22.7 The World Shifts

General Summary

Day 380

We arrive in Drognar and find it busy and bustling. There are dwarves and trolls everywhere repairing walls and moving materials.   We are recognized at the gate by a troll who seems delighted (in their troll way) to see me with family. They ask if we need to check the books and of course I do. Tira is quietly happy to see such a gesture being made for our lost and wandering people.   When we make our way to the house Bran is waiting for us, door open. And Caravel is there, so I am treated to Lyssa and Tira's shocked faces yet again. After we settle in for a little while I persuade Bran to bring me to Nina so that we can help her finish her work and bring her back to the house for the evening.   We find her at an ornate dwarven house with a guard who bids us wait while he goes to check on 'the Saint'. After an hour or so of waiting Nina emerges looking tired but happy. She explains that she has been assisting with a birth of triplets. With the storm passed she has transitioned to more regular healing magic in the city and this is some of her favourite.   We accompany her on the rest of her rounds lending strength to her magic. Her healing magic has grown richer than last I was here, more efficient than Camellia, Bran, or me. As we travel throughout the city Nina accepts silver from her wealthy patients and distributes it to the poorer ones. Sometimes this would be the difference between being able to follow her advice or not - sometimes the best she can do for them is to remind them that they need to eat poperly.   With our help she finishes many hours earlier than expected and we are able to pick up Torrick and head back to the house for dinner. When we arrive the smell of cooking is already wafting through the house - warm fresh bread and delicious rich dwarven food.   Once again I can count myself lucky to be lounging with nearly my entire family around me. Lyssa and I are nestled in an armchair together with everyone sprawled around on other furniture or leaning on cushions on the floor. Nina seems curious to see me with Lyssa and as we clarify our relationship I'm surprised to find that I don't remember precisely how long we have been together now. We might count just over 200 years since I found her on a mountaintop but how could one possibly delineate the change in our relationship. When did she become the person I look to to save me when I'm busy saving others?   Torrick and Nina tell us about plans to rebuild Drognar. Many of the smaller settlements have been completely destroyed and it will take years to rebuild it again. As much as Saint Nina is being revered for her presence in the fighting and healing Torrick has been just as critical in his management of the kingdom. He is quick to dismiss his importance but I insist on writing a ballad for him and I am quick to remind him that he won't be able to stop me even if he wants to.  

A ballad to my penmanship and spreadsheets? Sure.

  As the evening progresses I put out some feelers to Torrick about the Empire. He's immediately interested.  

You need to unite the Eastern lands.

  With Drognar, Dreamfall, Solace, and eventually Whitewater we'll have formed a united band across the mountain range between the existing Empire and the human principalities. Bran smiles and suggests a royal wedding to unite Drognar and Whitewater. Nina protests the idea of a 'royal' wedding but the two of them don't seem resistant to the idea.   And with this plan in motion the critical thing will be about networking - I might need to teach everyone else the letterbox magic and then have Haze drop off many birds to others.   With everyone present and having already broached the topic of the Imperial expansion (and having had a drink) I push us onwards to our next steps. And once again I hand Tira a book of magical intricacies, this time from the Crystal Spires full of fire magic - the same stuff that I thing pervades the trolls' home.   "I'll work on it," Tira promises. And with Kadia and Hella returning across the Barrier (as we have all agreed they must) perhaps they'll be able to learn more and work on it as well.   "She'll fail," Magdalena says, "That fire has become a thing of its own, a thing of living fire. It has changed an re-invented itself so much that the original magic will not be enough to contain it. I wonder if someone else touched that magic between then and now...when the humans touched down here,"   Killeon...and his creatures of living flame. But if it has grown past even that point then no, Tira is not ready for it. Magdalena says that I am not ready for it either.   Either oblivious or uncaring to the glares of my family, she persists.   South of the Great River, deep in the mountains we might find someone who can help. Rainbow, the greatest elemental wizard she knows. He, too, learned magic from Magdalena's teacher. She notes that I would be wise to bring a gift for him, as he is the sort of dragon who likes to hoard treasure.   As my family discusses who might go make contact with Rainbow Magdalena makes eye contact with me across the room.  

You haven't told them

  No. I hadn't. I was going to wait until Camella had sworn her oaths and we had left Drognar. I was going to wait until once again it was just our family. I was going to wait until Magdalena wasn't present, actually. I thought it would be easier to explain without her gaze on us.   In this moment I am furious like a wounded animal.   I tell them quite simply that after we've recovered Dal I will have to continue onwards to do things that only I can do. It will not work if anyone comes with me and it will not work if anyone knows the details of what I'm doing.   I see Tira and Lyssa give Magdalena the glare I had held back. In that moment I restrain them - it's not her fault. This is not her doing.   And with this finally in the open the family moves smoothly to planning, as I knew they would. This was not a conversation I was dreading because of the pain, though I can feel the dull ache in everyone, especially Lyssa. I knew they would take this and move forward just like they have with everything else I have asked. I wanted as many nights as possible before the heaviness of this conversation outweighed the pain of living in ignorance. I didn't think the balance had been reached.   So now we plan. From my seemingly neverending journal I take a torn page and lay it out on the low table at the centre of the room. It contains all of my half-formed plans for what I know they will need to accomplish while I am gone. It contains ambassadorship suggestions to Dreamfall, Drognar, Solace, Whitewater, and even the Northern Grove, Valley, and Dwarven Domain. It contains a list of hidden groves and all the stones we'd left unturned on our way through the Desolation. It contains a description of the unbound elves who I expect still exist in the East, and of Urna'low.   Bran stares at me as I do this. Lyssa leans forward.  

I will pick this up for you as I have before

  She's right. I have over-planned this because it's been so long since I've had her. I could have left her nothing but a single sentence and left with confidence.   She looks at me with such well-contained sadness and asks if she can meet me sometimes. Now that she can fly up to five days' travel in a matter of hours? I try not to let her see me glancing at Magdalena, who gives me a tiny nod, before I agree. I'll have dinner waiting for her whenever she can fly in.   The atmosphere of the evening has changed to one that, unfortunately, feels more familiar. I can feel my heartsong deep and low in my chest, ready to slip out if I don't contain it.   Bran picks up the slip of paper and looks at me, face open.  

The world shifted when you put this down. So many threads re-aligned themselves. This is something that will lead everything to what feels like a brighter path.

  He says this like I am the one who changed things. This is wrong. These plans have been in my mind for weeks but things didn't change until I told my family; the shifting is all them. I am becoming someone who sets the threads and lets others weave.   I'm not quite there yet...I have a few more strands to weave myself before I'm done.