Tala tried not to groan as Anna exuberantly put forward her ‘wonderful idea.’ She was just glad that Segis and Metti weren’t there, otherwise the three children might have ganged up on their parents to push through some… unfortunate notions.

“Why don’t we get Hannah in here? She’s a baker. Mistress Tala loves baked goods. It’s a win-win!”

Even though Anna had seamlessly begun using Tala’s honorific, she still had the same warm air about her, even with the added formality to her address.

Mistress Petra smiled at her daughter but shook her head, “Anna, your sister is very happy with her job in Bandfast. She likes her co-workers, and there are a couple of young men who are calling on her. She won’t be leaving in the near future.”

Anna pouted briefly. “Well, boo.”

With a dramatic intake of breath, she straightened, seemingly immediately putting it all behind her.

“Alright. Well, I, at the very least, shall have to stay here with you all.”—she looked toward Tala—”So long as that is acceptable to Mistress Tala, of course.”

Tala blinked a few times. What now?

-She wants to live here, dear. I know you’re listening. The request was rather obvious.-

Before Tala could answer, Master Simon shook his head. “No, Anna. You need to live with your master, whoever that may be.”

Anna’s eyes dimmed for a moment before they seemed to practically blaze with what was clearly a dawning idea.

Oh, no.

Alat began to laugh.

Absolutely not.

-She’s going to ask.-

Oh, rust no…

Anna opened her mouth to propose her thought, but once again, her father dashed her hopes, cutting her off before she could even begin. “I know that you are fond of Mistress Tala, but even if she were willing, your magic and your chosen field simply don’t align with hers and with what Mistress Tala does day-to-day. In the same way your mother and I would be poor fits, she would not be a good master for you.”

It took all of Tala’s self control to not mouth ‘Thank you!’ toward Master Simon, but he glanced her way and seemed to get the message, a wry smile pulling at his lips for a moment before he mastered himself.

Anna dramatically slumped once again. “Well, that’s just frustrating. This beautifully wonderful, spectacular place is open to our family, and you won’t let me wheedle more of us into it?”—she gave Tala a wink before facing her father again—”What are your plans anyway? Will I be stuck in Alefast while you go galavanting off to Sovereigns know where?”

“Anna!” Mistress Petra exclaimed, before catching herself, “Watch your language dear.”

Tala didn’t lift an eyebrow in surprise, but it was a near thing. Invoking the Sovereigns in such a way was quite frowned upon, to the point that Tala couldn’t remember hearing anyone do so since she had left the Academy.

I don’t remember Anna speaking like that before…

-Yes, because you listened to her so often back then.-

…Point taken.

Anna waved them off. “It’s not like they’ll strike me dead. But, as you wish, Mother. So? What are your plans?”

Master Simon nodded, turning toward Tala. “Petra and I have discussed it, and we do want to stay on with you, at least for the time being. These six months or so have been most fruitful for my understanding of some aspects of magic, the work is interesting, and I enjoy it. Petra is mastering the art of cooking and baking with harvests, as well as just enjoying a simpler life. Will you have us?”

Tala nodded. “Of course.”—she hesitated for a moment—”But I know we’ve discussed you two moving toward advancing…”

She let the words hang, but Master Simon nodded, regardless. “We have the scripts that are preparing the way for us. It isn’t a sure thing, but we are hopeful. Obviously, if and when that comes about, we’d have a lot to consider.”

Mistress Petra smiled and nodded along with her husband’s words. “It is a barrier that we feared to never face, but we will do what we can, regardless.”

Master Simon grinned. “After all, I want to see my grandchildren.”

“And great-grandchildren.”

Anna giggled. “That would be wonderful, yes.”

Tala gave a tight smile, pulling the subject back under control and well away from children. “Regardless, Anna, I think I have a potential master for you. A… friend of mine, Mistress Vanga, has agreed to meet with you, if you are willing. She is a healer by nature, and even if you aren’t a good fit with her, she should know others who could be open to the match.”

Anna gasped excitedly, clearly brightening at the idea. “Oh! That’s so wonderful. Thank you, Tala!”—she squealed, then seemed to remember herself, forcibly calming down—”I mean—Thank you, Mistress Tala.’

Tala sighed. “I am happy to have been able to assist.”

* * *

Tala took the next day and a half to rebalance herself after the past few days of insanity.

She still stood watch during her unit’s shifts.

She still trained her body, magic, will, soul, and aura.

But she spent the majority of her time meditating on all that had happened—all that she had learned—in the last few days.

No, that’s not right. It has been more than a few days. Mistress Odera passed just more than two weeks ago.

-Two weeks and two days, as of this afternoon.-

Tala sat back, letting that sink in, holding her cup of mint tea out before her, as she watched the sun rise within her sanctum.

-Her fount was deemed potentially dangerous, and it was voided, allowing her to pass on fully. I think they would have done so either way, given that was her stated wish, but it’s good to know that they wouldn’t have let it remain, regardless.-

Tala felt… something at that. I could have done that. I could have found her and been with her through the process. I could have been the one to set her free to move on to the next world.

-Do you wish you had been?-

No. Does that make me a terrible person?

-I don’t think so, personally, but, well, I’m not really the best person to ask that question… considering.-

She had grunted a laugh at Alat’s comment, and that gathered the attention of the only person with her.

Rane shifted on the chair beside hers, “Tala? What’s going on?”

Tala had invited Rane to watch the sunrise with her, given that he would already be awake.

Well, truthfully she’d asked him to be present when Kedva was initiated into the arcane method of magical advancement, and the most convenient way to ensure he was there was to have him come early.

-Uh, huh. Right. You invited him to watch the sun rise with you, because it’s more convenient than having him come later. If I don’t believe that, it means that you don’t either.-

Tala ignored Alat.

Watching the sunrise was something she wanted to do, and it was nice to have him with her.

She wanted someone who was just there to support her.

Not someone for Kedva.

Not someone to monitor the situation or help the process.

Just someone who was there in case she needed someone.

-Nothing’s going to go wrong.-

But it might.

-It won’t.-

But it might.

Alat sighed within Tala’s head.

They had gone back and forth a lot.

In the end, that was why Rane was here.

“Tala?” He set his own earthenware mug aside. “Hey, are you alright?”

Tala nodded, focusing back on the present moment, “Yeah. I just realized that Mistress Odera… she’s been gone for more than two weeks.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Rane stiffened slightly, then almost seemed to melt. “Tala… I… I know you two were closer than she and I were. I really am sorry for your loss. I wasn’t thinking how it could be affecting you.”

Tala shook her head. “I don’t feel the loss. I feel angry. I feel angry that she is gone and nothing has changed. Not for me, not for humanity, not for anything. There was no point.”

He nodded, not speaking.

She growled in frustration. “It’s ridiculous. I’ve barely thought about her these last two weeks.”

“You’ve had a lot going on.”

She gave him a look, and he held up his hands in surrender.

“My apologies. Go on.”

Tala nodded to herself, took a long pull from her tea, and continued, “If even I don’t really think about her, less than a month after she’s gone… does it even matter? What’s the point, if even those who know us well aren’t deeply affected after we’re gone?”

She looked to him for an answer, but he was simply sitting there, watching her attentively.

“Well?”

“Oh… Um… So, it sounds like what you’re saying is that you are upset that you aren’t more upset. Is that true?”

Tala lifted her hands in a motion of exasperated surrender. “I don’t even know…”

He huffed a laugh. “I think I can understand that.”

“I’m glad someone can,” she groused, “It feels like I can’t win.”

After a moment’s hesitation, some deep wisdom seemed to overtake him, and he asked, “Do you want me to respond, or just listen?”

“I think…”—she let out a frustrated sigh—”just listen, but I also think I’m done.”

He nodded, wisely not commenting, and seeming to simply enjoy his tea, the sunrise, and the company.

The drawn out silence allowed Tala to process further. “What even is the point? We are born; we grow old; we die; we are forgotten.”

He turned back toward her, clearly listening, but didn’t reply.

She gave a half smile at that, but it faded quickly. “Is everything meaningless?” She shook her head. “No, I know it isn’t. I know that it matters. I know our choices echo on after we’re gone, but… I want it to matter more. I want her to matter more, to have mattered more.”

Rane nodded slowly but didn’t speak.

“You can respond.”

He shrugged. “You asked me to just listen.”

She swatted his shoulder. “I didn’t mean totally silently.”

He shrugged again. “It seemed to be helping.”

“It was.” She sighed, “I just feel like I’m missing something important.”

He sighed, too. “Honestly, everything that I can think of would be just as temporary as she was, if only just.”

“Like what?”

“You could make a statue of her; you could try to learn one of her spellforms; you could find one or more of her descendents to show your gratitude to.”

“Each of those could be eternal.”

“With maintenance. There’s also another looming issue, but I’m a bit afraid to bring it up.”

Tala turned back toward the sunrise. “She’s not the only person I’ll ever lose, and no option is sustainable throughout centuries of losing people.”

“Yeah…”

They fell back into comfortable silence, then.

Soon enough, Alat spoke into that silence.

-They are on their way.-

Tala nodded and stood. “They’re on their way.”

“Oh!” Rane jerked slightly, being pulled from some inner thought or other. “Right. Where do you want to do this?”

Tala smiled. “Well, the central courtyard seems like the best place.”

With a thought, she and he were there.

Master Simon?

-He’s ready.-

With her three-fold sight, she saw that he was waiting, standing with his Archive slate in hand, looking vaguely upward.

Tala smirked, bringing him to her in an instant.

“Oh! Thank you, Mistress Tala.”

She gave a slight bow. “Of course, Master Simon.”

Now, let’s see…

She pulled her iron to the superficial, using it to fill in the crevices between paving stones to give her an even better grounding in order to assert her sovereignty, even as she called up the door into Kit.

She flexed her aura, stirring the zeme by grabbing and forcibly moving most of the ambient magic away.

-You know, you could probably do that through Kit, too. The iron was likely overkill.-

True, but this is good practice.

-Fair enough.-

When she had a bubble of weaker magical density around the door, she focused outward again.

Rane had taken up a seat off to one side, making sure he’d be out of the way but also close enough to be able to be there for her at need.

She gave a half smile before moving on with her preparations and investigations.

Her bloodstars gave her an easy view of those approaching.

Brandon, Adrill, Kedva, and Artia were accompanied by two others.

The two unknowns were obviously mundane. Their clothing spoke of a good living but not overt wealth.

Their lack of magic left them utterly exposed to her three-fold sight.

While they did have gates, they were obviously untrained, with just the standard mana flow.

From the physical similarities, they were obviously Kedva’s parents, or at least close family members of the young woman.

I do wonder how someone can be born without a gate, when both parents have gates.

-You have to remember, Tala, that gates are a defect. It’s a sign that the parents had a healthy aspect to their souls that came together to not make her broken at the start.-

…Even though I know that’s true, it’s still really odd to think of it that way.

-Because it means that we’re broken?-

Sort of, more that it means that the most prevalent thing about me can genuinely be considered a malformation, defect, or issue. I wouldn’t be me without my gate, my magic.

-That’s for sure.-

I wonder if that extends to other such maladies?

-Hard to tell, there really aren’t any that persist within the human cities, so it’s not like we’ve known people permanently missing a limb or sense.-

Yeah…Wait! We did see some in Makinaven. They’d replaced parts with wood to better commune with the tree.

-Right. There was one who was really kind and answered your invasive questions.-

They weren’t that invasive…

Alat was silent for a moment.

Fine, I could have been more tactful.

-See? Personal growth. His name was Ciaran, by the way. That guy was awesome.-

…We talked to him for like five minutes.

-And he was awesome throughout.-

Tala huffed an internal laugh. That’s fair.

Focusing back on those newly arriving, there was one conspicuous absence.

No healer.

-She decided to act on faith?-

I suppose. Truthfully, a healer wouldn’t help, the one who examined Adrill and Brandon even said so.

-But having a healer on hand could be comforting.-

Which would have been a problem. She needs to trust herself and me for this to work. Depending on someone else ‘if it fails’ would complicate things.

-Which is probably why she didn’t bring one.-

True enough.

Tala sighed. There’s no point in delaying further, I suppose.

She willed for the entrance to open.

The wider than usual door swung inward, revealing the four people just as they came up to the threshold.

Kedva’s parents remained standing further back, clearly nervous.

Tala thought she understood. Even in a waning city like Alefast, many mundane still had some hesitancy around the overtly magical.

If nothing else, they tended to be over-awed by Mages.

Should we have invited them to be in attendance? Would that have been the right course of action?

-Maybe? Then they could have said no or yes at their own discretion.-

…is it too late? We didn’t consider them at all.

-Yeah… we didn’t think of family, did we.-

Tala called through the door, “Brandon, Adrill, please come in; Master Simon has your slates.”

Master Simon looked at her with confusion, lifting his one empty hand, only to have the two Archive slates appear within. He held in a smile while giving her a flat look.

Tala grinned back at him.

The two men stepped in—seemingly bracing for the storm of energy to flow into them—but looked around in confusion when it didn’t happen.

“I lowered the levels of power near the door. There’s no reason to have Kedva collapsing in view of the outside.”

The two bowed, Adrill speaking for both of them, “Thank you for the consideration.”

That left two women standing right outside, Kedva and Artia.

Artia was holding the younger—clearly nervous—girl’s hand.

Tala almost told them to step in, but she stopped herself.

Self-improvement, Tala. We’re aiming for personal growth. You need to do the right thing.

-...are… are you pretending to be me?-

Yes.

-You know I’m right here, right?-

Of course.

-And I literally am you. There’s no need to pretend.-

You’re distracting me from personal growth.

-Fine, fine. Go forth and be an adult.-

Tala walked forward.

Her perspective gave her an amusing look as Brandon and Adrill stepped out of the bubble she was maintaining, being practically slapped with power as it rushed into their bodies.

Regardless of her growing smile, she stopped right outside the door, on the street beside Artia’s shop.

Tala placed her hand on Kedva’s shoulder. “You’ve made the choice. It’s a fine choice, but you can change your mind. No one will force you, one way or the other.”

Kedva met her gaze, then the uncertainty seemed to melt away within the young woman’s eyes, at least for the moment, “Thank you, Mistress Tala. I am firm in my choice.”

“As you say.” Tala lifted her eyes to the two people standing some ten feet back, “You must be Kedva’s parents. Is that correct?”

The two came forward a few steps, then bowed deeply. “We are, yes. You must be Mistress Tala?”

“I am.” Tala gave a nod of acknowledgement. “It is good to meet you.”

“The pleasure is ours, Mistress.” They looked uncertain.

Tala sighed internally, “What can I do for the two of you? I do apologize for not asking if you wished to observe, but we can correct that error now. Would you like to come in?” Tala turned and gestured toward Kit’s open door.

The two paled visibly before the husband responded, “Oh… um… Would it help our Kedva?”

Tala shook her head. “Not generally. Whether it would help her emotionally is beyond what I can say. You are welcome, though.”

They shared a look. “We will consider it. Thank you.”

Tala nodded, “Well, consider quickly. I aim to begin shortly.”

The two bowed, “As you say, Mistress Tala. Thank you again for this opportunity that you are giving our daughter.”

She shrugged. “Honestly, for that you should thank Brandon. It is his connection with Kedva that has brought this about.”

The wife beamed happily, momentarily seeming to forget her nervousness, and the husband nodded, “We know. As for Kedva, we just wanted to be here for her, in case…”

Brandon came out behind Tala, walking over to the two older people. As he passed Tala, he spoke very quietly, relying on her enhancements to ensure that he was heard, “Give me a couple of minutes, please. I’ll get them situated.”

Tala nodded in acknowledgement before briefly addressing the two, even as Brandon led them off to one side.

She waved their way, and offered a platitude, “Good to have met you both.”

See? Personal growth.

-...I think I’m mostly disturbed by the fact that you’re right.-

Better everyday.

-Well—-

Hush you. I’m trying.