After the two Elders finished hugging, the thundering apes around us all took turns gathering together and congratulating Borr on his most recent... promotion? I was more curious than ever about how Elders – and Apexes – came about, and while I was dying to ask Borr, I knew that this was a fairly closely held secret, and I did not want to give offense; the apes had been reasonably nice to us, but if that turned around, we were probably fractions of a second from being smashed.

While the various apes went about the very loud felicitations, we chatted about the spectacle we had witnessed, with Darina and the siblings comparing notes in an effort to find a common thread, a clue to the process. Despite the fairly rigorous way in which they went about it, by the end of it their best guess was that it was a natural property of the tribulation. Or, as the apprentice put it, “Maybe it’s pure luck. If so, we should beware Hunter’s ascension - if he survives that long; he’ll probably end up as some kind of double-Apex.” Her voice had been wry, much of the anger she had been directing my way due to Cad’s presence having been – at least temporarily – drained by seeing an Elder emerge into the world. From the gleam in her eyes, however, I sensed that even if it was gone for good, her curiosity in regards to the mystery that was me and my origins, had redoubled.

“Ye can say what ye will of the ascension, but ‘twas a beauty of a thing t’witness.”

I looked over at the strangely solemn looking man, whose eyes were still fixed upon the mountain, rather than where the golden-brown furred Elder stood amongst his former peers. Cad had been fairly silent – for a change – since Borr’s arrival, leaving plenty of room for the discussions, but by the time they had petered out, he seemed ready to talk again, and much more earnestly than I would normally credit him.

“It was definitely not boring. And if that was gentle, I’m not sure an ungentle one would be entirely safe to be around.”

“Might be worth it though; I’ve seen a lot in this world, Sparky; travelled more'n most, and I’ve seen some pretty spectacular things, but that was different. I’ve always cultivated because... well, 'tis what ye do, right? Ye cultivate and grow stronger, face harsher threats, feel deeper thrills?”

“I guess? I met Walker... soon, after my arrival, and it just seemed, like you say, to be the thing to do. It helps that it feels pretty good, and that I tend to run into danger. If I was how I started, now, I don’t think I’d be here. I’d have died... months ago, probably.”

“I think it’s that way f’most, Sparky. There’s some folk, in big cities who are content to grow passively, t’spend a hundred years here or there relaxin’ as they creep t’ward Ascension. After seein’ that, Sparky, I want to see what it’s like in it, on the other side o’ it.”

I blinked over at him as I took that in; I had never really thought about the different way people cultivated. I knew I was progressing quickly, and from what I had seen, Darina was also well ahead of the curve. I had no idea how old Reff and Riffa actually were, so it was tough to determine where they lay.

“Well, you’re somewhere in Foundation at the moment, right?”

“I’ve stood at the cusp of Pinnacle for ‘bout a decade, Sparky. Long way t’go, if most others I’ve met are a thing t’go by.”

“You’re on the edge of Pinnacle? Wow, that’s impressive. I think. How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Two-hundred and fifty, so I’m ahead o’many, though behind a few. Right bastard, this last step is.”

I did not think I had ever heard anyone describe what exactly the final step to reach the Pinnacle was; the cultivation loop seems to be something along the lines of, ‘get a thing and fill it in, and then do that again’. Focus, fill it in, then fill you Core. Exemplar, fill that in and build your foundation. The last step being a single thing seemed to be an outlier. Luckily, unlike the step to Apex, this did not seem to be a secret, so much as it was so relatively uncommon because most people simply had not reached the point they needed to know.

“What is the final step? Pinnacle doesn’t seem to match the way the other stages work.”

As I asked the question, I felt my other companions still, and I caught them turning from the celebration to follow the conversation, and intent look on their faces – especially the particularly driven apprentice.

With a smile, Cad pulled his gaze away from the mountain and gave me a wink before turning back to his contemplation. For a moment, I did not think he was going to answer, that perhaps it was a secret, but as the tension built in me, and I finally began to consider an apology, he finally spoke, restrained laughter colouring his words.

“It being a single stage is a misconception, far as I can tell, Sparky. Just like the previous levels o’cultivation, ye have to build a thing and then fill yer third energy centre up, but unlike the others, ye don’t really gain a thing from the building, other than access I mean. It doesn’ change ye, like yer Focus or yer Exemplar. Of course, I could be wrong, as I’ve failed t’build th’damn thing t’now.”

“My Master said it was a question, but I would not really understand until I had answered it.”

“With well-hidden eagerness, our elder brother has said similar things, though he did say that we would also need to know, and be master of ourselves in our entirety, to answer it.”

My eyes flicked between Darina and Reff, who both showed eagerness, though to varying degrees; I guessed that my earlier supposition had been wrong, that while it did not seem to be a taboo, the answer on how to step onto the Pinnacle may just be more arcane than the others. Harder to boil down into simple terms.

“I’d not heard that before, me thanks to ye both. Not sure how much it’ll help w’pluggin’ the damn hole, but what ye’ve said is certainly itchin’ at somethin’ in me brain.”

Cad offered a nod of thanks in their direction, his expression turning thoughtful. I almost let the matter drop, as it seemed that the normally jovial man has almost as little idea as the rest of us, but something he had said was tugging at my own curiosity.

“Hole?”

“Hmm? Didn’ I say, Sparky? The thing ye have t’build to reach th’Pinnacle, it’s a plug for a great gapin’ hole in the third energy centre. Ye can try cultivatin’ without pluggin’ it, but the energy jus’ drains right out.”

That was definitely something I wanted to ask Walker about when I had chance; everything before Pinnacle was pretty straight forward, but it sounded like that final step required some insights, and given my limited exposure to the world, that held the potential to be harder for me than it would otherwise be. Which made me recall something else Cad had said, and which actually might make my alien nature moot.

“Wait, two-hundred and fifty? You look great.”

Despite my recent expose to the time scales my new home lived by, it was still kind of shocking to meet somebody that old. Cad however gave me a weird look, and I cursed myself again for being weirder than I strictly speaking had to be.

“Uh, thanks, Sparky, but should I not? Still a young man, I am.”

“With careful interjection, I myself am only two-hundred years old, and my sister is-”

“In quick interruption, my age is not important, brother. I do not think age matters.”

My eighty-two years did not seem like so much, when stacked up against my ancient companions, though I did suppose that at least I out-aged Darina. As if that was a good thing. For one fleeting second, I felt the urge to say something about her being the baby of the group, but for once wisdom won out, and I restrained myself.

Grinning at my own thoughts, I turned to Riffa who was giving the risi equivalent of a glare to her brother.

“I think you’re right, actually, Riffa. When somebody can live for thousands of years, what’s a century or two?”

*

***

*

By the time the apes were done congratulating Borr – which apparently involved a great deal of roaring and hopping up and down, it was starting to get late, but as the crowd finally began to disperse, I made my way between the remaining behemoths to his side to wish him a heart congratulations.

“Borr! Congratulations! From what I hear, Elders are pretty rare!”

“That's what they tell me, human. As far as I’m aware, we’re the first tribe in the forest to end up with two Elders, so you could be right.”

I felt my mouth fall open slightly as Borr spoke in whatever the common tongue was - I had never actually asked – without a trace of difficulty or hesitation. I supposed he had already understood me when I had been speaking, so it was not too huge a leap, but even so, it was kind of impressive to see somebody go from incredibly loud roaring to fluent... language... so quickly. Now, I realise that ‘impressive’ is kind of a relative word after having seen the display I had that day, but it is sometimes weird, the way we react.

“Honoured Elder Borr, is my honour to have witnessed your ascension.”

I saw the apprentice’s torso drop into a low bow, her head dipping below her waist, one hand clasped inside the other. Borr seemed kind of embarrassed by the act, his now dark-grey-rimmed-by-vivid-blue eyes looking away from the bowing woman.

“It’s actually, ‘Cloudbringer’ now. Tradition in the forest is to take a new name.”

There was a palpable silence from our resident Sha Forest expert, and from the look on her face, I could tell she had not known this little facet of tradition, though if Elders emerging was as rare as it was made out to be, that was no surprise to me. Most of the Elders had probably been named that way for longer than she had been alive.

“With kind assertion, that is a fine name, Honoured Elder Cloudbringer.”

Reff – who was a few feet taller than the new Elder – also bowed, though given the height discrepancy, avoiding looking at this one seemed to be more difficult for Borr – or Cloudbringer.

“With appropriate formality,” Riffa’s eyes flicked to her brother and back, as if in admonition, though it did not interrupt her words. “The Stonebinder clan, and the entire people of the Blacksand Citadel bid the new Elder welcome to the world.”

“Yes. Well. Thank you? Anyway, did you pay the Boss his tax? He was really very keen on it, talked about it for days afterwards. Named me, ‘Head of Fruit Acquisition.’” The golden-brown furred Elder let out a sigh, looking around and craning his neck.

“The extra sense is great and all, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to being this short. I thought it would be fun, but I don’t know how you little people do it. The Boss made the right decision, just the right amount of short.”

I had to stop myself from snorting at the idea of a ten-foot-tall person being ‘short’, but I supposed that when starting at thirty-feet, ten was indeed pretty short. His words did however bring up a question in my mind that I had not really thought of before.

“He’s still your boss then? How does rank work when you have multiple Elders in one clan?”

“It doesn’t happen often, human, but when it does, they usually split off to form their own clan. But not me; the Boss is the Boss. Born on the same day, feet from each other. He’s my best friend, and I’d no more leave him behind than I would my arm. Oh, uh... sorry.”

I waved the remark about arms away – with my remaining one; I understood the sentiment, and it was kind of beautiful to me. I had not had a lot of friends in my previous life, but the ones I had, I had been fiercely loyal to. I also appreciated that Cloudbringer’s voice was more on the human scale than a hurricane’s; I liked the thundering apes, they seemed life-loving and earnest, but they certainly lived up to their names. They are loud.