Tala shivered involuntarily, grateful that Rane was by her side as she stood in the entrance of what had once been an arcane hold.

She was similarly grateful that Alat had kept her threefold perspective out of this space.

It was too familiar, even in its emptiness.

Even the fact that it had been conquered and laid at her feet evoked more echoes of her time with the House of Blood than she preferred.

The architectural style wasn’t exactly the same as she’d seen in Platoiri and Croi, but it was much more similar than she’d expected, given the separation in distance and time from those holds to this. Even the fact that it was obviously built by a different dominant race didn’t remove all obvious similarities.

I suppose when such long-lived—and even immortal—people are involved, styles and tastes don’t change as readily.

Then, as she considered it, she realized that she should actually be surprised by just how varied gated-human architecture was between cities in the cycle.

She posed the thought to Rane, and he nodded. “Well, the city leaders, for the most part, don’t make aesthetic decisions for the average citizen. I think that in the tree cities that’s not the case as they don’t really have as much to work with in terms of change from starting condition, but for most, so long as what you build is safe, it’s fine.” A smile pulled at his lips. “And with magic to build and reinforce—then verify and easily repair—all sorts of things are possible. Honestly, we’re still rather tame in what we build compared to what we could build.”

Grateful for the distraction, Tala leaned into the tangent. “Oh?”

“Yeah, Master Grediv said that they considered building towers instead of cities. There was talk about actually switching out the dimensionality over time rather than moving the towers to deal with the difficulties with abrading Reality, but the cost was deemed untenable for the time being.” He gave a thoughtful look. “Though, I do think that research into the needed magics is ongoing.”

Tala frowned, considering. “How would that even work? Move everyone out of an area, switch out the dimensionality, then bring them back in?”

“That, or shift Reality stone- or starward a fraction, essentially oscillating where the issue was occuring. Once it was shifted, the most damaged portion could be removed and brought elsewhere to heal… at least in theory.”

That sounded crazy… but actually might work?

In theory.

-Well, we could go as fast as Master Xeel—or even faster—in theory, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.-

Fair.

Theory was a wonderful thing.

All sorts of things worked in theory.

Then, existence got in the way in one way or another.

Tala took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The diversion had done its job, and she now felt far more level.

With the new mental state, she looked around more carefully, taking in the breadth of what she saw.

There were permanent magical constructs everywhere, all integrated into one another.

In this front entry alone there were more than two dozen garden boxes filled to bursting with magics that kept out unwanted plants, nurtured those that were desired, and helped what did grow remain visually more appealing.

As to the method of determining what was desired? It was simple: Those that had been purposely planted there.

It was so obviously arcane magic that Tala almost laughed.

“Even their flower boxes are alien to us.”

Rane, who had been running his fingers over the front edge of one such box grunted. “Yeah. This magic is something else. I’m not as familiar with arcane workings as you are, but I still get the feeling of… maintained purpose?”

She smiled, despite being reminded of her capture. “That’s essentially what I see too. It takes that which was purposely planted and maintains and enhances it toward the purpose it was planted there for. All else is dissuaded, once again, to maintain that which was purposely planted.”

Rane stood, grinning like a proud student.

Tala moved over and gave him a quick kiss. “That was well perceived.”

“Thanks.”

The entryway held fountains bubbling with crystal clear water alongside the flower boxes, still in full bloom. The walls were intricately carved with motifs of nature. “I think this belonged to an elven House, or one of the forest beast-kin.”

“That makes sense. It does look how I imagined such from the stories.”

They began their exploration, Rane’s presence a stalwart support at Tala’s side.

This part of the hold was beautifully appointed with mature trees woven in among luxurious accommodations, store rooms, work rooms, training yards, and other necessities for everyday life.

Rane had a thoughtful look. “I feel like this could be integrated into the Irondale dimensionality, the core of a new town?”

Tala hmmed. “I suppose so. One less exposed to the outside world, perhaps?”

“Exactly, yeah. It could be a retreat of sorts, or a more peaceful place for people to come and train or practice various crafts?” Rane suggested hopefully.

She smiled in return. “What would we call it? Ironwood?”

He chuckled at that, then seemed to turn contemplative. “You know…?”

“Oh, rust… I just cemented that as the name, didn’t I…” It wasn’t a question.

Alat answered it regardless. -Oh, yeah. I’ve already let Lyn know our thoughts and given her that as the name.-

…you vex me sometimes.

-Love you too, Tala.-

Well, self-love is important.

Rane chuckled. “Enar and Alat are conspiring again. Seems like Ironwood is going to be a thing.”

“So it would seem, yeah.” Tala let out a dramatic sigh, but if she were being honest, she was actually a little excited by the idea of expanding the ‘iron’ region.

-Oh… oh, that’s good too. Taking it!-

…Fine. She felt herself smile a bit. It’s definitely better than the ‘Sappherrous’ region.

Alat chuckled. -Yeah, that would be a bit much at the moment. Especially with the talk you just had with Ron. We should at least wait until we’re ancient and powerful, and let them rename it in our honor.-

…That’s a real possibility, isn’t it.

-Yes, Tala. You, me, Terry to a lesser extent, and soon Enar and Rane are essentially all powerful within this space.-

No, there’s a lot we can’t do.

-But from the average person's perspective? Essentially all powerful.-

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

She sighed. Alat did have a point… Fine, but I’ll probably object even then… whenever then is.

-We’ll see.-

Rane and Tala continued their exploration, chatting about what they found.

There weren’t really any small items remaining in any of the rooms. Anything of use or value that wasn’t integrated with the hold directly had long since been taken for study, use, or sale to fund further research.

Those things that were integrated into the hold were now connected to Kit, not some other central powersource—be it vestige or Master Grediv—and that meant that they were fully under Tala and Kit’s control…

Tala stopped in the middle of a corridor that arched between stunningly ancient trees, a realization striking her. “Rane.”

Rane stopped and turned to regard her. “Yeah?”

“All these magics are ours.”

“Yeah?” He frowned for a moment. Then, he understood, his eyes widening just ahead of his smile. “Oh. Oh!”

“Yeah.” Tala grinned. “Kit can devour them directly and integrate them as we see fit.”

-I’m bringing Lyn in on this.-

“Shall we bring Lyn in?”

-I already… fine… We can ask our husband for his opinion, too… That’s… reasonable.-

Rane considered for a moment, then nodded. “That sounds like a wise idea.”

A moment later—after Alat had verified Lyn’s availability—Tala willed for the woman to be with them, and she was, easily shifting across the barriers between Irondale’s dimensionality and the sanctum’s with only the briefest surfacing in Zeme. Lyn had likely not even noticed the flicker between the two movements. It was simply an extension of something Tala had been doing for a while, her ability to draw someone in or push them out directly from the superficial of Zeme itself into and out of her sanctum or Irondale.

-Oh, Tala… once you are more comfortable with holds again, I have the perfect name for the Irondale dimensional space.-

And just like that, Tala guessed it from the provided context. Rust you, Alat. Ironhold is a really good, insanely fitting name… I’ll see if I can stomach it, okay? Please keep it to yourself until then?

-...Fine.-

Lyn arrived and instantly gasped, eyes widening in obvious awe. “Tala, this… this is stunning.” She spun in a circle, smiling toward Rane as well. “Are you sure you two want to give this up? I’d be tempted to keep it all to myself. Elves lived here?”

Tala chuckled, and Rane grinned before teasing, “That’s our best guess, yes. As to the rest? You know, since you’re the administrator of Irondale, you could make Ironwood your own private retreat. I doubt we’d fight you on the idea.”

Lyn got a guilty look. “Oh… don’t tempt me like that, Rane. This is going to be a very popular place for the less outwardly focused citizenry. We’ll probably want to move the Irondale Defenders training area here as well.” Her features shifted to an excited grin. “Ron is going to love training in these halls. It shouldn’t be too hard to move the step-down areas over, right?”

Tala shook her head. “Not at all. It’s pretty easy to ‘set’ areas of lower magical density.”

“Good, good. I’m sure we’ll want the same sort of suite of those, including ‘non-magic’ training rooms of various kinds. Oh, Tala!” Lyn’s eyes were gleaming as she clasped her hands. “This is so exciting.”

Tala found herself grinning, imagining how much fun it would be, fighting all of the Irondale Defenders at once within some of the training halls they’d passed through. That won’t last long, though. They should have about my level of basic enhancements even if they currently lack the specific augmentations beyond that, and some of them are already reasonably skilled with weaponry.

She was honestly starting to get a bit excited to be more hands-on with them, going forward. They were also getting to the point that Tala was considering the possibility of carving the remainder of her augments into their natural magics… she wouldn’t give them anything gravity related, however, and her other non physical-related magics came from her soulbonds. So, those weren’t possible, even if they had been a good idea, which they weren’t.

Rane cleared his throat, pulling her mind back to the present. “Well, this is just the first of the holds… We haven’t seen any of the others that were added onto this one previously.”

Tala turned on him, eyes narrowing. “What do you know?”

He gave her a mischievous smile in return. “Much, my darling wife, and one of the things I know well is how much you enjoy pleasant surprises.”

Lyn rolled her eyes even as she smiled. “You two are cute.”

She said it in a way that made it clear that while it was true, she was also going to give them grief over it.

Rane grinned back. “You know it.”

Tala chuckled. “We’re us. If you find that cute, that’s on you.”

The three of them walked back to the entrance to this hold, Tala and Rane showing Lyn what they’d found along the way.

It was fun for the two of them to share with their friend, and it added a new facet to the exploration.

Once the three of them had gone through the elven portion of the now combined hold. Lyn’s eyes were practically glowing with glee and unrealized plans for all that they had seen.

She had requested a large slate—which Kit and Alat worked with in order to make it function like an Archive tablet—and she had laid out so, so many plans.

Tala and Rane were getting more excited by proxy at all that could be done with their wedding present from Master Grediv.

They only slightly wished they’d actually investigated it earlier. It wasn’t like they’d wasted the time after all, and this was a good distraction at this time. So, they were both content with their decision.

Finally, Tala, Rane, and Lyn were at the edge of the forest which had filled the entirety of that hold when it was captured.

Now, however, they were faced with an interesting juxtaposition.

Rane huffed a laugh. “Master Grediv had to have done this on purpose.”

Tala shrugged. “It’s possible.”

Lyn shook her head. “The sky just ends and now there’s a cave ceiling…”

Tala grunted. “Well, there never was a sky, it was—”

Lyn held up a hand to forestall Tala. “No, don’t remind me of that. I don’t want to think about the fact that most of my days are now within an isolated pocket of existence, with false skies and borders that I could reach with little effort.”

Tala hesitated for a moment before shrugging. “Well, alright, then.”

Before them stretched out towering, underground halls—at least that’s what they’d been created to mimic.

There was a funny dichotomy even in that, though.

What built-in furniture they could see was clearly sized for dwarves or those of similar stature—wide, short, and stocky. Tala knew from her own experience in arcane holds that there would have been furnishings ready to hand for those of different builds, but that had likely been sold off long ago.

Regardless, comparing the relatively diminutive built-in furnishings with the soaring ceilings and monumental doorways was… odd.

As they walked forward, Lyn was practically spinning in a circle, trying to take it all in. “This is certainly a look. I think I like it? If I was going to spend most of my life underground, this would be the way to do it.”

Rane nodded slowly. “It was certainly a purposeful choice. It tracks with what Master Grediv and others have told me about the dwarves, assuming those are the arcanes who built these halls. They are generally better and more efficient dimensional engineers than many other arcane races—though they don’t come anywhere near the proficiency of fox-folk—and so they often display their prowess and wealth with such excesses: towering spaces filled with nothing but an overabundance of space.”

Where the elven section was all sweeping lines, tying into nature and evoking growth and flowing like water, dwarven styles were stark angles, clear divides, and precise—obviously artificial—constructions.

Even so, neither had been ‘perfectly’ in line with those aesthetics. The elves still had cleanly—often squarely—built structures, and the dwarves seemed to delight in incorporating the rough, jagged nature of stone, unmined ore, and mountains’ bones into their otherwise stark decorations and constructs at carefully chosen intervals.

Aside from the material choice and overall aesthetic, the greatest difference was the amount of light.

The dwarves had much less, though it was far more pervasive, somehow seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. There were very, very few shadows, and those that were there, seemed to have been specifically allowed for appearances’ sake.

In the elven area, the light had primarily come from the false sun and nowhere else. Though, there had been some magical lights spread throughout for use after dark.

Tala wondered aloud if the dwarven ambient light was adjustable, and Alat informed her that it automatically cycled, growing brighter during the ‘day’ and dimmer during the ‘night.’ It could also be manually altered at need either throughout the whole section or in individual locations.

As to what they found within the previously dwarven section? There were workshops of all kinds, living quarters, dining halls, and kitchens, training rings, and everything else one would expect a hold to require. All told, it contained much the same types of spaces, features, and amenities that the previously elven one had. Though, there was no ‘outside’ save for a few larger caverns that were clearly meant for growing crops.

Tala waited for Lyn to finish her latest note before asking, “Shall we move to the next?”

Lyn looked up, eyes widening. “How many more are there?”

Rane smiled as he answered. “Seven total, though each is smaller than the last.”

Lyn laughed. “With all this living space, if we do things right, we may have just solved one of our greatest issues, bottlenecking our growth.”

Tala smiled in turn. “Well, I’m very glad to hear that… but that’s the bottleneck, really?”

“Oh, absolutely. We have more applications than I think you can understand, even throwing out all the gated applicants. I agree with the choice to not mass-produce facilities, and grow at a more controlled pace, but this will allow us to invite in a larger number of the best applicants once we return. That coupled with all that we’re building ourselves? There’s going to be a bit of a population boom when we return, if not before.”

“Oh… Well, alright then.” Tala didn’t really know how to reply, and she really hoped that this wasn’t going to come back to bite her somehow.