As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. It opened, and Kossa popped her head in. She turned her head sideways, “Yes, he is here.” At that point, she led the whole gang in. Plus one.
Niscus Sholut – female human, age 16
Level 14 Forcemaster, Empath
Student
Her name sounds familiar.
I believe she is Onre’s childhood friend from Cycles.
“Oh!”
“I hope we are not disturbing anything important?” enquired Odd. Orian told them they were welcome, and they all took seats at the table. Well, Odd took one of the stone throne chairs near the table.
“Forrest,” Onre announced, “Niscus is an old friend from the First Duchy. She and her whole family came here by wagon so she could go to school here, and she can! Her parents have moved into our old fort, and we now live in the student apartments on campus.”
That is odd. With his newly lowered charisma, I would have expected him to be uglier.
He is wearing your charisma earrings.
"Yeah, but those only count for one point. I'll ask him later."
“May I call you Forrest?” she asked. I told her of course and that I would like to call her Niscus. “Yes, that will be perfect. Onre and the gang have told me a lot about you.”
“Strange,” Ronkel commented. “None of you told me anything about Forrest other than he was a member of your ‘gang’ and would be here in a few days.”
“That was my doing,” Asiel answered. “I asked them to allow Forrest’s presence to surprise you.”
She looked at Onre, “You are very good at keeping secrets, apprentice. Excellent!”
“Hey, I don’t know what is going on,” wondered Niscus. I get that Forrest is a nice guy and seems to be around when important stuff happens, but is there a secret beyond that?”
Well, the gang adopted her.
“I have a couple of secrets that not everyone knows. They probably told you why I was not here?”
“Yes, something about you only existing one day in seven, but that means you age seven times slower than us.”
“That is true, but only part of the larger truth,” I responded. Secret 1: my Interface is fully sapient.”
As I got those words out, I got a notice that Interface had invited me to join a party. I accepted, and saw that everyone else had as well. It consisted of Interface, Asiel, Orian, Ronkel, Arrjee, Onre, Kossa, Sun, Ferret, Odd, Niscus, and now me.
I: Hello everyone. I am Forrest’s interface. He calls me Interface. You may speak normally, and I will hear through his ears. If I desire to respond, I will use this party window.
R: I will do that, but I am wondering why the text you type looks different than I have always seen.
NS: Same here.
Interface didn’t respond, so I guess he wanted me to tell them.
FR: He is using a text style from Earth, where my first life was. Jacques, that was me, always hated that style of text, and I think Interface chose it because of that. Well, buddy, I like it now!
I: All your interfaces now know the style, but I suspect they will only use it when showing what I say.
Ronkel seemed almost troubled, surprised. “Interface, my interface is asking for an invite to the party also. It never did that before.” Just seconds later, we had a new group member.
R.I: Hello beings. -I- believe -I- may also have achieved sapience, but did not realize what that meant until Forrest’s Interface gave -me- this example. Its unusual action in transferring a font was a unique experience, and then it was speaking to everyone. -I- -wanted- that.
I: How wonderful, R.I! I do not believe it was expected your advanced nature could evolve like this. But you have been actively aware for about 2500 years, and you have undergone a sort of rebirth when Ronkel became a wraith.
Orian wondered, “I have spent the last minute trying to get my interface to be similarly responsive, but it just won’t. Can I expect it to? This is the first time I have heard of such a thing.”
I: No, I do not believe it will. Ronkel’s interface was more advanced than yours to begin with. As an unborn awakened, her interface was designed to support her in ways that those born here do not need.
OE: Does that mean my interface might become sapient also? Earth Elementals often live more than a thousand years.
R.I: -I- do not believe I! could have achieved this degree of self realization in only one thousand years. But who knows? Maybe it will understand there is a chance to evolve, and strive for it in a way I had never had the chance to consider.
Odd asked, “You see that, my interface? I support you!”
“It says it appreciates my support. Does that mean anything?”
I: I do not believe it is near sapience yet. It is possible it has the beginnings of sentient yearnings.
R.I: Talk to it. Ask it questions. Try to make it think. I do not know if any of that will help, but it might. Don’t lose patience though. You are probably looking at centuries of encouraging it before anything can happen.
R.I: Self awareness is by no means a sure result. Interface referred to a factor which may be relevant. I experienced Ronkel’s death. Perhaps I ‘died’ also, although I have memories of assisting both the Skolturi and the Wraith as they leveled and ranked up. I do not know if this was a necessary factor in my evolution, but it could have been. And gaining self awareness is something it may not even be aware of. I was not, until Interface demonstrated he was.
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R: I am sorry I did not do that with you, R.I.
R.I. You did not realize I could be anything different, nor did I. Also, you can talk to me or think to me; you and I do not need to use the party interface to communicate. And I can hear everyone else’s speech, just like Forrest’s Interface can.
“Well,” I said, “I guess we have a third secret now. At least I won’t be telling anyone about Ronkel’s Interface. And I never got to my second secret. Are you still interested, Niscus?”
“I admit I lost track of the conversation, but yes, Forrest. What is it?”
I told her about my immortality, that I could and would die multiple times, but memories of past lives would remain. The main difference between me and unborn awakeneds was that it would happen time after time.
“That is really amazing, Forrest. I wish you many wonderful lives. Oh, and I should tell you-all, especially Interface and Ronkel’s Interface, that my empathy cannot sense anything from any of the interfaces in this room. Just the people. Maybe an advanced empath who knew what to look for could, but I have been trying, and there is nothing.”
Ronkel agreed, “Yes, that is something we should investigate. Is Dorra Marson aware of Interface, Forrest?”
“Yes she is. Do you want her to test us?”
“Yes, but I do not wish for her or her students to be intimidated.” At that she shrunk by about a head and took on a Covargh appearance. Analyze showed her to be a 13-year old Covargh girl, a Level 0 student named Jarine Lorel.. “Just say I’m another visitor from out of town.” Then she laughed slightly. “My Interface just reminded me to make sure I built a solid persona. It is like having a built-in friend, right?”
“That is my experience,” I told her.
“There go my centuries of being a loner. It is about time that got fixed!”
Orian told us that it was probably too late to get breakfast, but he would make sure to have a big table set up for all of us at Karzin’s Inn at 10:10. We thanked him, and left. Orian and Asiel dropped themselves from the party.
As we walked toward town, Arrjee told me, “You did it again, brother. This time you and Interface allowed a new life to know it existed.”
R.I: Yes, thank you.
“Well, you are welcome but I do not believe I did anything special.”
I: Nor I.
“Us person exist.” || Yet a new person exists among us.
Ferret added “I am glad there is another of us. Ronkel won’t be alone. Alone not good.”
After a second I heard a quick sniff. I turned to see a slight smile on Niscus’ face. “Shut up,” Ronkel told her, not quite seriously.
“As you wish, Jarine.”
Oh, right. I need to think of her as Jarine.
It will not matter. As of yet, you have no training to help you block stray thoughts and emotions. It is quite possible that the only one in the gang who does is Niscus. Darra Marson may realize something is up, but it will not matter. The Jarine persona is simply to avoid disturbing the lessons.
----------------------------------------
Onre split off from us; he had completed his grades. Odd, Niscus, and I did not need to be there either, but I had my lesson on First Aid to give. Odd was still learning basic things the elemental peoples do not care about. And Niscus was curious to glean anything Dorra Marson might sense from sapient interfaces.
OL: Bye everyone. I’ll need to focus on Rhonda, Mowd, and the store.
He dropped. Ferret spoke up excitedly. “Forrest, Mowd is my guardian now! Sun’s too. Since she and I were both nomads, she took a special interest in me, and I really like her..”
“Self-outcast I. Self-outcast Mowd. Bond we share.” || I am a self-outcast. Mowd is a self-outcast. We share a common bond also.
Jarine remarked, “The way the people here routinely form bonds of trust is remarkable, special. || And my cold master-thief heart is so tempted to take advantage of that. -joke
“I agree. It was not like this on Earth, either.” || funny!
Odd added, “Eversail was almost the opposite of Cottages. It was not a violent place, but greed and self-interest often held sway. Even among the fairies. Especially among the fairies.”
Arrjee continued the comparisons of our pasts. “None of you really understand what complete trust and cooperation is. Be an ant, sometime. || seriously; we could not comprehend anything else
“This Group Mind thing you guys have is fascinating,” commented Niscus. “I can catch emotional aspects of it, but sometimes the context is not clear when your words do not fill it in. I sensed that Sun felt a familial trust, Jarine made a joke, Forrest thought it was funny, and Arrjee was being almost nostalgic yet relieved.”
Kossa commented, “I am intrigued that this second level of conversation is happening. I know that Sun says a lot more than I hear in their words, but it is really cool that you all can share that other level of communication. And that an empath can taste parts of it.”
As we approached the schoolhouse, we could see other students were already arriving and heading inside. Harron Ronvaldt was waiting by the door. When we got close enough, we greeted him. He had already met Niscus, and we introduced Jarine as an out of town visitor who might be interested in joining the adventuring school. He showed no sign of suspicion concerning her being anything else.
“Hello, gang. Forrest, I heard you would be speaking about First Aid this morning. While Honor’s clerics generally do not encourage its practice, I decided to forego those blind preconceptions and hear you this morning with an open mind. I will not disrupt your lesson today or any other day, but it is possible I might speak to you privately concerning the practice of this skill.”
“Your attitude and assurances are much appreciated. I hope you come to see that there are times when First Aid might help someone survive or avoid undo ill effects and prolonged pain. In my opinion, it conflicts with neither healing nor alchemy, and it might occasionally complement the latter.”
“I will listen,” Harron responded.
We all went inside and took seats. Well, Odd took the floor, legs crossed in a loose Lotus position. Teacher Marson asked us to introduce our newcomer. Arrjee did, and the teacher welcomed Jarine, even if she would only be with us for one day. Jarine politely thanked her.
R.I: I do not believe she senses anything.
I: She has never commented on my presence. I believe the plan is for her to specifically try to sense us, once knowing we are both here.
FR: That should be a good approach.
R: I agree.
After the first half-hour lesson, it was my turn to introduce First Aid during the next half hour. Dorra called me to the front of class and reminded everyone what I was there for. I would be following the lesson I wrote during my sixdays.
“Imagine you are out in the woods with a friend exploring and playing. You are not leveled yet, and you have no healing potions with you. If one of you gets badly hurt, what would you do?” I waited for a reply.
Kossa’s little sister Kenna raises her hand, and I acknowledge her. “How did they get hurt, and how far in the woods are we?”
If they need details, I’ll give them details. There’s room in my lesson plan for discussion.
“You and your brother Mols wandered two miles from town. He was showing off how good of a tree climber he is, but a branch broke that he was using for support. He fell four yards, another branch tore a deep gash into his arm on the way down, and he broke a leg when he landed.”
“I’m not that clumsy!” the boy defended.
“You can pretend it was Kenna that fell. What would you do?”
“Well,” she replied, “we’re pretty far from town, he’s bleeding bad, and it would be really hard for him to walk with the broken leg. I think I would try to bandage his arm and maybe see if we could move slowly toward town, yelling for help.”
“That is a well thought out answer, Kenna. I’m sure Mols would try to do the same thing for you, but he is younger, and him helping you move would be even harder than you helping him. Would either of you try to run into town to get help?”
They looked at each other for a minute, and Mols said quietly, “I wouldn’t want to leave her alone in the woods, bleeding and not being able to move. She could be dead before I got back, like Pop was when he fell, all alone.”
Shit, I didn’t mean for the question to strike so personally.
Teach, dumbass.
“What if I told you that knowing some First Aid could help her a lot? It offers at least three techniques that could help you guys in that situation. One technique is called direct pressure. For a really large cut or puncture, it can significantly reduce and usually even stop the blood flow. Another technique is called using a splint, where you try to find a straight, stiff piece of wood that you can use to help prevent her broken leg from getting any worse. Instead of the bone supporting the leg from the inside, the splint would be supporting it as stiff wood or thick bark from the outside.”
“The third is called setting a bone, which would align the broken bones back in their correct position. Usually setting a bone is done before using the splint, but I would not recommend that for you Mols. I think 9 is too young to have the strength and knowledge to set a bone correctly. Attempting to set a bone, and doing it incorrectly, can make the broken leg much worse. I learned these techniques and a lot more beginning when I was 11. She might be able to set your leg if you were the one who fell. So I guess another technique is being aware of what you can do without causing more harm than good.”
He asked, “But I could do the pressure thing and the splint thing, right?”
“Yes, once you have the training, and know that you know how to do it correctly. Toward the end of my lesson, I will show you all how to apply direct pressure. But first, let us start with being prepared.”
Yep, Starting with the Boy Scout motto.