Tala had forgotten how slow mundanes were.

Alat sighed within Tala’s head. -They aren’t mundane, Tala.-

I mean, they really are in this sense. No inscriptions, and even if they had them, they wouldn’t be enhanced at all in their capacity for movement.

-Tala, are you becoming a Mage-exceptionalist?- Alat teasingly poked at Tala, trying to lighten the mood.

No? But Mages are better at everything when compared to mundanes. Tala grinned internally, trying to play along with Alat’s teasing to pass the time.

-Yeah, yeah. So, we agree. For anything enhanceable, Mages can be superior, but that doesn’t make them inherently better.-

Precisely, because a person’s worth isn’t based on their capacities. She wasn’t sure how or why this had turned philosophical, but she was willing to let it slide. Walking slowly was really boring…

-Yes, you are bored… So, do you really want to be having this conversation at the speed of thought? We’ve taken like ten steps from the gates of Marliweather.-

We’re on our twelfth step… Tala sighed, then groaned internally. I see your point.

-Have fun!-

Tala turned to smile toward her siblings who were looking around with a bit of trepidation. “You two have been outside city walls before. Right?”

Nalac nodded slowly. “Yes, of course. Our classes took trips to the farming and mining districts back in prep-school, but this feels different somehow.”

Illie nodded as well. “It does, yeah. We aren’t going out for a little trip. We’re going out.”

Rane chuckled. “It’s even more than that, right? You’re walking out, basically on your own. You are not with a caravan or patrol unit or anything.”

Ille smiled his way. “Well, we have the two of you, right?”

Nalac grinned in turn. “Big bad Defenders of Humanity?”

Tala groaned slightly. “We really shouldn’t have let Latna and Caln take them to the battle-view restaurant…”

“Are you kidding?” Her brother was incredulous. “That was amazing! Though, you haven’t been doing much fighting of late. It definitely felt like the few clashes of yours that we did see were from over a year ago.”

Tala shrugged. He was right; she really hadn’t fought near the walls much of late. Rane had been given precedence as the newest Defender in their unit, to make sure he had a solid footing with his advancement, and they’d been doing more cells instead of wall patrols. Even so, all of that was more technical than the response really needed. “The sections of the wall we’ve been watching really haven’t been attacked that often of late. Sometimes luck swings one way, sometimes the other.”

It was true enough.

The four of them chatted about little things as they passed through the farm section, and then out into the mining district. All the while, Terry was flickering about, occasionally getting far enough away that Tala felt his illusions engage and his human shape became presented to the world.

That really is so rudimentary compared to what Lisa can do.

-Yeah, but his didn’t feel like it came from an item. It definitely wasn’t illusory in nature either. It was almost without any type of magic at all.-

That’s true… Now that I consider it, the feel of it was more like moving from room to room in his shop. Do you think he’s somehow built a human body for himself and is hiding it in the fourth dimension?

-Shouldn’t we have seen it if so?-

You’d think so… He could be hiding it in the void? Like we are with Walden’s forest?

-I mean, that could be. We certainly have a lot still to learn about such things. Regardless, I have a more important question.-

Oh?

-Are you going to continue to fall into these side tangent conversations with me—within your own head—instead of engaging with your siblings?-

Right!

Tala tuned back in—having only spaced out for a couple of steps—to hear Rane asking a rather important question, “What did you both decide for your foundational understandings? I know you weren’t ready to share them with us when we last communicated. Has that finally changed? Are you ready now?”

Illie and Nalac shared a look which brought smiles to both of their faces. Finally, Illie nodded and Nalac shrugged. It was she who spoke first, “Mine is relatively simple: Magic is my hand.”

Tala considered for a moment before nodding. “I can understand that. It seems incredibly broad, though. What do you do with that?”

The girl nodded. “I am a Material Guide.” A grin blossomed on her face. “All material. If I could affect it with my hand, I can affect it with my magic. It also works in reverse, meaning I can use my magic to improve what I can do with my hands through physical augmentation.”

Well, huh… Maybe they would have had faster movement with their inscriptions.

-That’ll teach us to judge too quickly.-

Will it though?

-One can hope.-

Nalac grunted, interjecting with the clear intention of stealing Illie’s spotlight. She let him with a small smile and a rueful shake of her head. “Yeah, yeah. You can move things with your mind and punch hard. Yours is boring. Mine is awesome: Time is ephemeral.”

Tala stiffened, and Rane’s eyes widened in horror. They both knew the danger of anything relating to time magic. What under the stars were those at the Academy thinking to allow such a foundation?

Nalac chuckled, then shook his head and held up his hands. “Sorry, sorry. That was just a little joke.”

Illie smacked her brother’s shoulder before addressing Tala and Rane, “He teased every teacher with something like that at least once.”

His broad grin showed that he was unrepentant. “Guilty. But I do really like my foundational understanding: There is no equal and opposite force if nothing remains to push back.”

Rane grunted, grimacing even as his horror bled away. He seemed like he might have been about to argue with the boy but thought better of it. “So, you’re a close quarters Mage as well?”

“Yes and no, Immaterial Guide. I focus on coherence, hardness, and elasticity.” He held up his hand briefly to forestall any questions. “I like throwing things after altering their properties.” He gave a bit of a sheepish smile. “I honestly had a bit of trouble coming to a decision about what I wanted to do and focus on. It wasn’t until the last few years that this really crystallized for me.” He shrugged.

Rane smiled at the younger man, seemingly having fully recovered himself. “That’s quite interesting.” He gestured between the twins. “So, still closer range, though? I imagine you catch people off guard often enough.”

Illie shook her head and sighed dramatically. “You have no idea. He’ll grab a handful of air and throw it at you like a rock. It hits like one too.”

Tala interjected then, “Interesting. I imagine that makes your magics hard to deal with.”

He grinned widely, even as Illie scowled. “Oh, absolutely.”

Illie huffed. “His magic acts near him, but their effects remain when he throws or otherwise uses what he affected.”

Tala was considering how she’d counter such magics, and she found herself a bit at a loss.

-Come on, Tala. Get your head out of the rust. You’d just take the hits and kill him an instant later… or kill him before he could even attack you. While his magics seem reminiscent of yours, you have force at your disposal, even if indirectly. He doesn’t.-

Well… yeah, but that’s not very satisfying… I was trying to think how I would actually counter his magics, not just brute force the results I wanted.

-...Who are you? Who do you think you are?-

You’re not very nice sometimes…

Nalac was clearly quite proud of himself. “The instructors were very impressed. They said it would be among the harder magics to counter, but that the power output wouldn’t be very impressive until I improved.” He shrugged. “It was great for defense regardless, and I could take out any annoying insects with ease. It’s kind of fun to harden the air around mosquitos and watch them drop to the ground.”

Illie smiled at that. “Hiking in the mid-summer was quite a bit more pleasant after he got that locked in.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Tala smiled as well. She was rather interested at how closely it mirrored how her gravity magics worked, but she didn’t want to point that out in case he hadn’t realized the similarities. “I’m glad to hear it."

Nalac sighed. “But we have no inscriptions now, so there will be no bug eradication.”

Rane gave him an odd look. “It’s the beginning of winter. You’re wearing winter hiking gear. You brought along snow shoes—even though we told you it wouldn’t be necessary. Do you really think bugs will be an issue?”

The young man looked a bit embarrassed, even as he answered, “...no?”

Illie giggled. “Nalac likes to feel useful.”

“No, Illie. I like to be useful.”

Tala grinned. “That is a good distinction to understand. Many people who think they are being useful—or think they are doing good—are actually getting in the way, or worse: doing harm.”

Rane nodded solemnly. “So, how are you two faring so far?”

Nalac and Illie were breathing a bit hard but not overly so. It seemed that they hadn’t skipped out on too many of the physical requirements or recommendations that the Academy put forward. Nalac shrugged, and Illie answered, “Just fine. This isn’t easy by any means, but it’s doable. Besides, we’ve already gone a good way, right?”

Tala’s eye twitched, and she tried to formulate a response that would be truthful and still kind.

Rane grinned back at them, taking the task off of Tala’s mental plate. “We’re still within Marliweather’s defenses.”

The younger two stiffened and looked back, seeing the well-worn paths and folks out and about. Truly, Rane’s answer shouldn’t have been a surprise at all, but they were so focused on the conversation and the walk that they hadn’t really been paying attention to their surroundings at large.

“If we continue like this, it will take us weeks to get to Arconaven…” Rane let the sentiment linger.

Nalac hung his head, and Illie huffed a laugh. “Fine. Tala, is your offer still on the table?”

Tala nodded, trying to not be too enthusiastic. “Of course I will carry you.”

It took barely any time to get them into her sanctum. Once they were situated, it was trivial for Tala to open up a window out so that they could see forward and talk with Tala and Rane as they traveled.

She’d somewhat perfected the technique back when she’d brought Lyn and Kannis to Alefast, Waning, for a visit.

Once Nalac and Illie were all settled, Tala silently mouthed a ‘Thank you’ to Rane. She hadn’t had any idea how to tactfully push back on a couple of young adults who ‘just wanted to do it themselves.’

Thankfully, this lesson hadn’t put them in any real danger, and they’d both recognized the folly of their desire to hike the whole way quickly enough to not really put the trip’s timetable in jeopardy.

It hadn’t even taken them until lunch to have the realization.

Tala considered that for a moment, frowning. Huh… maybe they're quitters?

-Yes. Of course, that’s the takeaway. It’s not that they realized that they were wrong and decided to bend to wisdom. No. They simply decided that being right would be too hard, so they quit.-

…Yeah, that was really uncharitable.

-You think?-

Tala sighed, set her feet and glanced toward Terry and Rane. “Ready?”

Rane nodded and smiled. Terry trilled happily, clearly excited to get underway at a more reasonable pace.

* * *

They progressed northward at a good clip, chatting here and there.

In truth, the twins began talking with Metti within the sanctum almost as much as with Tala and Rane, despite Tala’s facilitation of easy communication with them.

It didn’t take long at all for both Illie and Nalac to grudgingly admit that there was no way under the stars that they could have come anywhere close to the speed that Tala, Rane, and Terry were traveling.

Tala was a gracious big sister and didn’t rub that fact in their faces too much.

They did have a lovely discussion as to the nature of the twins’ window out, however.

Tala had simply opened a portal then limited the speed at which anything could pass through it from the outside by slowing it down at the threshold. She had also utterly forbidden anything from leaving.

Thus, from the twins’ side, it would have felt like unbreakable glass, but they were still getting a slight breeze and the scents of the winter forest all the same.

She was also recreating both her and Rane’s voices as if they came through the portal, but she didn’t bother to mention that part to her siblings. She didn’t want a discussion on how she might be changing the words without them knowing.

She wouldn’t do that… probably.

Illie and Nalac both thought that the whole process would have been easier if Tala had simply created an illusion, as it’s all light and sound anyway.

Maybe there wouldn’t have been a discussion on her deceiving them. Regardless, Tala had rolled her eyes. Typical mageling thinking…

“No. While that would be almost the same—visually—it would not contain anything else. It would also be sterile, only containing the things that I specifically chose to convey in the way that I chose to convey them. There would be no chance of you seeing something that I missed.”

Nalac raised an eyebrow. “There’s a chance that you missed something?”

-No.- Alat was very definitive in her response, which Nalac couldn’t hear.

…Not that Nalac would have any hope of seeing. Tala caveated back to her alternate interface.

-Fair.-

Tala sighed before addressing her brother, a bit of affection in her tone, “That’s not the point, little titan. You’d be seeing things as I see them, rather than seeing them for yourselves.”

Nalac had a satisfied smile, clearly feeling that he’d won at least a part of the disagreement, but he didn’t fight her on it further.

Illie seemed content either way, but never actually conceded the point.

Tala decided not to press the issue. What a good big sister I am.

-And so humble about it, too.-

I know, right? I’ve not told anyone else how good I am.

-That’s… true, I suppose? But you’re not very internally humble.-

Eh, I’m being honest about who and what I am. That’s the essence of true humility.

-...Do you really think you’re being a good big sister?-

To them? Right now? Yes.

Alat considered for a moment before sending the equivalent of a shrug. -Fair enough.-

Tala fell into a moment of silence in which Nalac was talking with Rane, and Illie seemed to be dialoguing with Metti within the sanctum.

-Seems to be?-

I’m trying to be polite and not listen in…

-Fine.-

Regardless, in the moment of less socially-obligated interaction, Tala had time to really look around herself.

She recognized the terrain, despite her entirely different perspective on it when compared to her previous experience of it.

This was the route she’d taken for the first time when two bog-hags had captured children under her watch.

This was the path that she’d trod just before Be-thric had taken her.

She hadn’t come this way since.

Tala had a low-level, building anxiety that she wished she didn’t know the reason for.

It was still nearly a day’s travel from where it had happened, but she could feel it looming on the horizon like the forefront of an oncoming storm.

The world was darkening around her, despite it being a cloudless, winter day.

She could practically feel an electric charge across her skin.

She could practically hear those who mourned the boys from within the wagons…

Her soul was trembling.

A bare breath later, Nalac asked her a question, and she was jerked back to the present moment.

She was easily able to answer him, and she didn’t allow herself to spiral again.

Even so, when they stopped for lunch—and for Terry to bask in the sun, clearly having enjoyed his roving hunts—Rane touched Tala’s shoulder and spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear, “Something is pulling at you. How can I help?”

She leaned into the touch, closing her eyes for a moment. “I don’t know… not yet.”

He smiled reassuringly. “Alright. When you do, please tell me, and I’ll do what I can.”

“I know you will, Rane. Thank you.”

“Of course.”

She took a deep breath in and blew it out before straightening back up. “Let’s get lunch moving.”

Tala opened the portal into her sanctum wider, making it into a proper door and placing it against a tree for convenience.

Mistress Petra, Master Simon, and Metti helped set up their winter feast, providing heated seats and utensils as well as ensuring that Illie and Nalac were properly clothed for the occasion.

Tala imagined it was a rather fun experience, eating in such a way. To her it was rather mundane.

She thought that Lyn might have enjoyed it, but she also felt like inviting her out would change the tenor of the meal away from the focus on the twins and Metti. So, she didn’t extend the invitation. She did try to have lunch with Lyn at least once a week, after all, so she’d see her soon enough.

The snow below her feet felt cool, but not cold by any means. The wind was but a pleasant breeze, and the utensils?

Well, she made white steel utensils from her elk leathers for herself at need. That way they were always perfectly suited to the task at hand.

The various dishes stayed at the perfect temperature—as always—due to the magical items that Mistress Petra used to ensure that Tala’s meals were always kept at the right temperatures. Now, others got to benefit as well.

They laughed and chatted through the repast—the twins and Rane more than Tala or Terry—and everyone enjoyed the meal.

Nalac requested a bowl of jerky bits to throw for Terry, and Terry obliged by snatching them from the air without seeming to move in the slightest, much to the delight of the two young magelings.

“I swear I can see some of his magic!”

Illie rolled her eyes at her brother. “You don’t have any inscriptions, Nalac.”

“But I’ve been training my eyes to see magic for years. Some of that has clearly rubbed off, because I can see something.”

Tala smiled. She could see the barest hints of natural magics around her brother’s eyes, showing that he might actually be right, even if it was unlikely without much of a keystone.

Both of the twins did have the barest hints of that working in their natural magics. The Academy was rigorous and long enough to let the magics used constantly begin to become at least moderately permanent.

She decided to not tell Nalac or Illie any of this, of course.

-Because you’re such an amazing big sister?-

Precisely. Who am I to deprive them of such a lovely topic for their lively conversation?

-You’re Tala, that’s who.-

Right you are, but no.

-Really?-

Natural magics is a topic for their masters to address with them, as they see appropriate. The Academy doesn’t bring up natural magics because it often causes decision paralysis in young magelings and Mages. They need to be free to make changes to their magics and their inscriptions without a fear that they’re setting themselves back in that one area.

-Fine.-

Tala leaned back, taking a slow drink from what tasted like buttered rum. It was decadent beyond belief, but it was also somehow exactly the right capstone to their meal in the remote forest glade.

Rane finished his own, then gave Tala a quick kiss as he stood. It was time for them to continue the trip.

Tala smiled after him for a moment before standing, herself. Delicious.