Ryn of Avonside

Ryn

Cee’s grove was underground. No, not just underground. It was underground in my grove. There was even a little bun-sized tunnel that led to my lower grove, where the order’s base was set up. Outside in the garden, it appeared as we’d found it earlier—like a bubble stuck to the side of my grove.

The inside was a blank slate, like any new grove, except that hers was a cavern with a big glowing orb in the middle to serve as a sun. It reminded me of that one place in Skyrim that Bray had shown me when he was doing a play-through.

Well, except this one had nice lighting, even if it was dimmer than a real sun. There was grass too—nice and lush and ready for nomming by buns. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stick around to watch as Cee began to create her first spells. The damn Avonside council wanted to speak to me after a week of radio silence. I hope they had something important to say, because after the stunt they pulled with my mage fruit I was ready to do something everyone would regret. I mean, shit, they were interrupting precious time with my new bun-mage daughter!

The news came when Catherine, who’d left back to my grove, appeared once more to deliver it. Since Esra seemed fine teaching Cee, I bid them goodbye and shifted out and onto the ring.

Avonside was on high alert due to the altercation between the council and the Order. Then, when people noticed me materialise, they all but bolted to get away. I didn’t blame them, the scowl I wore was probably more than a little scary.

I did my best not to stomp my way over to the council hall, which was still the old lecture theatre. Walking in, I was greeted with the full complement of faculty heads, along with a few retainers I didn’t recognise.

“Ryn, thank you for coming,” Dr Wilcott said, standing to wave me in.

Descending the stairs, I fought to quell the sudden burst of anxiety. I'd known this confrontation would be happening for a week now, and in that time I'd done way too much thinking about it. Nothing quite like fighting a battle one hundred times in your own head before you did it for real.

Feigning the same anger I was feeling when I arrived, I leaned back against a desk and crossed my arms. Stay calm, Ryn. We have a plan. Let’s see if our judgement of Dr Wilcott is accurate.

My gaze found Dr Richards immediately, and I drilled him with a glare that I hoped would convey just how annoying I found him now. Unlike with him, who I initially judged as being a kind, grandfatherly type.

Wilcott clearly wasn't comfortable with my obstinate silence, because she coughed and dove into what was obviously a rehearsed speech. "Now, I want to apologise for the actions of Dr Richards a week ago. It was rude of him to charge in and make demands."

She turned to look at the man in question, who grunted and said, "Ah… yes, I apologise for my outburst that day."

Satisfied, the head of their little council turned back and gave me a thin smile. "I hope you will forgive us for the blunder… but we would like to discuss some related matters with you—"

"There it is," I snorted. "What do you want?"

My anger was beginning to return, washing away my anxiety once more. If they started ask-manding shit from me right after that apology I was going to summon some buns to break their kneecaps like a mobster. Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but I'd be pissed for sure.

"Now, Ryn…" Dr Wilcott winced. "I'm not sure that tone is warranted or appropriate—"

"Stop," I said, calmly but perhaps a little abruptly. "Dr Wilcott, you and the rest of Avonside have done nothing but cause petty problems for me and my people, while taking everything we do for granted. I know I said this previously, but just to reiterate, you need me a hell of a lot more than I need you."

She tried to say something when I paused for breath, but I rode right over her. "In fact, if I were to hang up my morals, I could simply take what I needed from Avonside and leave. None of you have the power to stop me."

"That is why we wished to discuss just how much power you hold in your hands," Wilcott said before Mr Santa-Karen could say the same thing in a much less eloquent way. "We are afraid of you, Ryn, and we know that it is only by those morals that you mentioned that we have anything. That is why we wished to gain access to some of that power, and to distribute it out among upstanding and responsible people."

I pursed my lips and nodded for her to continue. I'd considered their perspective on more than one occasion, and I agreed with the principles behind it. I did, however, have counterpoints ready.

"I understand that, but that doesn't mean I can trust you to be upstanding and responsible," I replied. "Everyone knows this place will be extremely powerful if it stabilises and survives. The problem is, Avonside was and very much still is a hive of petty politics and bickering. It's full of people who are more than willing to throw others under the bus for a bigger slice of the pie. Adding literal magic to that already volatile mix will almost undoubtedly lead to some very unpleasant things. So until the order has grown enough to act as a check to the politics here, I'm not giving any of you a mage fruit."

The five of them sat there absorbing what I'd said for a long while, until finally the faculty head of political science asked, "You raise many good points, Ryn, but I must ask—Why are you more appropriate, capable, and trustworthy than any other Avonsider? Why is it okay for you to hold such power, while we must trust in your good nature to keep you from establishing yourself as the ruler of our town?"

"That's entirely irrelevant," I shrugged.

The pol-sci man frowned. "Care to explain?"

"Because regardless of whatever answer that little thought experiment gives you, it doesn't change the reality of the situation. I am the one with the magic, and you aren't. The situation is simple. Continue to act like belligerent fools and lose the support of myself and the order, or stop and keep it," I said. "Choice is yours."

Silence reigned for even longer this time, and I sat through its entire length with the best poker face I could muster.

Finally, Dr Wilcott nodded to herself and said, "I see. Still, I must ask, when will you deem the order powerful enough to stop any rogue mages? 

“I’m not sure,” I shrugged, giving them a smile of acquiescence. “How about this, I’ll have copies of our magical tomes made for you, and when we have ten of our own mages, we’ll give you two—” I pointed to Dr Wilcott and Dr Ross, the pol-sci guy. “—A fruit each. Who you choose as your magical progeny is up to you, after that.”

“Why us?” Dr Wilcott asked, curious but not unhappy.

A slow, devious smile spread over my lips, and I looked each of the five faculty heads in the eye before I said, “Because you two were the ones who were brave enough to confront me about the ethics of my power, but not demand it for yourselves personally. I still don’t trust any of you, but a head start for the order is more than enough security to bridge the balance of that missing trust. Is that okay with you all?”

Curiously, I looked over to see Dr Richard’s reaction to my words. To my surprise, he looked chagrined and a little defeated. Huh. I guess I had his motivations wrong?

“That is agreeable, given the circumstances,” Dr Wilcott sighed, leaning back in her chair.

“Good,” I said, nodding once and pushing off the desk. “I’ll be seeing you, then.”

“Ah, one moment, Ryn,” the head of the council interrupted quickly. “If that discussion went well, we wanted to continue into an adjacent topic.”

I raised an eyebrow in question and let myself fall back against the desk.

“We wanted to discuss… commissioning your Order,” she said, relaxing further. This was clearly a less intense topic, so I followed suit, rolling my shoulders to release the tension in them.

“Okay, what did you need, and what are you offering?” I asked.

“Much of what you and Troy have said has resonated with us. Avonside needs allies and information,” she said, steepling her fingers before her. “While we restructure the university and its politics from that of a university to a town, we would like you to escort one of our people out to act as a negotiator. As for what we’re offering, well… land within the city, free of taxes and interference. We will be establishing a foreign district that outsiders can buy land within, and that is where we’ll give you the land.”

I liked the idea personally, and getting out of Avonside for a bit would be nice, but in the end it wasn’t my decision. “I’ll relay the offer to Troy. I think we were planning another information gathering mission anyway, so I’d say it’s a tentative yes?”

“Good, thank you,” she said, and gave a nod. “And thank you for meeting with us. We will be in touch.”