars starward and two stoneward, starting them orbiting to sweep her surroundings at all times.

-We’ll want eight in each location to see in all directions.-

Yeah. She felt a bit nervous about doing that as it would strain her capacities, but it would be good training, at least. Eventually, she’d have constant, complete visibility into anything that could be approaching her.

Lyn opened the door before Rane could respond to Tala’s cryptic comment. The older woman blinked at them a few times. “Why are you two standing out there? What’s with the knock? Come in, come in!”

Rane stepped forward, into the entry hall, and enveloped Lyn in a massive hug. The older woman returned it with a smile.

“Welcome back, Rane.”

“Good to be back, Lyn, even if only for a visit.”

Kannis’s voice came from the sitting room. “Is that them?”

Lyn called over her shoulder as she stepped back to allow Tala to come in as well. “It is.”

“What were they knocking for?”

Tala watched Kannis place her book to the side and drain her tea in one long pull.

“Well, don’t come all the way in. Since you three are at the door, let me come to you, and we can be on our way.”

Lyn looked to Rane and Tala with a questioning glance, even as she gave Tala a hug.

Tala grinned. “That’s a good plan. Do we want to eat here, in the city, or here?”

She patted Kit, and Lyn rolled her eyes. “We can eat there on the trip. Let’s get some regular-people food.”

Kannis came down the hall, a smile pulling at her lips. “Mistress Tala, Master Rane, welcome back to Bandfast.” The mageling paused to bow deeply. “It is a pleasure to see you both once again.”

Tala grinned back at her. “Suddenly so formal, are we?”

The girl shrugged even as she straightened, a cunning smile pulling at her lips. “Formalities are important, but they shouldn’t delay dinner.”

Rane huffed a laugh before giving the mageling a quick hug.

Kannis and Tala exchanged an even quicker—but still not awkward—hug.

Tala looked to her companions, purposely making eye contact. “Cheesy little caravans?”

That solicited a series of laughs and one groan.

“What’s wrong, Lyn? You don’t want cheesy goodness?”

“Tala, I sit behind a desk all day, and that is so much food. I’d have to alter my workouts for a month to keep from bending my inscriptions away from true.”

“You could stop after just one. I know they’re tasty, but there’s no cause to go overboard.”

Lyn gave Tala a flat look.

Rane and Kannis turned to regard Tala quizzically.

Lyn cleared her throat. “That is with me eating just one. Those are massive, Tala.”

“Oh…” Tala grimaced slightly. I don’t really think about food that way anymore…

-Yeah, that much was obvious.-

That’s not helpful. Tala turned to Lyn with a sheepish smile. “Alright, then. Where do you want to eat?”

The four shuffled back out the still open door, pausing while Lyn closed and locked it.

It was in good spirits that they set off. None of them really cared where they were going to eat; the food really wasn’t the point, and they all knew it.

The plan was for them to leave the following morning rather early, so they wouldn’t stay up too late this night.

In the end, they chose to go to the food carts, where everyone could find good food to eat in whatever quantities they wanted or needed.

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One particular food cart was manned by an old acquaintance.

Gretel noticed Tala as soon as she came into sight, and the older, mundane woman grinned broadly and waved her over. “Child, child! Welcome back. It’s been far too long. Do you want any pies today, or did you just come by to say hello to old Gretel?”

Tala laughed. “Both, actually. How are you?”

They chatted for a bit while the others grabbed the food they wanted from the surrounding carts. Lyn set down a coin on Gretel’s cart and took the pies that she wanted so as not to interrupt the two’s quick exchange of words.

Soon enough, though Gretel had to get back to her business, and Tala bid her goodbye to eat with her friends.

Throughout, Tala had been fighting distraction, but the older woman either didn’t notice or didn’t seem to mind.

Tala was doing her utmost to focus utterly on what her eyes told her, leaving the mirrored perspectives to Alat, but Alat was actually having trouble parsing all of the information that was coming in.

The result was that bits and flashes of ‘more’ had been pulling at Tala’s awareness during her conversation with Gretel, and continued to do so, intruding in her thoughts throughout the evening.

While they were chatting and eating, Tala would suddenly have a complete look at Kannis’s skull move through her perspective, or a layer-by-layer cross-section of Lyn’s shoulder.

There was a sudden understanding of what her current meat pie looked like from the inside, or knowledge that the person walking past was walking funny because they had a rock in their shoe.

That was the type of thing that threatened to make her eye twitch.

It was distracting, but with the focus training she’d been doing, she was able to manage.

The four passed the time in pleasant conversation, good food and drink in just the right amounts.

The most notable topic came about when Kannis gained a mischievous gleam in her eye. “So… cyclops?”

Tala frowned, not understanding for a moment. “I’m not sure what you mean. Are you asking what they are? Big humanoids with one eye.”—she looked toward Lyn—“I’d have thought you would have taught her that, assuming that she didn’t know already.”

The mageling laughed, shaking her head and drawing Tala’s focus back to her. “No, Mistress Tala. You’re a little bit famous. The defensive battles around Alefast are beginning to make their way through the other cities. They aren’t really regular enough to fill battle-pubs with new content, so the places often have the highlights replaying on rotation.”

Tala’s frown had shifted to one of cautious embarrassment. In Alefast, she was occasionally recognized, but as she’d only been involved in one clash within recording range of the city, she wasn’t that well known. “Oh?”

“Oh, yes.” Kannis grinned widely. “Your fight was short enough and flashy enough that they include it fairly often.”

“Oh…”

Rane interjected, then. “It can’t be that pervasive, right? I mean, no one has acted like they knew or recognized you.”

Lyn gave her mageling a disapproving look. “No, it isn’t. Tala’s face isn’t exactly easily discerned in the fast-paced clashes. Most of the defenders move much less, so they are much more easily identified, but…” She glanced at Kannis again and sighed. “She does have a point. We’ve had a couple of interested parties come by the Caravanner’s Guild, asking about you, Tala. I think they are building out profiles for you, or writing up articles or the like. My bet is that they are holding off until your next recorded fight, so that it is more relevant information.”

Tala didn’t really know how to feel about that. Honestly, she hadn’t thought about the newssheets in ages. “Do people even still read that type of thing?”

Lyn shrugged. “Archons? It seems like not really, or at least not that often. There are better sources of information after all. That said, mundanes and magelings? Undoubtedly.”

It was Kannis’s turn to grimace. “Don’t say it like that. It makes the information sources sound suspect.”

“Not at all, Kannis. I am simply letting Tala know that it makes sense that she doesn’t really consider or come across the newssheets.”

Tala gave a sheepish smile. “Honestly, I don’t really follow widespread news through any source…”

Rane grunted. “There isn’t much at the higher levels. If someone needs to know, they are informed, and a lot of the filler just doesn’t get conveyed, because there aren’t people who are interested in writing it for a more advanced audience.”

Kannis grumped. “I like knowing that some of those defending Alefast, Waning, have done so for the last three waning cities as well. It’s fascinating.”

It’s a lot more than three… But Tala didn’t say anything. She really had no idea what sorts of information was hidden and what wasn’t. It would be a colossal pain to have a mageling…

The topic moved on from there as they simply enjoyed one another’s company.

In what seemed like no time at all, the evening had passed, and they headed back to Lyn’s house for the night.

Kit was allowed to grow into a door on an inner wall, and Rane and Tala retired to their rooms within the sanctum, leaving the master and mageling to sleep in the house after gathering their things for departure in the morning.

* * *

“Tala, this is… odd.”

Tala glanced down at her torso even as she and Rane neared the outside edge of Bandfast. “What’s odd?”

Lyn looked up at her friend with a flat expression. “You have us looking out of a window in your stomach. Though, I will admit whatever distortion effect you have in place to give us such a wide range of view is impressive.”

Rane grunted. “She looks pregnant, but with two adult women’s faces visible within her belly.”

Tala grimaced. “That’s why I didn’t do this until we were past the last farm.”

Rane shrugged. “I wasn’t saying it was bad or good, just responding to Mistress Lyn’s statement.”

Lyn shook her head. “So, as I was saying: Odd.”

Tala groused, “We talked about this. I could just close up Kit entirely, but you wanted to see the sights on the way. This is the best way that I could think of to allow that.”

“Yes, but I…”—Lyn sighed—“I suppose I never really considered what that would actually mean.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“No… neither of us have any means of fast movement.”

“Well, I am open to changing things, but I don’t really have any better idea.”

Lyn hmmed, “What about putting the window on your back? That’s a larger area, and will be pointed at a more upward angle?”

“I considered that, but then you won’t really see things that I look toward, and you’ll mostly just see sky even with the distorted lens expanding your angle of view.”

“Ahh, I suppose that makes sense.”

Tala considered for a moment before suggesting, “I could carry you piggyback, or in my arms?”

Rane cleared his throat. “I still say if they are to be carried, it makes more sense for me to do it. I can protect them from kinetic jostling. My method of movement isn’t compressive or inertially stressful. Your leaps are powerful, and effectively mundane bodies would not do well when subjected to that.”

Lyn huffed. “I’m quite a bit tougher than you might think, Master Rane, but you are right, that I am probably not up to the same level of physical stress as Tala. More than that, as you said, my mageling is not the most robust.”

Kannis grimaced, her face also visible through the window into Kit. “I don’t exactly need bodily focused magics in my day-to-day…” She glanced over to her master, “but the point is taken, master. I’ll stop dragging my feet on that side of my training.”

Lyn grinned in return. “I’m glad to hear it, but that doesn’t actually change things, for the moment.”

Rane shrugged, seemingly a bit awkward about staring at Tala’s abdomen to talk with their friends. “I could carry one of you on each shoulder. So long as Tala and I went a bit slower than usual—and she stayed in a position to watch our surroundings—it would be safe.”

The master and mageling shared a look before Lyn shrugged. “How about we try that after lunch?”

Tala smiled. “That sounds like a plan.”—she wove a tendril of magic into her words before continuing—“Terry, do you want a bit of a run?”

The terror bird flickered out in front of Tala—just out beyond the city’s outermost defenses—before trilling toward the sky.

Tala’s perception focused on her avian friend for a fleeting moment and saw… nothing?

Well, she saw nothing new.

No, that’s not right.

-Yeah, we can see something extending from him both starward and stoneward, but there isn’t anything actually starward or stoneward. It just… fades in those directions.-

And his node of reality is fully contained in what we can see. It’s not like he’s just hiding it somehow.

It was worth investigating further, but now was hardly the time. That fact was emphasized by a loud exclamation pulling Tala’s attention back to her passengers.

“Oh!” Kannis grinned widely. “We could ride on Terry.”

The avian looked back, tilting his head to the side for a moment before shaking.

Tala huffed a laugh. “Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work too well. He can’t carry you while flickering around. That might not seem like that big of a deal, he is rather fast, regardless, but one of the largest downsides would be that, in the event of danger, he’d be unable to quickly dodge or defend you without dropping you to the ground, effectively removing any easy chance for escape.”

The mageling sighed before nodding, “Right. I didn’t consider that.”

Tala clicked her tongue once, waiting for a long moment to see if any more ideas were forthcoming. When they weren’t, she nodded once, “Right, let’s go!”

Lyn gasped, and Kannis squeaked as Tala launched herself after the avian even as Terry flickered forward, reappearing further into the plains, already running.

Rane took off after Tala a moment later, magic swirling through him in tightly controlled patterns, imparting precisely directed kinetic energy.

The day passed blessedly uneventfully as they tried various methods of transporting the two physically limited friends.

While they preferred the view from Rane’s shoulders, it was a bit awkward for everyone involved, and Tala had put an end to it when she couldn’t keep her laughter contained, given just how comical it looked.

They took a late lunch at the caravan campsite just before the long, straight pass through the mountains, and paused once again on the south side.

Tala let Kannis and Lyn out to stand beside her and Rane, looking down on the city a few miles distant.

“There you have it.” Tala gestured expansively. “Behold, Alefast waning.”

Lyn and Kannis both turned to regard Tala, but it was Kannis who spoke, “‘Behold?’ Really?”

Tala shrugged. “That’s what has you hung up? Look! A waning city. You know, the whole reason Rane and I came to get you two?”

They laughed and turned back to regard the expansive sight.

Rane was grinning her way, and Tala met his gaze before whispering, “Not a word, Rane. I was trying to be grandiose and present it well.”

He smiled ever wider, keeping his lips firmly pressed together, mirth dancing behind his eyes.