Interlude: Attaboy
Attaboy had a sword.
He didn’t care that it was made from wood, and not as long as the girl person Nykka’s metal blade. He just loved the way it felt in his hand. The way it made him feel to swing it through the air.
All he had needed to do was tell Doctor Quimea about his pictures. He figured that as long as he didn’t talk about the star, and his quest, it would be okay. Doctor Quimea had been very interested to hear about the eye, and the other eyecons. That was the new word Attaboy had learned, the word for his pictures.
He had also learned about letters and writing. It felt good to know that he was right about the shapes that seemed to be everywhere, now that he knew to look. They did mean things.
Unfortunately, what they meant earlier today was endless tedium, after Doctor Quimea insisted that he select the box with the lines and then describe each and every shape and line to him. After the first few minutes, Attaboy had started to learn the names of the different shapes, as the Doctor kept muttering them under his breath. By the end of the session he had figured out that the shapes indicated the sounds that made up spoken words.
Once he understood that, many things became clear. On the way back to his room, he turned them over in his mind, played with them and combined them in different ways. His guide, a tall, boring person with no sword, had given him several strange looks as he put together new strings of the shapes and tried to figure out how they would sound, speaking under his breath.
And now he was back in his room. The sword had been waiting for him, just like Doctor Quimea had promised.
“Attaboy.”
Dijiann’s voice entered his mind.
“We urgently need to cultivate.”
“Do it then.”
There was a pause.
“Your agency is required. I know you understand that.”
Attaboy swiped the sword through the air.
Dijiann tried again. “The Stage One bots are dying off. Soon, you will lose access to other sensory abilities.”
“Doctor Quimea said not to worry about that. He said his system is even better.”
“Unlikely. Our system interfaced with theirs when they performed invasive procedures. It is based on an earlier generation of technology, and additionally limited by design. Please be very careful what you share with external entities.”
Attaboy sighed. “You use too many words. I don’t like how it feels.”
He didn’t like the way the unfamiliar words pushed their way into his head. It was strange to know something without knowing how he knew it.
“Growth is not always comfortable. If you want to succeed in your quest you will need to improve yourself, whether it feels good or not.”
That made sense. A memory of Pinton screaming, “No pain, no gain, maggots!” crossed his mind and he shuddered a little. A feeling of aching loneliness passed over him. He knew it was wrong to talk to Doctor Quimea about his system, but he just…
Lilijoy would know what to do.
He missed her terribly. She was always the one who bounced back, who picked him up. She was the one who could distract him from the rage he felt toward Pinton and the other Bros. He looked at his wrist for about the thousandth time, at the gift she had made for him. The first gift he had ever received. Then he looked at the sword in his other hand.
He made his decision.
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Chapter 26: Averdale
The rest of the week flew by. Lilijoy joined Jessila in early morning movement training with Rosemallow, starting with something that resembled Tai Chi and ending with Jessila chasing Lilijoy around the outdoor obstacle course in a low gravity field that Rosemallow established.
She could see the value of the training immediately, as the change in gravity forced both of them to be very conscious of every movement. Whenever they adapted, Rosemallow changed it again, and by the end of the week, the gravity over the obstacle course was fluctuating wildly while Lilijoy dodged and weaved around Jessila’s attempts to capture her.
Never one to make life easy, Rosemallow devised a number of further torments to the basic exercise. Once, Lilijoy and Jessila were connected by ten feet of rope, which was the first time Lilijoy was caught. Often, Lilijoy was forced to carry weights to even things up, or Jessila was blindfolded. Initially, Rosemallow had blindfolded Lilijoy as well, but had given up on the idea when it had absolutely no effect on her.
It was a fun way to start the day, even as early as it was. Jessila improved greatly, thanks not only to the morning training, but also the beginning acrobatics and dance classes Rosemallow had her taking. By the end of the week her Kinesthetic Awareness had risen three points, to thirty-three. At first, Lilijoy had wondered why Rosemallow was so focused on raising the trait, as thirty points in KA was well above average for humans, but she had learned that for elves a KA of seventy was normal, and a score of forty or fifty was common for Orcs.
I guess on average, humans are pretty clumsy compared to the other races, she noted.
It was no surprise that her own freakishly high KA didn’t change, but all the running and dodging did earn her another point for both Endurance and Strength.
After stats training came combat skills and stealth. Sparring with Jessila was amazingly helpful, and Lilijoy raised her skill with the club and short blades to apprentice level, and improved her unarmed combat too, though it hadn’t progressed to the next level. According to Rosemallow, the first three tiers, Novice, Initiate and Apprentice, usually went pretty fast, but the transition to Journeyman typically took months, and Expert took years. Lilijoy was pretty sure that her system’s augmentation of her brain and its ability to harvest knowledge seamlessly would let her advance sooner than that.
The competition in Subtle Arts heated up as more and more students joined. What changed it most of all was the growing awareness on the part of the unseeing students that they were participants in a game for which they did not know the rules. It wasn’t uncommon for them to spin around randomly in an attempt to catch someone who might be trying to plant a patch. Many of them trusted Lilijoy though, as she was helpful, and hadn’t planted any patches on them after the first class.
From them, she discovered that there was a separate competition to catch as many stealthers as possible, with the reward being one-on-one training in the Low Light Vision ability. She had learned that the best time to plant a patch on a competitor was just after they were caught in the act by an unseeing student, and had even conspired to warn them when they were being targeted, so she could take advantage of the ensuing mayhem.
It felt a bit like cheating, but also felt entirely in keeping with the spirit of subterfuge the game encouraged. By the end of the week, she had taken the lead with one hundred and three points, though her closest competition was hot on her heels with ninety-nine and ninety seven points respectively. She felt pretty good about it, but wondered how much was due to her small size making it extremely difficult for anyone to hit her with the eight point penalty.
She was particularly proud that she had taught Echolocation twice. Almost every class session had a student or two gain the Low Light Vision ability, so she couldn’t tell if she contributed to that or not, but she was pretty sure that she was responsible for those who learned to echolocate.
She was worried at first that Echolocation was inferior to Low Light Vision especially since the students were using tongue clicks, which was hardly the stealthiest way of maneuvering in the dark, but the unseen instructor assured her that gaining Echolocation would hasten their ability to see in the dark, rather than impede it. He seemed rather bemused by the whole thing, but did nothing to discourage her efforts to assist the other students.
After lunch with Skria and Jess, which had become part of her routine, she and Jess would head up to meet with Professor Anaskafius, where she would work on her Charm and practice communing with her burnbalm plant, while Jess suffered through another session of learning about human foibles, cognitive biases that could be exploited and the like. By the end of the week, Jess finally received the skills of Mental Manipulation and Mental Deception, both at Natural Novice.
“It won’t make any difference until she brings Manipulation up to Initiate,” explained Anaskavius, “But at least we have a foundation established.”
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As a reward, he and Lilijoy taught Jess how to use her substantial Charm: Animals trait on the rats Lilijoy had been working with all week.
“Farming is actually a wonderful skill for charming domesticated plants and animals, and it tends to work well with common pests too,” he said. “Such as our good friends here, who happen to be both domesticated and pests.”
Soon Jessila had the rats climbing around on her cowhide garments and doing her bidding, though she drew the line when one tried to climb into her hair. The last few days had seen Jessila smiling more and grunting less, and her hair had caught the attention of many at the school. When asked about it, she just smiled and referred them to Lilijoy, who in turn referred them to Mr. Sennit. He must have been doing well, as soon Jessila was not the only student with intricately braided hair, though none of the others had magical effects that were as powerful. Lilijoy just hoped he was charging enough.
After that, Lilijoy would meet for planning sessions with Magpie. The most exciting development of the week, by far, had been Magpie’s decision to help her find out where Attaboy was being held. Whenever possible, they met in the mystic library, an area of the Academy previously unfamiliar to Lilijoy.
“What’s so mystic about it?” she asked Magpie when they first entered through the unassuming single door.
Magpie had chuckled. “You just need to experience it.”
They entered a simple stone room with an octagonal wooden table. There were two chairs on either side. There was a conspicuous absence of books.
“Do we…?”
“Yep. Just have a seat and put your hands on the table.”
When they were both seated, smoke billowed out of the table surface, and Lilijoy let out a yelp of surprise.
“You should have seen me the first time,” Magpie said. “I thought it was a gas attack and ran out of the room.”
As she finished speaking, glowing words rippled through the smoke.
Pay the Price for Knowledge.
Well that’s ominous.
The words continued.
Time or Experience?
“Umm, Magpie? What does it mean?”
“It’s just being dramatic. Time means that we read the old fashioned way. Experience means that we can, well, experience certain events or gain certain kinds of firsthand knowledge, but any experience points we would have gained go to the library. That’s the way we want to go. It’s kind of like watching movies from inside a person’s head. I’ve heard at higher access levels, you can contribute your own experiences in trade for really useful stuff, like spells and skills.”
“That’s...” Lilijoy’s mind was spinning in circles. It sounded like her experience with Emily’s memories. There were many more questions she wanted to ask, but she didn’t want to reveal too much to Magpie about her system. “...really cool. What should we do first?”
“Library, show us the Sacking of Averdale.”
***
She/He was Elatan Thuidium, walking on the Bough of Burdens. The moss and small plants were cool to his feet, the morning dew sparkled from the webs of the yssali in the few beams of sun that permeated into green deep. He drew a breath and felt his connection to the Greatwood beneath his feet.
Voices from trunkward broke the peace. Noisy Outsiders.
Why do we allow them here?
Still, it was not up to him to decide who was or wasn’t allowed onto the lowest level of the Greatwood. They had a good reputation with the untempered, and the council acted accordingly.
If only the King would rule against them, we could finally have some peace.
He adjusted his bow where it lay on his shoulder and resumed his patrol. The Outsiders were thick lately, drawn to the Greatwood for some clan gathering. Why they had to have it here and not in some stinking, noisy human kingdom was beyond him. Still, it was the Bough of Burdens, and such was the lot of those consigned to spend their time so close to the ground.
“Ho the Elf,” an Outsider called. His companion giggled and elbowed him. They looked young to Elatan, though he could never tell with humans, who grew ancient so quickly.
Mayflies. He stared at them, reluctant to grace them with his voice.
“Anywhere to get a drink around here?”
Disgusting. He ignored them and moved to continue his rounds.
“Yo, Elfie. Don’t be like that. It gets boring up here. What do you guys do for fun, you know?”
He ignored them and continued. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one take out a small book and make a mark.
Curious.
They were already accosting another of his kind as he left them behind. He thought he heard the word, reputation pass between them. He pivoted and marched back with purpose.
“Humans, cease your bothersome behavior.”
The elf maid they had started to bother scampered off, an empty basket on her arm. She was untempered, and had no context for what these Outsider humans could do. Another human emerged from the nearby hostel. Small and hairless, to Elatan he looked halfway to death’s door .
“I apologize, noble sir,” the human said. His robes were plain, but he carried himself with authority. “These boys are new to your gracious abode. I will teach them more respect.”
The man bowed, and held his head down until Elatan was appeased.
“You know our ways. Be so kind as to convey them to your young.”
“I will. If you will allow it, I will convey a gift of apology to the gathering maid who just passed from our presence.”
Elatan nodded. This one knew the proper forms and conventions. “Let it be so. What clan is it that you represent?”
“Sinaloa,” the man replied.
***
The fog swirled, and Lilijoy was no longer Elatan. Before she could say a word to Magpie, she was drawn back in. She was Carodil Everbough, member of the elven council.
“The untempered are clamoring for his ascension. We have no choice,” said the grey clad elf to her right in the circle. “If we do not accede to their requests, our reputation will be brought low and we will lose our authority in those decisions that matter.”
“Where is the King in all this?” asked a golden haired elder. “Surely any decision allowing a human access to the upper boughs should go through him.”
“It’s just one human.” said another. “To hear the untempered talk, he is a saint under the sky. What harm can come? Surely, we must put our prejudice aside.”
“All the leaves on a tree are the same. We should not be deceived.” The elven woman cast her eyes down.
She found herself speaking.
“Where one comes, surely others will follow. But we must consider this opportunity to influence them. If we nurture and strengthen those with the correct behaviors, those traits will spread more widely.”
There were nods around the circle, though not all were convinced.
“We will bring this human before us, this Alfonso Quimea and see him for ourselves.” said the council leader. “Perhaps then the correct decision will be clear.”
***
The fog came again and she was Zeritha Lanadat, looking over the Averdale Forest from the highest post on the Greatwood. Birds circled below her in the evening air, and the sparse clouds draped their vapors lazily below her feet. The sounds of horns and jubilation trickled up from the distant lower boughs, where untempered elves and energetic humans joined to celebrate the ascension of Elf-Friend Alfonso Quimea.
Soon the King will wish to meet this human.
The tension among the tempered was palpable. There was a loss of balance in Averdale, with too many humans in the forest and on the Bough of Burdens. Now, a human was even allowed to ascend to the higher Boughs of Life and Peace. She sighed.
The King, though wise beyond her understanding, had no context for these new humans, these Outsiders. They were the tiniest flicker of a long burning torch to him.
It was her duty to protect the royal family. They were powerful beings, even in the reduced essence of the Garden, but they cultivated peace, serenity and unity. She was from the lineage of the Protector of the Young, and she understood what a mother feels when her children are threatened, the burning desire to destroy that which invades a loving home.
I will counsel the King to send this Sinaloa clan out of Avendale. They take advantage of the predictability of the untempered.
Reports had trickled up the trunk of the humans noting who was tempered and who was not, taking advantage of small quests and manufactured perils to gain reputation. She grimaced as she thought of the word.
Reputation. What possible reason does the Great Mind have for such a thing?
She cast the unworthy thought from her mind. Reputation made the tempered answerable to the great mass of the those who had not fulfilled their potential. Each one of them was a sacred seed, innocent reflections of the Great Mind. She herself had been witness to the emergence of new awareness on several occasions, of the line becoming the circle.
She thought back to her own tempering, and the hazy time before. Any one of her people celebrating with the humans far below could some day join with her, could become an active participant in the dance of the Great Mind. Maybe they all could, for they had thousands of years still to live.
***
Lilijoy passed from the mind of Zeritha, and when the fog took her again it swirled violently, tinged with red. Now the scenes and images passed through her mind rapidly, some too quick to grasp.
She was Carodil again, and Quimea was greeting the council for a second time, now with two of his associates. He laughed at something a council member had just proposed. He spoke.
“It is time.”
And she realized he was speaking into a stone, not to the council. The next moment, she was on the floor of the council chamber and all the air was sucked out of the room, or perhaps her lungs had burst, and though her ears no longer functioned, she saw his words, saw his lips move.
“This is a declaration of war.”
And then she/he was Eletan on the Bough of Burdens, when the first of the explosions ripped through the homes of the untempered, and he started running to save those he could reach when the next explosion went off, and the next and the next, and all was fire and screaming, and as his body burned and he knew he was being taken to respawn, he heard the thunder that put all previous explosions to shame, and felt the wave of air that pressed what was left of him into the Bough.
And then she was Zeritha, in the highest reaches of the Greatwood, when the sounds of destruction started and the fires bloomed in the night below, and even as she whistled for her flight companion, the wood beneath her shook in a way she had never felt, and the sound and the wind rushed up at her. She felt the extended, ripping crack in her very bones as the vast trunk far below her ruptured and the clouds approached, or rather the Greatwood itself was falling, tilting into the forest below. She could only look on in horror as her new horizon became the ground and she could see fires and dark forms pouring out of the surrounding woods.
She almost resigned herself to respawn, but she knew it would take her far from the fight, perhaps too far to return in time, and instead a fiery rage welled up, and she expanded, pushing against the thin essence of the Garden to grab the fires all around and turn them upon the humans. The flames that covered her held her in the air as wings, and she flew down to wreak vengeance upon the enemy.
And finally she was Carodil once more gasping for air that would not come, lying at the feet of Alfonso Quimea.
“I’m glad you lived,” he said. “I need to pass a message to the royal family. Averdale belongs to Sinaloa Clan now. There is nothing for you here anymore.”
***
The fog released her.
Broken-hearted and ashamed.
“That was... something,” said Magpie. “little intense, huh?”
Lilijoy hunted for words. The anger hit her, even as many of the details faded from her mind. Her hands shook.
Jiannu, I need to think straight.
There was no reply. Of course there was no reply.
“I know a bit about what happened after.” Magpie ventured into the silence.
“Why?”
“Why did they do it? I can only guess-”
“Why did you show me this?” Lilijoy’s voice broke a little.
“Because that’s where we’re going. We’re going to Averdale."