Tala sat in her bathtub within her room, soaking after a morning stretch and exercise set.

She was already having a busy week, and it looked to be getting busier still.

She needed the moment of quiet reflection.

Master Simon, Adrill, and Brandon were all busy testing not only the two humans’ first steps on the traditionally arcane method of advancement, but they also still had uncounted tests to run and readings to take around the very thing that had caused that as a side effect.

Mainly, they were still investigating Kit and how much the sanctum had changed with the integration of the purification stone.

True to master Lisa’s words, the artifacts that arcanes had established within Kit to pull from the power within, that she had never explicitly tried to magic-bond, were slowly converting over.

Kit, herself, had used ambient magic to stay viable shortly after Tala had magic-bound the pouch, but since she had intentionally done the bonding, it hadn’t broken that connection.

These artifacts were different.

Honestly, it didn’t matter that much, as Tala wasn’t about to sell off the sun from her sky, nor any of the other things that were integrated within.

You know, I’ve never had occasion to use the defenses in the bunker…

-They are rather impressive. I think they might delay even Master Grediv for a few seconds.-

…are you being ridiculous on purpose?

-Obviously. They’d either surprise him and kill him, or he’d ignore them entirely… At least I think so. While we’ve seen no evidence of his survivability, he trained Rane, and that man might have as much ability to stay alive as we do, if in an entirely different way. Besides, even if it did work, he’d just come back. The City Stone won’t let him die. At least not yet, apparently.-

True. Maybe she should talk with Master Grediv about that.

-Oh yes, Master Grediv, how hard would it be to kill you and ensure you stay dead?-

… I wouldn’t ask it like that.

-I imagined not, but it still comes down to the same thing.-

… I think he’d be fine with talking to me about it.

-You’re probably right. He’s usually pretty helpful.-

This day, she had a shift with her unit in the afternoon, and this very morning she and the Zuccats were expecting a first.

Someone was teleporting directly into Kit, not as part of a test of function.

Annathas Zuccat—the Zuccat’s second oldest—was coming home from the Academy to have her twentieth birthday at home.

I really hope it’s not… no, don’t think about it. Many people have the same name.

It was a bit excessive, given that Alefast, waning, had a perfectly serviceable teleportation tower, but having her arrive within Kit was a statement of trust in the magics involved and a bit of a celebratory, unneeded luxury with which to greet their long-absent child.

There was also the fact that the Academy was a bit different from a standard city, from a teleportation perspective.

While the Academy had a permanent receiving room staffed at all times by student-workers—Tala having been one during her stint learning those magics for her own teleportation-associated bid to maintain her inscriptions—they didn’t have a permanent set of teleportation spellforms for going outward to the various cities.

Instead, they had an undisclosed means of creating the needed spellform for each out-bound teleportation.

Undisclosed in this case meant only known to people like Mistress Elnea, Master Grediv, and others deemed needing to know.

But that was Tala getting ahead of herself.

What it meant was that the Academy could create a spellform for teleportation to anywhere, so long as they were provided the right schema.

Thus, Alat—based upon all the work that Mistress Elnea, Master Simon, and others had put in—was able to provide the Academy teleportation spellform implementation system with the exact specifications for a teleportation to Kit’s current location, specifically the location of the sanctum, not anything more granular.

It didn’t need to specify the exact location of the teleportation receiver for two reasons.

First, the locational weight of ‘Kit’—or Tala’s sanctum, really—was much greater than any specific point within it, taking less energy, precious metal mass, and spellform complexity to aim more generally for the sanctum as a whole.

Second, the teleportation receiver was specifically designed to ‘catch’ anything thrown into the near region.

That is an awful metaphor.

-But there isn’t really one better.-

…I know.

Because they were within Alefast, it needed to get close enough to land within the receiver's domain, rather than defaulting to the local tower, but that also meant that the tower was a good safety catch if something went wrong.

Though, apparently it was more complex than simply specifying coordinates, so there was still a chance that there could be a near miss of Kit that ended up nowhere near Alefast, waning, but that was an incredibly slim possibility.

As for teleporting out, Tala’s explicit control of the sanctum that she had gained since she’d bound Kit was all that was needed. Alat would provide the proper spellform—depending on the desired destination—and Tala would cause it to come into being, properly formed of precious metals, set into stone.

At that point, the design of the spellform would allow the ambient power in the sanctum to prep it for activation.

It was as easy as that, regardless of where Kit was at the time.

As Tala well knew, modern teleportation didn’t really care where it originated. Only the destination mattered to the spellforms.

Thus is transport through the void.

-That really seems like there is something there we can learn from. It so closely mirrors Terry’s own flickering.-

Though, he can’t go out of his own line of sight.

-I believe there have been at least a couple of exceptions, but that’s generally true, yeah. So, the two types of movement are likely related, not the same.-

Agreed.

There was some theorizing—and apparently a great body of work—that indicated that they should be able to teleport to Kit, using Tala’s soul as coordinates, given her soulbond with her, but such was so rarely even possible that Master Simon was starting with much less information than ideal as he began to investigate that possibility around everything else.

Now, modern teleportation was a wonderful step forward.

In times past, both ends had to be established to explicitly point to each other, noting their own location as well. Then, the workings would create a stable—but incredibly expensive—connection between the two points that any number of people could use for a short time.

That was the type of teleportation that had been used in the past for caravan emergency escape functionality.

That was also the type that was determined to be ludicrously too expensive and infeasible, as they required very precise calculations and modifications to spellforms on both ends—based on the locations to be connected—in order to work properly.

The new teleportation method had a different issue, which is why they weren’t used in caravans in modern times.

One teleportation spellform, one person teleported.

Because of that, a teleportation circle evacuation was so slow as to be effectively useless, or requiring so much infrastructure as to make it fiscally unusable.

In the time that even a half-dozen people could be evacuated with iterative teleportation circles, either the caravan would be fully overrun or the problem would have been solved.

Thus, the Caravan Guild put their resources toward better defending caravans, rather than fruitless attempts to rescue those that they failed to protect.

All that came together to explain why they hadn’t come across the relatively simple method for teleporting out of Kit.

Unfortunately, Tala being the sole source of exit teleportation spellforms was, of course, not sufficient for emergency exit in the case of her death.

Thus, Mistress Elnea and her assistants—Master Simon included—had created an artifact that—once activated and provided with silver bars and a destination—would produce teleportation circles to that location for as long as ambient magic existed to empower the process.

In that way, all that was required to allow for the emergency escape for anyone within Kit at the time of Tala’s death was to have enough silver on hand.

It helped that at the time of Tala’s death, the sanctum would effectively become inaccessible, so they’d have all the time in the world, until the ambient power ran out.

I’m not going to die, this is all so pointless.

-But it makes people feel better.-

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

…fine.

In the end, Tala simply had a box filled with silver bars—along with the crafted artifact—beside a demarcated section of stone near the central plaza.

But back to Annathas Zuccat and her imminent arrival.

That really isn’t that common of a name… No. It’ll be fine.

At the Academy, a student could graduate any time after she turned eighteen, if the student met certain requirements. The usual was about nineteen—Tala, herself, had chosen to graduate when about nineteen and a half. Students were forced to leave on their twentieth birthday, or as near thereafter as reasonable.

While students were usually allowed to finish a given term, if their birthday fell in the middle of it, the most recent term for classes ended at the start of this month, so Annathas wouldn’t have been given an extension for another whole section of classes.

Yeah, that Annathas I knew had her birthday in the summer… right?

-You never learned her birthday, Tala.-

I’m sure it was in the summer. This isn’t the same person.

-...-

Her parents had communicated with her, and through the Archive—with Mistress Elnea’s help because they were using the new teleportation setup—they had worked out the needed information to allow her to come straight to them in Kit.

So, that was hanging over the late morning.

Tala really did need to be there, just in case.

Also pressing on Tala’s mind was the fact that the day after tomorrow was the day that Kedva Deas would be entering Tala’s sanctum to be suffused with magic and hopefully be reborn as a human wielder of neutral, magical power.

Or, you know, she’ll die horribly.

-... happy thoughts, Tala. She’ll be fine. Adrill and Brandon are doing their best to prepare the girl for the process.-

But it all depends on me in the end.

-On us, mostly, yes. Some of it is just whether or not the girl can handle the change. Some people just can’t.-

And for my part, we’ve been focusing on aura manipulation practice.

She had been working on every method she knew or her unit mates, mentors, and friends could offer in order to improve her use of her aura.

That was how she would carve the natural magics for the girl on the face of reality.

Even though they aren’t physically stoneward or starward. They aren’t tangible.

-Tala… you are trying to distract yourself by hyper-focusing on the thing you don’t want to think about. That seems… unproductive.-

…right.

Tala groaned, leaning back and rubbing her eyes.

It was so early in the morning that morning’s first light was still a bit away, and she had yet to have breakfast.

I still can’t believe that you convinced me to wait an hour and a half before having any coffee.

-First of all, coffee isn’t great for us at all. I still can’t believe that you convinced yourself to start drinking it again.-

Granted, but it’s delicious, it’s helpful, and it won’t actually kill me, so there’s no harm. I’m feeling a bit… assaulted on all sides, here. Coffee just makes things better.

-Coffee is not a good emotional aid, Tala. You know that.- Alat conveyed a sigh within Tala’s head. -That said, I do understand why you’re doing it. Coffee is comforting, and it helps level you while you are working through things.-

…Thank you.

-Now, my second point. If you are going to consume it, it is healthier for you to wait on caffeine from any source until you’ve had time to fully wake up—that takes about an hour and a half—otherwise you’ll just feel way worse later on.-

That may be true for most people, but I have magic. I could quite literally drink poison and be fine in most cases.

-Yes, you have magic. You have magic that is silly to waste for no reason.-

…Fine. I can wait.

-You could always go with decaf.-

Bite. Your. Tongue.

-Isn’t that your tongue?-

…

Alat projected the sound of a clearing throat into Tala’s mind. -I’ll ‘hush’ now.-

Thank you.

She had time, so she decided to finish something that she’d been working on in her spare moments.

She got out of the tub, banishing it and then aspect-mirroring the needed features of her elk leathers to allow water to cascade off of herself, each act simply taking a minor flex of will.

Once she was dry, her clothing regrew from the band around her neck, and now clothed, Tala sat to read.

It only took her about an hour to finally reach the end of the Rising Sun’s tome on arcane advancement.

Alat had, of course, rearranged the content into the most comprehensible pattern for Tala’s own method of learning and processing information.

That didn’t cut down on what she had to read, as she wanted to read the totality regardless, but it did mean that by the time she got to the end, she understood it far better than she might otherwise have been able to.

Tala sighed as the text vanished from her perspective. “They didn’t include how to become a Sovereign. Rusting posturing with their fancy name: ‘Advancement and the Unbroken Road to Sovereignty.’ Nothing but lies, it seems.”

She huffed a mirthless laugh despite herself. It was ridiculous.

-You know, I could have told you that. In fact, if that book actually contained the secrets to Sovereignty, I would have told you what they were months ago. Moreover, the very fact that there isn’t a ‘House of the Rising Sun’ Sovereign means they don’t have the method.-

…Fine.

The book did describe the steps up to Revered quite well.

Then, those who wished to be ‘Hallowed’ were encouraged to petition the Pillars for leave to study under a City Lord.

Sovereignty was mentioned only in a single line, seemingly quoting an ancient proverb:

‘Those who are Sovereign, need no helping hand.’

In context, it was clear that at least the writer of this book saw Sovereigns as beings to whom sovereignty was intrinsic, unerring, and not in need of nurturing.

Hero worship. Tala grimaced in distaste.

She’d had more than her fill of that while an Eskau for the House of Blood.

The whole culture was steeped in the sentiment.

Whether directed at her or others, it was nausea-inducing.

-Really? Is that how you remember it? I seem to recall you like—-

“Moving on!”

Tala hopped up to her feet.

“I have time. I’m going to enact what we discussed.”

-You mean that you’re going to distract yourself from your obvious self-delusion?-

I don’t know what you’re talking about.

-Ahh, well, Paragon was a nice goal for a while.-

Tala glared internally.

Then, with an extremely put-upon sigh, she nodded. Fine, but not here.

She didn’t want to self-reflect in her bedroom.

It felt too much like her childhood, before the Academy.

…Well, it was something that had happened at the Academy, too, so…

Regardless, it wasn’t desired.

That’s not who she was anymore.

A flex of will and she was sitting in a little glen that had recently come to her attention, tucked alongside her infinite river.

She sat upon a large, flat stone that seemed to rise up out of the turf at her will.

In truth, it had come from deep within her sanctum on the far side, but she liked the aesthetic of watching it rise, almost a great creature of the deep breaking the surface of the ocean.

I’m just full of memories of the Academy, aren’t I?

-So it seems. Likely due to our incoming guest?-

Could be, yeah.

Tala didn’t bother to close her eyes, as it would be rather pointless. Her other perspectives made her eyes slightly redundant, and there was no way she was disengaging those.

Constant vigilance was a part of who she was, now, and she wouldn’t give that up to—

-I could take them over fully. Then, we’re being vigilant, and you can be introspective.-

…fine.

Tala closed her eyes and passed all mirrored perspectives to Alat alone.

First, to create a baseline, she felt her own aura, feeling the quality of her advancement. About one and a tenth percent toward Paragon from Refined.

-That is my assessment as well.-

Then, she actually focused on what Alat had highlighted.

I did like it when arcanes looked up to me. Their adulation felt good.

She had been a mighty fist for the House of Blood.

She’d crushed their enemies, driven them before her, and exulted in the lamentations of the survivors.

True, much of the praise had gone to Be-thric as the Pillar she seemingly served, but that wasn’t what she had focused on.

Their adoration had felt like a victory in and of itself.

They thought she was their tool, but all the while the strength that she was gaining at their behest would be turned on them. That very strength, those tools and techniques, would be exactly what she used to gain her freedom once again.

But she wasn’t captured anymore.

She wasn’t the bloody right hand of a tyrant.

Nor was she the inexperienced young Mage whom he’d captured.

So? Who am I? Who do I want to be?

She liked fighting.

She liked striving for mastery over those who wished her harm, but more than that, she liked using her strength to make safe those who couldn’t protect themselves.

Her role as a defender resonated with her, but there was more.

It was more than just fighting, killing, driving away threats, using violence.

She had enjoyed discussing theory with various Constructionists: Masters Boma and Queue, Adrill and Artia, too.

She wanted to do more than tear down, even if she was doing that for a good cause.

As she examined her feelings, she realized that she was hesitantly excited at the prospect of helping the gateless gain magic.

Particularly, Adrill’s passion for magic sparked joy within her. She realized that she was truly looking forward to helping him achieve his long-held desires of wielding power of his own.

True, she was still a bit horrified that it had begun as an accident that she should have been able to prevent, but she’d moved past the self-recrimination… mostly.

Regardless, the feeling of excitement wasn’t just the gateless.

The idea of helping Artia was incredibly appealing, too.

It wasn’t because she wanted to give people magic.

No.

It was because these people wanted something, and she could work with them to make it happen.

She just liked helping people, nurturing them toward their true potential, their deep goals.

Her defense of the weak was just an outgrowth of that.

After all, the dead could not advance.

The dead would never get what they wanted.

The sentiment resonated with something that Master Grediv had told her a while back.

‘Acts of kindness echo through eternity.’ What was kinder than helping someone become the best version of themselves?

The feeling seemed to require that it be, very specifically, not at her choice. This most recent series of events made that clear.

What she wanted was to help them achieve what they were striving for.

Yes. That was it.

Tala felt her gate—her very soul—resonate with the idea of nurturing the best in those around her, but it didn’t feel quite correct.

No, that’s not right. It isn’t about the ‘best…’

Something her father had often said back in the better years came to her mind: ‘Best is the enemy of good.’

Her opinion on their goals wasn’t the point. She wasn’t trying to make little copies of herself, or little automata that mirrored what she thought they should be.

She wanted people’s choices to matter for them.

If nothing else, her time with the House of Blood had cemented that.

It didn’t matter to her how gilded the cage, how powerful the position, if the person didn’t want to be there, it was torment.

She turned this over and over in her mind, feeling like she was right at the edge of an epiphany, but it just couldn’t click, not yet.

She didn’t understand it—or herself—well enough.

Not yet.