"Right, that settles that." I mutter to myself, offering one last wave to the farm I've just helped. I find a quiet tree with plenty of shade and blocking foliage and plonk right down. The magic-starved plant crunches and cracks, its hard bark more like a dried out, dead leaf. A slight uprooting of some bits just ahead of me.
I double check my surroundings and peek up the mask, exposing my bug jaws. The first piece of fruit and vegetable payment comes to my teeth. It all crunches away, squishing and dripping as each gnash of the jawline breaks it up more. The bucket steadily loses its contents. Losing more whole fruit than my dribble and mess can refill it with.
Barely any time passes at all and I'm left with a single, empty thought. Not enough magic. I happened on the farm mostly, but a curiosity about the magic in the land drove me to work. And it was pointless.
I'm lucky that I barely put any effort into it at all. Little action for little gain is something good, I suppose. Could be worse, though, it can also be a lot better. And that's really the crux of the problem. A small amount is not good enough, I need more.
Much, much more.
"Guess I'll return the bucket somewhat and get heading for the village itself." I think aloud, twisting about on my hips to get a better view of the village. It's all been an interesting gander, I'd say. It's a lot closer in this mountain, scale of it aside. The surface and even the tunnels under it all are very quiet distances.
Wilderness is the norm, yet, here, it all seems like everything is occupied. Animals exist, but not harmful ones beyond the smallest of pest hunters. The birds are more likely to poop on you than dive for your scalp, talons out. It's just all... Idyllic.
"This Lady-King must really like the idea of easy governance." I remark, getting back up, bucket in one claw, my sack in the other. My legs take me the length of the farm and my thoughts cling to images of Inerish and her office support. Circumstances of a certain criminal and a dessert-making giant aside... Proper leadership is a stressful job.
Too many problems, not enough time to solve them. Not enough energy. You have to give it all to so many people, each with their own standards and interpretations. Their incompetence becomes your incompetence. One mistake in a battle cascades into a total defeat. One choice suddenly opens up new consequences.
I look to my bug body in reaffirmation of just how wild things can spiral without ourselves really knowing. And this is just me, to think of everything someone like Inerish had to deal with. At least I came along to keep Smiling Jhurack occupied for her. Even if I also added to her daily stress.
But this whole inside-mountain kingdom is none of that. The fields are full of crops, the streets thus far clean of the homeless and rough living. Thrurstradtur-Suhurlodst was certainly not perfect, but technology, magic and plain old good spirit by the fellow man made it something worth living in. Even as the country that supported it and it supported fell apart into literal grains of sand...
Here, though, here is as close to perfect as one could really call it. Everyone just has a naturally good mood about them. Like a baby who has known nothing but love. I even overheard one of the farm owner's sons get into an argument about joining the knights or whatever just because... Just because it's the only way anyone seems to experience pain around here.
I guess that's good...? At least common sense still exists within the mountain. Though, for how much longer I cannot guess or know. The Crack in the Sky could bring in a lot more travellers than just me. Outside outposts, too, they're not exactly brimming with people right now, either.
It would've been really nice if that small base we spent a night at was magic-loaded, though... The future is not looking all too bright, even as this so-called Sun continues to shine so. Magic is such a lacking thing around here, and I have no idea why. For all the strength within the rock, this land is just devoid of it. Clinically so.
"Mm." that thought makes me go as I spot an irrigation line. I hop a fence and head on over to it, crouching before the running stream. An uninterrupted line of crystal clear water. Washing away drought, dry skin, and parched throats. All with so little magic actually inside of it.
My claw goes out to the open device and a gentle drip drop rings out. A few trapped bubbles coming out as what wind magic is emanating from me mixes with the water. I've got quite good at controlling my magic, especially compared to the old days of me in Jherikra. But I'm not quite perfect.
"Oh, ah." I go, watching the water suddenly change. Something has clearly opened up and its explicitly targeting the bubbles in the water. Dragging them down and away before they can perverse the pitiful water supply. I pull my claw away, flicking it dry while I idly watch my magic make it fizz. The claw clenches and I'm dry in no time at all.
The road thuds underfoot and I keep ongoing into the village, comforted by the detail. There's machinery in the soil, or perhaps in the mountain rock itself. An arcane machine that keeps everything just the right way. All in a manner I struggle to describe and really comprehend.
I was an engineer, once upon a time. A wall-engraver, technically, but a mechanical engineer all the same, really. My skills have certainly dulled, being so long away from the bronze panels of Tobaballe. The loss of my homeland aside, I'm no arcane-scientist or magic-mechanic. Whatever the lot at the Suhurlodst Academy called it.
Perhaps Liadanann would have a better idea of what I'm looking at, though, even then. She's got plenty of experience with magic and the engineering sciences put together. Maybe Inerish would have an idea, too. Our location can't be anywhere far from Thrurstradtur, right?
"I mean... Hrurim certainly brought up Suhurlodst so there has to be a connection...?" I ponder, reaching the edge of the village and practically reliving my experiences at the prior one. Excitement rushes through the people, yet, curiously, certain words are among their shouts. A mess of noise, but a solvable problem at that.
'There's another doctor!'
Another? Well, guess I've got someone to find. If being a doctor is about having magic in your system, then there should be something she can tell me? Directions or something, maybe she'll try and arrest me and I'll be hauled to the doctor cabal or something. A hint or clue about where magic is in this damn mountain. Where it all goes.
The palace is quite an obvious bet, one that seems so much stranger now that I'm a fair bit closer. The clouds around it never really seem to move. What few clouds there are somehow in here move. But not the ones around the palace and its mini-mountain. Really makes one wonder which skyborne shade-givers are real and what is not.
Though, wasting time on all that would make one insane, I imagine. This is a land where proper surface people like me need to keep things simple. Then again, I went from a no-magic land to one absolutely teeming with it... Right after I saw a divine wonder of the world in the form of the Anvil-Peak Mountain.
"Close second, as far as mountains are concerned." I huff, not quite that honest as I'm already recalling Mount Excessively-Big-and-Messy-Name-I-can-Never-Remember. Rose left quite a sweet memory with me for that mountain. What happened not long after aside, it was still a moment I want to cherish.
Jheroungijhrikra... Bah.
I want more moments like it to happen. More moments of me with the people I care about. Going to places like this. I don't want to stay cooped up in a city that holds so much pain for me. Even if two of them have built their lives there... I guess it depends on what they're willing to let me ask of them.
"Ah, there she- He is." I go, surprised that the magic user is a man, and not a woman. Circumstances of the surface not apply here either, or am I just lucky enough to happen on another son? Whatever, I suppose, I'm after information. Not why a man somehow ended up being a witch before gods above knows how many girls.
So much for arcane-biology classes in Suhurlodst...
"Oh, so you're the fellow the rumours and tongues speak of!" the man greets quite cheerily, already amusingly daunted by my comparative height. No concern about my species, either. So I guess my disguise still holds up before the surgically trained.
"I am the doctor, yes." I answer, not putting much thought into my words.
"The? Have'th I lost'et my life of apprenticing already to a new life in mine?" he questions, chuckling away with some simple gestures telling me a simple thing. Don't worry, don't worry!
"My apologies, I'm not from around these parts." I answer and he nods, quite surprised.
"You have'th just put a bow on your guild time?" he asks and I nod for the sake of simplicity. Don't really want to be going in-depth or wasting time on explaining the Crack in the Sky and the world beyond.
"Yes, yes." I speak to give it some additional clarity.
"Ah, let me warmly welcome you to the dutiful position, then!" he goes, coming close and putting an arm around me for a clearly two-pronged reason. I can feel his aura clash against mine, testing the limits of my magic while also just being warm and welcoming. He stiffens up, his eyes so blatantly wide without that mask of his to hear it.
"Mm?" I go, practically clenching my jaw shut to make sure he can't hear my chitters in the moments he is close. I doubt he heard them, but, still, it's a paranoia that never left me since my first days in an old stay. Tryhpeltzweig. Where I met Einervaene, Baltanthan, too. To give the miserable sod the credit he deserves for saving my life.
"My sincerest apologies... I... I just never realised any man could possibly... Match the Lord-given blood of Her Majesty, the Lady-King..." he goes, at least telling me one thing about this land. All the more reason to get to the palace on that mini-mountain, I suppose.
"Yeah, that's why I'm headed that way." I somewhat lie, though, I think I can be forgiven by the God of Law and the God & Goddess of Morality for the white thing.
"I see, I see. Well, I can only pray for your swiftness on the road and a lack of discord in all of the homes between then," he explains to me and I simply nod at that.
"Perhaps if I might be somewhat more of a burden... Maybe you can point me the right way? It seems an easy trek, but I know a shifting path when I see one." I ask of him, unfortunately thinking too much of Smiling Jhurack as of this moment. So much of my experience as a man, as a witch... It all comes back to him.
"Oh, it's nothing to worry thine self over. It's all an easy path to walk and know. All roads lead to Her Majesty, after all. No troubles for you," he explains, waving my concerns off and I suppose that's good enough.
"Well, I guess I best get going then. Thank you for your time...?" I say, lingering as his lack of a given name confuses me.
"Doctor Arnouecou." he smiles in answer and I nod.
"Doctor Nin." I return the favour with, giving my own little hidden smirk as I head on off.
"OH!" he goes, snatching my attention back, "Would so be so kind as to offer your gift to those on that side of the village? A presence such as yours would assure them of so much!" he insists, and I nod, trapping myself in yet another promise.
"Can do!" I answer back with the same cheeriness everyone else in this mountain resort seems to have. Though, I certainly hope the magic I use is barely anything. Last time worked out well enough, but who knows what ailments are about this village?