Millennial Mage

Tala licked her fingers clean of the last of the massive spread of food that Mistress Odera had brought for her.

Even so, Tala really hadn’t registered what any of it was. She could have brought me food that was little better than scraps, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.

No, that wasn’t fair. In her memory, the food had been good, but Tala hadn’t taken the time to savor it as she ate.

Tala’s stomach gurgled. “Seriously?” She looked down at her own abdomen.

Mistress Odera smiled. “We should go get some lunch.” She’d stopped eating hours earlier. “I also believe that I’ve kept you from your normal morning routine?”

Tala waved her off. “You’ve helped me talk through a lot of different things.” A smile pulled up at the corner of her mouth. “And you brought food.”

Mistress Odera nodded. “I’m glad it’s been of use.” After a moment’s pause, she continued. “Please don’t see this conversation as a solution or a fix.”

Tala nodded in turn. “So you’ve said. Talking through how I’m feeling and how I perceive things is just a start.”

“Good. Shall we?”

Terry flickered into being on her shoulder, before regarding the empty plates on the table between the two women. He let out a disgruntled squawk and eyed Tala.

She laughed and tossed a much bigger than standard hunk of jerky. “We’re going to get lunch. Shall we get you something, there, too?”

Terry was already happily enjoying his jerky. He bobbed a nod, then settled down into his customary resting place on her shoulder.

“I’m ready.”

They stood and Mistress Odera swept the table clear of dishes, putting everything into a slim pack that almost hid against her back, when worn.

Tala hadn’t seen it before today. But I suppose I’ve only seen her at a restaurant in her home city and on the road, when she had a room for her use.

It was a storage item in the artifact style. If what Tala interpreted was correct, the space contained was easily four or five times what Kit had, within. That’s a valuable item.

The three came out of the cargo-slot into the bustling work-yard. The workers gave them passing glances, but they were, for the most part, ignored.

“Do you know anywhere good to eat? I wasn’t impressed with the food from that little side street…”

Mistress Odera nodded. “That was closer to a quick stop-through for local workers than a place to get good food.” She thought for a moment, then shrugged. “That said, such places are often some of the best food you can find. But that isn’t what you asked: I know of a couple of excellent places in the upper tiers. Shall we?”

Tala nodded, and they strode off, turning to the south of the eastern gate this time. Mistress Odera said that the establishment they were going to was just off of the 4 o’clock spiral.

They talked about small things as they moved up the new path. This road had a green and yellow theme, designating it for easy identification from the main floor, below.

The buildings were much the same as those they’d seen on the two o’clock spiral, and as such, nothing really caught Tala’s attention. Even the green and yellow inner railing faded from notice after a short climb.

After a time, having made almost a full circuit of the city, they approached the top of this first tier and continued into that ceiling. The road remained largely unchanged, save the inner railing being replaced by a wall.

The lighting was still good, and there were still storefronts and side streets branching off, towards the outside of the tree.

I wonder if this is more, or less, valuable space? There’s nothing to distract potential customers from the shops, here, but they aren’t really visible from anywhere else.

After less than a hundred yards, the top of the road began to open once more, letting in more light from the second tier. Shortly after, they came up, level to that tier’s floor, and Tala stopped, eyes wide.

The center of the tree, here, seemed to have been turned into a vast parkland. The ceiling was, again, close to one hundred feet up. Though, magical lights and effects made it difficult to notice that it wasn’t open, cloudless sky.

Gently rolling, well cared for turf filled much of the space. Small, white flowers sprinkled the ground near and far. Is this all covered with clover? She didn’t know enough to decide if that was good or not.

Several stands of trees were artfully scattered around the space, along with several delineated spaces of flatter ground, further divided by lines or a change in makeup. Sports areas?

Growing up in Marliweather, she’d seen a few of those, but they weren’t that common. A benefit of a more static population, I suppose? The population in Marliweather, and most cities, was steadily declining, overall, while Makinaven’s would be rather static for the majority of its existence.

There was a scattering of food vendors at a few points throughout the massive park, and they seemed to be doing a brisk business with those who were enjoying the space.

Mistress Odera had paused beside Tala, and she spoke up, while the younger woman continued to examine the communal space. “We can get food, here, if you desire.”

“Maybe another day. I’d like to try wherever you’re taking us.”

“As you say.” They began walking again.

“Do you know the usage rules of the park?”

“They are free for public use.”

“Do you think they’d mind if I used one of the sand courts for sparring?” I hate sand…It’s coarse, and rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere. She’d prefer the green-covered areas, but she didn’t want to ruin the vegetation.

“That should be allowed.” Something about Mistress Odera’s tone implied hesitation, however.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’d be concerned specifically about you sparring with Terry in such a public space. In the worst case, it could cause a panic, if people thought he was a wild creature who had somehow penetrated the defenses.”

“Yeah… that probably wouldn’t be good.” Tala frowned. “Any ideas on how to mitigate that?”

“Well, you could have Rane or a few city guards observe. Then, if anyone saw you, they’d see the armed men and women around you, casually watching. It wouldn’t be a perfect solution, but it could work.”

“I’ll bet the Guards Guild has training spaces anyways. I’ll just drop through there and ask.”

“That could work, too.”

They fell into silence as they walked the perimeter of the second tier, slowly climbing upwards. Both women had their attention focused inward, towards the park and the tamed nature it represented. I wonder what the world would be like if all nature were so tamed.

The buildings set into the outside of the road in this second tier seemed to be a bit bigger, but not by too much. There were also many, many more that looked like residences or complexes of such.

How far are we walking? She thought about it for a moment. The interior is roughly seven hundred feet across, and we’re circumnavigating it. Adding some variability because it isn’t a perfect circle, and we are climbing rather than walking a flat perimeter, each loop is just about a half mile. Huh, that was somehow much shorter than she’d expected. It also meant that with the interior of each tier being about a hundred feet high, and with close to twenty feet between tiers, the slope was about 4.5%. Not bad, Tala.

Sadly, that didn’t actually answer her question.

“Mistress Odera?”

“Hmm?”

“What tier are we going to?” They were just about halfway through the tunnel from the top of the second to the base of the third tier.

“Oh, the restaurant I was thinking of is on a limb that we can reach from the base of the fifth tier.”

Ok, so just about five hundred feet up, and two miles of walking. “Oh, ok.” Just over a mile left.

“Is something the matter?”

Tala glanced towards her bare feet. The ground, here, is surprisingly comfortable to walk on. “Well, I was curious how far we were going to be walking.”

“It’s just about three quarters of an hour from here. Do you need us to grab something on the way? I assumed that a little walk wouldn’t be too much.” She gave Tala an inquiring look.

“No, I’ll be fine. I just wanted to know what to expect.”

“Fair enough.” Mistress Odera gave Tala a mischievous smile. “You know; we could run.” She then glanced to Terry. “Or master Terry could consent to carry us…?”

Terry opened his eyes and looked to Mistress Odera. He then glanced to Tala.

“Do you want to? We could get to food faster.”

Terry huffed, rolling his eyes, but before Tala could comment further, he appeared between then, bumping them both away with his increased dimensionality.

As he settled down on the ground to allow them to mount up, Tala took in his size. More massive than a horse, to better carry us both?

“I think I should be in front; your arms are longer than mine.”

Tala took a moment to look at Mistress Odera. Huh, she is shorter than me. I never really noticed that…somehow. “Sure.”

Mistress Odera looked almost regal as she settled down right behind Terry’s neck.

Several other pedestrians gave them odd looks or muttered under their breath about people with mounts in the walking lane.

Tala quickly settled right behind Mistress Odera, and Terry stood up. Tala just managed to grab onto the enlarged collar before he moved, her arms on either side of the older woman.

“Alright. Let’s go-”

Terry crouched low and shot up the ramp. Each stride took him tens of feet as he bounded higher in Makinaven, along the road. He wove around the slower moving vehicle and mount traffic, blessedly not scaring any of the other animals beyond their handlers’ abilities to rein in.

The third tier came into view, showing Tala a wide-spread market with interspersed greenery and soft lighting. The buildings inset beside them were huge blocks of interlinked Guild headquarters. If Tala had to guess, most of each spiral path for this tier was taken up by one or two guilds, or guild affiliated residences, workshops, or peripheral spaces.

The fourth tier was another park, surrounded by residences.

Strangely, these didn’t appear bigger than those Tala had seen on the second tier, though they did seem to be more intricately detailed.

When they reached the fifth floor, Mistress Odera pointed to an opening towards the outside of the tree, and Terry darted down it, causing a pedestrian to shout and shake his fist at them.

Light poured in through the opening ahead of them, and Terry pulled to a stop just as they exited the great tree of Makinaven.

With a flicker, Terry was on Tala’s shoulder, even as she dropped the short distance to the ground.

Mistress Odera landed lightly, falling into a half-crouch before straightening and giving Terry a critical look. “Thank you for the ride, master Terry. In the future, I would appreciate some warning before the dismount.”

Tala had stumbled sideways in catching herself, but she straightened without embarrassing herself too much.

As she stood upright, her gaze swept outward, and her jaw dropped open.

Like all the trees of this forest, the canopy was sparse and only really one layer, the leaves mainly sprouting from the tips of the branches rather than along their full length. The three of them were far below that layer.

The road continued outward and upward, along the flattened top of the branch, and structures were to either side.

The entrances of the buildings were almost universally set downward, reached by a short set of stairs or other such paths. If they were multi-floored, it seemed that those floors went downward. Some likely even went under the road.

The result was very little obstruction to the view, and what a view it was.

When arriving the night before, Tala hadn’t noticed just how much the land had risen back up to the base of the tree, but it must have, because they were above most of the surrounding trees. Or the tiers were taller than I thought or… Too many options, really. It’s probably a combination of things.

A strong breeze blew through the massive branches, but it wasn’t overbearing. Even if it had been, Tala would have had no concern of falling; there was a low wall bordering the road, anywhere the top of a building wasn’t offering protection from a fall.

The cool, early-winter air held a pleasant chill after the comfortable warmth within Makinaven. So, the warmth we felt among the farms at ground level doesn’t extend this far up? Interesting. It still felt warmer than back in the forest, below.

If Tala focused on it, she could feel a slight movement of the branch beneath her, likely due to the wind, but it was miniscule. I’m so glad I don’t get motion sick, or this would be awful.

Under the midday sun, the forest looked like a sparsely snow-covered, hilly plain, spreading out all around them, with mountains in the distance to the north. Tala could just see those around the trunk of the tree in that direction. There were mountains further away to the southwest, and far to the east and south, but they were barely more than a hazy outline, even to her enhanced vision.

“It is an incredibly clear day.”

Mistress Odera smiled and nodded. “Indeed, it is. Now, let’s get some food.”

Tala nodded and smiled in turn.

The nature of the tree meant that this tier of branches likely had the best views, at least until those at the very top. Those in the middle layers would be more obscured by leaves and other branches. I’ll have to go see what it looks like from up there. That might be a good place to meditate and contemplate Fusing. She nodded to herself. I’ll do that, today.

Mistress Odera led them down the branch-way for close to a quarter hour, traversing a bit less than half the branch’s length and steadily sloping upward. There was still quite a bit of foot-traffic around them, as well as a few vehicles.

They likely could have continued on Terry, but Tala found herself thoroughly enjoying the walk in the open air.

When they reached their destination, Mistress Odera moved down a set of stairs to their left. She opened the door into the restaurant without hesitation, and Tala followed her through.

A graying man bowed to them as they entered. “Welcome to our humble establishment, Mistresses. Do you have a table preference?”

Mistress Odera spoke with him quietly for a moment, and he brightened. Is there a hint of magic around them? Is that why I can’t hear?

Mistress Odera’s workings were incredibly subtle, and Tala was still struggling to perceive them with any consistency.

Unless they are overtly obvious, like a defensive shield.

The hints of power in the air vanished before Tala was sure they had actually been there.

“Oh, certainly, Mistress! Right this way.”

Tala frowned but followed Mistress Odera and the older gentleman. They went down a couple of floors then outward towards the north side of the branch.

They were seated at a booth hard up against the outside of the limb. A large section of the wall beside them had been replaced with glass or something like it. That, coupled with the distance they’d traveled down the branch, ensured that they could easily see the mountains in the distance.

It was breathtaking.

Their server came a few minutes later, bringing water without ice for both of them, along with the start of their meal.

Empty plates were set in front of each of them and dishes laden with food were set on the table between them. Rice was in abundance, both plain and fried, and most of the main dishes consisted of variously glazed and seasoned meats and veggies, intended to be eaten overtop of, and with, the rice.

Terry sampled a bit of everything before curling up beside the window to sleep.

After the server had dropped off the sixth and final serving bowl, Tala leaned forward. “Mistress Odera, how much is this going to cost?”

The older Mage shrugged. “It’s their lunch special.” A grin split her face. “For a family of six. They charge two silver and fifty copper. It’s a real deal, if you ask me.”

Tala looked at the food, realizing that she’d already eaten more than Mistress Odera was likely to, all told. “So…how much will I owe?”

“A silver is reasonable to my mind.”

Tala cocked an eyebrow.

“I invited you. If you ate a normal amount, I’d happily treat you, but my budget won’t handle your intake requirements.”

“We can’t charge it as a necessary expense?” Tala asked hopefully.

Mistress Odera grinned. “After thinking it through, I believe I can justify a meal each day but not more.”

“Fair enough.” After a moment, Tala smiled again. “Thank you.”

“Enjoy. We won’t be in this city for too long, and I haven’t found food in this style in Bandfast.” After a brief hesitation, she added, “Well, at least not this good.”

“It is that.”

So, without further comment, the two settled in to eat. Mistress Odera ate a careful amount, enjoying every bite but not overindulging by any metric. At the same time, Tala devoured her second feast of the day.

* * *

After Tala had polished off the last of the food, the three of them paid and departed. The elderly gentleman wished them a good day and a speedy return.

Instead of heading back into the main tree of Makinaven, Mistress Odera led them further down the branch, nearly as far as they’d previously come from the main trunk, to where the road ended in a wide, flat circle. The branch continued on for quite a ways, but it thinned, becoming too slender to be a safe foundation for the street to continue upon.

The wide, flat circle was presumably for vehicles to turn around on, but it was currently vacant, and the variation in the branch left it largely hidden from the rest of the length.

True, the windows on the other branches, and those on this side of the tree within the trunk above, looked down on the space, but those were quite far away.

“This is the closest location I knew of, where you could do your regular exercises and stretching in relative privacy.”

Tala smiled to the older woman. “Thank you, Mistress Odera. This was incredibly kind of you.”

“Oh, I’m happy to assist. Now, I have much that I need to get to. I assume you can find your own way back?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then, I bid you a good day, Mistress Tala. Do try not to fall off.” There was the glint of humor in her eyes.

“Take care, Mistress Odera. I will do my best not to.”

The other Mage departed, and Tala began her training.

There, high in the great tree of Makinaven; caressed by a pleasantly chill, winter breeze; hidden from most eyes, save the most discerning; Tala strove to improve.

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