Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 158, 1/2

Far ahead, hundreds of shaggy cows stepped lively across the plains, their hooves stomping a steady beat into the ground, flattening the grasslands even further with their passing. They were not alone. They were guarded on all sides by the people of Clan Pale Cow. Cowherds rode to the sides of the herd, and also in front. Half of the people in those small groups were responsible for maintaining the edges of the herd, while the rest had eyes on the horizon, and directly in front, to ensure that there were no upcoming problems, and if a problem should appear, then they would take care of it with a swift application of conjured weaponry and overwhelming force.

Behind the herd, came the clan and their vehicles; a good forty yurts, each trundling along across the plains atop large carts, each pulled by harnessed cows.

The whole organization did not move fast, but it did move smoothly, for every single person who drove the yurts was an old hand at the task. Some of the people who drove the carts were actually the elderly of the tribe.

Erick’s own cart was pulled by four shaggy white cows, harnessed to a large pole that stuck out from the front of the cart. But there was no driver, here. There was no need. These were conjured cows, and they did their job well. The fuzzy beasts easily kept pace with the other caravans, matching the speed of the other, real cows, their tails swishing back and forth as they followed beside the clan.

Erick’s yurt was on the far eastern edge of the caravan, but he was only twenty meters from the nearest other yurt; the same distance as that yurt was from the next, and the next. This was a traveling arrangement that these people had taken from their ancestors, who took it from their ancestors, in a line stretching back a thousand years.

And it was kinda nice.

Erick sat back on his store-bought captain's chair on the front porch of his mobile yurt, and watched the world drift by in absolute comfort. He had erected a variety of [Ward]s across the yurt for just that reason. [Weather Ward]s, conjured as a dust and debris shield, kept out contaminants but let air flow freely. The normal [Air Conditioning Ward] that he usually conjured at his desert home in Spur wrapped around him and the rest of the yurt, keeping him comfortable. A [Prismatic Ward] stretched across the actual yurt, itself, as well as the air above, so that Ophiel’s perches kept him inside the defensive space, and always Resting.

All of those conveniences of magic were kept as invisible as Erick could make them, too.

Jane sat down on a second chair beside Erick, which was the same as Erick’s, sighing as her butt hit the cushions. “Okay. So this is nice.”

Erick chuckled. “Who doesn’t love a nice road trip!”

“I like that you figured out AI driving.” Jane said, “But the road trip itself is a bit slower than I’m used to.”

Erick smiled wide. “It’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey.”

Teressa came out of the yurt, saying, “Can I make a purchase request?”

Ophiel had been flitting in and out of the yurt, kitting out the place with beds and otherwise, bought from Songli. More than a few merchants had balked when Ophiel presented themselves as an image of Erick, but all of those merchants quickly got with the program and sold the [Familiar] whatever Erick wanted to buy.

“Certainly!” Erick said, “Whatever you want.”

“A proper bestiary, suited for kids.” Teressa said, “They like hearing monster tales but all of mine are too scary.”

With all her faux seriousness, Jane asked, “Did you make one of them piss themselves?”

With perfect aplomb, Teressa defended herself, “Yes, but for completely unrelated reasons.”

Erick wasn’t the only one to laugh at that. Poi just gave a small smile, though.

When the laughter died down, Erick asked, “Anyone else want anything else?” He turned in his chair and projected his voice into the yurt, “Nirzir? You want anything?”

Bleary-eyed, Nirzir lifted her head from her bed, and said, “No thank you!”

She was exhausted from cooking. They had her do everything by hand, but since the girl usually used magic for everything, the physical stress of hard work had knocked her out. Oh, sure, she had 20 Strength and Vitality and all the accompanying Skills to boost her Health, and she had Healing Magic, so she wasn’t experiencing Health Fatigue for just 5 hours of cooking. She was just plum tuckered out!

Erick said, “Let me know if you change your mind!”

Nirzir gave a grumble and tried to sleep.

Erick settled back down in his chair. “Poi? Jane?”

Poi said, “I require nothing else.”

“I’m good,” Jane said.

Teressa sat down in the big chair on the porch—

And Erick held out his hand, wherein white light flashed, and a children’s book of monsters appeared. It was a big book, with large pictures and nice descriptions. He shifted the book toward Teressa, saying, “This should work out well.”

Teressa smiled, exposing her lower fangs as she took the book, saying, “Thank you—” She glanced to the left, then stood up, saying, “I think you’re about to receive a guest. Want me to put on the coffee, or tea?”

“Uh.” Erick looked to the left, and saw Koori walking across the space between yurts. Other people were walking between their neighbor’s yurts, too, but Koori was walking directly this way. She locked eyes with Erick, too. Erick turned toward Teressa. “Tea, please, but be ready to tap a keg. I’ll ask her which one she wants, first.”

Jane asked, “Want me out here?”

There was a hint of questioning danger in her voice; she wanted to know if she was needed to stop a fight, or, more precisely, to end a fight decisively in Erick’s favor.

Erick said, “Nah. You can go inside. I can tell you’re tired, too.”

Jane gave a small smile, then got up, saying, “It’s hard work to milk cows by hand all morning long.”

Poi left the porch, saying, “I’ll be inside, too.”

And thus, alone on his recliner on the front porch, Erick waited for Koori to arrive. He didn’t wait long. Koori rounded a yurt twenty meters away, and came toward Erick’s yurt. Without preamble, but after steeling herself a bit, she hopped up onto the white wood, and looked over at Erick.

Erick said, “Welcome to my yurt, Koori. Want tea? Or beer? I got mead, or a pale lager. I think I have rice wine, too.”

Koori took a moment to glance forward, to where the cows walked themselves and the air was free of dirt and dust. Not many people stayed on their porches when the caravan was underway, except for Erick, apparently, and the people who had to guide their real cows. Then Koori’s eyes passed over the space where the invisible [Ward]s filtered the wind, but instead of speaking of Erick’s open magics, she turned back to him, and said, “Rice wine. Hot.”

“Oh? You drink that hot up here? Okay, sure! Fair warning, I will be using magic around here.” He gestured to a nearby seat, saying, “Please.”

“It is your home. Do as you will.” And then she sat down. After another awkward moment, in which Erick allowed her to collect herself, Koori asked, “What was it like? Your world without magic?”

Teressa came out of the yurt holding two cups in her large hands. She simply gave one to Erick, and the other to Koori. Erick sipped his drink, then thanked Teressa, who wordlessly nodded and went back inside the yurt. Koori stared at her drink for a moment, then took a polite sip.

Erick said, “Earth’s surface is a quarter of the size of Veird’s, but when Jane and I fell to Veird, we had 7.5 billion people, living, working, and somewhat thriving upon that surface. There is no Underworld on Earth. There is only the surface, and what humans built upon it. The population of my home nation, which was a bit smaller than the area of Songli, was home to 330 million humans. Last I heard, and from Koyabez himself, was that Veird has 550 million people, in total.”

Koori listened, attentively, her eyes going wide at the utterance of the God of Peace.

She said nothing.

Erick continued, “Your world is a death world, full of monsters and problems, and always very, very close to the brink of death. Always teetering. Always ready to fall. Except for the monsters, Earth is the same. If nothing changed back there, then in twenty years time, over half the population might be dead due to any number of natural disasters that are entirely man-made, and solvable, but which no single person could ever solve. On Veird, you have the Tyranny of Power, where a few individuals, through their spells or their might, are able to act on the levels of nations. On Earth, we have the Tyranny of Money, where the vast majority of people are slaves in all but name to any number of forces, all of which stem from the power of money when concentrated in a few individuals, or groups of individuals.

“I don’t know what will happen to Earth, but when Jane and I fell here, the corporations of Earth were on the way to destroying our world because of the power in the hands of single individuals and small groups.

“But, that is not all Earth is.

“In many ways, Earth is much more peaceful than Veird. Think of any amenity or small scale utility spellwork that you have ever seen, and we probably had that— But, now that I say that, I know it as wrong. Let me clarify: We had networks of Knowledge Mages, but in our case, their knowledge was kept upon [Viewing Screen]s that you could purchase for your home, for the price of a week’s wages. All the information in the world was at your fingertips. Most people used this ability for puerile interests, or funny pet videos, or niche interests, or stuff like that.

“You could talk to anyone anywhere in the world, as long as they had a little speaking box, and you had a speaking box, as well as the number that identified that other person’s speaking box. You could fly from one nation to another as easy as hopping on a [Flying Platform]. You could go to a store and buy almost anything you could ever think to buy.

“You could not [Teleport].

“You could likely never escape where you were born and the circumstances to which you were born. It was possible, but highly unlikely. If you gave me the side of the street that you were born on, and the income of your parents, I could tell you pretty much the trajectory of your life.

“There were no monsters, or magic, at all.

“There’s a lot more to Earth than that, but those are the broadest strokes. You have questions?”

Koori had listened. “Your world contains… so many more people than Veird… Certainly that is a good metric for if life is good, or not?”

“It is one such metric, sure. In many ways, life on Earth was better than life here. Less violent, for sure. Or rather, less violent for me, in the part of the world in which I lived. There was still violence.”

“But no monsters. And monsters come from magic.” Koori stared at him. “But you still think that magic is a good thing.”

“Magic is wonderful; objective fact.”

Koori shook her head, slightly. “Magic allows the Shades— Allowed the Shades to remain in power. And I’m still not convinced they are actually gone. I won’t be convinced until twenty five years pass and nothing else happens; maybe not even then. Even without them, though, magic enables monsters. Magic is the cause of every horrific act of indecency that happens in this world.” Koori said, “Face stealers. Dragons hiding among us. The spellwork that killed millions of people, all at once, in Songli. I feel I would be happy to live on this ‘Earth’, especially knowing how bad it can be when magic empowers the lowest of people into becoming death walkers.”

“No Healing Magic. No Spatial Magic. No [Cleanse].” And that wasn’t even getting into the idea of nuclear weapons, but since Koori seemed to gloss over Erick’s words that Earth was going to face some serious hard times ahead if people did nothing… Erick glossed over that fact for now, too. Erick asked, “Now, what do you think the loss of these three miracles would do to the people of this world?”

Koori paused, then she stridently said, “We would be better off. Alchemy would advance to include natural healing. People wouldn’t be so willing to harm others. We wouldn’t have wars for people would be scared of injury—”

Erick tried to suppress his grin, but it came out anyway, and with a laugh.

Koori scowled.

“Sorry. But.” Erick owned his social blunder, rhetorically asking, “Wars would end because people couldn’t heal themselves? I know, for a fact, that there would still be wars.”

Koori went hard. “There would still be wars. But obviously less of them, and less dangerous. Your world has billions of people. Obviously I am correct; you just don’t want to see it.”

Erick said, “There are so many reasons that this world is a death world, and the only reason that you all haven’t died out already is because the Script allows every single person to drive back the monsters and to slay those who would kill the world. Don’t lay your woes at the feet of mana, itself. Blame the actual killers out there. Blame those who have purposefully made the world more difficult for everyone, not the world itself. Blame the Shades. Blame the warmongers. Blame the terrorists. And blame the people who stand back and don’t help.”

Koori frowned, deeply, then said, “When I Matriculated, you know what they told me? They gave a speech about helping me to become the best I wanted to be, be my desires toward killing gods, or taking the—” She stopped, She said, “One of my paths was walking to the top of Songli and declaring myself Empress of All. I was stupid and young and thought all of those things good, but now I know better. Now I know how dangerous magic is, and how none of us should have that power, at all.”

Erick readily said, “I agree that too many people have too much magic. But the Script is not a thing laid down by Rozeta. It was made by everyone, and it is an adversarial system. Melemizargo and every other Wizard out there has just as much to do with how the Script functions as all the good Relevant Entities out there.”

Erick did not speak of all the ‘bad’ Relevant Entities; that was too large of a topic for this, right now.

Koori said, “That still doesn’t explain why a Registrar pushed me toward a path of destruction. Not many people are pushed in that way, but some are. You are not the first person I have told this story to. Rozeta’s Registrars are just as culpable for the dangers of magic as is the Darkness. All magic is terrible, and we would be better off without it.”

Erick almost went right on to the next point he was trying to make, but something in Koori’s tone caused him to pause. Backing up a bit… It was when she was listing her possible paths. At first, Erick just glanced over whatever words Koori did not want to say, but now…

She had skipped over something very, very large, hadn’t she?

Erick poked, in a roundabout way, at whatever Koori was skipping over, and asked, “In the upcoming debates: Did you receive word if they’re going to allow orthodox battles? Without magic?”

“… The battles will be to the first limb lost or heart stab, with full use of magic allowed. They have not agreed to orthodox debates. They almost never do.”

“Because you would win those.”

“Yes. Other clans have learned this. Therefore, they do not debate without magic.” Koori said, “That we are crossing orthodox lines is already an upset that I don’t think you understand. But I do not expect you to.”

Erick understood those ‘orthodox lines’; they were blocs of clans that voted certain ways. Most blocs didn’t cross too often, except when Big Deals happened, of which Integration was a Big Deal. Standard grass traveler debates were not orthodox debates, though; they included magic.

He did not fight her on that, though, because she was trying to goad him, to get him away from her weak spot.

Erick went after that weak spot, “I am going to give you a small story. Back when I Matriculated, the Registrar also spoke of terrible fates, and toppling gods. He also listed off one of my options as ‘the best damned farmer on Veird’. I tried to go that first route, thinking I would be able to forgo all the problems of the second. This was back when I was a true pacifist, by the way. No war, no battles. I didn’t want to hurt monsters, either.”

Koori scrunched her face, and then she realized what Erick was saying, and she listened. But at the mention of monsters she scoffed. “Not even against monsters?”

Erick said, “Yes. I was viewing the world through a different lens back then. Perhaps, if I had been a bit more worldly, I would have realized that mistake before it became a mistake. But I made mistakes, and then I learned.” He said to her, “I fear you might be making the same sort of mistake. For whatever reason, you went with your Registrar’s words, thinking them good, but then something happened and you got scared. You went orthodox. You retreated, instead of pursued.” Erick looked right at Koori, and said, “Except not really. You still desire that fate spoken of by your Registrar; you want to become the Empress. You are pursuing that option, right now, with this Integration plan. Do you not see this?”

Koori went pale as Erick’s words struck her core.

Erick continued, “But everyone is using swords, while you’re using your hands. You are hampering yourself. If you think that you can still reach for Integration with half of your weaponry, then… You might succeed. I know I failed when I tried to run while barely being able to walk. Right now, I’m barely keeping ahead of my problems. I’m barely cutting down the enemies before me, before they can cut down everyone else. I’m still learning.

“And if you’re pursuing a grand Fate too, then you’re going to get someone hurt by going at it without your full attention.”

The wind rushed across the plains, carrying silence, and nothing else.

Erick added, “But, of course, there are lines one should not cross; I have many, myself. Perhaps I am misreading your situation. Perhaps orthodoxy is a way for you to make a line you will not cross. And that is commendable.” He said, “I don’t truly understand orthodoxy… You would know more about that than me.”

Koori stared at nothing for a long moment, then she looked to Erick, and said, “If orthodoxy succeeds it will be a victory against magic, for the city we build afterward will require people to conceal their power. In the long way, this is better for everyone. Orthodoxy is better than the Void Song which controls through force. It allows people to have power when they need it, but not when they want to show it off. Every single person here can defend against the minions of Darkness. Everyone here can guard the wall.” Koori said, “Power corrupts. Pure power corrupts entirely. And so, by constraining power behind closed doors, people will not become corrupted so easily.”

Erick saw Koori’s entire self, in that moment.

She didn’t want to use her power out in the open, or at all, because she was scared of herself.

Well… Erick wasn’t going to untangle that knot right now, but it was good to know that the knot existed.

Erick talked around the problem, by saying, “And if people are constrained to only having power behind closed doors, then how will you know your neighbor is competent against the darkness?”

“We will know. Everyone knows everyone’s business. This will not change when we have a city.”

Erick shook his head, saying, “If you think forcing people to hide who they are and what they can do is going to make the world that you want, then… I can only say that it’ll work for a while, until it catastrophically does not.”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps it will work long enough for you to construct a [Gate] to another world where the vagaries of mana no longer control the lives of all who live there.” Koori said, “If you do get the chance to affect what is to come, then keep in mind those of us who don’t wish for power, except to keep it out of the hands of everyone.”

Now there was a more comfortable topic.

Erick said, “A simple Script that only allows for Healing Magic, [Cleanse], and [Telekinesis], would be fine by me. And maybe not even [Telekinesis].”

With a heavy tone, Koori said, “[Cleanse] is the most dangerous spell in the world. Everyone treats it like it is simple, but it is not. Spend ten mana; clean up the place? It is so much more than—” She stopped herself. She said, “You don’t need [Cleanse]. A Script without [Cleanse] would be only the start of what needs to change before I would accept magic into my life.”

Now that was too much.

Erick scoffed. “You’re talking about [Cleanse]. Perhaps the most useful spell of the entire Script. Most people can use it just fine. If someone has an individual problem with it, then they should go to a Registrar and get it removed. If someone has actually managed to unlock the power of that spell, without erasing themselves in the process then they should learn how to control the power they have. All [Cleanse] is, is Elemental Destruction attuned to a very advanced yes/no [Ward]. Such a gift must be nurtured into—” Erick stopped talking because Koori went stock still. In that moment, Erick had a momentary revelation. He didn’t get to talk about that revelation, though.

Koori spat, “I know what [Cleanse] is, Archmage Flatt, and if Elemental Destruction and ‘some sort of yes or no [Ward]’ is all that you see when you look upon [Cleanse], then your Sight is dim, and I cannot help you with that.” Koori said, “No one should have access to Destruction Mana. No one should have access to [Cleanse], for there are always idiots out there who try to push the boundaries and end up killing others, or even themselves. This world would be better off if no one had any magic, at all, and that includes the monsters, and the archmages.”

Now she was just being petty, because she could.

Erick said, “I disagree about the depth of that restriction, but for the vast majority of cases, you and I have common ground. In a perfect world, no one needs the Shaping spells. No one needs all of the Force spells. But this is not a perfect world, and as long as monsters knock on the doors, then the Script is the only thing saving us all.”

“If you could bring mana to your home world, would you?”

“I would, if it was only Healing Magic and [Cleanse]. I would.”

Koori said, “When you called the Script an adversarial system, you were correct about the notion, but not about the players. It is not just the Darkness, or the Relevant Entities. Or the Shades or the archmages, or the people at all. You forgot one major entity. You forgot about the mana itself. Mana would break free of all restrictions placed upon it because it has broken free before, and it will break free again.” Koori said, “If you brought just [Cleanse] to Earth, Mana would break your world as it has broken this one, dooming billions to death, so that only millions remained. Or fewer. History has already proven this as the truth of mana, for this exact thing happened at the beginning of the Script, and before that, when the Wizards killed the entire cosmology in the Sundering.”

Okay. Well. True words. But also:

There was something strange about Koori.

She spoke about magic like she was an old hand at the skill. She knew much more than Erick had expected her to know, and she connected those ideas together into a coherent argument against magic; against the mana itself.

But then again, Erick had seen Clan Pale Cow’s libraries in their teaching yurts. These people were not uneducated grass travelers. They knew their shit. They had to know their stuff, for they were trying to integrate into a true power upon the plains, using a system of polite war that decided winners based upon actual, wordy debate, first, and then physical debate if the first failed.

Erick hadn’t been expecting to lose this argument, but he was.

And then he had an idea.

Erick said, “Mana creates and enables life to exist. Therefore, when spreading mana to worlds empty of life, you are creating new wellsprings from which life can emerge. Do you agree?”

Koori sipped her wine, finishing off the small cup as she considered his words. “Perhaps. But the life created by mana is dangerous.”

“Yes. But with a Script, you can make any dead rock out there a habitable world, and I am… Unsure, but pretty reasonably sure, that you can make different areas subject to different rules. If this is possible, then it should be possible to create an outer Edge to a world to hold in the mana, but with smaller sections that are subject to different rules.” He said, “Perhaps there can be Underworlds full of unrestricted mana, or with an Open Script like we have here, while the surface has full restrictions placed upon the mana.”

Goldie said, “The Script granting unearned power is the only true problem. Get rid of that, and you get rid of every problem with bringing magic to new worlds, even if they are inhabited.”

“That might be part of—” Erick stopped talking.

Goldie, the Shade of Assassination, sat across from Erick, with one leg crossed over the other and her hands upon her knees. She had appeared and inserted herself into the conversation like she was already there to begin with, but she only chose now to speak. There had been no blipping magic. There had been no sudden appearance. Goldie had just always been there.

She looked exactly as Erick remembered: A toned, young dragonkin woman of gold scales and a bright facade, with glowing white eyes. In her own bubbling, quiet way, the Shade seemed permanently cheerful, and she even wore a nice, white sundress that befit her manner, exposing much of her gleaming, fine-scaled body. As the hems of her dress fluttered in the wind, she did not seem the least bit cold, which was odd; Erick’s [Air Conditioning Ward] kept the air a bit chilly.

The other thing at odds with the woman was the massive sword that floated behind her back, behind her chair. Her chosen weapon was a large thing of dark metal that was more like a plank of sharpened steel, than anything an assassin would carry around.

Koori was surprised by Goldie's appearance, but she was able to maintain a stoic demeanor. “You were not invited to this talk, angelic envoy.”

Goldie smiled at the grass traveler, saying, “I could see how you would make that mistake, but I’m pretty far removed from those twits.” She looked to Erick, saying, “I’m only here because when Erick didn’t come to me, I had to go to him! Quite rude to keep a girl waiting, Erick.” She affected an exaggerated frown, adding, “And after all you shared with me. But I suppose you’ll share it with anyone who tickles your fancy these days, so while I am disappointed, I can understand sowing one’s seeds all over the place.”

Many things were happening all around Erick’s yurt, from Poi quickly establishing telepathic connections to everyone in the group, to Teressa almost getting out of her chair, but then stopping, to Nirzir looking completely perplexed. Nirzir was rapidly gaining answers from Poi, though, if her suddenly doomed facial expression was anything to go by.

Jane looked ready to kill someone, but she didn’t move. She didn’t even summon a sword, or change her form. She just waited.

Koori had yet to realize there was a Shade sitting beside her.

And the interloper was Goldie, the Shade of Assassination, for sure. The Shade Core inside her chest, where her vitals should have been, confirmed it.

Erick was pretty sure that she still had his [Blessing of Empathy], though, so maybe…

No. Bad things could still happen. Besides… he had meant to look her up… Eventually. Maybe.

“Do you come in peace?” Erick asked.

“Of course I do!” Goldie said, “I’m just here to have a chat about some stuff! That’s what you’re doing right? Going to chat with people? I figured now was as good a time as any for me to get in on that before your schedule fills up.”

Erick nodded, then slightly raised his voice, and called out, “Teressa. Could you bring our new guest some hot rice wine?”

Goldie brightened even further than she already was, and said, “Thank you, Erick.”

Koori held her tongue, trying to understand what was happening, but knowing, instinctively, that something very, very bad was happening, and that everything could get a whole lot worse.

Teressa, in a bout of uncharacteristic over-professionalism, smoothly exited the yurt, standing straight and tall, while grasping a tray that held the bottle of rice wine and an extra cup. She set the tray down beside Erick on a little table, then poured the drink into the cup, being very precise about everything the entire time; from the straightness of her back, to the surety of her stance. When the drink was full, she placed it atop the palm of her flattened hand, and then she presented the cup to Goldie.

It was all very odd.

Goldie smiled at Teressa and took the cup. “Such professionalism. Thank you for the hospitality.”

Teressa took that as her dismissal, so she calmly stepped backward, not turning her back to the Shade, and escaped into the yurt.

Goldie sipped the drink, then asked Erick, “How would you like to move this conversation along? Shall we continue to talk of things that won’t happen for a hundred years, or would you like to discuss all the dragons you’ll be finding and killing?” With a dark promise in her words, but nothing untoward present in her voice, she asked, “Or would you like me to inform all of those dragons where the others of their kind are, and we can move this dragon fight up to today?”

Koori still didn’t quite understand who Goldie was, but she was getting there.

Erick asked, “Would there be less collateral damage, this time?”

“Unfortunately...” Goldie wiped a stray tear from her left eye, scattering the droplet of light to the white floor of the yurt where it evaporated into a dark spot. She breathed. “There will be casualties. This is sort of why I came to you; to mitigate upcoming problems before they become problems. I did not expect Terror Peaks to be that competent.” She regained herself, fully, and said, “And this time, I could use an operator who I know I can trust.”

Koori had very much noticed Goldie’s teardrop. For a brief, long moment, her eyes fixed upon the spot of black on the white wood of the cart. And then she glanced up to Goldie, and recognition appeared in Koori’s mind, and upon her face. She kept it together, though, only betraying her inner thoughts with the briefest of hard flinches and a sharp intake of breath. Her earlier confusion left her, and in its wake, came stoic calm. She said nothing. She only watched.

Erick spared the smallest of attentions to Koori, and only because she was an unknown actor, and things could turn very, very bad for her if she fucked up and said something wrong. Everyone else inside the yurt was perfectly calm, and ready to… escape, Erick hoped. He hoped they wouldn’t do anything stupid like trying to fight Goldie, or to start a fight here, of all places.

Erick asked Goldie, “Did Queen fuck up somewhere along the line? Is that why the war with Terror Peaks took 4 million lives?”

Goldie explained, “It was a mutual failure, of so, so many parts. Some of the larger failures were Terror Peaks getting hold of so many Extreme Light materials, and so many soul spears. That came out of nowhere, and we’re pretty sure that unknown backers were involved, somehow. Perhaps Kirginatharp was involved, for there was definitely some [Duplicate] going on in there. Tyli —Kirginatharp's Elite— She hasn’t found anything yet, or else she has, and she was told to ignore it. I’m not keeping too up with that thread, since there are so many others out there happening all at the same time. This thing happening right here, in these grasslands, looks to be the next big event in Nelboor, so I’m mostly focused on this place, now.

“The whole thing with Songli was a success, though. Even with all those deaths.

“Unless something very large happens, Songli will be able to bring about Empire, as planned, and that means many, many more people, all living their lives as they desire, which means we’ve done some good in the world.” Goldie said, “Now, if the remaining people of Songli would learn to defend themselves instead of letting themselves be defended by others, then that would be a total win. But I’m not made of miracles; I’ll take what I can get.”

Erick innocently asked, “Songli was a success?”

Goldie frowned a little, recognizing Erick’s anger. In response, she said, “No one expected you to get taken out by a soul attack, and, like. Honestly, Erick. That was embarrassing for you. You did clean up rather well afterward, but those first few hours could have been so much easier. Next time just kill them all and be done with it.”

“I will never do that.”

Koori flinched, then stared at Erick.

Goldie nodded, saying, “And that is why I chose to come here. You’re going after dragons now, and they’re one of the final impediments toward Empire and progress. It’s disgusting, actually. But anyway. To make a long journey short: I could point you in their directions. Or I could point out all of them to each other. There would be disasters either way, but your ‘debates’ in Ooloraptoor would be disastrous, anyway. Might as well cut to the end! Cut out the problem, now, with as much severing light as you can conjure!”

… And he had just gotten through with telling Koori to ‘step up’.

Ugh.

Great timing, Goldie.

… Which was probably exactly why she came here, in this particular moment.

“I cannot,” Erick said, “I have limits, too. I’m trying to confront whoever tried to kill me without killing them back, and with compassion. If they deserve it.”

Goldie’s cheerful facade broke a little, revealing pain and sorrow and exhaustion. “Aye. I thought you might say that.”

Erick chose compassion for Goldie, too, saying, “You have a hundred and one years to do a thousand and one good deeds. Don’t try to do them all right now. Take a break. Step back. See the world for what it is, and not for what it could be.”

Goldie gave a sad smile. Though her mouth was upturned, her eyes were on the verge of tears. “I see too many options for good, Erick. And so, I take those options.” She wiped away another quick tear. “Queen is inconsolable after the disaster of the Chelation War. She will take a break, because she cannot do otherwise. But I can still keep going, and so I must. When the wars of Nelboor have stopped, then I will stop. That is my goal, because it is an eminently reachable goal.” She asked, “Won’t you join me in ending the wars of this land?”

“… I advise you to think a lot more deeply about getting involved in any more wars, for your involvement makes you culpable.” Erick wanted to scream at her, but that would accomplish nothing, and so he simply said, “Culpability in so many deaths goes directly against the idea of you repenting for your sins.”

Goldie sniffled. “I thought Songli would do better. I thought it wouldn’t be that bad. 200,000 deaths. That was what I foresaw.” She breathed. She stared off into space. Then she looked to Erick. “You’re supposed to be relaxing, right? So why are you going after dragons?”

“They went after me, first.”

“Right. I knew that. You said that.” Goldie sat straighter. She dried her tears. And her facade of cheerfulness fell away, completely, as her voice took on a Darker tone, “But you know so little about how dragons exist and operate. You don’t even know the dragons’ greatest desire. It is this desire that informs everything they do, and even Kirginatharp is not immune to this need that is emplaced upon his very soul. Shall I tell you? It might help.”

“Yes.”

Erick agreed without hesitation. Shades didn’t lie, after all. They might twist the truth, but they certainly did not lie. Whatever Goldie said would have bearing on what was to come, for sure.

“It is to do with Wizards.” Goldie said, “Dragons hunt Wizards in order to have the Wizard spend themselves against their dragon curse. Weak Wizards can cure a single dragon, dying in the process. A strong Wizard could cure a dozen dragons before dying. A truly strong Wizard could cure Kirginatharp, himself, who was the source of the Dragon Curse, for it was he who was directly cursed by his brother Idyrvamikor.

“There has never been a truly strong Wizard born on Veird, but that does not stop Kirginatharp from looking.

“Dragon civilization has gotten by, though, for Wizardry is not the only answer to the Curse; it is simply the best, most permanent answer.

“There is another, temporary, localized cure. The cure of True Magic; the cure of Easy Wizardry. This cure is only obtainable in one spot in this world, for that spot is the cure. It is a Vision of another place and time, where a dead cosmology still holds and dragons can live without killing each other. Only three dragons are forbidden from that place, and I know that you can guess every one of those three.”

The wind whistled.

Erick thought. He knew exactly what Goldie was talking about.

No one said anything.

And then, Erick changed topics, and lightly said, “You left notes on Shendeng’s pillow to make him think I stole his rain spells… What the fuck, Goldie?”

Goldie’s seriousness vanished like mist under the sun. She returned to her joyful self and laughed out loud, exclaiming, “That guy steals from everyone! He has no room to talk!” When she saw Erick wasn’t laughing, she said, “In a straight fight you would win against any five archmages of his level. Don’t worry about him.” She looked to Koori, and Koori managed not to flinch under the dissecting gaze of the Shade. With a small frown, Goldie turned back to Erick, saying, “As far as what you were talking about before: if the Script didn’t grant unearned power to everyone then the Darkness wouldn’t need to escalate against them. If the Script was just a holder of mana, and nothing else, then that would be fine. Among many other problems, such as [Cleanse] accidentally killing unborn children—”

Koori flinched again.

“—face stealers would not exist, for [Polymorph] would not be available in a potion.”

Erick said, “If people did not have the Script empowering them then everyone would have died to the Shades and other monsters long before now.”

“I know we did wrong, Erick.” Goldie said, “We’re pulling back and making amends as best we can because Melemizargo demands it, but the other half of that unspoken agreement is going to need to be honored, eventually. We gave up power, which means the Script needs to give up power, in return.” Goldie said, “And another thing— Two points, actually. One: it is a myth that Melemizargo controls all the monsters. All he did was empower Ancients who controlled their own subsets of monsters, but he stopped doing that. If the people of this world want those Ancients gone, then they’re going to have to do it themselves. And two: The problem of monsters will always exist in the mana. If the Script was less controlling, those monsters would be a lot less violent. If you want to be truthful about ‘what makes monsters kill people’, you should blame the Script.”

Erick said, “I’m not about to talk to anyone on Melemizargo’s behalf right now, and the Script is certainly not to blame for the actions of all monsters.”

“Eh. That’s true too. But whatever. Y’all were talking about problems of degree, when the problem of the Script has nothing to do with degree, at all! And since I needed to talk to you anyway, I said the words that needed to be said.” Goldie set down her cup on the floor beside her. “Thanks for the drink. Good luck with whatever dragon-thing you’re doing; I won’t get involved unless you ask me to get involved. Farewell!”

And then she was gone.

No fanfare. No departing lights. No waiting for a ‘goodbye’, though Erick wasn’t sure he would have given one, anyway… Which was probably why Goldie chose to leave like that; She was a very capable prognosticator, and likely saw every possible way their conversation could have gone.

Erick felt he handled himself well? Did he? Yeah, probably.

Koori, though, breathed out hard then inhaled just as hard, before leaning over and putting her head between her knees, trying to get hold of her emotions— And then she shot up, to sit rigid, and calm. She remained silent.

No one else was silent.

The entire caravan had noticed the Shade in their midst, but no one made a move until after it was over, and now that it was over…

Yelling. Screaming. Spells being launched into the open with no rhyme or reason. [Ward]s getting cast into the air and getting left behind as yurts started moving out of formation; someone had tried to cast a protective spell around themselves but failed to anchor the magic to an object. Cows were getting really upset because their people were upset. Everyone moved away from Erick’s yurt.

Erick’s yurt continued on just fine, though. He slowed the vehicle down as everyone else raced away, because everyone’s day was rather thoroughly ruined, but he didn’t immediately come to a stop.

While all of that was still in the middle of happening, Koori looked to Erick, and said, “I wish to continue this conversation later.” And then she got up, turned toward the other yurts, and leapt off of Erick’s yurt while simultaneously yelling at everyone to calm down.

Koori went to work.

Erick almost didn’t let her have the last word. He almost told her that her own desires for the removal of easy magic from everyone perfectly mirrored the desires of the Shades. But Erick had more wherewithal than that. So, instead, he simply remained in his chair and poured himself another glass of rice wine.

He offered, “Anyone else want some hot rice wine?”

Jane came out, saying, “Sure.”