Chương 31: [The Measure of a Man]

The fire was small and steady by the time the first tent was up. Rika dropped onto a log, wings settling behind her, and looked at the other two.

"Right," she said.

"Those five." Shai ducked out of the first tent, having laid the groundsheet flat inside.

"We've barely sat down."

"I've been thinking about it since we left." Rika pulled her knees up.

"I like them. All of them." She looked at the fire.

"Leo's thoughtful. Quietly takes everything in. Phil's got nerve, asking about orcs like that, most people wouldn't. And the way he took a shot at you," she grinned at Shai, "that was brave." She smiled.

"Luka pulled that joke with the sugar and kept a completely straight face. Sam asked about your culture," she looked at Torren, "because he saw something in you and was curious. And Parmo." She shook her head.

"He just handed me the lighter. Didn't hesitate, didn't make a fuss. Just handed it over and let me get on with it. He didn't complain once." She paused.

"He's my favourite." Shai looked up at that.

"You have a favourite?"

"Don't give me that. We both know who your favourite is." Shai rolled her eyes and moved to where Torren was already hauling out the uprights for the second tent. Torren handed her one end of a pole.

"They're good people."

"They're more than that," Rika said.

"It's the way they are with each other. The jokes, the names, the way they pile on and then someone says something kind and nobody makes it strange." She looked at Shai.

"They reminded me of our people, especially those in the guard." Shai was quiet for a moment, holding the upright steady while Torren positioned the base.

"I noticed that. When I was watching them from the trees before I came out." She paused.

"The way they talk to each other, the way the back and forth works, the trust underneath it, that's not something human men here tend to do. Not naturally at least. Not like that." She looked across at the fire.

"It's what drew me back. I wanted to know if it was real or if I'd imagined it."

"Oh it's real," Torren said. He drove the base of the upright into the ground and stepped back to check it was straight.

"And it's not only that." He looked between them.

"The tattoos. Luka carrying a story he loves on his skin, explaining the meaning behind it the way our people explain theirs. Phil with the warrior and the tree, roots connecting them, neither one complete without the other." He shook his head slowly.

"They said it used to be looked down upon but now all sorts of people do it. Can you imagine one of the human teachers, one of those stuck up types who teach noble scions, with ink all over their skin. It's surreal." Rika looked between Shai and Torren.

"It's the same thing though isn't it. All of it. They're free with themselves in a way that human men here aren't." She leaned forward.

"They don't carry that weight. You know the one." Shai nodded slowly, taking the rope Torren passed her and beginning to lash the upright's guy rope to its peg.

"The nobles."

"It's not obvious to the people living under it," Rika said.

"That's the clever part. You have your age ceremony, your magic gets assessed, and if it's not what the church or the nobles want then you do what your family has always done. Generation after generation. You have your community, your town hall, your evening at the pub after a long day." She paused.

"But you know your place. And after enough generations of knowing your place you stop questioning whether it could be different."

"They don't even realise it's happening," Shai said quietly. She tied off the rope and moved to the second upright. Torren lifted the ridge pole, resting it across his shoulder while he assessed the spacing between the two uprights.

"No. They do what has always been done. And the ones who get to move up—" He paused.

"The lucky ones, as they're called." The word sat flat in his mouth.

"Those are just the people the church or the nobles noticed early. The ones whose magic was useful to them. Everyone else carries on." He set one end of the ridge pole into the notch at the top of the first upright.

"These men come from somewhere that doesn't have that. You can see it in how straight their backs are. They may have had hardship back home, but that didn't break their spirit or make them lesser in any way." The fire crackled. Somewhere in the trees something small moved through the undergrowth and was gone. Rika had been listening quietly, for longer than was expected of her. She got up from the log and moved to the second canvas, laying it out flat on the ground ready for when the frame was up.

"The science thing," she said.

"I keep coming back to it." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Shai looked up from the second upright.

"The lighter?"

"Not just the lighter but all of it. What the lighter represents." Rika shook the canvas out.

"They built everything they have with their own hands, no magical aid. The way they described it, thousands of years of people figuring things out, passing it on, building on what came before." She paused.

"And what they ended up with is way more advanced than what we have. It's not just that either, though that alone is kind of hard to wrap my head around. That shoe material, rubber I think Sam called it. The stuff made from trees." She paused.

"And the foam. Air trapped in a soft material just for comfort." She shook her head.

"We have magic and I'm not sure we'd have thought of that." Torren had the ridge pole balanced, ready to lift.

"The lighter is the thing that stays with me. Not because of what it is but because of what it means." He and Shai lifted together, seating the ridge pole into the notch of the second upright.

"A farmer with no fire magic, no access to a mage, living three days from the nearest town. Something like that changes his morning. Changes his winter."

"That's it exactly," Rika said.

"It's not about the object. It's about who gets access to things that make life easier when magic isn't evenly distributed." She looked at Shai.

"Not every human gets a strong casting from their age ceremony. Some of the other races don't have access to fire magic in the same way. I can't cast it. I just made this fire the old fashioned way." Shai began lashing the ridge pole to the second upright while Torren held it steady.

"Yara said something similar in the briefing." She paused.

"Not about science specifically but about what these men bring. She said it wouldn't just be weapons or combat that changed. She said to think broader." She tied off the lashing and stepped back.

"I've been thinking about the watch." Rika looked up from the canvas.

"Leo's watch."

"My watch at the moment." A small pause.

"In the garrison we run shifts by the bell. Out on patrol it's the position of the sun, how tired people are. The guards have good instincts but instincts aren't always precise." She checked the ridge pole was level.

"Something that tells you the exact time, that every guard on every shift has access to, that doesn't require magic or a mage or anything beyond knowing how to read it." Torren began on the guy ropes, working his way around the frame.

"On top of that there's what Yara said. Something like setting a trap for a creature that has been stalking the forest. The watch allows for plans set ahead of time to activate all at once in different locations." She looked between them.

"That's one thing. One object. And I don't know what else they have. That's what I keep thinking about. I know about the watch and I can see what that changes. But there's so much I don't know yet. I'm sure they have things that won't make sense to us until we understand something else first." Torren finished the last guy rope and straightened up.

"A world that built all of that," he said quietly.

"Without any of what we take for granted." He looked at the tent frame above them.

"Makes you wonder what they see when they look at what we have."

"Probably the same thing we feel looking at what they have," Rika said.

"Like there was another way the whole time and nobody told you." She gathered the canvas and between the three of them they lifted it up and over the ridge pole. The second tent began to take shape. Rika dropped back onto her log and looked at the other two.

"The five of them. As fighters. What do you see?"

"Luka first," Torren said.

"He stepped forward when I came out of the trees. He looked like he did it without thinking about it."

"He's well built, already has shield magic." Rika nodded.

"Definitely front line. Shieldbearer."

"Something heavy in the other hand," Shai said, checking a guy rope.

"Hammer or a mace." Torren smiled.

"My people favour mauls. I'd be glad to show him. The boys give him grief about his height but he's the same as most human men from our world. There's nothing stopping him."

"Phil," Rika said.

"Front line as well. I feel like he'd want to be in the thick of it. And he wants to be seen doing it." She paused.

"I think he goes for a greatsword. Something big and impressive. What better way to show off in a fight." Shai glanced up.

"That'd suit him."

"Leo." Rika looked at Torren.

"His size, the lightning magic. Another front liner maybe? A halberd, he's tall already so he'd have an impressive reach with one. Or even a second shield bearer."

"Possible," Torren said.

"Though his lightning — there's more to it than just throwing it at people." He frowned slightly.

"There's a lot he could do with it. Maybe that changes where he ends up in a battle." Shai said nothing. She moved to the next rope.

"Sam," Rika continued.

"Not front line. Too much going on behind his eyes for that. It feels like he would make a better tactician than a fighter. His fog magic suits keeping out of the fight." She paused.

"Though I'm not sure what he puts in his hand. A short spear and shield maybe? He'd want reach without getting pulled into the middle of it and the shield keeps him safe."

"Maybe," Shai said.

"Or a bow. That lets him sit back and keep a wide view of the battlefield."

"Parmo." Rika paused.

"I think he definitely picks a bow. His build, the magic he has. It suits him I think. Ice could stop people in place, makes for an easy target." She smiled.

"I'm looking forward to that one actually. Teaching him for a change rather than being the student." Shai tied off the last guy rope and stood back. The second tent was done. She moved to the third canvas without being asked, Torren following.

"Speaking of which." Rika looked at her sideways.

"Wouldn't you rather have Leo pick up a sword?" Shai looked at her.

"Why would that matter?"

"I'm just saying. If you were teaching him—""It's got nothing to do with me what he picks." Shai pulled the third canvas out and laid it flat.

"I don't know why you have this thing in your head. You sound like Koss." Rika grinned and snapped a salute.

"Whatever you say, Captain." Shai shook her head and kept working. Torren pressed his lips together, shoulders already moving.