Tala sat alone at her breakfast table, watching the sun rise over Kit’s horizon from her dining and sitting room.

She had finished the glorious meal just as the sky had begun to lighten, and she’d decided to stay and watch the sun come up.

She didn’t have too much pressing on her time this day, and it was good to be able to take the time to enjoy her surroundings.

As she sat and watched for the oncoming ball of fire, Master Simon and Mistress Petra came into the room and sat near her, not interacting with or disturbing her, likely because they knew that she was aware of them already.

“One moment, please.”

They nodded, again trusting in her threefold sight to convey their responses.

Less than a minute later, the sun—or rather the false sun—breached the edge of her little world, and it was the birth of a new day.

Tala felt herself relax that little bit more, leaning back and grabbing her cup of still-hot tea.

It was a newer blend, and it wasn’t fair to call it tea, not really.

Mistress Petra had been drinking something similar a few days back, and Tala had requested one.

It was… interesting.

Chia seeds, ginger, apple cider vinegar, honey, and water, left to steep until the chia seeds turned the whole thing thick.

With every sip, she expected to be grossed out by the texture, but it was actually more like drinking thin, spicy pudding.

It was oddly refreshing, and she hadn’t felt the need for coffee as of yet.

-Wonders never cease.-

Hush, you.

The liquid was still hot as she sipped it. That was not because the mug was a magical construct. Tala simply wished for the tea to still be hot, and so it was.

Ahh, the joys of uncontested, absolute authority within a space.

-It would be interesting to have someone try to oppose your wishes.-

You mean to have others bend their desire to keeping the drink cold?

-They’d likely have to greatly desire for it to function normally, but yes, that is about what I was thinking.-

Hmmm… add it to the list, please.

A moment later, Master Simon glanced down at his slate, and a smile pulled at his lips. He glanced her way and gave a slow nod. He’d clearly seen her update to their ‘potential projects’ list.

Tala felt like she was ready to truly face the day, and more specifically, she was ready to interact with the two Fused sitting nearby. “What can I do for the two of you? Are Segis and Metti well?”

Mistress Petra smiled. “They are well, Mistress Tala. Thank you for asking.”

Master Simon dipped his head again, this time in obvious gratitude. “Their tutors are impressed with their advancement, and the children their age seem to enjoy playing with them.”

Tala felt herself smile. “I’ve heard that that is a key metric of a good upbringing, yes.”

He shrugged. “Not a perfect one, but the extremes can be telling.”

“If no one wants to play with them?”

“They are likely cruel, selfish, or in some other way an unfit playmate.”

“And if everyone wants to?”

“They are likely either a tyrant with too much charisma for their own good, or a people pleaser.”

She turned her head to look over her shoulder and regard him, one eyebrow raised. “Really? That’s the only option?”

He lifted his hands in surrender, “Or they could have the makings of such, Mistress.”

“I suppose that could be, yes.” She chuckled, returning her gaze to the sunrise. “It is a beautiful start to the day.”

“It really shows the skill of the creators, Mistress.” There was genuine awe in his voice. “Every morning, somehow, the harmony of colors is different, yet the vista is always startlingly beautiful. The attention to detail in something that has no practical application is… Well, it’s inspiring. I almost wish I could meet the craftsmen.”

Tala sighed. “If you live long enough—and if things go the right way—that might be arranged. I could see there being an occasion for me to return to arcane lands before I die.”

Mistress Petra glanced to her husband and mouthed, ‘Now?’

He shrugged.

Tala felt one side of her lips pull up in amusement, “Now, what can I do for the two of you this morning?”

He smiled again, clearly knowing that their exchange had been seen. “We have been considering our future.”

That got Tala’s attention.

With a flick of thought, she and her chair were facing the other direction, the sunrise forgotten at her back and the two who had made her life so much easier of late before her.

She regarded them with her mundane eyes, trying to keep her intensity to reasonable levels, “Are you unhappy here?”

They quickly shook their heads, not seeming startled in the least by her sudden change in orientation. “No, Mistress Tala.”

“I love my research in this dimensional space, with you and Kit and Adrill and Brandon. Moreover, Petra and the children are thriving here.”

Tala relaxed again, but only just. “I’m listening.”

He nodded almost to himself as he spoke, “I think you know that we are on the older side.”

She gave a slow nod of acknowledgement, “I believe we’ve spoken about it, yes.”

She almost pulled up the memory but decided to simply let him speak and simply let him tell her what he had to say rather than trying to guess beforehand.

“What of it?”

“We don’t really have that long left, being only Fused.” He looked to his wife.

She smiled, leaning forward slightly. “While we won’t drop dead, we don’t expect to be as hale as we are now for more than another few decades or so.”

“Unless you Refine.”

“Unless we Refine.” She acknowledged. “But if we are to do that, we’ve been told that we need to begin moving in that direction sooner rather than later, in order to have the best chance of succeeding.”

Master Simon cleared his throat. “That is what we wanted to discuss with you.”

Tala made her face a carefully neutral mask, releasing her hold over her through-spike at the proper moment to shift the burden of that neutrality to the illusory construct without it being obvious that she’d activated an illusion.

Her own aura and authority was so pervasive within the sanctum that Master Simon—even with all his equipment—had no hope of detecting the illusion magic unless Tala allowed it.

She did not allow it.

“That is a choice that all in your position must make. How can I be of assistance to you?” She felt a bit of trepidation, knowing that she had to tread very carefully, here.

“We know that the process is neither simple nor easy,” Master Simon began.

She nodded. That was known and considered safe knowledge even for those considering the trial of Refining. It was slightly inaccurate, depending on how a given Mage looked at it, but it wasn’t outright false.

“We also know that we don’t have a great chance of succeeding.”

She didn’t react to that.

He looked to his wife and sighed, gesturing to her.

Mistress Petra smiled and picked up where her husband had left off, “What we are trying to ask is: Is the potential for eternity in this world worth it? We know you can’t give us any specifics. After all, we’ve been around long enough to have that thoroughly solidified for us.” They both chuckled. “But we’re not in the same position as many Fused looking at this decision. We’ve lived long lives, good lives. We’ll get to see our grandchildren grow before we die, likely our great-grandchildren too… All this to say: We’re having trouble understanding why we would want an eternity on Zeme.”

Tala opened her mouth to answer. Of course it was worth it. Who wanted to die? What would even make them ask such a question?

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

But something held her tongue for just long enough that she closed her mouth and really thought about their question.

It was something that she had never had cause to consider.

That, like so much else, had been taken from her by Be-thric. In this case when he set in motion all that caused her body to become filled with flaws and disjointments that could only be corrected through Refining.

For her, it had not been a question of an unnaturally long life or a shot at eternity, it had been a question between an unnaturally short life or a chance to live at all.

She didn’t have an answer for them.

Master Grediv had recommended she consider this very question, especially because her view of eternity was critical for advancing to Paragon, but she hadn’t really taken the time.

For a moment, she seriously considered lying—simply passing on something that someone else had told her when she’d asked questions around the edges of this topic—but she stopped herself again.

They hadn’t asked her for platitudes.

They’d asked for her opinion.

These two had been good to her, and they deserved the truth.

“I honestly don’t know.” She could hear the uncertainty in her own voice.

The two both seemed—counterintuitively—to relax at her answer. Mistress Petra smiled, and Master Simon stood. “Thank you, Mistress Tala. That helps.”

Mistress Petra followed her husband’s lead, standing as well. “Will you think on it, and let us know if you come to an answer?”

Tala nodded slowly. “Of course.”

The two bowed, wished her a wonderful day, and departed.

Leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Tala sat in contemplation, unmoving as the artificial sun of her sanctum swept across its prescribed arc in her sanctum’s sky.

* * *

Time passed in a blur, and Tala found herself surprised that it was already time for Rane’s one month followup on his refinement.

Blessedly, there weren’t really any surprises.

He’d endured a full session at full intensity, and because not all who statistically matched his group had been able to do as much, his odds of success went up ‘dramatically.’

He was given a new prognosis of sixty-five percent.

Tala almost laughed out loud when that was pronounced, but everyone else seemed genuinely excited by the improvement of ten percent.

-It is much better in one sense, but yeah, I agree that it isn’t a massive increase.-

You know, have there really been enough people to have such specific data?

-Yes and no. Much is projection based on overlapping factors. There has obviously never been anyone who was in this exact situation, hence why it is a percentage rather than a perfect statement of yes or no.-

I suppose that makes sense.

Blessedly, Rane was given a clean bill of health.

His improvement so far had been good enough that it hadn’t really given Tala cause to worry, but it was still nice to have a Healer confirm that he was back up to one hundred percent.

As to when he could do his third session?

The decision was that he had to wait at least two more months. At that time, another assessment would be able to tell if he was ready or still needed a bit more time.

It wasn’t unexpected, but Rane was clearly saddened that he would need at least a full three months between his second and third sessions.

Tala thought some of that was attempted bravado. After all, Rane seemed to have an unconscious flinch whenever the topic of the next session came up.

He was clearly not looking forward to it, even if he desperately wanted to get it over with.

Aside from Rane’s recovery, spring was upon them. Therefore, Tala ensured that Rane got out of the city for looping trips through the surrounding countryside at least once a week.

They didn’t seek out any fights, and thankfully none found them. Instead, they just used the time to talk and move.

Both were capable of running faster than was generally allowed within human cities, and so they relished their trips into the surroundings as a time to really cut loose and burn off some energy outside of training arenas.

Inside of Kit didn’t really count, or at least that’s what Tala told herself. Really, she just thought that Rane would appreciate truly getting ‘out,’ and he definitely seemed to.

She wasn’t completely altruistic in her desire for the trips, however. Tala also used them to work with Kit and the extension of the dimensional influence that was possible with the soulbound storage.

As a result, Tala generally left Kit on the outside of the city wall, tucked behind the curve of one of the towers near a gate.

In that way, the Zuccats and Feshuas could come and go as they wished, and Tala didn’t have to deal with the odd interference that came with pushing out from within the city.

Unfortunately, in that same vein as the interference, she discovered that pushing in from the outside wasn’t possible for her.

Not at all.

Specifically, it seemed like something that was explicitly guarded against, which made it likely that the magical defense was what had the side effect of limiting her reach outward even if it didn’t block it directly.

I suppose something meant to prevent dimensional intrusion would restrict the outward movement as well.

It was a bit odd, because when Kit didn’t have a physical manifestation, there wasn’t technically anything that the reach was radiating from, but like so much, it seemed to come down to Tala’s own perception and mental model.

If she saw Kit as inside, reaching out, that was fine, but as soon as she saw Kit as outside, they couldn’t reach in any longer. That couldn’t be changed until Tala purposely walked through the gates and manifested Kit within, or did something else to that effect.

But that was getting off the topic.

Tala and Rane had taken to running great looping courses through the countryside. Though, they never took the same paths or stopped at the same spots.

After all, there were some magical creatures who specialized in ambush hunting, and during a waning, some could threaten even a defensively-focused Refined like Tala, assuming she was caught unawares, as unlikely as that was.

It was also fair to say that ‘running’ wasn’t an accurate description, at least for Tala’s movement. Instead, she was leaping with a combination of her enhanced strength and precise control over her own effective gravity and inertia.

Rane was still without most of his inscriptions, but his natural magics had progressed to the point that his every movement was both easier—and more effective—than any mundane could hope to achieve.

So it was that—just over two weeks after Rane’s follow-up examination—they were returning from such an excursion, only to find a caravan entering through the gate that they’d planned on using.

-Oh! Brand is with that caravan.-

How do you know?

-I checked the manifests because I was curious if we knew anyone in there.-

We have access to the manifests?

-As a Defender, yes. We have access to the lists of passengers and workers. Obviously, we couldn’t look up what their cargo is, or the like, but it is important that Defenders be able to verify the identities of those entering a waning city, should the need arise.-

Right, I knew that. She felt a bit silly, but chalked it up to being focused on other things.

“Brand’s in that caravan.”

Rane was breathing a bit heavily—and sweating a bit, bless him—but he still managed to smile her way. “Oh? Shall we go say hello? Or…?”

She considered for a moment. “Let’s walk from here, and if we catch the caravan, we can say ‘Hi,’ but otherwise, we should let him be about his job. He’ll swing by Artia’s shop soon enough, and we can see him then.”

Rane shrugged. “That sounds fair. I’ll need to drop through a bathhouse, or get back to the estate, before I’m really fit to see anyone more than just in passing.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re seeing me, aren’t you?”

He shrugged again. “You’re not just anyone.”

She found herself smiling at that. “Regardless, you can clean up within Kit, if you want.”

He gave her a side-eyed look. “In the sanctum? Or are you going to drop me in the Irondale lake again?”

She quickly stifled her grin. “Now why would I do that?”

His eyebrow lifted, “You mean, why would you do it again?”

“It was one time.”

“Yes. You’ve already done it once.”

She sighed. “You can get clean in the sanctum.” Her smile broke through, then. “I don’t need to hear that scream again.”

He grimaced. “What did you expect? You pulled me off the street and dunked me into pitch black, freezing water.”

“That’s… fair.” She cleared her throat. “I suppose I should apologize for that.”

He raised the other eyebrow, clearly surprised and just as clearly waiting.

She sighed, again, but this time no smile followed. “I apologize, Rane. It was rather unkind of me to dunk you in a lake out of nowhere. I was trying to…” She shrugged. “I’m not really sure, actually. It wasn’t thought through thoroughly, regardless. Will you forgive me?”

He nodded. “Yes. I forgive you. Please don’t do it again?”

“I won’t.”

He gave her a long look. “To anyone?”

She grimaced, then nodded. “Fine…”

“You know, you’ve got a great amount of power, in many, many regards. You need to be responsible with its use.”

She shoulder-bumped him as she continued to nod. “You’re right.” Then, a mischievous thought came to her. “Do you want to go now?”

His eyes flicked to where they both knew Kit rested, on the side of the gatehouse, with a physical manifestation in the form of an iron-bound door.

Tala thought it would be endlessly entertaining if someone broke into Kit when they were trying to breach the city, but that was likely never to happen for a laundry list of reasons.

“I… I fear what will happen to me if I say yes.”

She chuckled. “You’re not feeling adventurous?”

He took another moment to think as they continued to walk toward the gate into the city.

Tala noted the caravan guards that were already watching them warily, but didn’t pay them any more mind.

Finally, he responded. “I will place my trust in you then, Tala.”

She hesitated, then gave a small smile. “You know just what to say, don’t you?”

Before he said anything in response, she willed him into a private place within Kit.

Set into the ground beside him was a large bowl of stone that was sized to hold his large frame, even now that he’d been able to re-fill-out after the Refining’s shrinking effect.

A moment after he arrived, she willed hot water into the bowl, biasing toward the ‘too hot’ side of enjoyable in order to take into account how much heat the stone would leech from the water.

After all, she wasn’t going to be actively monitoring or regulating any part of the experience.

Rane waved vaguely at the sky. “Thank you, Tala.”

And without lingering—not even a little bit—Tala pulled her perspective from the area in order to allow him some privacy.

-I still see everything.-

That’s creepy, Alat. Don’t say it like that.

-I control your dreams!-

…don’t make me remove your scripts.

-...fine, that was probably too far.-

Thank you. Let’s not make a big deal about it.

-...-

Don’t. You. Dare.

-I wouldn’t dream of it.-

Good.

-But you might.-

Tala pulled power from the scripts that made up Alat.

-Natural magics for the win!- The alternate interface cackled within Tala’s head.

Tala groaned, she’d known Alat would be fine because of her natural magics, but she’d hoped to get at least a little reaction from the alternate interface. She briefly considered pulling power from her natural magics, but she didn’t want to deal with those destabilizing any.

It wasn’t a serious consideration regardless. That would be taking things a bit too far.

Thus, she simply firmly set herself to the task of ignoring Alat’s continued laughter.