For another thing, everyone is looking a little tired. With the exception of Saki, we’re all training with weapons in the morning. Both good exercise and training we'll need once we leave the palace. This is a different world than we grew up in and we have to be prepared to defend ourselves.
Just for the record, Saki does yoga and then goes for a run every morning.
I, myself, am really tired. It's weird to say it out loud, even to myself, but I need blood. Blood cures my weakness. Just like kisses take away Rio's pain. It doesn't last forever, but the quality of life is completely different. That's one reason I keep thinking about the future. Pushing to learn and grow. If we can escape the Palace, we’ll experience a sort of freedom none of us has ever had.
I turn the meeting over to Rio. He'd gotten a shot of passion on the way to breakfast and is feeling better than I am right now.
We’ve been here over five weeks now. Seems like a lifetime. We have experienced a lot, learned a lot, and done things we've never dreamed of. Even so, our situation is precarious.
That is what I say to the others in our after-breakfast team meeting. We make a list of things we need to worry about:
No idea how long we can live here before the Palace Administrators kick us out.
There is a growing hostility to our presence here.
Too little information about practically everything in this world.
Too much we don't know about our newfound powers and abilities.
Too many things we can’t understand while we’re cooped up here in the Palace.
We each need to find ways to make a living after we leave.
Being kicked out by the Palace is the biggest issue on the horizon. So is the strange hostility that’s building up against our presence - probably related to our Curses and the summoning accident. Most everything else is related to what we’ll do when we finally get the boot.
Kari summarizes things for us. "Mostly we just need to study and learn. For that we need time."
"So how can we buy time?" asks Nix
"The problem is that the length of time is unpredictable. Sir Aldo originally was talking a couple of weeks. Addie talked him into a month or three." I said.
"We need five or six months," states Addie.
Saki signs, Let's become ghosts.
"What do you mean?" asks practically everybody.
This Palace is huge and there’s a large fraction of it where no one ever goes. Find a place within the Palace that we can hide. Live off their resources until we're ready to go and then reappear. Negotiate for our exit package then and hit the road.
"Sounds fun! I can find us a place. I’ve got just about everything mapped now." exclaims Kari. "How can we disappear, though?"
We all start brainstorming. It boils down to finding a suitable place, taking a few actions, and a little bit of razzle-dazzle. Razzle-dazzle meaning Addie's Mesmerize skill.
Addie quickly sketches out a plan and assigns roles. Kari will be in charge of finding us a good place. Addie will bring the maids into the plan and get their help. Saki is in charge of researching ways to discourage people from wandering into our new place. Addie will spend the next couple of days practicing Mesmerize. I am given the role of Addie's aide de camp so she won't have to worry about little details while she's busy with her other roles. Nix and Penny are in reserve; a scout and a helper respectively.
Who would have thought that the person who has the best vision in our group would be the blind man?
Everyone gets excited and runs away. I call in Tara and Jane to explain our plan. I'm a little nervous about how they’ll react. I'm pretty sure I have some selling points that will swing them our way, though.
"So you want to disappear," says Jane slowly.
"Without actually going anywhere?" adds a puzzled Tara.
"Yes. We're worried that the Palace Administration will force us out before we're ready. We're going to engineer a situation where they forget about us for a little while."
"But if you go, we'll lose our jobs. We're just here temporarily, helping take care of you." Tara is distraught.
"Right now, they will want us to go away in a few weeks. With our plan, we'll stay for a few months. I can't do anything about what happens after we leave, but we'll get you as much time here as possible."
Jane purses her lips in thought. "So what you're saying is that you want us to stay on as your maids. We'll be employed here longer but we'll have to be a little dishonest with our employers."
She hit that nail with a sledge hammer.
Tara and Jane look at each other and then back at me. "Okay, we're in!" they say in chorus.
I smile.
It was an accident, I swear. I didn’t mean to be in a room behind the women’s bathhouse while I was testing out all of my new forms of vision. How am I supposed to know what’s on the other side of some random wall? That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
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I’ve had Spirit Vision since I came here. That allows me to see living things as auras and locate them in relation to each other. In one of my trials I learned how to focus all the way down to single cell organisms. The bacteria on surfaces allows me to see the outline of the world around me.
But I can’t really see the shapes of living things. Until now. Now I have Mana Vision. I’m guessing it’s a power inherited from Saki through the Family Bond. I also have Primal Vision which I’m guessing comes through Kari. If it were from Rio, I would probably start seeing across time and that is a level of crazy that I just don’t want. The thought sends shivers down my spine.
So I’m practicing. You hear that? Just practicing! If I accidentally started practicing next to the bathing rooms right after morning training when all of the girls are in there washing up for breakfast, how can I be blamed.
Okay. I admit it. I’m super curious. Outside of dreams, I’ve never actually seen a woman. I’m just going to have to ride this wave of curiosity. All I got to say.
And also: WOW! Who knew women’s panties came in so many colors, patterns, and styles?
I assemble a recon team. Myself 'cause I'm the Seeker. Nix 'cause, while he literally can't see the wall right in front of him, he can see what's on the other side of the wall right in front of him. And Tara 'cause she knows her way around the castle pretty well - 'specially the hidden hallways that the servants use.
At first we don't have much luck. All the known places are full. And busy. Seeker isn't being helpful. I guess my image for what I'm looking for is too vague.
In the end, my new spell Lucky Find hits the jackpot. I feel drawn toward something on the far side of the kitchens. We end up in a short hallway that dead-ends in a musty old tapestry.
Nix claims that the hallway should continue on. Lifting up a corner of the tapestry we find a locked wooden door painted with a military crest.
We retreat to regroup. According to Nix, there are a bunch of rooms behind the door. No one's in there, but he says there's a back door. Taking Tara's arm, he leads her around to what she identifies as a servants' hallway.
We aren't supposed to be there (that is to say, Nix and I) but we take a chance and pile on in. Nix quickly leads us to the backside of the complex of rooms where we find another tapestry covering another door in a narrow, dusty hallway.
Breaking and entering! An Adventure! Well, not breaking really, 'cause the door isn't locked. We find plenty of dust bunnies living in what looks like a small barracks complex. There are sleeping rooms with bunk beds and little desks, offices with desks and hard wooden chairs, meeting rooms, several bathrooms, a large bath and even a little kitchen.
They've clearly been empty for years. JACKPOT! Even the back hallway we came in through is perfect. It connects to the main servant hallway so our maids can easily bring in meals, etc. At the other end of that hallway is a door that leads out into one of the public hallways.
Addie asked us to find a secret hideout. Mission accomplished! In spades....
Oh, and what did Lucky Find find? It was a rusty old sword. Fallen into a crack between a bunk bed and the wall. We pull it out and I stick it in Family Inventory. Maybe Rio can use it? Looks a bit like his type of sword to me.
We quickly draw up a crude map of the place and another map showing its location. Nix folds and fires up a couple little mice and leaves them as watchers. One in the back hallway. One in the front hallway. Then we go to report back to Addie.
Oh! And now I have a pet dust bunny! Didn’t see that one comin’ didja? This is a world of magic. Dust bunnies eventually come to life. Leastways in this area around an active Dungeon. They’re surprisingly clean little critters. They eat dust and if you keep one in your room it’ll be kept spotless.
Dust bunnies! Who would have thought? I add that image to an array in my Mind Palace. Then start making cross-connections to other information. It is a bit strange that random bits of fluff can come to life while the dead don’t come back to life when left alone. No zombies here on Emulgren. Not even necromancy despite that there is life and death magic.
It is these kinds of discrepancies which stand out when I do maintenance on my Mind Palace. Data means nothing. It is only information once it is put into some sort of context. Sense-making if you need a word for it. Drawing information into a tapestry that shows meaning.
Right now, I have a growing block of information which does not fit in very well with what I knew back on Earth. I am of two minds about whether I should seek to integrate the two worldviews or not. I might need to talk to the others about this. Sometimes those nitwits actually conjure some good insights.
It's late afternoon and I go to the library to get a book on party tactics. As I'm browsing the shelves, I see that boy Nixon again. He's sitting at a study table next to an absolutely gorgeous woman. Inexplicably, I feel a rush of jealousy which passes as quickly as it comes. After a second, I recognize the woman as the librarian.
I watch them for a moment. Penelope's doing paperwork and Nixon is ... well, I don't really know what he's doing. It looks like he's sketching in the air with light.
Suddenly, he stops and looks right at me. I mean, I know he can't see but he raises his head and looks right at me, I swear. He smiles and calls out to me, "Class Rep!"
I step up to the table and speak, "Hi Nixon, how are you?"
"I'm okay, Class Rep! How’re you doing? I hear you're a Great Hero now." Then he turns to the librarian. "Penny, do you know Tia? I mean, the Great Hero Tia?" he asks. Although he is speaking, he is also gesturing to her in sign language.
She smiles. So beautiful. Her graceful hands sign a greeting to me, We have not been formally introduced. I am Penelope Cox-Warden, the librarian of the Palace library. It is a pleasure to meet you. Now that I think about it, we had met once before and we conversed in sign.
I smile back. "It's nice to meet you, too. What’re you guys up to?" I ask, while simultaneously signing to Penny.
Nixon answers. "I wanted to do some studying, but it's difficult without technology. No braille here, either."
On impulse I say, "Mind if I join you? I have some time if you want me to read for a while."
"That's so kind of you!" exclaims Nix. "That's why everyone loves you, Class Rep."
I laugh and sit down next to Nixon - Nix - as Penelope - Penny - slides a book over in front of me. I look inside the front cover. It's a book on Summoning magic.
Penny leaves as Nix says, "I'm on page twenty-three. The section on basic Spirit contracts."
I turn to the page and start reading.
I'm hanging out in the library with Penny when I get a pleasant surprise. Class Rep comes to visit! I mean, the Great Hero Tia. I've always liked her. She's a nice person and always made sure I was up to date on class stuff. She smells nice too! A little savory, not flowery or sweet like average girls. Tia has umami!
Wow, I just used a whole lot of exclamation points. Maybe I've got a crush? Nah, no point in that. I know my limitations.
Anyway, she agreed to read to me for a little while. She's a big help. She reads, I practice, and then she gives me feedback on what I do. I make a lot of progress.
I think it helps her too. When she arrived her aura was faintly pink - I associate that with worry. She must be under a lot of stress, being a Great Hero. After she helps me, though, her aura is a contented green. I'm glad I'm able to help her relax.
I give her a gift as a thank you present. An origami butterfly. A BF1 (ButterFly mark 1) not the new and improved BE2f (Butterfly-Exploding mark 2, fire variant). I set it in the palm of her hand and then use my Spirit magic to bring it to life. I even use some of the new techniques we just read about. It will draw Spirit energy from the environment so it can last forever. I show her how she can use a little of her own magic energy to turn it on and off so it recharges faster.
I'm pretty sure that my gift helps Class Rep smile. I hope I was able to lighten her cares a little. The Heroes have such a long and difficult road ahead of them. Addie and Rio think so, anyway.