Recalled Memories - Day 4

Still, I wouldn't have brought it up if I couldn't recall it at all, and it just so happens that shortly after our first job had been done, I remembered the entire scene again for the first time in years. Down to the details, or even the terms the sisters used that I didn't understand well. Hence, as we prepared ourselves to return to Zainlastris, bits of it were slowly taking shape in my mind. Our means of return were by bus, by the way. The sisterhood offered a ride back after we reported in and after making sure the cart had been strapped to that kind of bus, which wasn't one the those normally in circulation through the city and the town (as it was far smaller), we quickly sat ourselves and started the journey back. Sitting by one of the windows to that vehicle, the scene finally took a coherent shape in my head, and while it did so I observed the town we were exiting. 

The group was mostly quiet by that point. That kind of bus was small enough to where we were pretty close to each other, so if at any point we felt like chatting it wouldn't have been hard (with the exception of maybe Nalfimiria, who had been assisting the driver in managing the systems of the machine). That said, we were more or less content with staying quiet around that point, and the seats most of us picked gave a bit of a distance between each unit member. Also, Finarkzir was perched inside the bus. Normally we probably would have left her outside, though in this case the sisters said there wouldn't be an issue. Chiaisei had also asked to sit next to me, so there she was, with the eagle perched nearby as well. At first I found it strange, considering there was enough space there for each to get their time to rest alone if any wanted it (and I figured Chiaisei might have still been a little mentally exhausted post the fight) but I figured maybe that was her way of cooling down. We knew each other for a bit longer than the rest, so that might have made it easier for her to relax while hanging out with me, I imagined. 

—Hey. Is something on your mind? — She whispered quietly, while leaning against my left shoulder. It looked like she noticed my distraction for some time, as that scene had returned to me. 

—Oh, nothing in particular. I was just recalling something I don't get the chance to remember often. — After saying as much, I mentioned that the moment in which I was scouted for my high magical affinity had suddenly returned to my memories. I didn't go into many details as for the scene itself though, as I imagined Chiaisei went through all of those same tests at some point as well. Her affinities were a bit higher than mine, so it likely hadn't been long before she had shown signs of them as well. She seemed way more interested in the way my memories about that day were inconsistent than in the contents of my story themselves, however. 

In case it wasn't clear enough from my child self point of view, that had been the day the sisterhood figured out I was likely a child of high magical affinity. If I had to guess as to why their suspicions fell on me, I would have probably said it had something to do with the way I fought, even as a little kid. In some ways, the basics of tactics came to me naturally, as did some helpful points of fighting directly against other people. I didn't know exactly everything that this implied at the time, but I had heard before this was a sign my soul was really old by that point and that a lot of my ancestral memories involved fighting, most likely. That kind of sign is usually what leads the sisterhoods into discovering children of high affinity. I'm pretty sure the test they put me through was also a standard for their methods of discovering the affinities for a child. 

As for how high my affinity is, I scored a nice and round 490 when the testing had been completed, a number you might have seen in my records as a pact warden. To put into perspective how high a score that is, the limit is 600, might I add. That, and a score of 600 is basically impossible. That is because the score is obtained from comparing the mage's affinity in each greater area to their species' average, right? So, my highest score in this test had been in Thalgignir, and it was 89, meaning I am on average, better than 89% of the human race on my time when it comes to training in this area. This is why scoring a 100% in even one area is sorta difficult, as you more or less have to hit the limit to the race's affinity to accomplish that. For reasons I couldn't tell you why at that point, people with a single 100 score were really rare and they usually didn't get many more chances at reincarnation to perfect that score in other areas too, meaning even a person with 2 100 scores was already incredibly rare. And so far, there have only been two cases of a being on this planet scoring a perfect 600 score, might I add. One being the Eternal Emperor, which I don't need to tell you is a special case, I imagine. The other being none other than Nikzalpartris, the demon lord child you've been introduced to in the transition between the books. I think her oddities are even more extreme than the Emperor, so let's leave it at that. 

(Though I should also note, the increase in magical skill of a mage isn't proportional to their increase in affinity score. The gap between my ability and someone with a score of 100 in Thalgignir was way bigger than it was between me and someone with a score of 78 [reminding you, my score was 89].)

—I see. Well, your test was similar to mine, as were the occasion surrounding it, in a sense. If anything is strange, perhaps it is your memories. There aren't many days of that time that I remember in detail, yet that is one I doubt I will ever be able to forget. There might be something odd about those memories of yours in particular. Perhaps something magic related. 

—I mean, I don't remember that much of those years, to be fair. Maybe it is too much to assume something like that. 

—This isn't necessarily about you remembering the scene or not, just the way you recall it and the fact it only has returned to you when near a path tracer. I assume Clarssimin and Luscinfalnir caused the prior waves of memory returns? — After hearing her question, I nodded in affirmation. 

—Then it is safe to assume Nalfimiria might have reawakened those memories in this instance. It is possible she knows what's going on too, yet I suspect if the sisterhoods wanted this phenomena to be known publicly, it already would be, supposing there is any grounding to it. In any case, I'll verify with some frequency if your memories remain consistent about this event from now on for some time. Just to check if they'll remain there as of now. 

—If you say so… But what's got you interested in this? 

—It sort of concerns the talk we had about the towers or the sisterhood artifact systems. The phenomena that we caught glimpses of that day might be connected to this, considering in both cases our minds only started operating normally when a sister became involved with the issue. Though of course, it would be difficult to arrive at any given conclusion about this topic without first studying more cases. There is no particular need to worry about this now, that said. Any solid conclusion should require some additional information at any rate. — Chiaisei said, seemingly engaged in the idea of going further into this topic later on. 

Don't know if you remember this, but Senshin and Nalfimiria brought up something akin to a logic block concerning some of the sisterhood's creations during his first chapter in day 9, right? The short of it is, in countries where magical knowledge is less predominant, there sort of exists a mass influence spell being sustained to keep people from noticing some of the absurdities the Greater Aspects casually left all around, an effort usually requested by the administration of those countries. Motivations vary and can get complicated, a topic Senshin didn't go in full depth on and neither will I, but in a simplified manner, seeing the evidence to how strong each Greater One is could cause some problems, and make more explicit some of the complications of dealing with each*. 

Point is, members of the sisterhood were not affected by this block, and they could permanently dispel its effects on others by speaking the truth. There are different layers to this reality influence, but over the period I acted as Chiaisei's instructor, either most or all of them had been shattered on the two of us, after meeting a particularly peculiar sister. This reveal and the fact the sister in question explicitly mentioned the conditions for the break were what likely led Chiaisei to reflecting on those same conditions at this point in time, even if they seemed to operate differently in regards to this memory of mine. 

(*Keeping creatures that could disintegrate all life on the planet alongside with it in instants simple and all benevolent makes the nature of their infinite strength far less unnerving, after all. Governments like this type of analysis, hence why our history often feels simplified. Even if the nation has to paint itself as the bad ones at some points, they deem that a less stressful option than being unsure of the good nature of beings that are effectively omnipotent.)

—I guess it should. You know, I sometimes forget you're a bit of a scientist, Chiaisei. Does this sort of thing fall in your area? 

—Not exactly. It still is something that drives me curious, regardless. If this sort of phenomena is general, the impacts of it could hardly be considered isolated to any particular field of research. All knowledge is firstly shaped by memories, in the end. 

—Gotcha. I'll help you out if you need anything, by the way. — I offered, and by her reaction she seemed to have accepted it well enough. From there, we spent a few seconds silent. I wasn't particularly feeling like talking the whole talk back, in parts due to the scene we had just gotten out of, and it more or less felt like the topic reached a proper end by that point. Still, looking at her then, I figured there was something I should be the one asking, as I was the one most familiar with those two. I wasn't sure there was any need to go over that then, but if Chiaisei would offer a hint of that to anyone else, it would likely be to me. And as much as the finishing words of our more sentimental talk were sort of final, I decided it might be best to ask a little about it, either way. 

—Also… You know when you cut Finarkzir off? What was she about to tell us? In as many details as you want to give, of course. — I could have asked this of the bird itself, so long as I had a thought communicator on, but seeing as Chiaisei bared the topic, I figured it might be best to go to her first. Especially since those two were constantly connected through thought as well. Finarkzir seemed interested in the angle to which I pulled the talk to as well. 

—Oh, that… — She spent some seconds in silence before saying anything else. — Finarkzir had a family before meeting me. That was mostly it. — That sentence didn't say a lot, yet it also told it all, I figured. Past tense and living beings are always a scary mix, in this kind of context. Language can sometimes be magical in its own way. 

—I see. Sorry I asked. 

—There's no need. I never met them in the first place, so this wasn't my loss. I just figured that wasn't a direction the group was ready to go on, right at that point. Besides, Finarkzir herself doesn't seem to care about talking about this. Grief works really differently for magical beasts, in some ways. Not all of them died either, exactly. — After saying that, Chiaisei pointed at the eagle, and I noticed that with one of her talons, she had been gesturing for me to turn on the thought communicator, mostly by using it to point at the point of her other leg where hers was at. 

—Personally, I don't understand why humans find it strange to discuss this sort of matter. It is a rather simple situation, really. My younger siblings died because of me, and seeing as I was meant to protect them, I made my parents the favor of disappearing before they could toss me out of the nest. That is what led me to meeting my girl, and also what led to our bond being formed. As she put it then, in a sense this link was formed out of my need to seek something else to protect, having failed so clearly my initial duties. Thus my wish to protect Chiaisei since then originated, though it has changed somewhat by this point. — Seeing as I brought up the topic, I figured I might as well listen to her explaining things in full. 

—Yeah… I agree with Chiaisei sort of, Finarkzir. You know, I think this is a bit heavier than the general mood was agreeing with. And seeing as I was the one who elevated it from a prep talk to a collective of confessions in the first place, maybe I'm not one to talk, but people tend to get a little intimidated if you go straight to things that sound that bleak when the rest of the talk was a sort of casual heart to heart. — I tried putting it in a way that would make sense to her, while trying to keep my voice low enough to where the boys wouldn't hear us. Not much of a point on doing this separately if we were making it blatantly clear what was being discussed and all. 

—Perhaps so. Forgive me if I failed to comprehend the scene at first. At times it is difficult for me to judge how much of Chiaisei's interpersonal advice is something other social people also take into practice or not. — Hearing her thoughts, I laughed for a moment, something Chiaisei appeared to be a little frustrated by, as she still hung around my shoulders. The contrast between the two of them often felt entertaining to watch closely. 

—Come now, as indirect as I may occasionally be compared to your standards, I'm far from unreliable when it comes to reading tone. I only interrupted you then because I was confident the others would have found that topic sudden. — She said in almost a whisper. I doubted anyone would have heard her other than me. Not that it mattered in particular if she was referring to Finarkzir, since I'm pretty sure her words were passed along as thoughts even before they were spoken. 

—If you say so. Though I'll be honest my dear, getting used to what is normal among your kinds has never been made easier by viewing things from your point of view. You're constantly searching for long drops, whatever be the spot you take off from, Chiaisei. Perhaps letting me talk directly to those around you from now on might prove helpful at times? 

—I'm fine if you do it, just so long as you stop putting my thoughts into your own words. Keeping any sort of secret would be impossible if you talked to others frequently, you know? — Chiaisei said, still keeping mostly silent. At that point, I suddenly realized she was being way more expressive than usual. It looked like talking directly to Finarkzir brought more emotion out of her than normal, even if it was in voice, not thought. 

—My dear Chiaisei, if I don't speak your thoughts for you, no one ever will. 

—I know! That's the whole point of thinking! If I wanted them to be heard by others, I would be speaking them verbally myself, right? — The provocation seemed to cause Chiaisei to speak a little louder than she had before, enough to briefly draw the interest of Senshin, before he realized what was going on and returned to whatever he had been doing by himself. 

"This is the first time these two had a chat like this with me in the middle of it, isn't it?" I realized, while keeping the thought from taking the shape of a message through the communicator. There were many points of our time together were it had been somewhat easy to tell Chiaisei had been talking to Finarkzir, but other than the points were I was directly involved with talking with both, that had been the first Chiaisei had allowed me to see this kind of banter while hearing both of them. I was happy she was showing that sort of trust, seeing as how distant she was at first, though that also made me notice a different aspect of their relationship. "They really are like sisters, aren't they?" The realization made me smile, and after continuing the stare down for a second or two, that reaction seemed to have drawn Chiaisei's curiosity. She spent some seconds looking at me then, as I thought over if I wanted to comment anything or not. Finarkzir seemed ready to say something else, but before she could Chiaisei pulled out my thought communicator before shouting at the eagle for a bit more time. 

At any rate, that was sort of it for the trip back, or at least the part we chose to register here. Maybe this is formatted kinda oddly, though the idea was just to cover these final details on that day before getting on to the next. Not to say the day was necessarily short or anything. Part of it consisted of getting our payment from the guild and stuff, not to mention finishing our report for the job. I guess this is also the first time we've discussed wages directly for the job. A lot of it depends on how much time each task requires, and in this case, counting from time spent researching and preparing for the objective, our time traveling and spent in waiting on that town and the task itself, they considered that about 12* hours of active work.

(*Admittedly, I added in my report that the sister with us did a lot of the preparation, though for the purpose of our earnings Nalfimiria's efforts counted as the unit's as a whole, despite them being partially covered by a different organization.) 

This amounted each of us 176 Tralglyr for the job. Also I should add that our payment isn't taxed. The government is kinda the one hiring us, even if indirectly, so we had that benefit. Normally there might have been penalties for Chiaisei depending on how many opponents she killed, seeing as it was explicitly mentioned as something to be avoided in the task's description, yet since that was her first time working outside a city they simply gave her a warning to be more careful from then on. Also, Senshin, Chiaisei and me ended up taking an extra of about 12 Tralglyr for the task as well. Not for our performance or anything, just that since Sowanar, Nalfimiria and Finarkzir weren't really employees of the guild, some of the benefits that would have been offered to them were instead distributed among us, something neither of those 3 complained about. 

Chiaisei also got another small bonus for being linked to a magical beast that took part of the job, as paying Finarkzir directly would have made no sense. Though a part of me thought the idea of our friendly raptor flying up to a stall and tossing some money at the person behind it while pointing at an item inside it would have been funny, Finarkzir couldn't really use money directly herself, so her work counted as a part of Chiaisei's, as far as the association's bureaucracy was concerned. However, I should also note they typically paid less for this kind of work, as according to the guild, a magical beast didn't need the same expenses as a social creature, meaning putting them into the same standards for rights as the rest of us wouldn't only be unnecessary but also make dealing with Yealmyrn users even harder from the perspective of the guild and others connected to our employment. 

Not like anyone who has ever spent time with wild magic kin would try to contest that point either. All they ever spend money on is food or gear, and even then finding gear that can be used by magical beasts isn't exactly easy in the first place, so it is usually a given that for the funds of a unit, wild magic kin should be the last person the rest seek to offer upgrades for. After collecting our load, we also made sure to discuss the unit's finances as we headed and got home. We first separated from our pay the money that would account for our collective fees, like food, taxes, and usage of transportation, so long as it was connected to work. Then we tried figuring out what our expected monthly revenue would be, and if there was any chance we would need to borrow money from our elven bank initially or not (an elven bank known as the wallet of a certain pink sister). Some of our friends with bigger funds also offered to get less of a personal check at that point, since their current savings would have been enough to sustain their usual spendings for quite some time, and Sowanar brought up it might have been relevant to include in our spendings as a group his salary as a knight as well. 

In the end, Senshin and I were the ones picked to get the heaviest personal load for a period. Chiaisei and Nalfimiria were already loaded, and getting further help from their loaded parents wouldn't have been difficult either. That, and Nalfimiria didn't need to pay for her gear, be it in improving it or maintenance, being a sister and all. Not to mention all of the other things she got benefit on paying for or skipped on paying entirely, like transportation or most cases of directly purchasing food, seeing as she didn't pay any taxes connected to Earth Tower maintenance. Sowanar had the benefit of two forms of payment, and according to him his main hirer was quite generous with his wallet. That, and like Nalfimiria his gear was the standard for knights. Or rather, the standard for Titled Champions, who would be a few steps above that of the norm in the first place. Senshin got some benefits from training under the sisterhoods, but not quite as many as a full blown path tracer would, or even those of a path seeker. He still got assistance with gear maintenance and selection however, meaning I was left as the least favorably placed member of the unit. 

I wasn't about to complain about that, of course, nor to complain that my share was the heaviest. Turning away from cash gets a lot harder for people born poor, you know. Especially since I had people depending on my work. Even at the start of this job, I earned more in a month than my parents would in four or five, depending on their sales for a period. And my little brother would be turning 10 around that point, so I figured the upkeep of helping them out was about to start growing. Especially since I was trying to give him the option of a magical education, something my parents definitely wouldn't be capable of sustaining on their own. He was never gifted enough at magic to get a full scholarship, like I was discovered to be really early on, so if he wanted it the training would have to come the hard way. If the association didn't offer us a small discount for some academies as I was a mage in their employ, I was pretty sure that even with my full pay I couldn't sustain that kind of fee. 

Not that I wanted my brother to follow a career as a mage warrior, mind you. It would be different if his interest was a school helpful for civilian life, like enchantment, magical engineering or being an apothecary. It would have taken a pretty long time for him to get started, though as far as I was aware that still would have earned him a way better life than most normal civilian work. Still, knowing just how effective cognitive enhancements are directly, and knowing how unfair it is to expect normal people to compete intellectually with mages, I felt that giving him access to this was the best method available for me to make his life as smooth as I could. I had it relatively easy compared to many of my initial class mates because of my high affinity, and I wanted to extend that blessing to him too, if it was possible. Though this was also made much easier due to a certain contact I made during my life as a student. Again, this wasn't I was building for him entirely from my own hands, but still, that isn't the point. The objective outweighs the means for this kind of situation.

I didn't really bring up matters with my family at that point, though. I figured I would end up mentioning that eventually, however I felt that if I explained matters right after we got paid it might sound like to the others that I needed even more money than they already were offering to my split. And as much as that was true, I didn't really think putting that pressure on the others would be nice, as far as the unit's functioning went. Either way, the writing of reports within that town, talking to the responsibles for the job there, the trip and then our declaration, registration and payment of the job by the association took most of the morning. Then we had lunch, discussed the matters I mentioned above and with that, most of the afternoon passed as well. Some of us still took the time to train a little that day, though most of what I had done was guidance. There was some more talking taking place due to that, yet nothing we decided on writing about. 

If anything else took my attention, it was Senshin acting more reclusive than usual. He said something about meditating in order to ascertain the state of his spirit after the battle, as a means of measuring his success in overcoming this test, by his own words, as well as honoring the bravery of our fallen foes. I didn't get it. Neither did Chiaisei, although she did claim his spiel resembled some old practices of their shared region, even if it was one that wasn't really practiced frequently on modern days, however Senshin himself claimed he picked up the practice on his own, not from a history book. Chiaisei took note of that, without really explaining her motivation, but nothing else that was too relevant came to mind. It had mostly been the three of us home until the time for dinner, after all, seeing as Sowanar had to report to his lady personally and Nalfimiria spent time within that afternoon on the temples. Which is to say, this is where the registers for that day end, as did our first job written on this series. We will continue below onto the next day, and until my next part, stay well.