Tala was looking around for Master Grediv, when a loud voice shouted from the balcony just as it had when Tala arrived with the now missing Paragon, “Brother!”

The proclamation was followed by Furgal jumping over the railing and dropping towards the ground.

As Furgal landed, magics from his staff cushioned the fall.

Tala rolled her eyes and spoke under her breath, “Oh, yes. Watch out! It’s that one guy.”

Rane had been frowning, but when he heard her, he had to suppress a smile, seeming barely able to contain his laughter. “Should I hit him like sixty-five times?”

Tala glanced toward Rane and frowned. “Do you really need more than one?”

Rane did bark a laugh at that before patting her on the shoulder—the one Terry wasn’t on—and turning to his brother. “What do you want, Furgal?”

Tala examined Rane’s older brother and had to reassess. One punch from Rane would likely kill the simple Mage, and that would be less than ideal.

What even are his magics? It seems like his only inscriptions are his keystone, a weak version of magesight, and scripts for connecting to the staff. She frowned. That can’t be good for him, basing so much of his magic outside his body?

-Yeah, it has to have stunted his growth. Is that some sort of trap? Someone malicious gave that to him?-

Who knows? It’s probably worse though.

-Worse?-

Yeah, it was probably someone who thought they were being helpful.

Furgal bowed towards Tala. “My apologies, Mistress, for this unseemly display. This is the second time that I have shamed my House before you.”

Tala felt something visceral shift within her, and she was suddenly breathing heavily, her hand drifting towards Flow and her eyes flicking towards the various exits, looking for an escape route.

-Tala. Tala! You are back in the human lands. He doesn’t mean ‘House’ that way.-

With great effort, and Alat’s help, Tala was able to pull herself back from the brink much more rapidly than should have been possible.

Even so, by the time she refocused on the conversation, it seemed like Rane and Furgal had been speaking back and forth for a bit and hadn’t noticed her reaction at all.

Furgal’s face was red, and he gesticulated as he almost shouted, “Enough! This farce has gone on long enough. You stole my master, now you are leaving with him again? You keep him from taking me on as he rightly should, as I rightly deserve. I will not have it.”

“Furgal, Master Grediv picks his students. No one can force his choice.”

Furgal lifted the staff. “Yet, I have the staff. I was chosen for the staff, for his tutelage.”

Rane growled. “But not by him. Both of us have tried to explain that that staff, without guidance, is ruining you. I understand why you ignore me, but why won’t you listen to him?”

“He just wants to give it to you, since he’s stuck with you.”

“Furgal. This is ridiculous. Why can’t—”

The older brother cut across Rane, "I challenge you to a duel."

Rane just shook his head, one hand rubbing his own face in exasperation. “Again? Really?"

"Of course! I will continue to challenge you until you see your lack. The fact that you are so poorly able to deal with me, a mere Mage, while being so far more advanced proves how unworthy you are."

Wait, is he serious? Tala felt her incredulity paint her features. If Rane wanted, he could kill Furgal with ease. Of course, it’s hard to beat a stubborn opponent into submission when you greatly overpower them. Doing it with anything less than perfect care could kill.

Rane sighed. "I beat you every day, Furgal, multiple times a day when you’re being particularly stubborn. This is getting exhausting, and honestly, it's a bit sad." He then continued in a mutter, showing that he was thinking along the same lines as Tala, “Of course, it isn’t fast. I don’t want to obliterate you… well, I want to, but I won’t.”

Tala hid her grin and didn’t comment. I knew it.

Furgal just shook his head. "Your cowardice disgraces us all. Fight me."

"No. We're leaving now. Goodbye, Furgal." Shaking his head, Rane moved back towards Tala and the exit.

The older Mage slammed the staff into the ground, magic rippling outwards. “While I hold this staff, I am heir apparent. You will not leave unless I allow it!”

Rane turned back, giving his brother an incredulous look. “You can’t be serious. Are you threatening to… what? Kick me out of the House? Master Grediv would never let it stand.”

“He would not deny the very rules he set up. Fight me, or be unwelcome within these walls.”

Rane growled, clearly nearing the edge of his considerable patience. “Are you sure you wish to do this, brother?”

“I am utterly firm in my conviction. You are unworthy to be Master Grediv’s pupil. I will never stop until he recognizes that.”

Under his breath, Rane muttered, “Then you will never stop.” He shook his head, continuing quietly, “That staff is holding you back, brother. This is for your own good.”

Rane sighed, nodding and seeming to be psyching himself up for something.

In a louder voice, he spoke into the air, “Master Grediv, how much do you care about that staff?”

A brief instant of silence was broken by a disembodied voice, “It’s a priceless heirloom, passed down through generations of our family, and should never be misused or abused.”

Furgal gave a triumphant smile. “The ancestor’s will has been—"

Master Grediv continued, utterly uncaring that he spoke over Furgal, “But since it is already being ill-used, I don’t much care what becomes of it. It’s ruined.”

Before Furgal could fully register the words, Rane had covered half the length of the hall to stand before his brother. With almost casual slowness, bordering on what a mundane could perceive, he punched the staff.

Tala, with her always active magesight, saw a very odd thing.

Rane stole the kinetic energy from his own punch as it landed, splitting it into thirds.

One third stayed where he struck, acting as expected, and the remainder was applied elsewhere on the staff, one third at each end, aimed in the opposite direction of his punch.

It was an incredibly effective technique, and Tala couldn’t help but wonder how it could be used against a human opponent.

-Not now, Tala.-

I know, I know.

Furgal’s eyes had just begun to widen as the staff shattered in his hand. The magical power that had been built up within the staff popped and fizzled in the air as a dispersing cloud.

Rane’s voice rang out clearly, causing Tala to notice the others who had been watching from the upper balcony, as they shifted with obvious discomfort, “You were passed over due to your own failings, Furgal. Learn from that harsh lesson—and this one—or wallow in mediocrity and a short life. I no longer care which. The choice is yours.” Without another glance at his brother, Rane turned and walked the twenty or so feet back to Tala.

The older Mage simply stared at his now empty hand in abject disbelief. Even the fragments of the staff had dissipated along with the power that had once filled them.

Rane crossed that distance quite quickly for his strike.

-You’re still thinking of sparring against him, aren’t you.- It wasn’t a question.

Maybe, but not right now. You’re right that it isn’t the time.

When Rane returned to her side, Tala raised an eyebrow and teased, “Just a punch? Not your sword?”

He shrugged. “First of all, you were the one who suggested using one punch.”

She laughed. “I suppose I did.”

“Second, no Archon worth their metal uses Force on a simple Mage.”

Tala simply stared at him for a long moment. Did he just…?

-I think he did. The madman.-

Rane stood straight for most of that moment under her gaze, but finally hunched beneath her scrutiny.

She shook her head and snorted a laugh. “How long have you been saving that line?”

He chuckled a little. “Quite a while actually.”

“Well… try it again some other time.”

“Fine.” Rane groused a bit, but he was doing a bad job of hiding his smile.

Master Grediv was suddenly standing beside them, a neutral look across his features. “Are you both ready?”

They nodded.

Tala glanced back towards Furgal, who seemed even more shocked than before, if that was possible. He was still just regarding his own hand.

Tala felt a bit bad about the situation. “Is that going to be okay?”

“Hmm?” Master Grediv glanced the Mage’s way. “Oh, certainly. The staff was a training aid that took impressions of each student I trained in order to improve in the process with the next. He was given it years too early, without my guidance, and his use had spoiled the thing for future generations, I’m afraid.”

“Huh… alright then.” Who was she to argue with the Paragon?

Master Grediv motioned, and the doors swung open. “Shall we?”

Tala was about to agree, when she remembered something. “Oh! Ummm… One moment.”

She walked over to the side of the entry hall and pulled empty plates and platters out of Kit, one after another.

It was enough that even those up on the balcony took notice and susurrations moved through the watchers.

Finally, Tala was done, and she walked back over to Rane and Master Grediv.

Rane was covering his own mouth, suppressing his mirth, and Master Grediv had one eyebrow arched. “Are you quite finished, Mistress Tala?”

“I am. Thank you.”

“Then, let us be off.”

A short time later, Tala, Rane, Master Grediv, and Terry exited Alefast, heading towards Bandfast.

Tala was a bit sad that she couldn’t drop through and see Artia and her family, but there simply wasn’t time. I’ll have to come back. I think I promised Lyn that I’d bring her at some point.

-You did. It would probably be good for Kannis, too.-

Oh, right! I’d say I forgot about her, but that’s not really possible.

-She wasn’t on your mind?-

Yeah, that’s probably a reasonable way to say it.

The terrain and feel of the land outside the city were hauntingly familiar to Tala, and she almost asked to go over to the endingberry grove that she knew was nearby.

She didn’t need the endingberries, she had an orchard's worth within her sanctum, but she felt a nostalgic desire to go and see the place where she had first gathered more than a couple of the little bundles of power.

Now was hardly the time, however, so she satisfied herself by pulling out some from Kit and popping them into her mouth.

The taste was amazing, and the power washed through her in ripples. It was so little when compared with the tide that was already within her. Still, it was another source of power, and she was loathe to pass up on any little boost that she could.

With practiced precision, she guided the endingberries’ power to the proper scripts, reinforcing the inscriptions and her own natural magics.

Then, with her mouth cleared of the beneficial power, she bit down on the seeds all at once.

A slow count of three later, an explosion of power tried to disintegrate her head from the mouth outward.

Instead, Tala pulled in a deep breath and forced that hostile power into her own lungs where immaculate scripts contained it.

There, within her own lungs, she forcefully twisted the spellform, using her magesight to see exactly what she was doing and her will to enact the desired change.

Easier than ever.

-What did you expect?-

Tala wasn’t sure. As she considered, she thought that a part of her viewed the endingberries as alien, as other. The dasgannach.

The new soulbound was influencing her at a fundamental level, as expected, and she had had no time to actually analyze all the changes.

This is going to take a long time to get used to.

-And lots of experimenting to suss out the details.-

That’s the truth.

But she’d let her mind wander, so she brought herself back to the moment.

Master Grediv and Rane were chatting about random things, seemingly not too bothered by her silence.

Terry had flickered away, and Tala could sense ripples of dimensional power that signified the terror bird was hunting across the surrounding landscape.

When his conversation with Master Grediv came to a natural pause, Rane glanced Tala’s way. “He’s gotten a lot more independent.”

She shrugged. “He had to. I was… not myself for around half a year.”

Rane winced at that. “I’m so sorry, Tala. We did look for you. After you vanished from the caravan…”

She blinked. “Oh! I didn’t even think of that. Did everyone get to Arconaven alright?”

“Yeah. Mistress Odera told me about it when I caught up to her. They booked it, when you were found to be gone that morning. Mistress Odera and a group of Arcane Hunters from Arconaven came back to the campsite after the caravan was safe and searched for you more extensively, but they couldn't find even a trace.” He grimaced. “That’s when she sent me a message. It took me nearly two weeks to get to Arconaven to join in the search, but as is rather obvious, we never found you, not even a trace.”

Tala didn’t really know how to take that. They were trying to find me, at least at first. Rather than trying to figure out how to address any part of that, she shifted the subject. “How is Mistress Odera? She hasn’t responded to my information packet, yet.”

“She… she isn’t doing too well. When she stopped searching for you, she seemed to lose her purpose, her drive. Last time I was in Bandfast to see Mistress Lyn, Mistress Aproa, and the others, I stopped by her home. She just sits in her garden all day. Mistress Aproa spends as much time as she can between assignments, and Mistress Odera gives her advice on the mageling who Mistress Aproa took on. That, at least, seems to make the old lady smile.” He grinned at the last.

Tala smiled in return. “Oh? I’d thought Mistress Aproa was against getting a mageling.”

“She was, but apparently she came around to the idea.” Rane shrugged. “I think Master Cazor had a hand in that discussion, but I wasn’t there, so I’m not sure.”

Tala was about to ask further when Master Grediv interjected. They’d walked nearly a mile from the Alefast wall by that point. “Mistress Tala, how did you travel on your way here?”

She shrugged. “I ran, mostly.” After a moment’s hesitation. “No, I ran the whole way, there wasn’t a ‘mostly’ involved.” She chuckled a bit awkwardly after she answered.

“Ahh, well, then we’ll have to use other methods. While that might work, I think we should take a less strenuous means. Are you willing?”

“Of course. I think I’ve had my fill of running cross-country for the next year or so at least.”

The Paragon smiled. “Very well. I am happy to provide an alternative.”

Without a specific explanation, he reached into thin air and pulled out a large sapphire disc. It was easily ten feet across and half-a-foot thick.

It was dense with magic.

“Before you ask, no, I’m not bonded to this, but yes, I do like the color.”

Rane grinned, and Tala chuckled.

“Shall we?”

Tala looked toward where she felt Terry last. “Terry!”

The terror bird flickered into being beside Tala, bent low but still taller than her.

“Do you want to travel in Kit? Or ride with us or…?”

Terry glanced toward the sapphire disc that was now hovering just off the ground, Master Grediv and Rane already waiting atop it.

The avian squawked disinterestedly then nosed her pouch.

“In Kit it is.” She grinned and opened her Sanctum so Terry could flicker in.

Without another word, she stepped up beside the two men.

“Let’s away.”

Master Grediv nodded, and Tala felt his power flexing around them, layering them in a cocoon of sorts.

Its shape was reminiscent of the form she’d given her aura to reduce her magical resonance. “Oh! Is this more aerodynamic? Or… magic-dynamic? No, that’s not a good term.”

Master Grediv smiled. “I understand your meaning, and yes, Mistress Tala. This is the best-known shape for an aura or isolation field to reduce magical resonance.” He glanced toward Rane. “I recommend that you both study it while we travel.”

They both nodded.

“Then, let’s be off.”

The disc rose up into the air about a hundred feet and took off, just slower than Tala had been running through the plains.

Even being a bit slower, and with a perfectly designed isolation cocoon, Tala could tell that they were pushing up against the edge of magical resonance.

Master Grediv sighed. “This is slower than I’d have liked, but not by much. We’ll make good time.”

Tala nodded and smiled. “Better than running. Thank you.”

“Certainly, Mistress Tala. I am happy to oblige.”

Tala began thinking of all those she was going to see, and all those that she would still need to reach out to, outside of Bandfast. Mostly, that was her family.

OH! Alat?

-Yeah, I just noticed. It’s Nalac and Illie’s birthday.- The messages that she’d received from the twins before being taken had always been established from their end, and she simply responded. The last message from them sat in her Archive; she’d never responded. In looking at that message, she was the only one able to access it within the Archive, so she didn’t really know how to go about responding. Huh, I didn’t actually realize that before.

“Master Grediv?”

“Yes?”

“If I wanted to send a message to the Academy, specifically two students, how would I do that?”

“Oh!” He thought for a moment. “Here, I will grant you access to a repository. Place your letter within that, clearly labeled for the recipient, and it will get to them.”

“Today?”

After a moment’s thought, or some form of investigation, Master Grediv nodded. “Yes. Barring unforeseen issues, it should reach them at dinner mail-call. This is assuming you don’t take too long. They are further ahead than we are, time wise.”

Tala suppressed the bad memories that she had associated with dinner mail-call and smiled. “Thank you.”

Let’s get to it. How much time do we have?

-Less than an hour, to be safe. We should be good for two, but it would be quite frustrating to finish and not be able to deliver it.-

That’s the truth. Tala began thinking on what to say and realized that it had been nearly a year since she’d seen them, and their last message to her had asked for her help.

I never replied. I thought I’d have time in Arconaven.

-Tala, you couldn’t have known.-

But I should have prioritized them when I could.

-Well? You can now.-

Yes. Yes I can. First, she’d check on their fundamental understandings. That was a recurring issue the first few years at the Academy, and a fairly safe place to begin.

With that as a place to start, Tala quickly sat and worked with Alat to compose a letter to each of her two siblings for their birthday.