Two cups of steaming tea and a quick power nap later, and Kya was trying on her brand new cloak. She wasn’t sure how, but Merivan had changed the colors of the cloak, which shouldn’t have been possible with mundane means and such a short time period, but… Merivan was hardly a mundane person.
It was now a rich and mottled dark blue, resembling the night sky if there weren't any stars. Directly in the center of the back was a thin, radiant white circle. Looking in the mirror, she admired how the deep blue contrasted with her rose colored eyes. She also liked the clasp connecting it just under her collarbone, a small and faintly glowing sapphire gemstone setting off even more, all of it working together to create a stunning effect.
It was so entrancing, she was even able to look past the fact that she was, in fact, wearing a cloak. The material was soft and light, the hood was large, and swallowed her head when she put it up just like she preferred. It draped down to just past her knees, letting her move completely unrestricted and fitting her perfectly. But… It was a cloak. She couldn’t help but feel like she was going to attend a comicon event or something.
“Let me see your star” Merivan ordered, not really leaving it as a choice for Kya. Raising her right hand, she willed her seven leafed flower to appear on her hand.
“Hm, not nearly as distasteful as some of those War or Death stars” She said, and Kya wasn’t entirely sure if it was directed at her, or if she was just talking to herself.
Taking out a stamp almost identical to the one they had used at the guild hall, she pressed it to her hand for a moment before moving over to a desk with a large thin round sheet of oily metal. The moment the stamp touched down, the oil started to shift and move like water coming to a boil, as the colors and shape began to take form.
Watching with wrapped attention, Kya saw her star take shape on the piece of metal, now expanded to the size of a dinner plate. Taking the sheet it one hand, Merivan spun Kya around with the other, and then slammed the metal disk into her back.
“Ow, what the hell?” Exclaimed Kya, stumbling forward from the force of the blow.
“It can’t truly be yours without a bond, obviously… and it looks like the pattern took, despite your flailing around like a three winged isela.” respond Merivan in a musing tone
Taking off the cloak, and looking at the back, she saw the silver white circle was now a ring around her star crest, now prominently displayed on the back.
- - - - -
- Item: Kya’s Cloak of Adventure
- Rarity: 1-Star - Rare, Soul-Bound
- Description: Made by an expert seamstress, the cloak has been enhanced beyond the materials used to craft it. It will completely or partially nullify weaker attacks and basic forms of magic. Additionally enhances any spatial ability used by the wearer.
- Enchantments: Spatial Affinity, Self-Repair, Self-Cleaning, Mana Resistance-Weak
- Requirements: Can only be used by you.
- - - - -
Item {Kya’s Cloak of Adventure} bares your personal crest, and is available for a soul bond. Would you like to bind {Kya’s Cloak of Adventure}?
(Yes)/(No)
- - - - -
Merivan had been watching her closely while she read, and the moment Kya looked up, said immediately “You have an identification skill.”
It wasn’t a question, but Kya still wanted to answer in hopes of getting a little bit more information from her “Yes, do you as well?”
“Of course I do, I’m a scholar.”
“Speaking of scholars-”
“Have you identified me?” She asked, her right eyebrow creeping up and a smile playing at her lips.
“It seemed like a good idea” Kya said with an awkward shrug
She simply laughed and said “You’re wondering about my class?”
“I thought it could only be one of the twelve, I wasn’t aware of others.” Kya breathed out, relieved she hadn’t made some faux pas to upset the older woman. She couldn't quite get a read on Merivan, but liked that about her.
“How new to all of this are you girl?” She scoffed, “It’s because I have a subclass.”
Kya had read briefly about subclasses, but like everything else beyond the basics, it had been frustratingly vague in the books she’d found in the guild library.
“How do you get a subclass?” Asked Kya, carrying the cloak over to one of the plush couches and collapsing down with a huff.
“After you’ve gotten past the first barrier, and gotten a more stable grasp on your abilities, you can use a second class item the same way you did the first time around. However, due to the rarity of class items in general, and the niche of getting a second class anyway, most people never bother with it.” Merivan paused for a moment to sip at the glass of wine she definitely hadn’t been holding a moment before. “That’s an excellent vintage. Anyway, that’s why I have a strange class title. When you get a subclass, it combines the two aspects, your primary class being first, and sub class being second.”
“So then, scholar of tera would make you knowledge first, and earth second?” Kya said, looking for confirmation.
“Precisely, Kya the Spatial User.” She said with a sly smile, and a wink. “But enough of that, I’m tired of simply giving away information that I had to work for.” She started making a shooing motion with a gloved hand “Go on. I have actual customers due soon, and if Smiths wakes up and finds us talking over wine, he’ll think we’re conspiring.”
“What? Conspiring to do what?” Asked Kya as she got up and moved towards the door.
“Oh, gods only know with that man. I’ve been a researcher and crafter for the better part of a century, and no matter how hard I work or what topics I study, I’ve never become fluent in idiocy.”
With both women stifling chuckles, Kya opened the door to the calm cool night and was about to step out, when she turned.
“One last thing, about the cloak.”
“Alright, fine, but be quick about it. Every word from here on out is an extra feron on the bill when you return.”
“Soul Bond?”
“What about it”
"What is it”
Merivan chuckled “It’ll never happen without your knowledge and consent. Your soul won’t allow it. It’s pretty simple, it means an object will be totally and forever yours. Do with that what you will, now, I’m going to go wake my husband, so be off with you.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“I thought you had customers due soon?”
“Oh I have time enough, trust me.” She drained her glass, gave one final knowing smile at Kya, then closed the door.
Alone, the three moons shining overhead, apparently that hadn’t been a hallucination from the spider venom, Kya looking down at her embossed cloak, with its exquisite craftsmanship and beautiful star symbol marking it as hers.
“Thank you, Merivan.” Kya whispered into the night.
Sticking her head out of a second story window, merivan replied “You’re quite welcome, and just call me Meri from now on, now scram kid.” An instant later, her head withdrew, giving Kya the impression of a meerkat poking its head out of the ground.
- - - - -
Item {Kya’s Cloak of Adventure} bares your personal crest, and is available for a soul bond. Would you like to bind {Kya’s Cloak of Adventure}?
(Yes)/(No)
- - - - -
“Yes”
~ ~ ~
The ship slowly docked at the southern port in Loterre, as the crew threw out ropes to tie it down. It was at this exact moment that Sayrin awoke from his long slumber.
He knew it would take them a bit longer to get back to Loterre as compared to sailing for Lyra. The whole of the Tibernus sea lay between the two cities, and that was no small lake to cross. If not for the fortified and powerful ship, the leviathans would have been a major concern, still were a concern regardless.
However, after only a day on the fastest ship in the Loterren fleet, they had completed their voyage. Sarees, Platees, and Larian hung in the sky, all three nearly full tonight, with only Larian definitely still waxing with its dull green light. Sayrin saw them from the window of his cabin. Saw the workers tying down the ship. Saw his men disembark with Wade and Alrdin in chains, hands bound to their backs.
These coming days were going to be difficult, more difficult than any in the past couple of years. He knew this. He knew he would have to face his actions. He always did.
Slowly, he too disembarked from the sleek war vessel that had ferried them, and began a deliberately meandering walk to his home. He would stop in and see his wife and son, at least, before reporting to Orrin. Familial duties were a cornerstone of their society, and it was almost illegal to keep a man from his family, or at least his spouse. Even when deployed to war, any soldier was entitled to take their spouses with them, and ask for housing and food.
Some time later, as the largest moon, Sarees, fled beyond the horizon, he pushed open his bedroom door and saw his wife standing at the window, humming softly as she oiled the strings on her beloved instrument. .
She looked up sharply, however, at the sound of the door, and her silver eyes went wide at the sight of him. When was the last time she had seen him and greeted him with warmth? Damn woman, she had said she’d understood, she knew what it meant to be with him.
“I’m home” He said roughly, walking over to embrace her. She flinched back slightly at his touch, but let him wrap his arms around her, eventually embracing him in return.
“Welcome home. We missed you while you were away.” She said, her voice calm, but her muscles taut.
Releasing her and sitting down on the edge of the large bed they shared, he said “How is he?”
She turned her back to him, and slowly kept working at the small knobs on the neck of her instrument, occasionally plucking at a string, before continuing to adjust.
Speaking slightly louder, he asked again “How is he, Mata”
She replied, her voice as light and elegant as the day they’d first met. Her accent had faded with time, but still gave a slight music to the cadence of her words “What do you want me to say? That he’s doing fine? That he’s recovering well? He’s not, Palorie, he’s barely recovering. The healers all say it should be getting noticeably better, but he still walks with a cane and favors one leg to the other. It’s a miracle they were able to restore the leg at all. Be patient and let him heal, please.”
He stood, and she shrunk back slightly, but nevertheless gazed at him with fierce silver eyes. Walking over, he placed his hands gently on her shoulders, and began to massage the knots in the muscles he felt. His touch so soft, so tender, he could feel her begin to relax under his hands.
“I understand, Mata. I do. But he only has a few more weeks of leave before he’ll be compelled to return, healed or not. I’m going to speak with him, see what I can do.”
“No! Palorie, no, please.” Cried Mata, turning and grabbing his hands in hers, her precious instrument falling to the carpeted floor. “He needs rest, it is late. Come and rest, you always feel better after you’ve slept.”
“I slept on the ship.” He said quietly. “I… I had to, Mata. I tried to stay awake as long as I could, but… I couldn’t make it.”
A complex series of expressions played across her gentle face. Ultimately, it settled on upturned eyebrows, and a glimmer of worry crossing over her eyes.
Guiding him back over to the bed, she sat down, his hand in hers, and she said “Come, tell me, what happened over your trip.
After explaining the whole thing, Mata rubbed his back with three of her fingers, sending shivers down his spine. Somehow, it felt worse when she treated him with affection than it did when she greeted him with disdain.
“I’m surprised you didn’t kill him” She whispered into the near pitch black of the room. By now the other two had joined Sarees, plunging the world into the void hour before the suns rose in the east. “I don’t blame you for losing control, I mean… a new spatial user?”
If nothing else, Mata shared or even surpassed him in her hatred of the users of space. “I can’t believe you let her go. Guild rules be damned, you should have brought her here to face justice.”
“That’s what I intend to do. After I see him, and I am seeing him mata” he added quickly as she started to protest, “I’m reporting to Orrin what all happened. He needs to know of these events, and hopefully he can simply reassign Wade and Aldrin.”
She was silent for a long time, simply breathing next to him as they sat together.
“Are you not going to tell him what you did?”
Shaking his head, he replied “No. He doesn’t need to know, and so long as those two are given a simple punishment detail and then allowed to carry on, their momentum won’t even be stalled. Wade might even earn her second star during her punishment detail.”
“That’s not right, Palorie Sayad, and you know it. The man I married-”
“The man you married is doing what he needs to do to keep you in this place.” He said firmly, standing from the bed. “Unless you want to dismiss the servants and return to the lives we once led, you’ll make your peace with it. Now its time I move along.”
With that, he left his wife alone in the bed, head in her hands. At least she wasn’t crying this time. At least he hadn’t given her too much reason to cry. This was far from the worst conversation they’d had, and it had even been sweet at times. Sayrin considered this a good sign, and then banished the thoughts from his head.
Making his way down the hall, servants moving aside and lowering their heads, he pushed open his eldest son's door, and beheld the sunken eyed, weakened frame illuminated by a single red glowstone in the ceiling.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he brushed some of the black locks out of his eyes. His touch again was so gentle, it was almost as though he was afraid to touch his own child.
The golden eyes of his boy fluttered open and as he took in his father, he sucked in a sharp breath.
“Father!” He scrambled, trying to sit up. “Wh-wh-what are you doing back here so soon?” He said, trying to speak and gulp at the same time.
“Hello, Carcelo. Please, lay back down, you’ll make it worse if you keep struggling like that.” Said Sayrin, softly but firmly pushing his son back down into the bed. “How’s your leg?”
Carcelo finally managed to gulp, and then looked down at his leg, elevated on a pillow and wrapped in fine white linen “It’s better, father. Everyday it gets a little better. I should be able to return to the ring soon, to fight with you again.” He said this last part with a strange mix of emotions coloring his voice. Like he wasn’t sure if any of that was truly what he wanted, but what he thought he wanted.
Sighing, Sayrin just nodded. “Good, we’ll need you to be at full strength. We found a spatial User in Lyra.”
Carcelo went perfectly still, not a hair moving, not even a vein seeming to pulse. “Father.” New conviction entering his voice “I’ll be ready to leave as soon as you need me.” The look in his eyes had now changed completely from conflicted resignation to determination.
“Good. I’ll test you when we get back to see if you’re ready. Have the servants make your pre-duel meal, and meet me in the training grounds at noon.”
“Yes father, absolutely Thank you for this chance, I won't let you down like... like last time.”
As he closed the door behind him, Sayrin breathed out a long breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
He loved his wife; he loved his sons and his daughter all. They were all so precious to him. He would have to treat Cal more gently in the arena than before. He might even let him score a few hits if needed, whatever would boost his morale.
No matter what, it would not… could not go the way it had last time. When the nightmares had started whispering and he’d taken it too far. When he’d slightly lost control.
He took in another breath as Blue's light broke the horizon, and began to flash towards the high terraces of the central city.