A New Star Chapter 104 (Patreon)

Discussing Marianne’s particular…gift with others was always a bit of a chore, even our parents, who understood how powerful certain affinities could be better than most. The problem was that divination affinities were notoriously tricky and often considered unreliable, even though Marianne’s was anything but. Still, it didn’t take all that much convincing to get our father to heighten security around the estate for the coming month and whip the guard units at the estate into shape.

Having taken care of that, the next order of business was meeting the train the next day in the afternoon to meet the first two of the team members coming up to the estate. I knew that Francesca had a bit of trepidation, while Cain was eager, if he was feeling anything at all, really. The young man was still a bit brighter on the emotions, but he already gave off a bit of a stoic air, and I was secretly pretty sure he was the quietly determined sort. I wouldn’t be taking either of them into the Wilds just yet, considering there was plenty of training we needed to work on first, but it wouldn’t be too long for that. Considering Marianne’s recent warning, it was also going to be good to get some training in and preparation for something else going wrong.

“Lady Alexandra,” Francesca said when they saw me after disembarking from the train.

“Lady,” Cain said a bit belatedly. He was a bit unsure, but I knew it wasn’t from the travel; he had traveled the country a bit already, having to go to the capital to attend academy and the academy having sent them around during their four years.

“Come. We’ve much to be about,” I said, sweeping an arm in a gesture and pivoting on my heel. I heard the two muttering quietly to each other behind me, which was fine; troops often grumbled about Command’s mannerisms.

I led the two to the city gate of Umberton, though that made it sound rather grand. The place did have decent walls and a heavy slab of wood steel at each of the ingresses, but it wasn’t anything particularly special. Just some ironwood and steel and a bit of enchanting work, though it was solid. It was at that point that the two already had a question, though I waited for them to bring it up themselves.

“Lady,” Francesca began a bit hesitantly.

“Yes, Francesca,” I said calmly.

“Are we not riding? Even horses?” she asked. I turned to give her a quizzical look, seeing her exchange the same with Cain.

“Whatever do you mean?” I asked, though I understand what she was getting at. Both of them had some luggage, though it was not as much as one might expect; Francesca had a large case, a small case, and a decent backpack, while Cain had a large backpack and large case.

“I had just thought we might ride to the estate,” Francesca continued, a bit perplexed.

“The distance is not that long,” I said, just very slightly quirking my brow at her. “Unless, that is, you mean to tell me that carrying those few cases a couple miles is too much strain? We shall have to work on your physical training most intensely.”

I could see some of the light leave her eyes at that last statement, which might have cause a bit of satisfaction some years ago. There were some trainers that took a bit too perverse of a delight in their students’ suffering, but that was not me. I simply found some small amusement in my trainees’ initial distress when they realized the easy days were over for them, but even that had mostly faded with the centuries. Now, I was such an old hand that I simply analyzed their expressions and body language, already determining how hard I could push them and what we could do in the first week.

“I can carry-“ Cain began before we both glared at him. “Right, ah, never mind.”

“I appreciate the willingness to be of assistance,” I said to him calmly. “However, let us not go taking up such trivial burdens so easily. Come, we are burning daylight.”

If I were a bit younger of spirit, I would have set a rather grinding pace, but these two had already been through some decent training at the academy. I wasn’t here to break them down or really push them, not in the basics. This was, in my mind, a refinement process more than it was anything else. I was going to take these two, who had decent foundations, and build them up into real warriors and fighters that could survive just about anything while making sure whatever, or whoever, they were against didn’t have the same luxury.

We trotted up the road at a mild pace, and it was a mild pace, even for the two carrying their luggage. Cain was a very big young man, and his physical conditioning had already been better than Francesca’s, so he barely noticed the light jog and the few miles we traversed. Francesca, on the other hand, wasn’t quite as robust, but the pace was not grueling and she had barely even started to sweat at the point we reached the gates of the estate. I nodded to the guards at the front entrance, receiving nods in return, though the two continued to stand stiffly and scan the surroundings. The idea of an impending attack or some other disturbance had been taken at least somewhat seriously, and the men and women of the guard were on their best behavior.

I led the way up the drive and into the front entry, holding the door for the other two before making sure it was firmly shut, though not locked. In a state of alert, I was also going to be mindful and cautious about proper procedure and the forms. Motioning to the other two, I led the way up the stairs and down the halls of the second floor, taking them to the suites that had been prepared for them, showing them where their rooms were and telling them to wash any dust of the road off first. Once they had taken a few minutes to set their bags down and wash off, we met in the hall and I led them down to my lab, talking the while.

“Those suites are yours for now. I would not consider them permanent, as I do have some plans for the future, but expect to stay there for quite some time. If you need anything, either tell myself or the servants and it will be arranged,” I said, leading them down into the basement. “As you can see, we are heading down into the basement level right now. My alchemy lab is set up in an old room that was dedicated to the purpose when the first ones to settle here during this latest push built the manor. Ah, here we are.”

I ushered the two into my lab, seeing them look all around at everything within before focusing back on me as I spoke again. “Be careful of this place, both for the fact that the alchemy I do here is both potent and dangerous, and for the fact that I have security measures in place. This is not a meeting room or the like; you need to know where and what it is and what’s happening here to be an effective part of the team, but even as a team member, you can’t just come and go here as you like. Am I understood.”

“Yes!” the two chorused firmly. I could see them wanting to say more, which was likely to add ‘instructor’ or something to the end, which my siblings had informed me was rather common at the academy. Not all professors and instructors required it, but students got used to a slightly stricter discipline while they were there.

“Good. Now, to start, nothing particularly onerous. You traveled most of the day and that can be tiring even if you’re quite strong. I have these for you,” I said, taking a small box and handing each. Each box had four bottles within, all of them containing a dark blue liquid that had a propensity to swirl on its on, even when sat on the table and not being jostled. “These are supplementary elixirs; they will not cause any great change, nor any great disturbance to your system. Drink one now, and you can leave the bottle here, and then take the other three with you. Drink one tomorrow morning and on the two mornings after that, so put them in your bathroom or somewhere you’ll see them right when you get up.”

“Yes!” they both chorused again, acknowledging the instruction.

“Now, that’s all for today, but for tomorrow, we will have training in the morning,” I said, beginning to outline the schedule. “I normally am up at sixth bell, but let us amend that to seventh bell. Get out of bed by then, clean up or such as you have to do, and then head down to the kitchens, which I will show you in a moment. The rest of my family are a bit slower risers, so I am of the habit of taking breakfast in the kitchens before getting to work. Once we have a few more people, we will see about setting up a schedule for breakfast on days we aren’t out in the Wilds. Any questions so far?”

“When are we heading out to the Wilds?” Cain asked with some excitement coloring his voice, clearly rather eager.

“Patience, young disciple,” I said in a wizened tone, get a slight smile from Francesca but a slight frown from Cain, his confusion evident. “Ahem. We will head into the Wilds, do not fear on that account, but we need to do both training and prep work first. It will be a week, likely, though don’t have that set in stone in your mind. There are a lot of moving pieces at the estate right now, which is annoying, but we may be forced to be a bit…flexible over the next one to two months, depending on what exactly happens. I can’t really say more than that, but training and prep work first. If I find you’re at an acceptable level by the end of the week, then we’ll do a quick little jaunt into the Wilds. There are many things I need to show you, even just within a short distance of the estate, so be prepared to pay attention and learn. Anything else?”

“Is there anything you want us to take on these trips in particular? We went over the basics of camping and even discussed expeditions in our classes, and we have kits that we prepared for outings, but is there anything in specific you want?” Francesca asked. Cain nodded along, clearly both agreeing and wanting to know the same.

“As of right now? No, I don’t have anything,” I answered, shaking my head. “Whatever you have prepared will likely be more than sufficient. In point of fact, what you have prepared may even be too much, at least for our initial forays, but we’ll just have to see. Once we’ve trained and readied ourselves, just pack how you would for a camping trip to go out to a far out dungeon or such, or even for an expedition. The first trip isn’t going to be a very serious thing, and there are a few places I have that we can stash things. I won’t offer input the first time; I’d like to see what your academy training has prepared you for before we make any adjustments. Understood?”

“Yes!” they both said, though they had also taken the last for the dismissal it was.

They both quaffed their elixirs, both squinting a bit at the taste, which was not great. To be fair, and to talk myself up just a bit, it wasn’t awful, like drinking moldy socks or something, but the elixir they were currently downing did have a taste like frozen sickle berries, which were quite tart and slightly bitter, and it went down cold, even though it felt room temperature. After they had emptied their first bottles, they set them on the workbench and then left for the evening, returning to their rooms. They could contact the servants with a rune installed in the room that would send a chime to the service staff, something that I never used, but they were common in different areas in the house. My siblings often used them, though our parents did not, but that was more because our parents were almost constantly being waited on already. They always had servants about them when they were awake, thus not needing to summon more with the devices.

I finished some work that I had pending in the lab before cleaning it a bit, though I knew it was going to get rather dirty in a couple days, before heading to my own room. I had plans for at least one more medicinal bath for both the others before we headed out for the first time, which always created something of a mess, but I couldn’t let the lab get into a sloppy state just because it was in a constant state of use. I retired for the evening and did some meditation and training focus before checking in quickly with Alexandra, which was still weird to be called by the girl’s name and then talk to the actual girl in my mind, but I had mostly adapted. She was fine, though she spent more time awake and fully aware these days, watching what I was doing and what was going on around me. A good thing, too, as she had extremely keen senses and often could pick up on things I missed or that weren’t a specialty of mine. Death-related things were particularly good to have her watching over my shoulder for, and I thanked her for her help before going to bed that night.

The next day was going to be a bit of a chore, and I had made some preparation beforehand. I had some equipment prepared in the barracks, and had told the staff, both of my guests, and that more people would be eating with me so they weren’t taken by surprise. The last thing to take care of, which I did before the others were awake, was to get them keys, ones which would allow them access to certain areas, though much around the estate wasn’t locked. It was something I had complained about several times, but there wasn’t a great urgency to lock up simple stores, as others referred to them. It was a fight I had pretty much lost, so I made sure I had things locked up that I valued and left the rest alone. The estate had modern locks, by which I meant magical locks that required a magical signet to open, and most of those we used were in the form of rings, though we had thin slates, about an inch wide and three inches long, though only an eighth of an inch thick, that we used when we couldn’t or didn’t want to use a ring.

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