For anyone who ever interacted with tanai one thing was obvious. Most of their waking hours, of which there are many, tanai spend floating casually a few tens of cimers in the air. Be it working, eating, going places or even taking a potty. The most skilled of tanai kinehexers could float faster than a galloping horse, but the mundane majority took their ability to float as granted, thus the best they could muster was barely faster than a casual jog.
Also because tanai were strategically lazy just like everyone else, in spite of their protestations to the contrary.
This simple fact of their existence had far reaching consequences when it came to having tanai move somewhere fast without an accessible portal hub nearby. When such need arised they, just like any other more fleshed out hoomisimiles, hitched a ride, which bred its own slew of logistical problems.
The tanai are not built to sit. Their bodies are too frail and their muscles too weak to properly support even their limited weight for longer than a few triskols. While it has been known for decades that with proper physical training and less reliance on kinehexergy they could overcome this weakness, most preferred to limit their physical exertion to a minimum.
While tehei or hoomin would happily rest even on a hard wooden bench, maybe with a little padding, a tanai body demands a soft, puffy seat with plenty of support. For even at rest, tanai float.
Fortunately, this being Sorres, where the tanai were quite well known due to the proximity of their homeland, there were a number of businesses being able to accommodate a coach for such a discerning passenger. Beorg just needed to choose one and pay the extra fees those luxuries incurred.
In the coach he hired for this occasion, the luxuries in question had a form of a soft, puffy mattress with geese feather filling, and topped with a heap of simple crimson pillows embroidered with a pattern of some purple sea creatures. This contraption replaced the entire rear bench, large enough to accommodate three hoomin or four tehei. With luggage.
Anh took the entirety of the mattress for himself and blissfully stretched all over it. He was now deep in lecture, aiding himself with a small light crystal, floating just over the book. Beorg nested on the bench opposite, and, unlike the tanai who used all the comforts the carriage could provide, he utilised only the absolute minimum amount of space required. As was his custom, he boarded, sat down and then froze almost in the same position for the better part of two candles, looking out the window into the darkness.
There was hardly any light, as the Zoon was in its last quarter and the Dux had not yet risen. However, almost in defiance of nature, the coach moved briskly over the dirt roads, which was made possible solely because their driver had a mid-grade lumehex talent, which he used in conjunction with two clear quartz crystals positioned on the front corners of the coach, to illuminate the road. Ordinarily, maintaining a constant light of two crystals for an extended period of time would be very taxing on a single individual, thus in order to help his gift, there was a basket filled with slowly smouldering coals, right next to the driver's seat, making it possible for him to leech heat and turn it to light.
After close to two candles of a rocky journey, where the only sounds were a steady clip-clop of hooves, wooden wheels on the road surface, the creaking of suspension, driver's muffled curses when they hit a pothole and occasional 'hmm, uhum, yes…' of the hexergist engrossed in his book, a faint sound appeared, closing in from the left side of the coach. It sounded like a horse rider. The driver pulled on the reins.
This meeting was expected. A mounted hoomin, dressed all in black, approached the vehicle, whilst Beorg simply leaned over and opened the door.
-”Mr McKeone?” - shouted the rider in a hoarse voice.
-”Here. What is the situation?” - replied Beorg calmly.
The newcomer, still on his horse, came even closer. The light emanating from the coach illuminated his travel-stained and tired features.
-”Tense, but stable.” - he said, trying to calm the horse down, which was still dancing about after the sustained canter - “Novikovs continue regrouping and fortifying their hideout, armed well and ready for anything. They have sent some sentries and small patrols around the dig site, but they maintain a standoff attitude, so no skirmishes as of yet. Maanica and Niven are also still there.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
-”Has the target been located?”
-”Negative. She must be in the Novikovs' base of operations. We have eliminated other options, but we have no positive identification. Their place remains off limits without either a lengthy siege or an all-in assault.”
Beorg nodded.
-”Understood. And the evacuation?”
-”The artefacts you have chosen have already been evacuated and only the less important finds remain." - the man was speaking in a military fashion, concise and precise - "These are being loaded as we speak. Niven’s wounds have been treated and he is improving quickly.”
The nord nodded again and remained silent for a short time. The agent finally managed to calm his mount down, and now just sat there, looking at his employer. The silence finally prompted him to speak his mind.
-"Any orders?"
Beorg blinked as if woken up from a dream.
-”Yes. Maanica and Niven need to evacuate immediately. The site has to be vacant of the Web personnel by morning. I will take over the search from here. Report to Khaleen at the site, he will have further instructions.”
-”Affirmative.” - the agent touched his forehead with his hand, then spurred his horse and disappeared into the night. Beorg closed the door and tapped his fist on the front wall of the carriage. The driver clicked his tongue and the coach slowly resumed its journey.
-”You are moving out?”- Anh, who hitherto seemed completely disinterested in the exchange, now proved that he was, in fact, listening - "Why?”
-”Only the web agents are moving out. We have a goal here, and it's not to fight a band of common brigands. At this point my top priority is securing the artefacts.”
*remind me again why are we here?*- sarcastically noted Tow.
*i am starting to believe that we were lured out under false pretences* - said Birdekk - *and the promise of exotic talent was just bait*
-”Come again? Artefacts? But… what about that Olga woman?" - Anh merely voiced what the entire collective was thinking - "You told me you ordered your men to kill her, and to kill her now!”
-”Yes.” - Beorg's face showed no emotions.
-”Then why are you calling your thugs off?! It makes no sense!”
-”The correct term is 'agents', Anhs. They are valuable assets, not my slaves or a private army. Fighting local hoodlums is very low on their list of things to do.”
*we knew he was playing us*- said Thernohh - *but to what end i fail to see*
*something tells me, we’ll get to know soon enough* - added Birdekk - *i only hope it will not be to the detriment of our wellbeing*
-”My question. It remains. It floats in the air like a glowing question mark and if it were sentient, it would stare at you with all of its intensity.” - said Anh in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
Beorg didn't respond straight away, instead he produced a leather-bound journal and opened it on a bookmarked page. He checked something there and only then answered, in his usual monotone voice.
-”I hired a group of eighty seven seamen in Tevros. They should already be at our dig site. Those are Stelanders, strong and dependable men who will do as they are told for a proper compensation. Furthermore I have also leveraged mayor Andros to send a detachment of actual Tevros militia force to persuade Novikovs to fall into line.”
-”This looks like you are preparing for war. Are you?” - replied Anh in an uneasy note, nervously stroking his goatee.
-”Violence is not certain, but likely, and I prefer to be prepared for every eventuality. One of the Novikov brothers is known to be temperamental. We will know more soon.”
The hexergist didn't like at all where all this was heading, but there wasn't much he could do at this very moment. The ancient aberrant seemed to have everything under control, even though he seemed less certain than usual of a few things. The best immediate course of action seemed to be returning to the lecture. The tanai was already shuffling pages of his book, but the Nord spoke just as he found the chapter he was reading before all this interruption.
-”We will reach the dig site soon. Maybe another candle. We will meet our forces there and then decide how to proceed.”
-”Sure. Fine. Yes.” - nodded Anh absentmindedly, already engaged in his book.