Chapter 125 – Cat Burglar
Over the next few days, we settle into a routine. The strange thing is that everyone already seems to feel settled but me. And Kanin and the Travelers, I suppose, but for everyone else, they’ve already adjusted to the new way of life inside the Fortress—and the champions amassing outside.
Some of the Travelers appear to take their new life in stride. Most of them have already lived long lives, and a chance to start over, be it in a new, strange world, is appealing to many. Mirzayael recruits these individuals to help keep an eye out for champions or gods. With their ability to Check anyone coming into the city on the airships, it becomes almost trivial to spot champions attempting to sneak in. After another three attempts are violently expelled from the city via the Filter and Barrier spells, they stop attempting to sneak in altogether. They continue to allow the airships to enter the city, however, so we have to continue monitoring every new person who sets foot inside the city. Mirzayael thinks it’s part of a strategy to keep us preoccupied and distracted; I think they’re waiting for something else.
Despite the looming and ominous threat on our doorstep, life in the city goes on. We still have crops to grow, food to prep, clothes to mend, students to teach. And the Travelers, of course, all of whom are assigned host families to help them adjust to their new life. Most are paired with volunteers who have some skillset that will help with the Traveler’s Role Requirement. There are a few, however, who have the potential to be trouble.
“Whoa,” Aliz says, spinning in a circle. Her Sanity stat has decreased from 100% to 95% in a few short days. “This place is sweet!”
“THANKS!” Ollie says, wiggling in delight. He nudges his head toward the wall of his cavern, where there are dried stripes of phosphorescent paint smeared haphazardly all over the surface. “I DECORATED IT MYSELF.”
Whenever I have time to tear myself away from more important duties, I always find myself migrating back to the kids. Zhiyong and Yuna are staying with a family of felis, harpies, and arachnoids who have several children themselves. Chidinma has also moved in with them as Yuna seems to have grown attached to the halfling Traveler, and far be it from me to separate the kids from any grain of comfort they’ve found.
Aliz, however, has refused to stay with any host families. Each night she slinks off from whatever sleeping arrangements we’ve tried to set up for her. Using the Core’s Map interface I’ve been able to track her down to various empty houses, towers, and labyrinthine passages buried beneath the city. I’m a bit worried about her, but she at least rejoins group activities during the day—especially if they involve magic or Ollie.
Caroline had been similarly rebellious in her teenage years. I know I need to let her adjust at her own pace, but it’s hard to not to hover over her like a motherhen. As I’ve learned all too well, that will only push her further away.
“What’s that?” Aliz asks, pointing to a pile along the far wall. Glow spells are carved into the walls of Ollie’s lair, and he can turn them on or off by nudging them with a talon or nose and starting or stopping the magic flow within. The way he keeps the spells lit probably makes sense to his draconian eyes, but from my standpoint, it’s rather dark and ominous.
Ollie proudly raises his head and lets out a happy grumble. “MY HOARD! WANT TO SEE?”
“Heck yeah,” Aliz says, already jogging across the cavern. “Show me!”
Jogging perhaps isn’t the correct term. Being a felis, she’s much more agile than the average human, and she uses this to her full advantage, jumping to the tops of boulders instead of moving around them, and landing on all fours and rolling when she hits the other side. She laughs as she races Ollie across the cavern, and she even gets impressively close to beating him, considering it only takes him a couple of dragon-sized steps to close the distance.
Ollie lays down around his “hoard,” tail curling protectively around the stash of items. Sora has been down here helping to organize his room, which I am very appreciative of. There’s been a preliminary effort to display some of his belongings on stands or shelves, so they’re not strewn across the floor of the cavern, but it’s definitely still a work in progress. Instead of a haphazard pile of junk, it’s now at least sorted into themed piles: weapons and armor, interesting bones and rocks, and, to my immense relief, books. I’ve been strongly encouraging the last category in the hopes that his draconic instinct to collect items can eventually be transferred entirely to literature.
I follow the kids to Ollie’s hoard, where Aliz is already digging through his belongings.
“This is so cool.” She pops out of the “miscellaneous” pile, holding up an opalescent orb. “Is this magic?!”
“You can Check it to see,” I remind her.
Luckily, Aliz doesn’t take this as an attempted teaching moment and squints at the rock.
“NO,” Ollie says as Aliz wrinkles her nose in disappointment. “IT’S JUST PRETTY.”
She sets the orb back—more carefully than I’d hoped—and goes rooting around the rest of his clutter. Ollie hovers over her, rumbling nervously, but doesn’t object. This is good for him. He hasn’t had to share his belongings much before now, and it can’t hurt for him to become more comfortable with other people touching his things. Especially as he seems to have acquired some dragon-based instinct to hoard items; I don’t want that impulse to develop unchecked.
“She won’t break anything,” I mentally assure him. “She has fast reflexes.”
“I KNOW,” he replies, though he still sounds a little bothered.
“It was nice of you to offer to show her your things,” I add. “She doesn’t have any belongings here—or friends. You’re being a big help.”
Ollie perks up, pride lifting his spirits.
“DO YOU WANT TO SEE SOMETHING COOL?” he asks Aliz. He turns around to grab a large clay pot with his mouth and sets it down on a clear space of floor. Carefully holding the pot between his paws and grabbing the lid with his teeth, he works the top free and sets it aside. White, opaque water sloshes within.
“What is that?” Aliz asks, climbing over a pile of shields to get a better look.
“LIQUID CHALK!” Ollie dips his tail into the pot, and it comes out dripping white. He shakes off the loose water, then touches his tail to the ground, swirling designs over the smooth floor.
“Chalk slurry, technically,” I say. “Ollie, don’t forget you need to swish it, or most the chalk will settle at the bottom.” We’re still working on a spell to keep the contents well-mixed; Dizzi said she found something from a traveling wine merchant that we might be able to try.
Ollie traces a wobbly smiley face on the ground, huffing in amusement at his own attempt. “I CAN’T HOLD A PENCIL WITH MY CLAWS, SO I’VE BEEN PRACTICING WITH MY TAIL.”
Aliz tips her head at his scribbles. “Uh… cool?”
“AND LOOK!” A moment later, the markings vanish from the ground as if he’d never drawn anything there in the first place. “SINCE IT’S CHALK, THE DUNGEON CORE CAN EAT IT FOR ME.”
“Woah!” Aliz jumps down, feeling the ground. “Now that is cool. How did you do that?”
“I ASKED THE DUNGEON CORE,” Ollie repeats.
Somehow, Ollie has managed to become the Dungeon Core’s favorite—probably due to the number of exotic rocks Ollie likes to bring it. In turn, Ollie seems to view the Core like some sort of ethereal pet, and he loves spoiling the thing rotten. I was initially a little apprehensive of their mental connection, afraid of the damage a full-sized dragon and city-sized remnant could do without even realizing it, but I shouldn’t have worried. They’re both far more interested in the micro—that is, rocks—than anything that could pose a threat to others. In a strange way, their relationship is the quintessential boy-and-puppy combo.
“Some kind of magic?” Aliz asks.
“Of a sort,” I agree. We haven’t had time to dig into the intricacies of the remnants and their relationship with the gods, yet, but it is on my slate to talk to the Travelers about eventually. Given none of them have remnants of their own, however, it’s slipped down the priority list. “We’ll be starting magic classes next week, actually.”
Aliz turns to me with a grin—perhaps the first real grin I’ve seen her make since she arrived. “Really? Awesome! We won’t have to do math or history, too, will we? Just magic?”
She’s not going to like my answer to that question.
But Ollie intercedes before I can find a way to delicately break the news. “HISTORY IS FUN! I MEAN, I HAVEN’T HAD ANY REAL CLASSES YET, BUT A COUPLE MONTHS AGO A DEMON-PERSON NAMED ATTIRU VISITED AND THEY TOLD ME ALL SORTS OF STORIES ABOUT THE RUINS.” Ollie lifts his head to gesture to our surroundings. “THAT’S WHERE WE ARE—THE DRIFTING ISLES. ATTIRU SAID THE CITY USED TO BE LIT BY BALLS OF LIGHTNING AND FILLED WITH FLOATING CANALS LIKE A SKY FULL OF BLUE RIBBONS BEFORE IT GOT SMASHED TO PIECES BY A GOD.”
Aliz looks impressed. “Okay, that does sound more interesting than Earth history.”
I did my best to recruit Attiru as a history teacher, actually, but they didn’t seem quite ready to settle in our city. Something about heights and wild amphitheres. We have other instructors in mind, however, and I’m hoping to finalize the last few class schedules soon. I’d already wanted Ollie and the young Fyrethians to start formal education as soon as I could manage, setting them up as best I could for their inevitable interactions with the rest of Lusio, but that need has only increased with the appearance of the Travelers. So much to learn, so much to prepare these people for, and so little time.
Ollie continues to tell Aliz about any new thing that pops into his head, and Aliz, to her credit, engages with it all. She strikes me as eager to learn, but something about her intensity is throwing me. Her interest in magic is not surprising; I can’t imagine many people could come to a world full of magic and have no desire to learn about it. But she stills seems to attack each new grain of information with a fervor that feels familiar, yet… forced, for lack of a better term.
Abruptly, I recall a night working late in the office. The sun had already set outside, and most of my coworkers had already departed for the day. I was hunched over my computer, frowning at a graph, when my phone buzzed and the screen lit up. I’d glanced at it, then quickly looked away. It was from my ex, but there was work to be done.
There was nothing special about that night in particular. I don’t know why my brain decided that specific moment was deserving of longterm memory. Yet it’s impossible for me to ignore the similarities now that I see them: it’s good to have something you’re passionate about. Perhaps less good to use that passion to avoid having to deal with reality.
I should see what our options are for mental health support for the Travelers.
Though, now that I’m thinking about it, more than just the Travelers could benefit from that.
“Thanks for the tour,” Aliz says to Ollie. “But I’m going to go grab some dinner before it gets too late.”
Glancing toward the exit of Ollie’s lair, I see she’s right; it’s getting dark out.
“OF COURSE!” Ollie happily tells her. “COME BACK ANY TIME!”
“I will,” she agrees, giving him a wave as she heads for the exit.
I start after her.
“I’ll be back for a bedtime story,” I promise Ollie as I hurry to catch up with Aliz. “Just want to make sure she gets to the dining hall without getting lost.”
“OKAY,” he says, barely paying attention to me as he straightens up items of his hoard. “SEE YOU SOON!”
To my surprise, Aliz actually waits for me to catch up. “He your kid?”
The question catches me off guard. “Not in a literal sense.”
She snorts as we step outside the cave. “Yeah I could have guessed that.”
“He wasn’t my kid on Earth,” I clarify. “But since then we’ve become close. For a long while, we were all each other had from home.”
Aliz hmphs. “You miss it?”
I hesitate. “I miss certain people.”
“I don’t,” she says. “Good riddance, honestly. What a crappy, selfish planet.”
I watch her sadly, wondering what her story was. I’m sure if I ask I won’t get a useful response. “This one isn’t perfect either.”
“Yeah, the gods, right?” Aliz laughs. “What a bunch of assholes. Thanks for busting me out, by the way. Here.”
She tosses an object my way, and I barely manage to catch it without juggling and dropping it to the floor. It’s a seashell.
“Give this back to Ollie, will you?” She grins, revealing her cat-like fangs. “And tell him thanks for helping with my Role.”
I Check her out of instinct, and find her Sanity stat is back up to 100%.
Aliz jumps on a rail and hurries off before I can reply. Cat Burglar indeed.
#
After dinner and storytime (we’re part way through an improvised recital of Treasure Island,) I use the Map interface to hunt down Aquenno. I find him in the Library.
The room is about the size of a large home library, and only a quarter of the shelves are stocked with books and scrolls. Still, it’s more than it had been four months ago, and the nearby chambers are empty, which I look forward to one day converting into more library space, once it’s needed.
Soft yellow lights glow along the walls, illuminating Aquenno’s green-blue form sitting at a stone desk as he flips through a thick tome. The nereid looks up as I step inside.
“Lord Fyre,” he greets. “I assume you weren’t also coincidentally in the mood for some light reading.”
I look at the book he’s reading a chuckle. “Light reading? Back home we called books like those ‘doorstoppers.’”
He looks down thoughtfully at his book. “It must have been an amazing world where books were common enough to be used to prop open doors.”
“It was more of an expression,” I admit. “But they were common, yes. Most of the world was literate."
“Fascinating.” He heaves the book closed, allowing me to make out the title: Post-Ruinic Dunmoran History.
“I’m sorry I didn’t have the opportunity to check in on you before now.” I touch a hand to my shoulder. “Are you doing alright?”
“I was healed quickly after Shirasil dropped me off,” Aquenno assures me. “And I don’t fault you for being busy, what with all the new Travelers.” He gives me a calculating look. “How long had you been planning that?”
I grimace, taking a seat across from him. “A couple months. Though I hadn’t been intending to accompany Kanin—I was merely lending him my facilities. Plans changed when Lorata’s champions showed up. I was forced to improvise.”
“Merely,” Aquenno repeats flatly. “You lied to Lord Blair and I.”
“Trust goes both ways,” I reply. “How old is Blair?”
The question visibly shakes Aquenno. “How—what do you know?”
“I Checked the age of the god Rinviu while I was in the Heavens,” I tell him. “I know the gods are much younger than they pretend to be.”
“Only some of them,” Aquenno admits after a span of silence. “Be careful about underestimating any of them as a result of this.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” I observe. “Blair is new to being a god, isn’t she?”
Aquenno breaks eye contact, lowering his gaze to the closed book before him. “I—I’m not sure what would be right of me to say in her absence.”
I sigh, watching him sadly. I had sort of expected him to reply this way. “I briefly had the opportunity to speak with Blair when I was in the Heavens.”
He looks sharply back up at me. “You did? What did she say? Is she alright?”
“She was fine when last we spoke,” I say. “But she seemed worried she might not remain so for long. I invited her to come back here if she needed to escape Lorata’s wrath. Though, to be honest, she might be equally afraid of mine.”
Aquenno’s brow purses. “Why?”
“Because of Aliz,” I say bluntly. “And Yuna and Zhiyong. Were you aware the gods were keeping children imprisoned there?”
Aquenno shakes his head wearily. “Blair never told me. I was as surprised as everyone else when I saw them here. I realize it may not mean much, but… I’m sorry.”
I smile sadly. “So am I. And it does mean something—at least to me.”
Aquenno nods. He looks like he wants to say something more, and I wait, but the words never come. Instead, a new message appears in my Contact interface.
[Kanin: Hope it’s not too late to bother you. But I was hoping to start fixing my body up again soon. Do you think tomorrow you could make me some more glass?]
The interruption comes as a bit of a relief.
[Fyre: Actually, I’ve got some time now. Meet me in the Library?]
[Kanin: You sure? It's getting pretty late. I don't mind waiting until tomorrow]
Yet, I don’t feel nearly ready for bed. My mind is still too preoccupied with all the things I need to fix, all the people I want to help. And maybe there isn’t anything I can do for Blair or even Aliz without them wanting my help, first. But Kanin, at least, is someone I can do something about. And helping him engineer a new form is just the sort of familiar endeavor I could use right about now.
[Fyre: Honestly I have even less free time during the day. Besides, I could use the break. It will be nice to work on something a little more in my wheelhouse.]