Chapter 489: Gifts!


    T and Rane sat back down in their thrones as T’s family, Master Leighis, and her siblings’ parents moved back to mingle with the other guests.


    T was still a bit emotional at both the thoughtfulness and the implication of her siblings'' gift.


    <em>-I’m making special note to get updated aura records of any future nieces and nephews.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t. I know that will mean as much to you as to me, and I appreciate it.</em>


    <em>-Of course.-</em>


    She willed the depiction to hang on her dining and sitting room wall, and it moved at her desire. It likely wouldn’t stay there forever, but it was a good ce for it at the moment. There, at least, she would see it many times each day.


    Up next in the ‘big present’ line were Mistress Cerna and Master Clevnis.


    Bows and initial greetings were exchanged before Master Clevnis spoke on their behalf. “We considered for a long time as to what to get you, and I think you’ll like what we came up with. This is from our entire Defender Unit.”


    Mistress Vanga, Master Girt, and Master Limmestare gave waves from among those watching, smiling excitedly.Master Clevnis’s grin widened as he pulled out arge crate from his own soulbound storage.


    It was about two feet by three feet, with a depth of close to another two feet.


    It <em>thumped</em> as he set it on the ground, sending vibrations up through the throne.


    t was blocking T’s threefold perception from telling her what was inside, for which T was equally miffed and grateful. She wanted to know what it was, but the surprise would be better this way.


    Master Clevnis opened the top with a flourish, revealing six, irregr, rounded cylinders, individually padded within the chest. Each was roughly a foot in diameter and nearly two feet long.


    He pulled one out, and T instantly noticed the <em>dark</em> gray coating on the outside.


    “This,” he paused for dramatic effect, “is a remote flier. Controlled via Archive connection, woven through with magics that allow incredible speed, maneuverability, and even stationary hovering at need. The exterior is coated in <em>pure</em> iron. There is no carbon in the shell, making it a near-perfect magical reflector and instor. That makes it both more efficient and essentially invisible to magesight and the equivalents while essentially eliminating magical resonance.” He grinned widely. “There is also a small cavity within,rge enough to store up to six of your pairs of siege orbs fully insted within their own pure-iron bay, which allows singr orplete deployment.”


    He gestured at the crate.


    “These six are our gift to you, but the greater gift is the schematics and research that went into their construction. You can easilymision more at need, iterate the design, or whatever you desire.”


    Rane had an obviously excited gleam in his eyes. “Thank you, Master Clevnis, we will make great use of these, I am sure.”


    Mistress Cerna cleared her throat, seemingly feeling the need to rify something about the gift, “I would like to point out that we did not incorporate any perceptual spellforms, trusting in T’s own magics to make that a trivial concern. As those are generally the most difficult magics for this type of project, it did render our efforts easier than expected, hence six fliers instead of just one.”


    She winked at thest, though she still seems a bit embarrassed that they’d used T’s own capacities to make their gift to her less expensive. Regardless, Tughed. “Thank you, Mistress Cerna, Master Clevnis.” She then met the eyes of the rest of their unit standing nearby. “Thank you, Mistress Vanga, Master Limmestare, and Master Girt.”


    T and Rane also thanked their unit’s families for the gift, gratitude and hugs being exchanged all around.


    After they settled back in their thrones, they returned their attention to the now much shorter line.


    Next was a nondescript man who gave a shallow bow.


    T and Rane returned it, with her addressing the man on their behalf, “Master Lisa, it is a pleasure to have you in attendance.”


    The disguised fox-man gave a vulpine grin. “It is my pleasure to be here. I appreciate the invitation.”


    “Of course.”


    “I present a gift to you on behalf of your… less standard residents of Irondale.”


    T understood that to mean her non-human residents, and she gave a slight frown as she leaned forward in interest.


    “With your permission, I will circte knowledge of your Irondale among my kin, along with the attestations of three… irregrs. That will likely create a bit of a pilgrimage, and from each arrival, you should be able to extract resources, knowledge, and many other potential boons of various kinds.” When he said the word ‘boon,’ it had a particr emphasis that carried obvious weight.


    What they offered <em>was</em> a gift, but it wasn’t a universally positive gift. There would be danger and difficulty, but it <em>should</em> work out for the best in the end.


    “Also, if you do not wish for this, I will simply grant you a minor boon, myself, for use when you feel the need.”


    T gave a bow of thanks. “Truly generous, my good Lisa.”


    Lisa wasn’t a Sovereign by any means, but he <em>was</em> old, knowledgeable, skilled, and powerful.


    Rane, T, and Lyn had a quick—Archive and alternate interface aided—conversation, which really meant that Rane, Enar, T, and t had a discussion, came to a decision, and ran it by Lyn, who agreed. T smiled. “We would be honored for you to inform your kin of Irondale. Would you consent to be the face of Irondale to them, should anye?”


    Lisa had a momentary flicker of <em>something</em> across his generic human features. Then, he bowed low. “It would be my pleasure.”


    With that, he moved off, back into the crowd, stopping near Master Cazor. T briefly made eye contact with the Mage Hunter and smiled. He smiled in return.


    He looked a bit out of his element and a bit off kilter, but he seemed happy to be there, and they were definitely d that he’de.


    Next up was Ron from the Irondale reborn, some of whom were in attendance. He bowed deeply. “Congrattions on your union. For you, Mo—” He hesitated, seemingly remembering her dislike of being referred to as ‘Mother’ and the fact that it was <em>her</em> wedding. “Mistress T, Master Rane. We of the Irondale guard,” yet again he spoke as if he’d wanted to call them something else, “present to you this gift.”


    He held out arge, t wooden box. T took it and opened it to reveal… seeds. “There are a lot of seeds in here, good Ron.”


    “Yes, Mistress T. There are a thousand seeds each from as many different flowers as we could source.”


    Her eyes widened at that. “That is quite the gift.”


    “It will require some nurturing, but we know you to excel in that department.” He straightened, showing a cheeky grin.


    Rane smiled in turn. “Thank you, Ron. This is the type of gift that will continue to give for years toe.”


    They exchanged a few more words before he stepped back.


    And that seemed to be the end of the ‘big’ gift givers, until a small form trotted out from among the legs of the onlookers.


    A beautiful, ck cat with purple eyes came forward with a dead mouse in its mouth. There were bits of white in the feline’s fur around its eyes and mouth, and it didn’t seem to be moving as spryly as it hadst time that T had taken note of it. Even so, it seemed healthy and hale.


    The catid the mouse before Rane and T before sitting back on its haunches.


    There was a moment of silence before T leaned forward and scratched the top of the cat’s head. “Thank you, I suppose.”


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    The cat meowed in seeming reply and then trotted off without a backward nce.


    Rane was giving T an odd look. “What was that?”


    She shrugged. “Just a cat. She got in here when it was being built, and she wanders about. It’s a bit sad that she’s getting up there in age.”


    He gave her a t look. “T, that cat just brought you a wedding present.”


    T shrugged again. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve examined it thoroughly, I can see its entire being right now. t and Kit have seen everything it’s ever done in here. It’s just a cat.”


    Rane gave her a skeptical look, then shook his head. “If you say so.”


    <em>It </em>is<em> just a cat, right?</em>


    <em>-Yes. There is absolutely nothing magical about it. You saw it, it’s visibly older than before. It’s just a mundane cat… if a seemingly very intelligent one.-</em>


    <em>Good.</em> T sighed, ncing around. <em>Why do I get the feeling that no one will believe that…?</em>


    <em>-Because you grow in wisdom every day.-</em>


    Sheughed at that then stood, Rane rising at her side. “Thank you, one and all. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to eat and get on with the celebration!”


    There was a round of cheering at that, and they got down to celebrating.


    * * *


    Three dayster, thest guest had departed the sanctum, and T and Rane stood in the Alefast Archon Compound, ready for the promised assessment of their advancements.


    Afterward, Master Grediv would present the hold for Kit’s consumption.


    All in all, it was going to be a very good day. T could feel it.


    Mistress Holly was there, of course, as was Master Grediv, but no one else was present to witness T and Rane’s assessments.


    Mistress Holly had pulled two three-foot diameter rings seemingly from no-where—though that obviously meant it was from her soulbound space—andid them on the ground.


    T was currently gawking at theplexity.


    Each ring was entirely woven of precious metals, what looked like bone that had somehow been made into thread, and obviously magical strands of hair.


    The metals were in intricate spellforms the likes of which T hade to expect from Mistress Holly, but the other material was just as clearly arranged to create magical effects.


    T had no idea how difficult it would be to engineer such interlocking and intecing spellforms, such that there was no space between them, and they all functioned as desired.


    To her, it seemed impossible, but it clearly wasn’t.


    Mistress Holly was clearly pleased with T’s reaction, and she let the moment linger for a breath before she broke the silence. “You will each stand in a ring, and you will activate the device as I instruct. We will then allow its magics to work, and then we will go over the results. Are we clear?”


    T and Rane both nodded.


    “Good. Mistress T, you first, dear.”


    T smiled, stepping forward, into the ring on the left.


    Mistress Holly instructed her on how to situate her aura, and how to direct her power, so as to begin the reaction within.


    T did so and an instantter, the ring zed with coruscating, corrugating, cascading waves of light.


    It lifted up, clearly flooding the space within it with power of various kinds, as it slowly rose higher and higher, only stopping once it was above her head, then lowered back to the ground.


    It did this ten times. All the while, T could see the various spellforms burning out, the material of theirposition slowly dispersing into power directed by the very shape of the construct.


    Finally, thest of the ring broke apart, enacted its magic, and vanished from sight.


    <em>Yeah, I can see why that would be expensive.</em>


    <em>-No kidding.-</em>


    Mistress Holly was clearly examining the results, at least if the far-off look in her eyes, as they flicked back and forth, up and down, was any indication.


    Finally, she smiled. “Alright, I have a good understanding of what we saw here.”


    T nodded along encouragingly, not speaking or doing anything further that might dy the results.


    “Mistress T, you have gotten most of the ‘big rocks’ out of the way. Now, your advancement will simplye down to gaining a better understanding of who you are—and will be—<em>in the world</em>. You are rtively centered and well established in who you are as a person; it is your rtionship with everything else that needs exploration and further understanding.”


    T shifted back, looking up in contemtion. That did make a sort of sense. She <em>did</em> know who she was, what she wanted, and how she wanted to move forward, but she didn’t often think of who she was in rtion to those around her and the world as a whole.


    She defended others, and she had considered that as well as her nurturing of others, but it had always been in context of who she was, rather than as a two-way thing to consider.


    On the more personal side, rting to others, she was obviously a wife now, and she was both terrified and excited to be a mother, whenever that came about.


    <em>-The Irondalians would be offended to be so dismissed.-</em>


    <em>No, they wouldn’t. I may have given them rebirth, but that doesn’t </em>actually<em> make me their mother.</em>


    <em>-I don’t know, T. You shelter them, provide them with magical sustenance, and you’ve made them who they are today.-</em>


    <em>…I’m not having this discussion with you again, not right now.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine.-</em>


    After a moment of further contemtion, T found herself nodding before she spoke to Mistress Holly, “Thank you. That is both far less than I was expecting, and far more detailed than I had thought possible.”


    Mistress Holly smiled in return. “It is an odd bit of magic, yes.”


    She then turned to Rane and raised an eyebrow. Rane grinned. “My turn, I suppose.”


    “Indeed.”


    He stepped into the ring, and Mistress Holly meticulously described how to activate the ring once again.


    The process that followed mirrored T’s experience—though the ring obviously traveled a bit higher before returning down in each cycle—and soon enough Mistress Holly was reviewing the results. Eventually, she gave a small chuckle. “Well, ironically, your results are nearly entirely opposite of T’s. You seem to know, and have settled into, your ce in this world rather wonderfully. On the other side, you do <em>not</em> have a solid handle on who you are in that ce. You are like a tree, connected to all that surrounds you, with no deep knowledge of self, at least none past that which is required in order to Fuse.”


    Rane blinked at her before slowly nodding in eptance.


    T could actually see the truth of the words, now that she considered them.


    Rane was very good at fitting in, being useful, and keeping things progressing no matter where he was, but he wasn’t the most self-actualized, and that seemed to be by choice. He had alwayse across as content to follow others'' leads and be who they needed him to be.


    It was interesting that such seemed to be his barrier to advancing to Paragon at the moment.


    He gave a bow to Mistress Holly. “Thank you for the wisdom and insight.”


    Mistress Holly nodded in reply. She stayed chatting with them for barely another minute before offering her congrattions once again and departing.


    She needed to get back to her work, after all.


    T and Rane both were staring into the middle distance, contemting what Mistress Holly had revealed to them. It really was an odd thing. They hadn’t really be told anything that they couldn’t have guessed already, but to have it inlyid out before them, their deficiencies highlighted for future improvement? That was invaluable in a way that was hard to quantify or exin.


    Regardless, with Mistress Holly’s departure, Master Grediv was alone with the new couple, and he didn’t seem to have any time to waste. “Well, let’s let you get to it.”


    They all smiled as he pulled arge set of double-doors from thin air.


    They were bound in iron and shot through with magic of all kinds.


    T felt something within her twist at the sight. These were <em>hold</em> doors.


    She’d been taken behind some against her will. She’d hidden behind others, breached others in violence and vitriol.


    And she was going to capture these as well.


    Master Grediv gestured. “I have removed all ties to any house or Major House from within or without, to the best of my ability, and it is ready for consumption.”


    T manifested Kit as a pouch and tossed her at the door, where she stuck in ce unnaturally.


    The leather of the pouch grew to fully cover the doors before the bag closed again and shrunk.


    A momentter, that manifestation of Kit winked out of existence.


    Master Grediv shook his head. “So efficient. It really is remarkable.” With a sigh he turned to the two. “Now, there is something that I need to convey to you as your Kit processes that… influx. You are now stretched to an extreme with the dimensionality contained within Kit. With the addition of this hold, you will be very nearly at the theoretically safe limit for such, even with a spouse''s soul to add stability.” His eyes twinkled. “Though, that is for regr Refined—if there is such a thing. We also essentially never reach that limit, so we are dealing with limited understanding. Additionally, you are a unique case, so mon’ wisdom—however rarely applicable—might be inurate for you. Regardless, please remember that you cannot expand your Kit without end and expect the same level of control and authority within.”


    “So, we can’t just keep gobbling up all the free space we can.”


    “Likely no.” He hesitated. “Well, you <em>could,</em> but your control within would be… lessened, at least if we understand correctly. Kit is not a unique creature, but she is of a kind not well understood—though we are seeking others like her.”


    <em>-Of course we can’t, not without advancing further. Paragons have a stronger soul</em>—<em>effectively</em>—<em>so you should be able to have more strain on your soulbonds after reaching that level of advancement.-</em>


    <em>That’s fair. Finally, a reason to advance. </em>T gave a wry, internal grin.


    t chuckled, but didn’tment further.


    “If we advance to Paragon, I assume that limit would expand?”


    Master Grediv nodded. “Of course.”


    Rane smiled. “Well, then, I guess we need to buckle down and use what Mistress Holly showed us, eh?”


    T grinned in return. “Soon. First, I want to spend some time just getting used to being <em>married.</em>”


    Rane stepped closer, pulling her into an embrace. “I’d like that.”


    Master Grediv slipped quietly from the room as the two came together for a kiss.