The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 179

Part 25

"Of course I remember you Tanala, you wore a pretty pink and white dress at my wedding to Mark when we last met." Talia assured her with a warm and reassuring smile as she held her arms out to the girl. "Now come give me a hug and tell me what's wrong. Start from the beginning."

The girl ran into her arms and hugged her tightly for a moment, then the story came out in a babbling rush. "My mother and my aunts and my grandmother sent me to Bhia to buy diamonds to store spells and power in because there's none left to be had in any of the elven lands of Debivin nor in Finitra or northern Thon and they sent me because I'm good at the Translocation and they were busy.

"But when I got to the diamond merchant's shop he was just sitting there in a chair like he was tranced, mumbling to himself and sometimes waving his hands a little and sometimes humming a bit in a very strange way. I waited for him to notice me, then I walked right up to him but he still didn't do anything, so I said; 'Excuse me, I'd like to buy some diamonds?', and he just waved his hand and an obvious Illusion of a human woman appeared behind the counter and asked if she could help me. So I bought the diamonds and asked what was wrong with the merchant, and the Illusion said that it was just a casting of Valentia's Work Spell, and that it regretted that it was unable to answer my question.

"He was really making me feel very strange, so I cast Detect Spells on him, and sure enough, he was totally entranced by the scariest spell I've ever seen! It was like a million spells, all of them changing all the time, and it was right into his mind! It was so strange that I couldn't figure out anything that it was doing! And it was so powerful that I got scared it was going to kill me for checking on it, so I nulled my Detect Spells right away, I only had it on him for a second but it made me pretty scared.

"So I went outside and flew down the street, and the spell had everyone! I mean everyone, everyone in the whole city! I got to a park and there were hundreds of humans there, all of them as entranced as the diamond merchant except the youngest children, who were being cared for by Valentia's Work Spells while their parents sat uncaring.

"One of the humans there was a city guard, and I knew he was on duty because he had all his armor and weapons on, and he was as entranced as all the rest, but I thought that I might get him to talk to me because he's a city guard and it's his duty to help people. So I asked him what was wrong with everyone, but he just laughed at me really nasty and said; 'Nothing. Don't distract anyone.' He said it like he was angry at me for asking him, then he went back to his mumbling. He never stopped staring blankly at nothing the whole time.

"I was getting really scared then, so I started looking around for someone who wasn't entranced, anyone at all. But it has everyone. Almost everyone is sitting and doing nothing, and those who are doing what's necessary, like eating or bathing or even sleeping, they do it in a daze, still mumbling or humming or waving their arms a little, most even when they're asleep.

"I went to the palace of the king of Bhia, and it was the same there. A guard spell at the gate checked my Marking for my identity and to confirm that I was sworn to justice, and that was it. The guards ignored me and just let me fly right in without a word. I went right into the king's private chambers, and all his guards and staff let me do it, all of them entranced and stupid. The king himself sat eating his supper, staring at nothing and waving his free hand in the air. I came right up in front of him, and he ignored me.

"I didn't know what to do. I'd have gone to Prince Yazadril right away, but he's in a time-bubble, and Senior Wizard Theramin is off in the elvenlands of Felion somewhere. I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I came here and told you."

As Tanala was telling her story, Mark's children were having trouble not laughing out loud, as was Mark a bit, and only Talia's mild glare of irritation over Tanala's shoulder had prevented them.

But as the elven girl finished her story, Val couldn't help but giggle.

"It's okay, nothing is wrong..." Talia assured her before Val interrupted her.

"Please let me handle this, Mother Talia." Val smiled as she laid her hand on Tanala's shoulder, then addressed the girl. "The spell is mine, and it's not harming anyone, though I may have overdone it with the motivational components. Here, show me where the guard you spoke to is, and we'll settle it."

She Read Tanala's surface thoughts as the girl recalled talking to the guard, then Translocated with her, taking her right out of Talia's arms.

They appeared in the park in Bhia. The guard was still where he had been, sitting on a low wall near the center of the park. Val gave him a sharp palm strike on the shoulder of his armor, almost knocking him off the wall.

"Hey! What do you think you're..." he began in angry protest before Val cut him off.

"Just because you're busy studying doesn't mean you can be rude to visitors to your city, and you're still on duty!!" Val scolded him. "Now tell this girl what you and all these people are doing."

"It's you! What an honor! I'm..." the guard stammered upon recognizing her, then stopped as Mark and the rest of his family Translocated in around them, dragons included. He swallowed hard as he recognized them.

"Tell her!" Val demanded, stomping her foot a bit to add emphasis to her insistence.

"We're all learning to be wizards." he stammered. "We all got the power from The Transformation of Hilsith, and now Valentia's Magic Education is teaching us to use it.

"I'm sorry I was rude before, but I don't see how you could not know about this, so I thought you were just being rude about how elves don't need to do this. And the magic lessons are so fascinating, it's really irritating to be needlessly interrupted."

"Oh!" Tanala responded in surprise.

"There. I'm Valentia, by the way." Val said with a grin as she took Tanala's hand and shook it. "But I'm called Val. I only use my full name when I'm naming spells."

"I know." Tanala smiled as she shook in return.

"I thought so, but I wasn't sure." Val grinned as she looked around at all the pre-occupied people.

A few of them had looked up and smiled when the group Translocated in, but then they went back to their studies. The guard, seeing that his attention was no longer required, had already returned to his. "The Nine Valleys is obviously still pretty isolated in some ways, or you'd have known about this." Val continued. "There also must not be a single person in The Nine Valleys over the age of ten with less skill as a wizard than a Smingan Journeyman, or they'd have gotten my Education spell too."

"There isn't, not since they accelerated everyone's magic schooling there." Tanala proudly told her. "The Nine Valleys has always had the best wizards and the best magic schools of any nation on Kellaran, and we've intensified everything since we learned of the demons. There wasn't even a single one of us who was weak enough to benefit from The Transformation of Hilsith."

"Wow, that is impressive." Val nodded with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup. And that's still so, even though we lost a lot of our best talent to Hilian service the night Mark married Talia. And it's sure not that we're not proud of the High People in Hilia's service, but when a nation with less than three thousand loses over a hundred of their best, it makes a difference.

"Anyway, I've got to go home. I'm running late now, and my mother will be calling me any second now to see what's taking me so long."

"Give her our fond regards." Talia told her with a smile.

"I will." Tanala smiled in return, and gave her a quick spontaneous hug. "And I'm sorry for bothering you for nothing."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

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