Chương 12: The Encounter

Magister Nukhail did not know that I was building a direct-current electrical generator. And Professor Quethron did not understand the significance of it. But as soon as he saw human-generated electricity he was hooked. It was easy to talk him into making several variations. And then, I took one of those and left with it while he was distracted. I doubt he even noticed. The generator I wanted was wind-powered, with scaled-down windmill blades, and a magnet turning inside a coil, and an air-gap to show sparks.

We had much better gearing and machining now, anything more than a light breeze would get us at least a small visible buzz. Nathan had been keeping up. He knew about both of my projects, and he saw how I was bringing them together. He helped me build a protective housing for the generator to keep it safe from the weather, and then mount it on the windowsill outside our room. This was a long-term investment- it was taking me weeks to develop my affinity for fire essence.

I had a lit candle in my room overnight, a primitive one made from beeswax and jute, rather than a scrivener's glyphs. I spent all night with a lit flame inside of my untethered essence, and I was only up to 31%. Magister Nukhail suggested that it might be because I just don't have a lot of innate compatibility. Basically, that my personality isn't "fire-like" enough for me to grasp fire easily. It's true that I don't pop off very easily, but still, that's kind of hurtful.

Anyway, we were heading into winter-time now, and Nathan and I were getting ready for a more casual social engagement. Not a full party this time. We do have social lives other than birthday parties, major festivals, state dinners and political haggling. This was just a sort of a housewarming.

So, House Bawnoth has recently had what we euphemistically call "a reduction in circumstance", which means that the bungling of their house's patriarch has gotten bad enough that the liege, my father, had to demote the whole clan. It's an extreme measure and reserved for extreme circumstances. I'll not embarrass the Bawnoth name by elaborating. But, Bawnoth was hosting and fostering a child from Lecight, for diplomatic reasons.

And the terms of that fosterage required a certain level of rank for the child's maintenance. And so that's why she was being transferred from that house to Vuryta house. It's even more complicated than it sounds. But this is all why Curigi Ghant was moving into the home of one of Harigold's cadet branches, and why we were dropping by to make our introductions, reassure her to our house's continued wishes to maintain ties with her homeland, and offer a proverbial casserole.

I was holding in a smirk the whole time, because I know that Curigi Ghant is one of the game's love interests. She was revealed in the course of the dating sim to have been Nathan's first childhood crush. And we're meeting her today. Nathan knows something's up, he's caught me glancing too many times. He's not sure if there's some kind of prank I'm planning to pull, or if I've got future knowledge I'm not revealing.

Apparently, my I-know-something-you-don't- know smirk is the same either way, so I can at least keep some of my secrets. Not many though, he's gotten really good at learning anything he chooses to find out about- of course he's a really good spy, even before he's even a teenager. I wanted to bring one of my handheld generators with me. Maybe I could get some more practice in, on the road. After all, we've passed the point of bringing tutors with us when we go calling on other provinces. It's just too much.

They just assign me some reading, hand me the books, and enjoy their mini-vacation while their only pupil is unavailable. Most of my books are loaded into my baggage on the carriage, but I've got a nice paperback-sized dissertation on Ptaydun's architectural styles because apparently I have to be intimately knowledgeable about everything and not just a world-changing expert in math, science, sorcery, team sports, fashion, music, and witty repartee.

Funny thing, the book was actually interesting enough that I didn't notice Nathan until he walked right up to me. I was leaning against a marble balustrade of the stairs, wearing a simple chemise and kirtle, and a traveling cloak bundled over my arm. It gets cold this time of year, even inside of a carriage. He stopped in front of me, and clicked his heels.

"Well?" he demanded. I looked up, and assessed his fit.

"Sufficient," I said, nodding. He had wanted to dress down, and prioritize convenience. I have made him change twice to make sure he looks his best. The contrast against my who-cares look is sharp. And deliberate. I closed the book and dropped it into the pocket of my cloak, and offered him my arm to walk me down the stairs. I still had my smirk, and he was still trying to piece it out. Was I making him dress fancy as a setup for a prank? Or to satisfy some point of my future knowledge? Or both?

He could not be sure. I do indulge a practical joke just often enough that it was feasible, but not likely. My smirk had put him on edge, making him change had escalated things. This was, of course, a tactical error on my part. At the bottom of the stairs, Their Graces were standing impatiently while all the footmen and drivers were already out in front. Waiting on us. Mother rolled her eyes.

"Dressed up so? Nathan you're-" she started to say something about him being too dressed up, but I caught her eye and shook my head, just enough for her to see. Nathan almost caught it in his periphery, and he turned to me with suspicion, but I graced him with innocent eyes. Mother cleared her throat.

"Well, it's time we were on the road. Sandwiches are packed, we take lunch on the road." The cloak swirled around me as I tucked myself inside it and pulled the hood up. It was extremely thick wool with rabbit-fur trim around the hood. Rabbit fur was popular in Meadowtam, our farmers were constantly at war with the long-eared varmints. When the wind hit me I leaned into the cloak and hustled down the last few stairs and flung myself up into the coach. Mother was next, then Nathan, then Father.

For once, no valets or tutors in this carriage, it was just the family. We had a wagon guard on horseback riding point, drag and flank, we had footmen on the jump seats, drivers and hostlers in the bench, and that was it. For this family, that's considered traveling light. In my first life, we would pack less gear and put less effort into traveling halfway across the country for a wedding.

The traces tapped on the horses' flanks and they leaned into a trot at first, warming up their own muscles, and the driver let them have their rein. As soon as we were on the move, I spent mana to warm up the air in our coach.

"Oh, thank you sister," Nathan said, stripping out of his overcoat, which was now colder than either he or the carriage. I set aside my cloak, and Their Graces also divested. My mother unwound the ribbon binding her hat on, set it on the overhead rack, and patted her hair.

"That really is a very handy tool you have there," she said.

"Does it tire you?"

"Not as you'd think of it," I said.

"Using sorcery does not tax my stamina as running or carrying would, but it does require a resource that is expended in use, and replenished in rest. However, once I've begun a specific use, I can do rather a lot without further expenditure. Starting has a cost, but after that doing more is free."

"And the other limitation is in what materials you can affect?" she prompted me.

"Quite. And I'll likely spend the rest of my life working to expand the list. Paper, leather, ice, fire, various dyes, soap, sisal.. not to mention animals." Father paused, stretching out his legs.

"Fire? I understood that was one of the easiest to learn, being a basic element." I blushed, annoyed and embarrassed.

"Well, some things are harder for me than others," I admitted.

"Speaking of," Nathan said, as he unlimbered the lap desk.

"Regarding your calligraphy." Teasing him was a tactical error. I recognized my mistake only too late. My hubris would cost me greatly this day. Arriving was hectic. We had our cloaks and coats and hurried to the house with all seemly haste, and were well-received by the distant cousins, the Vuryta family.

Immediately we were whisked over to the great-room where about a dozen smaller kids were zooming around and horse-playing, and when we arrived all of these cabin-fever-riddled monsters started clamoring for our attention. I gave up on names, everyone was "Hoss" for the day. Nathan somehow already knew their names and their birthdays.

"Okay, I have to know," I said while all the hosses were scrambling to get ready for dinner.

"How do you know them all? Every member of every allied house, every cadet house. It's like you're plugged right into this whole family. You must know hundreds of names!"

"Certainly hundreds," he agreed.

"My tutor. Civics classes? Are you not being taught the genealogies and relations?"

"No, mostly treaties and government structure." He tugged at his chin.

"Hmm. If I may speculate?"

"You speculate, I'll spectate."

"I believe perhaps my tutor is grooming me as the keystone for the Harigold House, investing me in our extended relations and family businesses. Yours may be preparing you for, pardon me, a life abroad." Well that was a chilly thought.

"Married away. Possibly to secure an alliance."

"Often the case with second-born children of powerful families," he reminded me.

"I'm sure your tutors have taught you that." I chuckled, and checked my sleeve cuffs.

"I'm ten, Nathan. I'm still convinced that I'm going to grow up to a life of adventure and travel, with a hundred cats, and possibly riding a dragon sometimes." He patted my shoulder.

"I'll put out the call to find a suitable dragon. In the meantime, House Harigold would really benefit from some more close alliances. Father is marrying our cousins off as fast as he can, but cousins of a duke are a poor currency compared to a daughter. Not that any of this is going to matter for another ten years." It is considered bad form to start formally courting or seeing suitors before the age of fifteen. And from there, it is expected that one will accept bids and wooing for a time.

And that time depended largely on station. For a lord, at least a couple months. For a baron, a year. A count or marquis, two years. An earl, four years. And as the children of a duke, neither Nathan or I am expected to formalize an engagement until we were at least nineteen, and not to actually marry until we are twenty.

It's a weird cultural tradition, but the game designers wanted to have an in-world reason for Nathan's gameplay to last five years, from joining the Academy at fifteen to marrying his true love, whoever that is, at twenty. Things get a little stilted in some places because of the needs of the game. Cultural hangups, all the pageantry, the emphasis on romance but the paradoxical need for chastity and chaperones... all so that this one guy can have a properly dramatic road to the wedding.

And don't get me started on the heteronormativity. I say let the freak flags fly, but apparently that was not the market that these guys were pushing towards. But, I'm off-topic. We were standing there in a half-serious conversation when the library doors opened and Curigi walked in. Nathan was smitten instantly. I think she was walking in slow-motion for him. Soft-focus, saxophone music, mysterious flower petals.

She pulled the doors shut behind her, and I was already halfway across the room, watching them with my hands tucked behind me. I did not want to miss a thing. I tugged on my mana, and called the essence of owls to me. They have phenomenal hearing, and I wanted to borrow it. This was not a transformation, that's the opposite end of the spectrum. Rather than exchanging myself for an owl, I just accessed the nature of owl-being and borrowed a couple of features.

In this case, phenomenal hearing and unobtrusive silence.

"G- good evening. I am Nathan Astoniel Renault Harigold, firstborn son of Duke Harigold of Meadowtam," he said, and I saw him consciously remind himself to blink.

"To whom do I have the honor?.."

"Curigi Crow Vuryta Ghat, my lord," she said, and dipped a curtsy. He bowed quickly back, and took the time to do it right. She had the advantage here. Even with a cursory bow, the man drops his eyes. With a good bow, arm folded at the waist, he takes his eyes completely to the floor for a few seconds. A curtsy dips in place, and she keeps her head up. It's all rooted in traditions and the transition from battlefield chivalry to common-dress chivalry.

But, the effect of this is that he presents himself in motion, and she gets a chance to look him over while he's not watching. Curigi knew to make the most of the opportunity. She blushed a little too. My brother's handsome, after all. She's not slouch either. The lightest gray hair, just a little cool-toned. Her skin was tanned, only slightly less than Nathan's own, more like our mother's. Her eyes were deep brown, chocolate or tanzanite.

She had a well-shaped face and the fall of her hair accentuated it nicely, with a slight upturn of her nose and cupid's-bow lips. She gets his heart racing now, but give it a few years and she's a knockout.

"My family has come here, to make sure you're settled in comfortably," Nathan said. He was stunned like a fish and falling back on trained formality. It's a good thing someone thought to make him dress up nicely.

"Oh everyone has been most hospitable," she said, and for the first time I picked up her accent. A little musical, especially in the polysyllables.

"It is difficult to be so very far from home, and at first I was worried. Where I was, was inside Hearstwhile but not so very far from Lecight. The politics have moved me to an equivalent station here at Vuryta, which is much more the interior of this nation, so I feel many more miles from home." Nathan was enchanted, and starting to come back to himself.

"Ah, I understand, that is a terrible burden. If your family is anything like mine, they mean everything to you. I've been lucky so far that my duty to my family has never yet taken me away from them."

"Exactly! To do as my family needs, is to deprive myself of their presence!" she threw her hands up helplessly, and I don't think she was aware that she had taken a step towards him, or him towards her. It was so sweet. He was going to relive this a hundred times, but I already know they're not going to kiss. The cousins came flooding back in with a hundred questions and some kind of controversy about where is the best place for their cat to have her kittens.

The mood was broken, and there was nothing to do but damage control until dinner was announced. There was not room for Vuryta's three small children, their five neighboring friends, and four additional toddlers that belonged to the other guests of the house, so all the Hosses got shuffled off to eat in the kitchen while Nathan, Curigi and I mercifully got to eat with the adults.

Lord and Lady Vuryta, and my family, plus the Dowager Yent and her nine-year-old son, the sheriff Runder Calfing and his gawky teenage daughter, plus a merchant named Lowyer accompanying his niece. The Yent boy was more interested in potatoes than in conversation or noticing anyone here, Calfing's daughter was clearly hating every moment of this experience and was projecting 'don't make me participate' vibes in the strongest way. Lowyer's niece was extremely pretty, and dressed up just as much as Nathan was.

Pale skin and saffron hair, she was positively radiant. Nathan did not notice. Without eavesdropping I could still pick up enough to see how quickly he and Curigi connected, how much they had in common. Her home life was much like ours in spirit, but with a hundred exotic differences that clearly intrigued Nathan. His mind was hungry for the experiences of people far away, he wanted to know the whole world, and Curigi represented a window he did not know that he needed.

Mother and Father noticed right away and I could see their approval, and they engaged the adults in a conversation to free up room for those two to chat. With the grown folks discussing the results of a horse race from before any of us were born, the younger folk were free to chat amongst themselves. In the case of Yent, free to pursue more mashed potatoes. Calfing's niece just sat quietly and stared at her plate, glad that nobody was talking to her. I started chatting with Lowyer's niece, Lere.

She was well-spoken, well-read, and very talented in music, lettering and cross-stitch. She was funny, modest, and extremely well-briefed on all subjects regarding my brother. Someone had spent years molding this girl Lere Lowyer into an arrow for my brother's heart, only to find that he was already smitten with a very earnest foreigner. Their mistake, they should have made her less well-prepared; if there's anything my brother can't resist, it's someone who needs help and a friend.

Okay, when i say "whoever sent her", what I mean is "Kralcit and her cronies", one of the first leading edges of the conspiracy against my family. She's going to make a return years from now, still acting on behalf of the conspirators. Because Nathan just had to pick the spy run. The dinner itself was lovely, and I want to make clear that Lady Vuryta's staff did a wonderful job. Those potatoes were worth the obsession that the Yent boy put into them.

I never did figure out the secret behind them, but my senses suspect that suet was involved somehow. The main dish was a venison chili, wonderful for the season. The fava beans came from a winter harvest and were very fresh, the tomatoes had been stewed before they were canned and had integrated the seasoning perfectly. Game meat like venison was a staple in winter months, and a fine-grind chili meat took the toughness out and left all the flavor and savor.

Fresh-picked garlic and leeks added some top zing, but chili also likes a fatty bass note and we got that by stirring in shavings of a hard white cheese made locally. I made sure to give effusive, and detailed, compliments to the chef, and the staff. After dinner the grown-ups retired for a postprandial relaxation in the parlor, Nathan and Curigi went to sit on the landing of the stairs to talk closely while in plain sight of everyone, and the other two kids got grabbed by the Hosses and dragged off to some game.

I sat with Lere for a bit, just this and that. As it got more obvious that she had no chance with Nathan, she started to relax a bit more and turned out to be pleasant company. Such a shame she was going to try to poison my brother while he's recovering from his wounds in Bether. When that thought hit me, I could feel my whole mood drop. This was the same girl. She was going to hurt people close to me. She was charming and likable, and none of what was going to happen was really her fault...

but the things I know make me need to hate her. Curigi definitely felt welcomed and appreciated by the time we climbed back up into the carriage. As soon as the door closed and the horses were in motion, I saw my father staring at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes, warmed up the air, and he reached over to headpat me before we all settled back, enjoying some peace, quiet, and companionable restful silence. In the night, I slowly overflowed my body and billowed out to fill the carriage.

I held myself inside the wooden walls so that the whipping winds outside would not pull at me. I enwrapped all four of us. Each gem and jewel on my parents was a new shape and taste for me to sample, slowly learning my way through ruby and quartz. I was still having trouble with leather and wool, apparently I've got much more compatibility for minerals than plants and animals. I was reeling dreams and memories together when the footmen above started talking, worried.

"What's that?"

"Shouldn't be anyone out here-""I don't like the looks of it." And then a clack-wsssht-thunk and a scream. We were under attack.