Tala and Rane walked through Marliweather, enjoying the late spring day.
Irondale had been properly anchored, kicking off the flurry of trade and traffic that had become a regular occurrence whenever Irondale was anchored anywhere but Alefast. This time, there were another one hundred immigrants—across a few families—who would be coming in for final discussions and approval.
Apparently a good chunk of these gateless had come from as far away as Manaven. Lyn had guessed that most of the closer gateless who would be at all inclined to join Irondale had already done so.
Terry was frolicking in the wilds surrounding Marliweather, clearing out the dangerous arcanous creatures as something to do while Tala and Rane did what they had to do. The Marliweather Guard were incredibly grateful for his help, and that actually seemed to be meaningful to him these days, but Tala could tell that he was struggling to find a true challenge.
Charity hunting will only tide him over for so long…
Lupe was settling in well, and Lisa’s house construction had slowed as a result of him spending a good chunk of his time with the glass-woman.
-He still doesn’t really trust her.-
That’s understandable, given what she is, but he should know that we’re watching.
-He does, but I think spending the time with her makes him feel better.-
That’s fair. I can’t say we’re really any different.
Tala glanced toward Rane. “You know, all this dealing with Lupe—a glass phoenix—has me thinking about the clockwork thunder.”
“Oh?” Rane raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”
“Well, we’ve had a few good outcomes from cells, like the deal with Lupe. I was hoping that the clockwork thunder had a good outcome too.”
“That was the one Howlton was hunting for, a few years back?”
“Yeah. I mean, they might still be for all I know. It’s funny, because I feel like I now understand what they were actually doing. They were looking for the atrium to the cell. They wanted the ‘bribe.’”
“That was my understanding, too.”
She frowned slightly in thought. “You know, I’m still confused how it could have been so apparent on the outside of the cell. Isn’t the purpose of cells to fully contain the magical threat?”
“Yeah.” Rane’s eyes gained a far off look. “Obviously, we don’t really have any record of prisoners in the outer plains, but we do have some instances of bleed-through in the gated-human wilds. There was a heat-based being whose imprisonment in a cell—which was hidden in a hill—created the effect of a constantly flowing mini volcano, even though the hill wasn’t active in that way. The cell didn’t actually cause any sort of eruption. It just melted the rock and created a constant trickle of lava.”
“Oh? That’s kind of crazy. We haven’t dealt with any cells containing prisoners who are that powerful.”
Rane made his ‘that’s not quite right’ face. “Well, from what I understand, it’s not about power. It’s more to do with being so deeply connected with a concept, to the point that their mere presence forces the amplification of it. Even their proximity brings it to the forefront.”
“Well, I hope that Pareshti knows what he’s doing. I’d hate to find out Howlton has been destroyed somehow, or worse, that the clockwork thunder was freed because of Howlton.” She hesitated, checking her own prioritization of cataclysms. Yeah, she would prefer a town full of people she didn’t know get destroyed—knowing that most would probably survive—than a being like the clockwork thunder get free… whatever it actually was.
Rane grunted, then got a contemplative look. “You know, we could go and check it out.”
She gave him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”
He gave her a little smile. “Well, we’ve got our honeymoon after the wedding. What if we took that time to travel a bit? I’d like to see the plains outside the encircling forests, maybe explore a moving city or two?”
Tala felt her expression brighten. “Really? That could be amazing. We’d need to pass through the northern forest, though. I don’t particularly want to fight my way through the Leshkin again.”
“Agreed. So, we could take up the pack on their invitation to visit as well.”
She grinned at the idea. “Terry will love that, yeah.”
“Then outward to the plains to explore and track down Howlton?”
“That sounds amazing. Thank you for suggesting it, Rane.”
He grinned in return. “Of course. It sounds like a great adventure with which to start our adventure.”
She chuckled then pulled to a stop as they reached their destination. Right… that’s why I wasn’t in the best mood, this is why I wanted to distract myself.
-Yeah. I figured that I should let you do so.-
Thanks… But now she was here.
She and Rane were at her siblings’ father’s house.
Rane hugged her around the shoulders. “Well, we’re here.”
Tala leaned into the embrace. “Yeah…”
It was a beautiful house, clearly demonstrating how much the family had come up in the world in the years leading up to its construction. It was well outside of the ‘new build’ timeframe now, but it was also clearly being well maintained.
Tala had seen it before—practically every time she was in Marliweather when she came to pick up one sibling or another—but she’d never been inside herself. They generally watched for her and came out when she arrived.
Until now.
She was here to go inside.
She took a deep, calming breath and strode forward.
Rane released her as she moved and followed a half-step behind. He was there for moral support more than anything.
Tala hesitated one last time before she straightened and knocked on the front door.
Before the second rap, he opened the door.
There was a beat of silence as they locked eyes. Finally, he broke the silence, giving a tentative smile, “Hello, Mistress Tala. Master Rane. Would you care to come inside?”
They nodded in agreement and followed him inside. Tala swallowed once and gilded herself. “Thank you for having us, Alan.”
Alan stiffened slightly at the sound of his own name, but then nodded, relaxing a bit once again. “Of course, Mistress. It is our pleasure to host you.”
A woman’s voice came from deeper inside the house. “Are you still waiting in the entry hall, dear? She’ll get here when she gets here. Waiting next to the door won’t make it any faster.”
Alan reddened slightly. “Marsha, love. They’re here.”
“Oh?” She poked her head out into the hallway and saw Tala and Rane. “Oh! Welcome Mistress Tala, Master Rane.”
She gave a deep bow.
“We are honored to host you. I laid out tea, coffee, and some light accompaniments. Would you care to sit?”
Tala nodded and gave a small smile. “Yes, thank you.”
She saw where they were being led, and began manifesting iron within her aura around the chair that she would sit in, in order to reinforce it. She wasn’t too heavy these days, but it was still unreasonable to expect someone to have chairs capable of easily holding more than four hundred pounds.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
-You could just use your iron to hold you up some.-
Yeah, but that takes active mental control. I don’t want a slip of focus to ruin a piece of their furniture. This won’t necessarily be an emotionally or mentally easy conversation.
-True. That’s fair and kind I suppose.-
Thank you. I’m trying.
-You could reduce your own gravity?-
Yeah, then I’d move oddly. I don’t want to be bounding around if I have to move.
-Right.-
Sure enough, they were led to the sitting room, and Tala was able to take the chair that she’d subtly reinforced.
The chair still creaked a bit, but not dangerously so. Just like when I’m at a restaurant.
-Though, you don’t have to reinforce those as much.-
That’s true.
-Don’t you get tired of having to be mindful?-
Tala gave a bit of an internal shrug. I chose to be this weight. I think it's good to be so, but that’s my choice. It would be ridiculous for me to expect others to bear the negative side of my choice.
-You could just find a way to be lighter.-
Gravity wouldn’t really help, the issue is the mass. I could make it work with less gravity, but again, it would require active thought to not cause issues.
-Well, you could just find a way to make yourself less massive, then?-
Don’t be ridiculous, I like myself the way I am.
-Fair enough.-
Marsha served Tala first, then Rane, giving Tala a mug of coffee that was closer to the size of an alcoholic's beer-stein and Rane a similarly sized mug of mint tea.
Tala looked at the mug askance. “What do you usually use these for?”
Marsha chuckled. “We like to drink a lot of tea, and they are perfect for brewing just the right amount.”
“Huh.” Tala looked at the mug again and smiled. “Thank you.”
“Of course, Mistress.”
Rane had taken his first sip, and he was already contentedly taking another.
Alan and Marsha got their own mugs, and true to Marsha’s words, they were the same size as Tala and Rane’s. Then, the plate was passed around. For a ‘light’ accompaniment, there was a lot of shortbread in various shapes with differing fruit spreads. Additionally, there were other small snacks, but Tala wasn’t really paying attention. She was too nervous.
They all drank and ate, exchanging small talk for a few minutes before Alan leaned back. “Now, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, as we are very glad to have you both, but to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”
Rane turned toward Tala, and she nodded, taking a last pull of her coffee and setting the mug on the low table that rested between them. “Well, I came to ask something and to clarify something. I’m going to be as forthright as I can be, so please let me get this all out. Is that acceptable?”
Alan exchanged a glance with his wife before nodding. “Alright.”
Tala gave a little smile, then nodded again. “Okay. We would like you at our wedding—I assume you have heard that we’re getting married?” She paused for a second so that they could nod in acknowledgement. “Good. As I said, we want you at our wedding. With all my siblings and their families there—and the fact that you two did raise me—it would be odd for you not to be there.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That said, we want you there as guests only, as part of the ceremony, and not as anything more. Would that be acceptable to you?”
Tala watched as a whole range of emotions played across Alan’s face. He clearly understood all the implications of what she’d said. So, she simply let him consider and process.
Marsha’s expression remained carefully calm and neutral even as she kept oriented on her husband, clearly ready to support him at need.
Alan took a deep, calming breath then nodded. “I can accept that, yeah.” He had looked down to contemplate, but then his gaze lifted once more. “May I ask who will be giving you away?”
Tala nodded in turn. “I was going to bring it up if you didn’t. My soulbound companion, Terry, will be fulfilling that role in the ceremony. It is a role somewhat often fulfilled by such companions in Archon weddings, and Terry, specifically, helped to bring us together and ensure that the wedding actually happened.”
The mix of emotions flooded across Alan’s face once more. Finally, his shoulders slumped, and he looked down once more. “I understand. Thank you for taking the time to explain that to me in person.”
Marsha placed her hand on her husband’s shoulder and gave a light squeeze before meeting Tala’s eyes. “We do appreciate the invitation, Mistress, and we further appreciate that you took the time to come in person and clarify things.”
“Absolutely.” Tala gave a hesitant smile. She’d been incredibly nervous about this conversation. Even so, “There are simply too many stories of misunderstandings leading to hurt and public incidents for us to have left it to chance when communication could so easily head off most of that danger.”
-Oh, Enar wants to ask you something.-
Sure.
|Hi! Rane is curious if Master Limmestare had anything to do with this. He was curious before, but didn’t want to bring it up, given your obvious desire to avoid talking about this whole subject on the way over here. So, is that the case? Did Master Limmestare have anything to do with this?|
Tala had to take a mental moment as she processed the absolute torrent of thought that was Enar’s outpouring.
-You’ve got this, take a moment. They still won’t even notice that you paused. He’s been getting better, but social situations like this bring out his verbose side more. It can make him speak a lot more than usual these days.-
|Hey! You’re Alat, not me. I’m amazing and very helpful. Moreover, I am simply so verbose because I wish to be clear in my communication and avoid—|
Alat sighed in obvious relief at the sudden silence, taking a moment before filling it herself. -Sorry about that. I broke the connection. I’ll still give him your answer, though.-
You could have given him the answer from the start.
-You’re right, I could have, but Rane wished to ask you, not simply get an answer, and I felt like it would be a bad precedent to set, speaking to your future husband on your behalf.-
Tala blinked a couple of times at that before she collected her thoughts enough to respond. First, thank you for that. Second, I think Enar is rubbing off on you.
-...I… I see what you mean. So, the answer?-
Yes. Master Limmestare’s comments reminded me of the potential for disaster.
-I’ll pass that along, then.-
Thank you.
Alan had winced slightly at the explanation that she’d provided, and it took Tala a moment to realize why—only partially because she’d had an entire internal conversation while he’d been wincing. Thankfully, Alan didn’t leave the moment hanging. “That is incredibly wise of you. There are many things in my life that would have been improved—and many problems that would have been mitigated or removed—had I communicated better, more fully, or, in some cases, at all. I am glad to see that you are learning from my mistakes, or at least not making the same ones yourself.”
Tala gave an acknowledging smile and nod.
Honestly, that was all that she had really come to say. She could have put it all in a letter, but something about that had felt… wrong.
She did not view these two as her father and mother. Not really; not any more, but she did see them as the people who had raised her, for better or worse, and that was something to be honored and respected.
In this case, that honor and respect was more for the position than the people in it, but that was alright.
The four fell into small talk, discussing Alan’s upcoming retirement from alchemy in the next decade or so. He apparently had always wanted to paint, but he’d never really had the time. With how well the business had been doing, they’d saved sufficiently that he could pursue that hobby in his retirement without finances being an issue.
They’d also be spending time with their grandchildren, the very idea of which seemed to be a great source of joy to both of them.
Alan and Marsha politely inquired about some details of Tala and Rane’s lives, and the two of them tried to give mundane-ified versions the best that they could.
They had both been on the receiving end of magical jargon that they hadn’t quite understood at the time, and they remembered just how unpleasant it could be. In the worst cases, it could feel like the person was intentionally trying to show how much more they knew than them—whether or not that feeling was true. So, they did their best to avoid doing the same to Alan and Marsha.
When Rane and Tala left nearly two hours later, Tala felt lighter, like there was a bounce in her step.
And, no, it isn’t because I’ve made myself lighter.
-And you even recovered your iron without Alan or Marsha being any the wiser.-
Yes I did. She smiled to herself.
Rane leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “How are you doing? I’m sure that wasn’t comfortable, at least not at first.”
She leaned into the gesture in turn before smiling up at him. “Yeah, but I’m glad that we did this. It would have been odd for them not to be there at all—at least it would have been for my siblings and their families—and there was just no need to create such potential for discomfort or drama during our celebration.”
He smiled back at her and nodded. “Exactly. I am glad about your choice, and I support you fully.”
“So, have you decided how much of your family we’re inviting?”
His smile faded into an only mostly faux grimace. “Well, I’m not really as involved with them as you are with yours, but we’ll still invite them all… and their families.”
“How many guests are we up to?”
“To be invited?” His eyes went distant for an instant. “Enar says about three hundred.”
Tala gave him a skeptical look even as Rane’s eyes unfocused again, almost as if he’d been struck in the head. “He’s irritated that you rounded his answer, isn’t he.”
Rane groaned. “Yeah…”
“Do you want to tell me the precise number?”
“No. I’m not letting him browbeat me. I’m the one in charge of the physical interface, not him.”
Tala gave a small, knowing smile. “Good luck with that.”
-Hey! You don’t have room to be smug. I’ve been a delight, a delight I tell you.-
Tala grinned internally at her own alternate interface. Just keep telling yourself that.
-I literally am.-
Tala snorted within her mind before grinning up at her betrothed. “We’re going to have rather interesting lives aren’t we?”
A smile came across his face as he held her gaze. “Unquestionably.”