“We’ve hit something of a dead end,” Lord Feldstal said. “I’m not saying it’s impossible to solve, and we do have more time now that this current crisis is all but dealt with. However, our funding is going to drop drastically and we’ll need to show our progress.”
“What does this have to do with me?” Nym asked.
“You’re our most successful case study. I’d like to get new scans to present.”
Nym almost couldn’t believe the audacity of the man. The Collective had kidnapped him, stuck him in a mage cell, and bound him with a magical geas to force him to maintain their anonymity. They had also given him a place to live, a generous stipend, and hadn’t really restricted his freedom in any meaningful way.
The worst they’d done was insist that he teleport to their headquarters every day, but that was just part of having a job. It would be like getting mad at the bakery he’d worked at for a few weeks for expecting him to show up every morning. He supposed from their point of view, they’d treated him pretty well.
He might have agreed except for the introduction. Nym was still sore about that one, and he didn’t expect to change his mind anytime soon. The only reason he’s squirmed out of that was that they’d figured out he was an ascendant and gotten spooked. There was no way he was getting involved with them again.
“Nope,” he said. “Not my problem.”
“I’m sure we can find a suitable compensation for you.”
“I really don’t think you can.”
“Come now,” Lord Feldstal said. “What is it you need? Money? Tutoring? Land? A title? How about I smooth things over with the law for you?”
“I will earn my own money. I’m already being tutored by an archmage. Can you top that? I don’t need the rest of that. There’s nothing you can offer me, and you’ll understand my reluctance to let you exploit me any further.”
“Exploit seems harsh,” the noble protested. “It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
“I think you benefited from it far more than me. Look, it’s fine.” It wasn’t really, but there wasn’t any need to go into that. “I’ve moved past what the Collective has to offer, and you don’t have anything I want.”
“I’ll admit, you are a hard one to tempt.” Lord Feldstal leaned back in his seat and gave Nym an appraising look. “I’m not out of options yet, though.”
“Just stop,” Nym said. He leaned forward. “You know what I am. I don’t think we need to go into the hows and why, but just ask yourself this: is there really a single thing you can offer me that I need, but can’t get myself?”
Unlike the last time they’d spoken, the nobleman was much surer of himself. “I think that I let myself be blinded by some assumptions I made the first time, and that was a mistake. So yes, my young friend, ignoring the hows and whys, I think there are plenty of things you need that I am in a position to assist you with.”
“I disagree,” Nym said, standing up. “I have no interest in working with the Collective again. If that’s all you want to talk about, this conversation is over.”
“That is all of the official business,” Lord Feldstal said stiffly. “When you change your mind, come find me. I’ll be in the area for another month or two before I return to Abilanth.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Nym told him. “Have a good night.”
He walked out of the dining room without another word, though he could practically feel Lord Feldstal’s eyes boring holes in his back. Somehow, Nym doubted it was the last he’d see of the man. He’d tried to give as complete and total a rejection to working any further as possible, but it seemed Analia’s father wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
If his only goal was to get away from Lord Feldstal, he’d teleport back down to the south coast and keep on going. The world was a big place, and he was sure he could get lost in it quite easily. Of course, by doing that, he wouldn’t be able to continue his lessons with Archmage Veran, not to mention he’d have to abandon all contact with his friends in that scenario.
So no, Nym wouldn’t be doing that. He would stay on guard against possible ambushes whenever he was outside the sanctum, and he expected he would be looking into spells and strategies for mage-on-mage combat now that the undead threat was taken care of. His primary goal needed to remain forging a fifth layer conduit though.
As usual, there was too much to do and not enough time. As soon as he’d finished dealing with the matrix damage the root had inflicted, he’d go see his friends and get them set. He also needed to talk to Analia about taking on Cern as a tutor.
So much to do. It was hard to keep his ever-shifting priorities in line, but for the time being, the only two that mattered were getting back into top form and getting to the fifth layer.
* * *
His predictions were accurate, and within two days, Nym was fully recovered. Archmage Veran still needed a few more days to get caught up on all his administrative duties at the Academy, so Nym used the time to teleport back to Geldrin to see his friends.
“Good news,” he told Nomick, the first one he found. The earth mage was carrying a basket full of various plants, all neatly divided into their own containers. He jumped when Nym spoke, then spun around to glare at him.
“What have we all told you about sneaking up on us like that!”
“That it’s hilarious when it happens to anyone but you?”
“Exactly,” Nomick said. “Which is why you should do it to everyone else but me.”
“But you all say that,” Nym said. “If I listened to everyone, I wouldn’t be able to surprise anyone.”
“Which would also be acceptable.”
Nym made a show of considering it while he floated around Nomick. “Nah, doesn’t sound fun.”
An aura of arcana formed around the earth mage, and a chunk of dirt flew through the air at the back of Nym’s head. It wasn’t the first time one of the Earth Shapers had tried that trick, and Nym already had a scry anchor viewing them both from off to the side. He saw the dirt coming easily and dodged out of the way.
“Wow, rude! And here I was bringing you good news.”
Nomick paused in the act of grabbing another clump of dirt. “Are you going to tell me the good news, or make me wait hours until everyone comes in for dinner?”
“Thought I might make you wait.”
Nym dodged the second dirt clump and laughed. “No, I’m just kidding. The whole undead thing is basically taken care of now, so there won’t be any need to evacuate and no real pressure to go south before you’re ready to.”
“Ah, that is good news,” Nomick said. “If you’d brought a basket of pastries with you, I might even thank you for it.”
“I fear I shall never live up to those expectations I so foolishly set in the early days of summer,” Nym lamented. “It will be a struggle, but I shall soldier on.”
“Yeah, yeah. You tell the others yet?”
Nym shook his head. “You’re the first one I found.”
“Bildar and Ophelia are working on that new building for the town. We already did the foundation, and they’re the ones who handle all the fine detail work, so Monick and I had to find other ways to occupy our time.”
“And you chose… gardening?”
“These are alchemical reagents!”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just giving you a hard time. Are they for Analia?”
“No, these are mine. She gets her own herbs now.”
Nym nodded, though inside he was groaning. She could be anywhere. He’d have to fly around and fire off a few message spells to see if he could get her attention, unless someone knew where she was.
“Speaking of alchemy, I have an alchemist friend who lost his shop when the surge hit. I was thinking of seeing if Analia needed a tutor.”
“God yes,” Nomick said. “I regret telling her that I have an alchemy certification. She asks more questions than the exams did.”
“Great. It’s nice to see friends helping each other. Now I just need to find her and let her know. And find everyone else, and let them know.” Nym looked at Nomick. “You know where they are?”
After getting directions, Nym flew around and delivered the news to each person individually. Analia was last on his list since she was nowhere near town. He did eventually find her, if only by following a plume of smoke and then the sound of a long string of uninterrupted swearing. The girl was standing over what looked like a fox that was almost four feet tall at the shoulder, its fur an odd ruddy orange with black highlights.
The fox was crumpled up on its side, extremely dead, and with smoke billowing off its body. Analia stood, hands curled into fists, and glared down at it while reciting a long litany of insults against the fox’s heritage. All around her, other plumes of smoke rose into the air from small grassfires and chunks of ice the size of his head littered the field.
“Am I interrupting?” Nym asked as he landed next to her.
“This stupid smolder fox burned my halthium thistle,” she said, pointing towards a small, blackened smear. Nym supposed that whatever that little crispy thing in the middle was could at one time have been a plant. It was definitely useless now though.
“I am guessing you didn’t take that very well,” he said, looking pointedly at a particularly bloody chunk of ice near the dead fox’s skull.
“I… may have lost my temper,” she admitted. “But I’ve been looking for one of these for a week now! I finally spot one, and before I can get it, this thing comes running out of the trees, spreading fire everywhere. It ran over the thistle immediately.”
“Bad luck,” Nym said. “If you can spare a moment away from cursing that fox’s memory, I have something to talk to you about.”
She sighed, gave one last mournful look at her burnt plant, and said, “Go ahead.”
Nym took some time to explain who Cern was and what had happened to his shop in Zoskan, that the alchemist could use a job and a place to live outside the refugee camp. “And I thought if everyone was interested, I could bring him here to meet you and you guys could figure out if you’d like to hire him as a tutor.”
“That… sounds good,” she said, hesitantly, “Except I don’t know if I could afford to pay him.”
“Ah. Hmm. I didn’t think of that. I’m not used to you having a budget.”
“Oh shut up,” she said, giving him a shove.
“I’ve got some extra crests if it comes down to it, and maybe we can work something else out besides money. We are friends with a whole building crew. Plus I’m a third circle mage with access to an archmage’s library. I can do all sorts of stuff now that’s in high demand.”
“That is all true, but don’t you have more important things to worry about?” she asked.
Nym shrugged. “I can’t spend every waking moment studying. Sometimes it feels like I’ve spent more hours reading books over the last year than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I like learning new magic, but I also like flying around and doing stuff.”
“Alright, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to meet him and see if we can work something out.”
“Great,” he said. “I’ll see if I can get him soon. I don’t think there’s any rush, but we should probably check with Bildar and Ophelia about when they want to leave. Oh, and did you decide if you’re going with them?”
“I think that depends largely on where you’re going,” she said.
“Huh. I don’t really know yet. I guess we’ll figure that out too.”
“We’ve hit something of a dead end,” Lord Feldstal said. “I’m not saying it’s impossible to solve, and we do have more time now that this current crisis is all but dealt with. However, our funding is going to drop drastically and we’ll need to show our progress.”
“What does this have to do with me?” Nym asked.
“You’re our most successful case study. I’d like to get new scans to present.”
Nym almost couldn’t believe the audacity of the man. The Collective had kidnapped him, stuck him in a mage cell, and bound him with a magical geas to force him to maintain their anonymity. They had also given him a place to live, a generous stipend, and hadn’t really restricted his freedom in any meaningful way.
The worst they’d done was insist that he teleport to their headquarters every day, but that was just part of having a job. It would be like getting mad at the bakery he’d worked at for a few weeks for expecting him to show up every morning. He supposed from their point of view, they’d treated him pretty well.
He might have agreed except for the introduction. Nym was still sore about that one, and he didn’t expect to change his mind anytime soon. The only reason he’s squirmed out of that was that they’d figured out he was an ascendant and gotten spooked. There was no way he was getting involved with them again.
“Nope,” he said. “Not my problem.”
“I’m sure we can find a suitable compensation for you.”
“I really don’t think you can.”
“Come now,” Lord Feldstal said. “What is it you need? Money? Tutoring? Land? A title? How about I smooth things over with the law for you?”
“I will earn my own money. I’m already being tutored by an archmage. Can you top that? I don’t need the rest of that. There’s nothing you can offer me, and you’ll understand my reluctance to let you exploit me any further.”
“Exploit seems harsh,” the noble protested. “It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
“I think you benefited from it far more than me. Look, it’s fine.” It wasn’t really, but there wasn’t any need to go into that. “I’ve moved past what the Collective has to offer, and you don’t have anything I want.”
“I’ll admit, you are a hard one to tempt.” Lord Feldstal leaned back in his seat and gave Nym an appraising look. “I’m not out of options yet, though.”
“Just stop,” Nym said. He leaned forward. “You know what I am. I don’t think we need to go into the hows and why, but just ask yourself this: is there really a single thing you can offer me that I need, but can’t get myself?”
Unlike the last time they’d spoken, the nobleman was much surer of himself. “I think that I let myself be blinded by some assumptions I made the first time, and that was a mistake. So yes, my young friend, ignoring the hows and whys, I think there are plenty of things you need that I am in a position to assist you with.”
“I disagree,” Nym said, standing up. “I have no interest in working with the Collective again. If that’s all you want to talk about, this conversation is over.”
“That is all of the official business,” Lord Feldstal said stiffly. “When you change your mind, come find me. I’ll be in the area for another month or two before I return to Abilanth.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Nym told him. “Have a good night.”
He walked out of the dining room without another word, though he could practically feel Lord Feldstal’s eyes boring holes in his back. Somehow, Nym doubted it was the last he’d see of the man. He’d tried to give as complete and total a rejection to working any further as possible, but it seemed Analia’s father wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
If his only goal was to get away from Lord Feldstal, he’d teleport back down to the south coast and keep on going. The world was a big place, and he was sure he could get lost in it quite easily. Of course, by doing that, he wouldn’t be able to continue his lessons with Archmage Veran, not to mention he’d have to abandon all contact with his friends in that scenario.
So no, Nym wouldn’t be doing that. He would stay on guard against possible ambushes whenever he was outside the sanctum, and he expected he would be looking into spells and strategies for mage-on-mage combat now that the undead threat was taken care of. His primary goal needed to remain forging a fifth layer conduit though.
As usual, there was too much to do and not enough time. As soon as he’d finished dealing with the matrix damage the root had inflicted, he’d go see his friends and get them set. He also needed to talk to Analia about taking on Cern as a tutor.
So much to do. It was hard to keep his ever-shifting priorities in line, but for the time being, the only two that mattered were getting back into top form and getting to the fifth layer.
* * *
His predictions were accurate, and within two days, Nym was fully recovered. Archmage Veran still needed a few more days to get caught up on all his administrative duties at the Academy, so Nym used the time to teleport back to Geldrin to see his friends.
“Good news,” he told Nomick, the first one he found. The earth mage was carrying a basket full of various plants, all neatly divided into their own containers. He jumped when Nym spoke, then spun around to glare at him.
“What have we all told you about sneaking up on us like that!”
“That it’s hilarious when it happens to anyone but you?”
“Exactly,” Nomick said. “Which is why you should do it to everyone else but me.”
“But you all say that,” Nym said. “If I listened to everyone, I wouldn’t be able to surprise anyone.”
“Which would also be acceptable.”
Nym made a show of considering it while he floated around Nomick. “Nah, doesn’t sound fun.”
An aura of arcana formed around the earth mage, and a chunk of dirt flew through the air at the back of Nym’s head. It wasn’t the first time one of the Earth Shapers had tried that trick, and Nym already had a scry anchor viewing them both from off to the side. He saw the dirt coming easily and dodged out of the way.
“Wow, rude! And here I was bringing you good news.”
Nomick paused in the act of grabbing another clump of dirt. “Are you going to tell me the good news, or make me wait hours until everyone comes in for dinner?”
“Thought I might make you wait.”
Nym dodged the second dirt clump and laughed. “No, I’m just kidding. The whole undead thing is basically taken care of now, so there won’t be any need to evacuate and no real pressure to go south before you’re ready to.”
“Ah, that is good news,” Nomick said. “If you’d brought a basket of pastries with you, I might even thank you for it.”
“I fear I shall never live up to those expectations I so foolishly set in the early days of summer,” Nym lamented. “It will be a struggle, but I shall soldier on.”
“Yeah, yeah. You tell the others yet?”
Nym shook his head. “You’re the first one I found.”
“Bildar and Ophelia are working on that new building for the town. We already did the foundation, and they’re the ones who handle all the fine detail work, so Monick and I had to find other ways to occupy our time.”
“And you chose… gardening?”
“These are alchemical reagents!”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just giving you a hard time. Are they for Analia?”
“No, these are mine. She gets her own herbs now.”
Nym nodded, though inside he was groaning. She could be anywhere. He’d have to fly around and fire off a few message spells to see if he could get her attention, unless someone knew where she was.
“Speaking of alchemy, I have an alchemist friend who lost his shop when the surge hit. I was thinking of seeing if Analia needed a tutor.”
“God yes,” Nomick said. “I regret telling her that I have an alchemy certification. She asks more questions than the exams did.”
“Great. It’s nice to see friends helping each other. Now I just need to find her and let her know. And find everyone else, and let them know.” Nym looked at Nomick. “You know where they are?”
After getting directions, Nym flew around and delivered the news to each person individually. Analia was last on his list since she was nowhere near town. He did eventually find her, if only by following a plume of smoke and then the sound of a long string of uninterrupted swearing. The girl was standing over what looked like a fox that was almost four feet tall at the shoulder, its fur an odd ruddy orange with black highlights.
The fox was crumpled up on its side, extremely dead, and with smoke billowing off its body. Analia stood, hands curled into fists, and glared down at it while reciting a long litany of insults against the fox’s heritage. All around her, other plumes of smoke rose into the air from small grassfires and chunks of ice the size of his head littered the field.
“Am I interrupting?” Nym asked as he landed next to her.
“This stupid smolder fox burned my halthium thistle,” she said, pointing towards a small, blackened smear. Nym supposed that whatever that little crispy thing in the middle was could at one time have been a plant. It was definitely useless now though.
“I am guessing you didn’t take that very well,” he said, looking pointedly at a particularly bloody chunk of ice near the dead fox’s skull.
“I… may have lost my temper,” she admitted. “But I’ve been looking for one of these for a week now! I finally spot one, and before I can get it, this thing comes running out of the trees, spreading fire everywhere. It ran over the thistle immediately.”
“Bad luck,” Nym said. “If you can spare a moment away from cursing that fox’s memory, I have something to talk to you about.”
She sighed, gave one last mournful look at her burnt plant, and said, “Go ahead.”
Nym took some time to explain who Cern was and what had happened to his shop in Zoskan, that the alchemist could use a job and a place to live outside the refugee camp. “And I thought if everyone was interested, I could bring him here to meet you and you guys could figure out if you’d like to hire him as a tutor.”
“That… sounds good,” she said, hesitantly, “Except I don’t know if I could afford to pay him.”
“Ah. Hmm. I didn’t think of that. I’m not used to you having a budget.”
“Oh shut up,” she said, giving him a shove.
“I’ve got some extra crests if it comes down to it, and maybe we can work something else out besides money. We are friends with a whole building crew. Plus I’m a third circle mage with access to an archmage’s library. I can do all sorts of stuff now that’s in high demand.”
“That is all true, but don’t you have more important things to worry about?” she asked.
Nym shrugged. “I can’t spend every waking moment studying. Sometimes it feels like I’ve spent more hours reading books over the last year than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I like learning new magic, but I also like flying around and doing stuff.”
“Alright, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to meet him and see if we can work something out.”
“Great,” he said. “I’ll see if I can get him soon. I don’t think there’s any rush, but we should probably check with Bildar and Ophelia about when they want to leave. Oh, and did you decide if you’re going with them?”
“I think that depends largely on where you’re going,” she said.
“Huh. I don’t really know yet. I guess we’ll figure that out too.”
