Millennial Mage

Tala had pushed herself up to her hands and knees before she remembered that she was still unclothed.

With an act of will, a small portal opened beside the small of her back, and her elk leathers grew back across her skin, pulling her various accessories—including Flow—out along with it.

A moment later, she was outfitted as she usually preferred to be, even while still kneeling.

She’d even replaced her iron to rebuild up her pressure-cooking. The Baba Yaga had shown that she still had room to grow.

-I don’t know that more power would have made a difference?-

Well, it wouldn’t have hurt, and it’s not like I can work on other aspects at the moment.

-Fair, fair.-

Rane landed beside her, stopping instantaneously and without even ruffling her hair with the speed of his arrival, though his clothes had whipped around a bit in the wind of his passage. “Are you going to be alright? Alat and Enar have been keeping me in the loop.”

Tala grimaced, then pushed herself to her feet. She did not want to be kneeling at the moment. “I’m… I’m going to be alright. That creature was”—she breathed out a long breath—“she was a rusting pain to fight.”

“That’s the truth. I could tell that the one I was fighting wasn’t real, but the energy in her attacks was real enough, so I couldn’t just ignore her. What was with her aura? Her authority?”She groaned. “Like water, flowing around any attempt to push it back. I think we might have been able to hold her at bay if we pushed back uniformly in all directions at once, but I don’t know that I’ve ever done that.”

“Exactly, yeah. I thought we were pushing out uniformly with our auras in all directions… it seems I was mistaken.”

“You and me both. In considering it, though, I think I have simply been reaching outward generally, and letting my aura balloon from there.”

Rane pointed at her with excitement on his face. “Exactly, yes! It’s like a balloon. I was simply inflating or deflating it, only rarely specifically directing it to have other shapes or to act like tendrils, working around defenses.”

“It seems we still have more things to work on.” She gave him a small smile that he returned in kind.

“Clearly… You were able to drive her off, though. That is a plus.”

Tala sighed. “I was, but…”

He gave her a searching look when she hesitated. “What is it?”

“I don’t think she was actually trying to attack us all out. She seemed to be seeking to do enough damage to get away. Killing us would have just been a ‘bonus’ to her.”

Rane grunted. “Yeah, that does seem like it would fit with what she did.”

Tala sighed, aspect mirrored the features that she needed, then hopped up and down to free any lingering grit and grime from herself, causing a mini-cascade of detritus to rain down around her.

“Back to traveling?” He didn’t sound to enthused at the idea.

She grimaced, glanced toward the sun. “I just want a bath and a nap.”

He shrugged. “That sounds great to me. We can pick up the search for a mobile village after. Who knows, maybe Terry will come back with her head by then. I know that I’d feel better if so.”

Tala huffed a laugh. “Yeah, that would be nice. If anyone can do it, I believe in Terry.”

-We can keep searching for the moving towns while you sleep.-

Rane nodded, clearly having heard something similar from Enar. “That sounds good to me, but I have a slight modification to our end of the plan.”

Less than ten minutes later, Tala and Rane were sitting down to a beautifully prepared meal, Mistress Petra retreating to give them privacy.

The dissonance of going from such a fight in the middle of nowhere to a decadent meal in their own home was jarring. Though it was made less so by how often they’d done similar—if not exactly the same—things in the past.

Even as Tala ate, she couldn’t help but notice how much the meal was not a bath and a nap, but Rane had had a point. With the injuries that she’d given herself, she needed the food.

She had also needed to step through the reinscriber to ensure that none of her inscriptions were in danger of eroding to a dangerous level. That had pulled a bit more from her reserves to heal her up.

Her dissolution field was almost as unpleasant in its consequences as in its execution.

Still, that was in the past, and the food was excellent.

Ham and sweet corn risotto, broiled broccoli, heavy bread—the recipe apparently absolutely stuffed with butter and eggs—seasoned carrots, a light salad, and roast that practically fell apart when she tried to pick it up with her fork.

The gravy was a wonderful addition as well, and she applied it liberally to various dishes.

Rane’s food was essentially the same, even if it had been made separately in order to incorporate and maintain a different set of magics. In this case, it had been made by Mistress Petra’s assistants, a married couple of gateless, who had shown both aptitude and interest in the preparation of magic-laiden meals.

Tala got the uncomfortable feeling that Mistress Petra was training her successor in the couple, just as Master Simon seemed to be doing in Adrill and Brandon.

But that wasn’t pleasant to consider, so Tala didn’t.

Once the repast was finished, she got her bath, with Rane joining her.

It was a bit less relaxing, or more accurately it was relaxing in different ways, but it still did what she’d hoped such would accomplish. Soon enough, she was curled up in his arms, drifting off to sleep in their massive bed.

* * *

Master Grediv still hadn’t responded to Rane’s inquiry when Tala woke. So she sent a message to Mistress Holly that she asked Alat to mark as urgent.

She wanted to know how to Reforge.

The Inscriber got back to them within minutes, allowing Alat and Tala to read through it together.

-I do wonder if Master Grediv just didn’t read Enar’s message.-

Yeah, that’s probably likely. But her focus was on Mistress Holly’s response.

-Should… should we tell him?-

You know, what? We don’t need to right now. If he still hasn’t read the message when we get back, we can mess with him because of it.

-Yeah, that could be funny.- She reached out to Enar and coordinated with him and Rane.

No one would tell Master Grediv explicitly, nor mention the message they’d already sent.

If he read it, he read it. If not?

Well, then what happened after would be on him.

As to what Mistress Holly said?

Well, Reforging was both immensely simple and frustratingly convoluted.

Reforging was a thing of two parts. First, a remaking of the body to match what the soul wanted. Second, an establishment and deepening of authority over every aspect of the body’s physical makeup.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Progress toward being fully Reforged was simply progressing along those two paths, with the fulfillment of both requirements being what stepped you over the line in the end.

Tala grunted. That was pretty much exactly what they’d expected and been told, even if it was more explicitly stated in this latest message from Mistress Holly.

So, she had to be exactly how she wanted to be, and she needed utter authority over her own body’s makeup…

But the message went on.

Mistress Holly wanted to emphasize that she did not say that the body needed to match what Tala wanted. It had to match the soul’s desire. The soul that was bound to objects and companions and a spouse.

Tala instantly hated that. She would have to be approved of by Terry? Kit? Rane?

-And you’ll have to approve of him, if it’s actually like that. It doesn’t sound like it, though.-

Alat was right, of course. It wasn’t anything so crass as having to change to meet her spouse’s desires or him having to change who he was for her. Instead, it was a sort of harmonizing of the soul with the physical. Her soul was now influenced by Terry, Kit, her elk leathers, Flow, and, yes, Rane.

-Do you see?-

Yeah. It’s not him telling me what I need to be, it’s how I want to be different due to his influence, and he mine.

Alat chuckled. -It’s a spouse literally inspiring you to bring out your best self. It’s not about bending to the wishes of another. It literally can’t be-

And that wording really drove it home for Tala. Alat was right. It couldn’t be about someone else. That would be a surrendering of authority over her physical form which was the exact opposite of the other part of Reforging. Balance.

-Precisely. In this one, you’re on your own. It has nothing to do with us, mentally.-

Hold on, now. I’ll need your help interpreting our soul, resonating it with our body. You can absolutely help with that.

-...fine…- But Tala could tell that Alat was a bit excited at the idea, especially with all that they’d learned from the wolves. -Oh! Not to take from the momentousness of what we’ve just learned, but we found a little scout of some kind or other on the plains.-

Tala jerked upright, pulling out of the warm, blissful embrace she’d been reluctant to leave before. Why didn’t you say something?

-You needed your nap, and then we had Reforging to consider.-

Tala almost growled.

“Tala? What—” Rane frowned. “Oh, Enar just told me. Shall we go?”

“Definitely, yeah.”

With an act of will, they were both suddenly standing out on the plains once more, the sun well on its way toward the western horizon.

Terry was still hunting and had asked to be left to it. So, they had nothing more to wait for. Tala nodded once. “So, to the east, then?”

“Yup. Let’s get to it.”

They both left the ground, each favoring a different method of movement.

It didn’t take long for them to approach where Enar’s flier had encountered the cloaking field, even if he and Alat had continued on afterward.

With that data-point, it was actually rather trivial to find the ‘scouts’ that Alat had told Tala about.

It was an interesting thing to encounter, actually.

Knowing where to look, the cloaking field became evident as a distortion in the air and regional magic, highlighting the area to Tala’s perception.

The Baba Yaga’s didn’t have any tells like that.

-And that is probably one reason she’s such an issue.-

Yeah, I can see that.

It was a small field, moving rapidly, even if not as fast as Tala and Rane were moving. -So, at the pace of a fast walk?-

…You’re sort of a jerk sometimes.

-Yes, we are.-

That was an important point, though. If they were gateless scouts—as was most likely—then they could go much faster than Rane or Tala could.

They didn’t want to spook the scouts, or do anything to cause them to flee.

Sure, the fact of them being scouts likely meant that a city was nearby, but they’d already known that a city was nearby just by dint of the chance of things.

All that to say, Tala and Rane landed a bit in front of the moving cloak, both raising their hands to show that they were empty.

Rane then called out, “Hello, there! We come in peace, seeking to trade and inquire about information.”

The moving field slowed further, and as such became harder to detect. Oh, that makes sense. Easier to work light and magical illusions at a slower pace.

Finally, a human woman appeared out of the marginally blurred wall that was the edge of the cloaking magic. She was dressed simply in travel clothes, thin enough to be comfortable in summer while being robust—and strategically reinforced—enough for hard work.

She regarded Tala and Rane for a long moment. “Master, Mistress, what can we do for you?”

Rane glanced Tala’s way, and she stepped forward, giving a shallow bow to the mundane woman. “I am Tala, and this is my husband Rane. We are traveling, seeking the moving settlements for trade and information. We detected your cloaking illusion and came to see if you would be amenable to such.”

“And if I say no?”

Tala grimaced. “Then, I will be frustrated, but we would move out of your way and bid you goodbye. After all, forced information is rarely useful, similar for forcefully acquire trade goods.”

The woman regarded them for a long moment. “You can call me Bolett. I assume you wish to speak with our leadership?”

“That would be ideal.”

“Very well. From your arrival, am I correct in assuming that you can move through the air?”

Tala frowned. “Yes? Why does that…”

A thin beam of light lanced down from the cloudless sky, seemingly coming from nowhere, just starting nearly a mile up in the air and angling down toward them. Bolett had a wry smile as she answered the incomplete question. “Follow the light, and you will find a receiving party waiting for you. Good day to you, Mistress Tala, Master Rane.”

They gave her a shallow bow, and she stepped back through the cloaking field, disappearing.

Tala really wanted to follow her through to see what their scouting setup looked like. She’d had a quick look through Enar’s shared memory from the flier, but that had only made her more interested.

She’d seen an odd construction with six seats around the outside, and the cloaking field originating from the middle, even as the magics there also made it both hover off the ground and move at a sedate pace.

There had been hints of other magics, but they’d only caught the barest flicker as the flier had passed through a portion of the upper field. It hadn’t been a long enough exposure to gather enough information for true, full analysis, even with perfect recall.

As Tala and Rane watched, the cloaking field moved around them, exuding a feeling of wariness.

“So?” Rane prompted once the scouts had left them behind, his gaze aimed up, looking at the thin beam of red light that they were meant to follow.

The origin had moved just slightly, keeping a steady pace just a bit slower than the scouts were maintaining, heading east. “I guess we should go and see what’s up there.”

-We could scout it out first?-

No, I think you two should keep looking to see what you can find. It costs us nothing but a bit of your attention.

-Yeah, and it could find some more interesting things. Alright.-

“After you, my husband.”

He grinned. “Do you want me to bring you up, too?”

She considered for only a brief moment before shrugging. “Sure. Thank you. A smoother approach would likely be less intimidating, in case that factors.”

Smiling even more broadly, he reached out, and she took his hand.

A moment later, his power threaded through her aura and authority, using their soulbond to allow the easy enactment of his magics.

She could have opposed him, but it would have been like opposing Alat—meaning that it would have been far more trouble than it was worth, even if she had a half good reason to do so, which she didn’t.

A moment later, they were moving upward without her feeling any acceleration.

It was more like the ground was falling away, and she did feel the air moving across her, even as she gently squeezed Rane’s hand.

She probably didn’t need to maintain contact with him for his magics to work—after all, they’d been theorizing that he could act through her touch even in hostile encounters—but she liked holding her husband’s hand.

He gave her a gentle squeeze in return, even as they moved along the beam of light, to its source.

It only took a few minutes to cover what seemed to be more than a mile of distance, and when they did come to the seeming source, they passed through a cloaking field and were presented with a truly spectacular sight.

There before them floated a city in the clouds.

It didn’t have the appearance of a land-bound city that had been lifted upward. Instead, it looked to have been built to be where it was.

There were buildings hanging down, with floors of some clear material through which they could easily see people moving about, observing the land below.

Since they were inside the cloaking field, they could now see that the thin beam of light continued, obviously coming from a small, pyramidal crystal mounted just above a door on the far side of a flat platform jutting out from the close side of the city.

A landing platform? That seemed likely.

The city itself seemed to be largely constructed of an odd assortment of wood, brass, and copper with other metals sprinkled in here and there.

It was obviously remaining aloft due to magic, but Tala was having a hard time pinning down both exactly what sort of magic that was, and where it came from. Well, I suppose that that is just good security. If it was obvious what was keeping the city up and how, then anything with half a brain that attacked them would target those parts first.

Still, she was in awe of what she was looking at.

It looked to be over one thousand feet across the longest portion, and it was nearly as large in the perpendicular measure. The longer section seemed to be pointed forward as it drifted on its path, seemingly not subject to the whims of the wind around it.

With her threefold sight, she was able to see through enough layers to detect indoor growing areas, large parks on the top beneath clear ceilings, and even workshops and markets, along with the other, more expected areas like living quarters and necessities such as that.

Seeing stone- and starward allowed her to see veiled hints of the holds attached to this structure as well, hinting at a larger population and infrastructure even than that which she could see.

It really was a city, flying through the air.

Rane was shaking his head just slightly. “Well, I would never have believed it, if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.”

Tala nodded slowly. “Yeah… It really is something.”