Millennial Mage

Tala was breathing hard and raggedly as she trudged through the city streets. More and more people were joining her on the thoroughfares, heading off to start their days.

Her heavy breathing wasn’t because of strain from the exercise, not in the least; she was falling under the stress brought on by her memories, still swirling through her head, and the eyes that wouldn’t leave her alone, despite their absence.

She shuddered involuntarily.

A passing stranger paused, seemingly noticing the reaction. “Miss? Are you okay? Are you cold?”

Miss? Her eyes flicked to her hands. The illusion hid all evidence of spell-forms. Right! “Oh, I’m fine. Thank you for asking, though.” That really was quite kind of him.

“Are you sure? I’m almost home, and I have another coat there. It’s really no trouble.” He started to shift out of his large, thick, warm-looking coat. Maybe I am a little cold. Still, she couldn’t take the stranger’s coat.

Tala held up her hands, feeling a bit embarrassed. “No, really. I’m fine. I’m almost to where I’m going.”

He hesitated, then shrugged, pulling the coat fully back on. “As you wish. I hope you get warm soon, though. Yeah?”

She smiled. “Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

-Tala-

-That was quite a nice man; you should give him some money.-

That would be insulting. He was just being kind. Tala waved goodbye and continued on her way.

-People always like money…no. That’s not right. Not everyone is so focused on money. Why do you like it so much?-

Tala suspected that she knew what Alat was doing, and she was grateful for the distraction from her disturbing memories, though she’d never consciously admit it. Instead, she groaned. I don’t like it, per se. I find it useful, and I often have need of it. After all, it is required for basically everything I want or need.

-Right. He’d probably say the same. You should go give him some.-

Tala’s eye twitched, even though she knew that Alat was purposely trying to draw her mind away from less pleasant things through irritation. Too much would be showy, too little would be insulting. How much do you suggest I give him?

There was a protracted silence as Tala continued on her way. -Yeah. Let’s not do that.-

Glad we’re in agreement.

She still had more than an hour before she had to meet with Mistress Odera for breakfast. So, she decided to run by the teleportation tower to see if Phoen was on duty, though something told Tala it was unlikely.

-Tala-

-She’s not on shift right now.-

How could you possibly know that? Despite her doubt, she stopped, stepping to the side of the street so that she wouldn’t block traffic.

-The shifts are a matter of public record. I’m looking at them right now. She comes on shift in a little over an hour.-

Ahh, alright then. Well, what should we do?

-Get there early, get a first breakfast, and read a book?-

As ideas go, that’s good enough to go with. Tala turned and wove her way through the morning traffic, which was now in full swing, making her way to the Caravan Guildhall.

She walked through the main atrium and into the side of the building that housed the restaurant and lounge, waving a greeting to Cran from across the room as she entered, before grabbing a table in the back corner.

She mentally paused on Cran, even as she continued to settle in. He’s a Mage, not an Archon. That sat oddly with her as she’d been mainly dealing with Archons of late. I suppose that most Mages are Archons?

-Tala-

-The majority are, yes.-

How can that be true? I could guess, but I’d rather know.

-Well, I’m not going to take the time to research it at the moment, unless you command such, but I have some informed guesses.-

Let’s hear it.

-Mages age and fount-out, assuming they aren’t killed on the job. Archons, unless they are killed, live a very long time, slowly gaining in power.-

So, Mages are like journeymen, magelings are like apprentices, and Archons are like masters of a craft?

-More or less.-

But there are almost always more journeymen and apprentices than masters.

-Of course, because most masters aren’t immortal.-

Ahh, yes. That does skew things, doesn’t it.

-If it helps, by “majority” I just mean that more than half are Archons. It’s not a lot more, though the exact numbers aren’t a part of public record. I can put in a request?-

No, that’s not necessary. Thank you though. We can drop it for now. She smiled to herself. The question I want answered, now, is what to read.

-Tala-

-I have a suggestion.-

Do you have to proceed so many of your comments with my name?

-I could go back to DING.-

Tala jumped slightly at the sound within her own head. Yeah, please don’t.

-Alright. What about: HEY! Listen!-

Tala felt her eye twitch. That would get irritating, really, really quickly.

-Then, Tala will work for now?-

For now… see if you can remove that requirement?

-I’ll see what I can do.-

Incidentally, we were already talking. Why did you have to get my attention again?

-You had explicitly stated that a conversation was over. Thus, I was required to treat my next comment as unsolicited.-

Tala shook her head, but was smiling. There’s a lot of kinks to work out, here, I suppose.

-So it seems.-

She looked up as the server came her way. The young man’s arrival caused Tala’s stomach to growl.

-I know he’s attractive, but keep it together. You’re an Archon, after all.-

Tala flushed, before having the realization that she didn’t know if it would transmit through the illusion.

-You’re just trying to distract yourself.-

Tala cleared her throat, and responded to the server, ignoring Alat.

She picked out a large spread of food from the late-night menu and thanked him for taking her order.

He smiled appreciatively at her thanks and departed, promising to get the food as soon as possible.

-Tala-

-Isn’t it a bit early for fried chicken?-

I thought Terry might like some.

-I know you didn’t order it just for him.-

Well, fine. I want some. What were you saying about having a book suggestion?

Without preamble a book was floating in front of her. There was no flash, no fading into existence. It was just…there. -Take a look. It’s the booklet on your through-spike. Blessedly, the contents are freely available to you through the Archive. They were arranged thoughtfully enough for the average Archon, but I’ve reorganized it into an order that should make it better for you, so that you can get the best efficiency boost in your use of the item, as quickly as possible.-

Tala reached out feeling deeply skeptical.

Even so, she would have sworn that she could feel the book. How are you doing that?

Then, Tala shook her head.

Never mind, the feeling is as much a figment of my mind as the visual. Of course, you can fake senses other than sight.

-Correct.-

Once she stopped trying to see through the illusion, once she allowed her skepticism to lapse, the tome seemed to solidify in her hand, and she was able to handle it exactly like any other book.

This is pretty odd, Alat.

-It’s a perk. Enjoy it. But trust me, I know that it will take a lot to get used to these new features.-

Tala cocked her head to one side. A pun on your own name?

-I’m entitled.-

She grunted. Fair enough.

In no time at all, Tala was reading the book just as she would any other, and true to Alat’s word, the contents were arranged exactly as she would have hoped, filling in her greatest gaps in understanding right up front, and polishing out the finer points as she continued on.

She could practically feel her through-spike becoming more efficient, using up less of her reverberating power.

The server returned with her food, giving her a bit of an odd look before departing.

Not everyone’s a reader, I guess.

Tala helped Terry try a bite of each dish, but in the end, he was happy simply consuming a large quantity of jerky, delivered to him in the usual manner. What that meant was that between basically every bite, Tala flicked out a bit of the jerked meat. Terry caught each with dimensional manipulations too quick to notice, save the resulting ripples of power.

She continued to read as she ate as well, finishing the food with speed that bordered on scarfing, without ever having to pause her study of the book before her.

It helped that the book didn’t make her joints or muscles cramp to hold in one hand, and she found it trivially easy to turn the page with the thumb of the same hand whenever she needed.

The server cleared the dishes, and Tala thanked him, letting me know that she was expecting to be joined shortly.

He bowed and promised to return when the other party arrived. He presented Tala with a tablet to pay for her already consumed food, and she paid without complaint. After all, she’d been able to sneak in her order from off of the late-night menu. Three silver wasn’t that bad for the spread that she’d devoured.

Returning her focus to the book, Tala smiled. This is perfectly put together.

-I do try.-

Tala hitched for a moment. Right, you rearranged it… and this isn’t real. She lifted the book slightly. It felt less substantial as she considered its unreality, the truth of it showing through as she considered it.

-Nope. It’s completely a figment of your mind.-

She felt her cheeks heat again. What had the server seen? A woman staring at her own hand with rapt attention for the better part of an hour?

-That is probably how it looked, yes.-

Do I have to hold it?

-No, that’s just a crutch until you can consistently manipulate the perceptual illusion with your conscious mind. I could do it for you, but I’ve devised a way for you to gain better conscious control of your new options, given the Archive link. This is step one.-

Tala almost protested, but then she remembered how the book was exactly right for her. Alat really does know me well enough to provide that.

-Rusting right I do. Speaking of that, I have quite a few minor modifications to your daily training regime.-

Wait. There’s something wrong with my routine?

-No. There is nothing specifically wrong, but I think we can modify it to give you better results. Improve it, as it were.-

Tala was basically always open to learning, so she shrugged. Okay. Let’s do it.

-Great! Consider me your personal trainer from here on out.-

She was suddenly a little hesitant. What exactly did I sign up for…?

-Exactly as much improvement as you can take.- Then, somehow, Alat winked at her.

Tala didn’t see any eyes, nor did she, herself, wink. Even so, somehow, she knew that Alat had winked at her. Did you just project the concept of winking at me?

-I did, indeed.- Alat seemed quite proud of herself for that. -I haven’t had that much time to practice my abilities, since I came into existence. The breadth of them is really quite fascinating.-

Tala held in a groan, though it was pretty useless of her to try to hide reactions from Alat.

- Don’t be like that. You have hands and feet and, you know, senses. I have these. Don’t begrudge me my tools.-

Fine, fine.

That settled, Tala decided to go back to reading the book that didn’t exist, so she could ignore the voice inside her head.

That sounds pretty crazy, when I think about it that way.

-Tala, you are crazy in innumerable ways, but that doesn’t make you any less you.-

That… didn’t actually contain anything meaningful, did it?

-Of course not, but you feel better, right?-

Tala glowered at the nonexistent book.

-I thought so.-

She decided that the best path was to not engage. So, she went back to reading.

Tala finished the little booklet and was just considering what else she should read when Mistress Odera walked in.

Tala waved the Mage over and stood as she approached.

“Good morning, Mistress Odera.”

“Good morning, Mistress Tala. You’re looking…uninscribed. What did you do?”

Tala grinned, having expected something like this. “Well, I’ve got quite a bit to tell you, actually.”

They sat and ate, chatted and discussed. The server was mildly confused when Tala ordered more food but didn’t deign to comment.

Mistress Odera, as usual, had some anecdotes of dubious authenticity, but which still allowed Tala to think about the problems in different ways.

Their time was shorter than usual, as Mistress Odera had an appointment, but she expressed her appreciation when Tala let her know that the next destination Tala wanted to head towards would be Marliweather. The older woman promised to approve the venture, and be available to join Tala on it, when the request came through.

They bid each other goodbye and parted way.

Tala pulled on her gloves, moving towards the exit to the Caravan Guildhall. As she did so, she noticed Lyn and waved to the Archon, who seemed rather engrossed in her conversation with a young, bald woman. Is that a mageling?

It didn’t really matter.

Well, it hadn’t really mattered, until Lyn noticed Tala’s gesture and waved her over.

I wonder what this is about.

As she got closer, Tala got a better look at the young woman. Young, she’s basically my age. New graduate? New arrival?

As Tala walked over, Lyn smiled gestured to the woman, who still hadn’t turned around. “Tala, this is mageling Kannis.”

What? No…

The girl turned around, and Tala felt herself stiffen.

-Tala.-

-The plot thickens.-

Hush.

Kannis was a student at the Academy, while Tala was there. An Immaterial Creator specializing in information exchanges and processing. Very similar to Lyn, now that I consider it.

Though, the woman lacked any sort of inscriptions at the moment. Newly arrived indeed.

Tala and Kannis had never really interacted. Kannis had been relatively popular, in a quiet sort of way, and Tala had chosen the path of utter anti-sociability.

“Hello, Tala was it?” Kannis held out a hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Tala took her hand in a bit of a daze. “It’s mutual, I’m sure.”

Her eyes darted to Terry, then away. “Your pet bird is very handsome.”

“He’s more a friend than a pet, but thank you.” She shrugged and tried to smile.

“Oh! Thank you for letting me know.” She glanced down at her feet. “So, what do you do for the Guild? I’m just graduated, and I am so excited to get started.”

No. Tala’s mind hitched at the very possibility, threatening at the edges of her awareness. Oh, please no.

Lyn cleared her throat, seemingly deciding that it was time to interject. “Kannis, it’s Mistress Tala. She is a dimensional Mage and a Mage protector.”

Kannis’s eyes widened, and she gave a formal bow. “Oh! My apologies, Mistress.” Her eyes flicked over Tala, and she frowned just slightly. “I’m sorry for whatever happened to your scripts. I’m in a similar position, though I suppose my state is standard for my station.”

Lyn seemed to notice the apparent absence of Tala’s spell-lines at that point too. “Yeah, I’d love to hear that story. I actually expected…” she shook her head, coming back to the present, “but that’s not pertinent at the moment.”

Kannis wasn’t done, however, as her frown had only deepened. “Wait… Did Mistress say that you’re a dimensional Mage and a Mage protector?”

Tala found her voice enough to respond. “That’s right.”

“Forgive my ignorance, but shouldn’t the dimensional Mage be protected beyond all else, as basically the most critical part of any caravan?” Kannis seemed rather proud of her knowledge.

Tala opened and closed her mouth a few times, struggling to find something to say.

Lyn hid her mouth behind a hand, but not before Tala caught sight of a mirthful grin.

Tala cleared her throat, centering herself. “While, yes, the dimensional Mage is basically the keystone of any given caravan, it is efficient to have me able to fill multiple roles, so long as I am not on the front line of defense, except in dire need.”

“Has that worked out well?”

Tala immediately thought of the Leshkin.

Lyn was practically dying as she held in her laughter behind the young woman’s back.

“With one notable exception, yes. It’s worked quite well.” Tala practically glared at Lyn around Kannis.

“Oh, that’s fascinating. What was the exception?”

Tala returned her attention to the mageling. “The Leshkin, in the southern forest. They didn’t take too well to something about me, and I ended up being the target of their attacks more than once.”

“Leshkin?” Kannis hesitated for only a moment. “Oh! I remember those. We studied them in my History of Recurring Threats to Humanity class. They sounded like horribly difficult opponents.”

“They were.” History of Recurring Threats to Humanity?

-Tala-

-You were bored in the class and never really paid attention. It was mainly a discussion class, and you participated exactly, and only, as much as was required to pass. You really weren’t that good a student for most of your academic career.-

Oh…I thought I was a good student, all things considered.

-Hardly. You excelled in every class that you care about, but those were few and far between.-

Tala grimaced, even as Kannis turned back to Lyn, who had gotten herself under control by that point. “Now, Mistress Lyn, what do you think of my proposal?”

Tala frowned. “What’s this about Lyn?” Her earlier concerns resurfaced. Why did she call me over here?

Lyn grinned at her friend. “Well, Kannis, here, is asking if I’ll take her on as my mageling.”

Rust.

“And, I think I’m going to say: ‘Yes.’ ”

Kannis gasped and clapped her hands in glee. “Oh! Thank you, Mistress Lyn. You won’t regret this.”

Double rust. Tala knew this was more than just an addition to Lyn, else the older woman wouldn’t have involved Tala at all. She’s going to live in our house…

Alat just laughed, and laughed, and laughed.