Stepping out of a large carriage at Horthel, I found myself in the middle of a large crowd, that emerging from the string of other carriages linked to it. I turned to look back at these rail carriages as soon as I was out of the way of the door, feeling rather mystified at the experience. It had certainly been a much faster, not to mention comfortable, trip than I was used to. And the number of people that had been transported at once was probably the most surprising thing.

I could see that this form of transportation did have certain drawbacks, even though it seemed exceedingly convenient. Namely, the rails, on which these carriages traveled, surely required a lot of labor to install, so new routes were surely more difficult to prepare than regular roads that horse carriages could travel. And the front carriage, which dragged the rest along, seemed to operate with some rather demanding magic, judging by the strong and rapid flow of mana, that I had detected from that direction during the whole trip.

"Pretty amazing, right? Not a lot of places have these yet, but living near the academy sure has its perks. The engine sections are pretty difficult to manufacture, but of course nowhere has as much talent to work on these things as Altrel."

Phila sounded so proud that one could have thought that she designed it herself. And maybe she would one day create such amazing things, considering what she was studying. Alla, Mateo and Kellen were there as well, of course, but they seemed totally used to the rail carriages already, and lacked Phila's professional interest in them, so they were just waiting for us to catch up, having gotten clear of the crowd.

For me the carriages went beyond the understanding of machinery that I had acquired for the purposes of magic, though I would have loved to get to examine the spells at the lead carriage more closely. I hoped that some of the advanced courses of magic of machinery dealt with new technologies like it, but at that moment I simply had Phila tell me as much as she could, from her perspective.

I was glad that the carriages were something new, so my gawking at it wasn't too out of place, but it still made me feel like a peasant visiting a real city for the first time. In fact, having gotten a view of Horthel on the approach, that was perhaps exactly the case. It had grown far beyond the small town I remembered, and looked like one of the largest cities I'd ever seen. I reminded myself to be careful with my reactions going forward, because I could already see Alla making an oddly happy smile whilst watching me, as we got back to the rest of the group.

"There you are Mela! And you must be her new friends?"

I was happy to see Celine again, even though it'd been just a few days. Her last visit had been short, and this time we could spend the whole day together. Fortunately, I was already feeling a lot better than when she'd visited. It fortunately seemed that Mela didn't have any particularly bad symptoms, even though it'd certainly been an odd and uncomfortable first experience for me. So I was good to go for the trip on our free day, like Celine had predicted.

But I hadn't expected that Celine would rush to hug me right away, for some reason deciding to be more intimate in front of Phila and the others, than she'd been when we were alone, before turning to face them. Somehow it'd ended up being a shared trip, since Celine had been excited to meet them, and they'd wanted to join in when I mentioned that Celine was going to show me around Horthel. I felt like I hadn't really had any input on the decision, but there I was anyway, making introductions whilst trying ignore my embarrassment.

Soon enough Phila, Celine and Alla were leading our incursion into the city. I started getting nervous about how well the latter two in particular were hitting off, and my instincts were proven right soon enough. The purpose of the trip quickly shifted from showing me around town to a shopping trip. I had little time to look at the things that actually caught my attention, such as the single, smaller, rail carriages that ran parallel to some of the streets within the city itself. These proved that the technology could be adapted further than I initially expected, but was taken away from them before I could stop to consider the matter further.

I could sympathize with Mateo and Kellen, as they ended up being dragged along to carry things for the rest of us, but they were good sports about it, and it probably wasn't the first time. In actuality, I ended up wishing that I could have been at the side with them, but unfortunately I instead became the focus of the shopping trip, with Alla and Celine intensely discussing what to buy for me, whilst Phila cheerily ignored the pleading looks that I sent her way to ask for help.

One part of the trip turned out to be very much worth it, as we got to one of the shops that Phila had promised to show me around. The place was filled exclusively with all sorts of amazingly intricately crafted clockwork. With how all the inner workings were fully on display, it almost looked to be the result of an artistic pursuit. But it was more likely that a shop like that existed near Altrel because of how well clockwork machines were suited for magic, with distinct and clear forms, motions and sounds. That was also probably why the mechanisms themselves were what was on display, making them easier to study for their use of magic.

I had no doubt that the shop was frequented by students of magic of machinery from Altrel, and that I'd do likewise in the future. Perhaps Mela herself had been there before, but to me it was a new and exciting experience, and the first time that I was actually eager to spend my money on the trip. It wasn't of much interest to the others, but that meant that I could enjoy the experience to the fullest with Phila, and I thought that I deserved the reprieve.

"I'm glad Mela has finally found some good friends, after how alone she was for the first years at Altrel. Thank you, all of you."

It was obvious that Celine was speaking with a lot of emotion, when she suddenly broke from the lighthearted chatter that had accompanied our meal after the shopping trip. I didn't really know what to do with the pang of emotion that I felt, when I saw her melancholic look. I wasn't the same Mela that she was really talking about, her sister that had actually lived through those years.

"Oh it's nothing, and we have had fun as well, with her! Though we thought that she was a first year like us."

Phila, following Celine's heartfelt statement, unintentionally said something struck exactly where I had my doubts again. Celine's looked a little lost as she glanced over at me, probably just realizing that I hadn't really told them anything about who I was, before mumbling out an awkward answer.

"Well, our family does tend to look younger."

Kellen snorted in amusement. Yeah, it was a bit of an understatement. But I still had no idea what I could have even say about myself, to these people, who called themselves my friends, if I wanted to tell who I was. It wasn't that I wanted to deceive them. I hadn't told Celine to hide that I was a Tannel either, but that alone was just the start of it. I didn't if there was anything that I could say, without lying on some level.

So I just ended up not doing anything, all the while dreading how they'd react if they figured out something. No one questioned, at least openly, why I had let such a misunderstanding persist, or why I had to be shown around the city after having apparently studied at Altrel for years. And seemingly Kellen still had no intention to say anything either, though I didn't know if that was relief, or if it just increased my hesitant anxiety.

"Enviably so! The new clothes suit Mela so well thanks to that. There was no way I could leave her alone after she started showing up dressed in such a cute fashion, but I didn't know it was her sister who sorted her out!"

The awkward moment seemed to pass, though perhaps it was all in my head in the first place, when Alla seized onto what Celine had said to create a new topic. I would have been thankful, if it was any other topic, but I could only get more nervous, when I saw the gleam in Celine's eyes. I was really starting to regret introducing Alla to my sister, and I feared what they would come up with together.

After the meal it was time for actual sightseeing, though first we relieved the boys by leaving our haul from the shopping trip at Phila's home, which happened to be nearby. It seemed that our sightseeing would take some time, as Phila insisted that I and Celine stay for supper afterwards, even though we'd just eaten. Apparently she was going to cook for the other three anyway, and was adamant that a couple of extra guests wouldn't be a bother.

Horthel was originally a town founded near a sheltered natural harbor, but it had since grown into a city and spread out to the higher ground in several places, giving some great views of the city and the sea alike. When we headed down into the harbor itself, I didn't know if it looked different because of the shoreline had shifted, or because it had simply grown much larger than when I'd last seen it.

"Hey, that ship, with the crowd, isn't it a western design?"

We were in the deep section of the harbor, with large ocean-going vessels, when Phila pointed out a ship that indeed looked rather peculiar among the rest of them. I could only take her word for, because I'd never seen what the ships from the western regions looked like, mostly because they should have never ended up in such an easterly harbor.

This odd arrival had certain caused quite a commotion, and some sort of uniformed group, that I presumed to be responsible for maintaining public order, were shooing off a crowd of gawking bystanders, as the ships passengers began to disembark. A haggard crowd, filled with women, children and the elderly, emerged from the ship. We happened to have a good view from higher ground as we were passing by.

I was slightly surprised to see that the group welcoming the new arrivals was led by a few instructors from Altrel, but it seemed like the academy really was the closest thing to a governing authority in the area. They seemed quite prepared, with the exhausted crowd being immediately given food and shelter, and it even looked like they were carrying out medical inspections. It seemed like there had been forewarning of the ship's arrival, though everyone in our group seemed equally surprised.

At the forefront of the welcoming crew were also a few youths, that I thought to be students. They were dressed with some similarity to the arrivals, and I assumed that they were to be act as translators. I had little idea of what the people from the west were supposed to look like, having lived at the farthest point on the continent from them and three centuries previous, but the distinct color of red hair that I saw in the crowd seemed to match what little I remembered reading.

The fertile lands of the west, home of the most ancient of human civilization. To me the tales of these lands were almost as fantastical as the legends of the age of myths, and of course the two intertwined. It was told that it was the dynasties of great kings, that ruled the west those millennia ago, that had in their folly rejected the guidance of the divines, and waged war upon them instead.

Three hundred years ago there had been a lot of ancient suspicion towards the lands of the great kings, for the story went that the faithful followers of the divines had been driven from those fertile lands of the west by the conquering human kings, once the divines departed them. And here, to the far east, they had built their own civilization, far from the tyranny of the first human kings and their empires.

If there were students at Altrel from the west, then perhaps relations had warmed, and the cultural animosity might have been forgotten, as the very faith in the divines seemed to have faded. But that didn't do anything about the vast geographical divide between where we were, the eastern harbor city of Horthel, and the distant lands of the west. How could a western ship ever have found its way all the way to the continents eastern coast, and how was Horthel, which should have been their farthest destination, where they actually landed?

But that was only if they came from the west. It occurred to me, seeing the disheveled state of the ship and the passengers alike, that perhaps they came from the east instead, if they had spent so much time at sea. The books that I'd read a week previous had certainly mentioned that people from the west had established colonies in those lands as well, in the name of their great kings, where they had clashed with native inhabitants of those lands.

They seemed to be refugees, so it seemed a fair guess that they were fleeing some sort of conflict. But even if it made more sense than them sailing from the west, that still didn't explain why they would have traveled to Horthel. If they were indeed subjects of the western empires, then returning to their homelands, traveling back east, should have been a much shorter trip from the eastern continents, based on any of the maps that I'd seen. But, since I wasn't in any place to question these arrivals, I had to just leave the matter, and we moved on.

Phila's kitchen was one sort of marvel in itself, with all sorts of tools and instruments that required magic. Phila had more mundane kitchenware as well of course, since she herself wasn't a mage, but apparently she mostly relied on Alla to help with magic in the kitchen, and this time I was roped in to help as well. I didn't know why they didn't ask Kellen, nor why they assumed that I'd be useful, but I'd been dragged along before I managed to formulate such thoughts.

The freezer box that could be periodically chilled with magic was very basic, and the stove and oven, that could be heated by magic, were familiar to me, if not common. But some of the other tools, that she had for preparing ingredients, I was wary to use – not because of the magic, but because I really had no experience in a kitchen. It seemed more like Phila had been gathering these things mostly as a hobby, rather than for actual use.

So in the end I mostly busied myself as a helper, whilst the other two prepared the food. That was how I also ended up trying to pick up an unassuming pot. It was just an ordinary iron pot, in no way meant to be used with magic, but it did cause my hand to burn up with searing pain. The loud clang it made when hitting the floor coincided with my shout of pain and surprise.

"Mela! Are you alright? Did you drop it on your foot?"

Phila's mind immediately jumped to the logical conclusion, when she saw what I'd been handling, but I was too confused to even respond, as I stared at my hand where a nasty rash, or perhaps more like blisters, had instantly formed on my fingers and palm. It was like the pot had been actually searing hot, but I wasn't quite so stupid as to have missed that. And the sensation had been cold, as if I'd been touching ice.

"Ah, leave her to me! Don't worry, you can keep cooking."

Celine had peeked into the kitchen then, and quickly took control of the situation, shaking me from my stunned state. She spoke calmly, but there was a certain edge to her voice as she glanced at the pot on the floor, before she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me off.

First we left Phila and Alla behind in the kitchen, with thoroughly confused looks, and then we walked straight past Mateo and Kellen, who were sat in the dining room and looked up questioningly. We only stopped when we were out of the building, and she grabbed my injured hand to take a look at it.

"Okay, this much shouldn't be any issue. It'll heal on its own in a few days, though it'll be a little sore."

Celine looked relieved after inspecting my hand, but what she said explained exactly nothing to me, except that she seemed to have some idea of what had caused my odd injury. So I continued to stare at her, until she realized my confusion, and awkwardly explained.

"Ah, that's uh, your fae blood reacting. That pot must have been really old make, since anything properly refined should only cause an itch at most, even in large quantities, but you should still be careful with iron."

"Hold on! Fae blood? By the divines, what are you talking about!"

Celine looked a little astonished by my reaction. I wanted to retort to that look that I was the one that was shocked, but her hurried gestures stopped me from continuing, as I realized that it wasn't something that it probably wasn't something that we wanted anyone else to hear about. And it was the first time I'd shouted at Celine, and even if it was because of confusion, rather than anger, I still felt a little bad, so I forced myself to speak normally when I continued.

"You are saying that I have fae blood? Or rather, Mela does? As in, fae ancestry? Is that even possible? Does that mean that someone in your family mated with a fae?"

"Yes. All of us Tannels have it. It's been confirmed, including by the fae themselves. I don't know exactly what it means, but the blood comes from grandmother Mary."

That was even more confusing. In fact, it might have been a bigger surprise than discovering that the fae were real. For Mary to have fae blood, as Celine put it, the only source could have been myself. That is to say, since I certainly didn't take any action to intentionally procure any biological material of the fae, did I, as Tannel, have such ancestry in the first place, without ever knowing?

I'd never had the slightest indication, especially not something as obvious as a weakness to iron, straight out of fairytales. Could the process that I used in Mary's creation have somehow, accidentally, strengthened such characteristics? I barely understood what I'd done, so a few surprises were to be expected, but this was incredibly far from what I'd ever even considered as possibilities.

"I thought you would have known. I guess that explains why you were so surprised by the Fae rift as well. Our weakness to iron isn't that severe, so it shouldn't be a huge issue. But it could be a weakness if our enemies found out, so we have to be careful."

Celine seemed equally as confused as I was. Certainly, I had to acknowledge, from her perspective it might have been weird that the person that was in such close contact with the Fae rift never had any clue about these things. But that thought brought up another alternative. Could it actually have been the rift itself, or more specifically the mana that flowed from it, that had caused this?

I already had some inclination that the mana of the Faerie could shape living beings that were exposed to it. I, as Tannel, definitely fit that criteria, and at least I could attest to the fact that my mana flow had been warped when I'd acted as a conduit for the rift. And Mary, during the process of her creation, had inevitably been somewhat exposed as well. Indeed, it could have been the fantastical nature of the mana of the Faerie that made that attempt into the unlike success that it was, or so I guessed, as wild possibilities flooded my mind.

For the rest of the day I was in a daze, barely registering the worried looks that my friends and Celine gave me during the meal. I mechanically chewed my food, but its taste never even entered my mind, as I instead wracked my head with all sorts of wild theories. But with nothing at my disposal to confirm any of them, the only real conclusion that I could come to was that I would have to be somewhat selective with my materials going forward, considering the nature of my magic.

SootShade

I really hesitated on whether to use the idea of the fae having a special weakness to iron, because it's obviously a little difficult to apply because of the nature of our protagonist's magic, but I went with it because I thought it was a fun way to make the reveal.

I'm also still somewhat fumbling on what I want technology to look like in the setting, but I'm trying to sort it out based on what could be created within the limitations of the magic system I've designed, and assuming that more mundane methods are less developed.

Also, the refugee ship part in this chapter definitely comes across too much as straight exposition again, but my excuse is that I mostly came up with all of that last night. I had a sudden burst of inspiration, that had me writing notes nearly until morning, and I ended up not having the time time to translate the parts that I included here into a better form.

On the other hand, I ended up also coming up with a general vision for the rest of the world, the setting's ancient history, and the structure of the plot for the next few arcs, so I'm actually happy with the progress I made last night, even though it left me scrambling and releasing this chapter late again.