Miraculously, the exuberant children didn't end up damaging either themselves or *any* of the nuts' contents. After nearly an hour-long, cathartic bout of everyone joyfully smashing chisels against rock-hard nuts with a sturdy hammer, an array of prizes lay before them. There were a few things related to the adults' professions: samples of various fibers that could be found locally, natural dyes from the forest, a few bolts of silk cloth, and even a few patterns for local clothing styles. There was a small satchel that contained a variety of unfamiliar seeds. Somehow, the [king] and Tri had found out before they arrived that one of the children might soon have a talent for gem work, and there were several large, uncut—but obviously semi-precious—stones. There were also two tiny intact eggs that, from the coloring, clearly belonged to some kind of miniature dragonkin. They were still viable and could be hatched, or apparently they could even be eaten if the family really wanted to do that (though it seemed like that would be seen as a bit barbaric). There was a medium length dirk that would have been more like a sword if wielded by any of the children. And finally, at the top each of two small, identical chests filled to the brim with gold, sat two sets of keys.
It was a pile of treasures the likes of which no one in their family, save possibly Drust, had ever seen. After all was revealed, no one spoke, but just looked at the variety of lovely and expensive things. Despite the sweet welcome and intimate conversation, it was clear to Drust that all of this was quite calculated on the [king]'s part. He *wanted* them to stay here, and he was giving giving them an extremely luxurious carrot. Drust decided that he would work hard not to elicit even a description of the proverbial stick.
Profuse expressions of gratitude were offered to Zharim and Tri by every adult and elicited from every child. Another set of whistles from the [king] and the lead attendant later, and all of the gifts were packed up in more conventional wrapping for transport than the nutshells had been. The attendants began carrying the packages out through the garden, presumably delivering them... somewhere. Milty pressed a single key into Igmi's hand and another into Drust's before fading into the greenery again. The royal clapped his hands together, smiling broadly.
"Now then, there's just the business of Falton's service left," the [king] said. "It begins with a spell that requires your permission to work. Hold this," he said turning to Falton. He held out a long, braided leather cord to the 10-year-old that looked like it had once held a three-inch long bead between knots in the center of its length.
Falton, steeling himself internally, took the generally unremarkable cord.
"You will wear this on your person at all times while you are in my service. It will identify you as one under my protection and in my service. You may tie it about a wrist or an ankle or wear it as a necklace, or potentially carry it in a pocket, but you must *not* lose it. Do you understand?" The [king]'s serious tone was unquestionable.
Falton gripped the cord tightly in his hand and nodded wordlessly.
"Very good. This is the part where you accept my spell. Ready yourself."
The [king] ensured that Falton was seated comfortably on a bench and, to some surprise from the onlookers, seated himself cross-legged on the grass in front of the boy. He placed the middle finger of his left hand directly over his heart, perfectly manicured fingernail slightly dimpling the tight weave of his silver shirt. He similarly placed the middle finger of his right hand against the center of the braided cord, right where a bead ought to have been. He closed his eyes and concentrated, casting a spell that was unfamiliar to the family of onlookers; it was a spell he hadn't yet unlocked when he and the Albehsons had crossed paths six years ago.
Falton felt the probe of the [king]'s spell. It felt much like his mother and his uncle's [discern boon] spells, but instead of a soft breeze, the force of the [king]'s will felt more like the unyielding press of heavy stone. Much as he would have liked to resist, this was the path he was choosing for his family's sake. He wrestled with his own will to submit to the [king]'s spell. The intangible pressure immediately subsided, and his shoulders immediately relaxed. The spell made a gossamer topographical sweep across a magical *something* that Falton had only just begun to sense, much less identify within himself.
Upon the leather cord, a shining silver bead began to form from the tip of [king]'s finger. Light began to emanate from both the king's chest under his left hand and the silver bead under his right. Intricate patterns appeared in the bead's surface as if carved by bright white light from within. The increasingly bright and quickly-moving beams of light cast long swirling shadows across the glade. Sweat formed on the [king]'s regal brow, and then suddenly the light dimmed, and Zharim dropped his hands breathing heavily. As everyone's eyes adjusted to the return to ordinary daylight, Zharim recovered himself.
Falton watched the [king] extend a hand to tap a finger against the bead. A small hovering display appeared with Falton's full name, a title, and an arrow pointing downward. The king poked his finger *through* the display and drew it upward. The display extended as if it were a scroll somehow being drawn out of the long, slightly curved bead. On it, in the plain, blocky text of the common folk, was Falton's complete status. He stared in shock, both at his sudden ability to read the text, but also at what he saw there. Several of the sections were expandable, which offered an average or a summary of the contents.
After a moment, Zharim said somewhat breathlessly, "Keep in mind, the average value for a healthy human adult is around 10 for material, 8 for mental, and 4 for magical, except [acuity], which is 0.7."
Name: Falton Zag Albehson
Species: Human
Age: 10>11 years
Patron: --
Profession: -- Level: --
[-] Skills: 0
[-] Attributes:
[-] Material:
Endurance: 5
Strength: 8
Dexterity:7
Speed: 8 (+1, (sky, swiftness))
Perception: 5
[-] Mental:
Willpower: 6 (+1, (firstborn))
Intelligence: 5
Focus: 4
Savvy: 5
[-] Magical: (magical nodes still forming)
[+] Potency: 4
[+] Capacity: ~
[+] Finesse: ~
[+] Acuity: ~
[-] Special:
[Firstborn]
[Ancient's Blessing]
[Sworn Fate]
[-] Spells:
[-] Intrinsic Spells: 4
[Metal Form]
[Airwalk]
[Winged Heals]
[Breath]
[-] Learned Spells: 0
[-] Fundaments:
[Earth, metal] (ancient's blessing): 2%
[Sky, swiftness] (ancient's blessing): 5%
[Sky, breeze] (inheritance): 2%
[+] Equipment: 1 magical, 8 mundane
It was all there, laid out in front of him in plain text, a complete summary of himself and all his potential. He was still young, so most of his stats weren't up to an adult's yet, but from his potency, it looked like he would have a strong potential for magic—for a human at least. Falton looked up slightly from the floating text to look at Zharim.
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"Thank you, your majesty," he said simply.
The [king] casually swiped the bead's display closed. Without the glowing text hovering above it, it appeared to be an intricate, if ordinary piece of carved jewelry. Zharim looked rather pleased at what he had seen in the boy's status. The [king] took the bead-bearing cord and tied it about Falton's wrist. The item sufficiently secured for his taste, the [king] stood, brushing tiny bits of grass from his billowing pants.
"So you are aware, only myself, you, and our respective blood-kin can activate that pendant. When you come into your magic fully, I will send someone to fetch you so that you can be assigned to one of my knights," Zharim proclaimed.
The boy nodded, and Igmi, ever the practical planner, asked, "Shall we send you word, sire?"
The [king] smiled coyly, "That will not be necessary. I shall know when it is time."
Concern creased Igmi's lips and mouth, but she just nodded, not feeling quite at liberty to question the sovereign any further, and he did not explain. He whistled to his attendant, and Milty appeared again. This time, the the travelers noticed a very familiar braided leather cord with a long, etched bead adorning her wrist.
"Oh, it's been so good to meet you all. You'll just have to come and visit again soon, won't you?" Tri said with a blinding smile, her hands clapping together.
They bade the royals, even young Ezharim, farewell, promising they would come if invited.
Milty gave a short bow to the group, and said, "Please follow me." She escorted them out through the wall of green. The meandering path seemed to take even longer and along different curves than it had the first time. The crystalline blue pool that Tecka had observed from above was never visible through the dense, but delicate foliage around them. Soon enough, they arrived at the bottom of the living-wood stair they had entered on, where Milty waited for them to ascend before she returned into the garden.
Kilpa met them at the top of the stairwell at the end of the path across the huge, glowing bough. She dutifully led them a short way across only a couple more branch-supported tree-paths to a building that seemed to have grown directly from the trunk of one of the glowing trees. They were still high in the canopy, and they had to swing on a vine across a small gap to reach the building's large porch. Kilpa opened the door and strode inside without knocking, and the family tiredly followed. This was apparently a public building that housed the register of deeds. The registrar was a very short, green gnomish man with exaggerated bulbous features and thick bushy eyebrows that helped to hold his monocle in place. He sat in a raised corner of the room on a short bench behind his desk so that he sat at eye level with his human visitors. He had apparently been expecting them.
Instead of showing them a list of available plots, he instead asked if they had already received their house keys. The adults exchanged a look, and Drust and Igmi, who were each holding onto keys from the pile of treasures the royals had showered on them, nodded hesitantly. The brisk gnome nodded, turned, and rifled through the files in one of his desk drawers. Hmming to himself, he quickly located whatever he was looking for. With a flourish, he withdrew four vellum deeds illuminated in silver ink. They each bore a legal description of a different property, an address, and both the [king]'s and another signature, presumably that of the gnome. He laid them out on the table.
The first was for a five-bedroom treehouse relatively close to the city's market district. This was to be Hayzen and Igmi's family's primary residence. The second and third were deeds to adjacent properties; both were a combined workroom and storefront in the market district. The last was for a ground-level three-bedroom home, a small barn, and the large meadow adjacent to it that was markedly suitable for keeping sheep. More than overwhelmed by the sudden influx of material wealth of the day, the adults signed for their new homes and workplaces with little comment. The gnome handed over the keys for the market district properties and bade the group a good day.
Once more, Kilpa led them through the city, away from the register of deeds across branches and boughs, through gaping holes straight through the trunks of enormous glowing pines, stairwells that wrapped around the massive trunks of ancient oaks, and bridges made of vines suspended hundreds of feet above the ground. Eventually they arrived in the market district where the subtle scents of afternoon tea and pastries wafted lightly through the clean forest air. Kilpa showed them to two adorable, if empty, storefronts, mostly so they would recognize the places when they came looking for them later. They really only stayed long enough to make sure that the keys fit easily into the locks, and then continued on.
The next stop was Hayzen and Igmi's multi-level tree house. It wasn't too far away, and fifteen minutes later the group arrived at the middle level of a four-story house that was buzzing with activity. Porters on the ground were nearly finished unloading a familiar wagon, and others arriving from higher in the canopy carried in the last few packages of gifts from the [king]. The house wound in a spiral about a twenty-handspan-wide tree, with windows and doors opening to multiple levels of the forest city. A shrill cry preceded Artaxes alighting on a nearby branch that extended out through the wall of the house. A formerly sleeping Bup roused in his mother's arms, and she set him down to go and greet the large eagle.
Soon, the group entered the house through a doorway about three-quarters of the way up its total height. As workers of all sorts strode in and out around them, they found that somehow Igmi and Hayzen's living room floor cushions and rugs had already been unpacked in a large open room. The group collapsed onto the familiar furniture to rest.
----------------------------------------
An hour later, as the time approached late afternoon, Kilpa requested that they move on to Drust and Tecka's home. She personally longed for her own bed the barracks after several months of travel, escorting the Brightglenns to their new home was her very last task.
As the two family's were bidding their farewells, Drust addressed his oldest nephew loud enough that everyone in the room could hear, "Falton, never forget: the system measures and quantifies capabilities—it even aids you as you grow—but one thing it cannot do. It can *not* define who you are. There are no metrics for kindness or cruelty. You choose for yourself who you will be and what you will do with the abilities you have. Anyone who tells you otherwise is damned liar." Drust spoke the last sentence with strain in his voice.
Falton nodded, humbly accepting his uncle's advice. Drust gathered up his own daughter into his arms as together, he, Lissa, and Tecka followed Kilpa through the unfamiliar trees. He hoped his nephew would truly take his advice to heart and avoid placing his entire sense of self in what power he amassed. Only time would tell; the boy would have to make those decisions for himself.
After maybe another half hour of walking, the foursome arrived at the bottom of a spiral stairwell that emerged onto the forest floor. Tecka, who was still not at home walking on the paths made of living branches, nearly kissed the leaf-littered ground in joy. They walked only a few moments more until they entered a long, wide meadow. The sound of a babbling brook murmured from out of sight nearby. At the far end, small in the distance, they could just see a lovely, moss-covered stone cottage with a smoking chimney next to a small barn. In the ten minutes it took them to walk the length of the flowering meadow, they passed the two [lowephants] who had pulled their wagons, sunning themselves in the late afternoon rays next to the bed of a shallow creek that ran near the edge of their meadow. As they neared the house, they found their flock of sheep grazing peacefully and Spot, their faithful sheepdog watching over them as a single tired [guard] that they recognized from their long journey leaned against a wall of the barn. He nodded to them as they approached, and he wearily lifted himself and began the walk toward the guard barracks within the city.
The cottage was made of the same lovely rainbow sandstone that had ringed the [king]'s garden pool and bore large shuttered windows that had been thrown open to air out the place before they arrived. The moss on the roof was interspersed with small white flowers. Kilpa opened the door for them, and the three Brightglenns stepped inside their new home.