Millennial Mage

Chapter 488: For as Long as I Live

Tala and Rane sat, holding hands, in their thrones once more. The paint on their hands and on the armrests of the thrones was decidedly purple from intermixing.

The guests’ chairs had been rearranged to surround tables, and food and drink were already appearing at Tala’s will to fill each table.

Guests were mingling, and a small line was beginning to form before Tala and Rane. As was traditional, ‘bigger’ gifts—usually those given by a group of guests working together but not always—would be presented publicly, usually in a dual display of generosity and overt support for the union.

Master Nadro took it upon himself to make the final announcement as officiant. “Now presenting, Mistress and Master Sappherrous.”

Lyn huffed a laugh.

There was polite clapping and much murmured discussion over the name as Tala and Rane shared a chaste kiss, and Master Nadro stepped back, fading into the crowd even as he grabbed a pastry.

Master Grediv had been at the front of the line mere moments earlier, but then Mistress Holly had walked up to the Paragon and given him a long look as the clapping died down.

Master Grediv had sighed and stepped back, muttering under his breath—clearly for Mistress Holly’s ears, but Tala caught it too, “I’d say age before beauty, but you have me beat on both counts.”

Mistress Holly’s eyes flicked toward Tala, the Inscriber clearly realizing that Tala would have heard. She gave a small grimace and sighed, shaking her head.

Master Grediv quirked a smile, adding in a softer whisper, “There’s always a price for throwing your weight around, Mistress Holly.”

She gave a small, resigned bob of her head toward the man, and Master Grediv returned the gesture a bit more deeply.

Tala did her best not to react, continuing to bring out the refreshments by her will.

She could have done it quicker, but she was trying to arrange things just so.

There were cheesy mini-caravans, hand-pies, racks of ribs, poultry legs of various sizes, sausages, pork belly, and several other variations of meat. And that was just the various vehicles for meat.

There was a massive spread of single-serving salads of varying composition and dressings, fruit and fruit mixes, rice and other grains, as well as an overabundance of various drinks and desserts.

All of this was kept the best temperature and overall state by Tala, Alat, and Kit’s active will.

Rane seemed like he might have been able to help her. Their soulbond was still new, but already, Tala could feel some of her authority over the sanctum reflected within Rane.

He wasn’t doing anything with it yet, but he seemed to be feeling the weight of it all the same.

He had offered to help set the tables one way or another, but Tala had declined, aware that it was incredibly difficult to be precise with such acts of will, and as funny as it would be to have Rane dump some of the food on a guest, it would be a diversion from the purpose of the event.

And that’s not actually what would happen, regardless.

-Yeah, if it were, you’d probably have agreed.-

…Probably, yeah. It would have been a funny memory to have. But I know he’s too good, too careful to do something like that.

-Of course, the actual issue is that he’d lay it out differently than the way that you want, not due to malice, but due to lack of practice and ignorance of your precise desires in this arena.-

…That’s being a bit silly, isn’t it.

-It is, but that’s fine. You aren’t getting upset when guests are taking unevenly from various trays, leaving them less aesthetically pleasing.-

Well… yeah. We’re rearranging on the fly to keep things balanced and appealing.

-True… this really isn’t good for our hyper-meticulous side, is it.-

I’m sure we’ll be fine… I’ll make sure of it.

Alat snorted within her head. -Have fun.-

Tala took the momentary pause to shift her mental focus—while continuing food arrangement and rearrangement with the smallest portion of her attention. She turned her focus to her new connection with Rane.

Their bond was unlike any of the other soulbonds she possessed, as made sense. It was funny. In comparison, it now felt like the others were pale, artificial imitations of this one.

The best comparison she could come up with was the other bonds were like shoes, and this one with Rane was her foot.

In a way, the ‘artificial’ ones were more robust, but this one was more real. There was more feeling to it and feedback from it. It was more a part of her.

She couldn’t sense his emotions—emotions were things of body and mind—but she could feel his soul, and right then, it was practically glowing with joy.

-Umm… Tala? Isn’t joy an emotion?-

You know, I don’t think so? Happiness is an emotion, joy is a state of being.

-...Whatever you say.- Alat projected skepticism.

She didn’t think she could aspect mirror any of his magics with this bond, but that wasn’t really the intention of it. Instead, she felt like she could directly give him power for use in his magics, and he for hers.

That two-way connection was utterly seamless and seemed to be balancing itself with absolutely no mental effort or delay, as each of them flexed their various magics in almost unconscious, experimental ways.

Where Terry could use her magics, or her power for his magics, and she could tap into some of his power and magics, it seemed like everything Tala and Rane did now had the magical weight of two souls behind it, seamlessly and perfectly aligned.

Rust, that’s potent. We can’t do anything new—magically speaking—but everything we could do before has an incredibly increased weight.

-Yeah. I would bet that out in Zeme proper your aura will be far closer to the supremacy you experience here, in your sanctum, than it was before.-

Yeah, I think that being in here is masking just how much it’s affecting us. Is this how arcane marriages are?

-Not from the research I’ve been able to find. They have some overlap, but for them, it’s more a broadening and deepening of their concepts. That does grant power, but of a different kind.-

Then, it’s no wonder that most of our cities are run or defended by married couples. With this, it would be much easier to actually go toe to toe in aura clashes with a similarly advanced Arcane, despite their concept advantage.

-Indeed. It seems to almost make up the natural difference in potency.-

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Tala both immediately found herself irritated that no one had ever mentioned this and also fully understood why they hadn’t. After even a half-second of thought, she was grateful that no one had told her that this was one of the effects.

If Mages were explicitly told that marriage would provide a noticeable boost in power, many more would rush marriage for that benefit, and no soulbond should be rushed.

-And we would definitely have moved toward marriage faster if we’d known this was a benefit.-

And that would have been to our detriment and the detriment of our relationship with Rane.

-Precisely.-

How are things with Enar?

Alat actually briefly radiated the feeling of embarrassment before she got that under control. -Well… we’re bound too.-

Of course you are. You bonded when we did. Why… oh… oh! So, if we hadn’t…?

-We would have. So, you two still would have.-

That would have been… Tala felt a twitch at the oddity and awkwardness that could have created.

-Yeah.-

So, things are good, then? I’m not going to ask details of the bonding.

-Yeah, things are good. We have the cognitive equivalent of bodies. So, the process was very like your own bonding, but I won’t say more.-

I not only didn’t ask, I explicitly said I wasn’t going to ask.

-I wanted to share anyway.-

Oh, look, Mistress Holly is stepping forward. Should I tell her you’re distracting me?

-...You’re kind of mean sometimes.-

You come by it honestly.

Mistress Holly gave a shallow bow to Tala and Rane. “Master Rane, Mistress Tala, congratulations on your union.”

They both bobbed their heads in small bows in return. Tala responded for them, feeling her connection with Rane resonate, ensuring that she was representing them both accurately and not just herself, “Mistress Holly, thank you for your well wishes and for attending our celebration.”

“Of course, dear girl. As a token of my affection—and as a statement of support for your union—I wish to offer you both an in-depth assessment of your advancement.”

Tala frowned. “I’m not sure I understand.”

Mistress Holly smiled. “I assumed you wouldn’t, dear. You have advanced quickly enough that such hasn’t ever really been required, but when someone is stuck—or simply desirous of insight—there is a resource-intensive process for getting a truly detailed look at exactly how their advancement appears.”

Rane gave a deeper, seated bow. “Thank you, Mistress Holly. That is a truly wonderful gift.”

She smiled her self-satisfied smile. “I and several others have come together to offer this to you. Mistress Noelle and Master Jevin are chief among them, and they send their regrets at being unable to attend.” She held out a folded piece of thick paper.

Rane received it, reading the note and bevy of signatures. He smiled and handed the well-wishes to Tala before thanking Mistress Holly once again.

Tala looked over the words and signatures. There were quite a few of the Constructionists from Makinaven and Bandfast, as well as those already noted. How expensive is this analysis?

-Expensive isn’t the right word. It’s intricate, requiring a slew of very specific magics, and it is fairly irreducibly complex, which has made any attempt to make artifacts to accomplish the task unsuccessful as of yet.-

Good to know. Tala stood up and smiled, thanking Mistress Holly as well once more before embracing the woman.

Mistress Holly returned the hug and gave Tala a couple of pats on the back. “Good luck, dear girl.”

Rane gave Mistress Holly a quick, less familiar hug.

Both of them had been as careful as possible to keep from getting paint on the older woman, and Tala’s will had ensured that the contact that was made didn’t transfer any pigment.

Finally, Mistress Holly took her leave and moved off into the crowd. Some of the guests were watching, making comments on the one gift that had been presented. Others were talking among themselves about other things.

Some were dancing with partners—old or newly found—over near the musicians to one side of the large raised central area.

Most were enjoying—or had already enjoyed—some of the cornucopia spread around the celebration space.

Master Grediv stepped forward then, glancing after Mistress Holly before shaking his head. He then focused on his former apprentice and Tala, smiling broadly. “Congratulations to you both.”

He gave a shallow bow, which they returned more deeply, though they remained seated. “Thank you, Master Grediv.”

Tala had spoken for them, but it was obvious that the sentiment was shared.

Master Grediv’s smile grew a bit. “For my gift, I am in a unique position, thanks to your sanctum here. Years ago, when a fool of a descendent of mine got himself… entangled in an arcane city. I had to untangle him, and as a result I found myself in possession of several holds.”

Tala’s eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t interrupt.

“Most were not maintained due to moral concerns.” He met Tala’s eyes, and she got the implication. Vestiges had powered all of them, and they hadn’t wanted to keep those so bound. He also didn’t want to casually mention bound human souls around so many, or at a wedding.

Tala gave a solemn nod.

“Regardless, we were able to combine some of them, using their own techniques to add them to the largest, which I have maintained with my own power for research purposes ever since.”

Rane was leaning back, smiling. Clearly, he had at least some foreknowledge of this gift.

“As such, we have spent the intervening centuries studying every aspect of this hold, and there is little left to glean from it. I believe that it can serve humanity one last time by being devoured and added to your own space.”

Tala was about to express her immense gratitude when Master Grediv held up a finger. “I will give you access to the hold’s entrance after the celebration, so that Kit may devour it.”

“Thank you, Master Grediv. The extra dimensionality and material will be a wonderful addition.”

Rane stood up and hugged the older man. “Thank you, master.”

“Always, my dear Rane.” Master Grediv returned the hug, his eyes dampening, even if no tears fell.

Tala stood and hugged him as well—keeping the pigment from transferring once again—before he stepped aside.

Next up were Rane’s parents. They bowed low before Tala and Rane before presenting them with a rather official looking document. His father spoke up, then, making sure to project his voice, “This is the logging rights for a large stand of old-growth, hardwood trees east of Alefast, Waning. They were planted before the founding of the city, and the right to harvest them has passed down through the generations as they have matured. Now, we have acquired the rights and pass them to you. We worked closely with many of your fellow Defenders as well as the city officials whom you were kind enough to invite.”

There were nods from the people in question in the crowd.

Tala saw that along with the writ of harvest was a similar note with well-wishes and signatures.

It only took her a moment to realize what they’d intended, and her eyes went wide. She gave a deeper seated bow, then. “Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. These trees will make excellent additions to our soulbound spaces for centuries to come.”

It would be a minor pain to harvest them, but since she could simply grab everything in the area she wouldn’t have to untangle the roots. The ground would be a pain though…

A smile pulled at her lips as she noticed that the writ gave them the rights to anything found in the ground as well.

She could simply scoop up the whole area and parse it out later as she desired. Or, they could keep it as a beautiful old-growth copse in their sanctum or in Irondale.

Rane stood and hugged his parents, and Tala did likewise, thanking them again.

Next, surprisingly—even though Tala had seen them in line—were Latna and Master Leighis.

They bowed, and Tala and Rane returned the gesture.

The two expressed their congratulations, then Master Leighis gestured for Latna speak for them, “We had this made for you, all your siblings, their families, and Master Leighis.”

She held out something that looked very much like a very large Archive slate, but it was a bit thicker, and the front was a carved relief, colored by the material itself so the image would stand the test of time.

It was Tala’s entire family, including her sibling’s mother and father. It included spouses and all the babies who had been born so far, and Master Leighis on the side.

It was clearly a family portrait of sorts, but what made it truly special was that they had gone through the effort and expense of setting a small, simple artifact into each of the depictions.

Each took in ambient power and projected out a small stream in a mimicry of the aura of the person they were matched to. Even the non-Mages had such, which represented great difficulty, time, and expense.

Tala and Rane stared at the rendition for a long moment before Tala looked up and met Latna’s eyes.

Latna gave a sad smile, though there was still happiness in the expression, “So we can always be with you, no matter where you go or how long your journey continues.”

Tala felt tears filling her eyes as she realized that, all too soon, this just might be the only thing she had left of most of her family. Odds were low that even a very few, if any, would reach Refined.

Latna saw Tala’s tears and responded involuntarily with tears of her own.

The sisters embraced, both crying in familial love, sadness for what was to come, and happiness for what had been.

A moment later, Tala gestured toward the other siblings, watching from the surrounding crowd, and they all moved forward into a massive group hug.

There were littles and spouses in the mix too, and Rane came in beside Tala, all wrapping arms around one another.

Tala even specifically gestured toward the three who had been hesitating on the sidelines: Master Leighis and her siblings’ parents.

When everyone was in close, she spoke softly, adding power and will to make sure that they all heard her, “Thank you. This means the world to me, and I will treasure it for as long as I live.”

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