Chương 5: A Strike of Inspiration

"So, what do you think we should be doing, Deuce?" Tiya asked her son as they rode along the hillside. These were wild lands, but monstrous creatures who didn't mind attacking human settlements were prime targets for wandering, non-Legion Amazons to practice being awesome on, so they'd been well-taught to avoid single women travelers, it seemed. Which was good. Although she was pretty confident she and Deuce could handle most things that might bother them, she didn't want to do so unless she had to.

-A farm would be ideal, - the mellow voice of her son responded slowly and clearly. -But we don't have the resources to start one, and a proper farm is a long-term investment worked and built up over years. It also generally involves trading excess produce for other items, and there's only you and I to provide for here. -We should just make a hunting lodge, something we can walk or run away from if we need to, with a garden attached to it if possible.

Enough seeds to do that shouldn't be hard to acquire, and won't draw much attention. -"Any animals? Chickens or a goat or anything?" she asked reasonably, her gaze drifting for a moment.

"I would really like to see what kind of farm I could help you build, Deuce." -What are you thinking about, Mother? - he asked gently.

"A barn!" she answered brightly.

"A big bright well-lit barn, where the animals are all cared for, with fresh straw and sunlight streaming in through a big window! You walk outside, and you can see the wheat and rye growing in the fields, rippling in the wind..." -With lots of chickens chasing the bugs here and there, - he sighed softly back to her. -Yes, that is a good dream, but not one we can pursue for now.

We have to get you to Seven and Forsaken, and a farm away from civilized areas needs more than two people to look after it properly, especially with magical creatures and fey about willing to prey on it. Once you hit Seven and I'm a little bit older, we can consider it, but there will likely be other problems, related to you having a halvyr son who can use magic. - Tiya's lip curled. She already had plenty of tastes of that, even before Deuce was born.

She could totally picture what it was going to be like when the same kind of people actually met him in person.

"What kind of trouble are you expecting?" she asked him. -You mentioned that the Empire likes to take away anyone who can use magic, and either farm them out to the Temples or the Imperial Academy. Any whisper of someone who can use magic will bring inquiries, and as I've elven blood, I'm naturally a Caster. -"Huh." She hadn't thought about that fact, and frowned at the trail ahead.

"And people are suspicious and will talk if a farm with just one adult is doing really well..." -I apologize in advance for wanting a nice farm, too... - Tiya laughed despite herself, surveying the green trail ahead.

"So, what am I looking for at this point?" -A small forest in this area we can raise a lodge within. If there's things to fight so that we can establish our territory, so be it. -"The lands get wilder further south, with beastfolk everywhere and more monsters and beasts in the forests there, even at the outskirts," Tiya said thoughtfully. -Can't make you into a heroine of the legends without doing some legendary things, even if nobody else sees them, - he noted for her.

"I'm gonna get strong enough to pound an Amazon flat!" Tiya declared promptly, shaking her fist as the gelding maneuvered down a narrow section of the trail, picking his way forward carefully. -Damn straight. But it's best to start with ogres or something. On that note, see that tree off to the left? Should look a little burned, at the least. - Tiya turned her attention off to her left, where a half-split tree, charred and burned, was sitting forlorn and alone over a crack in the hillside.

"Yeah, I can see a tree there. Looks like lightning hit it?" -Perfect for both of us, Mother. Go over there. We're going to get us some heartwood from a lightning-struck ash. - Tiya obligingly turned the gelding that way, and in a little bit of time they were setting next to the tree. She looked it over, the withered leaves and bare branches, and of course the wretched split down the middle of its trunk.

"Is this still alive?" she asked, as she swung off the horse. -Barely. I'll fix it as a thank-you for the wood. - Tiya shook her head at her son's casual kindness, unslinging her papoose so he could reach out to the tree.

"What do I need to do?" she asked him. -Grab the two staves when they come out. - Not bothering to ask more, she lifted the baby out enough that his tiny arms and hands could brush up the charred bark of the broken ash. Stolen story; please report. He only opened his silver eyes slightly, and golden lights shimmered over his tiny limbs.

They gathered and swirled into complex circles and patterns Tiya could not understand in the slightest, only that they made a wonderful, uplifting thing to see, pumping the power of Heaven gently and surely into a new spell. The entire tree trembled as The Light bled into it. Stressed and strained wood shivered and groaned, and Tiya half-thought the tree itself might actually animate and do something.

Around the point of contact with Deuce's hands, the bark began to pale and regenerate, the charring vanishing, and the groaning and creaking within the tree seemed to increase in relief. A sound like reverse cracking drew her eyes down, and down at the base of the tree where it protruded from its little niche in the ground, the great split in the trunk was drawing itself together with visible speed, and the whole body of the tree was trembling as it drew back together.

The number of circles of light only increased and the pace of the healing sped up with them. The Light was pouring into the tree, and the burns were evaporating. Branches twitched and seemed to extend new twigs like growing fingers, and then in a wondrous moment, just like a suddenly blossoming flower, leaves shot forth all over the tree, straight green clusters veined with gold that shone as brightly as the sun overhead, displaying all the Light within the tree.

The gelding behind them huffed in shock, watching all this with wide eyes, but he did not run away. The trunk in front of them creaked and cracked and rustled back beneath the tiny fingers on either side of it, and continued on and upwards, all the way up to the remaining part of the trunk that had not fallen down and away before from the lightning strike. A gentle wind sprang up, and the leaves rustled in a dance of delight and new life above them.

There was no mark on it now, save scars where part of the trunk had fallen away, and even that was scabbing over with new bark, pale and strong. There was a peculiar sound, and Tiya realized it was the sound of wood flexing and moving with a life of its own. She watched as the bark split open, and two long poles of dark wood, slick and very tight-grained, were pushed out of the pale wood within, given up by the formerly battered ash tree towering up above them with new life and vitality.

The Circles and Seals pouring The Light into the tree disappeared one by one, and when the last one faded, she knew he was done. Without asking, she bundled him back up, then slung him back onto her back. She grasped the poles and tugged them, a slight pop answering her as they broke free of the last of the tree's embrace, and came into her hands, firm and heavy, but not too heavy.

They were shaped differently, with one being top-heavy and thicker, like a quarterstaff made for walking and clouting people, while the other was long and straight, made for a spear. She smiled, backing up once, and, after a moment of thought, bowing respectfully to the tree that had granted these things to them. When she mounted up and rode away, she did not look to back to see that some of the branches were waving in their direction with motions that couldn't have come from the wind.

"The Night Wind comes, the World now breathes deep, The Shadows grow strong, and Song falls to silence steep. Eyes in the Darkness wait, yet the Rider stands not alone. Let the Clouds pass beneath the Silver Moon's embrace Where rest the weary, and dream of the wind at dawn." Tiya blinked a tear away from her eye as she inhaled a breath, feeling an abrupt sensation as the Night's Renewal was abruptly upon them as Aethra's Salute, and the time of the Long Watch was upon them.

Rangers were the favored servants of the Rider of the Winds, those who went out into the darkness, seeking and fighting it, standing the Long Watch on the borders of their peoples, the first to fight, first to hunt, first to follow the retreating enemy. They were no mere hunters, barbarians, or savages, but servants of the Land and Gods alike, as holy and committed to a greater cause as any templar, Amazon, or priest.

Of course, with the gods in Heaven silent, the numbers of Rangers had plummeted to basically nothing, a fact held up as yet one more reason to believe that so many of the gods had abandoned them.

"I need a spear haft, but why the head thumper?" Tiya asked when they stopped for the night and the nursing was over with. Deuce was clasped to her chest under a blanker, keeping her warm and cool at the same time. One arm supported him, the other slid over the dark ash of the spear shaft. -I can use magic because of the elven blood, but there are no disadvantages to wielding an Implement, especially at my age.

I'm wielding magic very slowly and supplying a great deal of the energy to do so from my Pact, as my body simply won't support actively wielding my Matrix like a true Caster. There's something to be said for growing up, I guess. - She picked up the quarterstaff, much heavier than normal ash.

"But you can't use this?" she asked him, a bit confused. -I can when I shrink it down, Mother. - Tiya burst out laughing despite herself.

"Okay, okay, I should have seen that coming. How are you going to work on them?" -I only need to be touching them to Wood Shape and Temper them, although it will be slow. Let's start with the spear, as you'll need to hold the spear head to the top of it. Once we're done, you can doze off while I do the staff. -"Oh, good!" she said cheerfully, reaching over to rummage through her pack and pull out the bright, shiny new spearhead, sheathed just like a long knife so as not to cut or penetrate anything.

She worked it around so the shaft was leaning against Deuce, while she held the spearhead to the end of it and watched. Once again, silver glowed in Deuce's eyes and The Light gathered about them again, slow and gentle. The shaft quivered around her hand, and the dark ash flowed over the long handle of the spear. There was no need to split the wood and anchor it within the wood, as it was accepted directly into the wood and centered perfectly, the wood grasping and holding it perfectly. Tiya's eyes gleamed.

A Woodcrafted spear like this was an expensive toy for Amazons, and perhaps some Legion officers, a sign of wealth and favor. She watched the wood growing over the metal like an extension of itself, and threads of glowing magic extend from wood to the metal and back, just like they were the same thing, one rooting into the other and melding them together into something better than either. Who had the chance to watch magic being worked like this, so closely?

All the Casters she knew were very private individuals with little to no time for soldiers. She was getting to see Holy and Natural Magic right up close! Tiya sat back against the tree that was her support for the night, along with the gelding's saddle. She noted that the gelding was watching the display of Light closely, too, and definitely without the air of bring frightened about it. That didn't surprise her, either.

-I will do your axe as well, - he told her, and she obligingly added it to the stack of wood in contact with him, and held him tightly as she gazed into the fire and began to doze off.