“So you want to try giving the Raven a letter?” Tahir asked. Once they got back to the grove, he and Shukri met up with Meti, Theo, and Hasio to go over what happened on each side, and confirm that both of them managed to take out their orbs. With that out of the way, they moved on to discussing their next steps. Meti’s group had come to the conclusion that they needed to make contact with the Raven.

“If he is leading this, then we can anticipate some retaliation sooner rather than later.” Meti explained. “If he isn’t, then we can work with him before the ones who did place the orbs realize that they’ve been destroyed.”

“Either way, Shall I notify the able-bodied hunters to expect something soon?” Shukri asked.

“That’d be for the best.” Hasio answered, then looked at Tahir. “So what’s it gonna be? If you have a really compelling reason otherwise, we’ll listen.”

Tahir looked between all of them, took a deep breath, and sighed. “No, you guys are probably right. I think it’s my past experience with mage guilds getting to me.”

“Yeah, if the Raven wasn’t a friend of Master Callipho I wouldn’t have even suggested it.” Theo replied. “But I want to think that someone who’s friends with him wouldn’t be behind something like this. At least, not without a good reason.”

“Doesn’t help that we still don’t know why.” Meti added. “But perhaps he will be able to illuminate us.”

“Right. Okay then! I’ll start writing the letter.” Theo moved to reach into her storage bag and started to pull out writing utensils.

“While we’re waiting, Shukri agreed to take me to the leyline crossing and to meet one of the Blooming Grove’s shamans.” Tahir explained, then glanced to Shukri. “Is it alright if we bring Metilia, too? She can also benefit from the crossing.”

Shukri shrugged. “Very well. You’ve proven yourselves able to behave at the very least.”

With that, the group broke apart, and Shukri led them to the stone building in the center of the grove that surrounded the massive tree whose branches seemed to spread out across the entire area. Once they reached it, Shukri had them stand in front of a stone wall. Tahir looked around, across the stone, he could see grooves that almost looked like a door. Before he could comment on it, a glyph appeared on the wall, and the sound of stone sliding against stone echoed out as the portion within the grooves slid back, and to the side, allowing them entry.

“Ah, and here I thought we’d have to knock.” Shukri said, stepping inside and gesturing for the other two to follow. Tahir and Meti walked in behind her, letting their eyes adjust to the dim interior of the building. A few circular windows in intervals let some sunlight shine into the room, and dim lights floating in the space up for the general lack of light. As they stepped in, the stone door closed behind them.

“Guests, and brought by Shukri no less? Now I’ve seen everything.” A voice brought Tahir’s attention toward a desk, situated between two points where the light in the room didn’t reach quite as well, almost hidden. An old man with a face full of wrinkles sat at the desk with a curious smile. He had light brown skin and a full head of white hair, with a matching short beard.”

“They are the ones who asked to visit this place.” Shukri replied. “Otherwise, you are right, I likely wouldn’t have bothered.”

A whisper caught Tahir’s attention, and he glanced back toward the sound. Seeing nothing, even after letting his eyes adjust to the relative darkness of the room, he looked back toward the old man.

“A pleasure to meet you two. You may call me Gameda. As I’m sure Shukri has explained already, I am a shaman for the Blooming Grove.” He explained. “I commune with the spirits here, and I must say they’re become quite active since you three walked in.”

“I hear them, I think.” Tahir replied. Every so often, he’d hear another whisper, the barest hint of a sound, and he had to keep himself from looking in different directions. After a moment, he cast the soul sight spell he’d learned in Isanthyr, and Meti followed suit. What he saw made his eyes widen. Multi-colored silhouettes floated around them, and the whispers became more prevalent, but he still couldn’t hear exactly what they said.

“That’s a curious spell.” Gameda said, stroking his beard. “You two clearly aren’t shamans yourselves, but do you work with spirits?”

“I do.” Tahir answered. “I’m a spirit mage, and that’s part of the reason I’m here. The other reason -” He gestured to Meti. “-We both would like to use the leyline crossing here to increase our mana pools, and I’d like to summon and make a contract with a spirit here, if possible.”

“Hmm.” Gameda looked over the two with an appraising gaze. “I don’t see why not - the spirits here look upon you two rather favorably, after all. However, I will not allow the summoning of a new spirit into this domain, you must make a contract with one already present.”

“Alright.” Tahir nodded, though the restriction did confuse him. “Has there been a problem in the past with summoning spirits here?”

“You could say that.” Gameda replied. “You could also say the ones that exist in this space are uniquely competitive, but they will suffice as well as any you pull randomly from the ether.”

“Well, if that’s taken care of, I’ll be taking my leave.” Shukri said, before the two of them could get any further in this conversation on spiritual theory.

“Thanks again, Shukri.” Tahir said to her, as she turned to leave.

“Of course, of course. Though from what you’ve told me, this will take the rest of your daylight hours, do not forget that you owe me that spar.” With that, she left. The stone door opening at her approach and closing at her departure.

Meti looked at Tahir with a raised eyebrow, to which Tahir just sighed. “I think she got the wrong idea when I described my fight with Ester.”

Gameda, listening to all this, chuckled. “A spar with Shukri? Should I be preparing your last rites?” He waved for the two of them to come closer. “Come now, before all that, let me bring you to the crossing proper.”

On the opposite side from the one they came in through, another stone door opened, and Gameda let them through into the grove proper. They could finally see the base of the tree whose branches stretched the entirety of the Blooming Grove. The trunk could have been a small building in itself, and as Tahir and Meti glanced up, they could see the blooming branches stretching up in all directions.

“I didn’t think I would find a crossing more beautiful than Isanthyr’s.” Meti said.

“You flatter us.” Gameda replied. “I and other shamans who pass through tend to it the best we can, but it grows on its own.”

Tahir glanced around, spirits of all kinds still surrounded the tree. One of them floated close, and passed through him before he could react, and he felt a cold shiver pass through him. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time, so I guess I’ll summon the spirit first. I might ask for help, though. Since I’ve only summoned spirits using a ritual I’ve learned, one that very explicitly draws them from the ethereal without certain circumstances.” The only time that hadn’t been true was when he used the seed, and that brought him to Dahlia. He didn’t have an issue with summoning from local spirits if Gameda thought that they would work - his only worries lay in taking one of the spirits away from the grove, but he supposed that was a nonissue for the most part. He summoned his spirits from across the ethereal, and he could only guess that they went back there when he released his bond. Summoning spirits from elsewhere in the material plane probably worked the same way.

“Very well. Do you have an offering?”

Tahir pulled out the materials to summon a tier two spirit from his storage bag. “These are from the ritual I’d use, they’re a combination of offering and protection from possession, but they’d all work as an offering here I think.”

“They will suffice.” Gameda said, after examining them. “You need not worry about protection, I’ll keep you from being possessed. Allow me to teach you how to commune with local spirits. Contracting aside, your work with spirits can extend to all of those around you. They may not all help you, and some of them may be hostile, but as one who deals with spirits, you are in a position to deal with them far more than most people.”

Tahir nodded in response. “Seems like a lot to learn in a short time, are you sure you’re willing to teach me?”

Gameda waved Tahir’s words off. “I’ve already said to think of it as repaying you for your help on that hunt. Along with that, I don’t know the details, but if Shukri of all people is bringing you to me, you’ve likely done something very worthy of praise.”

“Is she that hard to please?” Tahir asked.

“In a sense. She is not at all a spiritual person by any means, other than revering her favorite ancestor. In many ways, she turns a blind eye to many aspects of our people, spirits included, unless it involves one of her hunts.” He shrugged. “It has resulted in her becoming a masterful hunter herself, certainly, but that is neither here nor there.”

As they walked, Meti moved to a space near the tree, and sat with her back against the trunk. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and began to cycle her mana. She had a feeling they would be there for a while.

Meanwhile, Tahir learned firsthand many aspects of spirits and how they operated that he’d only vaguely read about previously. The mages who made the ritual he used had some cursory information on spirits, their various origins, and what some of them were capable of, but their major focus lay in the summoning ritual and making contracts with summoned spirits. He found it incredibly refreshing to have a teacher, in much the same way that he felt when Merenthyl taught him more about spirits when he went to Isanthyr.

After giving him a primer on spirits, and humoring him for taking copious amounts of notes, Gameda led Tahir into calling on the spirits from his surroundings, using a specific, but short ritual to give him a deeper insight and vision of the spirits around him, Tahir could see them much clearer than he could with soulsight, and finally hear them speak. As the spirits floated around and communicated with him, he thought about the spirits that he currently contracts with, what they offered him when he called them forth, and what they lacked. He needed to fill in a major gap he had with his spirits so far.

He had a dazzling array of different magical skillsets with each spirit that he summoned, which would make for fantastic combinations, especially when he gained enough mana and aura to summon multiple spirits at tier one or higher. What he lacked, however, was a spirit that purely improved his combat potential, the amount he could do with simply his weapons. Insofar as the earth spirit gave him an edge with his sword, and without a spirit to help, he had to rely on quintessence back when he fought the maligno. As he pondered this, and talked to more spirits, one approached who made him do a double take, but seemed very willing to make a contract with him. With Gameda mediating, he presented his offering and made the contract. After which, he thanked Gameda profusely and moved to the tree, to cycle his mana in an effort to increase his mana pool.