Under the solid and unwavering gaze of the woman, Killian spoke into the silence left behind Imari's dwindling explanation. He hoped to take the initiative from the faltering wizard, but curiosity also drove him. The anger he saw was not the only emotion the woman was feeling. It was being buried under the anger, smothered even, but Killian thought he could see a spark of worry flickering underneath the rage.
"Hello, My name is Killian Creed. Like Imari said, I did come here with the intention of finding a teacher, but maybe we can talk about that later. It's clear something is wrong, and you are very upset. Imari mentioned something about the ranger we saw leaving usually does for you, but she said something might be wrong. Is there something we can do to help?"
The woman looked between Killian and Imari before speaking. "My name is Serenalia, but you will call me Seren. And yes, there is a problem; that little bastard just informed me that he won't make my deliveries anymore!"
Her voice was as strong as her glare. Killian didn’t know how long Atali lived for, but he would have compared her to late fifty's in human years. With the way she screamed that last second sentence out, Killian fought the urge to cringe away from the room. Luckily, Seren continued her tirade.
"Something about upcoming missions and how the trip just wasn’t worth it with what I am able to pay him! Little shit! All he has to do is sit on a bird wearing a pack! The damned falcon is doing all the work! How dare he think he does enough work to deserve more coin, where does he think it's going to come from? I'm already brewing these damn things at a near loss!" Seren roared across the room at the two, beginning to pace while she spoke.
"Aunt," Imari began, "we can find another way. There are more than a few rangers who can do the transformation. Maybe one of them-"
"No!" Seren shouted, cutting her niece off. "That little shit was the only one who would do it for the little I can offer in the first place! He was the newest one to be able to cast the transformation, and my deliveries let him practice riding or some nonsense. And now he claims he has the ability to take on harder missions and no longer has the time to make the journey, at least for the amount I paid him!"
Killian thought the woman would begin to carve a trench into the floor with how fast she paced back and forth. Throughout her rant, Killian gained more confidence in what he saw in her earlier. If one simply listened, it would sound like the woman was miserly with her money and didn’t want to pay what the work was worth. Killian was sure that was not the case. Looking at her, he could see beneath the lashing out, see the anxiety fueling the anger. She had also said she was nearly losing money making these potions and specifically said "what I am able to pay," meaning there was more to the story. Killian took a risk and asked a question into the spaces between the ongoing tirade.
"I don’t mean to assume, ma'am, but you have a lovely home, and Imari tells me you are a proficient wizard. Is there something stopping you from just paying a higher fee?"
Turning to him, she seemed to snarl the next words out in response. "It's not that simple! Yes, I have more than enough money to simply pay the new rate that little bastard asked for, but that is just a spiral that will lead us right back to where we are now!"
Seren placed a hand to her face, trying to bring some calm into her voice. Thankfully, she began to give a more detailed explanation. Sighing, she continued.
"The problem arises from the client. These potions, when consumed, boost a person's immune system and keep them warm for around twelve hours. The client is a very annoyingly soft and caring man who lives at the top of that mountain there."
She strode to the window, pointing through the tops of the redwoods she had a view of. Killian walked over and could just barely see the mountain through the canopy. It was quite far away, maybe a hundred miles or so. Seren continued.
"He runs an orphanage of sorts for the Yoten children who have lost their parents in the various tribal wars they can't stop fighting." At the look of confusion on Killian's face, she explained, "Yoten are a race born to thrive in the peaks of mountains. The cold is as comfortable as a spring day would be to us, at least it should be. A Yoten child receives what is called The Winter's Blessing from their mother and father as they grow; just being near them passes it on. Many of the children the client takes care of lost their parents before much if any of the blessing could be passed on. Meaning they have no protection against the harsh environment. He does what he can using more mundane ways, but when one of the children gets sick, which as you could imagine happens often, they need something more to get them through it."
"Teacher, it will be ok." Imari said as she grabbed a hold of the woman and stopped her pacing. Killian noticed that as Imari calmed down and came to her aunt's side, she called her teacher instead of aunt. The title was what she used when she was comfortable, Aunt seeming to be more formal. "Interesting," Killian thought to himself, "is that an Atali thing, or just the relationship these two share?"
Calmer but still upset, Seren continued. "The idiot works himself to the bone to gather the money to get what supplies he cannot gather himself. Homemade crafts and animal parts he hunts are the only real source of income he has, and none of the other Yoten help him. The weak are meant to die, is what they say. So a few times a week he climbs down that damned mountain to sell what he can and buy what he needs. I only met him when I traveled to the mountain for an ingredient I needed; that's when we worked out this deal. I can make the potion easily enough, but he can only pay so much. I never cared if I didn’t make a profit; children don’t deserve to die because of the foolishness of their parents, but if I pay a higher fee, I will start to operate at a loss. Which, ignoring what my personal position I would be in, would mean I couldn’t make any more potions and bring us right back here."
Killian saw the shape of it now. An already precarious situation in which one thing going wrong could bring it all crumbling down. Luckily for her, he had an easy fix. One that may be just what he needed to get what he wanted too. Imari had forced her to sit in a nearby chair, clearly the only way to arrest her pacing and save the floorboards. Turning to her, Killian spoke.
"I can take them to him, no problem." He said, giving her a smile.
Imari's eyes lit up as she instantly grasped the situation: "That's right, teacher! Killian is the perfect man for the job!"
The woman began to squint at Killian, clearly thinking he was up to something instead of offering help. She clearly didn’t believe him. The look changed, however, as Killian lifted his legs, crossing them in a sitting position, floating in the air.
"So you can fly, I guess at some speed if you think you can carry the potions all the way there so easily. Or your just foolish."
Killian laughed a bit to himself as he replied, "I could make the journey there in about an hour and a half if I'm judging the distance right. And I don’t have to worry about carrying anything."
Seren's eyes got wide at the time Killian said he could make. She gave a small shake to her head and shot back, "You will have to worry about carrying them; even with the pack I made, the potions can't be jostled too much, or it could ruin them!"
With a wave of his hand, Killian shifted the pile of crates into a living space under stasis. Imari began to laugh as Seren shot up from her chair. Still floating in the air, Killian did his best to not look smug. It was a fight he barely won.
"I told you, Teacher, he really is the one for the job." Imari said, placing a hand on her aunt's shoulder.
"Where did it all go?" Seren shouted, still sounding angry, but Killian knew it more from curiosity than anything else.
"My magic lets me store things inside a pocket space. I could fall out of the sky; the potions won't feel a thing. So how bout it?" Killian replied.
"I usually only send twelve to fifteen bottles; it's all he can usually afford. I only make so much at once because it's relatively easy and it... stores... well." Seren said, voice trailing off at the end.
Killian mentally reached into a warehouse he filled with different types of valuable goods. He had seen some money change hands on the way here and knew gold was used as currency here.
"How about this?" Killian began. "I need a magic teacher, and if Imari learned from you, then I know you are someone worth learning from. I offer this deal to you. If you become my teacher, I will take the potions to the mountain. No need to pay; the lessons will be all I need. As for the payment for the rest of the potions," Killian shifted five, one-ounce gold trade bars into his hand and set them on the table next to where the woman stood. "If that is not enough, tell me, and I will hand it over. Take the time to think about it while I'm gone. No matter what you decide, I will deliver what you have made and pay for it all myself. As you said, children shouldn’t pay for the foolishness of the parents. Even if you tell me no, it will mean the kids will have what they need, and with the amount of potions I drop off, it should give you enough time to figure something else out before they need more."
Seren seemed to look into Killian's eyes. Trying to pry apart anything she could to see any deception that may lie beneath. But he just stood there, solid and still, waiting for her response. Making some decision, she stood and walked to a place along the wide worktable and began to scribble onto a few pieces of paper. Killian noticed it was indeed paper instead of parchment. Unless the world was different from his, the wizard must indeed be well off enough to afford that much paper. It was everywhere in here. Before he could ponder it further, he felt a moving of magic and saw a rune or symbol appear on one of the pieces of paper she had now folded. It looked like a letter. Walking up to him, she held out the folded sheet and an unfolded one; it looked like a simple but well-drawn map.
"This should help you locate the cavern that idiot is in; his name is Yelkin." She said, shaking the sheet with the map. Holding onto the folded sheet when he tried to take it, she continued. "Do not open this note. It's not for you. When your done, come back here, and I will have my answer for you."
Seren walked to the balcony door and opened it, the pleasant breeze blowing in and sending a few loose papers fluttering across the table.
"Well, stop standing there like a moron, get moving." She shouted, giving him no time at all.
Killian simply laughed walking onto the balcony, rising into the air, and blasting off into the direction pointed out to him before. This was going to be fun.
--------
Seren watched the Fadeborn shoot off at an incredible speed. "Looks like he wasn't lying," she thought to herself. In just a few seconds, he was already hard to make out from between the canopy of trees; that strange jacket he wore blended in with the color of the leaves. She lost him fully when Imari placed a hand on her shoulder once more, drawing her attention from the window.
"You can trust him Teacher. We most likely would have died had he not come by and helped us for no other reason than we needed it," her niece said in a soothing tone.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Seren held back a reflexive retort at the clearly placating tone meant to try and calm her. To handle her. She had no problem saying what was on her mind; everyone in the damn city knew if it came from her mouth, it was what she truly thought. But she was still winding down from how upset she was. She tried to never speak in reaction to emotion, to never speak in anger and say something she didn’t really mean. She hated lies, but she hated lies for the sake of cruelty even more.
Seren knew Havron, that young pup of a ranger, wasn’t being greedy. She would never admit it out loud, but one of the reasons she offered him the job in the first place was so he could gain some experience riding a transformed bird and use that to get more responsibilities in the guild. He may be an ambitious one, but only to make his family proud. Thinking back on how excited he was when telling her he couldn’t make her deliveries anymore made her insides twist, the look that fell when she reacted in the wrong way. When she spoke in true anger. She had failed again.
Seren let her niece pull her back to her chair and accepted the tea she pushed into her hands. When asking if the girl and her friends had really come afoul of Morrachel, she listened to the story of the Fadeborn's help in pulling their asses out of the fire. The fact that the Nightmare was awake again couldn’t be good, but that was the council's problem. Seren listened more intently as Imari relayed what she had learned when asking what the Fadeborn could do with his magic. It was clear as day her pupil was holding something back, but she knew her student would do so without reason. Knowing her, it probably stemmed from some promise or sense of loyalty. Seren tried not to smile at the thought; she was still upset at herself and shouldn’t feel better so soon.
When the ramblings from Imari devolved into random details just to fill dead air, Seren thoughts fell back onto the Fadeborn, onto Killian Creed. The boy was a ball of strangeness and breaking of expectations. She had never seen one herself, but with how much she had read on the dusk elves, including firsthand accounts, she thought she knew as much as one could, all things considered. The boy didn’t seem to be anything like what was described. He looked like them, sure, except for his eyes, but everything else might as well be a new species. His clothes didn’t bring to mind any culture or kingdom she had been to, and Seren had been across much of this slice of The Elder Realm.
Seren also did not believe in coincidences. She wasn’t foolish enough to think there was one set fate. Five minutes talking with that damned Diviner Araleon was enough to see to that. But she didn’t think everything was just chaos either. The only problem was if this was a disaster waiting to happen or an opportunity. Time would only tell, she guessed. If Imari was right and he was a man worth trusting, she would probably take up teaching him. If only for the new experience, if anything else. He was right that with the amount of potions he was delivering, there would be enough time for her to possibly figure out something else to fix the problem. But all of that could wait. When Yelkin contacted her, using the farspeech stone she had given him, after reading her letter, she would have an answer. For now, she must simply wait and hope that maybe the boy was worth it.
--------
Killian thought he was born to fly. Which was a depressing thought if you could be born to do something in a world where it wasn’t possible. He didn’t care about that now, only about the wind in his face. It didn’t take him long to reach top speed, flying just above the top of the towering redwoods. He had been above the cloud line long enough that he had needed to shift into his base and swap out his jacket for a heavier one. Grabbing a thick beanie and sturdy pair of goggles, he shifted back into reality and wore enough layers to ignore the cold that made it in. Knowing he was in for a decent trip, he spent much of the time experimenting with his magic. Killian tried to bend the space in front of him while he flew to see if he could lower the amount of wind he had to battle. After a couple of interesting interactions where he flung himself in different directions, he managed to learn how to continue bending space ahead of his path while going various speeds. It indeed made it easier to fly, but bending space in front of him meant he couldn’t see whatever was directly ahead, only where he bent space. He figured out he could alleviate this somewhat by activating his spatial sense to see beyond the area he was manipulating. That of course meant he could only perceive the area his spatial sense covered, but he could simply stop bending space long enough to check ahead and keep track of where he was going. It would only work for long and straight trips like this, but he did decide to leave his spatial sense activated to start building up a tolerance for all the information it gave him. Only the visual information, though; anything more and his brain would explode.
By the time he began to lose feeling in his nose, Killian needed to start referencing the map. The mountain was covered in ice and snow, and from what little bare rock he could see, it must be incredibly deep. It was his spatial sense that helped him the most, catching the entrance to the cave partially blocked by snowfall. Blinking inside, he could make out light much farther down the cavern, peaking from in between the planks of a wooden wall of sorts. He walked in that direction, noticing the state of the planks as they hit the edge of his spherical sense. He had thought that all the wood must have cost the man a fortune, seeing as none grew up on the mountain, but he could see now that it was all old and oddly cut pieces attached in many overlapping places. They were clearly scrap cuts or old pieces that had been replaced by something newer from wherever he could get his hands on them.
Killian approached a door on one side, knocked, and said loudly, "Excuse me, I have a delivery from Miss Seren of Falcon's Rest."
He waited a few moments before he heard a deep voice call out, "Yes, I am coming! One moment!"
Killian knew his spatial sense was the only thing that stopped a possible social fax pas from happening. He could see quite a distance behind the wall, but everything must be well behind it. The figure of a massive humanoid creature walked into the boundary of his spatial sense; he was maybe nine feet tall with shoulders half that distance in width. He wore animal skins well sewn together but was covered in fur on the sides of his legs, up his back onto his neck, and atop his head, where two long and ridged horns came from his forehead curving up and back at an angle upward. When it opened the door, Killian could see the fur was white. It clashed with the black fur of the animal skins he wore. The deep voice of the creature, who must be Yelkin, wasn't as loud as Killian would have thought. It resonated down into his bones but didn’t assault his ears like he had expected. It also held a kindness that was mirrored in the smile the man gave him, the two tusk-like teeth jutting from the bottom jaw giving him a surprisingly genial look instead of a threatening one.
"Welcome; you are not the ranger Seren usually sends. I hope the journey wasn’t too hard for you. Please come inside and take in some warmth for yourself." Yelkin said, placing his massive hand on Killian's back with more gentleness and care than he would have thought that burley man could contain.
"Yes, the ranger won't be able to make the deliveries anymore. Here is a letter for you; I assume it will explain the details." Killian replied, handing over the letter.
The two of them walked towards a grand fire in the middle of the space, placed far enough away from the wall to prove Killian's earlier assumptions true. While Yelkin took the letter and opened it, beginning to read, Killian took in the space. Whether through hand or by magic, the space had been expanded to fit quite a lot inside. It was maybe one hundred feet across and a little less deep from where he stood. There were two more fires beyond the one Killian stood at, and cot-like beds were arranged around them in semicircles. Along the walls were various shelves that he could make out from behind massive curtains dividing spaces with each fire in the middle. Killian assumed it was to help keep the heat from escaping, much like the layers he now wore. On the beds were the Yoten children Seren had spoken of; some of them were smaller than Killian himself, but many were already taller than him, if only by a little. It was the littlest one who seemed to be hovering by the fires. The color of their fur varied from white to brown to black, but all of them seemed to be struggling with the chill in the air. The older kids were helping to take care of the younger ones, even though they seemed to barely deal with it. Of the beds Killian could see from where he stood, five of them had young ones huddled under blankets, shivering so hard he could tell from a distance. Killian's face had fallen downward when Yelkin's voice grabbed his attention.
"Seren wrote that you brought all she had in stock and that you paid for it. Is that true?" He asked, confused but hopeful.
Killian waved a hand once again, shifting the many crates into the floor beside him. The Yoten eyes widened in shock and delight.
"Thank you, stranger! I don’t know why you have given us such kindness, but you have truly given these children a great boon!" Yelkin said as he picked up an entire crate and walked into one of the curtained-off areas, asking Killian to wait for a few minutes.
The sheer joy in Yelkin's voice tore at Killian heart. It was clear as day that the man cared deeply for these children and that they all lived a hard life. He watched as Yelkin went to each bed, staying until he watched the child finish off a bottle before moving onto the next. Even with the incredible amount he had brought, Yelkin seemed to be telling the kids that were doing okay to hold off on drinking a potion, already rationing out what he had. Killian once again looked around the space. It was cobbled together and lacking in many ways, but Yelkin had poured everything he had into. All for these kids he had no connection to. It made him think about the unbelievable amount of things he had stored, all from the incredible choice made for him. A choice he would have made if offered to him, but he didn’t get that choice. It was made for him.
As Yelkin returned, a glowing smile on his face, Killian knew he had the power to make a choice now. One that cost him almost nothing but would gain these people everything.
"Once again, thank you, stranger. This means more than you know to us. Especially with how difficult it may be to acquire more later. From what Miss Seren wrote, you did us a great service in possibly giving her more time to fire out a new way to get us these potions in the future." Yelkin said.
"It was nothing, Yelkin. My name is Killian Creed, and don’t worry, I'll be delivering your potions for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the deal, me and Miss Seren come to."
Yelkin stopped short from Killian's words; his immediate response was stopped by the question Killian asked next.
"Do you have tools, one to cut wood and make a new wall?"
Yelkin, taken aback, replied, "Yes, I have a few tools sized for myself and the children. I use them for repairs and to teach the children skills to help them in the future. Why do you ask?"
Killian had walked back into the empty space between the start of the fire and the shabby wall. A massive stack of wooden planks, cut for construction back on earth, appeared beside him. Boxes of nails appeared on top of the stack as well. He did this a few more times until he was satisfied the Yoten would have more material than they would need to replace the wall.
"Here," Killian started, "use this to replace this wall you made. It's done a good job till now, but it's insufficient to truly keep in any heat."
He walked back to stand in front of Yelkin and shifted twenty of the same gold trade bars he pain Seren with into his hands and placed them onto the crate the Yoten was holding.
"Use these to get anything else you need for the wall or that you wanted to get but decided not to as a cost-cutting measure. The next time I come back and the wall is finished, I have a material we can put in the wall to help insulate it further, but it could be dangerous to leave around for the kids."
The Yoten withstood the elf's words, finally finding his voice under the barrage of kindness to ask. "Why are you doing this? I will take anything I am given; the children need it too much to not do so, but you are a stranger to us and gain nothing in doing so. We are hardy people, Killian Creed; if you feel pity for us, it is not needed. We suffer, but we will survive."
Killian looked up into the caretaker's eyes. He could easily tell the man was holding back emotion, doing his best to make sure this wasn’t something that could come back and hurt his kids. Killian smiled as he answered Yelkin's questions.
"I have lived my life by one set of words. I have always thought my last name was ironic, but maybe it is what has helped me keep hold of the words I live by. My creed. You don’t do something because it's easy; you do it because it's right. And lucky for the both of us, Yelkin, this is both easy and right. What I have given you has cost me next to nothing; that's not an exaggeration. I saw people, children, who could use some help. I have a soft spot for kids; call it a healthy dose of empathy. If it makes you feel better, simply think of me as a patron of your orphanage, doing what I can to help."
Yelkin looked into Killian's eyes as he spoke. He must have liked what he saw, because he set the crate down and took a knee. Yelkin wrapped his arms around Killian and gently but firmly held him in an embrace. Killian did his best to hold back tears from the emotion he could feel in that hug; he didn’t know if he succeeded when the Yoten pulled back.
Killian told Yelkin he would come back in a week or so, long enough for Yelkin and the kids to finish the new wall. Killian also gave him some paper to write down anything he couldn’t get from his normal sources, telling him he would bring it on a subsequent trip. Killian's parting words to Yelkin were to give all the kids a potion; he was done having to ration them out as he blinked behind the wall and flew away.
--------
Seren sat in her workroom, having sent Imari away to let her think in peace. She had just finished a rather interesting conversation with Yelkin. The man was always a crybaby, but she had to work hard to get him to stop blubbering long enough to tell her what had happened with the Fadeborn. Not only did he not open the letter, he had given the Yoten money, materials, and a promise of more help. Seren was shocked.
She sat alone and pondered the situation she found herself in. Just when a problem arose, an answer walked in behind it. One Seren never would have guessed would come from. The Fadeborn seemed to be someone Imari could trust; she had a good sense of people Seren had to admit. And now he had offered to help the Yoten, even after saying that he would make that first delivery no matter what answer she had to his offer. Well, she had an answer all right.
Seren didn’t believe in coincidences.