Game Set

An awkward silence stretched on for what felt like forever and even the indistinct sounds of people talking around them seemed to suddenly be much further away. John felt like he had just ruined their chances when Tok let out a deep laugh.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for the harem type,” he said. “I hope you’ve kept a few surprises like that for the trial.”

“Being honest, we all kind of just fell into things. Full on comedy of errors,” John admitted, his nerves fading.

Tok hummed thoughtfully, almost as if debating something before he shook his head. “Now’s not the time for you to tell that tale. We’ve got our third to hash things out waiting. And I’m not sure how long we’ve got before Dad starts his speech.”

“Speech?” John asked, grateful that the issue of his love life was being put on the backburner for now.

“There’s always a speech before sending the aspirants off,” Tok explained. “You know. ‘These young ones are our future, put in hard work to train’ that sort of thing. And with you guys involved, you know there’ll be a part about building new working relationships, coming together against adversity, stuff like that. And with Dad, it’ll be a toss up between some grand monologue or a short, sweet thing so we can get going.”

‘Let’s hope it's the second one,’ Senka remarked. ‘Not sure how much fun standing around for a long speech will be.’

‘One thing at a time,’ John thought back. ‘First, talk to Rowan and get her on board with the plan to work together. Then deal with the speech, then fight whatever we’ve got to fight.’

John and Tok cut their way to Rowan’s out of the way corner table. The squire of the Order looked more like a statue in her ornate armor, as if she was trying to remain still to hide from some sight-based predator, staring intently at a mural painted on the wall. It was of a mountain range at sunset, the falling sun dyeing the rocks a blood red.

So caught up in looking at the painting, she didn’t seem to notice them approaching and Tok broke the silence.

“Fan of the arts, eh?” he asked in his boisterous voice, causing Rowan to flinch and turn towards them, arm reflexively moving to draw a sword not present on her hip. “Good reflexes.”

Rowan let her arm drop, then she glanced around as she calmed her nerves, eyes settling on John. “Newman, I would advise against startling a member of the Order in the future.”

“Noted,” John said, before he gestured at Tok. “May I introduce Tok Foh Baz, our counterpart in this event.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Tok bowed his head. “I’m looking forward to going into battle alongside you.”

“‘Alongside’?” Rowan repeated. “So this is a cooperative effort.”

“The whole point is cooperation.” Tok grinned. “No point in trying to go off alone on some glory hunt when we’re trying to show we can work together and build something better.”

“And what are we going up against?” Rowan quickly asked.

“Not a clue,” Tok answered cheerfully. “Tradition is to keep the exact details a secret.”

Rowan looked a touch displeased with that, so John stepped in. “I’m sure we can take anything on easily enough. I’m sure you’ve gotten good with that sword you won.”

The squire looked away from John, a faint blush reddening her cheeks, and John couldn’t help but remember their conversation about her possibly pining for him. It was certainly something he had to address soon. He didn’t want her to be stuck pining for him when there wasn’t any chance of it happening. He didn’t know where she fell on the whole ‘being okay with a polyamorus relationship’ thing, but he didn’t feel that the Order would be so keen on it.

“I’ve been diligent with it,” Rowan said, a hint of pride in her voice. “The knowledge it has conveyed has been useful in my training. And in training my fellows. Even some established knights have begun to look to incorporate these techniques into their own styles.”

Out of the corner of his eye, John thought that Tok looked about ready to ask just what they were talking about, but stopped himself from butting in. Instead, he turned his eyes to the painting behind Rowan and gestured towards it.

“So,” he cut in, “don’t want to wander onto a topic that could get weedy about faction secrets and whatnot, so how about we talk about something else. Like this art. It seemed like you were looking at it pretty interestedly.”

Rowan blinked and muttered something under her breath in a language John didn’t understand. Given what he knew about her, he wondered if it was Gaelic.

“Yes, we should steer away from sensitive topics. Makes things easier,” she said in a hurried voice, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice. “The painting, yes. It, um, just sort of spoke to me. The mountains, I mean.”

“They are pretty impressive looking, ain’t they?” Tok grinned. “They’re from our old home, or at least that’s the story about them. Pretty much the last place our ancestors were before they came over.”

Tok stopped short and looked between Rowan and John. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Has anyone told you how the clan ended up on Earth?”

“Your dad filled us in on the walk over,” John informed Tok.

“Our escort did as well,” Rowan nodded.

“Oh, good. Was afraid I was getting ahead of myself and would need to backtrack.” The dwarf grinned. “So, anyway, those mountains were where our ancestors had fled to after a war **** them from their homelands. I think they spent two generations there, living as best they could before the Cao’Vyt, the Pathfinder, managed to open a way here. Every time the clan settles down in a new place, someone makes an art piece to remember where we came from.”

“Why not where your people lived before the mountains?” Rowan asked softly.

“When they first started the tradition, they couldn’t remember,” Tok solemnly answered. “Life in the mountains was rough and didn’t give much opportunity for art. Dad says that our ancestors didn’t like to talk about their lost homes in those times.”

‘I wonder if there’s some metaknowledge I can gleam with Observe?’ John wondered as Tok and Rowan kept talking. Seeing no harm in it, he fired off the skill.

Painting of Remembrance
Unique
A painting of the Voh’Ger Mountain Range of Olnaght, recreated from centuries old tales and previous renditions from the clan’s past. The range served as the home of refugees who would band together and become the clan with time. Painted by Las Mus Baz to commemorate the founding of Higaisha some sixty years ago.

John’s brain sparked at the name of the Kingdom and he glanced over at Rowan.

‘That was the name of the Kingdom in her sword’s Observe, right?’ he questioned his memory, before summoning the weapon’s display. Assuming nothing had changed with the weapon in the week or so since Rowan had won it, the information was accurate. And the words matched.

‘Now that’s interesting,’ Senka remarked. ‘Do you think Gaia put that sword in our path in anticipation of us meeting the dwarves?’

‘I get the feeling Gaia just throws stuff at us and if we pull hard enough, we find a thread to follow,’ John thought. ‘If we hadn’t used the Woad setting, we wouldn’t have gotten the World Tree Seed, so no Pruzonia, no Verida, hell, we might not have survived Bill’s attack. Was us going down that road enough of magical mumbo jumbo that let Teri call out Yerda’s power through my sword?’

‘I think what ifs are too heavy to consider right now,’ Senka advised. ‘We have a job to do today and can’t get distracted. We can bring this up to Vel later.’

‘Yeah, we haven’t even explained my powers to them, so dropping ‘we might have found a replica of a weapon of your ancestral Kingdom in a game show themed barrier’ might be a bit much,’ John remarked.

A ringing chime cut through the hall, silencing all the conversations in an instant. Across the room, on an elevated platform, Vel stood, tapping a knife against a crystal glass. Besides him stood Verida and Ramirez and John wondered just what had happened after he left the senior knight in search of Rowan.

Beside him, Tok let out a low groan. “Looks like it’s going to be a long one.”

“I thought you were all in on the tradition stuff,” John muttered back, happy to have something to distract from the revelation Observe gave him.

“Not all of them,” Tok grumbled. “I don’t want to put off the trial for longer than it has to be. As fun as talking to you guys has been, I’ve been waiting to do this trial for months. I don’t know if I have the strength to withstand a long speech.”

“If it is the proper way of things, you have a duty to uphold it, do you not?” Rowan asked softly as the last bits of conversation died down around the hall, preventing Tok from answering her, though John caught a thoughtful expression color the dwarf’s features.

“Friends, clan, guests, thank you for gathering here today,” the elder dwarf said. “I know most of you know why we are here, but for those of you that are only here for the food.”

He paused for a moment to let the light laughter fade away. “Today is a momentous occasion. Not only because my son, Tok, will be reviving an old custom to mark his steps into adulthood, but today marks the start of a new era for the clan. A new partnership, with new opportunities, lies before us, along with new allies to stand with us in times of hardships.”

He twisted, gesturing to both Verida and Ramirez before affixing his gaze back over the assembled crowd. “Next to me are representatives of the Order of the Golden Rose, whom I’m sure most of you are aware of, and newcomer to these parts, Renox Solutions of Pruzonia.”

Verida gave a little wave while Ramirez curtly nodded as the crowd politely clapped.

“I’m not going to bore you all with details, nor will I invite their representatives who will be joining Tok in the trial,” Vel continued. “I’m sure they’ve got more than enough on their minds to deal with being paraded up here. We can save that for when they return victorious.”

More lighthearted laughter filled the chamber, and once it faded, Vel resumed his speech, “Now, before we send them off, let me set the stage. Our aethersmiths have crafted a barrier filled with beasts to test their mettle. But that is not the sole test before them. In order for them to exit the barrier, a location will be assigned for them to locate and a mechanism will need to be activated.”

“So a run through a monster infested landscape, and some puzzle we’ll need to solve to escape,” John muttered as the crowd clapped before looking over to Tok and Rowan. “Doesn’t sound too hard, unless your dad’s leaving out some details.”

“He could be,” the dwarf agreed. “He doesn’t have to spell everything out to us. Tests our ability to figure out things.”

“A good knight has to be able to gather information in the field,” Rowan added, likely recounting some Order lesson.

Once the clapping had died down, Vel spoke up, “Now, I would ask that our trial takers and their entourages adjourn to the side chambers we’ve set up so they can prepare.”

“Come on,” Tok spoke up as Vel pointed to one of the side doors. “Door back this way can get to where we need to go. Better slip away than get mobbed.”

John nodded but Rowan hesitated for a moment. “I was being… accosted… before one of your clan made them leave, then I was left alone until you two found me. Did she do something to me?”

“Yeah, she did,” Tok answered, even as he led them to the exit. “Put some kind of repelling charm on your armor. Kept anyone who didn’t know you from noticing you. And it doesn’t work if you get pointed out.”

Tok tilted his head towards John to explain how he could see her. Rowan looked down at her armor then over to John.

“Do you think you could find whatever it is and remove it?” she asked. John didn’t need her to say she didn’t want to reunite with Ramirez with some charm she didn’t notice on her.

Inside his head, Senka hummed thoughtfully. ‘Putting a lot of trust in you.’

‘Who else can she ask?’ John retorted, not wanting to dwell on the question of whether Rowan was crushing on him. Right now was hardly the time for it and he really didn’t want to become the sort of guy that broke a woman’s heart. He knew it was likely, but until it happened, he was ready to just ignore the whole subject as best he could.

Romantic entanglements aside, John wasn’t going to deny Rowan’s request for aid. He knew he wouldn’t want to be under the Order’s scrutinous gaze. He closed his eyes and let his magical senses sweep over Rowan. He expected whatever the source of the obscurement magic would be hard to find, but after a moment, he noticed something radiating a cool magic, standing in contrast to Rowan’s now pleasantly warm aura.

Location found, John opened his eyes and plucked a small silver disk from where the pauldron of Rowan’s armor met with the breastplate. For a moment, he wondered how Lara could have reached that point, then he remembered the halfling seemed to have some teleportation magic.

“This should be it,” John said as Tok led them through a doorway and into a narrow and empty hallway. “No other weird bits on you.”

“Thank you,” Rowan said warmly, a brief smile appearing on her face before a faint blush worked its way across her cheeks and she swiveled her attention to Tok. “Where exactly are these preparation rooms?”

“They’d be down that way,” Tok answered, pointing down the hall to their left.

Rowan quickly nodded. “Then I shall see you when the task is to begin.”

Turning briskly, she hurried down the hall. Once she was a decent distance away, Tok muttered, “Well, that was a shift.”

Feeling an urge to defend Rowan’s honor and character, John spoke up, “She’s not exactly used to this sort of dog and pony show. It’s a big jump for her to be in the spotlight.”

“I get it,” the dwarf said with a shrug. “They probably put a lot of weight on her shoulders. Can’t fault Lara for trying to give her some space so she could center herself. Speaking of that, it’d probably look good for you if you handed that to me so I could give it back to her.”

John glanced down at the rather plain looking disk. “Yeah, I could see how she could twist me keeping it as me prepping to use it to stalk someone.”

Tok winced as John handed it over. “I’ll try and win her over. You’re a good dude and I’d hate for you to keep getting grief from her.”

“Much appreciated," John said, keeping his focus away from the unread Observe sheet. He jerked his head in the direction Rowan went. “So, down this way?”