26-A Whiskey Tinged Reunion

7/1/5/4353 M.A.C - Niwut - Evening

Rana entered her grandfather's quarters, leaving the pair of visitors waiting. After a minute or so, Tom heard footsteps approaching from beyond the door, accompanied by a ticking sound that seemed too loud for a clock. Rana opened the door and stepped aside to let her grandfather through. Dhruvah and Tom froze as their old friend stepped out of his quarters. The keyword in this instance being "old".

Oh lord, it's worse than I thought. I cannot use my Abilities to check on his wellbeing without him noticing. I don't dare push my luck and sour his mood, so that is out for now. I don't need my Abilities to tell that he is worse off than I have ever seen him.

Percy took another step and brought the tip of his cane down, for support, causing a loud click on the tiled floor. He was hunched over with his back at a 50° angle and his other arm behind him, pressed against the base of his spine. His hair had thinned out but his eyebrows had grown enough to cover the top half of his eyes.

I know that most grow old and die someday, but I haven't given up on Ascension. Dhruvah is still with me, but I really need to get Percy back on board. I know he has it in him. If we were to just find the right push. I need to be really convincing tonight.

"It has been too long you two. Nearly 15,000 revolutions of my clock by my count. You don't look like you've aged a minute though Tom. I'd say the same for Dhruvah, but I can't see his face clearly from way down here, on account of my worsening vision. Then there is also the helm. Am I going senile or is he wearing gold armor?"

Alright, his eyes still look focused. His voice is a bit raspy, but his speech is clear and fluid.

"Would you answer instead of diagnosing me Tom? Or have my looks aged so well that envy consumes you? Well too bad for you, takes years of hard work to get this sort of result."

"I missed you Percy. I try, but you are way better than I am at banter. Tom is too good with his words and outmatches me too often. Nice to have reinforcements."

Tom chuckled, letting the nostalgia wash over him as his two friends conversed.

"You say that Dhruvah, but you just lack motivation. I've seen how well you can turn a phrase when wooing the fairer sex."

"Yeah Percy, but my poetry comes from the heart, it needs inspiration. Your ugly mugs just don't do it for me. How about a drink? Might make the two of you easier to look at."

Tom joined in, realizing he had yet to speak.

"We might get more attractive with drinks, but get enough into us and we might mistake you for the sun and think we've drank ourselves into the next day."

The three men shared a hearty laugh as an amused Rana spectated over the exchange.

"Why don't the three of you get into the quarters and catch up? I'll go downstairs and tell them to send dinner for three up to your dining room."

As Rana left, her grandfather told her to come back after dessert. A few minutes later the three were seated in piles of plushy cushions around a coffee table, on which sat an intricately crafted glass bottle filled with a clear amber-like liquor.

"Percy? Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes, I finally managed to get it made. Took me four years after retirement to source the right materials and get the production set up correctly, but this bottle comes from the first successful batch. I present you with Akashan whiskey, aged sixteen years in a cask made from Baishen oak and smoked with peat from the Thermaen highlands. It was made With yeast and malted barley from Ashrama, and water from the Crown Mountains. Dhruvah, you'll finally get to taste what Tom and I have been comparing all other liquors with this whole time."

"So this is the magical Wiskee the two of you used to drink back on Urf?"

Tom chuckled and corrected his friend on the pronunciation.

"I can't believe it. How?"

"During the end of our involvement in Brihon, I met with the chief cook's aid from the Unicorn. I can't tell you much because he has managed to remain undiscovered, and I promised to keep his secret. I can tell you he was living as the owner of a successful restaurant and had passed the level 40 threshold when I met him. Luckily, one of his passions had been alcohol and he told me what he knew of making French wine and Scottish whiskey, in exchange for timepieces with timers and alarms to help him cook. I set up a small company to import the ingredients and put a former employee, who wanted a change, in charge. I gave him ownership of the company in exchange for four casks a year until my death. I'll tell you where you can buy it if you want more, but it's expensive because the ingredients come from multiple duchies, and the youngest batches he is putting on sale only finished aging last year."

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The three men took a sip and two of them sighed in contentment. Dhruvah made a noise that was closer to that of a babbling brook as he let the amber-colored liquid dribble out of his mouth, his nose scrunched up.

"Sorry Percy, but I think your Wiskee might have gone off. 16 years might have been too long. Tastes like burnt medicine... Got any water?

Tom and Percy glared at Dhruvah so intently that the big man appeared to shrink as he sank deeper into his pile of cushions.

"Don't listen to him! This is grandiose! I thought I would never get to drink whiskey again, but you went and made it better than I remembered you old sod. Bravo I say."

"...Blessed weirdos..."

"Percy might be getting hard of hearing, but I caught that."

"I said my sight was going. My hearing is fine thank you."

Dhruvah decided to team up against Tom and joined in.

"Yeah, like he said!"

Percy cupped a hand to his ear in Dhruvah's direction before nodding with a serious look on his face.

"Indeed, life is sad..."

Percy gave the other two a wide grin and the three men burst into laughter.

Lord, I missed this. I'll wait until we are having dinner to make my bid, let's just enjoy it for now.

The three men shared a few more drinks, and after a couple of attempts, Dhruvah's distaste for the drink lessened somewhat, to the point where he was able to stomach it. Ten minutes later, the door opened, and an automaton carrying two large platters entered the room. The gears that were visible beneath the automaton's butler outfit came to life, causing the automaton to walk toward the table and set the platters on either side of the bottle. His task accomplished, the gears started spinning in reverse as the automaton replicated his motions in the opposite direction.

"Made some progress on that one, but the instruction set was too long to input a return trip. I had to make it go in reverse. That's why all the doors on the way here from the kitchen can swivel both ways. That is fully mechanical and automatic by the way, none of my puppeteering Abilities are involved."

"Impressive but not very useful. You sure haven't changed despite what your appearance might indicate."

"I think it's nice. Now if you put him in armor and teach him how to hold a shield and thrust a spear, the free legion might want to order a few of them."

"Thanks Dhruvah, but they are quite brittle. They wouldn't have too much problem with stabbing, or slashing, unless the shock displaced essential gears, but impacts will cause cracking and warping. Maybe my successor will one day find a workaround, but I don't think I'll be able to go much further with this project."

Percy's countenance shifted as he started exuding an air of seriousness around him.

"On that note, I have a big favor to ask."

"Anything for you old friend. What can we help you with?"

"Well, I finally found a worthy successor, and have been training and educating them for the last eight years. The thing is, I fear my life will run out before I am done teaching them all I can. I haven't told the others, but my last check-up wasn't great. Some of my organs are showing the first signs of failing and I feel more tired every day. My physician told me that without treatment, I have maybe a year left. If I change my diet and take some medicine, he said that, with his skills and Abilities, I might survive double that. I really need at least three years to finish teaching them and record what they will need further down the road once I am gone. The Slow Death has already kicked in so lifespan-increasing elixirs or treasures won't cut it anymore, my organs would keep dying at the rate they have begun. My only options would be to pass my threshold, which I have given up on, or hire an absurdly high-level physician to attend to my health every day. However, three years of that would destroy my finances and I might even need to sell Chronos to afford it."

Percy picked up his glass and downed what was left of whiskey in one gulp before slamming it back down on the table.

"I have an offer for you. Stay here with me for three years, and prolong my life as much as you can during that time. In exchange, I will give you joint ownership of Chronos, with my part going to my successor after I die. You will also get the guest quarters that mirror my personal quarters permanently. I know you could get much better offers elsewhere, and that this would take three years away from the time you have to achieve your next threshold, but consider it my dying wish if that helps you make your mind up."

Silence stretched for a few seconds and Dhruvah started to look uneasy as Tom delayed his answer.

"I have a counteroffer, but I need to let you in on something first. Before that, is there any way I can convince you to give breaking through another serious try? In twenty years, have you really not grown any closer? Have you truly given up? "

A conflicted expression appeared on Percy's face as Tom waited for a response.

"I have reached my limit, I think. Maybe I will come across a discovery, or suddenly gain some insight that opens up possibilities for me, but I have been on the lookout for the last twenty years and haven't achieved either. Unless I feel confident in my odds, I will not make an attempt. I will not end like Yasumasa, my soul corrupted by the Maya, and forcing you to put me down."

Tom stared into Percy's aged eyes, looking for a spark of hope.

"Percival?"

A moment passed but Percy did not look away. Instead, a pleading look appeared on his face.

"Thomas..."

Nope, not gonna break me that easily. Give me what I need to have faith once more.

Dhruvah decided it was the right moment to chime in and attempt to cut the tension.

"Dhruvah!"

Tom and Percy broke eye contact to turn and glare at Dhruvah in unison.

"What? I was feeling left out, and you guys were being weird. Tom, this looks like a difficult decision for him. Why don't you tell us what you have to tell us first? Maybe it'll help Percy make a decision."

Well, I did not want to give Percy regrets, in case he did not appear to have the will to keep living even if hope existed, but I have to tell him and hope that it pushes him into making the correct decision.

"Percy, we have made it. A new wave has come. We are no longer the latest generation of Blessed."