Tahir immediately tensed, and Hasio seemed keen to hold onto that tension for several seconds before he spoke again. “What? You’re looking like you expect people to come poofing in from out of nowhere. I already told you I disabled the magic on the sending stone.”
“Right.” Tahir said, and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he held. “Well, first and foremost, thanks for not selling us out, but details, please?”
“Of course. Old Albanus came to me himself about two days after we all met up at Callipho’s. He seemed to know a bit about me already, probably courtesy of whatever that elder lackey of his in the Redclouds managed to dig up. Offered me about five times what we got paid from this ruin, and even gave me half up front before we left. He gave me the sending stone, and another gem that they said they’d use to track our exact location. I have a couple reasons why I didn’t go through with it, but they just wanted me to get at least one of you away from Murabi for long enough for them to swoop in and grab you.”
A moment passed, and Tahir’s blood ran cold. “Wait, so back then when we found the fairy ring-”
“I didn’t hear anything. Just kind of picked a direction and started moving.” He admitted. “I was already debating to myself whether or not to actually do it, and honestly didn’t know what to make of you turning partly silver when you summoned the traveler. Right around when we got a good distance away, where it was time for me to actually decide, we found the fairy ring, and I let myself get swept up along in that. You’d woken up the others with the traveler, and we were going to who knows where. We had a week, I’d find another day, I thought, but then we got the seeds.”
He paused, with a shrug. “It reminded me about a conversation I’d had with Metilia and Theo. Mostly asking why they were willing to follow along with you on Redcloud business despite not being Redclouds themselves. Don’t let it go to your head, but they spoke pretty highly of you. They talked about how you light up their life and they love to be around you, blah blah. Sappy stuff. You’re a great person, but what really stuck with me is a couple other things they said. They agreed you’re a bit of a magnet for luck and trouble. I mean, you led them to fighting void corrupted trees in the woods, joining a legendary fiend from the underworld to go into an ancient ruin, and fighting a lich.”
Once again, he stopped talking, maybe to revel in Tahir’s sheepish look. “I did kind of take them for a bit of a ride, didn’t I?” Tahir said.
“But,” Hasio continued. “you got Metilia those void shards, killed a lich and got his spellbook, and got the three of you a blessing from a god. All that to say, you’re more lucky than you think, and I thought back to that when you got those seeds. What were the odds we’d end up saving a unicorn when we passed through the fairy ring?”
“Not high I guess.” Tahir answered. “I just went off of a feeling.”
“Exactly. You’ve got a good nose for things, even if it leads you into unfortunate situations. That’s one reason, another reason that the girls also shared with me is that you’re pretty inspiring to them. Theo says she’s made more progress toward being stable with her primordial soul than she had in years, and according to Metilia she made the best weapon she had in months for you. You kept outdoing yourself and you make them want to do the same. Then Murabi came along, which I think was another stroke of luck. I don’t think we’d ever find a mithral Redcloud who wanted students so badly, and we all fit because all of us use aura.”
At that, Hasio glanced back outward, toward the lovely view of Isanthyr and the stars above them. “Even me, who hadn’t really thought about improving my aura control even though I’ve been working at it for a decade. You’ve been at it for half a year and you got a hang of Murabi’s special techniques before I did. Murabi told me its because you also have experience manipulating mana, but I’ve been working with aura as long as some of the people in Shinevi do before they can start learning, according to him at least.”
“Doesn’t that just prove that he was right about the flaws in their teaching?”
“Technically, but he’s been working with all of us based on that. I got all the preliminary aura manipulation stuff down before you.” Hasio waved the question off. “Anyway, the last reason is one I’ve already told you about.” He reached for his gold pocketwatch, and let it swing from its chain between him and Tahir. “We’re guildmates, we gotta stick together. I think the collective thinks that we can all be bought since they have one lackey all the way up in the elder’s spot, but I think they’ve had too good a time in Esharia with the royalty backing them and everything. So screw them.” Dropping his pocketwatch, he held the sending stone in his hand, before tossing it somewhere in the city. “You might want to avoid going back to Esharia for a while, but I don’t think they can do much to you at this point.”
“I’ll worry about it whenever we go back to visit Callipho.” Tahir agreed. “But again, thanks for telling me all of this. It sounds like you’ve been mulling it over for a while.”
“We’ll just call it the wine giving me loose lips. Care to return the favor?”
“How?”
“Enlighten me. What are you in all this for? Can’t imagine it’s just the money, or you would have quit after the first ruin.”
“Fair enough.” Tahir responded, and paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. “I told you already I grew up in an orphanage attached to a library. Is it so much of a stretch that I just wanted to be like the people I’ve read in books? A mithral, or even adamantine Redcloud?” He shrugged. “It sounds a little silly to say it out loud, but that was my mindset when I moved to Balrech and joined the Redclouds. That and ‘anything’s better than being a librarian for the rest of my life’. I started to think it wouldn’t be possible in my lifetime when I realized that my aura and mana just barely grew after months of working. Before I started using spirit magic. But now? I think I’ll qualify for platinum when I start using tier two spirits, and who knows what lies beyond that.” He grinned. “Although, at this point I’m very interested in the mystery surrounding these ruins. Why are they reappearing now of all times? Why does it only seem to be Aglo and Vudranian ruins? I want to know, and I have the feeling that the massive ruin we’ll be looking into in the future has the answer.”
“So the whole time you were a glory seeker?” Hasio looked to Tahir like he was seeing him in a whole new light. “That’s surprising to me, but looking back, it makes a lot of things make sense. Like flat out blocking Ester’s first strike back then. If she’d put more power into it, she had a good chance of just killing you.”
“But I bet the Redclouds back in Balrech are still talking about it. But that back then was more about proving myself than anything. Just saying I was qualified to be gold wasn’t enough when an elder was trying to get me kicked out of the sponsorship. I had to show them.” Tahir said with a determined look toward Hasio. “And so I did, in a way that even surprised Ester I think.”
Hasio smiled back, though he looked like he barely held back laughter. “A mild-mannered glory-seeker it is.” Glancing down at his empty glass, he stood from leaning against the railing and started to walk back to the door that led back downstairs. “I’ll have to mull that over another glass. We should get back before someone comes looking for you.”
He paused, glancing back toward Tahir. “Thanks for coming to look for me, though. I appreciate it.”
“No problem.” Walking after him, Tahir joined Hasio in heading back downstairs for the rest of the party.
####
In the coming days, Tahir, Hasio, and Theo continued to train with Murabi. Fenian announced that he would be heading to Osni for updates about the ruin, and would contact everyone when he had something concrete. He did suggest that all of the Redclouds head to Osni, as the appearance of the ruin created no small amount of extra work for everyone. Due to that, the other groups soon left after him. Meti continued her work with a few goals in mind. She worked to reverse-engineer Theo’s item that increased aura efficiency, worked to make Tahir a new sword that incorporated some of the void shards and the core from the maligno, and worked to make a new set of daggers for Hasio that incorporated the seed he received from the unicorn.
While Meti worked, Murabi taught the other three all of the sword forms and techniques of the style he learned from his sect in Shinevi. The movements for them, at least. They’d have to learn the way aura flowed into them and the results of that separately, but in Murabi’s experience, they would need to work that out for themselves. With Tahir already able to fling aura from his blade, and Theo and Hasio getting the hang of it shortly after, he had high hopes for all three of them.
Some days after the party. Tahir convinced Meti and Theo to let Hasio and Murabi know about the unmarked leyline crossing, and their desire to go looking for it. Since their next journey would very likely take them in the opposite direction; to the Osni desert, while they had an uncertain amount of time between then and the next update for the ruin. Hasio was on board with no real questions asked, to the surprise of Meti, and Theo, and so was Murabi, but only technically.
“I suppose I should part ways with you here then, for now.” He said, when everyone gathered to talk about the unmarked ley line crossing. “I’ve taught you guys about all I can for the moment. The rest is up to you to learn for yourselves, I haven’t got any work pending, and there were a couple of things I wanted to take a look into. Figured now was a good time and I debated whether or not I wanted to drag you guys along, but this works pretty well.” Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a stone and tossed it toward them. Tahir managed to catch it, and when he opened his hand to peer at what Murabi threw, he found a sending stone. “I’ll use that to let you guys know if anything comes up, since Fenian’s probably gonna contact me first.”
As the conversation concluded, Murabi stood up and gave them a deep bow. “I don’t do this too often but before we part for the time being, I’d like to thank you, all of you. I couldn’t have asked for better students.” He came up before anyone could react. “I’ll see you all in Osni. Tahir and Hasio, get a handle on what I’ve taught you, and you’ll probably qualify for platinum.” He glanced toward Theo with a grin. “I don’t include Theoris in that because she’s not a Redcloud, but also because she’d probably already count as platinum otherwise.”
With that, and settling a few more logistics, Murabi left Isanthyr the next day. The party spent a while longer in the city, with everyone going over their training from Murabi while Meti wrapped up her tinkering and the creation of several items. All the while, everyone gathered supplies, and planned their trip. Tahir visited Merenthyl one last time to tell her about Dahlia, and got an earful about how he needed to be ‘as respectful as possible’. Even if he could only call upon her as a tier two spirit, she easily existed in the realm of tier three and likely higher. He was also made to piece together multiple times the events of saving the unicorn and receiving the seed, all the way to performing the ritual and talking to Dahlia for the first time.
All in all, though she seemed all over the place about this revelation, as he left, she told him. “I suppose I don’t have to worry about you getting possessed as much from a diwata of all things. But do take care of yourself. I will leave you with one last piece of advice.” She put a hand on his shoulder as she spoke. “You seem to have a good eye for spirits. I’d be a fool not to notice that the ones you picked have no ill will towards you. With that in mind, do not be quick to pass on the spirits whose motives you don’t quite understand, as long as you sense no malice. They have a much better view of the souls of their potential contractors than you do theirs. If they see the opportunity for a connection, they likely believe that both of you stand to gain much from it.”
Tahir took in her words, and gave a nod. “I understand, and I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Merenthyl.”
“Good.” Merenthyl then stepped back into her doorway. “Now, I hope to see you again, but preferably before you’re an old man.” Before Tahir could respond, she shut the door in his face.
Tahir stood at the door for several seconds, but ultimately shrugged and started to make his way back to the embassy. He couldn’t really get a read on Merenthyl, but she seemed to care for his safety at the very least. Strangeness aside, as Tahir jumped from the nearby railing and fell at a leisurely pace thanks to the air spirit, he felt lighter than air in more ways than one.
With the chapter of Isanthyr coming to a close, he could smell a new adventure brewing in the unclaimed lands just a stone’s throw to the east. The promise of a leyline crossing, a new spirit, and another set of preparation for the largest ruin discovery for centuries of Itera’s history. With a party in tow, and the wind at their backs. He felt ready for anything.
