The Way Ahead

“It’s grown so much!”

“Wait, you’ve been here before?” Edwin furrowed his brow in thought, “I thought you hadn't?”

“What would make you think that?”

“Just… actually, huh. I’m not sure.”

“Your mistake!”

“So, ah… What was it like before?”

“Well….”

The two of them were closing in on Vinstead, with some of the outlying homesteads and traffic picking up slowly in density. The city itself had just appeared over the horizon, with its clouds of avior circling and rising and falling.

“It was a lot smaller, right on the border of the Verdant, and there weren’t so many birds.”

“Those are avior, not… wait, on the border of the Verdant?” Edwin asked incredulously.

“Ya!”

“Holy…” Edwin tried to imagine how big of a forest that must have been, “Why is it so much smaller now?” he wondered aloud.

“Lower mana density.”

“Huh?”

“Weren’t you asking?” she asked with a knowing grin, “But ya. There’s a pretty strong drop of magic between here and in the Verdant proper. The plants won’t grow nearly as fast as back there, or for some of the more magical ones, not at all.”

That was... interesting, “So avior aren’t native to the area?”

She shook her head, “Nah. Well. We had a few. But humans were dominant up here. That of course meant halflings, and the Verdant was popular among elves and creal.”

“The-” Edwin paused as a courier blazed past them, whipping up the air in the wake of their passage and leaving a roar of wind, “The what?”

“Creal? Big, wood-like, fans of nature?”

“Distinct from fey, I take it?”

“Oh yeah. They’re more like… sentient plants? You might know them as…. Talor? Leshys? Treants?”

“Wait, you have those?”

“I’ll take that as a no, then.”

“I haven’t even heard of them. Well, not in the context of being real, anyway. Elves I’ve heard rumors of living nearby, but treants? Like, living trees and stuff? Nope.”

“Strange. They weren’t rare back when. I wonder what happened to them? But anyway! Vinstead is old. It’s been here longer than I have and gone by lots of names. Vinstead. Vinstead. Vinstead. They all basically mean the same thing, though.”

“Let me guess, ‘the wine place’?”

“More or less, ya. How did- ah, Polyglot? It translated?”

“...More or less, yeah.”

The hustle and bustle of their surroundings only increased, as the density of homes slowly increased. While the aesthetic was distinctly medieval, the overall layout of the city’s sprawl seemed more distinctly modern. Then again, Edwin didn’t really know what city layouts back in the early-mid thousands were really like. Maybe it was true to that as well.

In some regards, Edwin could understand why technologically, Joriah might have been somewhat behind Earth. When Skill-powered humanoids and animals were more than capable of outputting more energy than a basic steam engine, why would one ever be developed beyond the state of being a novelty?

Naturally, from Edwin’s perspective, that was utter nonsense. Industrialization offered opportunities and capabilities to the masses rather than just specialists, and opened avenues unimaginable to preindustrial civilizations. But that was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? It was unimaginable, so they didn’t push through the initial high-difficulty, low-reward problems of early steam engines.

Inion stopped floating at some point, walking or at least pretending to walk, and her hair also began to follow the normal laws of physics.

“So you can control it.” Edwin muttered, only to be ignored by Inion. He took it as a victory.

While he had initially been hesitant to venture into the city itself and possibly leave a trail to where he was for whoever the Blackstones might have sent after him… after two months in the wilderness, he felt safer. He doubted whoever might be tracking him- if indeed there was anyone, he was starting to suspect that he might just not have been important enough after all- would still be looking around Vinstead, where he officially hadn’t been in nearly three months.

Risky? Yes. But he wanted to check in, not have to deal with the vendors on the outside of the wall, and report his progress to Rizzial. He’d made an agreement, after all, and he intended to follow through on it. He had many, many faults. But being a deal-breaker was not one of them. Also, he generally appreciated dealing with the government directly. They’d been the nicest of any organization he’d met so far, after all.

The southern gate of Vinstead wasn’t terribly busy when they arrived, and the two of them only waited in line for a few minutes to be allowed in, Inion successfully restraining her tendency to stare at anything and everything. The guards- one a human City Guard, the other an avior Aerial Watchman. The avior took point in questioning them.

“Purpose for visit?” he screeched, loudly.

Edwin flinched, “I’m, uh, doing my Adventurer check-in. Also... I need to get new shirts.”

The guard scoffed, “Yes, so you do. Show me your license.”

Edwin fished it out of one of his pouches and showed it to the Watchman, who looked at it, almost disappointed, then nodded for him to put it away. Edwin obliged, and prepared to walk through when the human blocked his way with his spear.

“And your companion?”

“What about her?”

“I need her license as well.”

“Uhh… she doesn’t have one? That’s some-”

“Then no entry.”

Edwin frowned, “That’s something that I’m trying to help with while I’m visiting.” It wasn’t, but that didn’t matter. He knew there was no chance she’d give full details on her Class, but a bit of a white lie seemed like it would help here.

“She may enter when she has a license.”

“But you can only get a license inside?”

Edwin wasn’t sure how he was able to tell the avior was sneering at him, but he definitely got the impression that he was, “Not my problem.”

“So… what’s she supposed to do?”

The bird shrugged, “Get a license.”

“For which, she needs a license?”

Nod.

“Do you not see the problem here?”

“T’s not my problem. Your girl wants a license, that’s your issue.”

Edwin tried to formulate a response, but Inion sauntered over first, “Is there a problem?”

“No admittance for Outlaws.”

“I am no Outlaw!”

“With a class like that? Ha! My feathers aren’t that blue! Listen missy, I don’t care how big of a shot you may be wherever you are, when you’re here, you-”

“Oh, come on now.” Inion became undeniably magnetic, attention immediately pulled to her from everyone in the surroundings as her voice became sultry, “Surely there’s no reason to be like this?”

Edwin felt a stirring in the back of his mind, pulling him to want to do whatever she asked, but he found it was easy to quash. It wasn’t directed at him, and he’d grown used to her presence. If he were to guess, maybe their Bargain also shielded him from the effects. It clearly wasn’t weak, though, as there was a bit of muttering from a few random passers-by about letting her in, what harm was there?

A glare from the watchmen silenced those murmurs, though, and even Edwin felt it reverberate through his heart, a sudden sense that ‘something’ would Not Be Tolerated.

“Outlaw.” The Watchman started, leveling his spear at Inion, “You have committed crimes against the Empire, including but not limited to unlawful use of a mentalism Skill, use of a mentalism Skill against an Officer, assault of an Officer and rejection of Citizen status. Have you anything to say in your defense?”

“I don’t know what you could be talking about!” she seemed surprised, though about what specifically Edwin wasn’t sure, “I’m innocent.”

“Overruled.” The avior nodded at his partner, and the second guard moved in a blur, impaling Inion with his spear.

“No!” Edwin started, but stopped when he realized she seemed wholly unfazed. Looking closer, where she was stabbed had turned to water. The avior realized this as well, though, and with a sweep of his wing, she was sent flying into the distance. He turned to Edwin, as well, who held up his hands and took off running after his companion.

He eventually found where Inion had splatted into the ground, hundreds of feet back. She had weakly pulled herself together and was panting on the side of the road, attracting a few odd glances before people hastily pulled their attention back and hustled along.

“Are you okay?”

“Ya… Ya. I just wasn’t expecting that. He must have a resistance Skill or something… ugh.” she winced and held a hand against her stomach.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll be fine eventually. Being cut off from my water means it’s harder for me to recover. Normally, a mere guard couldn’t do anything to me if they tried, but without access…”

Edwin raised an eyebrow, “You must have flown three hundred feet there. You could normally just shrug that off?”

“I’m powerful!”

“Sure you are. Hence the panther and now this.”

“It’s just been bad circumstances!”

“Anyway, what’s your plan now? I don’t think they’re going to let you in, especially now.”

“Sneak in?”

“How? I’m not going to climb those walls, not when I can literally just walk in so long as you aren’t tagging along.”

Inion closed her mouth, “How’d you know what I was thinking?”

Edwin glared at her.

“Fine, fine. I’ll… figure something out. You head on in, and I’ll catch up again.”

He frowned, “How will you find me?”

“Ancient and mysterious fairy powers, obviously.”

“Just try to be somewhat inconspicuous, okay?”

“When am I not?” He glared at her, which just provoked a pained smile in turn, “Just go on, I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“Ya. Totally. You couldn’t do anything anyway.”

“Well… fine. If you’re sure.”

Getting through the gate was much easier without Inion messing things up. Other than another awkward exchange with the guards, there weren’t any obstacles for his entry, and Edwin was able to make it into the inner city no problem.

He kept a close eye out for any pickpockets or thieves who would try to pilfer something from his bag, and decided he wanted to visit the garrison first. Who knows, they might have somewhere he could sell his talsanenris berries, or at least know where he might.

Now, the trick was just finding it. He knew that so long as the buildings kept looking nicer, he was heading in the right direction. While he was stopped a few times by City Guard patrols, presenting his adventurer’s license was enough to get them to move on, and he was able to use their help to point him more directly to where he was trying to go.

The garrison was just as impressive as he remembered it. A smooth, almost seamless square made entirely of white marble, inset with a black eagle lay before him, and imposing marble walls loomed on the far side of the plaza, their copper lines tracing geometric patterns and shimmering in the sunlight. Edwin took a deep breath as he stepped on and through the open space, sure he was about to get attacked or called out or… something.

When nothing did, Edwin let his shoulders sag in relief as he passed under the arch opening into the complex’s courtyard. Then, he picked himself up as he entered the massive, cathedral-like structure once again. The enormous statue of Xares was still in place, and Edwin was able to remember where to go for once, climbing up the cramped stairs to the registrar’s office.

“Certainly! It’s a pleasure to see you, as always, young miss. I know you’ll go on to do great things!” Rizzial’s scratchy voice echoed down the stairs, followed by a voice Edwin didn’t recognize.

“Thanks so much, Mister Rizzali!” she sounded young, and almost as enthusiastic as the gnome himself, “I can’t wait to show Kara!”

He chuckled, “You were the one to do the hard work. We always want to see more young folks taking such an interest in their future. You’ll make a wonderful healer one day, Lys.”

“Thanks!”

A tiny brown-haired figure in a green-trimmed child’s tunic nearly ran head-first into Edwin as he exited the stairwell, nearly dropping something orange- was that a mango? They had those here? “Whoops! Sorry!”

Edwin turned and watched as the Novice Healer- wow, she seemed young to have a Class. The merchant Aerfa’s younger child, whatever her name had been, didn’t have one. Was it different in some way for avior? Edwin watched as Lys darted down the stairs, the pitter-patter of her feet swiftly retreating.

“Ah, children. They bring an old gnome so much joy.” Edwin turned back towards Rizzial to see the gnome wipe an imaginary tear from his cheek, “And Edwin! Truly, this is a good day for me! Back for a check-in? New Class I see! Do tell.”

Edwin cast his gaze back to where the girl had run, “What was up with that?”

“Oh, Lys? Truly a remarkable girl. She’s got it in her mind she’s going to be a healer one day, and by Hitar, she’ll be a force to be reckoned with. She managed to get Status up to level sixty by the time she turned eight and had already gotten the Anatomist path! Ah, it warms a Registrar’s heart to see.”

“She’s already tier 2? Wow, she’s beating me.”

“What? Oh, no no no no. You see, Anatomist, so long as you don’t already have First Aid, will upgrade Status into Diagnosis! So, as long as you have an adequate level of Status, you can freely accept the Path! And Diagnosis is quite useful. It allows you to see health problems directly on your Status, and if you upgrade Common Knowledge into Healer’s Insight, the two are synergistic enough that you can see a patient’s entire list of health concerns all at once! So, I gave her the upgrade and First Aid alike today! Truly, a wonderful day.”

Edwin frowned, “How does that all work, anyway? Like, I know that the Empire manages to keep people from just accepting Skills, but I never really thought about what that entails in a practical sense.”

“It’s quite simple! The Good Emperor Xares has his Management skill, which sets Registrars such as I as the only ones permitted to confirm Status prompts for all Lirasian citizens. So, when one wishes to complete a Path or accept a Skill, they come visit me or one of my colleagues, and we check to ensure that it is the best choice for them to make given their occupation, then grant it if it is.”

“Why not let the individuals make that choice?”

“Well, because they do not know all that we do. If not for us, we would have poor fools taking Knifework instead of Small Blades or Cutting, or Assembly instead of Construction. And we can make sure that they don’t take a Path which would mess up all of their Skill upgrades!

“It’s a full-time job, the average citizen simply doesn’t have the time to assess every possible Skill and Path combination for their Class, but we’ve found that unless we force them to, they still don’t think! They just take every Skill that they unlock with no thoughts for strategy or planning! It’s disgraceful, I tell you.” he shook his head, “But that’s not why you’re here, I’m sure! So, tell me of your magnificent adventures, o Adventurer! Hedge Alchemist is fascinating, do tell me!”

It only took about an hour to catch Rizzial up with Edwin’s new Skills and Paths and explain what happened with the Beginner path. It seemed to give the gnome a pleasant puzzle, though, as he stroked his colorful chin, “Interesting…. I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before. Beginner simply always upgrades Identify. In the rare case where Identify is not available, it tends to help out a Skill to help learn about the world. I suppose I could see how Memory could fit into that, but it is still quite a puzzle. Quite a puzzle indeed.”

Edwin sat in silence as he waited for the man to finish thinking, “And those Paths! Oh, truly marvelous! I have never heard of many of those Paths before! The academic potential here is boundless! Alas, I wish I could encounter the fey you woke up, but the Verdant is far too dangerous for me to venture within, I salute you for making the attempt.”

Edwin frowned, “Hold on, I never told you where I went, how did you…”

“My dear boy, I’m not an idiot. There’s only one place you could have gone to cut down trees and make yourself a house, let alone make friends with a fey! Truly, a stunning achievement, though I wish you could tell me more about it...” He must have seen Edwin’s expression, because he calmed him with a reassuring gesture, “Don’t worry, it won’t go on any of my paperwork. I understand the concern, but rest assured I fully support…”

He was cut off by a familiar voice calling out from behind Edwin, causing him to jump, “Edwin? You truly are alive?”