Chapter 121: Five Divine Channels
Nathan looked at her.
“Go ahead.”
“First. The masters we mentioned when you returned from Aelthoren. We need them more urgently than I initially calculated. Nathan went up to level ten in real combat. The new skills require deliberate practice so they don’t kill you during the next real combat. And Liaraen needs formal training with the lineage sword because the enchantment is assuming too much of the work when she doesn’t know the base technique.”
Liaraen intervened.
“Do you have candidates?”
“I have two for Liaraen. A retired elven fencing master who has lived in Greywall for forty years. He’s collateral from a minor house of Aelthoren, not a major one, but his technique is solid. And a human mistress who operates in Marren and has a reputation for training young Hunters with long weapons. The elven one’s advantage is compatibility with the lineage sword. The human one’s advantage is proximity and specialization in real combat.”
“Can I meet both before deciding?”
“You can. I’ll arrange the interviews over the next five days while Nathan rests.”
“Alright.”
Selene turned to Nathan.
“For you it’s more complicated. Your Class is unusual. Most human masters in the kingdom aren’t going to understand the dual mode or the Soul Sense mechanism. You need someone who can teach you general combat without interfering with what the Class does automatically.”
“Do you have someone?”
“I have one. He’s controversial.”
“Why controversial?”
Selene thought for a few seconds before responding.
“Because he was a bearer of the seventeenth’s Seal for approximately six months sixty years ago.”
Nathan went still.
Liaraen too.
“Selene.”
“Yes?”
“Repeat that.”
“He was a bearer of the seventeenth’s Seal for six months, sixty years ago. He lost the Seal afterward when the seventeenth’s erasure process from the Pantheon was completed. He’s one of the few direct survivors of that era.”
“Is he alive?”
“He’s alive. He’s human with extended longevity from residual Seal effects. He’s approximately a hundred years old, though he appears sixty. He lives in seclusion west of Greywall, on a small property off the main routes.”
“Does he know things about my Class that I don’t?”
“He probably knows more than I do. More than Liaraen. More than anyone currently alive.”
“Why didn’t you mention him before?”
“Because I wasn’t sure you were ready to meet him. He doesn’t accept just any bearer. Over the last sixty years, three other seventeenth bearers have appeared that I know of. He rejected all three. None of them survived more than two years after contact with him.”
Nathan looked at her.
“You’re going to send me to someone who has rejected the three previous bearers who all died?”
“I’m going to introduce you to someone who knows more about your Class than any other living person. If he accepts you, you’ll have access to knowledge no one else can give you. If he rejects you, nothing changes; you continue with your training with other less specific masters. But the risk of not trying is that you die over the next five years from lack of the knowledge he has.”
Nathan processed that.
Liaraen intervened.
“Selene.”
“Yes?”
“Why did the three previous ones die?”
“Two died in combat against creatures that outmatched them. One died from attempting to replicate Emergency Manifestation without understanding the calculation. All three made mistakes a proper master would have prevented.”
“Does Nathan have something the three previous ones didn’t?”
Selene looked at Liaraen.
For a few seconds.
“He has you.”
Liaraen didn’t respond.
Nathan didn’t either.
Selene continued.
“The master, when he accepts a bearer, does so based on several factors. One of them is the support network the bearer has. Isolated bearers tend to die fast because they have no counterweight for the reckless decisions the Class incentivizes. Bearers with a network tend to survive longer. Nathan has Liaraen as an explicit counterweight. He has Sella and Kalen in Sareth. He has me. He has Mira indirectly. It’s a denser network than the three previous ones had.”
Nathan nodded.
“Alright.”
“Do you want me to arrange the introduction?”
Nathan thought about it.
For nearly a minute.
Then he nodded.
“Arrange it.”
“Alright. Over the next five days, while you rest, I’m going to send him a letter. If he accepts considering you, we’ll visit him together. If he doesn’t respond, I’ll try again in a month. And if he rejects, we look for alternatives.”
“What’s his name?”
Selene thought about it.
“I’d prefer not to say it until he confirms interest. If he decides not to consider you, the name becomes useless to you and could also put him at risk if you mention it unintentionally in another context. If he accepts, I’ll tell you before the visit.”
Nathan nodded.
“Alright.”
Selene stood up.
She took the notebook and the inkwell.
Before leaving, she stopped at the door.
“Last thing.”
Nathan and Liaraen looked at her.
Selene turned.
“The money.”
“Alright,” Nathan said.
“Six weeks without work leaves a gap in the funds. The money House Vaelith gave you is enough for about twelve more weeks of normal operation, but if we include the masters’ fees, it drops to six. Which means at the end of the six weeks of recovery, the money will probably also be gone.”
Nathan nodded.
“Options?”
“First. Nathan takes light missions during weeks five and six of recovery. F-Rank or low D, with Liaraen covering most of the work. Partial income.”
“Possible.”
“Second. We sell the meat tree seed you brought from the Karak settlement.”
Liaraen looked up.
“I returned the seed to the settlement as part of the payment.”
Selene went still.
For three seconds.
“You returned it?”
“Nathan returned it. As respect for the settlement’s veneration. In exchange for information and future access.”
Selene processed that.
Then she nodded once.
“Alright. That decision was correct in the context you had. I’m registering it.”
“Did it have more value than we calculated?”
“It had considerable value. But it’s not relevant now. What matters is the decision you made, not the alternatives that are no longer available. Moving on.”
Liaraen looked at her.
“I appreciate that you’re not insisting.”
“I’m not insisting because Nathan returned the seed to build an alliance with a settlement that now no longer exists. The alliance died with the settlement. The decision was correct at the moment. The result wasn’t what was expected. They’re different things.”
Nathan intervened.
“Alright. Third option?”
“Third. House Sael’thoryn has emergency reserves in Aelthoren. Liaraen can write to Lord Erenn requesting an additional advance. House Vaelith will probably approve it, but the process takes time and creates formal debt with the collateral house.”
Liaraen thought about it.
“Formal debt with the Vaelith gives me short-term advantage and takes away long-term autonomy. I’d rather not take that option unless there’s no other.”
“Alright.”
“Is there a fourth?”
Selene thought about it.
“There’s a fourth but it’s uncomfortable.”
“Go ahead.”
“Mira works at the guild. Mira has access to information about high-reward missions that sometimes don’t reach the public board. If Nathan formally asks her to be considered for those missions when he’s recovered, Mira can probably arrange it. But that requires Nathan asking Mira for a direct favor, which complicates the current professional dynamic.”
Nathan looked at her.
Liaraen too.
Nathan spoke.
“Alright. That option we’re going to leave as a last resort if the others don’t reach.”
“Correct.”
Selene nodded.
“Summary. Over the next five days you rest. I arrange the interviews with Liaraen’s potential masters. I send the letter to the candidate for you. I draft the reports for the Veil coordinators. On day six we evaluate progress and decide next steps. Alright?”
“Alright,” Nathan replied.
“Alright,” Liaraen replied.
“Good.”
Selene left the room. Nathan heard her go down the stairs.
—
When Selene’s footsteps faded on the ground floor, Liaraen stood up from the chair.
She approached the bed.
She sat on the edge, beside Nathan’s hip.
For a few seconds she didn’t speak.
Then:
“Nathan.”
“Yes?”
“Five divine channels.”
“I know.”
“It’s more than either of us expected when we left Greywall forty-nine days ago.”
“Correct.”
“How do you feel?”
Nathan looked at her. With his head turned just enough to focus on her without straining his neck.
“Honestly. Calmer than the night of the execution. Less calm than yesterday morning when we arrived here.”
“Why less calm?”
“Because yesterday I was just alive. Today I know that being alive means having quintuple divine attention and a potential master who has rejected three previous bearers. It’s new information. I’m processing it.”
“Alright.”
Liaraen looked away toward the window.
For a few seconds.
Then she looked back at him.
“Nathan.”
“Yes?”
“If the master rejects you, we’re going to find other paths.”
“I know.”
“And if he accepts you, I’m going with you to the first visit.”
“You’re going?”
“I’m going. As formal guardian.”
Nathan looked at her.
For a long moment.
“Alright.”
“Problem?”
“No. I was asking to confirm.”
“Confirmed.”
Silence.
Then Nathan added, in a lower voice:
“Sprout.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for the intervention during the report.”
“Which part?”
“The part where you forced me to admit I blamed myself for explaining to Yorel. Selene wouldn’t have presented the alternative reading if you hadn’t forced me to recognize I was carrying that version as assumed truth.”
“Alright.”
“And the part where you asked about the Karak settlement deity. I wouldn’t have asked for a specific investigation.”
“Alright.”
“And the part where you asked what Nathan has that the three previous ones didn’t.”
Liaraen looked at him.
“That part was for me, not for you.”
“I know.”
“Alright.”
Silence again.
Nathan closed his eyes.
Not to sleep. To process.
Sprout is taking on a full role during the report. Filling in the omissions. Asking questions I don’t ask. Protecting my access to information I wouldn’t have requested.
And Selene is allowing it without resistance. Which means Selene also recognizes that Sprout is doing necessary work, not overstepping.
Alright.
Over the next ten months until Sprout turns eighteen elven years and the guardianship formally ends, this is the dynamic.
I lead the combat. Sprout leads the informational and emotional support. Together we’re more than we would be apart.
Let’s go.
Nathan opened his eyes.
“Sprout.”
“Yes?”
“Can you go down and ask Selene for something to eat? My stomach is asking.”
“I can.”
“And for you too. During the report you didn’t eat.”
“Alright.”
Liaraen stood up. She walked toward the door.
Before leaving, she stopped. She turned.
“Nathan.”
“Yes?”
“Over the next five days, I’m going to be here. In this house. With Selene. With you. I’m not going out except for necessary errands. I’m not going to accept visits that drain your energy. And I’m not going to let you work before the five days are up.”
“Alright.”
“If you’re in agreement with that, I’ll organize it that way.”
“In agreement.”
“Good.”
Liaraen left.
Nathan was left alone in the room. With the ceiling above him. With the bandages tight around his torso. With the manageable pain under Selene’s powder. And with the list of new information running in the back of his mind while his stomach protested the hunger the conversation had brought him.
Five divine channels.
A hundred-year-old master who was a bearer for six months sixty years ago.
Veil network mobilizing in seven directions.
Six weeks without income.
And Sprout downstairs, preparing breakfast with Selene while organizing the next five days so I can recover without having to decide anything operational.
Alright.
I close my eyes for five minutes.
Then I eat.
Then I think.
He closed his eyes.
And the five minutes became an hour because his body still needed sleep more than his mind wanted to admit.
When Liaraen returned with the tray, Nathan was asleep again.
She didn’t wake him.
She set the tray on the small table. She sat in the chair beside him. She opened the book from the night before.
And she waited.