B2 Chapter 8:

James proved to be a much more interesting host and companion now that he seemed genuinely interested in our research. We stayed for a little over two weeks, learning as much as we could about anything related to the Endless Empire and the portal.

I wouldn't claim to have made much progress on deciphering the runes. However, James seemed more than impressed that I was able to trace them for any amount of time. I was far from attempting to draw any of them, but studying my memories, I was able to produce a similar effect with my own shadow magic. Nothing so complicated as something that couldn't be understood by simply looking, but a strange twist in mana that seemed to jump through time. A repeating pattern, if complex, was something that could be linked with other duplicates.

So far, it was absolutely useless, but it had enough surface similarities with the runes and the mirrors of the world that James had become fascinated. I had to spend a couple of days teaching him how to do it, and he planned to write a book on it.

He said he, of course, insisted on crediting me, and after a while, I gave up the argument. It wasn't like I was particularly good at staying incognito as an assassin, and not like this book would be propagated throughout normal society for, well, probably ever. But maybe a few of the other archmages would learn of it, and from everything I gathered, they were mostly on our side as well. Actually, all of them were, even if not all of them were brought into the conspiracy, which is something I also learned a little bit more about.

Apparently, it was nothing nearly as formal as I had first assumed, but rather a loose collection of powerful individuals who were in agreement on working together. The old man was a facilitator of sorts, and the only real obligations we had to each other stemmed from favors and personal honor. Which was surprising—that someone like me, personal honor was enough that the others all accepted me as I was.

But eventually, it was time to leave. We had got what we came for. I had a few books for reference that I tucked away, but they were the least of what I'd actually gotten. I'd gotten much more from reading them and talking to the Archmage than from the books themselves. They were honestly even just copies, mostly kept in case I needed to rethink something or jog my memory by reading it again.

Really, what I'd gained was, I wouldn't exactly call James a friend, but definitely an acquaintance, a connection, and an open invitation to return if I wanted to continue my quote-unquote research. I wouldn't exactly call that research, but my apparently novel control over my shadow magic had impressed James, and he'd been working on making his own sort of unique versions of similar techniques that I had learned, using his own mana.

When I had heard his title, I initially thought he had something to do with water or oceans, but it was apparently more the actual color blue. He was named that because the type of mana he used was blue, although it had nothing to do with any natural element like mine—just, it was blue in a way that I couldn't explain. It apparently changed him a little bit, making him a little more focused on being analytical and interested in ideas, whereas other archmages with different colored aspects had their own peculiarities.

But it was still strange. I didn't dwell on it, and I also refused any lessons on actual magic, saying that I was still developing this new set of paradigms and I didn't want any influence from outside sources. James respected that in a scholarly way, though, and didn't push any further.

Two and Three, though, were incredibly bored. They were actually glad to be sitting in a carriage where they could talk without having to whisper. One was mostly just happy to be by my side, as she always was. She was currently half on my lap, sleeping again. It had been a bit of a teasing bicker between the three of them for a while as we headed out of the tower. Before we’d even gotten going, Two was trying to convince Three and One that we should have some fun in the carriage, as we had been far too busy and aware of the Archmage's presence to do anything particularly interesting.

I stayed out of it—not actively against the idea, but I had my mind elsewhere as I thought. I wasn't actually sure what One and Three thought, as they mostly were just pushing Two’s buttons, who was complaining about the fact that it had actually been more than two weeks since she'd gotten any real attention.

And Three pointed out that it had been even longer for her. That almost shut Two up, but I did notice that One threw me a meaningful look. I was a bit apprehensive. Three was still scary to me. We had interacted plenty over the last couple of weeks, though—nothing interesting, just her calm attitude of a stoic with a slightly mischievous side. But none of that was particularly stand-out in a library.

But judging based on one's glance before she snuggled up into my lap, she was planning something, and I would have to get ready to deal with Three sooner than I probably had originally planned.

***

I put off any personal problems a bit longer. It wasn't that I didn't want to deal with them, but rather that my mind was elsewhere. As important as keeping my Numbered loyal and satisfied, and getting to know them so that I could progress their arcs and personalities into something that would benefit me, I had other things that were maybe even more pressing.

And it had nothing to do with the fact that the way Three shifted ever so slightly whenever I looked at her made me the slightest bit nervous. Nothing at all. For the most part.

We caught up on sleep. That was the first day. But we were making a slight detour as well. We had left the snow behind a little bit further to the north when we got out next. Two and Three stayed with the carriage, while One and I headed off into the trees. There was another portal nearby.

Now that I’d learned so much and even done a few tests, I wanted to take another look and perhaps have a more private discussion with One. She was apparently having similar thoughts, because as we walked away from the carriage, the second we were out of earshot, she spoke up.

"Two and Three are acting slightly odd," she said.

I raised an eyebrow. "How so? They have seemed rather compliant to me."

She nodded. "That's the issue. Well, not really. Two is just bothering you a lot less than she normally would, and when she does, you just give her the affection she was looking for. It's not at all like your old strategy."

I frowned. "I assume I always pushed her away."

"Most of the time," she said. "About 70% of the time. The way you described it to me, when I eventually got you to talk about it, was that it was keeping the dependence Two had on you. If you ever fully satisfied her need for affection and attention, well, she would be... less devoted."

I frowned, seeing how that could be true, but also where it wasn’t true. It would have been like someone addicted to drugs, in a way. A hit that was uncertain and desperately wanted. But if Two was satisfied... well, I suppose it depended on what I wanted her to do.

"I can see that working," I said, "but I don't think I can play that role, nor do I think she would really want me to. Though..."

I paused, thinking about her. That one encounter we had when she was first introduced, about Three lifting her up and down. I worried my lip between my teeth, thinking.

"Well, in some situations I suppose she would like that, but I don't think just basic affection is one of those things that needs to be withheld from her, even for her own satisfaction," I said.

One nodded. "That could be it. And it could just be them reacting to the changes in you."

"How about Three?" I asked as we started slowly coming up on the portal. One was hanging on my arm, her head resting against my shoulder, even as we walked.

"Well..." She hesitated. "She speaks a bit more."

I half-stuttered, stepping in surprise. "She barely talks. Still, more than she used to. And I don't think I had seen her read books before. I honestly didn't know she could read."

One said, "Really. Yes. I don’t know what it is, but normally, whenever we were in some sort of library as a group of Numbered, or even with you doing some research, she would just find a corner and meditate or something along those lines. Practice her healing or cleansing. But here, she actually was involved."

"Do you think it was because of the threat?" I asked.

One shrugged. "It could have been."

"What do your auras tell you?" I asked.

One of the reasons why I trusted One to give me information about all my Numbered, and everyone else was that she could see the emotional state and general being of people through their auras, which gave her a very good read on people, much better than even strong social skills in some situations.

"They are, I guess, less anxious in Two's case, and Three just feels a bit more content," One said after a moment. "I’ve been having trouble putting it into words. They are warmer."

"This sounds like a good thing," I said.

One nodded as we stopped in front of the portals, but before I could start studying them, she reached up and put her hands on my cheeks, guiding my face down to hers. I gave her a brief kiss, but patted her hip, trying to nudge her out of the way so I could continue on while we were here.

But she held her position and looked up into my face.

"You're doing a good job with them, but I think you need to push a little harder. I don't think you're going to make much more progress as you are, and I think you can bring them even closer to you."

I nodded. "I understand."

She didn’t let me go, though.

"I know living in a carriage makes it a little bit harder to have private, intimate moments. But you have to remember, we are all yours in there. There's no need to hold back because other ones of us are watching."

I frowned. "I don't... I know Two gets off on that, but—"

She held my face. "There's a difference between enjoying it more that way versus being okay with it."

I frowned. "Can we talk about this later?"

She shook her head. "No. We need to cover this now. It’s important. For one, I have been feeling a bit neglected," she said pointedly as she took a half step closer that completely removed the distance between us. She pulled my head down again and gave me a more insistent, longer kiss.

I relaxed and let my arms go around her waist, picking her up slightly and stepping forward before plopping her down on a stone.

"Okay, I get the message, One. But I don’t think sneaking away for a bit of fun is going to help any of the problems you were telling me about. Let me examine this, and I promise tonight at least someone will get some fun."

One pouted playfully, but just leaned back on her palms, kicking her legs as she watched me step up to the portal and tried to focus on the ever-shifting runes.