His new schedule had barely been established when the third daughter returned. Volithur found himself summoned to et with her in the room where the family council usually t. Master Zara sat between the Castellan and the Marshal, both of whom were standing. She began to speak without even looking up from the papers in front of her.
“Harridan, I regret to inform you that your wardship has been terminated. This does not reflect poorly upon you. Rather it is a matter of all wards being released. Sadly, I have further bad news that is particular to you. Aramar gave you a poor grade when he conducted your examination and you are no longer being considered for a spot in my father’s retinue. You will be given the choice of how to serve at the Fifth Household….”
Volithur had been working hard to keep his features smooth the entire ti she spoke. He had felt incredible relief to know he would not need to fear going to war and witnessing the slaughter of normal people. He had also felt incredible concern over where he might be sleeping that night if he was kicked out of the palace. All of that fell away as he noticed that the third daughter was staring at him with quite a bit of hostility.
“How many resources did you waste on this ward?”
The Castellan shot Volithur a look of concern, no doubt regretting his efforts to be extra helpful. The Marshal had frozen. Volithur cleared his throat and bowed. “If I may speak, Master Zara?”
“Please do.”
Volithur reached out to chaos. “I gained an insight from the Lord General.”
Her anger turned into confusion as she studied his display. “That is certainly sothing. You claim to have learned this from my father?”
“When I saw him travel after my wedding ceremony, Master Zara.”
Her confusion grew greater. “You think… child, this is nothing like what my father does. The insight of the Lord General is one of chaotic ergence into spatial grounding. Your feat is at best tangentially related. You aren’t drawing space from chaos, you’re collapsing chaos into cosmic energy. I have never heard of such a thing being done.”
The Castellan gave a nod of silent thanks to Volithur.
“I don’t know what to say, Master Zara. I thought I had copied the Lord General. But you obviously know better than .”
She sat back in her chair and tapped her lips with one finger. “I was going to give you the option of serving as a soldier of the Household or of the city. However, given your talents, I have an alternative in mind. Would you like to apprentice under as a porter, Harridan?”
It did not seem like he was actually being given a choice. “That sounds good, Master Zara.”
Zara laughed. “Do you even know what a porter is?”
“I do not, Master Zara.”
“The Shaocheth family plays at war when it isn’t busy being idle. None of that pays the bills. I run comrcial transportation operations for the family on behalf of my father. None of us have the insight that allows the Lord General to create his signature massive transit sphere, but there are a number of employees who transport things from place to place. We make quite a bit of money from moving resources around, delivering mail, and ferrying individuals.”
Volithur blinked a couple of tis. “You an I could learn how to move between worlds?”
“Would you want to train under ? It might not seem quite so exciting as stabbing a spear into a Jinn heart, but it is a critical role. You would be brought to live on Tian and paid quite well for your services.”
The offer would open up every door for his future. Khana would get to Tian, where she would be able to eventually make level six with just a little effort. The pace of his body enhancent would accelerate drastically. He would gain wealth. He would be free from the war effort. And though he wondered at his sanity for even thinking such a thing, he knew that the ability to travel between worlds would give him the opportunity to seek out the enemies of the Xian.
“I accept.”
“You and your wife should pack your bags. We leave this evening, Apprentice Harridan.”
Volithur raced off to find Khana. There were many areas of the palace that he avoided due to his inferior status, and the lounge was towards the top of that list. He had only glanced into the cavernous room once in passing. The atmosphere inside had looked unbelievably stuffy, with the more senior mbers of the family holding court in various corners as their fawning sycophants fed their egos.
Today, he marched inside that room, rendered fearless by the fact that he had less than a full day remaining in the Fifth Household. mories of his ti on this world fluttered through his mind as he passed by the snide faces of well-dressed layabouts in the middle of card gas, reading novels, or gossiping. They eyed him with clear disapproval, but no one said anything. In fact, silence fell in his wake.
Volithur didn’t stop until he stood before his wife, whose eyes darted about to take in the mood of her betters. Her small circle of friends sharing a couch with her looked like they were trying to disappear into the cushions. He decided in that mont that he would share his news publicly. It would be a sha if the mbers of the family didn’t get to hear of his elevation in status directly from him.
“Khana, we need to pack our bags. The third daughter is moving us to Tian when she departs this evening. Because the Jinn have withdrawn from conflict, she was able to offer a role with comrcial transportation operations. I will be apprenticed directly to Master Zara.”
The mortification on Khana’s face passed as her eyes grew wide. “We’re going to Tian? Today? Fortunate fate, this is good news!”
He smiled at her. “Do you rember, just a few weeks ago, saying that I might get more good news soon? It looks like you were right.”
Khana seized his hands as she smiled up at him. “That wasn’t the good news I predicted. It is considered bad luck to speak too soon about such things, but seeing how our fortunes rise, now must be the right ti. I am pregnant with your child, husband.”
It took a few heartbeats for the news to penetrate his mind. Then Volithur began to laugh. He threw his arms around his wife and lifted her up to spin in a circle. She giggled at his excitent and held on tight. “We’re having a baby!”
“Who shall be born on Tian,” she added.
They slowly beca aware of the eyes on them and separated. After an awkward mont, they excused themselves from the lounge and ran back to their room. Rather than imdiately packing, they fell into the bed to use it one final ti.
That important task handled, they threw together a few changes of clothing before asking a servant to box them up. Then they separated to say their goodbyes. Khana wanted to spend so ti with her uncle while Volithur had a couple of people he wanted to share his news with.
His first stop was in the city. Because of the overcast weather, he was fortunate enough to find his old friend Thassily at the distillery. The large boy had beco an obese man with the rosy complexion and saggy jawline of an alcohol. His dour appearance brightened upon Volithur’s entrance. “Harridan! I see the nobles haven’t strung you up yet. Good for you.”
“Hey, Thassily. I wanted to co by and see you one last ti.”
“One last ti? What is that talk about? Did you actually get brought in to the Lord General’s retinue?”
“No, that plot fell through,” he laughed. “I’m going to work for the third daughter as a porter instead. It gets to Tian without having to be a soldier.”
“Good. I’d hate to think you were going to spend your days killing innocents.” Thassily poured rum from a mini barrel into two mugs until they overran and pushed one towards Volithur. “Drink up, friend. Alcohol is the secret to happiness.”
Volithur accepted the mug and took a sip. He was able to easily hide his dislike due to his training with the uncut spirits. Nevertheless, he could not help but notice that the quality of beverage made by his friend had drastically declined. “How is your wife and child?”
“They’re loud and obnoxious, as usual. How about your wife?”
“Khana is pregnant.”
“Well, you can say goodbye to her figure. Still, it’s nice to have family again. Better than being alone in the world.” Thassily gulped down his rum and refilled the mug. “Anyway, we got to make the best of things. Our old lives were destroyed. Just got to make do.”
Volithur soon made an excuse that he needed to be back in ti to travel and left. In truth, he had plenty of ti remaining but could not bear to see what his friend had transford into. Bitterness over his losses had thoroughly consud any joy Thassily could ever hope to achieve. He was a broken man and his demons infected everything he sought to build for himself.
Back on the estate, he t with the Sergeant next. The man pulled him into a tight embrace and smacked his back so heartily that soone without body enhancent would have bruised. “Well done, Master Harridan!”
“I think it’s ‘Apprentice Harridan’ now,” he quipped.
“Apprentice to a level nine daughter of the Lord General. She’s the eldest surviving child, you know. Master Zara was born long before he was a lord. Even before he had much wealth. She took over his transportation business and grew it into a world class operation. A lot of people think the Lord General would never have been able to reach his current status if not for the efforts of Zara Shaocheth.”
“And she’s always been nice to the soldiers,” Volithur said.
The Sergeant shrugged. “She faithfully executes the will of her father. That used to an taking care of the soldiers. It sounds like that might not be the case for much longer. She certainly didn’t bring good news for us.”
“Is everything going to be all right, Sergeant?”
“Our resources have decreased sowhat. We’re being asked to retire anyone over the age of sixty. Overall, these aren’t good signs. I’m sure I will be fine. It will be sad if I have to let go so of the boys without any family. They’ll be on the streets. Or worse, turn into brigands and be hunted down by their forr comrades. None of that is your concern, though. Go make us all proud. You just might be a lord yourself one day.”
“I could only hope,” he said.
The Marshal was preoccupied with the third daughter, so Volithur only got to say his final goodbye when Master Zara appeared to take them away. The two of them clasped hands briefly and shared a asured look. Then they walked outside and moved to the very edge of the grounds.
Master Zara turned to Volithur. “Pay close attention. This will be your first lesson on forming a transit sphere.”
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