T Christian Miller

“This way.” Aleera lead the way to the room we had prepared.

We had carved out a statesman room with ensuite plumbing. It was, in my humble opinion, a far higher quality set of rooms compared to where we had lived previously. I was particularly proud of the plumbing! The ability to have running water was revolutionary for our island. Probably existed back in the Capital in one form or another but still. It was only rainwater that we had collected in a pool further up the mountain, but it was clean enough to shower in. Furthermore, it meant we had flushing toilets. Heavenly!

The room itself was large, with stone-formed furniture. Each item had been decorated with the patterns I was able to form out of ensouling sound in stone. The interior lighting was formed of our mana mote lanterns, placed in recesses in the walls. Between the lanterns hung tapestries that Mother had been working on. Woven with magic, as much as with skills, they depicted the cardinal views from the mountain top and were placed on their respective walls. The room led out onto a large balcony on the mountain's eastern face, which overlooked Wester Town and beyond the lagoon, towards the rising sun.

If I was being honest, I was a little jealous of her future bedroom but I knew that when I was fully grown I would have my own extravagant accommodation. Although now that I thought about it, there was nothing stopping me from creating my own toddler-sized set of rooms. Their size alone would be a security feature as no one would be able to chase me through corridors that were made for my stature rather than that of a full-size adult. Another project to add to the list of tasks to do. But how cool would it be to make your own toddler-sized den out of proper stone rather than the cushions in the living room? It would be a significant step up from digging giant holes in the dirt, which was as far as I had ever got in my former life at building a den in the back garden. But I guessed that was the magic of having magic!

“Thank you, dear,” she said to Aleera before turning to Mercurio and Cadmus. “You will see to my furniture and luggage being delivered, yes?”

The luggage was still being carried up the cliffs and down into the town where it was apparently being stored in our old house. The climb and the descent slowed the process down far more than the actual distance might suggest. Our house was probably very nearly full, judging by the comments made earlier by Mercurio and Cadmus.

“It would be our pleasure, Lady Acacia,” Mercurio extravagantly bowed, clearly pleased to be a master of his fate once again. It sounded as if he would enjoy a more leisurely pace on their return trip. Hopefully, he would be able to create enough profit to offset the cost of the previous journey. They had not been able to haul as many goods due to her luggage filling the majority of the hold. They had also suffered from a loss in revenue because they took a direct route to our home on Wester Isle, missing many of their regular profitable stops. However, they had plenty of pearls from our farms to ensure the return journey was more than merely profitable.

“Lead on,” Lady Acacia said as she turned back to Aleera, who led her towards the entrance of our hall before turning right to head up the stairs to her rooms.

For the moment, the outside of the mountain still looked very much like a mountain but in time our plan was to chisel it away to form a wall. This would make our mountain an unassailable fortress rather than an easy afternoon stroll upwards. But for now, her balcony would lead out onto the slope and provide easy access should she wish to enter through it rather than our grand hall.

As Aleera led her future tutor to her new accommodation Grandfather started forward after them. “I’ll just keep an eye on our new guest," he whispered to my parents as he casually strolled after the departing duo.

“She is a fairly formidable personality,” I heard my mother say to our guests as I was carried off with Grandfather once more.

“You don’t know the half of it,” muttered Mercurio in return.

"Why, what else happened?" asked Father as we moved out of range of their quietly whispered conversation. It seemed Mercurio and Cadmus' caution was contagious, although probably highly warranted in dealing with our mysterious, strong visitor.

. . .

As we caught up to the pair, we could hear Lady Acacia leading the conversation once more. Grandfather could be sneaky when he chose to be so we were moving silently after them and both our senses were more than enough to listen in to their continuing conversation.

Eavesdrop was not a skill I had used a lot recently, but I was using it now. Interestingly enough, I couldn’t hear my Grandfather’s footsteps at all, even with my super senses. So I was sure that he was utilising a skill on top of his physical ability. But I had to keep quiet rather than ask so as to not give away our position. But I cogitated on the possibility of some skill with an alliterated name such as silent step, feather footfall or . . .

I stopped gathering wool and listened to our new guest.

“First, I need to know what we are working with here. You obviously have the common six stats as all but the most unfortunate commoners do, but have you managed to unlock the full noble nine?” she quizzed. “I noticed earlier you have a well of mana to pull from, so I am aware that you have unlocked your magic. There’s no need to be shy if we are going to be working together to help you grow to your full potential," she said as they walked up the steps together.

“Yes, that is why my parents have put me forth to enter noble society,” she calmly responded, in line with what our family had agreed would be okay to reveal should a tutor turn up. I was unsure that I would be able to play it so calm but then my secrets were a little larger than hers. But maybe that was me being just a tad egotistical and paranoid.

“Wonderful, at least we have the basic building blocks to work from. Now, were the attributes from birth or were they unlocked after you gained access to your system?” she asked my sister while continuing the interview, or was it a subtle interrogation?

“I was born with eight of the noble nine and unlocked Charisma last year through purchasing plots of land and my patent of nobility,” she politely informed her, sticking to the facts without volunteering extra information that might later trip her up.

We had celebrated Aleera unlocking the Charisma stat when it happened before her tenth birthday. It was a surprise for us all and it had proved the lie of Mercurio's rumour that it had to be done before the age of five. Aleera had been hoping that would be the case after she had searched through the Silverwood skill guides and books hoping to find more skills, tricks of the trade and secrets to help build her *mental cough* our financial empire.

“Fantastic, not simply bought with coin but the majority in your blood to start with, that is a far better foundation than I was hoping for. Can you sing, dance or play an instrument and do you have skills for them?” she was beginning to sound a little more hopeful than the draconian tutor she had initially appeared to be.

“Yes, to all three, the ability as well as the skill,” Aleera smiled, proud of her progress over the last year.

“Well, that is better than I expected. At least you are not a complete commoner. Although we will have to elevate your abilities to the appropriate standards required. One can have the skill yet still be unskilled in the task. At least we will not be starting from stationary.” She appeared to be warming up. Although her whispered comment to herself, “Providing you haven’t developed too many bad habits,” implied that she was not yet convinced of Aleera’s prospects. “But those can easily be ironed out.” Still, she was getting onboard even if she sounded a little patronising and condescending at the same time.

Either hearing her whispered comments or sensing her fluctuating opinions, Aleera added, “I also have skills in weaving, sewing and embroidery taught to me by my mother, sailing skills from my father and a scout's skills from my grandfather.” She was keen to prove that she was more than a mere commoner in the breadth and depth of her skills. I doubted that any of our cousins could catch or match her at her age without adding their stats lopsidedly in one direction.

“But what levels do you have in those skills? Have you managed to develop any Amber or Topaz skills on top of your Ruby ones?” Lady Acacia asked, not yet convinced.

“What do you mean Ruby, Amber or Topaz?” Aleera asked, confused by the terminology.

“Most children I tutor will have developed a variety of Ruby skills before I ever work with them. Then I help them to develop their skills further and hopefully gain the next colour of the skill tree.” She paused, noting my sister’s confusion before coming to a moment of enlightenment. “Do you not call them by their Gem ratings: Ruby, Amber, Topaz, Emerald, Sapphire, Amethyst? Do you call them by their human-centric noble rankings: commoner, knight, noble, lord, duke, king? Or by their metal dwarven centric counterparts: copper, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, mithril?” she asked, listing what was clearly a cultural difference in describing the system.“We go by tiers,” Aleera answered, using the word I had taken to describe my levels and skills to her. Had she ever used something different I was unsure. If so, she hadn’t mentioned it or it had been mentioned in passing and I had forgotten.

“How novel," she smiled. "I don't believe I have heard them referred to like that before. Well, either way, we will get into that later. Next question and I hesitate to ask this as I fear the possible answer- Have you allocated all your free points?" She rushed on, not giving Aleera a chance to answer, "I was hoping to make it to you before your 10th birthday, but it appears that ship has sailed. Still, I have travelled at great expense and speed in the hopes of directing your stat expenditure in the most efficient manner possible.” She finally explained why she had pushed Mercurio and Cadmus so hard to make it here as quickly as possible-to control my sister’s stat allocation before it was already spent.

“Which question would you like me to answer?” Aleera asked.

“The last and most important one. . .” She hesitated, clearly both eager to know and hesitant to ask, “Have you spent your free points?” She sighed with relief, letting go of some of her tension now that she had asked the question that had been burning in her mind for the majority of the trip.

“A few, yes, but not the majority of them. Grandfather had me allocate them sparingly and only after strenuous training when I had reached the bottom of my reserve. He said it would help build my stats up better if I used them as part of my recovery.” She began to detail the diabolical nature of our grumpy grandfather.

This was something I was unable to do yet as I was still unable to allocate any of my stats. I couldn't wait to add some of my free points but I was not looking forward to any training that he would suggest before I did so.

“Finally, a piece of good news. It appears that your Grandfather is not a complete imbecile, then." The last little bit of tension melted from her shoulders as she finally let herself relax. All was not lost. "It is most important to carefully consider where and when to allocate your extra stats. So many commoners allow themselves to be idiotic in the application of stats. So much so that they then require the assistance of the Lodestar Church to care for the Brutes, Mules, Twitches, Oafs and Cripples they create of themselves. As they say, ‘A balanced life is a better life.’ But truly better not to become unbalanced in the first place.” She smiled in pleasure at the possibility of shaping a new scion to her own design.

Thinking about that brought a whole new meaning to the idea of being a balanced person. To centre oneself, did you have to achieve perfect equality among your stats? How many levels would that take for me to truly balance myself seeing as I had unlocked so many extra attributes in the first place? Certainly, more than I had at the moment.

“The body will naturally continue to grow and improve. Organically adding strength, endurance and speed to your body as it becomes able to do so much more. But the best way to level your training into the best gains is to keep your stats as low as possible for the exercise using your stats to aid in your recovery and muscle building, which it sounds like you are already doing. Well done!” She nodded her head.

Was that what Grandfather had been working on with her?

They had finally reached the door to her new suite of rooms.

"Ah, it appears we have arrived," she stated before adding, "and that we have visitors." She turned to calmly nod in our direction. She was either unsurprised by our presence or controlled enough to give no sign of shock. A marked contrast to Aleera, who jumped in surprise at our presence, lost as she was in either the conversation they had been having or the deep thoughts it had provoked.