The next few days of running start off pretty miserably. I wind up needing to stow away a quarter of my armor segments due to damage while they work on repairing themselves. Otherwise, too many of them are digging in at painful angles to really abide by. Losing some protection is less than ideal, but after another day or so they should be back to normal enough to use again.

  As such, I’ve slowed my pace a little. I don’t want to get caught out by something I miss while moving along at speed. I know how prone I am to spacing out when moving along at a full clip.

  The other small downside of taking off some plate segments is that the armor no longer has a full seal against the environment. So the areas around my back, stomach, and neck are notably colder than everything else despite my cloaks best efforts. A fact worsened by the weather worsening in the last couple days. We’ve been having morning frosts, but last night was the first night of actual snow, and the temperatures are regularly dipping down to where my cloak is struggling to keep up without me feeding it excess essence from my reserves — something that will not be sustainable long-term given how much harder Ignia is to come by in the winter.

  But, during one of my walking breaks to recuperate from essence overusage — something I’m doing more often as I’m getting closer to potential danger to avoid risking being caught flat-footed with no essence access — I hear someone coming up behind me at a great clip. Plate armor shaking and rattling, punctuated steps of metalshod boots striking the flagstones, and what I feel as an essence bow wave being pushed along by what must be powerful enchantments. It’s the sort of thing that most armor like mine will do if it weren’t for the specific counteracting enchantments of my Sojourner set. The aura of magical pressure is considerable, though, likely outstripping my set by a fair margin.

  Which means whoever is coming up is equipped to an even greater degree than me — which narrows the list of people it could be considerably to highly successful freelancers, other veteran Vigil knights, and…

  As I shift to walk backwards, resting my hands on my knives out of habit, I see the source of pressure round the bend moving along with a bounding lope that I’ve come to be very familiar with over the years after spending time around various Lapin. Long strides that are equal parts bounce and leap, enhanced by Lapin biology and, in this case, the highest grade enchanting you’ll find in the country.

  The lapin abruptly comes to a skipping stop on seeing me, bleeding speed with a half dozen slides of his boots and a lowered hand scraping the ground. About ten feet from me, I finally get a good look at him and his armor.

  He stands maybe five and a half feet tall, a full foot shorter than me. Though, like most Lapin, his prodigious ears would nearly make up the gap — were his not on the floppier side of things, instead falling to frame his face like fuzzy blinds. He’s got a tawny brown skin tone that’s lightened ever so slightly by the slight fur given by his more developed kyn features brought on by his age. Well built and wearing regal-looking armor similar in function to mine. The chief differences though, are that his is focused around magic amplification rather than agility and is notably lighter in overall construction than mine. Aesthetically, his suit of reinforced half-plate is comprised mostly of silver, blue, and gold. It gives him the air of officiality befitting his station. The largest identifying mark being a tilting shield at the right side of his chest displaying his crest of office — the sigil of the Eldaran world-tree with a shield and crossed swords before it; carved out of a very specific type of crystal found only at the capitol from the depicted world-tree.

  He’s a Crownsguard: some of the only people in the country who train to the same or better standards than the Vigil and operate as equal parts local heroes, investigators, and royal guards — depending on skill and preference. The organization is operated by the Eldaran crown and has been around, as far as I know, for the better part of a couple thousand years in some form or another.

  As far as the Crownsguard go, he’s not terribly impressive to look at. He cuts a dashing figure, for sure, but he’s an understated individual wielding simple arms: a quality longsword and a deceptively simple buckler coated in essence concentrators and emitters.

  “Nyss, fancy meeting you here.” He fixes me with the same warm smile he’s met me with for the last twenty years since we first met, not appearing to have aged even a single day aside from a slight salt and pepper graying around his hair, fur, and ears. Boyish, charming, and infuriating in the extreme because of his essence affinities. The cause of a very particular slight itch in the back of my mind.

  “Where’s the fire, Vari?” I probe. I want to see if he knows what he’s rushing towards and if so, how. He’s the exact person who needs to know what went on in Meadowfields, so his traveling there paints a pretty clear picture, but…something about the way it all played out has me feeling like I should play my cards close to my chest.

  “I think I should ask you the same. I met the girl you saved from those thugs — I’ll have to thank you for that later, by the way — and she informed me that her savior was rushing off towards Meadowfields, girded in armor of glossy black with a featureless helmet. It set me in motion, as I heard that Garrick passed through a couple days ago heading the same direction. Seldom would two of the Vigil be traveling to the same location piecemeal unless it’s due to sending whatever is available the moment it’s available.” He gestures amiably with wide motions — always one to talk with his hands. It’s a distraction tactic, but one he doesn’t really know how to turn off, so I steel my mind against his passive intrusions. “And with Garrick being the first responder, I assumed the worst. And here I am, finding his protégé heading in the same direction despite having suffered damage that’s seen her partially unarmored.”

  He fixes me with a look — a very particular look that the agents of the Crownsguard cultivate — that brooks response, elucidation, and confession. Just serious enough to instill urgency. Just amicable enough to calm and encourage trust. Just charming enough to get people to open up. His look, however, comes with probing tendrils of essence that he is constantly leaking through his armor into the area.

  Vari is a Cognitio magus — one of the rare kyn born with direct access to a compound essence, like the magma user from the other day — and a powerful one, at that. He’s, more specifically, a reader. The specific subset of mind mages who are very good at skimming minds and influencing them subtly. He avoids doing it deliberately to people he knows or has no suspicions of, but right now, he’s clearly not holding back, considering the circumstances.

  “Do you want the straight answer? If you’ve not been to Kharbon in the last while you wouldn’t have heard yet.” It’s the part I hate about talking to him. Much as I generally trust him and know full well he’s a good man with good intentions, there’s always the slight distrust of myself and my own words when I’m around him. I have to worry and wonder: am I speaking of my own free will? Am I divulging information voluntarily? Mind magic is rare, so few people have natural defenses against it — me included.

  As if…reading my mind…I feel those tendrils abruptly yank away from the edges of my mind. “Sorry, Nyss. That wasn’t on purpose, I’m just a bit strung out and wasn’t paying close enough attention. I wasn’t exactly mentally prepared to run into someone like you today.” The phrasing stings, admittedly, even if I think I know what he meant. He just inadvertently used language that the people at the keep do. It probably wasn’t on purpose, right? He just means someone with as poor essence control as me. Probably. “I would like to know, though.” His calming voice works to put me a little more at ease, but there’s a tightness in his features

  “The short version is simple. A Calamity befell Meadowfields. I probably put a stop to it, but it was an exceptional case in… a lot of ways. I don’t know the full status of the town, though, as the nature of my fight with him — it,” I catch myself and hope the faux pas doesn’t give Vari any actual reasons to probe. “— led me far away from the town and deep into the woods. From there I had to make the call to either return to the keep to report or to return to the town and see if there was anything that could be done. I chose the option I felt could potentially save more lives.”

  Over the course of my explanation, his face darkens. Not in anger at me, obviously, but just because I’ve informed him that probably the better part of a few thousand people are dead in the realm we’re both sworn to protect. He stands a moment, and I watch as a host of emotions cross his face before settling on tired. He’s been through this more times than I have, and it’s never easy. Even if he probably hasn't fought one, the nature of his position is such that he will always be involved with the fallout. “You say “probably” and “save more lives”. I know you and how you talk. You wouldn’t speak in terms of uncertainties like that if you were sure.“

  That gives me pause: how much should I say? I can only really speculate on ninety percent of the information — even the Blackthorns apparently don’t know, and I don’t want to send Vari on a wild goose chase because of bad information. I’ll keep it simple. “I found the town already wrecked while trying to get aid after our expedition went pear-shaped, and I got badly injured. When I found it, the town was aflame, and I found a Calamity mid-way through the morphosis. I engaged it and tried to put it down.” I hesitate, feeling a surge of the damnable emotions I’ve been feeling over the entire thing. But I reign myself back in by thinking about Serafina instead. It’s something that comes with shocking ease and brings me nearly instant relief. “It tried to escape — and I know what you’re going to ask, I don’t have an answer to that question, nobody does to my knowledge — but I eventually cornered it at a crevasse and was able to drive it off into a few hundred-foot fall after stabbing it in the heart with its bane. I wasn’t able to watch it discorporate, but all signs point to it being dead. Garrick is out here confirming that while the Blackthorns handle the…rest.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “And why are you out here? That is notably absent from your explanation.” The glance he gives me isn’t really combative, but it is probing in the way that the Crownsguard all tend to.

  I don’t answer for a while. Vari will know if I’m lying, even without his magic. He’s a people person who has known me long enough to know my tells. So there’s no point in obfuscation. “I’m not supposed to be. I had a repeating nightmare while I was recovering that Garrick would enter this town and get killed by the Calamity. It’s stupid, but it unsettled me enough that I couldn’t leave it alone.”

  Vari has a face he makes fairly often when dealing with anyone younger than him — me in particular since he has known me since I came to this country twenty-some-odd years ago. It’s a fatherly face. One that’s altogether understanding and accepting. In some ways, it reminds me of Serafina. “Well, I can’t say I fault you. Can we travel together? We’re going to the same place, I presume. All of this stuff aside, I’d like a chance to catch up. It’s not like we can undo what’s happened, so the time for grieving can come later. And if anything untoward happens we’ll both be better off together than we would be separate.”

  It’s a question I expect, but still have to try to not flinch at the thought. Traveling long distances with anyone, let alone someone who can see into my head accidentally, unsettles me. Especially someone like Vari who I know is prone to talking at length — one of my least favorite things to do. But there’s quite literally no logical or reasonable reason to decline. He’s right, if we do run into the Calamity again our odds will be exponentially better with two people than either of us alone. “Yeah, It’s fine by me. I’ve spent the last while recuperating, so I’m fine running if you are.”

  Vari fixes me with a smile that de-ages him twenty years to the first day I met him while being escorted by Garrick aback one of the many gryphons that have come into my life over the years. “I’ve never once turned you down for a run and I’m not about to start now. Plus, I know at least a part of the reason is to shut me up, so I’ll oblige this time.” He winks at me before beginning a stretching routine. Which, since he should already be well limbered up having only stopped running a few seconds ago means he is really planning to run.

  “It’s not personal, Vari. I’ve…just got a lot going on in my head right now. If it weren’t for this dream I would still be bedbound to recover.” I force out a too-long explanation, feeling more than a little guilty at his, even joking, comment. For being someone I havent seen in over a year, his calling me out over that so readily makes me wonder a little bit more what the general perception of me is.

  “Nyssa, I’ve known you since you were seven and still shorter than me. I’ve long come to terms with your preference for quiet. I wasn’t digging at you, don’t worry. Let’s hit the road: I take dreams seriously myself, so I’m not keen to leave Garrick alone if you’re feeling concerned enough to head out here.” The explanation rings true enough and allays some of my worries. It also stands out to me how similar he and Serafina’s types of support are…

  That thought gives me a little pause and, I think, settles whatever remaining doubt I’ve had about Serafina’s intentions. If Vari takes me seriously at face value the same way she does, then I really have no reason to view her with any more suspicion than I would him, right?

  After limbering up, myself, we both start at a brisk walk that quickly graduates to a jog and eventually a run. Before too long, it pushes beyond a run and into the type of physical contest that only two people like Vari and I can participate in. We’ve been here a lot over the years. He and another Crownsguard, Calen, have come to visit me pretty regularly over the years, and it almost always winds up with us challenging one another. And despite having close to twenty years on me, Vari is a prime example of the sort of physical ability the Lapin hold on to into late age.

  In spite of everything, I find myself smiling. Running with Vari is a good memory. Just like Calen and I’s brief adventures together when I was a kid and he was helping get me to the Vigil Keep after Garrick rescued me and had to leave to try to help the people of my home.

  Helping the people of my home…

  The thought rears its head, killing my smile dead for the first time in a long time and I start to slow without really meaning to as I process it, walking backwards in time through distant, hazy memories. My first encounter with a Calamity.

  I try to remember the word. We called it something different. Hara…kai? I think. The Harakai, that’s definitely it. The Monster of Monsters, I’m pretty sure was the direct translation. I haven’t used the tongue of my homeland in so long that most of it is gone aside from the barest and most basic things like the alphabet and counting. It’s a point of guilt.

  WHy haven’t I kept those memories alive? Is it not my responsibility to do so? But it’s not like it matters. Garrick and his friends did everything they could and it didn’t matter. It’s gone and can’t come back. It’s a distant past and one that won’t ever be anything but a distant past.

  Maybe it’s better to just abandon those memories fully. I barely remember the homeland anyways, I was too young. I vaguely recall the geometric buildings. Tall spire roofs, but…not much more. Thinking of how little I can remember starts to tug at my throat and eyes. It’s suffocating.

  The Calamity took everything from me. My home, my family, and my childhood. And it keeps doing it. I’ve lost friends fighting them, veteran knights who helped raise me. And I’m just not good enough to even put down one that was barely even changed.

  Pulling me from the dark whirlpool of thoughts I’ve avoided thinking about for years and years, I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around me and return to the present. I open my eyes, unsure of when I closed them, really, and see Vari hugging me with all of his might. It makes me feel…conflicted.

  I appreciate him caring, but I shouldn’t be getting like this. Not out here, not where we’re going.

  “Sorry, Vari. I just…” I trail off, not really sure how to put the thoughts into words.

  “Don’t you dare apologize to me for that.” He steps back and looks at me sternly — a scene that was much more effective back when I wasn’t over a foot taller than him. “Nyssa, seriously. Without even needing to try, I can feel your turmoil. Don’t apologize for being a person. I wouldn’t invade the privacy of your mind, ever, but what I’ll say is the same thing I always have.” He holds my eyes firmly, “Reach out. Asu isn’t that far anymore. Amethyst, Calen, Aen, Puff, and everyone else would love to see you, no matter the circumstances. Amethyst, especially, worries. She always has. Her duties as the Sovereign haven’t changed that.” He sighs lightly and turns away. “Just…keep in mind that you don’t have to bear your past alone, alright?”

  The outburst leaves me a bit stunned — guilty, I think. “Right, Vari. I hear you.” I avoid apologizing. I won’t promise anything though. In truth, the collective Crownsguard are good people, but their insistence on giving me special treatment has always made me deeply uncomfortable in a way I can’t shake. They treat me like I’m someone important. Someone of circumstance, like my parents were. But…I’m just not. Going there only reminds me of everything else — like just happened because of proximity to Vari.

  I step back into motion, keeping my counsel as best I can, but can’t bring myself to run or jog, so I just trudge along, trying to dispel the funk I allowed myself to fall into. Vari matches my pace and walks in quiet solidarity.

  More of this… this…instability. Every time I’m around other people, it rears up. Garrick brushed me off the other day, I yelled at Lan when they were trying to help, and May had more important things to tend to than seeing to me personally: not that I really deserve it anyways.

  “What’s wrong with me?” The question resonates in my head until I think back to Serafina assuring me that what I feel is okay and normal. It brings me some peace and gives me the wherewithal to pick up the pace as I focus on her for a while.

  Vari seems to happily join along and the remainder of the days travel sees us leave the Mineralis laced Ironbough forest and break into a more mundane spruce forest. When we finally arrive near Meadowfields, the sun has fallen behind the distant Ironreach peaks, but we’re close enough that pushing on is the only sensible decision.

  After the full day of relative silence, I break it. “Vari, have you seen the immediate aftermath of one of these before? I know it’s usually the duty of the Order to handle it, but I was curious.”

  He pauses with a look of something resembling shame on his face. “I can’t say I have. I’ve seen picts, and essence reconstructions of scenes, but I’ve never been in a position to respond to one of these situations at any point.”

  “Well, I want to warn you, then. It’s bad. I don’t know what else to really say about it. But it’s bad.” I gesture down the road where the last vestiges of daylight are showing one of my least favorite sights. A town that was once vibrant, that should be giving off some light like a gentle, welcoming fireplace, that is silent. There’s no light leaking over the walls, no sounds carried from people going to and fro even at later hours, tending to whatever needs tending.

  The only small consolation for this for Vari and me is that it’s been close to two weeks now, so wind and rain will have cast away the majority of the remains that suffered aetheric collapse. The ones that didn’t though, will surely be unpleasant. But a mundane sort of unpleasant. My helmet can filter smells, at least.

  “Let’s get within the walls. The monsters in this area will be more active now that it’s been some time since the Calamity either left or died and that the village is no longer active.”

  We press onwards, passing a large barn near a huge fenced-in region. The barn is made of the dark spruce wood, with red clay shingles on the roof. It has two stories with windows on the second floor. Odds are pretty good that someone lived in it.

  As I ponder, I hear a weak whinny from within the barn. “One second, Vari. I’m gonna check out the inside of the barn. I hear a horse or something and odds are that nobody’s taken care of it since the calamity befell this place.”

  “I’ll come with you. Don’t feel like standing out in the middle of the road in the dark.” He quickly fishes around in a pouch at his belt, most of his arm up to the elbow disappearing into the five-inch-deep pouch. After a couple of moments, he pulls out a couple enchanted lights and taps each with a pulse of essence to start their processes running.

  With little delay, they cast the area in a clean, white light. It’s harsh on the eyes, but it illuminates everything evenly without obfuscating anything like other colors might. He hands me one and sticks one to his armor, the small crystal adhereing with no issue. I do the same and step forward and push one of the pair of large doors open and we head inside.

  But first?

  Horsey :]

  Otherwise meeting one of Nyssa's truest ride or dies. One of the first people she ever met on coming to this country -- something that will be explored in the future as the series goes on. But what's not to love about Surrogate Dad, Bunny James Bond?

  If you want to see some more of him, he plays a major role in the second act of my first book from or so and will also feature in a short story I'm planning to write that I'll release on my patreon and discord when I get around to it.

  Finally, the very gentle reminder that my has about 60 chapters worth of content available between the two ongoing stories I'm posting! 30 from Vigil and about that many for Fates Bound.