A week later, Ranvir, Esmund, Kirs, Pashar, Ayvir, Dovar, and Sansir were following the Queen’s tethered towards the new school’s location. It didn’t seem like Grev had taken a single break since last week, and hadn’t found the time to come with them.

In the end, Amalia had joined them as well, though Ranvir would grab her once they arrived on the scene. The tethered the Queen had sent was only a second-stage and no one else knew the way on their own. Not even Pashar, who seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the nobles of Elusria.

Not even the tethered knew how long it would take them, as he hadn’t gone to the Tage estate since before his awakening. But it wasn’t a quick trip. Ranvir was surprised to find they were heading in the same general direction as Rime’s Shadow and his parents’ home.

Evening was approaching on their second night of travel, granted they’d left in the afternoon, so they hadn’t actually spent much more than a full day on travel. Ranvir shook his head as he watched the others get ahead of him. It wasn’t so long ago that he would’ve balked at traveling these distances in a single day.

The potragos and especially his powers had spoiled him rotten. Not that even these distances would be a problem once he got his started. He’d pretty much gotten the lock on stable pocket-spaces. Recreating a knotting-point to anchor the space was the most difficult as it involved multiple different techniques and knowledge of spaces.

Intense scrutiny of folds and a bit of experimentation had yielded impressive results, though. He had to fashion the structure, so every primary structure was bound into the knot. Then another set of constructions to equally distribute the mana. These were all fine, and he was doing much the same with his own pocket-spaces, just tying them into him, rather than themselves.

It was the third issue that was problematic. Stability and mana regulation. Space mana was incredibly stable, but also easy to move. Any unused mana would be snapped up by the space. If his mana didn’t automatically run perfectly, it wouldn’t fully soak into the weakened spot. At this scale, it meant weaknesses showed themselves within a few hours of creation.

Even if he managed the layout perfectly, a powerful push of his tether-sense could warp the space as well. It was pretty clear that wear and tear was the biggest weakness to a permanent space. He could always continually run maintenance, but that ran counter to the point.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a point where he could simply mimic folds. Korfiyan folds overcame the issue using pure, raw power. Ranvir wasn’t sure where they got all the mana from, but they had much more than enough of it. Wherever they originated, mana was plentiful.

It was the first time in a while that Ranvir would’ve wanted a little less control and a little more power. There simply wasn’t a way for him to compete, not compared to folds. The Orykto fold, where he’d fought Mercy’s Redoubt, had every inch saturated mana as dense as a fifteenth tier braced. That meant it was more dense with power than pretty much anywhere Ranvir’d ever been, before or since.

It was power on a mind-boggling scale. But Ranvir had a few ideas on how to circumvent the issue, though he’d need a little longer to work on it.

In the distance, he sensed the others all powering down. He frowned. For a moment, he thought something was wrong, but sensed no other people nearby. They’d passed the construction crew just before midday, as had barely seen a handful of people since.

With a flex of his power, Ranvir shifted through space. He appeared next to Kirs, as she was the most jumpy of them all. She let out a scream and jumped half a foot in the air as he appeared.

“Ranvir!” she howled, crossing her arms and turning her back on him.

“Honey,” Es said with a grin, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “You should’ve known that was coming.”

Kirs huffed and stabbed him in the side with her eerily sharp finger. Es yelped and leapt away. Sansir shook his head at their antics. Ayvir was examining the grounds and Pashar was approaching the primary structure’s facade.

The mansion was a blocky three-story tall building made of obsidian. The bottom floor had been paneled in wood, but neglect had worn away at it, revealing planks that had fallen off.

Ranvir walked over to Ayvir and followed his gaze. The courtyard had once had a thoroughfare of cobblestones, but grass and dirt had encroached on the territory. It was mostly hilly grasslands that surrounded them, though Ranvir could see a forest in the distance. He idly wondered if that was the same forest that surrounded Rime’s Shadow. If he had the time, he might go check one day.

There were a few other smaller structures sitting near the mansion. Primarily a stable with peeling paint and a door that looked to have fallen half off its hinges. The mansion’s windows were somehow all intact, though maybe it wasn’t such a big deal considering it would be a rare person who’d go out here. Even rarer would be someone who could remove them.

“Tage estate,” Ayvir muttered.

“Did you know them?” Ranvir asked. Pashar had told him a little about them. Apparently, they were hangers on to an antagonistic faction back when Ranvir was still in the academy. After the fall of their faction, the Queen had seized all of their properties and thrown them on their ass.

“Technically, they were in charge of your village,” Pashar said, approaching them from where she’d been inspecting the building.

“Oh?”

“That’s not the case anymore, of course,” she said, gesturing meaningfully around them. “But they used to hold quite a bit of sway. Other than being responsible for a large amount of Elusria’s lumber export, they also sat on a massive mine of rysten.”

Ranvir frowned, thinking of his lessons at the academy. Rysten produced smoke when put into the water. He turned to look toward Dovar, who had entered the mansion. “Maybe they have a stockpile lying around.”

“Excuse me.” It was their guide. The tethered sent by the Queen. He looked young. Almost too young to be a graduate. In fact, his spirit seemed a little unstable from his advancement still.

“Yes?” Ranvir asked.

“I’m just making sure that I finish up here properly,” he said, coughing into his hand. “The construction crew should arrive within the week and begin the conversion. They are bringing their own tethered with them, so they can harvest their own materials. They’ve already agreed on payment, so don’t bow to anything they say…” he closed one eye as if thinking hard. “I think that’s everything.” He nodded to himself.

“Very good, thank you,” Pashar said, nodding to him.

He returned the greeting before jumping onto his piece of obsidian and floating away. The young man might’ve reached the power of a second-stage tethered, but he wasn’t yet used to using his power all day and his spirit was still adapting. The rock was smaller than yesterday and it moved slower.

“I’ll go check the foundation,” Pashar said.

“And I’ll join you,” Ayvir added.

Sansir rolled his eyes and turned towards the main entrance. “I’ll go find Dovar, then.”

Es, and therefore Kirs, had already headed into the stables, so they were nowhere to be seen. Ranvir waved his arms back and forth as he watched everyone disappear. He had some experience with houses and buildings, but his work had never been better than ‘barely sloppy’.

He debated where to go when Kirs’ face suddenly appeared around the broken barn door and waved for him. Shrugging internally, he shuffled his wings and headed over to her.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Es said you should see this.” Kirs had a complicated look on her face.

Ranvir didn’t know what had gone on between Kirs and Es after their conversation in the basement underneath the wall, but they’d seemed a little tense in the days after. It was only recently that they seemed to relax a little and return to their old ways. It was oddly reassuring to see that their disagreement wouldn’t last forever.

The stable looked much like Ranvir had expected. Broken stall doors, rotten old hay, and horse dung were the only reminders of the animals who’d once spent their time there. There was a bit of riding equipment as well, though this didn’t look to have weathered the years much better than the hay had. Finally, there were the carriages.

One end of the stables had been dedicated to the horses and their maintenance, while the other had been for carriages. Most of them had clearly broken. There was a huge hole in the roof that had dislodged a support beam directly through the driver's seat. Most had lesser damage, that none the less crippled them.

Whatever paint that had once covered them was mostly worn away. Ranvir saw hints of black and gold here and there, but not much else. Both sun and snow had gotten to most of them. Animals too.

Es stood at the far end, holding a piece of thick cloth that covered what looked to be another one. Ranvir’s sense of smell dulled as he followed Kirs to her husband, the mildew scent strong enough for his Perception to react.

“What is it?” he asked, walking over next to Esmund.

The young man flicked his hand and a rainbow flash ripped the water-rotted fabric into dust and moisture, revealing the near-finish carriage-body underneath. It was missing the wheels and a few accents, but otherwise seemed mostly finished.

The paint job had mostly survived as well, cracking and peeling, but still easy to make out. Ranvir’s heart began pounding his throat as noises grew distant as he saw the emblem embossed onto the door.

A wolf’s head was half-hidden in stylized fog. Just like the emblem on their weregild received for his mother’s accident.

“It was them, wasn’t it?” Esmund asked.

Ranvir’s brow drew down momentarily before he nodded. “I’ll… I’d need to check.” A blanket layer of gray haze sprung up within Ranvir, covering all as he staggered back. He fell into the wall, the pressure against his wings grounding him ever so slightly.

There was an odd hammering against his sternum. As he pressed his hand against it, he felt the pressure of his heart racing. Es and Kirs were talking, then others had arrived. He reached out towards the carriage, seeing that symbol as if it was staring into his soul.

In the back of his mind, Ranvir heard the keening cry of a bird as the yelling grew louder. Then rain, fog, and dust overtook his vision. More noise followed, but he couldn’t figure what it was.

Then suddenly, he was empty, and reality returned in a rush. Gasping, Ranvir fell to his hands and knees, wings spread wide above him. Rain and wood splinters fell all around him as he groaned. His reserve of storm mana was entirely gone.

“Ranvir!” Es yelled, shaking him. “Are you okay? Can you hear me?”

Blinking, he looked up to see his friend’s rainbow gaze glowing intensely as their eyes met. Licking his lips, Ranvir tried to speak but couldn’t get words out. Instead, he nodded.

“Good, good,” Es said, with a measure of calm. Pashar knelt on his other side and rubbed small circles on his back between his wings.

“Deep breath in,” she followed her own instruction. Ranvir coming a step behind belatedly realizing she was telling him what to do. “And slowly out.”

As he breathed out, he sat back on his knees, straightening slightly. Pashar never once hesitated as she rubbed his back. Though he nearly lost his focus as he saw the damage he’d wrought. The stables were gone. Ripped apart. No wall remained that stood higher than his thighs.

He coughed and blinked. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to.”