Orphan At The Edge Of The World - 230 The Fool 35

The oak leaf lady approached Orison and said, “We are less than a half day from our destination… There is something else I’d like to speak with you about. Know I only say this as a possibility, not a threat in any way.”

“You have the floor, Secretary of Agriculture,” Orison said in self amusing formality.

Hesitantly, she said, “It would take some time since I am alone but… Would you consider the possibility of voluntarily being banished?”

Frowning, he said, “Just so there’s no confusion, what EXACTLY do you mean by voluntarily being banished and why would we want that?”

The oak leaf woman said, “You are at odds with what the world wants. You may have forced it to accept your presence but there are many who serve the world in different ways that could sense that and move to ‘remove’ you. Many of which would be in unpleasant ways. Under a controlled and voluntary banishment, you would have some choice in the direction that you would… travel. There would be a lot less danger and there might even be better opportunities.

“Bluntly, you are not welcomed here and that will lead to conflict. Conflict will lead to more damages and losses for both yourself and the world. If the scale grows grand enough, as it has here, this world will actively move against you.”

Orison said, “I don’t have a mind to, no. It’s disturbing to think about the possibility of people dying just because powerful individuals have it out for me, though. With some time, I might have a better solution for myself and at least one or two people who want to follow me. Besides, banishment seems harsh whether it’s voluntary or not and magic tends to follow its implied meaning.”

She nodded. “If you’ve not made up your mind completely or want to keep it as a reserve choice, the cave I’m leading you to has a large banishment circle set up within. It hasn’t been used for many years but with a little cleaning up and a good deal of power invested, it would still serve.”

“Why is there a banishment circle in some random place over here?” Orison asked.

The oak leaf lady said, “Undead weren’t the only problem that plagued this land. And it wasn’t but nigh two centuries ago, an evacuation cleared out the remaining northern settlements. At that time, an abyssal invasion spilling out of the deep paths was hindered in part by such things.

It gave something for not only the young mage to chew on but Cray and Stefen as well. Being as they all had the potential to be ‘voluntarily’ banished, Orison saw no reason to not allow them all to consider along with him. It was pretty obvious what Edos had in mind if he could convince the lady to have him. As for Heath, he still had some time to go before he’d understand enough to make a complicated choice like that for himself.

Along the last stretch to the cave, the druid lifted her eyes slightly to the north and said, “I sense something I had not expected to be nearby. It will add a small time to our journey. However, it may prove to offer a solution to the dryad’s worries.”

No one aside from Stefen protested and he was enough of a diplomat to leave it at a few grumbling remarks.

Orison chuckled to himself along the way. Curious, the druid asked what had taken his fancy.

He said, “Oh, nothing much. It’s petty really. I’ve kind of always had a bit of a grudge against overly handsome men and pretty boys who have an easy time attracting women’s attention. Every time you throw some frosty shade at Stefen or ruffle his feathers, it gives me a little tickle.”

The smile she gave him wasn’t kind. “You do realize that you are somewhere between the two yourself. Does that mean you bear your reflection double the grudge? Are you the kind of creature that gains pleasure from being abused or relief from abusing yourself?”

He smiled weakly, “If I took that bait, I have no doubt it would look like the answer to your second question was yes. You could make a year’s subscription on the issues I have with my appearance. To some degree, I got what I asked for and suffer from buyer’s remorse in a way. And truth be told, I’ve never suffered from a lack of self pity or loathing. That’s something that predates my appearance by quite a bit.”

She snorted. “Consider that the meaningful changes come from within and work on that. Perhaps you’d be less miserable. Let nature and fruitful labor dictate your appearance.”

Orison sighed. “I don’t have much of an option on that last part anymore. But the first, I guess that wouldn’t sting at all if I didn’t need the reminder. Speaking of reflection, I hope your lack of open hostility comes from a bit of enlightenment while attempting to look past your own nose. I’d be greatly upset if this turned out to be some elaborate plot to accomplish what your previous associates failed to.”

She smirked. “Dislodging your barrier from the ground was intended to be a coin toss decision for me. If you were washed inland, I help. If towards the sea, I work against. I took your utter lack of movement a sign that I shouldn’t be so frivolous and took all things into account.

“I came to the conclusion that you are more pitiful than menacing. You lack much of the darkness of spirit to be considered such. Does it upset you that this is how we reached the current state?”

Orison chuckled mirthlessly. “Absolutely. But if it means you won’t twist a knife in my spine, pity away.”

“Two honest people have difficulty parting pleasantly, do they not?” She asked.

The young mage shook his head and replied, “Being honest AND tactful is challenging but not impossible… Since I know you’re listening, you might want to pay attention to this too, Edos… Having some consideration for someone else’s feelings before letting your thoughts roll over the filter between your brain and mouth could save a lot of time and energy on fights over nothing important and useless disagreements.”

She leaned over and kissed Orison before giving a look back at Edos and then walked a little faster. Whatever she was expecting from the action, the dragon blooded man just tilted his head in momentary confusion before moving on unperturbed. Whether its what she wanted or not, the young mage made sure to stay more than an arm’s distance from her after that.

Close to half an hour later, the druid partially climbed, partially slid, down into a small gully hidden between two steep sided hills. Once they’d all reached the bottom, she was studying a rough stone threshold stuck into the corner crack of the hills. Behind the ‘door frame’ accidentally made by nature’s caprice was little more than a slight indent barely big enough for two people.

“At the end of the evacuation, to make sure no creatures could use them to follow, portals and gates of any kind were where either destroyed or sealed and buried. I know not how this one was uncovered but I know where it leads. I need a small breath’s of time to ensure that the other side is safe.” she said.

Gravity grew slightly strange and senses grew confused for a moment. Nothing else had changed except the druid was no longer there. No sooner had that registered, the same thing happened again. She stood before them but her oak leaf clothes were slightly worn and she had a subtle unpleasant scent of unwashed body.

“The rowan matron will receive the young dryad. Some effort was required to find a suitable place. I would have… How long have I been gone to your understanding?” she said tiredly.

Edos said, “Two blinks. I can smell you better now.”

She flushed red. “Wild fey rarely know the hardships of mortal kind and care even less.”

She turned to Heath and cast a small spell of some kind. A wealth of information was passed between the two in a ‘language’ barely remembered by humans. Edos even seemed puzzled at times but he hadn’t been a mammal, much less a person, for long.

The boy looked at the sapling in his hands sadly. It took some doing but he conveyed that he wanted to go and see where the hazel tree would be planted. The druid didn’t think that would be much of a problem but he wanted Cray to come too and that meant Edos wanted to come. Her eyes took on a strained look but she reluctantly agreed.

There was no point in arguing for everyone to come. She bluntly explained that Stefen would be killed on sight and Orison could potentially suffer any number of misfortunes. The perfect place for Hazel’s new home wasn’t that inviting and the druid herself wouldn’t be allowed to linger there for very long without challenge, much less with a group.

Since it would take some time, she advised Orison and Stefen to finish making their way to the cave or put some distance between themselves and the leyline portal at the very least. Since the way was known to be open, there might be a few curious or adventurous creatures who popped their head out to examine the area. The last thing she needed was to be on the other side when a fight broke out. It could endanger herself and everyone with her.

With daylight burning and suffering from an acute sense of curiosity himself, Orison suggested they move on ahead to the cave. Stefen seemed rather ambivalent about it, one way or another. That is, until Orison pointed out that first come equaled first served in setting up whatever small territories for personal space the cave might allow.

“Beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose. But would it have been too much to ask that I become a homeless orphan AFTER winter?” Stefen bickered after seeing the mess of debris and bat leavings scattered everywhere.

Directing two invisible gnome sized summonings to sweep the main cavern, Orison said, “Help me understand the complete lack of empathy for your family. It’s a foreign concept to me that there was no love or care at all.”

While the dhampir ran a limited number of Prestos over his preferred area, he said, “I spent the majority of my life as my father’s spare suit. All three of us were simply an extension of the man in some form or other. Perversion, degradation and constant battles for scraps of his consideration destroyed our bond completely.”

Orison sighed, “Far be it from me to spark a kernel of affection for people I directly or indirectly ended but at least give this to your mother. She spent her last few seconds on this world to cover you with her own body, silently begging me to spare you.”

Stefen snorted. “To spare my father, you mean.”

Orison shook his head. “No, you. His phylactery was in the girl and the main body of his soul was in the one he stole from me… How much do you know of how you ended up inhabiting and reshaping my body into at least the facsimile of yourself?…

“There is no logical reason why I wouldn’t have destroyed my body but I left it in tact and illogically whole out there where anything might have claimed it to do who knows what. I also accepted you into our group without much of a ripple either… It took me over a week to find and eliminate tiny little implants of your mother on my spiritual consciousness. Most of them were about you.”

Sobering, Orison said, “I tell you this because I think that underneath the woman who catered to her husband’s every whim for survival was a person who greatly cared about the one child conceived before love had died within her. You were the legacy she chose to endure beyond the ruin and decay of everything else.

“That being said, she was ready to die. I think she might have even wanted to. I have mixed feelings about her choosing one child over the other for survival but who knows all the little details that happened when no one was looking. It’s possible that girl is alive out there somewhere… Wait, you know. I don’t remember seeing that four year old girl anywhere.”

Stefen’s eyes shot up in surprise. “The savage little monster that wiped her feces on magically preserved velvet curtains and destroyed several priceless antiques? Mother was furious but still kept her in that room… No, no, no! I don’t even want to think about it.”

Other things clicked for the young mage but he kept them to himself. ‘Silent Beauty’ was an accomplished mesmer. The kind of second guessing that could produce in someone was maddening. When it was all said and done, he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if Stefen’s cold indifference was just another ‘step’ she had prepared to free him from the shadow of their dark lives.

He was interrupted from his trip down a rabbit hole by a sudden exclamation from Stefen. “I found the edges of a magic circle! It’s incredibly complex and difficult to look at directly. For some reason the inscriber didn’t bother adding cryptic embellishments at all! It’s completely bare.”

Blandly, Orison said, “I know your hearing is just as good as Edos’. Did you not hear the druid talking about a banishment circle?”

Smiling at Orison, Stefen said, “Would you look at this mysterious magic circle I’ve found. If my years of classical training serve well, I believe that it’s a banishment ritual circle. See, this here is an element of both teleportation and planar travel. It signifies the desire to have the focus of the center to ‘move away’.”

Woodenly, the young mage said, “I see.”

Then he realized what the dhampir had revealed. “There’s elements of both teleportation and planar travel inside it?”

Curiosity piqued, he began studying it alongside Stefen.

“These portions push into planar space. What a travesty. No wonder the mage responsible didn’t bother with flourishes and embellishments to obscure his work. Who could see the most important parts?” the dhampir said, disappointment palpable.

The young mage looked directly at the heart of the work and the slight amount of impossible geometry that lied there. A faint buzzing in the back of his mind was warning him against doing such a thing. But then, like a soap bubble popping under a little external force, the ability to see a bit beyond what normal human vision allowed returned to him. It was an exercise of spirit sight to some degree anyway and under the slight external pressure, the layers bled apart into distinctive 2D frameworks.

Orison stared in wonder. “That’s why we were stuck at journeyman level so long ago. I was thinking of it like the four dimensional screen savers at school. It’s not. They are distinct, separate layers that intersect at key points. What’s more, the only major difference between a teleport and moving from one planar level to another within the same insular reality is a bigger f***ing map and more power.

“With a working planar layer as a buffer, one side of a world could be as big as a pin head while the other is the size of Jupiter. It’s like Echo Mire and the mudflats. That’s the principle these circles work off of. The math wasn’t calculation, it was spatial referencing! Beyond the standard trappings of most magic, a working model of this is; a map, accurate reference points and enough juice to soften the layer so your magic can connect the circle to where you want to go!”

Hearing what Orison was saying, Stefen said, “Quick! Please, while the inspiration is still on you, enter a pact with me so you can share it. I know you have a true name. You should be able.”

It wasn’t some kind of ‘inspiration’. He was staring at it as plainly as if he ran across a piece of paper with notes. With ears on the dhampir while he studied, Stefen explained the simplest of basic pacts, accepting a mark. Orison needed no explanation of that. And if it was an uneven marking like in pacts, he could simply sent a branding intent to do so as long as the other person didn’t resist.

There was, however, one small but important difference. When the supernatural quality of one’s true name was invoked in the process, the channel could be smaller or wider and share a great deal more depending on the entity. Since he pretty much had control of everything outside of what was sworn upon his true name to provide, which was nothing outside of some promises NOT to screw the guy over, there wasn’t any particular reason not to.

Process done as Orison tried not to smile over Stefen’s rather high pitched screech of momentary spiritual pain, he shared his sight with the dhampir. The man whipped out the lich’s grimoire and began fiercely scribbling. With some corrections from Orison on the points of connection, Stephen finalized a dissected version which could be studied in parts. Lastly, he meticulously copied a very simple and clean model into Hunter’s old ‘My Very First’ spellbook.