Chương 6: Chapter Six

We were in the forest for a couple of hours beforethe trees thinned and the walls of Tenoth came into view. I was still in awe over the mana I was seeing now, I couldn't turn it off! Mandy said my eyes had even started glowing slightly. But the walls were something else. They were huge! And absolutely crawling with mana. I don't know why I thought stone wouldn't have mana, but it definitely does. It flows from the wall to the ground in a blanket of mana. And all of it I can see is flowing this way.

"I'm not sure I like this." I commented which seemed to summon Mandy, because she was suddenly sitting next to me.

"What dear?" She asks looking out the wagon.

"The mana movement?" I nodded still watching it. The mana that gets near me seems to disperse and I lose track of it.

"It's been doing that since we saw you after your Becoming. It's just more pronounced here because of the mana saturation."

"I was? Is that bad?" Mandy brought Boyan to her shoulder to be burped while shifting her blouse to cover herself.

"It just is. It's part of you. I think if you stayed here a month the saturation around you might go up a tier. But we aren't going to stay that long." I nodded thinking. It's weird how much I'm affecting now, but looking at my list of attributes I can't say I'm surprised. I have no idea how I'm supposed to practice this though. Call it like I would a lost cat? Picturing myself saying 'here mana mana' on the street already makes me feel crazy.

It didn't take long before we were in line waiting our turn to enter the city behind a long line of other wagons. Mandy, for her part gave up trying to teach me anything and told me to go sit next to Evan while she takes a nap. I didn't think I was that distracted.

"Why are they moving faster than us?" I asked Evan nodding towards a line of people either on foot or horse what were moving several times faster then us. Evan grunts as I interrupt whatever he was thinking about.

"It's a lot faster to inspect someone on foot, or with a horse, then a wagon full of goods. We'll get our turn, don't fret." I didn't think of it until now, but Tenoth is an elven city. So these people should be… yes! Elves! They look… like humans. With perhaps finer hair, is that green? And their ears are a little longer, and curve to a point. I thought they would be like mine, but they aren't even close. My ears twitch as I star at a woman with light green hair and dirty armor leading a horse.

Her eyes went wide when she saw me, then hurried forward after not keeping up with the line. I frown at her reaction. And look down the line. She wasn't the only person staring at me.

"Why are they staring?"

"Hmm, who's staring?" Evan asked looking around, only now noticing that about one in every three elves in line are looking at me, and that number was increasing.

"Huh." Evan said scratching the back of his head, as he tried to answer me.

"I'm not sure." He finally answered lamely. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I scoffed. There was a noise from the front of the line, and I saw several guards come out of the gate. A couple appeared to be talking to someone while several more were looking this way. I rubbed my stomach as it churned unexpectedly.

"Could it be that thing with my mana?" I asked quietly, watching.

"You're not trying to crush anyone with your mana. I might not be able to sense mana like Mandy, but I would have to be mana-blind to not know you were doing that." He frowned at me, and I frowned right back. How did Mandy explain it to me?

"With what ambient mana does around me. Could that be…" Evan scowled.

"They shouldn't make an issue over that. It's not doing any harm. And you're a kid. You can't control it yet."

"They're coming." I said as I watched three guards start walking down the line. He wiped the scowl from his face. I rather envy that skill. Maybe he could teach it to me. No. I would rather not be in situations where I would have to use it!

"Ho there!" One of the guards called out as he approached, placing his hand on Nix's flank so she wouldn't get startled. Evan relaxed his hands, making it clear he wasn't about to do anything stupid. Two of them were wearing leather armor with metallic platting in long strips down the torso, then flared into what looked like a skirt with two or three times the platting in loose strips that clicked together as they moved. Those two carried short swords on the belts.

The third was carrying a staff and was wearing robes in the same green and blue as the armored guards. A emblem of a diving falcon was embroidered over his left breast instead of a sunburst, which the other two had. I found them endlessly fascinating. It was almost like the bird moved with every shift of it's wearer. It was… heraldry? I've never actually seen it before.

"You there, step off the wagon." The robbed man said looking directly at me.

"Me? Uh…" I looked between them wide eyes. These weren't townsfolk telling me to do something. These were guards. With weapons.

"Okay…" I started to move before Evan placed a hand on my arm stopping me.

"Do you have a problem with my daughter?" He asked and I had to swallow a lump that spontaneously formed in my throat.

"She's not Toordor." The first guard stated. Nothostile, just stating a fact as he saw it.

"Of course she's Toordor. She just had her Becoming, I shouldn't have to explain that to you. Of course she's Toordor." Evan said, keeping his tone and expression level.

"She's carrying a magical item powerful enough to disrupt the ambient magic field." The robed man said, causing my heart to beat painfully in my chest. The quiet elf was looking at him in disgust for some reason.

"She will come with us until we prove that she's safe to enter the city."

"She has no magic item. Wand her then. You could have waited until we reached the gate like everyone else instead of coming out her trying to kidnap my daughter." Evan voice cracked for the first time in the conversation, making his anger clear.

"Whoa now. Calm down." The first guard said, raising his hand not on the horse in placation.

"No ones kidnapping anyone. We just want…"

"Calm down?! He's not even a guard! Yet you're telling me to give him my daughter under the pretense that you're too incompetent to do your job!" Evan voice raised, and I flinched at it's volume as the area around us had gone quiet.

"How dare you accuse House La'Tithe of…"

"House La'Tithe" a dark voice, not loud yet still somehow echoed throughout the area, said as Mandy… no, mom came out of the wagon. Her eyes blazing so brightly in my sight that I couldn't make out her face.

"should know better then to test the bounds of the Telimet Accords. Our children are not your toys!" The last line was spoken with so much venom and hate that I could only stare at her wide-eyed trying to contain my fright as I felt not only her mana surge, but the mana of most of the Toordor, Evan included. They weren't alone though. As mom's voice traveled other caravans mana joined the Toordor's. And not only in the wagons outside of the city. I felt mana rising from inside the city also!

Swirling and joining in ways that I couldn't explain but felt non-the-less. For the first time, I saw the guards faces show fear.