Broken Lands

Arryn’s face lit up when he smiled. He was clearly a salesman, a man who was able to be friendly to everyone. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it did mean that Sophia would need to be careful with her money when she talked to him. It would be all too easy to be tricked, especially when she still wasn’t entirely clear what the difference between a guinea and a ducat was. She thought the guinea was about twice as valuable, but she was pretty sure she was missing something there. Why couldn’t they use a rational set of money?

Arryn nodded towards Dav and Sophia. “It’s a pleasure to meet two new people, especially two who have taken on the mantle of a Vocation. Tell me, does your manaburn ache? I can see it’s still active; I don’t have the right preparations to drain a burn that large, but I do have some cream that might help ease an ache or an itch.”

Dav shook his head. “Not particularly. Aymini made the same offer about a week ago and even gave me something in case it acts up, but it’s really not necessary. I don’t notice it unless I’m thinking about it.”

Sophia blinked at that; she hadn’t realized he’d actually asked for anything from Aymini. Of course, she hadn’t even realized he felt anything from the odd purple glow and black lines. She hadn’t asked; she should have. The time to ask was when it first happened, but she was preoccupied then. She should still have asked while they were walking through the sewers. She couldn’t have done anything, but she could have asked.

“It’s nothing much,” Aymini agreed. “A monksweed willow bark paste in a pinesap binder, carried by any of the common fats. Activated, of course, but only a minor mana infusion. It’s the standard soothing concoction for mild manaburn that isn’t an open wound, an apprentice can manage it.”

“Common manaburn ointment? That is what you’re talking about?” Arryn sounded surprised. “I wouldn’t expect you to use something that weak on something as extensive as glowing manaburn.”

That made sense, sort of. It sounded like Aymini had thought of the same thing as Vramt had recommended, but instead of telling Dav not to accept treatment had instead given him something he could claim was treatment. That was probably for the best. Neither of them had really mentioned anything to Sophia, but apparently she didn’t need help to pass beyond not grumbling about the Guide failing to recognize her actual Species.

Aymini shrugged. “It’s only for the irritation; it won’t do anything about a burn, but that usually heals on its own if you give it time and I don’t want to use something too much stronger on someone low-level who’s already suffering from manaburn. A strong concoction would only make matters worse. It doesn’t hurt that everything that’s in the ointment is easy to get, so he’ll be able to find more wherever he goes.”

“Sells for pennies,” Arryn agreed with a nod as he turned back to Dav. “‘Tis well it’s taken care of, then; be sure to use it. Better to get the burn under control than allow it to spread. Manaburn’s nasty and sneaky sometimes, but as long as you have feeling in the area, it’s not as bad as it looks.”

Dav’s left hand rose towards his cheek for a moment, but she stopped before he touched it. “Lack of feeling isn’t a problem.”

Arryn nodded. “When you poke into as many nooks and crannies as I have, these things happen. You’re unlucky enough to get burnt but lucky to survive; many a man hasn’t, or has come out the other side twisted. I don’t hold with the hatred of the Warped; weren’t our ancestors all Warped once? Any who claim magic were, ‘tis true, and most of the rest. Still, it’s only been ten years since the Lion’s death, and so ‘tis well your burn wasn’t worse.”

“Lion?” The question slipped out of Sophia’s mouth while she was still thinking through the rest of what Arryn said. She got the impression that he was slick; whether he’d guessed that they were listed as Warped or not, he wasn’t going to admit it. His accent was either false or simply something he hadn’t bothered to change because it put his customers at ease. Sophia couldn’t tell which; some of each seemed likely.

“You are from a ways away aren’t you?” Arryn grinned his guileless smile. It didn’t hide the depths of thought in his eyes from Sophia. She’d seen far too many people who wanted to get on her good side just to use her when she was a child. “I’m a little surprised your hosts didn’t tell you yet. ‘Tis a simple enough tale, and one that’s happened before. Still, I’m getting ahead of myself; if I’m to be telling tales, it should be over food. Aymini, what do you say to some grilled snake and noodles?”

“Only if you brought the flour, old man, you know that,” Aymini said with a grin that looked a little weak. “We still haven’t gotten a field in, not that we have a mill anyway. You can have your snake grilled, fried, honey-roasted, or stewed; I’m planning on honey-roasted, myself. The cooks have promised a surprise for the side; I don’t know what they’re planning, but I’m hoping for a nice spicy wilted spinach.”

Arryn sighed and shook his head. “I did bring flour, but it’s for sale, not for me to eat. Another time, perhaps; I have some seed wheat if you’re ready for that.”

Aymini shrugged. “Talk to Jessira. She runs the gardens, she’d know better than I would.”

The cooks were already hard at work and had already started serving meals. It only took ten or fifteen minutes to get everyone settled with the snake meat of their choice and some of the surprise, which was not spicy wilted spinach. Instead, it was something Sophia wanted to call a dessert, a sort of a baked berry dish with chilled honey-sweetened cream. It wasn’t quite the same as pie and ice cream, but it hit a lot of the same notes.

Sophia noticed that Dav was the only person other than her who seemed to treat the berries and cream as a dessert and leave it for after the snake meat; everyone else got it on the same plate instead of going back for it.

Once they were well into their meal, Arryn was happy to continue his story. “The Lion, Sir Hevryn of Catshold, was the leader of the Feline Four, a group of Called who carved Catshold out of the wilderness about forty years ago. It was the opposite of Fallen Kestii; a new place in the wilderness surrounded by dangerous, rich lands. That’s what got them, you see; they went in one too many Challenges and they found one they couldn’t beat. Hevryn himself was the only one of the Four who walked out of his last Challenge and he came out Warped.”

Arryn paused and glanced around the group. Sophia followed his gaze and saw that she was the only person still eating. Dav had already downed his entire meal and Aymini set her fork down as soon as Arryn started talking. Revina was still upstairs with her father, so it was just the four of them at the table. Sophia wasn’t about to miss out on the last few bites of the surprisingly delicious (if a bit too sweet for her taste) berry dessert, so she scooped up another bite, making sure to get both berries and chilled sweetened cream.

“No one thought much of it. A Called, even a Hallowed like Sir Hevryn, being Warped by a failed Challenge is uncommon but not overly unusual, especially in a place like Catshold. Entire teams are Warped in places like that, sometimes even when they succeed. Even Professionals sometimes Warp, if they travel outside the region protected by the Nexus. No, that wasn’t the problem at all.” Arryn smiled. His voice rose and fell as he told the story, keeping Sophia’s interest even though he hadn’t really said much yet.

Sophia finished her last bite and set her fork down. Somehow, the idea of a story told at the end of a meal reminded her of trips when she was younger, times when her family and mentors would travel to other worlds by the longer route, seeing the sights as they went. A story after a meal was common, especially when they spent the night camped on the road.

“The problem was Sir Hevryn himself. Somehow, he was Warped in a way that let him Warp his Nexus. Everyone in Catshold Warped the same way Sir Hevryn did. Everyone who visited Catshold Warped as well, though most far less than the residents.” With that, Arryn paused and gave a telling look towards Aymini.

“I don’t talk about it. Ever.” Aymini met Arryn’s gaze with a fierceness that was almost a glare. “I’m listening to make sure you don’t fill their heads with false nonsense. Far too much of that is said about the war.”

Arryn nodded slowly. “The next part is more Aymini’s story than mine, but I can tell what I know. In those days, she was Called; she had not taken up her Profession yet.”

“I was young and an idiot,” Aymini muttered. “I didn’t see the signs that something was wrong.”

Arryn’s mouth quirked in a half-smile. He gracefully turned his hand palm-up towards Aymini in invitation. “If you would like to tell the tale, I will happily listen.”

Aymini shook her head in a quick negation.

Arryn inclined his head towards her, then folded his hands in his lap. “Aymini was one of a team traveling out to Catshold to explore the local Challenges. For myself, I believe the reason she noticed nothing wrong that night was that there was nothing wrong yet; yes, Sir Hevryn had returned alone, injured, and Warped, but there was no reason for her to assume it meant more than that. Aymini’s group traveled deep into a stable Challenge near the entrance to Catshold.”

“Places like Catshold, outposts in the wilderness, are the best place to gather Wisps,” Aymini contributed. “They aren’t great for training and practice; for all that they’re busy, the best teachers stay in more settled places. Look for a place that’s at least fifteen years old when you settle down for the winter training. Thirty is better. You want a lot of older Called who’ve taken up Professions but still teach the basics, and that takes a community that’s been there for a while.”

At Arryn’s pointed look, Aymini groaned. “Fine, yes, I’ll talk. I don’t remember what the Challenge even was anymore; all I remember was that it capped out at Level Seven; that made it a low-level Challenge for Catshold. I think the entry areas were more or less Level Five; we didn’t expect to gain anything worthwhile from them. Whatever it was, it took us a few days to complete it. We came prepared and it was essentially a practice Challenge to make sure we were ready for the others in the area anyway. When we finished, we headed into Catshold. This time, we all knew something was off. There was no guard at the gate, even though it was open. We hurried inside; when we saw blood, we assumed something had broken through the gate. It never occurred to us what was actually going on.”