Chương 493: 493

Once again Mark sat on a circular rug in a tilted courtroom that had been made level with vines. The three Guardians of the Picory, Lani, Kei, and Mabi, sat on their own rugs in front of Mark, facing him. Kei's flankers stood to the sides, alongside but clearly separate from the three Elders of the Picory. Derek, of course, sat about 2 meters behind Mark. Derek also stood next to the door, and off to the other side. Derek had a habit of spreading around if he could, and so that's what he did.

Guardians Mabi Khava, Lani Arona, and Kei Rarei all bowed with just their heads. Mark did not return the bow. This was mostly a ceremony for them, about them and their unions and divisions, and Mark did not begrudge them that, but in a land of magic and ceremony and action, where a Language of Action caused actual effects on the world, Mark was not going to place himself under anyone else's power at all. So he did not bow.

Mark hadn't thought about the process of bowing or not in a week, but here he was again, thinking about social things like that because this whole place had him on edge, like this was the Winter Ball all over again. It was much easier to be around superheroes, in Mark's opinion. Addavein (and Addashield) were very right about their love of that culture over all noble culture.

Mark already loved superheroes, so he didn't have to be told how much better superheroes were over nobles, but here he was, getting that lesson taught to him over and over and over again… And now that he was thinking about nobles and culture and promises of culture… Didn't Aluatha promise to send soldiers and people here, back at the start of the Winter Ball? What happened to those guys? Did they just… never show up? Mark supposed it was very possible.

Back when Walaria promised those troops to the Picory, Mabi had counter-offered a desire for Mark and for Jessie, and that they would open their oldest archives to Mark. Mabi did not want any random soldiers. Mabi promised that if Mark did not help them, then the Picory were going to Okuana for aid. Mabi had made that threat weeks ago, so… Mark supposed the threats made by Elder Poura, regarding the very same thing, were not that bad, really.

Mark wondered if the help he had already offered them was good enough for them to stay with Aluatha. Now was the time to ask about all of that, so that's what Mark would do when he got a chance. Lani Arona began, "In accordance with the discussions of Guardian Mabi Khava and Guardian Kei Rarei and myself, regarding the dispensation of Powers, we have made several decisions. In the matter of Ocean Shaper: Wavespeaker Yuda of Tribe Arona will gain the Power to move the oceans."

Kei Rarei added, "In the matter of Ocean Shaper and little more: Angel Rarei and Jaxen Blue will gain the Power to move the oceans as well as two Mind Powers of the traveler's choosing." Mabi Khava said, "In the matter of other Powers: Tribe Khava will gain whatever other Powers the traveler seeks to give our home. We will ensure the Fraying Edge remains secure through these gifts." The three of them bowed again. They all rose as one, back to sitting tall.

Mabi added, "We would like to conduct the transfer of Ocean Shaper to our three candidates at this time, but the remainder can be done in a visit to Tribe Khava headquarters located at Waysoff. Guardian Kei is eager to flush the green menace away from our shores completely."" Sounds like a plan to me." Mark turned toward Angel and Jaxen and asked, "For Mind Powers I got a few random options, but mostly I have Smart, Tactician, Battlemind, Logistician, and Shipwright.

Those last two aren't the best for warriors, but some guys like those options, and I'm not sure if you guys have any ships larger than the rowboat fishing boats I saw back at those docks, but I offer them all the same." While the guys both stared, unwilling to answer— Kei hmm'd, eyes on Mabi. Mabi softly eyed Kei. Kei mmm'd a little louder, and then he looked down and away, uncaring. Mark didn't know what that was about, but he didn't really care either. They had lives beyond Mark's visit, and that was fine…

But apparently he was going to find out what that was about, right now. Mabi spoke up, "The Khava wish to have Logistician and Shipwright, in particular, while Tactician and Battlemind are a low priority. We would see those go to deserving warriors to keep our lands safer."" I agree," Kei said, looking to Angel and Jaxen. Angel looked overwhelmed and surprised and delighted, all at the same time, but he tried not to show it, as he spoke up, "I would take…" He took a breath.

"Smart, please traveler."" Battlemind," Jaxen said, without hesitation. Jaxen was a bit older than Angel so that kind of decisiveness seemed normal, but it wasn't just his older age that made him more decisive. Mark could tell he had been proving himself most of his life, and now was the chance to truly prove himself to all. … Mark sometimes wondered if he, himself, had mentally aged faster than others his own age. Now was one of those times.

Here he was looking at a guy his own age and another guy at least 28, and he knew he had more power and experience than both of them… than most people in this room, actually. Derek outclassed them all, of course. He was living 5, 000 lives at the same time, and though that '5, 000' number was a recent thing about 10 months old, Derek had been living 20-30 lives all at the same time since his Tutorial, like, 4 years ago.

Derek was so far beyond everyone here that he had wrapped around to a simpler option; Derek was Derek, and he would continue to be Derek whenever he was allowed to be such a person. The Guardians of the Picory were somewhere between Derek and Mark in life experiences, and probably a lot higher than Mark but not nearly as far along as Derek. … Life experience was not something Mark really thought about, but sometimes he did.

That series of thoughts, and also sensing a slight feeling of unwanted jealousy in the vector of the woman who was to get Ocean Shaper, made Mark think about a lot; about life experiences, about destinies, about questioning authority, and about ultimate purposes in life. All that made Mark open his mouth and ask questions, too. Mark looked at Yuda Arona, with her vine tattoos and carefully-still face, and asked, "Everyone else is getting a Mind Power to fight this war? You want one, too?

Smart isn't much, but it's an IQ bump from 100 to 140 for most people, unless you're already up there. Smart is still probably the safest one." Yuda was already standing tall, at attention. Now she tried to stand a bit taller, head bowed, eyes at the floor as she said, "It is not my place to question the Guardians."

"… Sure," Mark said, not agreeing at all, "But I can tell you want something, and that you're also quieting yourself so you don't upset anyone, but this decision is for your entire life, Yuda," Mark said, "And I'm not giving Powers out to anyone who doesn't absolutely want what they're getting." That incident with Cade Waterson didn't count; that guy had been actively dying.

Yuda Arona kept her eyes on the ground, but her heart stirred with desire that she was not willing to—" Tell the traveler your desires, Yuda," Lani Arona said. Yuda raised her eyes and said, "I would cherish Mage and Ocean Shaper, if such a thing were even possible. If you… have one." She had kinda lost the plot there at the end, for Mark had never offered that Power, but she guessed, and she hoped. And that was her true desire, for sure. The Arcane Power of Mage.

And yet, Mage wasn't one he had actually told anyone about, except for Walaria and Aluatha, so perhaps these people were in contact with Aluatha more than Mark realized. Maybe they were allied with Aluatha more than Mark knew, which was good! Mark briefly wondered why Yuda would want Mage, but then again, why not! All well-made spells were actually temporary Bindings done inside of the caster's soul.

How badly that Binding was made, or not, determined if a spell killed the user, or not, because while all true Bindings were filled with tons of secondary powers, like a Fire Shaper being immune to high temperatures, spellwork-type Bindings did not have those secondary Powers unless a mage specifically made that happen.

The Arcane Power of Mage, however, allowed a person to construct spells in their Binding without actually risking major injuries from improperly cast spells, because if anything dangerous happened to the caster then the spell would auto-terminate. Mostly. Sometimes Powered Mages still blew themselves up, but that was very, very rare, compared to the other 99. 99% of 'mages' out there who could and did 'blow themselves up' at any time.

The Power of Mage was why mages were called as they were; they were simply the best at casting magic themselves because of survivor's bias. Archmages were called that because they had demons to pull apart improperly made spells in the person's soul, if they felt like it, and demons were a lot better at spellwork assisting than the 'algorithm' that was the Arcane Power of Mage. The Arcane Power of Necromancer, like the one Mark had, allowed for experimental spellwork similar to Mage, but only when using Death mana.

All of the 'mage-class' Powers were like that; they allowed for variable spellwork to be made along whatever lines they were created upon. Battlemage, Enchanter, Elementalist, Summoner; all of those allowed for actual experimentation that wouldn't instantly kill the user. Battlemage was especially good at protecting the user from explosive spellwork, or corrosive spellwork, or any kind of battle-type magic that rapidly altered something about the world.

Almost paradoxically, Battlemages and Mages and other spellcasters of those kinds made the worst and also the best teachers, because they both didn't have to worry about the secondary Powers in the magics they cast, and they could also experiment a lot to perfect what the spell would look like if it was cast perfectly. Also, the generalist mage-type Powers were both fantastic, and mostly useless without a whole lot of mage training.

Sure, you could experiment, but unless you had teachers you might figure out 'Fireball' but you wouldn't ever create 'True Invisibility'. So Mark only had one real question for Yuda. Mark asked, "Do you have a teacher for magic around here, Yuda?"" I do have teachers for magic, traveler, but while I would love Ocean Shaper, and do good things with it, I would be required to drop out of the Greenspeakers and forbidden from practicing further spellwork.

They would rightly never risk me having an accident with a spell," Yuda Arona added, "But I dearly love magic, traveler." Greenspeaker Guardian Lani Arona spoke, "Young Yuda is a deft hand with a spell and one of our best Greenspeakers of her generation, able to master the Wave Rider spell at a young age as well as the Vine Speaker spell even younger, but yes, we would require her safety above her personal desires if she were to acquire Ocean Shaper."" Huh…"

Mark used his fragment of a divine mirror to glance at the people who were getting Ocean Shaper, and then he looked at Kei. They all had some spells active in their bodies, and those spells seemed to be concentrated in their feets and hands. It was the spell 'Wave Rider', then, and it was probably… Well. Mark decided to just ask, "Wave Rider? That's the spell that everyone was using to ride the waves out there, yes?" A few nods all around. Lani Arona said, "There are variations.

The war with the goblins has taken a great toll on our people, killing many of our Wavecrashers and Wavespeakers and forcing many to evacuate from our outer lands, to come here as refugees, but it also allows me to easily teach lessons on Wave Rider. Once the islands are clear of goblins, we will be teaching many of those spells. It's my understanding that you appreciate magic, traveler. If you wish to come back and learn our magics, I would welcome the opportunity to teach you." Right. The war.

Death and destruction. Mark hadn't really thought about it until that moment, but he realized that those people outside in Crash and in the grown houses outside of the main city were refugees. They were not only people outside of time, locked behind a Forgetting that kept them separate from a lot of the world. They were escaping a goblin horde. Of course they had nothing. They had been forced to drop it all to escape." Thank you for the offer of magical lessons. I might take you up on that some time."

Mark said, "As for the refugees and the issues here, I am sorry for your losses. At the Winter Ball, I recall Guardian Mabi requesting the presence of Jessie Stills here, to resurrect the dead. I can safely say that that is never going to happen." Lani closed her eyes and bowed her head, a quiet sorrow filling her vector. Kei had fully expected Aluatha would deny them access to Jessie. He tried not to be smug about that. The Elders and the three would-be Ocean Shapers each seemed to stiffen with the bad news.

Mabi had expected this, but she had been holding out hope. That hope crashed, and she asked, "Even if they were all revived right now… they would not be themselves, would they?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it." I know all too well that feeling, Guardian Mabi," Mark said, "I went to Endless Daihoon with a hope of getting Resurrection magic, only to find it already here on Daihoon.

It worked well at the Battle for Memphi because everyone had just died, but even then people who died at the beginning of the fight were losing weeks of memories. For your people, and… and for my parents, anyone dead for more than a few days… The loss of years would not be unexpected. The loss of decades would be normal. There is no hope at all of getting them back how they were." Some people still held on to hope. Kei did not. Kei said, "Aluatha would never allow their Resurrectionist out of their grip.""

A true statement," Mark said, and he meant it. And then Mark moved on, standing as he said, "Yuda is getting Mage and Ocean Shaper, Jaxen is Battlemind and Ocean Shaper, and Angel is Smart and Ocean Shaper. Shall we proceed?" The Guardians of the Picory stood. Soon, they had shuffled around a bit, and everyone stood in attendance as Mark proceeded to Skill the three people they had picked, or who had picked themselves.

Mark wasn't entirely sure of how the decisions went down behind closed doors, and he didn't need to know any of that. And then Yuda sobbed tears of joy as she held onto Lani, the much larger woman like a giant, comfortable rock to the storm of hopeful emotions in Yuda's mind. Angel looked at the dark, misty sky, at the moon beyond, with something like understanding unfolding in his newly Smart Mind, his vector curling like he understood the universe, or something close to it.

Jaxen stood with Kei and the elders, going over battle plans that Mark didn't need to know. Mark did take a moment to talk about one thing." You know of Stupid Goblin and Puppet, right? The one that reflects your actions and the one that puppets you?" Even before Mark had gotten through the whole question, he already saw recognition in the eyes of the Picory. Mark nodded.

"You know." Kei said, "We know of these most horrible of goblins. They have taken the lives of many of our people." Mark added, "They won't be able to affect Ocean Shaper much, but if your astral body is out there then… well. You know." Stupid Goblin would fuck up all astral body shifting, making the user attack their own people, while Puppet would directly control a person and make them do whatever Puppet wanted." We are all too aware of these goblins, traveler," Kei said, bowing a little.

Mark nodded and moved on, asking Mabi, "So where are your people?" Mabi bowed a little, saying, "They're at Tree Khava, in Waysoff. It is a short journey." And then they were moving again. As Mark walked down a vine-made staircase down the side entrance of the courthouse, he was still concerned about the goblins. He asked, "Derek? Have you talked to them about all the goblins?"" Yup yup!" Derek said. Another Derek said, "Lots of intel gifted."

Mabi seemed to relax a little as they left the vicinity of the others, as they walked toward Wakka who was down there, outside the courthouse, talking to some guys and sitting on a bench near a fire. Mabi called out to them, "Wakka! We're departing!" Wakka and the guys all jumped up, noticing that Mark and them were coming their way—" I'm trying to get them to agree to let you take the book," Mabi said to Mark.

"Are you sure you're going to give it to Eliot? And that he wants it? You're not going to give it to your talzarki, are you?"" Eliot absolutely wants that housebook," Mark said.

"I think I can give Addavein enough other stuff that he won't want the housebook… but I honestly do think there will be a fight over it. Arguably, the book would probably do more for humanity in Addavein's hands, but that's not what I want at all." Eliot would also absolutely never allow for himself to be book-of-life'd into Addavein's cohort. Mark doubted that Eliot would allow Mark to book of life him, either, but eventually, when Eliot figured it out for himself, then yeah, they could book of life each other.

That way if either of them died then they would be reborn with the other. That seemed like a safe thing that would allow for a lot of other options in the war, and in life. Mabi nodded, saying, "That will make convincing the others easier, though it will still be a trial for you to actually take it."" Was Amokai removing it from my hands?"" That is a complicated question. If I can convince the others, then I will tell you what I know of the answer." Mark nodded a little, accepting that answer, for now.

They reached Wakka and some others. Mabi told Wakka, "You'll have to pick up your scooter later; we're going to Waysoff." Wakka bowed a little.

"Yes, Grandmother." Soon, Mark and Derek stood with Mabi as Wakka and the other people of Tribe Khava began to flow with the mist, twisting it around them all. 2 minutes later, the mist came together. The mist parted. The ground ahead was actually a treetop, lit from below by glowing waters.

And then Mark looked up, and up and up, and saw that what he thought was a misty part of the world, was actually a part of that treetop twisting into the air, into a whole canopy of housing, like a kaiju-sized branch turned into a multi-layered skyscraper. It was amazing, and it was fully lit up, both from the 'daytime sea' below and electric lights above. A lot of lights, actually. It looked almost modern-city, for real, and not at all like that preserved museum that was the city of Crash.

Waysoff was mechanized, too. Some gears turned a long line of buckets, hauling glowing water upward, to what had to be cisterns that had their own bucket brigades that brought glowing water even higher. All of that water glowed and fell down from on high, through farmlands in the sky and past houses and pools. It had to be freshwater. And all of that up there had to be Tribe Khava.

An airship was docked up there, with blinking green and red lights on the hull, while a bunch of hoverships were parked at smaller spaces near houses and otherwise. Neon lights on branch-made streets spoke of noodle joints, music played in a bar down by the water's edge, and far off past the main tree was some industrial center with glowing forges in the dark. The soft ringing of metal on metal echoed in the mist. This was a modern place, but distinctly naturalized.

Khava had some refugees, too, down here on the sparse canopy of the half-submerged tree below, where they had twisted the tree into houses but they hadn't turned the ground nearly as solid as it was around Crash itself. Mark couldn't see the water between the cracks, but the teal glow reached upward, turning the shadows to daytime in the deep, misty night. It was all so unexpected. Mark grinned, looking upward, as he said, "This is amazing." Mabi offhandedly said, "We're not all swamp trompers."

A pang of something like embarrassment stabbed into Mark's heart.

"Ahh…" Mark admitted, "I did judge Crash a bit harshly because they didn't have stuff, and not even any Basic Income stuff, but they're all refugees, right? So that makes sense."" You should have judged us harsher," Mabi said, walking on.

"… Huh?" Mark said, as he walked with her." We deserve every bit of judgment coming to us." Like Mabi was an uncle at a barbecue with one too many drinks in him, talking about the inequities of government and civilization, Mabi explained, "You think the goblins attacked from just the east? No. They attacked from everywhere, all at once, but the Khava have Tinkerers and Artillerists and Bombers, so we kept our western shores clear of that green menace.

And so the goblins pushed in where they could, where old magics couldn't stand up to modern warfare, and so Guardian Kei lost almost all of his lands and much of his honor ten times over. He will get it all back, though, with a vengeance. That Jaxen is one to be watched… and Angel is okay, I suppose." Mabi huffed and looked toward Waysoff, her brief spike of anger fading away. She navigated a short flight of root-made stairs, saying, "Your help here will help us save all of our lands and our people…"

She frowned again.

"Though if this teaches those hardheaded old timers that technology is to be recovered, not protected, then that will be the true miracle." Mark followed along, asking, "I don't want to get deep into the politics here, but I do want to leave here with allies against Okuana, and with that housebook." Mabi nodded a little as she walked, saying, "It's something like two days to your Gate Day at Dawncoast, yes?""

55 hours, according to my clock, which might be wrong, but I'm seeing we have a radio connection to the outside world, and that's still hitting 55 hours to Gate Day." Mabi carefully said, "We'll try to get you back before then, because yes, we are allies of Aluatha." … Mark moved on, asking, "So you do have internet here?"" Internet, nuclear power, the works. Nukes, too, if we should ever need them, but we truly hope we do not."

Mabi lifted her hand and her vector flexed outward, hitting some wire-like structures hidden in the bark, coiled through the undergrowth of the tree canopy below. A little drone flew down from the mists, sounding completely silent until it was only a meter away. Mabi grabbed the drone and the little props flicked into the drone, revealing a touch screen. The drone became a phone in her hands. Mabi was a technomancer, or similarly Powered. Mabi tapped at the phone, saying, "I've allowed Quark into the archives.

We've digitized them all. I doubt he will be able to keep them when he leaves, because the Blessing degrades everything when you leave. Have a look at who we are, while you can." They came to a series of elevators near the bottom of the giant tree branch. It was like standing at the foot of a mountain. The tree bark was smooth as stone, and it looked like stone, too. Quark flickered to the side of Mark's vision, like an overlay onto the stone of the tree, appearing with an itinerary.

Mark would read it later, but for the moment all he saw was that his schedule was full, if he wanted it to be. Mabi said, "Can I trouble you to Skill our recipients at sunrise? It is an important time for our people."" Have to be at noon, or in the next few hours. I got an invitation to visit Wongod at the Lightning Spires of Metrovakara at Dawn, so I'm going to see if I can tell them all to fuck off and end the main threat of Goblinhome on your people that way."

A lot of the people who accompanied Mark and Derek alongside Mabi didn't like a lot of that. Wakka asked, "You would treat with them?"" They're unkillable, as far as I know, but you can scare them off." Mark asked, "If that's an untrue statement, then tell me now." Mabi decided, "I'll have my people ready in 45 minutes." She gestured to an elevator, right as it opened, saying, "We have a nice resting space available for you to peruse our digitized archives. I'll guide you there. Thank you, Wakka. See you later."

Wakka and his friends bowed and took their leave. The elevator ride was pretty amazing, considering how it was open air and how it flowed across the outside of the big tree like a pill in a clear tube. Mark got to watch waterfalls of illuminated water from the underside, gardens whipping by, and vast open views of darkness with light just below the surface. All of that reminded Mark of something he had also seen in Kabberjaw. Mark asked Mabi, "Have you ever heard of the Light in the Dark religion?"

Mabi easily said, "We have a whole new tab on that religion in our archives, thanks to your that documentary of Endless Daihoon and your recordings of Kabberjaw. 90% of our information comes from Kabberjaw itself, actually, but we have tied it to our archives, where we could."

"… From Kabberjaw itself? Did you all come from there?" Mark was expecting a story about how the Picory fell to Daihoon from Kabberjaw. Mabi said, "We went there last month."" Oh! Uh… How was it?"" Endless Daihoon is exactly as dangerous as portrayed. 2 survived, out of a crew of 26. Dragons, you know."

"… Oh. Yeah. Dragons."" I am sure the survivors would have loved to speak to you about the experience, but they were goblinized last week."" Oh… Sorry for your loss."" Thank you." Mabi grinned.

"But things are looking up, up, up!"