Having had a bit of time to relax, the four girls where again inclined to return to a regular routine. They had been distant from their home for quite a while, and there was plenty to revisit.
Lwyn had finished putting the game away and was trying to relax with some late afternoon chores. More than not being used to how things work anymore, things weren't used to them anymore, the day moving onward without them. There wasn't actually much she could help with right now, things had already been finished. All of her offers to help out ended up rejected, with nothing left for her to do. Even dinner was well on it's way to finishing itself.
Lwyn found a place to sit down, still feeling troubled. She had been deprived so much of her own contributions in the Fortress, one thing she had been really hoping for was to revisit demand for her contributions back home. However, it seems things wouldn't be that simple. As she sat there pondering everything, Yuxzn wandered by. He appeared to be already occupied, but noticing Lwyn was lost in thought alone, he stopped to lend a hand.
"Anything on your mind?" "Well, I was really hoping to find something to help out with, but it seems everything is already taken care of." "Oh, only all the ordinary things. In truth, there are things to still worry about. For example, did you know that after that last battle, the weaponry and engine here are both in need of repairs. Seems they were pushed far harder than normal. Don't forget, you are capable of far more things than just the normal and ordinary, you don't need some simple every day task handed down to you. You four came up with a bunch of extraordinary things, and we've had none since you were gone." Yuxzn might have usually be nervous of such unpredictable elements as the four girls, but instead he recognized their potential. He personally believed in Lwyn too, understanding just how smart she could be.
Even while Lwyn was not believing in herself, Yuxzn was catching on to her own tactical prowess. An unnurtured mind, capable of her own ideas. While they had been lost in their game, he had even wandered by and watched for a while, witnessing her employ victorious strategies in a game he didn't even yet understand. It had left him realizing that not she had a lot of potential in areas even he himself didn't. He was capable of the ordinary, but only she seemed to have any grasp of the extraordinary. Considering she was the heir to the Arch-Magus, that planning potential of her's in the extraordinary almost intimidated him. He felt nothing but respect for her in this.
Thanrie wandered around, looking for something to do. She was coming back to her original concerns, worries about her control over her gift. She was certain that most of the problem was within her mind, her head pulled in different directions. Earth stuff was often made with safety mechanisms for this very reason, but all of this was being constructed on the spot in her head, having safety mechanisms automatically was impossible, she would have to figure out how to add them manually. The whole concept of balancing things manually was still stressful for her, considering that her mind was by current design not the easiest thing to balance out anyway. There were still certain points of conflict left to worry about.
In her wanders, she came across Ihzyhur and Zyuixqs having an argument. They had been in a dispute in how to properly lend support for Thanrie now that she was back. Zyuixqs was certain that she needed the opportunity to relax first, to do things at her own pace. "You seem to miscount situations that demand action and decisions, being so timid. This is when we need to make an assertive move, to ensure a clear set decision that would.." "Oh hey, Ihzy, Zyuixqs, how are we doing?" Ihzyhur paused in his explanation as his sister interrupted. He knew for certain that after her being so worn out, expecting her to stress over her own decisions would just make everything worse.
"Nothing, totally nothing at all." Zyuixqs was already in a cold sweat, put on edge at Thanrie's presence. It didn't help that the actual topic of discussion was not one he wanted to be caught speaking about. He backed off completely, eager to get out of the way. Ihzyhur however held his grounds, cool and composed. "My dear sister, don't worry your pretty little head over the lesser details. This is just a matter between men, not something you would understand anyway." Ihzyhur was so confident in his assessment, knowing that this was the obvious solution.
Qheria was elsewhere, having an argument with her mother. "Mother, come on, just because we were pinned down in the Fortress doesn't mean we can't help out. Why can't we do any scouting with you?" "I'm speaking for your own protection, you just don't know the proper ways of sneaking around undetected and.." "Oh sure, says the woman who couldn't even get into the Fortress. We got in first try, by the way, no problems at all. Stayed undercover the entire time, only noticed by someone as profound as Sxeiva. Why did your ideas fail?" Qheria was eager to fit back into the way of things, but was finding herself denied out of concern. Xyithy however was finding it difficult to keep arguing with her daughter, Qheria's arguments being ever so pointed.
Rhyde stood nearby, marvelling at not being part of the argument. The fact that Qheria was actually winning an argument like this, it made him feel even better at not being involved. He did know it was only a matter of time before he did get included, and generally suspected he would be taking Qheria's side on the argument. He did have to recognize just how experienced she was by this point, it was impressive.
Rhyde noticed Zyuixqs wandering by at this point, carrying an unconscious Ihzyhur along the hall. Ihzyhur's face was bleeding from some kind of injury, it looked like he suffered a serious concussion too. "What happened?" "Oh, the guy just said the wrong things to the wrong person, it happens. Feeling a bit of empathy, I felt it best to see he got some care." Rhyde traded a glance with Zyuixqs as they also turned to silence, listening to the argument in the room. Clearly, the four girls were indeed back.
Mhyl had gone to watch the wardens at work, wanting to see if she could learn anything from them. It seemed they had a lot on their hands still after the previous battle, a lot of people had been pushed to breaking, some more physically so than others. They were assigning many wardens per person, to ensure that healing progressed faster. Chyurae had shown up and sat nearby, uncertain what to do or say.
Eventually, she noticed the Wardens had admitted a new patient. She watched as Zyuixqs ran off, himself in a hurry to make sure Thanrie wasn't upset at him as well. Aelyiq was looking upon the situation with dissatisfaction. Another injury wasn't good news for him, people here got hurt way too often. He had also over-allocated his wardens, he would have to reconsider his current setup to address this. At least Ihzyhur's injuries were very simple, though there was a risk of skull fractures or anything else harder to detect.
By the time Aelyiq got back, he found Mhyl working on Ihzyhur already. Chyurae was running around following her instructions for anything she wanted brought over. "Mhyl, we've told you before, the slower way isn't going to work, especially for someone that is so important for our defense. We'll be taking it from here, he should be on his feet easily late tonight." Aelyiq got a puzzled look from Mhyl. "So long? This looks so easy, I'm pretty sure he could be on his feet for dinner. Chyurae, can you get me a warm damp cloth?" "Things aren't always as they seem. With a concussion like this, there is always the risk of greater unseen damage, it will take plenty of work to go over everything and ensure a proper distribution of healing energies to.." Mhyl generally ignored Aelyiq as she kept working.
"No skull fractures, though the bump on his head is nasty. The upper section of his nose took the whole thing by far the worst of the whole incident, would probably need the most attention." Mhyl turned off her headset and set it aside, leaving Aelyiq to realize that she was using techniques possibly too advanced for him. It was a rudimentary X-Ray, but far better than the world would typically be capable of. Her own gift had attempted to build upon her efforts. She wanted to keep things fairly mundane, just pushing the mentality of how well her actions work for healing into her impressions of the gift. Even wiping the blood on his nose with a cloth was having the wound close unnaturally, the bump on the back was going to be next on her list.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Aelyiq watched, stunned at the speed and efficiency of her work. As Ihzyhur woke up, he realized that Mhyl might finally be at an impasse. He started his approach to intervene. "Hello Ihzyhur. You got hurt, Zyuixqs bring here. I tending to hurt, you need rest now. Not long, maybe to dinner." Mhyl finished her medical report to a dazed audience. Neither Ihzyhur nor Aelyiq had expected even that degree of Izhaethyx from her. Ihzyhur himself still felt dizzy, still unclear exactly what had happened. He decided to follow Doctor Mhyl's instructions and get a bit more rest.
Chyurae smiled as he kept going as Mhyl's assistant. He had no idea what she had said, but knew exactly what language it was. Clearly Mhyl had been working very hard, he might need to follow in her example. Maybe Mhyl would be willing to teach him as well? Aelyiq however decided to leave this situation to Mhyl, clearly he was wrong to assume Mhyl was in over her head. So many things kept changing in the girl he found that time way back in the elven library.. this girl was all too impossible to keep up with.
Lwyn was considering Yuxzn's advice, having left him when Rhyde had called him away. If things were expected of her that even Yuxzn could not explain, she would need more information. As she wandered around in thought, she came across Ehryinae. "Oh, hi Ehryinae. Up to anything in particular?" "Oh, nothing much. Just getting somethings setup for the smith here. Something about overheating the main weapon here with some super heating. We're still not sure how it got that hot, actually." Lwyn paused for a moment in sadness, realizing that Ehryinae was even already doing repairs, the only idea Yuxzn had given her.
Ehryinae realized that Lwyn was sad that she was occupied, so thought for ideas. "Oh, I know, maybe when I have a moment, we can have another lesson about the gift. It's been a while since we've had a class. You four had been through a lot, maybe we can do some basic lessons to see if you can reach out for your gift again?" Ehryinae did not know how much progress the four girls had already made. Sxeiva herself though did walk in at this point, having been interested in helping with repairs as well.
"It must have been a while. The four girls, none of them are at the basic lessons anymore. We've had some rushed classes and the girls have taken to their lessons very well." Sxeiva's statement startled Ehryinae, the four girls had been personally taught by the daughter of the arch-magus? By the sounds of it, they had even made considerable progress too. "Which lesson, where are they at? What sorts of affinity have they been demonstrating?" Ehryinae's questions left Sxeiva at a loss for where to start. It wasn't like she was following the existing curriculum, everything about the lessons were unique, from presentation to how their other world memories applied.
"We had a very... condensed lesson, but they are fully capable of using their gift, just with the typical lack of control. You might find it challenging to continue any form of regular lessons going forward. As for their capabilities, I feel that it would be unjust to spoil the surprise. Certainly it would be better for you to witness everything for yourself, maybe after dinner?" Sxeiva surprised them in this, the plan originally was to take it easy this evening. Lessons were usually best in the brighter hours of the day, tomorrow morning made more sense for any such demonstrations. Lwyn got especially suspicious.
Dinner time arrived soon enough. As all four girls came together again from a busy afternoon, Lwyn open conversation in English. "I'm worried about something. I'm sorry to make a rush out of things, but I think it might be best if we kept dinner short and quick. I'm pretty sure something is going to happen after dinner, we need to get ready." Lwyn was rushing to get her own dinner taken care of. Mhyl nodded, trusting Lwyn's advice. Thanrie had a feeling that Sxeiva had made another prediction.
Qheria finished her food and started organizing their efforts, having thought on the matter all dinner. An open unknown was expected, which left a lot of uncertainty in how to prepare. Most things around them were already prepared for them, they even knew where things could be that would be weird. However, the biggest thing they would need to be ready for was combat. Ihzyhur had been out for a while that afternoon, Xyithy had actually missed patrols arguing matters with her, and the building's defenses were down. The one thing they were least prepared for at that moment was an attack.
This insight had her spring into action, bringing the other girls with her. They recovered all of their gear and made their way outside. Lwyn was sent to the roof to do some scouting, which was getting difficult in the setting sun. Mhyl meanwhile had her headset active, searching around. It did not take much effort to find what they needed. Thanrie herself started to spy all the flames lit in the darkness, all the glints of shiny metal moving in all direction. They were already surrounded, and the numbers were immense.
One of them started to shout proudly from the hills. "Oi, the beasts are sniffing already? Guess the night runs hot with blood already. Blood and coin.. you won't believe what kind of coin Khaexyn is offering for having two people returned to him. Best part is, we even get paid for anyone else who dies. Only two hostages, such easy easy money. So, if the half-elf girl and the metal girl would kindly step forward, we would be glad to make death quick for everyone else here." The speaker was assuredly another bandit leader, who wasn't alone. This was several times more bandits than they had ever seen before.
Lwyn, from her vantage, saw things even worse. Not all of the forces present were just bandits. Among the bandits were countless armed aethyrnz as well, mostly of the older model, but she saw a few of the newer model, brandishing weapons she'd never seen before. Mhyl couldn't make out who was flesh and who was metal, but in the back she could make out shapes that she hadn't ever seen with her own eyes. Around 15 Uyn tall, they could only be described as power armor, clockwork armor closer to a tiny Colossal in design, but with much greater numbers. Clearly, Khaexyn was not impressed to have found his family had gone missing.
The facility started to close up in its own defense, still being left with it's main doors opened. No one had been prepared for an ambush, let alone one of this magnitude. Inside, Rhyde was rushing to gain control of the situation, Yuxzn on hand trying to lend a hand. Ihzyhur, fully recovered, was making his way out along side Xyithy, the Seekers and Reavers at their backs. Having given up on the main weapon of the facility, the Embers were setting out behind them, with the Wardens preparing for the additional work.
Zyuixqs and Chyurae ended up outside as well, aiming to help out. Chyurae was trying to urge Mhyl inside into safety, knowing what non-combatants are responsible for. She instead shook her head. "Sorry Chyurae, you go inside without me. Things... things are different now, I'm not going to be afraid and run away. I might not have my own weapon, but that doesn't mean I can't fight. You go inside without me, make sure things are good in there. Thanks!" Mhyl waved Chyurae off to safety, himself still worried about this change. Just how much had changed for Mhyl in this time?
Sxeiva herself showed up as well, but keeping her distance. She only had a message. "Lwyn, remember. To learn control, you need to learn the complete shape of your gift, to have a complete understanding of what you are capable of. This won't happen overnight, not in anyway so instant, but it means the more things you try, the more control you gain. Feel confident experimenting with new things that you feel comfortable with, and you will find your control over everything increasing. You've got this, show them what you're made of." Sxeiva followed Chyurae back after finishing her message.
Lwyn shared the same lesson with her friends. It was getting too obvious, she was expected to make use of this knowledge in the worst fight she's seen yet. However, considering their past, it was always the darkest of circumstances that brought out their greatest of potential. There was that earth saying, that which didn't kill you, made you stronger. Maybe Celese needed a quote like it, the same concept certainly felt like it applied. They would need to be careful though in this lesson, failure had a large expense right now. The plan was for her and her mother to be kidnapped and forced back, as well as having her friends slaughtered. Neither of those ideas sounded like something she actually wanted.
All four of them readied their weapons, preparing for battle. If Khaexyn expected that a challenge like this was going to just break them without them even trying, he was going to have to learn a lesson of his own.