The summoning ritual ended shortly after Tahir took Dahlia’s hand, he felt his mind and soul returning back to his body in the same way as the others, and heard Dahlia speaking a muffled, excited voice that he couldn’t make out as his senses dulled. He found himself back at Isanthyr’s leyline crossing, with Meti’s face inches from his own. “Oh, you’re back.” She moved away as Tahir blinked in surprise. “You could have let me know that you started the ritual. I’ve raised my mana pool enough times that I can do something as minor as watch over you at the same time. Also, I’m not sure if this is a normal outcome from your rituals, since you’ve never spoken of it previously.”
“What?” Tahir asked what she meant, starting to stand up. He then realized that his lower body was covered by a large patch of grass that grew around him, growing so tall as the curl around and lightly tie him to the ground that the grass grew over. “No, that’s not normal. Probably a consequence of using the seed, or maybe the spirit I contracted.” He stood, feeling long blades of grass that had wrapped around him breaking under his movement. “We’re done here, though. How long before I can use this leyline crossing to raise my mana pool again?”
“A couple months, at least.” Meti answered, while Tahir patted himself free of grass. “Otherwise attempting to do so early could have the opposite effect, and reduce your mana.”
“Fair enough.” Tahir said. Let’s head back to the embassy. I want to do some digging, so let's see if Hasio’s around.”
####
Tahir remembered Hasio recognizing the maligno for what it was when it showed up in the ruin, so Tahir guessed he might know exactly what Dahlia was, since she herself didn’t explain. His intuition proved correct, as Hasio knew both of them to be from a classification of fey known as engkantos. Once Tahir described Dahlia, Hasio took a moment to think before speaking. “That could only be the diwata. That’s pretty much how I’ve heard them described.” A moment passed, as he put two and two together. “Wait, are you saying you formed a contract with one? That’s pretty nice. They’re known for changing weather and stopping earthquakes for people, you know?”
“Doubt I’d be able to bring out any of that amount of power for a long time.” Tahir admitted. “But I won’t complain. I went in with the ritual for a tier two spirit and came out with something much stronger it seems, even if tier two’s about my limit for the time being. It’s all thanks to the seeds we got from the unicorn.”
“Is it?” Hasio looked a mix of surprised and intrigued.
“According to her, at least. She knew the unicorn, and she knew I’d helped save it. She guessed that the unicorn gave me the seed so I could reach her.”
“Ain’t that somethin?” Hasio looked lost in thought, Tahir got ready to ask if he had a plan for the other seed before Hasio shrugged. “Well good news all around. I gotta make a run, I’ll be back in time for Murabi’s training session though.” With a wave, he made his way out before Tahir could say much more than a ‘see you later.’
And just like that, a few more days passed. Tahir, Hasio, and Theo learned from Murabi, while Theo also got some supplementary lessons from Larissa, given that she didn’t plan to use a weapon. Meti took to spending most of her days smithing, and learning one of the advanced spells from Zorhe’s spellbook. Despite her fairly high mana pool, she didn’t know any formally advanced spells, as raising her pool went toward being able to operate her forgeless smithing for longer and longer periods of time, and to shape more complex forms of magic into the items she created. With everything that had happened, she had a surplus of materials to work with, and no desire to learn Murabi’s techniques past the basics since she wouldn’t have the aura to sustain them. And so, she spent much of her time in a workspace granted near the very top of the city, where many of the other alchemists and smiths worked so that their smoke wouldn’t disturb the entire city.
But finally, the elves of Isanthyr approved the party at the embassy. Such a small affair that Tahir wondered why it took them nearly a week to approve it. It served as a small gathering for the Redclouds and some of the guards involved in clearing the ruin and defending the barrier, with most of the Redclouds not having anything fancier to wear than the travel clothes they packed to get there. To their credit, many of them, like Tahir, had magical clothing with intricate designs that also doubled as armor, so it looked less casual than Tahir would have expected.
Still, with all of the Redclouds in one place, Tahir took to going around and talking to a couple of them. The main question he had was about their experience defending the barrier and ruin during Tahir’s party’s delve into the final floors.
“I found myself in awe that the barrier held against the force that crashed against it.” Kazadi, the first one he asked, answered. “Tsekani and I were told to keep our own magic from hitting the barrier, that it might widen the holes they sought to close, but to have that be the only real concern, other than the brief moment when a group of them teleported inside, the barrier itself must be a work of masterful magic.”
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“I’m sure you saw when you exited the ruin,” Raline chimed in. She wore the same, or at least a similar black dress that he saw her in at the Redcloud headquarters in Balrech. “but the assembled army was rather large. I have a feeling we interrupted something decades, if not centuries in the making. Isn’t that a fun thought?”
The others expressed similar opinions, but also surprise that the assembled army all fell limp at the defeat of the maligno. In any case, Tahir thanked them for humoring him and went to share his findings. Meti and Theo he found easily enough, but a couple minutes of searching had him realize that he couldn’t find Hasio in the party at all. When Tahir asked Meti if she’d seen him, she said. “He was definitely here when the party started. I believe I spotted him making his way up to the roof of the embassy, however. It doesn’t seem like parties are his thing.”
“I’ll go check on him.” Tahir told her. While he didn’t think Hasio needed consoling, he did find it odd that such an easy going guy wouldn’t feel at home at a party like this. With a nod to Meti and Theo, he made his way up to the embassy’s rooftop.
Even from the very ground floor of the massively vertical city, the roof of the embassy provided a stellar view. Among the crisscrossing paths and walkways above them, a direct and circular break directly upward could be seen, granting an amazing view of the stars, and moonlight that streamed directly down onto the roof without any interruptions. Tahir found Hasio staring up at this very view himself, leaning against wooden railing, with a half full glass of wine in his hand.
“What, not enjoying the party?” He said, not turning around or looking back from his view of the stars.
“Just came to get some fresh air.” Tahir answered, moving to lean on the railing beside Hasio. “I could ask the same of you, though.”
“Just came up to think.” Hasio replied. “I’ve had a lot of things on my mind lately, and that’s not a good thing to have with a drink in my hand, I’ll tell you what.”
“I can imagine.” Tahir said with a laugh. “Anything I can help you with?”
“Not really, but if you want to hear me talk for a while, I did have some things I wanted to discuss.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Good. Now, where to start.” Hasio thought about things for a bit. It seemed like he had a lot to say but wasn’t sure what pieces of it fit where. Tahir waited patiently until he seemed ready to talk. “I’m an orphan like you, though I’ve lived in Paxoruche for most of my life.” He started, and after another brief pause, seemed to find his voice. “There wasn’t really an orphanage where I lived. It was…rough, to put it lightly. I lived on the street with several other kids, and we lived off scraps and pick-pocketing to get by. Eventually, when I was around 13 or so, I learned about the Redclouds. Went to their base where I lived. Wanted to join as soon as I figured out that I could get money for what amounted to odd jobs in the bronze listings, but I was too young.” He shrugged.
“The minimum age they let people join was 17. They’re willing to handwave it for people who didn’t know their exact age, but I definitely didn’t look the part. I did, however, find someone who was willing to help me out. A couple of people actually. They’d accept the jobs, then give me the money when I completed them. Well, most of the money. Sometimes they’d take a little off the top, but even still, it was enough for me to pay for myself and the other kids’ food. And their room and board, and new clothes. Especially after about a year in. When I’d unlocked aura for the first time and started doing silver missions. It felt amazing.”
He paused again, though he seemed to be pondering rather than struggling with how to continue. “I worked like that for, gods, about eight years. Right around the time I qualified for gold, something incredible happened. I’m not entirely sure how, but someone from the guild figured out where all my money was going. Probably realized that I rarely, if ever, upgraded my equipment and put two and two together. All of the sudden, the kids about as old as me started getting jobs and apprenticeships. They could start seriously working and paying for themselves, and some of the others we’d found along the way. Within a couple weeks I was basically ousted as the main breadwinner. I mean, I was happy and all, but suddenly everything I’d been working on for nearly a decade kind of resolved itself.”
“So I decided to leave. Travel the world, see the sights. Though I came to Balrech and ended up staying for a while. Wasn’t sure what kind of work there was to be done in gold for someone who’s only good at hiding, but I found I did pretty good at scouting jobs. Hells, I might have even gone for that platinum one you ended up taking if I wasn’t out at the time.”
“That’s quite a lot to hear, but thank you for telling me.” Tahir said, when Hasio paused to take a sip of his wine.
“Oh don’t worry, I’m not done.” He said with a grin. “All of that to explain, the Redclouds have done quite a lot for me. More than I think I could ever do to repay them, but the least I could do was try not to sully their good name.”
“That took a turn. Did something happen?”
“Yes, and no.” Hasio took another pause, to finish the rest of his wine, before he sat the glass down and pulled something out of his pocket. A small stone with a drawing of an open-mouth face. “This is a sending stone, well, was, I’ve had the magic removed from it so it’s not much more than a pretty rock. But it’s usually connected to another, or a small network.” Hasio explained. “This one was connected to Albanus. He met up with me a couple of days after we all met up in Callipho’s shop.”
Tahir didn’t quite like where this was going. “For what, pray tell?”
Hasio grinned. “To set up an ambush, of course.”