Tala felt fully relaxed for the first time in days as she contemplated existence and her place in it.

She knew a part of it was the setting. She was beside her infinite river, in a little dell, upon a stone that had been a part of her spoils of war.

She recognized it as one that she’d taken from a garden in the main hold of the House of the Rising Sun.

It felt like victory to sit upon it, knowing that generations of arcanes had used it for their meditation, and now it was hers.

-Tala?-

Tala blinked a few times, opening her eyes to see the brightness of a new day creeping across the incredibly real-seeming false sky.

-Breakfast time.-

She grinned in response to her alternate interface. Thank you, Alat.

With a flexing of her will, Tala moved to her dining area.

She appeared standing beside the table, coming in just after Mistress Petra moved back to the kitchen.

The woman, now well acquainted to Tala’s habits, simply smiled and gave a shallow bow, “Good morning, Mistress Tala.”

Tala gave a nod in return, “Good morning, Mistress Petra. How are you and the family doing today?”

“Oh, excellent. Just excellent. We are so excited for our Annathas coming home. She’s such a dear girl, you’ll just love her.”

Can’t be the same person, then.

-Tala… she wasn’t unkind to you. Just the opposite in fact.-

Tala ignored Alat. “I’m sure I will.”

She sat in her chair, regarding the glorious spread before her, but before she took her first bite, she had a thought that soured the food just a bit. What if she wants to stay here?

-I thought you didn’t know her?- Alat pressed.

I don’t want another Mage in here. Not yet.

-Um… why not?-

…Because, we have plenty. They weaken the stability of reality in here.

-Tala…-

I don’t want any more people in here…

-What about the gateless? Brandon and Adrill? Artia?-

…They’re fine.

Alat sighed, but she didn’t press further.

Tala addressed Mistress Petra, “Do you know what she plans on doing, now that she’s graduating?”

“Hmm? Oh, she’ll seek an apprenticeship, a master to be a mageling under and all that. Her talents lie in healing, as I understand it. Though communication is limited, so I might not have the full picture. Even so, her penchant for healing is one reason she’s coming here. Healers always congregate around a waning, much like defenders do.”

-Oh! Mistress Vanga might be a good fit.-

… Alat…

-What? Don’t we want to help out Mistress Petra and Master Simon’s daughter?-

Defenders don’t often take on magelings. It complicates things.

-But they do sometimes, especially if they have duties outside of their role as a defender, say as a healer.-

… I’ll consider suggesting it.

The woman continued on, and Tala listened closely, even as she turned to her meal, concern assuaged for the moment. Annathas would be with her master wherever that Mage was, not within Tala’s sanctum.

Still, Tala wanted to be more interested in her friends’ and colleagues’ lives, so she chose to engage with Mistress Petra throughout her whole meal.

The two of them chatted as Tala ate and Mistress Petra finished up in the kitchen.

All in all, it was a pleasant way for Tala to break her nightly fast.

-It’s almost time.-

Oh, alright. The receiving spellform is in place and activated. Tala didn’t really want to go, even if she had planned on being there.

-I know, but don’t you want to head there to see it with your own eyes?-

I mean… I can see it regardless? But sure. Let’s go. It will be interesting to feel it with my aura as well.

Tala stood to her feet, swallowing her last mouthful of food. “Mistress Petra, shall we go?”

“Oh!” The older woman straightened, “Is it time already?”

“It seems so.”

She smiled, “Then, yes. Let’s go.”

Tala smiled in return, flexed her will. With no noticeable delay, they were both standing beside the receiving spellform.

It was in a grove of massive trees, Tala remembered the arcanes meticulously moving them in to set up this location.

It had been meant to be a meditation area for herself or Thron, but she didn’t know if he’d ever used it.

She certainly hadn’t.

The center of the space was dominated by a large round stone, raised above the turf and interwoven roots.

The silver of the ready-and-waiting receiving spellform glistened in the early morning light.

Tala didn’t take long to take in the sight, instead lifting her hand to hold it in front of her mouth. It already held the intra-sanctum communication stone, “Master Simon, should I bring you and the children here to receive your daughter?”

His voice came back a moment later, “Oh! Is it that time, already?”

Tala felt her mouth pull up in a half smile. “It is indeed, Master Simon.”

“Then, yes. Thank you.”

With another flex of her will, Master Simon, Segis, and Metti were all standing beside her.

Segis held a wooden training sword that he had clearly been swinging about in play.

Metti had a doll in each hand, her face scrunching up in disappointment. That passed quickly as she immediately turned to Tala. “Please bring their new dresses too.”

Tala chuckled. She could, of course, see exactly what the little girl meant, and the two dolls’ dresses were on the ground beside Metti a moment later.

Metti sat down and began to change them. “Thank you, Mistress Tala. They will be dressed pretty for Anna’s arrival.”

The little girl had a truly supernatural sense of timing—or she was incredibly lucky—because almost as soon as the dolls had been changed—and she had politely had Tala return their unused clothes to the proper place—she had stood back up, and the receiving scripts began to ignite.

To Tala’s enhanced vision and ability to process what she saw, it was a truly fascinating sight.

Her aura provided yet another level of insight, giving her a full picture into what was happening.

Power flashed through the entire spellform at once.

Tala had to pause mentally and really conceptualize that.

It wasn’t like a flash powder that went up “at once” or all the water in a bucket came out ‘at once’ when it was upended.

No.

At exactly the same instant, the entire spellform ignited, fully shaped, and properly formed, proportional, and alight with magic.

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

Barely a atom thick of silver all activating at once, blazing with power until they couldn’t resist the pull of the magic, becoming energy as well.

Then, the newly increased power moved outward, like a network of expanding tubes, burning as they grew until the totality of the silver was aflame with power.

The entire process took less than an eyeblink, before the magics had consumed the spellworking and the effect was entirely enacted.

Power punched starward without breaching all the way to the superficial. In fact, the breach didn’t even reach as far as the next increment.

The void.

As expected, the magics reached into the void, but as she watched it, her aura felt something else, something familiar.

The Doman-Imithe?

-Maybe. Keep focused.-

The entire space that had been occupied by the spellform was filled with humanoid figures to Tala’s voidsight, only one of which was highlighted with power that was clearly from the receiving scripts.

Beside that highlighting, the forms were indistinguishable.

At least they were until they began to move.

As Tala watched in a moment that seemed to extend for minutes, the figures around the central one tried to reach and grab onto the highlighted humanoid shape.

The scrabbling fingers slid off of the magic of the receiving spellform, that central person not reacting in the slightest.

Even so, they kept trying for the entire, extended moment.

Finally, the moment passed, and a gate—a human soul—suddenly seemed to snap into existence within the vaguely humanoid, magically-highlighted shape.

Huh… I wonder what it would look like if a gateless teleported. It does work for them, right?

-Yes, now focus! We can investigate other teleports later.-

Tendrils of power immediately shot inward from the highlighting. The magic struck the gate before rebounding, having been altered by the interaction and filling in details, fleshing out the vague shape with a template made of power.

This was the greatest expense of teleportation, the generation of matter from magic based upon the template of the person’s soul.

Most of the power came along with the transported. That high energy packet was what safeguarded the soul in transit before helping form the new vessel on the far end.

As the details were added in, the other shapes faded, until the last one ceased to be visible, even with Tala’s enhanced perception.

And rust me, the passenger apparently needs that protection.

-Yeah. What the rust?-

I know, right? Were those smilers?

-Maybe? Or they were simply personified void based on our perception of how they act.-

Yeah, but that’s also our conundrum with the smilers…

-...right.-

Slowly, a beautiful young woman came together, pieced together from power.

She was actually about the same height as Tala, and perky; Tala could tell just by how she was standing.

Her face was heart-shaped, and her eyes were sky blue.

She was, of course, utterly bald.

Classic Mage’s robes were built out around her out of power, clothing her in high quality fabric.

Oh, wow! I did not consider that. Tala looked closer, allowing her perception to take in every part of the garments.

-Yeah, the clothing is constructed in the same way as the body. It is an idealized version of itself.-

Tala and Alat could see that every thread in the weave was in perfect position. Every cut, every stitch, every part was precisely correct toward an ideal fit and finish.

Tala had given up such a perfect set of clothes of her own in order to teleport naked, trying to maintain her inscriptions.

In the end, she’d gotten her hair back and kept her keystone.

It seems that Annathas hadn’t attempted any oddities in her own teleportation.

-So… You haven’t actually acknowledged it, but…-

Tala sighed internally, even as the spellform finished its work, and the seemingly eternal moment came to an end. Yeah… I know her.

The new arrival blinked a few times, looking around as her eyes adjusted to the bright light.

Odd, I know that the teleportation room is bright on the other end, and here isn’t exactly under a midday sun… did her eyes somehow adjust to the void?

-That doesn’t make sense, but then you’re just hunting for reasons to not acknowledge the fact that you were wrong and—-

“Tala?” Annathas—Anna—tilted her head to one side. “Tala, is that you?”

Tala sighed. —and like I said, I know the girl who’s just teleported into my sanctum?

-Yeah. That.-

…I’d hoped that it was someone with the same name…

-Who was the same age?-

I never did get her last name… there was hope.

The girl’s face blossomed into a bright smile. “Tala! You came to greet me? I knew we were friends. I just knew it.” She practically flounced forward. “And here people told me that you were avoiding me while we were at the Academy. Were you just too shy?”

She seemed to notice her parents and siblings then, not noticing their shocked expressions.

“Oh! Everyone came! …Well, not Hannah, but that’s expected, and of course, I left Karsa at the Academy. I’m sorry I can’t give you more information on her, she mainly wanted to form new relationships, and didn’t want her big sis getting in the way.” She smiled, making a happy sound as she shrugged before giving a round of hugs, ending with Tala. “So! What’s new everyone? Oh, wow. Have you been working out, Tala? You feel like a rock. It suits you.”

Tala had accepted the hug purely on reflex and was now regretting so, so many things.

Then, Anna looked around, seeming confused. “I do apologize, and I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t see Mistress Kit anywhere. I want to pay my proper respects to the owner of this wondrous place you mentioned. Are we really in a dimensionally-expanded space? That’s amazing!” She grinned back toward Tala. “Then we can catch up. I’m sure you’ve been up to all sorts of mischief.”

…Mistress… Kit?

Alat had devolved into uncontrolled laughter within Tala’s head.

It was distracting.

Master Simon stepped forward, clearly trying to piece together what was happening. “Anna, honey, why do you think that there is a ‘Mistress Kit’ here?”

Anna nodded toward her dad, clearly feeling that she understood where the confusion lay, “Hmm? Oh! Well, you said that you were working within Kit’s sanctum, and that Kit and Tala, here, were connected.” She looked back to Tala. “I was excited that I’d get to see you again. Especially after Karsa said she’d met you. That girl refused to tell me more, too. Anyways, I figured I’d have to hunt you down, just like old times.” Turning back to her father, she continued, “It really is wonderful that you’re on a first name basis with your employer, but I need to show proper respect to Mistress Kit, at least until I get to know her.”

Anna sighed, practically bouncing as she turned toward her mother.

“And it’s so wonderful that you two treat Tala with such respect, calling her Mistress Tala and all, but I’ve known her just for ages, so I’m just going to keep right on calling her ‘Tala.’”

There was a long pause, before Segis began laughing, moving to sit on one of the surrounding stones, nearer the ring of trees.

Metti giggled to one side as well.

Anna refocused on her sister, choosing to ignore her brother. “Now, you brought two friends with you, didn’t you? I haven’t met these two, yet.”

Metti nodded, holding up her dolls.

“What pretty dresses they have!”

Master Simon— red-faced with embarrassment—came over and whispered to Tala. “Mistress Tala, I am so sorry. I had no idea you knew her at the Academy. Communications back and forth are all but impossible. When we communicated to her—and the Academy—about how to execute this teleport, we conveyed some of the situation here, but…”—he looked genuinely at a loss—“Things must have not been clear.”

Tala sighed and waved him off. “It’s fine, Master Simon. I recognized her name, but thought it might be someone else.”

“So, you were friends at the Academy?” he asked, interestedly. He also seemed both surprised and skeptical at the idea.

Honestly, he had good reason to be skeptical, given what he’d seen of her over the time they’d known one another.

Truthfully, Tala almost responded with a categorical ‘No’ but hesitated at the last moment.

Anna had tried to be kind to her, inviting her to things, sitting beside her in some classes, asking if she wanted to sit with her and her friends at meals.

Tala had always said no.

She’d left their shared classes quickly whenever possible.

Well, she’d left all classes quickly whenever possible, but that wasn’t the point.

Generally speaking, Tala had rebuffed Anna at every turn, without ever doing so explicitly.

She’d also never actually been rude or mean to the younger girl…

Anna had simply continued to be kind and treat Tala as if they were already friends throughout.

The end result was that Tala got very good at avoiding the other young woman, which wasn’t too hard given she was a year behind Tala, and there were very few classes that they even could have together.

Plus, their free periods weren’t aligned, and they were housed in different sections of the Academy.

She nodded to herself, choosing her words carefully as she responded to Master Simon, “She was always kind to me, but we never spent too much time together.”

Anna turned from her conversation with Metti to interject, “Tala—the dear—isn’t much of what we would call a ‘people person,’ but she’s got a good heart. I’m glad you know her already.”

Without waiting for a reply, she turned back to her little sister, squatting down just enough to not loom over her sister who was less than a third her age.

In fact, they weren’t that different in height to begin with.

Wait… Anna would have gone to the Academy before Metti was born.

-Yeah, the Zuccats mentioned a few times that they had arranged for Anna to come home three times over the years, likely at great expense. So, they aren’t strangers, but they don’t really know each other.-

Huh…

Master Simon was smiling, seemingly despite himself.

He spoke incredibly quietly, using his knowledge of Tala’s senses to keep Anna from overhearing. “Anna was always so outgoing. She made friends so easily and loved so completely. Even if you weren’t friends at the Academy from your side, I don’t doubt that she saw you as her friend. I also don’t doubt that she wouldn’t be saying this if you had been mean or cruel to her, or to others.” He fully faced Tala, bowing. “Thank you.”

That caught Anna’s attention, and she straightened, a contemplative look on her face. “I do seem to be missing something. Is Mistress Kit not coming?”

Tala felt herself smiling despite herself—which happened a lot with Anna, it seemed, “‘Kit’ is the name of my dimensional storage. She’s sapient, or at least sentient, and she is bound to me.”

Anna blinked a few times, clearly processing.

Tala decided to continue, getting it all out in the open before any further awkwardness could build up, “So… this is my sanctum. Your parents work… with me.” She couldn’t bring herself to say that Anna’s parents worked ‘for’ her, even though it was true. It felt too much like bragging, or boasting or… something.

After a long moment’s thought, Anna only uttered a single word in response, “Huh.”