by Power, P. S.
"A mixed group would be best. I'd like to have at least half being Ysidril however, if they can come here and be comfortable. We can set them up in space part of the time, if they want? Neesa seemed slightly uncomfortable to me. Like things were too heavy." He didn't know how to describe it, and it could have been the way that she moved on the ground, but Hess had seemed different too.
The large thousand toothed maw opened wide.
"Yes. The gravity there is about twice what we are used to here on our ships. The Ysidril come, originally from worlds that were smaller. More like the description of your Mars? It would be a kindness if they didn't have to stay in that heavy of a state for months on end. Thank you."
In the end they worked out that each port needed to have three botanists. That was one working team each. It meant coming up with crews in all the other lands, and working out who was going to have a problem, which of course, someone would. Dareg was simply open with Hess on that score.
"The Tellerand for instance, are very religious. They might see you as their demons. Then they'll probably have a problem with the Forten too, for looking different, and the mechanical people for not praying enough. They really aren't bad people, and aren't violent, from what I hear, but they might have issues with anyone coming in and doing that. Including me." Which was, as far as he'd heard, the simple truth.
Hess went still for a bit, then opened his mouth a little bit, which Dare decided was a Ysidril grin.
"We, my people, have some like that as well. They generally do not work with others, even our friends. We can make this work, I believe. Thank you, and please thank your people for me and my people?"
"I'll pass the word. Please thank your people, for us here? I don't know if anyone has said it yet, but rushing here to help protect us from the Adversaries... That was very noble."
The Ysidril was clearly worried that he was going to be missing out on sleep due to his call, so got off quickly, if rather politely.
Dare sat there for a minute, really considering going back to sleep, but it was late, and that meant the daylight was going to be on the other side of the world. Slapping the wall, he got lights to come up, and used Alyssa's wakening device. It was faster than coffee, and left him ready for the day, without feeling shaky.
Then he got ready, showered, shaved, and made himself presentable, and dressed in his blue and copper outfit, which was one of the first things that he'd come up with using the clothing amulet. Then he sat, and tried to work out what would work best. He had a map, on his handheld, which usefully enough showed where the sun was hitting at that very moment. It was well to the other side of the globe, but it looked like Vagus would lose light first, then Austra, Afrak and Tellerand.
Austra didn't want him yet, according to Johan, which meant that there were three places to visit.
"So, Vagus first? That sounds comfortable." He found where the port was, on the map, since they were marked, along with major cities. He could be there in a few minutes, just to look around, but if he was going to Tor's land, the continent that he was the Ancient of, he probably needed permission. The same would be true of the other lands. For Tellerand it was his Uncle Terry, but Afrak was...
He had to think about that one. He knew the name, having met her once, but it wasn't coming right away. Just as he was about to give up on it, the name hit him.
"Farlo. Farlo Ross. Right."
Feeling more than a bit nervous, a lot more so than just talking to his friend Hess made him, he found Tor's name and tabbed it so he could get in touch.
About half a minute later, the man himself appeared, dressed in a red robe like thing.
"Dareg? Is everything all right?" It was pretty much just how people from Harmony answered their handhelds, he was starting to understand. At least the ones he knew.
"I was thinking of coming there in a bit to look at the port? I need to hit Afrak and Tellerand today too, if I can. I get... Well, it's still tomorrow, but I get a day off from tutoring. Is that allowed? Johan, High Servant Johan, asked for me not to go to Austra, so they could scramble around and make it look nice. I really just need the lay of the land though. I have some people coming to do some work? Gardens and that kind of thing?"
Tor seemed pleased by the idea, for some reason. More than was normal, but that might just be that it seemed like he was planning a visit. Which he kind of was.
"Great! When can you be here? Ali will want to see you, if that's all right? She's been worried that you might be alone too much."
That wasn't really the case, he realized. He wasn't that close to anyone in particular, but he was making friends, and saw people way more now than he had for years. It was better, but also kept him busy.
Maybe even too much so, but really it was better that way.
"I'd love to see her. Both of you. Um, I can be there in about... Call it ten minutes?"
His father, and it was still bizarre thinking of the man that way, seemed happy enough to hear that. He'd been standing up, but started walking instantly.
"Great! I'll meet you at the port? Then we can talk. Some things have come up on my end as well. We might have to hold that for later though, depending on who's around."
"Be there directly. Oh... Do you think that your people there can work with Ysidril?" He was about to elaborate, but Tor just tilted his head. He was pale, even compared to Dareg, who was lighter than most, and then shrugged.
"Maybe? I don't really know. We should test the idea and see?"
"Good enough. Let me see... I think I can set something up."
It would take him a few moments, but he could use a few of the light devices he'd made to show them what the aliens looked like. If they didn't have a problem with that, it probably wouldn't be an issue.
Tor smiled at him, and got off the handheld, leaving him to rush around and get ready. It still didn't take him longer than ten minutes to get there, thanks to the magic he had on him.
That was he decided, a wonderful thing, now that he thought about it. Again.
Chapter thirteen
Going to Vagus was both incredibly easy in the actual doing, thanks to his ability to move across the world in a blink of the eye, and hard. That was all emotional, and probably just him, since he doubted that a lot of other people secretly wanted to avoid his father. When he landed, next to the focus stone port, which was smaller than the one in Noram by about half, Dare's stomach tried doing flips.
The first thing was that there were something like thirty red robed people standing there, with both Tor and Alyssa. Silently. Staring at him, like he was going to attack. That, or he might make a great victim. If that was the thought, the small people there, none larger than he was, were in for a surprise.
Tor raised a large hand. He was in all red too, and dressed very much like the others. Alyssa was in gold however, and had trousers on, not a robe.
His father spoke, his voice loud, since Dareg was still about fifty feet away.
"Dareg! Welcome!" He stood in place, making it clear that Dare was the one who was supposed to go to him. It probably wasn't even a conscious thing. The wizard was just so important that he was used to people showing deference to him. Walking up, Dare glanced around, instead of looking at the collected people. They were different, and all of a type. Small, golden and decently hard looking.
Not like commoners in Noram though, even sharing some parts that were similar. Small, dark haired and brown eyed. These people had very differently shaped eyes, and cheek bones. It was interesting, but not a bad thing. Just different.
"Hello... This place needs a river around it. That and maybe a restaurant, and an inn? We can build that, easily enough." He smiled, since it was literally his job to both think of those things and make it happen. It didn't have to be that much however. Not at first. Water really would help this place, a little.
Alyssa moved on him and gave him a big hug.
"Can you stay? We have a room for you, at the school." She waved at the large copper red c
olored dome behind them, about a quarter mile away. It was an impressive look, but when he reached out, it felt just like an ordinary magical palace. Like the ones at the port. It just looked incredibly different.
His father looked at Dare, and then started to nod, smiling a bit.
"Lyn Red did the design on it. She was good. I wish..." He shook his head, not going on. The name, Red, probably meant she was the former Ancient of the land they were in. Dorgal's dead wife.
Dareg didn't know what to say, so nodded. They'd all lost people in the last years. Nearly everyone in the world had.
"I, um, brought something so we can show people what the Ysidril look like? Here, let me set up." He had three of the smooth tan tiles in his pocket, and waited for someone to nod. Tor smiled, but Alyssa looked at him a bit more seriously and waved for him to do it.
He moved a bit away, since he was just going to turn on the big light statue of Hess first. Then make a smaller one that showed Neesa. He knew them best, so it would be easiest for him to capture what they were really like. There was a rewarding gasp when Hess appeared out of thin air, being twenty feet high and solid looking, but also a strange sort of hooting.
Tor and Alyssa clapped, but didn't make him describe anything, so he took about three minutes to make a fairly good, real-sized version of Neesa. That one, being smaller and less intimidating, got people to walk over when he stood back. One of them was a red robed fellow, who had long, very straight, black hair. He was the oldest looking person there at the moment, having a few wrinkles on his face. After passing his hand through the statue several times he smiled. It was a joyous looking thing.
"Hello. I'm Deshi. Mage Deshi. The Great Brother, Tor, said that there was a visitor coming. Is that you?"
It seemed a bit strange, as to phrasing, but the accent, while there, was really very good.
"I think so? These, um, statues, they're of other people that will be coming to visit too. Well, ones like them. Don't let the big one fool you, they're all closer to the size of the smaller one. Very good and gentle beings."
The man smiled, and bowed a bit, but stood and called something out, gesturing to the bigger Ysidril, then the one that looked like Neesa. There were hand gestures indicating size. That got more happy hooting noises. It seemed that these people didn't have a huge problem with visitors.
Then, almost instantly, the red robed people descended, not on him, or even the light visions, but the small tiles they were on. They took turns, one at a time, touching the things, closing their eyes and clearly trying to get a sense of the field. After about a minute a girl, who looked about sixteen, caused Hess to vanish into a small, comparatively, ball of light. It was about two feet across in all directions and as bright as the sun. She looked up guiltily, at him.
Dare smiled with his mouth closed and waved a bit, trying to let her know to keep playing with it. He could reset it if they wanted, later.
Tor looked at him, then his hand, and held his own out. Taking the last of the new light units out, the wizard looked at it for a while, and then smiled, passing it to Alyssa, who closed her eyes, a soft tendril of focus touching the thing.
Then she gasped, loudly.
"You did this? It's incredible, Dareg! What can it do?" She probably knew, but he got the idea. She was trying to let him show off a bit. As if his little light thing would be impressive to Tor, or even her. They'd simply lived soaking in magic for far too long for that to be true however. Tor could have made a million of his little lights in a day. Possibly more than that. That wasn't even a real joke, Dare knew. He'd done things like that in the past, with healing amulets, to save the entire world.
He took the device back, and ran through everything it did. Including how to shape the size and brightness, as well as color, with your mind. Instead of patronizing him, Tor shook his head a bit, and... Snorted.
"That really is great. You have direct feedback, and full mental controls, on your first build? Impressive. How are you at making copies?"
Dareg shook his head a bit.
"Kind of slow. I can do a thousand inside two and a half hours, a little less than that. I need more practice. I only did one batch that fast. The other three sets took longer. Sam set me to doing it. I was up all night. I did manage some sleep, before coming here." It was probably good enough as for the numbers, given how little time he'd had to learn this kind of thing.
Alyssa shook her head, and then sighed.
"So much for my plan to have you come here for building lessons. I keep trying, but I can't even think of what I'm supposed to be doing for you." She put an arm around his shoulder, which left him feeling a bit like a small child. She was over six-six, even though she'd managed to stay really attractive, and not get the heavy features that a lot of taller women had to deal with.
It was probably thanks to magic. The kind that built a person, making it so that this was what she really was. He checked her, Tor, and then the crowd to make certain they were all there, the thought that he hadn't yet hitting him. They were, but Tor caught him doing it.
In fact, it earned him a nod.
"I keep doing that, too. I don't know if it will help, but I don't have anything else yet. Can you stay for a meal?"
He really could have, but he shook his head.
"I need to get to Tellerand if I can. That's Terry, right? Um, Uncle Terry?" He knew that, but it was important to have conversations, or so he'd heard. Plus, showing up for a few minutes, and then leaving, while probably fairly rude, was kind of comforting.
If he didn't feel comfortable, he really could just leave. Though both of these people, his parents, after a fashion, had been nothing but kind to him. The entire time he'd known them, they'd done their part for him, and had, despite what Alyssa had said, really gotten it all just about right. It just didn't feel right. It was nearly impossible for him to say why that was however.
In the end it would probably come down to the fact that he just didn't feel like the whole thing was real. Looking around, standing in a different land, on the other side of the world from his home, Dareg felt the idea hit him. He'd flown there, jumping around the world in a few moments, to meet people that by rights he would have never, ever, encountered at all. It was interesting, and even kind of fun, but the whole thing was also kind of... Wrong. Out of balance with reality.
Real people, the ones he knew from Canton, didn't fly around, or talk to Vagish people like he was doing. The orphans didn't find out that the Wizard Tor was their father, and had been all along. If they did... Well, then he was supposed to doubt them, and not just take them in as their son or daughter. In that way, the Austrans were kind of right. They're thought that he couldn't be Tor's son was really the sensible thing to think.
That it was all true, that Dare was able now to fly through the air, and even make magic... Those things still left him feeling like it was all some kind of story, or game. A joke, like he'd thought it might be to begin with. Only no one was laughing. Not that he could tell.
He didn't want to be annoying, but pulled his handheld, and looked for Terry's name. There was no title with it, and it didn't say Terrance or anything, even if that was his full name. Just Terry Baker. Humble and unpretentious. Not knowing what to say to these people, his parents, he tabbed the sigil for it. The glowing name vanishing with the contact, to be replaced after about then seconds with Terry's face.
"Hello?" The man looked up at him, and it seemed to take a few seconds for recognition to to slide across his face. That he did it was impressive, and showed good recognition of faces, since lacking hair he had to seem pretty different. "Dareg! How are you doing?" It sounded like he really cared. That was interesting, since they didn't really know each other.
"Good. You?"
That got a happy chuckle, which was slightly uncommon in Dare's life. It made him smile to realize that someone, somewhere, was pleased with things.
"Things are actually going decently well here. The change is a bit slow, but people are comin
g around to the idea that not everything different is bad. Are you calling about the port here? We've been doing some work on it. I hope that's all right? I know that you're in charge of that, but the local Day Leader felt that it would be against His will to leave all the effort to strangers." His face relaxed as he spoke the words, and while the focus on him wasn't as intent as what say, Timon, would have done, but it was pretty obvious and real.
Doing it back, Dare got a sense of what was going on there. Not all of it, by any means, since he lacked information about key points. Like what a Day Leader was. Apparently though, that kind of person wasn't lazy, and while the port might not be what he wanted, someone in Tellerand had tried to get it going, which was a good thing.
"Sounds good. I was calling to get permission to fly in later today. Is that all right? I have the location."
Terry crossed his eyes, and made a funny noise. Half snort, half bemused chuckle.
"Oh, that wouldn't go over well. Not at all. Can you come in by ship, by any chance?" There was a bit of a slow smile, but it didn't seem false.
"You don't mean jump ship, do you?" Dare looked at the man, hoping it was a joke. It didn't seem like it, small smile aside.
"No, I meant water ship. Then an overland wagon ride to the port. People here... They aren't ready for real ships coming in yet. They still tend to think that kind of thing is demonic. If it wasn't for the fact that it truly scares them, I'd say we should just force them all to take trips all the time, but the crying and carrying on would be a bit too much for now."
Which meant that no one was going to be landing there for a long while. Meaning that the entire port was really a waste of time and effort, since it's only reason to be was so that large ships could go there. Dareg frowned, but didn't let the sound get into his voice too much. It felt oddly disappointing, but the Ancient of that land knew his people best, so it made sense to just go along with him on it.
"I can't get that done right now. A water voyage like that. I only have a day off. Well, let me know if they need anything for it? The port? Gold or magic? I can figure out how to get that there, somehow."