“I thank you for allowing this meeting to happen,” Lura said, the elven diplomat bowing to them. Louis did the same without hesitation, holding it for two seconds before both returned to their full height. “I will remain in Melrond until you receive an answer from your queen. How long is this expected to take?”
“An hour or two should be just fine,” Louis assured her, which caused a momentary surprise to show on the elf’s face. Clearly, Vera hadn’t allowed the previous diplomat to use her gift for communication. “Since I have heard excellent things about the food quality of this inn, could we perhaps meet for dinner?”
“The next ship that would work for me would be… early morning, so this works perfectly for me,” Lura answered, after a moment of checking her calendar. “And from your wording, I take it that your group is larger than three?”
“In total, we are seven.”
“Ah! Quite the group for such a journey,” she commented. “I’m sure the tale of how that came to be can be told when we meet again.”
Not a chance.
“Perhaps,” the prince answered regardless, giving a final farewell before Lura left the room. At that point, a few seconds were allowed to pass in silence, enough that they were sure that the elf wouldn’t suddenly back in to grab something forgotten. “I… am not a fan of this.”
“If you were, you’d be on their side,” Elijah replied, watching as Louis pulled out the enchanted paper to send a message to Vera. “Do you think she’ll like the proposal?”
“Maybe. I can’t tell with her,” Louis said, accepting the pen offered by Fade before writing down the key points of the meeting. “That they even suggested we give up our freedom under their rule makes it blatant that they don’t think we can win against Castilla.”
“Not exactly,” Fade added, making the prince pause in his writings. “The king hid it well, but the mind of the diplomat couldn’t obfuscate her fears well enough. She was scared that Serenova would reject the offer.”
Right. The benefits of having a Dreamweaver to delve into the opposition’s minds never ceased to end.
“Did you find any other information while we were inside?” Elijah asked.
“Her fear grew when you and the king left the table to discuss something else,” Fade explained. “Your plant thing awakening is a threat to whatever plan they’ve been orchestrating.”
“They think Dawn can be the winning difference against Castilla?” he questioned, to which the Dreamweaver could only shrug. The negatives of her gifts were vagueness. They could probably know much more if she were to let the Nightmares devour the diplomat, but that was hardly possible at the moment. “Try to see if anything shows up during dinner. Maybe she’ll trip up if we give her time.”
“Already intended to.”
“Quiet. I need to get this right.”
Silence swept up the room while Louis spent some more minutes reporting to Vera. Not everything was there, but it included the attempts of the offensive proposal and the much more amenable one afterward along with the wall of numbers that they’d discussed concerning the latter.
When he finished, the letters gave off a final burst of red light before settling back into the black coloring again. And, not long after, a response came.
‘I’m not too surprised by this offer. They want control of the dungeon and we’re in the way of that goal. To allow them a place on our land is a step towards them attaining that control.’
‘Should we reject the offer then?’ Louis wrote back.
‘No. Say that we can meet her in person in Kulvik in five weeks,’ Vera quickly replied. ‘The amount of clauses regarding taxation this will require is going to take a while to prepare.’
“Ask her about the Baron leaving for Kulvik,” Elijah told the prince, once their orders had been confirmed. Soon their diplomatic duties would be finished.
‘The baron was deemed important enough to bring alongside that region’s duke,’ Vera replied after Louis repeated Elijah’s question in writing. ‘Most of the more influential dukes have been called to the capital to discuss the future mobilization of their people. I will give more details in person.’
… That’s new.
Elijah was surprised Vera hadn’t done as much earlier, but he supposed that calling in most major political figures soon after her crowning could’ve been seen as a bad sign. But… no, that didn’t fit her. She would have allowed the risk if the warning signs meant more time to prepare.
What was Vera hiding?
He’d have to wait to find out. For now, all they could do was pack away the paper and leave the meeting room. Following the captain’s words from before, they found the rest of the group in a private area a bit further down the hallway.
It was a casual place, with sofas and couches instead of chairs, but the food looked luxurious and fatty regardless. The others must’ve thought the same, with how they were trying to discover the bottom of the plates.
“How did the meeting go?” Aleksi asked midway through a fried leg of some sort.
Elijah could only look at the giant and his food-filled beard in silence.
“It went well,” Louis answered on Elijah’s behalf, seemingly deciding that the eyes of judgment couldn’t be disturbed. “Not as smooth as we’d hoped, but the end result might become a positive.”
“When can we meet this elf?” Jack questioned, putting down his empty plate to focus on the trio. Sasha and Mila, who sat beside the man, barely looked up from their own conversation. “The whole point of us coming along was to see them, right?”
“And you will in— Shit, it’s this late already?” the prince cursed when he saw the time. “We’re meeting them for dinner here in two hours. Before that, I need you all to be presentable and…made of something else than old sweat.”
Ignoring that it’d been perfectly fine when they’d met the elf before, the group was ordered to remove the layers of dirt that had been steadily building up in the last two weeks. While Elijah and the others had made an effort to be relatively clean, life on the road rarely allowed for proper bathing.
A luxury inn known for being full of wealthy merchants didn’t have such weaknesses. Instead, it possessed a massive bathing area with steaming hot water and expensive soap bars. The latter was so good, in fact, that a dozen or so were snatched for future usage.
Regardless, the weight of filth was lifted off their shoulders and half an hour of making his robes clean themselves allowed Elijah to return to some semblance of humanity.
“Isn’t it about time you trim that beard of yours?” Aleksi asked, as the giant fought to get a comb through his knotted hair. The two of them were alone in the larger bedroom, while Jack and Louis finished drying off. “You’re getting some of that old bushy look lately.”
“‘Bushy look,’” Elijah repeated, to which Aleksi just shrugged. The larger man’s beard was far beyond his own, but that was mostly because Elijah had never allowed it to grow too much. When it came to more volatile concoctions, hair was a risk he hadn’t felt the desire to take. “... Is it that bad?”
“It could be better.”
Grabbing the mirror offered a moment later, Elijah studied his appearance. As the giant had warned, his beard had started to thicken. In the biggest spots, the tip of his fingers could easily be hidden within it.
Unacceptable.
“Did you bring the old kit?” Elijah asked. A minute of searching later, and another five of properly drying the beard, he was well on his way to returning to normality.
Elijah didn’t remove all of it, not seeing a need to be entirely clean-shaven, but trimming down the size was a requirement in his mind. With efficient cuts, and decades of experience, he was able to mold it into something resembling a rounded ducktail beard.
It was still longer than what he usually went with, but his predicted future of being on the road for long periods made it clear Elijah would have to adjust to this style.
“Maybe you should have a look at the hair as well?” Aleksi suggested, when the giant finished combing his own. “I don’t figure you want to copy my majestic curls.”
…
“Another time,” Elijah said, not wanting to bother with that nightmare tonight.
Not long after, a knock came on their door, and they were guided through the inn to the room from before. The sofas and couches could still be found inside, but the tables had been replaced with some larger ones to accommodate the amount of food present.
Dozens of different kinds of meat, fruits, and vegetables that Elijah hadn’t seen in decades, and enough bottles to take from that he was sure an entire village could drink themselves stupid from it if needed.
So much wasted.
Elijah knew the group wouldn’t make it through half of the assortment before the end of the night, though that fact didn’t stop the younger folk from digging in and trying to.
And, before he knew it, a familiar presence appeared from the door.
“Excuse my lateness,” Lura said as she stepped inside, surveying the still-talking group. “The owner of this establishment wanted to gift me a gem, which delayed me by a few minutes.”
“It happens,” Elijah replied, noting the purple dress on the elf. It was a significant difference from the robes from before, though it still carried an ethereal feeling that human weaves couldn’t hope to match. The steady aura of nature that exuded from it was likely to blame. “If you want to try any of the eastern fruits, I’d advise that you fill your plate now. Sasha seems to be quite fond of them.”
The subtle smile faded when Lura turned to look at the Absorber in question. It reappeared a second later, but Elijah didn’t fail to note the strain.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“I’ll heed your warning and find myself some dinner then,” Lura said, giving a small bow before walking over to the buffet table and filling a plate with a few fruits alongside a glass of white wine.
Not even a glance at the different meats. Elijah initially thought it a strange choice, since elves were known for their skills at hunting, but it was in how they prepared the dishes that were different.
“You eat it raw?” Jack asked, frowning at the elven diplomat’s words. The second the man had found a moment to do so, he’d firmly seated himself next to Lura. “Like… no flames ever get near it at all?”
“Calling it raw is very misleading,” Lura corrected with grace, happy to answer Jack's endless questions. It was apparently not too rare an occurrence for the curious to ask about all kinds of things. Elijah was half-sure the man was going to ask if he could touch the elf’s ears sooner or later. “We cherish nature and the life within the forest, but we likewise understand that we are different from it. When we consume the flesh, we separate ourselves from the beastial acts by cutting the meat into elegant designs that tell tales of the animal’s history. For a single plate, it can take a master a full day to arrange them. To tell the life of a bird that has soared through the skies for decades… It is not an easy thing to do, but tradition was not meant to be simple. It was created to show honor, and that is what we strive for.”
“So… no seasoning either?”
“Nothing but the flesh of the animal.”
“Oh,” Jack said, needing a moment to process that fact. “Is this practice only in Ethon or are there elves elsewhere who do it? I’d love to try it.”
“Truly?” Lura replied. For the first time during the conversation, she seemed surprised. “Humans are usually very… reluctant to stray from their culinary ways.”
“My experience with jello salads makes most other foods sound fine,” Jack explained, more than ready to explain whatever dish that was meant to be when Sasha began to approach.
Elijah noted the child being carried.
“Mila’s tired,” Sasha told Elijah. “I’m leaving with her so she can get some rest.”
“Of course,” Elijah replied, noting how Lura had frozen in place when Sasha’s eyes had briefly fallen on the elf. The diplomat did regain her senses by the time anybody could think to comment on it, but the repeated reaction had started to make questions form on his tongue.
Some thirty minutes later, Jack had been emptied of questions and requests, making the man move on to discuss some inane topic with Aleksi on the other couch. Louis temporarily replaced the man, talking with the diplomat for an hour about plans to meet up again at the capital in five weeks along with the various movements of merchants that had been seen in recent months, but it didn’t last.
With food and drink plenty, the bodies of the people did start to sag, and many excused themselves so they could rest for the night. Jack and Louis were the first, Fade following along to escort the prince to his room safely. That left Elijah and Aleksi to entertain the elf, but even the giant felt the call of the darkness after some time.
“You truly feel no tiredness?” Lura asked, as they both sipped from their final glasses of the night. The bottle that had been gifted to the royal family had been opened by Louis along with permission to sample from it if desired. “Your body doesn’t call for a night of rest?”
“Not more than it usually does,” Elijah replied before downing the last drops of the spirit. It briefly burned his throat to the hells before he could infuse it with Mana and let the sensation transform into a pleasant warmth. “It’s a side-effect of old age for humans. The desire to sleep never truly stops. Our bodies can’t refresh themselves like they did in their youth.”
“A way to prepare for the long sleep,” Lura suggested, prompting a snort to leave him before he could control himself. “But, truthfully, are you sure that your current state is simply age?”
…
Elijah sighed. Of course, she had to ask.
“I think we both know the answer,” he said, continuing when she didn’t offer a comment. “I’ve always been one to ignore the setting sun, but recent weeks have shown… that I can ignore it just a little easier.”
“You don’t crumple as easily?”
“Just as easily as before, but I don’t get as much of a warning anymore,” he corrected. Calling upon his powers, he made his robe unweave itself around the left part of his chest.
There was no skin to see, the green plant matter covering it all. The shape was identical to the other side, but the material was that of nature’s favorite building block.
“From what I can tell, my left lung and some of the right have been replaced by plant matter by now,” Elijah recounted, not wanting to think about how many nerves had joined them. “Most of my heart as well, though it wasn’t as much in the start. We tried to leave most of the flesh as it was, but my body had too hard a time accepting Dawn’s influences.”
“An injury from battle?”
“Something like that.”
“It must have been a very painful experience,” Lura commented, putting a hand on his chest. Elijah winced at the cold fingers, but he ignored it in favor of focusing on the exchange of Mana from the elven hands to his flesh. Even without either party directly commanding the energy, it seemed to communicate. “A blow of this magnitude should’ve killed a human.”
“It almost did,” Elijah confirmed, as he allowed the robe to grow back. “If not for a certain duck that refused the idea of me leaving her, I would be dead already.”
“An Awakened sustaining the life of the one who gave it to them originally,” the elf murmured. She chuckled at his frown. “Sorry. I know how you humans despise our manners of speech.”
“‘Despise’ is a strong word,” he replied. “‘Annoyed’ is more fitting.”
“Then I’m sorry for annoying you,” Lura apologized. She made it sound formal enough that he felt the need to wave away the worries. “But, still, I need to ask more about this Awakened being that you granted life.”
“What is there to say?” he fired back. Broadening his senses, he found Dawn standing on the buffet table, steadily going through whatever meats and fruits seemed most interesting to her. That she’d been at it for nearly an hour without taking a break was a little worrying… “I wanted to find the limits of how much I could change a Sundrop Flower, the abilities I wielded at the time allowed me to communicate with the plant at a deeper level than before, and at some point, she started to make choices that were different than my own. By allowing her to grow into the form of an animal, to travel around with me, she became more than what the flowers ever did.”
That included the bluestar flower that had been used to make the robe he currently wore. While it could answer his questions, and it could grow further than he commanded it to, the mind wasn’t close to being as developed as Dawn’s. It didn’t have the same spark, the same… Elijah didn’t want to call it soul, but that aspect was lacking regardless.
“That you could awaken one plant from the deep dreams means that you could likely awaken more,” Lura explained. “It might not be an ability you think you possess, but the world rarely cares about that fact.”
“You’re overestimating my abilities.”
“You’re underestimating your abilities.”
Elijah laughed. Lura didn’t mirror it.
“Do you know when the last time was, that a generation of roots woke up?” she questioned, to which Elijah had confessed he didn’t. “No human does. Your libraries don’t have books old enough to have recorded it. But ours do. They know of the great shift seven thousand years ago.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn't Vale have records for this?” Elijah asked, trying to remember the true age of the old human kingdom. Even if it hadn’t been around during those times, books before their time should’ve still been preserved.
“Their records were wiped, like most others,” Lura assured him. “When the minds inside the old cults broke, and they tried to break the world so it would fit their views, the higher beings made sure we wouldn’t be inspired to repeat it. Almost all Awakened, the giants whose shoulders we stand on, were lost to save what we have now.”
He said nothing.
What words could possibly be said?
“I… please do not retell what I have revealed to you tonight,” Lura asked. “Humans were never meant to hear this tale.”
“Humans were behind this great shift?” Elijah questioned, after promising to keep his lips shut tight.
“And the mountains that came from the devastation, yes, but understand one fact above all others,” the elven diplomat confirmed. “Mages that could separate the continents were slain by Awakened. The same gift that you gave this flower was used to allow this world to be kept together.”
That was a thought Elijah needed some time to think over. The Awakened of the past were all swept up in the old mythos. They were present, they were the reason for how those mythological days concluded, and Lura thought that such a thing could start once more.
“You think I can start a new Age?” he asked.
“No, but I believe the world is letting you make the first push,” Lura explained, putting down her glass and leaving the couch. The elven woman seemed ready to retire for the night. “Tell me this, Elijah Caede. How far can you stretch your senses?”
Did she mean his magical ones?
“Some twenty meters on average. Forty meters if I know what to look for.”
“And if you use the nature around you instead of relying on the waves of the winds?”
“I don’t know. Some hundred meters? Five hundred at an absolute maximum.”
Elijah had been able to stretch it about that far while inside the forest some days earlier. By letting his mind mostly leave his physical shell, he could walk along the natural roots easily, and yet there was a distance where it became rather… difficult. While his mind could see far, the tether to his body was still there. To stretch it on foreign grounds to such an extent felt dangerous, and the warnings from the air had made him reject the notion of going further than that half kilometer.
“Not a terrible start, but I believe that you do much better,” Lura commented, making Elijah frown. “You say you can’t Awaken another slice of nature as you’ve done for that golden flower, but you could nudge them in the right direction. You could allow them to adapt to your energies, to understand a bit more, and allow you to connect to them as if they were your own.”
“I think you grossly misunderstand how Biomancy works,” Elijah said. He felt dumb saying as much to the elf, and Lura certainly seemed to share that idea, but he was firm in his ways regardless. “To Awaken, to think like she does, would require an increase in passive Mana consumption that wouldn’t be feasible for anything on the surface. If they were to stay by my side, they could survive, but for them to stay where they grew would…”
Wait.
…
Channeling of [Breathe Life] has been activated! Current cost: 12MP/sec
Lura smiled while Elijah’s brows drew together, the new perspective on the world settling in as he looked at the patterns of the past. The fields of tall grass had captivated him so many times through his journey that he could perfectly visualize their shape and form, but… if he were to remove the core-shell, distribute the center into the larger form, and… yes, this could work.
He could make it work.
“Maybe you are a little wiser than in some aspects,” Elijah conceded, as he bid the elven diplomat farewell. Instead of going upstairs and letting his body rest, however, he ventured outside.
The nightlife was as restless as it was in Kulvik, but he dodged through it until he found an open area where grass was allowed to grow. It was close to the city wall, the roots traveling beneath the stone and into wild land on the other side.
Perfect.
“Now, if you would please prove me right,” Elijah said, as he knelt and touched a single strand. Just the proximity to his flesh made it healthy, the dark green turning vibrant in seconds. “Yes, just like that. Understand the truth and you will become free.”
Channeling of [Breathe Life] has been activated! Current cost: 87MP/sec
It was pure thought and concept that fueled the interaction, no other spell being called upon for the connection. Elijah didn’t need anything else, after all, as he could soon feel a slow pulse coming from the grass. A pulse that resembled his own perfectly, down to the green color of the Mana.
‘Freedom?’ the blade of grass said.
"Exactly," Elijah confirmed, feeding the grass. With the modifications, it would survive without any extra external supplies, but no harm would come from accelerating the first generations. “Show your brothers and sisters this same freedom.”
‘Freedom!’
He smiled when he stepped away and that vibrant green began to spread to the other blades of grass.
Maybe Malon had been onto something.