“You look happy,” Marcus remarked, kicking his feet up on his desk and leaning back.

Tali fidgeted as she tried to get comfortable in the rickety chairs the Traders Guild used. They weren’t meant for someone of her size. Much of this world wasn’t and she often found herself fearful of breaking things.

Leaning back in the hopes of spreading her weight evenly across the chair legs, Tali nodded, her chest growing warm as she remembered Edan agreeing to her offer.

“Yes. I am now Te'Roro Bwaka.”

Marcus pulled a metal canteen from a drawer in his desk. The sharp smell of alcohol filled the air as he twisted the cap off and took a swig. A rumbling purr shook the room. He knew better than to offer it to Tali. Stowing it away again he settled back and regarded the Titan.

“That's sort of like a protege right? From this backwater planet.” He barked a short laugh. “You got lucky.”

Tali considered correcting him. She knew she would find one here. Her Path told her so. That wasn't what made her happy though, what made her happy was she no longer felt alone. Edan was Bwaka, and with time she believed he would become Va. This made him one of her people, in her mind. He had not taken the ink, nor learned to burn his blood, but he was family now. One of the Tribe.

There was an awkward pause as Marcus waited for Tali to say more, but when she didn’t he sighed, the air escaping from between his canines with a hiss.

“I wish you weren’t still mad at me.”

“I am not angry at you,” Tali replied far too quickly. She winced at the obvious lie.

“We needed Bootang. He is a powerful elder, but more importantly, he is loyal. He knows who we seek and he knows how much it means to the Founder.” Marcus’s slitted eyes turned down at the corners as he smiled apologetically. “You are a friend, Tali, but the Guild’s welfare comes before that. Before you.”

“I owed you a debt. If this is how I repay you, I have no reason to be angry.”

“And yet you are,” Marcus laughed softly. “I can see your jaw clenching.”

Tali took a slow breath in then let it out, making a conscious effort to relax her muscles. “I dislike being used as a piece in this game of Sect and Guild politics. You do not even know if this person you are looking for is on Terra, yet you would use the debt owed on the off chance it is.”

“The academy is key.” Marcus insisted. “That's why I was so willing to trade you to them. I trust you and yes,” Marcus held up a hand to forestall Tali’s argument. “I know you are no spy. All I’m asking is you keep an ear out. We think the so-called Natural Place of Power the Academy is built on is shit, but we can’t act without knowing for sure.”

There was a pause as Marcus watched Tali, weighing her reaction. The Titan sat still, her voluminous robe wrapped around her. The markings that ran up her neck remained still.

“Still won’t tell me who this person is?” She asked at last.

Marcus simply shook his head. “I’m sorry but no.”

The two old friends sat in uncomfortable silence. A silence that made saddened Tali. She remembered days when Marcus had been a dedicated cultivator and less of a political animal.

They had met in an unstable pocket that popped up near his home world among the Venturi Cluster. She had been young and eager to prove herself. Marcus had been wild and desperate to earn favor with the Guild.

He’d tried to rob her and she’d tried to kill him. In the end, they’d both run amock of a local sect and Marcus had saved her life.

The Marcus of today was a long cry from that man.

Tali moved to stand and Marcus matched her. His broad shoulders slumped as he took in her downcast expression.

“Is it really so bad?” He asked quietly, “Are the Sects and Academy such poor company?”

Tali blinked in shock. Her anger, when it came, scorched through her like fire. She felt the familiar heat in her chest and the itching, stinging sensation of her ink moving across her skin.

Marcus felt the wave of heat roll off her and realized his mistake. He held his hands up, his eyes dilating.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Tali, I didn’t mean-You know-higher realms!” He cursed, angry with himself. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“You know their truths, even if you cannot speak them openly in this world,” Tali growled, the urge to act made her shake. She wanted to fight, and scream, and laugh. “You know what they do! The Marcus I knew would not have accepted them so readily.”

“I do what I have to!” Marcus slammed his hand down on the table, breaking it in half with a loud crack. Paper and wood splinters covered the floor. “Fuck!” he snapped, ashamed at losing his temper.

“Just…just go, Tali, before your anger gives voice to your thoughts and you break the oath you made.” Marcus waved towards the door, suddenly very tired.

An oath you forced me to make. Tali almost said, but she could feel it now, the hunger. She needed to leave before she did something she would regret.

Without another word Tali opened the door to the office, the metal handle bent under her grip and the wooden frame splintered as she pulled the hinges out by mistake. She let it fall behind her and stalked through the ground floor of the Traders Guild.

Heads ducked down as she moved between the cubicles but Tali didn’t notice. She looked ahead. All her focus on leaving.

Once outside, the fresh air did little to cool her temper. Tali turned away from Stratta and ran. Two long strides and she reached the wall of the Traders Guild. She hopped over it without effort. Hitting the ground hard, the footpath cracked under her weight. She didn’t slow.

Her body begged for action and she stopped denying it. She streaked away from Stratta and civilization, leaving the town with its thin walls and its soft, delicate people behind. She pushed herself, each step catapulting her forward as she strove to reach the wilderness.

She could feel it, coursing through her veins. The heat. Her blood was alight. She had begun to burn it in anger. Tali knew she would be ashamed later. Her inability to control her internal fire marked her as immature by her Tribe. It showed her relative youth.

But for now, it demanded release.

Grass fields gave way to rocky slopes before being claimed by dense forests. Trees splintered and exploded as Tali ran through them, not even slowing. A [Great Snake] its body thicker than Tali’s waist with scales as hard as forged steel, was too slow moving out of the way. Tali hit it at a dead sprint and it burst apart. Blood and guts mixed with wood pulp and splinters.

She tore a path through the forest. An angry scar of destruction used to extinguish the flame that burned within her.

When Tali finally stopped it was to take long gulping breaths. She could still feel the heat in her blood, but it would cool soon. The ink along her body shifted as it no longer fought to contain her energy.

A roar shook the air, knocking leaves from branches of the nearby trees, and startled birds in the distance. The sound of splintering wood from far off reached Tali. Something had been attracted by the noise she made.

Tali considered leaving.

The roar came again. Closer this time.

Tali remained.

The ground beneath her shook and the trees swayed. The splintering sounds were deafening. With a final roar, the beast crashed through the last of the trees. A splinter as tall as she was narrowly missed Tali’s face.

A snarling muzzle of sharp teeth and dripping saliva snapped closed with a crack. Standing up on its hind legs and roaring to the sky, the massive creature shook its shaggy coat before slamming its forelegs back to the ground.

Even on all fours, Tali still only came up to its armpit. Curious, she used [Identify].

[Titanidae - lvl 158]

The bear roared at Tali and stomped the ground, causing it to shake. A skill perhaps? She smiled back.

“Easy, child of earth.” She said, holding out her hand as if to pat it.

There was a white patch of fur on the bear's head, reminding Tali of a crown. The dark fur along its body had a green sheen to it in the sunlight filtering through the clear canopy above them.

The bear huffed loudly, its muzzle flecked with spit, before charging at Tali. It pulled up short when she refused to move and backed up, its wide butt breaking another tree as it refused to take its eyes off her.

“You should know you aren’t a match for me, little one.” Tali cautioned, her voice low and calm. Her earlier anger was gone as her blood cooled. She wasn’t in the mood to fight.

The bear growled again, rising halfway to its full height before dropping down. Tali noted the softer-colored fur along its belly and the swollen nipples. It didn’t slam its forelegs into the ground this time.

“Ahhh, the courage of a mother,” Tali said, stepping back and giving a half bow. “I didn’t mean to enter your territory, little mother.”

The bear watched her closely, its brown eyes showing intelligence.

Tali looked at the surrounding woods. The trees were massive with trunks wider than she and covered in moss. They stretched high into the sky, tapering off to wide branches and thick foliage. Ferns covered the ground and grew in clumps, curled in on themselves for protection as Titan and bear stomped around.

“You have a beautiful home.” Tali continued in the same calm tone. “I have a young one too that I will care for. Perhaps when he is ready, I will bring him here to meet you.”

Once he birthed his system Edan would need experience to level fast and the forests around here were teeming with life.

“I will leave now.”

Not turning her back on the Titanidae, Tali stepped away slowly. The massive bear watched her, its ears flicking. Suddenly Tali froze, her body going stiff as she received a message from Sims. It only took her a second to read it. She moved so quickly, to the bear it looked like she simply vanished.

Taking a final sniff of the air, the Titanidae turned and ambled back to its den, a noticeable swagger to its steps. It had scared away the large woman and protected its children.

Today was a good day.