AA3 33 - Invite I (Patreon)

Fortunately for Verdan, both the messengers were willing to wait for a few minutes, giving him a chance to look over the messages.

The one from Sebastian was actually about Dirk. Apparently, the Keeper had located some survivors of Clan Mhorgain in the city, and Dirk and his mother were meeting them in the morning.

Apparently, Dirk had asked that Verdan attend as well, in his capacity as his Master.

The request caught Verdan a little by surprise, but it wasn’t one that he would turn down. The situation with Dirk was a little odd right now, but supporting him was as much Verdan’s duty as anything else.

Putting the scroll down, Verdan opened the next one, reading the contents with interest.

Keeper Corstan, who Verdan didn’t think he’d met, was inviting them all to visit him to discuss their stay in Glarn.

Verdan considered his reply for a few long moments before stepping out and confirming his attendance to both of the messengers.

Sebastian’s messenger nodded and shot a glance at his counterpart before setting off at a run.

“The Keeper instructed that you will be welcome anytime today. I am to remain and act as a guide for you if you wish, or I can return later if that is your preference?” The remaining messenger asked with a questioning look.

“Give us a few hours to rest, then we’ll go visit the Keeper. Feel free to pass that on to him if it will make things easier.”

“I will do so, thank you,” the young messenger nodded seriously before taking off at a quick pace, leaving Verdan to head back inside.

The others were waiting at a table in the common room for him, with the innkeeper delivering a pot of hot tea right as he arrived.

The stern-looking woman asked if they would be staying for lunch, giving Verdan a satisfied nod when he said they were.

“So, we’ve been invited to visit Keeper Corstan. Magnus, do you know much about them?”

“Not too much,” Magnus said thoughtfully. “There is only one Keeper in the Corstan family at the moment, Staran Corstan. He’s young for the role, but he was being trained for it by his father.”

“Interesting, so he became a Keeper earlier than expected?”

“His father succumbed to illness a few years ago. Each family must always have a Keeper, so he inherited the role. The Thane has taken him under his wing, though.”

“I see,” Verdan said, keeping his thoughts from his face as he shared a quick look with Kai.

They didn’t know the full situation between Sebastian and the Thane, but the fact that there was a situation was clear enough.

“Well, I’ll be attending, but I don’t mind going alone if you would prefer to rest?” Verdan looked over to Barb and Kai, who shook their heads.

“I’d feel better coming with you, Boss,” Barb said with a shake of her head. “I’m sure that nothing will happen, but it’s better to be safe.”

“Agreed, especially considering recent events,” Kai said, giving Verdan a knowing look.

Neither Barb nor Magnus knew about the poisoning yet. Verdan intended to let Barb know before they left, but Magnus was another matter.

Magnus seemed like a decent person, but fundamentally, he wasn’t part of their group. He served Sebastian first, and it wouldn’t do for them to forget that.

“Would you like me to come with you?” Magnus asked, breaking Verdan from his thoughts. 

“Keeper Macstan asked me to make sure you had all the assistance you needed.”

“Would there be any issue with you being from a different family?” Verdan asked, tempted by the offer.

“No, we’re all part of the same Clan, after all.”

Verdan doubted that things would be as simple as Magnus seemed to think, but thankfully, they were interrupted by the innkeeper returning with their lunch.

After giving it some thought, Verdan agreed that Magnus would come with them. In the end, he couldn’t plan around political issues he didn’t know anything about.

-**-

Once lunch was over, Verdan and Kai decided to attempt the meditation practice they’d discussed earlier.

Fortunately, Barb volunteered to wait downstairs and come fetch them when the messenger returned, which let them give their efforts all their focus.

Verdan’s plan had changed slightly since he’d first discussed it with Kai. Simply conjuring an air spell for his friend would do little to improve  Verdan’s own abilities, after all.

“So, how do you want to do this?” Kai asked once they were back in Verdan’s room.

“First of all, let’s try the word. Aer.”

Kai’s brow furrowed as he cocked his head slightly as though listening to something far in the distance. “I felt that, though only faintly like you said.”

“What about this? Challyn Aer.” Verdan focused on a single piece of the air around them, infusing it with his Will and enough Aether to give it substance.

The result was a small orb of dense air that hovered over them, the air within swirling in an oddly hypnotic pattern.

“Yes, I felt it as you cast the spell,” Kai said with a slight nod as he studied the orb. “It was the same as the time before.”

“What about when it was ongoing?”

“No, it seems to be only the Words themselves.”

“A shame. I could have kept this going for you,” Verdan said, reluctantly releasing the spell that had animated the orb. “Perhaps if I simply cast the spell on a regular basis?”

“That would be more than sufficient,” Kai said, settling down into his meditative posture.

“Well, let’s get to it then,” Verdan said, taking up a comfortable position of his own before shifting his control of his gathering spiral to the forefront.

Verdan had come a long way in the last year; he was onto his sixteenth spiral now, almost halfway back to where he’d been during the war.

Each new layer got progressively harder, but his years of experience meant that each layer was being made exactly how he wanted. No need to go back and compress it down to fit a new one in.

“Aer,” Verdan muttered, causing a weak breeze to flit past them. It was difficult to split his attention between casting and actively working on his spiral.

A smile spread across Verdan’s face as he found himself struggling to manage both at once. He hadn’t been pushed like this for a while.

A single casting every few minutes was easy. He could simply pause, cast, and then resume his work.

There was no challenge doing it that way, though.

Verdan was sweating lightly from the effort of managing both when a knock came at the door, with Barb announcing that the messenger had returned.

Carefully shifting control of the spiral back to the partitioned part of his mind, Verdan opened his eyes and raised a brow in Kai’s direction. “So, how was that?”

“Productive,” Kai said, the corner of his mouth curling into a slight smile as he rose smoothly to his feet. “I’d like to do that again, but with fire, assuming it was worthwhile for you?”

“It was interesting,” Verdan said, rubbing his temples where a nascent headache was forming. 

“We’ve still got some time before we leave to help deal with the Darjee, after all. Perhaps tonight, once we return from this meeting?”

Kai nodded, grabbing his spear from where it was propped up in the corner and stepping out of the room, leaving Verdan alone with his growing headache.

Trying to control his Aether and move it in the way he wanted while also casting a spell had made that exercise a true challenge for Verdan. The headache was similar to what would occur with Aetherburn, which meant this was working his Aether control.

Verdan considered the benefits of the whole thing as a training exercise and whether it was worth it as he grabbed his staff and made his way downstairs.

Wizards were trained to be efficient with their Aether, to use only as much as necessary for the spell. To deliberately cast a pointless spell went against all of that, but at least it was helping Kai.

Verdan shook his head, knowing full well that he would be using the same technique again, even with the cost in Aether. In the end, he didn’t have anything else to challenge or push his Aether control to the same degree, so it was worth the cost.

Verdan already felt the itch in his fingers to get some paper and start planning out how he would build off of this discovery, but now wasn’t the time.

“Verdan?” Kai’s voice brought Verdan’s attention back to the inn’s common room, where the others were waiting.

“Right, we’ve got a meeting to get to,” Verdan said, rubbing his face before clamping down on his thoughts and making sure he was giving the current situation his full attention.

Verdan signalled to the messenger that they were ready, his companions falling in beside him as they followed the young Kranjir out into the city.