Ascendant

“Come eat with us tonight,” Ophelia said.

“I… really can’t afford to,” Nym replied, not looking up from where he was inscribing the runes on the blocks. He’d learned that they weren’t quite as simple as he’d initially thought, and that the runes were only meant to hold everything together temporarily. Interlocking lips were grown among the blocks after they were stacked up in such a way that they could not be removed without lifting everything on top of them up first. The runes would hold everything together for a week until the framework of the building was put on top of the foundation and driven through holes opened in the wall, at which point the weight of the structure would serve to hold the foundation it rested on in place.

“This doesn’t seem like it should work,” he said, studying the design.

“It is admittedly not as solid as some other methods, but it’s designed to allow it to be repaired when it’s impacted by something especially powerful, like a siege weapon or artillery spell. It might blow a few blocks out at the point of impact, but they can be replaced with minimal effort.”

“And… that’s necessary for foundation work in the residential district of a city that’s part of a country which is not at war with anyone else?”

Ophelia shrugged. “Yeah, it’s probably overkill. But hey, they’re getting a hell of a deal.”

“Why not just raise solid walls?” Nym asked.

“Harder to transmute that much at once. But don’t change the topic. Come eat with us. We’re going to discuss our future plans, and you should be involved with that.”

“Me? You already said you couldn’t take on an apprentice for months, and now you might have to leave.”

“That was before we found out the city wasn’t going to do anything to stop the guild from harassing us as much as they wanted. Now we’re rethinking spending the summer months here, like I said. If our situation changes, we might be able to work something out.”

Nym knew what the bill looked like for a meal at the Quarterhouse. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the money to cover it so much as he could eat for a week on what that single meal would cost, and his money was not unlimited. For the moment, he was set, but he wasn’t really earning any income in Thrakus and he might need every single wedge of that money once he and Analia finalized their own travel plans.

“Stop worrying about the money. You know we’re going to cover it for you. You do enough work on our jobs to at least be worth a meal. We’re probably getting the better end of the deal.”

That wasn’t really true. He wouldn’t say he’d done a lot of work for them, certainly nothing Ophelia couldn’t have done herself, and they probably hadn’t saved much time since she’d been slowed down by both teaching him and going over his work. The Earth Shapers had been far kinder to a stranger than he’d deserved.

“I have to go meet my friend after we’re done. I will try to get to the Quarterhouse when I can.”

“Why don’t you just bring your girlfriend too?”

“She’s not… you know what, I’m not doing this. I will ask her, since one of the things we’re talking about is leaving Thrakus and trying to figure out where to go.”

“What? Just the two of you?” Ophelia asked. “That’s kind of dangerous, don’t you think?”

“Not really, no. She’s also a mage.”

“Still. Well, see if you can get her to come. I would love to meet your … ahem… friend. Who is a girl.”

Nym rolled his eyes. “I’ll see what I can do.”

* * *

The doorman at the Silk Box was tall, handsome, well-muscled, and plenty friendly with the inn’s paying customers. For Nym, however, it was a different story.

“You renting a room?” he asked.

“No,” Nym said. “I’m just here to-”

“Got shields on you?”

“What? Why would I-”

“That’s a no. Look kid, if you’re not a guest and you got no money, you’re not welcome here. This is an expensive, exclusive inn and our guests value their privacy. You’re not getting in.”

“I just wanted to see a friend who’s staying here.”

“I’m sure you do. Get your sticky fingers away from the door before I have to break them.”

Nym was trying to edge past the doorman, but pulled back. “Look, you don’t want me in there, fine. I’m too poor and it would offend their rich sensibilities. Can you at least send a message up to my friend to have her meet me somewhere else?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?” Nym demanded.

“Not my job.”

Briefly, for just a moment, Nym considered setting the doorman on fire. The temptation was there, and it was awfully strong. Nym pulled himself back, and through gritted teeth, asked, “How do I go about sending a message to my friend who is inside this building?”

“No idea. Not my problem.”

Arcana poured into him and Nym slammed a fully powered daze spell on the doorman. The man went slack-jawed and immediately slumped to the side. “You can barely notice a difference,” Nym said, watching him. Then he stepped past the man and walked into the Silk Box.

The interior was every bit as posh as he’d expected from his scrying. Instead of a big open room with a bunch of wooden furniture, it consisted of a series of booths lining the walls that were closed off for privacy’s sake. The back wall was given over half to the bar, and half to doors or stairs leading to other parts of the inn.

“Pardon me, are you a guest at the Silk Box?” a man said, approaching Nym before he’d even gotten five steps past the door.

“I am not, no. And I am not looking to rent a room. I have a friend here I would like to send an invitation to meet me too, and then I will be on my way.”

“Hmm… very well. And the name of your friend?”

“Analia Feldstal.”

“I see. I cannot confirm or deny a guest of that name, in order to protect our patrons’ privacy. Assuming we do have such a person here, where and when would you like her to meet you?”

Nym could only think of one place he was sure they both knew the location of. “At the café down the street from here, as soon as possible.”

The man bowed his head. “Very well. If you have no further need of our services, allow me to show you the door.”

The man who’d stopped him inside the door gave him the boot, then paused to scowl at the doorman, who was still recovering from Nym’s daze spell. Nym did not stick around to watch the rest of that, just in case the doorman realized what had happened and came after him. Instead, he went to the café and loitered nearby. He had no intention of going in if he didn’t have to, though he was sure Analia would insist on it once she joined him.

He didn’t have to wait long for Analia to show up. She bypassed him and immediately walked into the café, leaving Nym to follow with a wordless sigh. Sometimes he hated being right. The pair claimed the same table as their first visit, and before she could order food, Nym said, “My friends have invited us to eat with them at the Quarterhouse.”

“Oh really? That’s nice of them,” she said. “They know about me?”

“No. They just know that I have a friend. Things didn’t go well for them with that guild that’s going after them, so they’re going to decide if they’re leaving tonight, and where to go. They… they asked me to go with them. I said we’d have to decide together.”

Analia ordered drinks for both of them, ignoring Nym’s protests, and sat back to think for a bit. “You said before they were considering going west to help the army.”

“Yes,” Nym said. “And you weren’t sure you wanted to go. I thought we’d have more time, but it doesn’t look like it.”

“What do you want to do?” Analia asked.

“If it was just me and nobody else? I thought I might go west, but maybe not to the battlefront. There’s someone I used to know out that way that I want to make sure is still alright. I don’t know what I’d do after that.”

“Maybe recover your missing memories?” she said.

“Sure. That’d be great. Any ideas on how to do it?”

“I… no.”

“It would be great to know who I am, but I’ve got no idea how to accomplish that. I’ve just kind of gotten used to it. Right now I’m interested in the same thing I’ve always been interested in: learning new magic. One of them offered to take me on as an apprentice, but I’m not sure I want to focus that heavily on earth magic. I’m also not sure I want to be bound to an apprenticeship contract. We never discussed terms though, so maybe it’s not as bad as I’m afraid it’ll be.”

Nym rambled on for a while and Analia sipped from the porcelain cup sitting in front of her. When he was done, she told him, “I don’t know what I want to do either. I’ve got so much to figure out. That’s okay though. Let’s go meet your friends and see what their plans are before we make any decisions.”

“Just like that, huh?” Nym said. “Why did you want to go with me, Analia?”

“I was afraid to be alone. I thought we’d have a better shot if we worked together. Also we can still teach each other magic. I want to learn that ice golem spell you picked up, and meet your new wolf friends someday. You’re still working on your runes, right?”

“I am,” he admitted. “Ophelia taught me a few they use, but it’s barely the first page in the book.”

“We’ve got plenty of time,” she said. “And if we’re going to teach ourselves, we’ll need a lot more money than we have.”

“Hah! That’s the truth. Books are expensive. It’s kind of weird to see you worry about money though.”

Her face flushed and she mumbled something. Nym leaned over the table and said, “What was that?”

“I said… things are so expensive that I’m going to run out of money in the next week.”

“Well, the cure to that is to stop spending it so fast, you know?”

“I have to eat though! I need a place to stay,” she protested.

“Sure. I paid one shield five for a week at the Lucky Barrel. How much is the Silk Box charging you?”

“Three shields even. A night.”

Nym winced. “Well, I’m sure the beds are very comfortable.”

“Oh shut up.”

They sat in silence for a bit. Nym sipped the brown liquid from the cup in front of him and found it was nice. “What’s this called?” he asked.

“Tea.”

“I like it. Better than chocolate.”

“Ugh. Uncultured peasant.”

Nym laughed. He took another sip, thought for a second, and said, “Do you regret leaving?”

“Not yet. Do you regret not taking my brother’s contract?”

“Never.”

“It’s really not that horrible of a deal. It’s not like we send our retainers to the mines to do hard labor with the convicted criminals. But I understand. Freedom.”

“Freedom,” he echoed.

“Enough of this,” she said. “Let’s go meet your friends, enjoy a good meal, and see what new adventures are waiting for us.”

That sounded hopelessly optimistic to Nym, but he appreciated the sentiment. Together, they got up to leave. Nym managed to not wince when Analia dropped a shield on the table. That was a ridiculous price for two small cups of tea, no matter how good it was. He was going to have to wean her off her natural inclination to buy the most expensive things she could find.

“Oh, I should probably mention, they don’t know my real name,” he said, leading her out the café.

“Is that so? What exactly do they know? Just so I don’t spoil your cover.”

“Let me try to remember…”