Contents
Title Page
Safe Journey
Life Lessons
Preparing to Leave
Travel Travails
Voivoed’s Rest
More Hints
Growing Up
Roads Become Passable
Entering the Elven Lands
Home Looks Different
What We Think We Know
Arch Tzadi
Homeward Bound
As You Sow
Capital Moments
Preparing to Return Home
The Journey Home
Anticipation of Home
A Quarrelsome House
Home
The Real Work Begins
The Adventure Begins Again
Life's Legacy
by
Vlad ben Avorham
Safe Journey
Adjusting
Sha picked her way though the over-grown grass. This wasn’t really what she was expecting. At a small distance she could see Echal, on horseback and fighting two stone giants at once. The horse charged away and Echal loosed an arrow over one shoulder as he circled around for another pass. She paused for a moment to watch. Was this Echal the hero, or was this his sub conscious keeping him humble by overwhelming him? She felt a little guilty peeking in on his dream like this but they really didn’t have a better way to talk to him, considering he was halfway across the kingdom at the moment. She had to stifle a laugh when his bowstring broke, and his sword slipped from his fingers as he drew it. Good to know that all of his recent success hadn’t gone to his head. She stepped forward and covered the distance between them in one step. Then she waved a hand, and the giants were gone.
Echal whirled his horse and looked down at her. “Who... Sha? Is that you? When did you grow up? What are you doing here?”
It was Sha’s turn to blush. “This is how I see me so this is how I appear in dreams.” She shrugged. “You of all people know that I’m not that gawky preteen my body seems stuck in.” She felt her anger rise. It shouldn’t her brother had never treated her like a child, still it was a sore subject with her and in the dream world a lot of the subconscious leaks out and emotion control can be difficult. “I would have thought you would have gotten enough of this in your day job.” she motioned around to where the giants had been.
Echal finally realizing it was only a dream shook his head and climbed down off of the horse. “More than I would have wanted, but we made it. Only lost one man, and that was as much his stupidity as our inability or reaction time.” His face was grim for a moment before his mind cleared and he grinned at her. “Our poor Pavel didn’t stand a chance if this is how you haunted his dreams.” He pointed to her and smiled.
Her imaged flickered back to the Elven child for a moment and then solidified back as the mature woman. “You will not speculate on such things or I will leave you with a nightmare before I go! So give me your report in somewhat less lunk head way oh brother of mine?”
Echal recognized that tone. Teasing had gone on far enough. Besides, Sha was a powerful Tzadi and dream or not being turned into a frog was no fun. “Well, we’ve made it as you’ve figured out. Everyone more or less healthy, which is surprising considering the attacks against us kept getting more sophisticated and larger, then plateaued and finally have trailed.” He shrugs. “I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall.”
She was frowning and fidgeting with a lock of her hair as he gave her the news. “How about the Spire? Is it opening to you?”
Echal chuckled a bit. “I’m not like you. I can’t go day and night. I still need some sleep. Still, each barrier seems to fall easily enough as I master each new concept. For now, the novices are kept busy trying to make the Spire livable over the long term. Still it won’t be too many more weeks and my progress will slow, as I begin to teach others.”
Sha nodded. “Speaking of sleep,” she waved a hand and the rough area turned into a finely mown lawn with a well-manicured garden in the slight distance. “You do need to get some, and I need to get back to work. Be safe my brother and watch over the others for me.”
She just heard him say “Always” as the scene faded from her mind and she sat up, back in the bedroom she shared with Pavel. She was fully awake and listening to him snore.
Mother Knows Best
Sha slips quietly out of bed, being careful not to wake the sleeping Pavel. She waits for a moment just watching him. He always makes her smile. So big and yet so gentle with her, and so tenderhearted that it amazes her at how vicious he can become in a fight. She considers a moment touching his dreams, but decides she needs to get back to work.
The long adult sized gown that she wore to bed with him, that only fit because the illusion spell was working, now falls off her narrow shoulders and pools at her feet. She hates that she is trapped in this body that will age only about a third as fast as a human’s would. Even her little sister Esta looks older just because she’s half human. There are advantages to being an elf she knows, but right now she just feels the downside a bit too keenly. She trudged over to the fine oak table where her normal robes were laid out, as she dressed she thought about Echal and what he must be learning each day at the Red Spire. She wanted to improve her studies, but there just wasn’t a good opportunity here in the Dutchy of Mirron. No matter how comfortable it was, opulent even by her prior standards, she was feeling stifled here. Echal’s father the Duke had treated her as he would a beloved daughter and her mother, while feeling guilt over what she saw as a lost childhood, was trying to make the best of it. She had no legitimate reason to feel this sad, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that these newly found familial responsibilities were going to strangle her.
Sha made her way though the darkened halls with these thoughts swirling around in her mind. She made it to the door of the room she had taken as her study and was surprised to see light coming from under the door. Sha drew in her concentration and readied a spell as she opened the door quickly. To her surprise, it was her mother sitting calmly at one of the tables reading from one of the books they had picked up in the Red Spire. “Oh!” Sha said as she let out a long sigh.
Feylynn smiled at her warmly. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I don’t sleep either.” she said with a noncommital shrug. “Thought maybe we could spend some time catching up, or working together on a project...” she trailed off.
Sha closed the door behind her and just walked over and hugged her mother. Elves, especially of elves of Feylynn’s station were typically more formal, so this was a surprise to her. She only hesitated a moment before returning her daughter’s hug. “Mother, I know this isn’t easy for you. Honestly, this hasn’t been easy for any of us. We’re together now and have all the time in the world. We can talk, or work, though without Pavel we do more hindering of each other than helping.” She released the larger elf and moved around to look her in the eye. “The past is done, present is what it is, and the future is whatever we choose to make of it. Guilt, regret, or even just simple disappointment, don’t work toward a better future.”
Feylynn looked down, she couldn’t deny the child’s reasoning; she also still couldn’t quite forgive herself. “There is just so much of your history and culture you have missed. I so wish to share them with you. Had things been different, you would still have so many of those things in your future. I could still be there for you.” She hesitated a moment. “I mean you’ll still attend your first Elven ball one day, but we won’t be giggling about which suitors to pick from. Oh, I love your Pavel. He’s a treasure as humans go, much as my Evan has been. It just wasn’t what I thought your future held.”
Sha melted a little. She didn’t want what her mother wanted for her, but she wished she could of at least give
n her mother the memories she so craved. “There’s still Esta.”
Feylynn’s expression changed. “Oh Esta will have a wondrous life, but it won’t be an elven one. The aristocratic families that would welcome you would not be so for her. She would find her options limited in an elven society. She and Galan will have full and abundant lives among the humans and will share a special connection with the elves, but they would never be fully accepted.”
Sha’s brow wrinkled in consternation. “Then why would I want anything to do with them?”
Feylynn answered as if it were obvious, “Because you’re Elven. How can you not take your rightful place among our people?”
Sha shook her head. “Anyone who would reject my brother and sister, and any children I may one day have with Pavel, aren’t my people.”
Feylynn looked shocked, and a bit horrified. “But, but, of course they are your people they just aren’t Esta and Galan’s. They will be polite but they must maintain the Elven bloodlines.”
Sha shook her head. “I’ll go and I’ll meet them if you talk Evan into it, but I have no desire to live among them. Especially now.”
Feylynn’s face closed down behind the high Elven formality. “Give it time, you may find that you see things differently over the years. In the meantime, let’s start a little project together. Maybe a gift for Pavel?”
Sha wanted to dig her heels in harder but she also didn’t want to be rude to her mother, who despite all that had happened, she believed truly did love her and want what was best for her. “What do you have in mind?”
Brothers
Pavel and Galan had left the estates only an hour before and were approaching the walls of the Dutchy’s primary mercantile center. Hamarrhiem, was a small city of a little over ten thousand people all enclosed behind a formidable wall enclosing over six hundred and forty acres. The neat rows of stone and cob houses lined wide paved avenues. Pavel was surprised many much larger cities didn’t have paved streets, but these were almost smooth and all of one continuous piece. Pavel was marveling at it as they rode up to the gates.
Galan smiled. “Papa told me that his grandfather had made some bargain with the White Spire for the roads in this town. Said when he was just a child forty Tzadi showed up and in one day they turned the mud roads into stone.” Galan shook his head. “I don’t understand how they did it but it sure is nice.”
Pavel grunted. “Now that I know what they did, I could do it too.”
Galan glanced at him sideways. “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to do the road into town?”
Pavel laughed at him. “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to carry this horse I’m riding back home do you?”
“Oh, I guess I never thought of that.”
Pavel shrugged. “Magic can do many wondrous things, little brother, but there is always a cost. With forty Tzadi, it wouldn’t be too bad, but as a one man road laying crew? I’ll pass.”
Galan thought for a moment, “So if you had unlimited power available to you?”
Pavel snorted. “Now you sound like Echal!”
Galan laughed lightly. “Stop calling me dirty names.”
The gate guards recognized them and passed them on through. Truth is, they had heard about some of Pavel’s exploits and were sufficiently happy the big man was on their side.
The first stop was the tanners. If they were making a trip to the Elven lands later this season as Feylynn wanted, Pavel was going to make damn sure Galan was outfitted for it. His last stone giant hide should be done and there was more than enough for some quality leathers for Galan and a new harness to let Sha ride easier on his back when needed.
Promises
Feylynn was enjoying her nights working with Sha. Teaching her and learning from her, it was a bit of a surprise, but her tiny daughter really was an accomplished Tzadi. If she could only get her to embrace her Elven heritage before presenting her to her grandmother, she thought with a cringe.
Feylynn took a deep breath, it could have been much worse. After all, she’s essentially going through what the humans call adolescence with the powers of a Tzadi more than twice her age. She could be hurling fire balls every time she feels slighted. With this minorly amusing thought in mind, she set off to find Evan. His delaying would have to stop.
Evan was found out in the courtyard. He had tables set up end to end and long scrolls of technical drawings strewn out on them. Around him stood the heads of six local guilds and they all red faced and appeared to be deep into an argument. She approached quietly to see if she could discern the trouble.
The guild master of the carpenters was waving his hands around, “Sure it would be great to have boards cut that fast but what do I do with the men in the saw pits? Do we just leave their families to starve?”
The slightly rounder and certainly more bald guild master for the loggers stepped forward, “Great to have boards that fast, how on earth does he expect me to get logs to them if they can cut one log every half hour? I can barely fell one tree much less get loaded and transported every half hour! Where do you expect to get your logs from? This idea of yours is madness?”
Evan shook his head. “Why not put the saw pit men in the forest cutting down trees?”
The guild leaders looked at him aghast and said in unison, “But they’re not of the Logging guild, ” as if that explained everything.
Feylynn wasn’t sure if she was acting to save the men from Evan’s building wrath, or if she was saving Evan from the building stroke he was quickly working his way toward, but either way she decided to intervene. She drew in her will and cast forth the illusion. From the middle of the crowd of men a flower grew and grew, and soon this huge daisy covered the area as a shade tree. “Ah so much better. I don’t know how you stand it, standing out here cawing like seagulls in the hot sun, until you smell like day old fish.” She shakes her head. The shade cooling the temperature significantly. “You Gentlemen, really must excuse me. I need to reclaim my husband for a time.” She says as she takes his arm.
Evan shakes his head. “Damn you fools, figure this out while I’m gone or I will settle it for you when I get back. I’ll make sure the only one happy with it is me, if you make me do it.”
With that he walked away leading Feylynn. With just a little gentle twist of her will, the oversized daisy uprooted and walked with them keeping them both in the shade.
When they were out of earshot, Evan let loose with a deep rumbling chuckle. “I love it when you do that.” He sighed. “I can yell and scream all day and they know from my character that I am not planning to lead a charge down main street. You make a flower grow and they all worry what else the great and powerful Tzadi may do if they do not placate her.”
Feylynn smiled at him. “I’m glad it makes your life a little easier. However, it is about to get a lot harder if you do not stop delaying my passage with the children back to my father.”
Evan winced. “I know it feels hot as blazes out there right now but in the as we speak the snowpack in the mountains is closing passes and making travel impossible.” He held up his hands, ward off her angry attack. “In the spring, once the travel is safer, of course you may all go. I don’t think I can afford to leave here.” He looked around frustrated, “there is just so much to do.”
“Spring? You promise?” She asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Yes. as soon as it is reasonably safe to travel,” he vowed.
She kissed him on the cheek and smiled. “I love you.”
He chuckled. “I know and believe it or not. I’m delaying you because I love you and know what some of those mountain roads are like.” Then he turned back to the milling crowd of guild masters, “Ok, do we have some workable ideas, or would you rather we move this discussion to a new tax plan?” he called as he got with in earshot.
Feylynn wasn’t happy about waiting but maybe it gave her a little more time with Shadrea to alter her perceptions.
Striking While the Iron is Hot
Ivor was
more than happy to assist, but he was surprised they got such a late start. It was almost midmorning by the time the small army pulled up in front of the cluster of guild halls. Galan just grinned when he asked him. “Anticipation is my ally.” Was all he said.
Essentially functioning as Angvar’s lieutenant for this little operation, Ivor figured that little of it was really any of his business. They started with the smiths guild, that were crying about providing a circular blade.
Galan calmly listened to the first round of excuses and then held up his hand for silence. He turned to the young journeyman smith standing beside him. “Robert Smith, you’ve heard what they said. What say you?” The young smith looked like he was facing an execution. “Remember, you work for me, not the guild. Give me your professional opinion.”
“M’lord a round saw blade is a challenging piece. If it will be spinning as the Guild Master described, then keeping it balanced and firmly locked in place at the center are both serious concerns.” He took a deep breath, “I fear I must also report that all the time spent explaining why it couldn’t be done, could have been used to create one or more prototypes to figure out how to do it. This shouldn’t be more than a two-week project.” He hung his head and said no more.
“Ah ha! I knew it!” Galan slammed his walking stick on the table with a loud crack.
“M’Lord, you can’t possibly take the word of this barely trained....” The lead guild master started but Galan cut him off.
“Oh but I can, and I do. Sir Angvar, you will detail a guard to take the guild masters of the smiths guild into house arrest, and detail such guard on each as to make certain they stay there. My father can determine what their fate shall be, but I will not allow them to continue to stall his projects.” He rounded on the senior master craftsmen there. “You are hereby temporarily promoted to guild masters and charged with meeting the Duke, my father’s deadlines. If you hope for these promotions to be made permanent, do not fail in your duty.” Angvar rounded up the apoplectic guild masters. As he was moving them toward the door of the guildhall, Galan called out to him. “Report back here once that is done, and send word to the cabinet makers guild that they are next on my list. Hell have them report here. I might as well set up court right here as I suspect few will be using this hall today. Our smiths’ have other concerns.”
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