The cave turned home is cozy and meets the needs of Fallon Gale, the ex-headmaster of Mammatus Study. The entrance is halfway down a narrow, jagged 100-yard-deep chasm sliced into the plateau’s edge. A recessed doorway leaves a three-square yard entryway that is just tall enough for a 60-inch person to stand upright.
Malo, now aged 16-years and grown to 73-inches or 2-yards and 1-inch, is squatting, balancing on his toes when he knocks on the solid steel door.
After a wait lasting longer than expected he hears the clank of the huge locking mechanism being manipulated. A dozen clicks, clacks, and metal on metal grinds later the door swings inward revealing a smiling Master Gale.
“Welcome Malo! You arrived just in time,” furtively looking past the oversized boy his eyes light up when he spots the crate of groceries behind him. “Just in time for dinner but too late to meet my other guest who had to leave at first light.”
Retrieving the crate, Fallon adds, “Come in!”
Inside is a single room efficiently divided into kitchen, living, and sleeping quarters. A second door blocks access to a vast cave system extending underneath the plateau. Thankfully most of the cavernous room has a ceiling nearly 3-yards high. Only the kitchen and sleeping quarters taper down to 60-inches.
After ducking through the doorway Malo can almost immediately stand up and does.
Sighing with relief for the standing room, “Terius told me your desert rescuer stops by frequently now, is that who I missed?”
“Indeed, it was. I’m sure you’ll get to meet him eventually. For an old guy he sure travels a lot. But enough about him, what did you bring me?”
“Everything on your list, plus a few extra items. I picked you up an assortment of spices from the owner of the Crazy Avi. He brokered a deal for me with his spice merchant and advised me what to buy. He even gave us his stew recipe once I promised not to sell or share it.”
“I’ve not had Innkeeper Gaskell’s stew in decades, thank you, Malo.
“I’ll get started on dinner. I hope you don’t mind if I make a stew, thinking of it has my mouth watering.”
Going with the flow, Malo responds, “Any food is good food; I’d enjoy some cavi stew very much.”
Scanning the seating area for something sturdy, Malo choses a chair and gets settled in for long visit with his old headmaster.
Fallon goes to work putting away groceries and reading the newly acquired recipe before beginning the food preparations.
Taking a break from the kitchen business, Fallon gets to his other job, “I presume Headmaster Robels has approved your application to begin your Defender Practicum?”
“Yes, he did but he insisted I talk to you first.”
“It’s nice that he sent you. I made up a list for him to use so he wouldn’t need to involve me. I think he doesn’t want me to get lonely and finds excuses to send students out to see me every few weeks. He is truly a good friend.”
Fallon pauses to do some knife work, dicing cavi meat, and throws them in a hot pan before continuing, “It’s been a tradition at Mammatus Study for hundreds of years to give our young Defenders a list of masters of overlooked disciplines for their practicum. The idea is to expose you to different abilities of which their purpose may not seem obvious at first, with the hope that you will realize the fullness of your own potential no matter how inconsequential things may seem.”
Fallon pauses to fish the browned meat out of the pan and sets it aside while he checks a pot of heating water, afterwards he adds chopped onion and celery to the still hot pan and returns to his discussion with Malo, “It’s been pointed out to me that you, like many of our students are lacking in advanced survival skills… why are you laughing?”
“Advanced survival skills? Can someone teach me the basics first? Master Black Hill once said I would be helpless outside the study and I’d be broke and homeless in a day if left on my own in a city, let alone the wilderness.”
“I was being kind. I’m glad you are aware of your lack of survival skills. Though I believe you’ve been traveling these last three years on your own. Do you hop from hostile to hostile on your journey or stop wherever and whenever you need to rest?”
“Oh, I most definitely sleep in hostiles and buy my food when I travel. I’d like to learn to do all the survival stuff, I’ve never had anyone willing to teach me. I did read a book about it once.”
“Oh? How useful was that?”
“Not at all, it kept revealing trigger words to unlock the readers knowledge inheritance with no elaboration. So, I know a lot of words like field dress, airwashed, kakidrosis, and blind but no idea what they have to do with hunting or survival.”
Fallon smiles when he hears kakidrosis, he didn’t know that term himself until Malo unlocked it for him.
“Do you know where Bearupper is located?”
“Sure, it’s one of the closest trading partners to the city and the railroad has a leg connecting it to the main. What can they teach me?”
“Nothing, they are miners and while skilled at their profession, have nothing to offer that would improve your ability as a defender. There is another community at the base of Bearupper called Bearlower. It is there that I wish you to go.”
“Bang up, why didn’t I learn of Bearlower in geography class?”
“The people that live there are reclusive and do not like visitors. You’ll need to approach with caution and earn their trust. If you can do that, they will teach you to become a Wildlife Allied Ranger.”
Malo makes a face at hearing the name Wildlife Allied Ranger.
“Yes, the name could use some work, but they insisted on having the group initials spell WAR. For them, protecting wildlife and forests from poachers, wildfires, and careless actions is a battle. Bearlower is their headquarters, they cover the entirety of the Rocky Waste Mountain Range. Gain their trust, they will teach you skills far beyond our knowledge inheritance.”
“Ok, that sounds like fun. Is that all I need to do?”
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Fallon turns back to the now boiling water and seeing that the celery and onions have turned translucent, scrapes them into the water along with the cavi grease. He consults the recipe for a minute before chopping the carrots and potatoes into small cubes.
“After Bearlower I want you to travel to El Hat and look up a duelist named Ultimate War and interview him. I want you to know why he fights, why he loses, and what is his biggest win.
“I imagine that sounds easy. Trust me, it won’t be easy.
After El Hat I want you to travel to the Northwest coast to a town called Murder Beach and find a recluse named Charles Sigmarsson. Ask to train with him until he deems you finished.”
“Great another beach where people get killed. Do you know anything about the Lost Children somehow linking their gift and killing people?”
Fallon stops dicing and puts down the knife, “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”
“Do you know anything about Lost Children linking the gift and killing people?”
“The answer is no; I would not have thought it possible. Have you seen this?”
“Yeah, last summer. I was walking along the beach and I saw a boat grounded and thought they may be stuck or lost. When I asked if they needed help, one of them tried to run me through with a spear. Then they did this weird thing with six of them lined up behind the spear guy clasping shoulders. They then tried to blast me with a huge pile of kinetic energy. When that didn’t kill me, the two or three dozen others all linked up and they tired again. It hurt something awful and they made a mess of my beach. I should have stayed calmer but my eyes hadn’t grown back and I think I was missing an arm. I kinda killed them all, but I was afraid to let them go after seeing what they can do… Was I wrong to kill them like that? It felt wrong, I mean it could have all been a misunderstanding after all.”
Fallon slides the potatoes and carrots off the cutting board into the boiling water. Looks at the recipe again and starts sorting through his new seasoning packets. When he finds the salt, dried sage, and thyme he measures out the recommended amounts and adds them to the boiling water.
“Malo, do you know what the Lost Children call themselves?”
Morosely, Malo can only shake his head indicating negative.
“They call themselves War Born. They believe that war is their birthright, if given no other purpose they always default to war. They attacked you on sight, they received exactly the response they desired.”
Malo ponders those words, did he mean that, “Are you telling me, they attacked me so I would kill them?”
Fallon continues sadly, “In a manor, yes. Most of them suffer from depression. They are a people built to survive the most hostile environments and situations you or I could ever imagine, but they are born into a world that is for the most part at peace. They are often disowned by their parents and run out of their communities. Their only crime is being alive and while they may have violent instincts, they are no different from any of us. They want to belong, they want to be valued, they ultimately want peace. Growing up as fast as they do gives them very little time to grow emotionally.
“They do not crave death, they crave purpose. Somehow, they equate violence as a fulfillment of purpose and welcome the results. Even when the result is getting obliterated on a beach by an oversized runt, unsure of his own place in this world.”
“Wow, that’s a lot to think about. I’m still not sure how I feel about killing all those Lost Childre, err… War Born though.”
Reducing the heat of the boiling water, Fallon responds, “Good, we train Defenders at Mammatus Study, not Duelist who indiscriminately kill over petty grievances.
“To answer your original question, I’ve never heard of such an ability and suddenly feel glad to have retired when I did. I trust you asked the same question of Headmaster Robles?”
“Yeah, he said a lot of the same things as you did. Maybe hearing it again helped but I think you framed it better than he did.”
“Thank you, I’m sure it’s the repetition. Paras was always better at these things than I. Oh, and as to Murder Beach… don’t laugh, they only call it that to dissuade visitors, the place is a tropical paradise.”
Malo feels a little better now and wants to change the subject, “You want me to become a Ranger, interview a professional duelist, and spend a few years training with someone in a tropical paradise. After that will I be a Defender?”
Smiling whimsically, “Not even close. After you strengthen your body, I want you to learn to stretch your mind and multitask by seeking out a performance troop like your friend Teum’s Dead Dragon band. Ask if you can apprentice with their Amplifier. You can thank Teum for this assignment, after Master Adera evaluated his abilities with light and sound, she deemed his apprenticeship with Dead Dragon to be worth a year of Studying.”
“At least that one sounds fun. Is there more?”
“Yes, you’ll need to learn how to defend against mind attacks. The true masters of that ability prefer isolation and tend to be incompatible with Study life. Seek out Master Arachne in the Vorg province. Go to the West Vorg Study and tell them you seek her tutelage and they will tell you how to find her.
“Last, you will travel deep into North Cenoka, find the highest mountain top and seek the council of Master Tenzin Copa.
“After all that, you should return to Mammatus and talk to the headmaster and he’ll decide if you’re ready or need some more training.”
“Oh, that’s all, and here I thought it would be a long arduous journey.
“By the way, that stew smells good. I feel like I’m sitting at the Crazy Avi service counter.”
The lightened, Fallon is smiling once again, “I’d dismiss that as undeserved flattery but I was just thinking the same thought.
“The recipe instructs me to add the meat to the broth in 20-minutes, what other weighty matters can we discuss?”
Fallon should have remembered who he’s talking to and framed that tighter, he wants to keep the mood light.
But Malo had one more question that he had to get answered, “Potential energy. Why can we feel it? It’s not real, it only exists on paper. Kinetic, thermal, and static are all real energies… how is it we can detect something that is about to happen? That sounds like precognition which isn’t a thing except in fantasy books.”
Fallon thinks about the time left before he needs to combine the broth and cavi meat and decides he might have time to answer this one.
“It’s about time.”
Malo looks quizzically at the ex-headmaster and says nothing.
“It’s all about time. Everything comes back to time. You want to fly or fast travel you manipulate time. You want to capture and store kinetic, or thermal energy? You capture time. Only elects can’t be explained with time but there are theories that try.
“When it comes to thermal and kinetic energy the only difference is scale. Thermal energy is the movement of atoms. The faster they oscillate the more energy they exhibit. When we capture and hold that thermal energy we are capturing the frequency which is a measure of movement over time. Take away the time, you take away the movement. No movement equals no energy which equals no heat. When we return that time, we return the heat.
“Kinetic energy works by the same rules but on a larger scale, the atoms themselves are moving in space and bouncing into one another. Take away their time and you take away their motion.
“Light particles move too, we take away their time or alter their time to hide, bend, and distort those particles.
“As for potential energy, that is a gift from our spirits. Our spirits, as you’ve noted, are deeply intertwined with time, hence it’s all about time. The prevailing theory on potential energy is our spirits connection to time allows us to feel the energy that is focused on us the same way we feel someone poking us with a stick.”
“That seems simple enough, why was I not taught this in Master Robles shell theory class?”
“Because most of what I just said can not be proven and maybe one out of a thousand students ask.
“Our knowledge inheritance makes us uninquisitive. I sometimes think it’s more handicap than advantage.”
Malo doesn’t hesitate, “Trust me as someone who doesn’t have it. I sure wish I did.”
Fallon ripostes, “Trust me, as someone who does and has spent a lifetime teaching, I wish I did not.
“I do not know, the things I do not know. You on the other hand, know you know nothing, making you question everything… Think about that.”
“It’s time to combine the meat and broth. The longer we let it stew the better it will taste.
“Tell me Malo, what have you been doing on this island of yours? Do you have a girlfriend? Have you heard from Teum or Luscin lately?”
Malo realizes this must be what he sounds like with all his questions, smiles and addresses each question for the next two hours while the room is filled with the smells from his favorite inn.