Chapter 359: Without Issue or Fanfare
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Chapter 359: Without Issue or Fanfare
Tala and Rane walked through the open gates of Bandfast without issue or fanfare, simply joining the near constant traffic moving in and out at this time of day.
As they entered, Tala asked Alat to send a few pertinent messages through the Archive.
One was to Lyn and Kannis, letting them know that they were in the city and confirming their scheduled meet-up at Lyns house that evening.
The second was to Mistress Elnea, the head of the local Archon Council, letting her know that Tala had entered the city, per protocol. It was helpful to know when anyoneRefined or abovewas in the city as they could show up oddly on the detection grid on occasion, and it saved some hassle for the defenders to know who to watch for as expected.
The final was to Mistress Ingrit, the Librarian who had helped Tala so much, and who was still managing the access to her memories from the arcane lands. Alat and Tala asked Mistress Ingrit about the best place and assistant for the testing of a theory and working relating to the dimension of magic.
Lyn responded quite quickly. Though, that was likely only the case because her job required that she work with her Caravan-Guild-assigned Archive slate, and the message would have been immediately obvious in those circumstances.
Tala and Rane had barely walked a block from the gate before that reply came in.
-Oh, hey! Lyn says, Welcome back! Excited to grab dinner this evening. See you, then. That was kind of her.-
Can you let her know we got the message?
-Already done.-
Thank you.
They had only traversed another two blocks through pedestrian and vehicular trafficall feet, hooves, paws, and wheels working together to churn the still-falling snowbefore a response came from Mistress Elnea.
Well, it was a response to the message that they had sent to Mistress Elnea. The magical signature on the response didnt belong to the Paragon.
Alat couldnt quite place the person who had responded. So they assumed that theyd either never met her, or only seen her in passing without getting a good peek at her magics.
-She conveyed a thank you for letting them know of your arrival. When she asked, I informed her that you were here for a short visit and werent interested in any standard work. Even so, if anything was needed that was particular to you and your abilities, youd happily hear the request.-
Thank you, yet again.
Alat sent a mental shrug. -This is what I was designed to do. The fact that I do more is testament to how amazing we are.-
Talas mouth pulled up on one side. And humble, dont forget humble.
-It is humble to have a correct assessment of our capacities. False humility is not humbleness, nor is allowing things that we are capable of doing to go undone for fear of being seen as prideful.-
Her smile manifested fully. True enough.
Finally, when they were passing into the inner ring, Mistress Ingrit responded.
-Shes asking for a brief description of what we intend. I assume its alright for me to explain your idea?-The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.
Absolutely, thank you for asking. Alat would have already known how Tala would respond, but something about being asked anyway helped her relax.
-She is surprised that she isnt surprised by the oddity of the idea, but she doesnt see an issue in theory. Theres a couple of Refined, who owe us for memories shared, whom shes getting lined up. They have specialties that should be able to help mitigate the risks. We should head to the Archon Compound.-
Tala grinned, turning to Rane, Shall we go to the Archon Compound? We have some people expecting us.
Rane gave her a side-eyed look. You have it all arranged ahead of time, then?
Yes.
That seems unlike you.his eyes widened, and he flushedI mean
Tala held up a hand to forestall him. Its fine, Rane. I know I often rush into things, but this seemed like it was important to have some safeguards in place.
He smiled and shook his head slightly. Well, lets see what we can do, then.
They made their way to the Archon Compound in the center of the city, down the long hallway, and into the atrium.
The receptionists greeted them and ushered them toward a testing room on the lower floor.
The Refined area beneath Bandfast was almost perfectly identical to that beneath Alefast, being made of the same network of wide, vaulted passages, and having the same facilities within, in basically the same configuration.
The main differences were in the materials usedgiven that they were in a different section of bedrock when compared to Alefast.
I wonder if all the Archon Compounds are the same?
-Id bet so. With Refined and above moving around so relatively often, they likely want some stability and familiarity. Plus, these are the facilities for the defenders of the city. It would be foolish to juggle them around just to be different. In defensive situations, moments matter.-
Thats fair.
Tala had never actually been in one of the testing rooms in this lower facility. In Alefast, she had done her training in one or another of the big fighting arenas below the Archon Compound.
Regardless, the massively thick iron door standing open on one side of the hall made it obvious that theyd reached their destination.
Interestingly enough, Tala could see that there was iron extending starward and stoneward of the door as well, likely to help passively contain whatever higher-level magics were to be utilized within.
She had the usual mild desire for the iron but given her certain knowledge that it was not hers and never would be, there wasnt really a pull or temptation. After all, there was no reasonable way that shed ever own the metal, here.
The door was standing open, and Tala saw inside with ease, recognizing the iron-clad walls, ceiling, and floor, all with iron somehow forced outward along the magical dimension to make the space incredibly insulated to such power, even before the active defenses.
Additionally, with the Stonewaiting stoneward and pulling all power to drain in that directionmagic would have a hard time going truly out of control.
Within the room waited two figures, both barely taller than Tala, herself.
As Tala and Rane entered, Rane immediately bowed to the two, as they were more advanced than him.
Tala and the two exchanged the nods of equals.
The man spoke first. You must be Mistress Tala, correct?
I am.
He smiled. I am Anam.
Master Amans eyebrows rose at the implication as he received the weapon. Interesting. Bound even before your body, then?
Tala nodded.
Then that will be a very powerful connection indeed.
Without further need for discussion, the Refined couple and Rane spread out to give Tala room.
Alright, first She reached out and targeted her own node of reality, focusing on its gravitational pull toward the nodes of reality that currently surrounded her. She then poured all her focus and incoming power into the working, feeling her node pressing outward on the surrounding nodes through her voidsight.
Physically, it was an odd feeling of closeness and comfort. Huh, I wonder if something like this happens when you live somewhere for a long time? Though, it probably isnt gravity.
-Focus, Tala.-
Right!
She let her watchers know what she was doing and continued the amplification for a full three minutes at her maximum.
An oddity of the work was that she now felt like she really didnt want to leave this place. She was content, and might have simply sat down to rest if she werent in the middle of a task.
Yeah, were noting this for later.
-Noted.-
The extent to which she powered the amplification was probably overkill, but shed prefer to come back too strongly than linger stoneward.
That done, she again targeted herself, but this time aimed her amplification at a zone of existence just a few increments stoneward of superficial.
It was interesting because there were still nodes of reality theresurrounded by void just as all werebut they were utterly empty, as if simply waiting to be filled or otherwise used.
Regardless, they would do as a focus for her amplification.
After taking a deep breath and notifying the others that it was time, she began the amplification.
At just after the four-minute mark, the whole world stuttered and went black to her mundane sight.
She felt the barest instant of something akin to slipping across a ledge her footing about to fail her and let her drop, and her eyes widened.
With now well-honed instincts, Tala canceled her own effective gravity, and hoped that shed been quick enough.
My in place pull to where I was should correct any fall that might have begun.
A moment later in the blackness, she cut off the working that was pulling her stoneward, taking in her surroundings as she trusted in her original working to reverse her momentum and draw her back.
There truly was nothing visible to her mundane sight.
Nothing existed, physically, this far stoneward.
Quickly looking back through her memory of the very startright after the physical world had gone blackshe had caught a glimpse of a Flow-shaped blob of iron for a bit longer than shed seen anything else. Even the iron of her surroundings hadnt been visible for quite as long.
To her magesight, however, there was no difference.
She kept her sight focused, ignoring the City Stone stoneward of her in favor of near surroundings.
She could still see all of the magic that shed seen before, and without the interference of her mundane sight, she could see rather minute details, though not as finely depicted as before.
Her thoughts were racing to enact all of the changing magics and make all these observations, as it had been less than a second since the world had gone dark to her mundane vision.
-Huh, I think I can feel the change to timeflow around our body. Our heart rate is rather regulated in any given situation by our inscriptions, and so I can count the beats.-
Sounds like a plan.
It took what seemed to be ten seconds to her body before she felt that she was nearing the superficial again, based on what her magesight was showing her.
She was about to resurface, when she had a thought.
Shed been practicing with her through-spike, after all
She grinned mischievously for the barest moment before making her decision.
Tala flicked back into being bare seconds after shed vanished, from the perspective of those watching.
They had barely even had a chance to move. Ranes eyes were still wide, his eyebrows raised, from her sudden disappearance.
But something was different.
Tala was hunched, her hair gray, her skin wrinkled.
Her voice was shaking as she asked, How did it go for you all?
Three sets of eyes stared at her in brief horror.
What? Then, she acted like she noticed her own voice. Whats wrong with my voice?
She lifted a hand and stepped back in feigned shock.
My hands! Did I go too deep?
Then, Mistress Spiora snorted a laugh, pulling the two men out of their shock. Mistress Tala, Refined dont age.
Tala stopped, then she lost her composure and cracked a grin. She straightened, and her through-spike illusion returned to normal. Thats fair enough.
Rane was rubbing his face even as he shook his head.
Master Aman had a small smile, I take it there was success, then?
Tala nodded triumphantly. Yes. First test, complete.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Chapter 359: Without Issue or Fanfare
Tala and Rane walked through the open gates of Bandfast without issue or fanfare, simply joining the near constant traffic moving in and out at this time of day.
As they entered, Tala asked Alat to send a few pertinent messages through the Archive.
One was to Lyn and Kannis, letting them know that they were in the city and confirming their scheduled meet-up at Lyns house that evening.
The second was to Mistress Elnea, the head of the local Archon Council, letting her know that Tala had entered the city, per protocol. It was helpful to know when anyoneRefined or abovewas in the city as they could show up oddly on the detection grid on occasion, and it saved some hassle for the defenders to know who to watch for as expected.
The final was to Mistress Ingrit, the Librarian who had helped Tala so much, and who was still managing the access to her memories from the arcane lands. Alat and Tala asked Mistress Ingrit about the best place and assistant for the testing of a theory and working relating to the dimension of magic.
Lyn responded quite quickly. Though, that was likely only the case because her job required that she work with her Caravan-Guild-assigned Archive slate, and the message would have been immediately obvious in those circumstances.
Tala and Rane had barely walked a block from the gate before that reply came in.
-Oh, hey! Lyn says, Welcome back! Excited to grab dinner this evening. See you, then. That was kind of her.-
Can you let her know we got the message?
-Already done.-
Thank you.
They had only traversed another two blocks through pedestrian and vehicular trafficall feet, hooves, paws, and wheels working together to churn the still-falling snowbefore a response came from Mistress Elnea.
Well, it was a response to the message that they had sent to Mistress Elnea. The magical signature on the response didnt belong to the Paragon.
Alat couldnt quite place the person who had responded. So they assumed that theyd either never met her, or only seen her in passing without getting a good peek at her magics.
-She conveyed a thank you for letting them know of your arrival. When she asked, I informed her that you were here for a short visit and werent interested in any standard work. Even so, if anything was needed that was particular to you and your abilities, youd happily hear the request.-
Thank you, yet again.
Alat sent a mental shrug. -This is what I was designed to do. The fact that I do more is testament to how amazing we are.-
Talas mouth pulled up on one side. And humble, dont forget humble.
-It is humble to have a correct assessment of our capacities. False humility is not humbleness, nor is allowing things that we are capable of doing to go undone for fear of being seen as prideful.-
Her smile manifested fully. True enough.
Finally, when they were passing into the inner ring, Mistress Ingrit responded.
-Shes asking for a brief description of what we intend. I assume its alright for me to explain your idea?-The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.
Absolutely, thank you for asking. Alat would have already known how Tala would respond, but something about being asked anyway helped her relax.
-She is surprised that she isnt surprised by the oddity of the idea, but she doesnt see an issue in theory. Theres a couple of Refined, who owe us for memories shared, whom shes getting lined up. They have specialties that should be able to help mitigate the risks. We should head to the Archon Compound.-
Tala grinned, turning to Rane, Shall we go to the Archon Compound? We have some people expecting us.
Rane gave her a side-eyed look. You have it all arranged ahead of time, then?
Yes.
That seems unlike you.his eyes widened, and he flushedI mean
Tala held up a hand to forestall him. Its fine, Rane. I know I often rush into things, but this seemed like it was important to have some safeguards in place.
He smiled and shook his head slightly. Well, lets see what we can do, then.
They made their way to the Archon Compound in the center of the city, down the long hallway, and into the atrium.
The receptionists greeted them and ushered them toward a testing room on the lower floor.
The Refined area beneath Bandfast was almost perfectly identical to that beneath Alefast, being made of the same network of wide, vaulted passages, and having the same facilities within, in basically the same configuration.
The main differences were in the materials usedgiven that they were in a different section of bedrock when compared to Alefast.
I wonder if all the Archon Compounds are the same?
-Id bet so. With Refined and above moving around so relatively often, they likely want some stability and familiarity. Plus, these are the facilities for the defenders of the city. It would be foolish to juggle them around just to be different. In defensive situations, moments matter.-
Thats fair.
Tala had never actually been in one of the testing rooms in this lower facility. In Alefast, she had done her training in one or another of the big fighting arenas below the Archon Compound.
Regardless, the massively thick iron door standing open on one side of the hall made it obvious that theyd reached their destination.
Interestingly enough, Tala could see that there was iron extending starward and stoneward of the door as well, likely to help passively contain whatever higher-level magics were to be utilized within.
She had the usual mild desire for the iron but given her certain knowledge that it was not hers and never would be, there wasnt really a pull or temptation. After all, there was no reasonable way that shed ever own the metal, here.
The door was standing open, and Tala saw inside with ease, recognizing the iron-clad walls, ceiling, and floor, all with iron somehow forced outward along the magical dimension to make the space incredibly insulated to such power, even before the active defenses.
Additionally, with the Stonewaiting stoneward and pulling all power to drain in that directionmagic would have a hard time going truly out of control.
Within the room waited two figures, both barely taller than Tala, herself.
As Tala and Rane entered, Rane immediately bowed to the two, as they were more advanced than him.
Tala and the two exchanged the nods of equals.
The man spoke first. You must be Mistress Tala, correct?
I am.
He smiled. I am Anam.
Master Amans eyebrows rose at the implication as he received the weapon. Interesting. Bound even before your body, then?
Tala nodded.
Then that will be a very powerful connection indeed.
Without further need for discussion, the Refined couple and Rane spread out to give Tala room.
Alright, first She reached out and targeted her own node of reality, focusing on its gravitational pull toward the nodes of reality that currently surrounded her. She then poured all her focus and incoming power into the working, feeling her node pressing outward on the surrounding nodes through her voidsight.
Physically, it was an odd feeling of closeness and comfort. Huh, I wonder if something like this happens when you live somewhere for a long time? Though, it probably isnt gravity.
-Focus, Tala.-
Right!
She let her watchers know what she was doing and continued the amplification for a full three minutes at her maximum.
An oddity of the work was that she now felt like she really didnt want to leave this place. She was content, and might have simply sat down to rest if she werent in the middle of a task.
Yeah, were noting this for later.
-Noted.-
The extent to which she powered the amplification was probably overkill, but shed prefer to come back too strongly than linger stoneward.
That done, she again targeted herself, but this time aimed her amplification at a zone of existence just a few increments stoneward of superficial.
It was interesting because there were still nodes of reality theresurrounded by void just as all werebut they were utterly empty, as if simply waiting to be filled or otherwise used.
Regardless, they would do as a focus for her amplification.
After taking a deep breath and notifying the others that it was time, she began the amplification.
At just after the four-minute mark, the whole world stuttered and went black to her mundane sight.
She felt the barest instant of something akin to slipping across a ledge her footing about to fail her and let her drop, and her eyes widened.
With now well-honed instincts, Tala canceled her own effective gravity, and hoped that shed been quick enough.
My in place pull to where I was should correct any fall that might have begun.
A moment later in the blackness, she cut off the working that was pulling her stoneward, taking in her surroundings as she trusted in her original working to reverse her momentum and draw her back.
There truly was nothing visible to her mundane sight.
Nothing existed, physically, this far stoneward.
Quickly looking back through her memory of the very startright after the physical world had gone blackshe had caught a glimpse of a Flow-shaped blob of iron for a bit longer than shed seen anything else. Even the iron of her surroundings hadnt been visible for quite as long.
To her magesight, however, there was no difference.
She kept her sight focused, ignoring the City Stone stoneward of her in favor of near surroundings.
She could still see all of the magic that shed seen before, and without the interference of her mundane sight, she could see rather minute details, though not as finely depicted as before.
Her thoughts were racing to enact all of the changing magics and make all these observations, as it had been less than a second since the world had gone dark to her mundane vision.
-Huh, I think I can feel the change to timeflow around our body. Our heart rate is rather regulated in any given situation by our inscriptions, and so I can count the beats.-
Sounds like a plan.
It took what seemed to be ten seconds to her body before she felt that she was nearing the superficial again, based on what her magesight was showing her.
She was about to resurface, when she had a thought.
Shed been practicing with her through-spike, after all
She grinned mischievously for the barest moment before making her decision.
Tala flicked back into being bare seconds after shed vanished, from the perspective of those watching.
They had barely even had a chance to move. Ranes eyes were still wide, his eyebrows raised, from her sudden disappearance.
But something was different.
Tala was hunched, her hair gray, her skin wrinkled.
Her voice was shaking as she asked, How did it go for you all?
Three sets of eyes stared at her in brief horror.
What? Then, she acted like she noticed her own voice. Whats wrong with my voice?
She lifted a hand and stepped back in feigned shock.
My hands! Did I go too deep?
Then, Mistress Spiora snorted a laugh, pulling the two men out of their shock. Mistress Tala, Refined dont age.
Tala stopped, then she lost her composure and cracked a grin. She straightened, and her through-spike illusion returned to normal. Thats fair enough.
Rane was rubbing his face even as he shook his head.
Master Aman had a small smile, I take it there was success, then?
Tala nodded triumphantly. Yes. First test, complete.
Chapter 359: Without Issue or FanfareTala and Rane walked through the open gates of Bandfast without issue or fanfare, simply joining the near constant traffic moving in and out at this time of day.As they entered, Tala asked Alat to send a few pertinent messages through the Archive.One was to Lyn and Kannis, letting them know that they were in the city and confirming their scheduled meet-up at Lyns house that evening.The second was to Mistress Elnea, the head of the local Archon Council, letting her know that Tala had entered the city, per protocol. It was helpful to know when anyoneRefined or abovewas in the city as they could show up oddly on the detection grid on occasion, and it saved some hassle for the defenders to know who to watch for as expected.The final was to Mistress Ingrit, the Librarian who had helped Tala so much, and who was still managing the access to her memories from the arcane lands. Alat and Tala asked Mistress Ingrit about the best place and assistant for the testing of a theory and working relating to the dimension of magic.Lyn responded quite quickly. Though, that was likely only the case because her job required that she work with her Caravan-Guild-assigned Archive slate, and the message would have been immediately obvious in those circumstances.Tala and Rane had barely walked a block from the gate before that reply came in.-Oh, hey! Lyn says, Welcome back! Excited to grab dinner this evening. See you, then. That was kind of her.-Can you let her know we got the message?-Already done.-Thank you.They had only traversed another two blocks through pedestrian and vehicular trafficall feet, hooves, paws, and wheels working together to churn the still-falling snowbefore a response came from Mistress Elnea.Well, it was a response to the message that they had sent to Mistress Elnea. The magical signature on the response didnt belong to the Paragon.Alat couldnt quite place the person who had responded. So they assumed that theyd either never met her, or only seen her in passing without getting a good peek at her magics.-She conveyed a thank you for letting them know of your arrival. When she asked, I informed her that you were here for a short visit and werent interested in any standard work. Even so, if anything was needed that was particular to you and your abilities, youd happily hear the request.-Thank you, yet again.Alat sent a mental shrug. -This is what I was designed to do. The fact that I do more is testament to how amazing we are.-Talas mouth pulled up on one side. And humble, dont forget humble.-It is humble to have a correct assessment of our capacities. False humility is not humbleness, nor is allowing things that we are capable of doing to go undone for fear of being seen as prideful.-Her smile manifested fully. True enough.Finally, when they were passing into the inner ring, Mistress Ingrit responded.-Shes asking for a brief description of what we intend. I assume its alright for me to explain your idea?-The roots of this story extend from novell bin origin.Absolutely, thank you for asking. Alat would have already known how Tala would respond, but something about being asked anyway helped her relax.-She is surprised that she isnt surprised by the oddity of the idea, but she doesnt see an issue in theory. Theres a couple of Refined, who owe us for memories shared, whom shes getting lined up. They have specialties that should be able to help mitigate the risks. We should head to the Archon Compound.-Tala grinned, turning to Rane, Shall we go to the Archon Compound? We have some people expecting us.Rane gave her a side-eyed look. You have it all arranged ahead of time, then?Yes.That seems unlike you.his eyes widened, and he flushedI meanTala held up a hand to forestall him. Its fine, Rane. I know I often rush into things, but this seemed like it was important to have some safeguards in place.He smiled and shook his head slightly. Well, lets see what we can do, then.They made their way to the Archon Compound in the center of the city, down the long hallway, and into the atrium.The receptionists greeted them and ushered them toward a testing room on the lower floor.The Refined area beneath Bandfast was almost perfectly identical to that beneath Alefast, being made of the same network of wide, vaulted passages, and having the same facilities within, in basically the same configuration.The main differences were in the materials usedgiven that they were in a different section of bedrock when compared to Alefast.I wonder if all the Archon Compounds are the same?-Id bet so. With Refined and above moving around so relatively often, they likely want some stability and familiarity. Plus, these are the facilities for the defenders of the city. It would be foolish to juggle them around just to be different. In defensive situations, moments matter.-Thats fair.Tala had never actually been in one of the testing rooms in this lower facility. In Alefast, she had done her training in one or another of the big fighting arenas below the Archon Compound. Regardless, the massively thick iron door standing open on one side of the hall made it obvious that theyd reached their destination.Interestingly enough, Tala could see that there was iron extending starward and stoneward of the door as well, likely to help passively contain whatever higher-level magics were to be utilized within.She had the usual mild desire for the iron but given her certain knowledge that it was not hers and never would be, there wasnt really a pull or temptation. After all, there was no reasonable way that shed ever own the metal, here.The door was standing open, and Tala saw inside with ease, recognizing the iron-clad walls, ceiling, and floor, all with iron somehow forced outward along the magical dimension to make the space incredibly insulated to such power, even before the active defenses.Additionally, with the Stonewaiting stoneward and pulling all power to drain in that directionmagic would have a hard time going truly out of control.Within the room waited two figures, both barely taller than Tala, herself.As Tala and Rane entered, Rane immediately bowed to the two, as they were more advanced than him.Tala and the two exchanged the nods of equals.The man spoke first. You must be Mistress Tala, correct?I am.He smiled. I am Anam.Master Amans eyebrows rose at the implication as he received the weapon. Interesting. Bound even before your body, then?Tala nodded.Then that will be a very powerful connection indeed.Without further need for discussion, the Refined couple and Rane spread out to give Tala room.Alright, first She reached out and targeted her own node of reality, focusing on its gravitational pull toward the nodes of reality that currently surrounded her. She then poured all her focus and incoming power into the working, feeling her node pressing outward on the surrounding nodes through her voidsight.Physically, it was an odd feeling of closeness and comfort. Huh, I wonder if something like this happens when you live somewhere for a long time? Though, it probably isnt gravity.-Focus, Tala.-Right!She let her watchers know what she was doing and continued the amplification for a full three minutes at her maximum.An oddity of the work was that she now felt like she really didnt want to leave this place. She was content, and might have simply sat down to rest if she werent in the middle of a task.Yeah, were noting this for later.-Noted.-The extent to which she powered the amplification was probably overkill, but shed prefer to come back too strongly than linger stoneward.That done, she again targeted herself, but this time aimed her amplification at a zone of existence just a few increments stoneward of superficial.It was interesting because there were still nodes of reality theresurrounded by void just as all werebut they were utterly empty, as if simply waiting to be filled or otherwise used.Regardless, they would do as a focus for her amplification.After taking a deep breath and notifying the others that it was time, she began the amplification.At just after the four-minute mark, the whole world stuttered and went black to her mundane sight.She felt the barest instant of something akin to slipping across a ledge her footing about to fail her and let her drop, and her eyes widened.With now well-honed instincts, Tala canceled her own effective gravity, and hoped that shed been quick enough.My in place pull to where I was should correct any fall that might have begun.A moment later in the blackness, she cut off the working that was pulling her stoneward, taking in her surroundings as she trusted in her original working to reverse her momentum and draw her back.There truly was nothing visible to her mundane sight.Nothing existed, physically, this far stoneward.Quickly looking back through her memory of the very startright after the physical world had gone blackshe had caught a glimpse of a Flow-shaped blob of iron for a bit longer than shed seen anything else. Even the iron of her surroundings hadnt been visible for quite as long.To her magesight, however, there was no difference.She kept her sight focused, ignoring the City Stone stoneward of her in favor of near surroundings.She could still see all of the magic that shed seen before, and without the interference of her mundane sight, she could see rather minute details, though not as finely depicted as before.Her thoughts were racing to enact all of the changing magics and make all these observations, as it had been less than a second since the world had gone dark to her mundane vision.-Huh, I think I can feel the change to timeflow around our body. Our heart rate is rather regulated in any given situation by our inscriptions, and so I can count the beats.-Sounds like a plan.It took what seemed to be ten seconds to her body before she felt that she was nearing the superficial again, based on what her magesight was showing her.She was about to resurface, when she had a thought.Shed been practicing with her through-spike, after allShe grinned mischievously for the barest moment before making her decision.Tala flicked back into being bare seconds after shed vanished, from the perspective of those watching.They had barely even had a chance to move. Ranes eyes were still wide, his eyebrows raised, from her sudden disappearance.But something was different.Tala was hunched, her hair gray, her skin wrinkled.Her voice was shaking as she asked, How did it go for you all?Three sets of eyes stared at her in brief horror.What? Then, she acted like she noticed her own voice. Whats wrong with my voice?She lifted a hand and stepped back in feigned shock.My hands! Did I go too deep?Then, Mistress Spiora snorted a laugh, pulling the two men out of their shock. Mistress Tala, Refined dont age.Tala stopped, then she lost her composure and cracked a grin. She straightened, and her through-spike illusion returned to normal. Thats fair enough.Rane was rubbing his face even as he shook his head.Master Aman had a small smile, I take it there was success, then?Tala nodded triumphantly. Yes. First test, complete.
