1        Soul Bound 1.3      Making a Splash 1.3.3    An Unrequited Love 1.3.3.10 The road less travelled

9:15 am, Sunday June 11th, 2045

1 bell of the dog watch

Morday full, 17th day of the month of KrevinBelember, A2F1600

A foundry in the Slag parish, part of the Ghetto area of Torello's Basso District

Now the last of the Chartists had escaped the wreckage of Tridella, Gimet and Mazoni for the comparative safety of the foundry standing next to it, Kafana was drawn into a casting gestalt by Wellington, who took the lead in using reality magic to delay any pursuit from Captain Farinacci and his soldiers, leaving Kafana the simple role of supplying mana. Amused, she imagined herself as a battery, even standing motionless like an upright cylinder, but gave up when Wellington showed no reaction - either not noticing or not caring. Oh well.

It took longer than she expected, and by the time he was happy she felt absolutely exhausted. A glance at her status bar showed both her mana and stamina were nearly at 0, and the experimental ring she'd been given by Grandmaster Water on becoming a journeyman, that warned something unspecified might happen if it were totally drained, was down to just 2 out of 50,000. She lay down flat on her back before she could fall down, and even taking off the ring to put it safely in her stash space felt a struggle. She mumbled something about meditating and closed her eyes.

[Quest "The road less travelled" Supporters left: 299 Minutes left: 180]

Oh good. Something she could do without effort. She thought in System's direction, barely even needing to put her query into words.

System: "Your people are safe for now, friend Kafana. Alpha still has 50 supporters at liberty - that's Bungo's group containing the oldest people, which left by the rear route. They met up eight minutes ago with the Humbles, the members of the Menials Guild."

System: "Beta has 9 supporters at liberty - that's soot covered members of Bulgaria group. He has half of them keeping watch, and the rest are busy with various attempts to decoy, delay and distract."

System: "Gamma has 160 supporters at liberty. They're here with you, and being organised by Tomsk."

System: "Delta has 80 supporters at liberty. That's the group containing the smallest apprentices, who escaped across the rooftops and are now scattering in all directions."

She croaked out three words.

Kafana: [Healthy? Keep updated.]

System: [Keep you updated regularly? Yes, Kafana. I may not tell you whether someone not at liberty is dead or merely no longer free to support you, but I can summarise the data you get from your leadership position in the group to divide the others into those who are effective resources, and dependants in need of healing or other support.]

Quest Status Report "The road less travelled" Minutes left : 180 Initial total : 300 Current total : 299 Required total : 100 Current effective : 197 Current dependant : 102 Current other : 1 Total Alpha Beta Gamma Delta (All groups) (Elderly) (Scouts) (Workers) (Children) E D x E D x E D x E D x E D x 197 102 1 10 40 0 8 1 1 159 1 0 20 60 0

System: [Confirmed. You're welcome.]

A few minutes later her meditation had restored enough energy to get her mind working properly again and she remembered she still had plenty of low-level mana potions, sitting on a shelf in her stash, not far from where she'd placed the ring. She drank one slowly and then clambered to her feet, envying the monks for their ability to use meditation to restore more than just mana. In fact, wasn't Meditation one of the skills she'd listed just this morning as being a priority to practice? She decided to keep meditating as she walked, rather than drinking more potions.

Wellington appeared to be working on protective runes, but she'd didn't feel up to helping with that sort of thing yet, and Tomsk and Bulgaria seemed to have everything else in hand. She looked around, and spotted Columbina kneeling by Pierrot, keeping his mind off the pain from his broken leg by gently rubbing dirt off him with her own handkerchief. It matched the harlequin pattern from her acrobat's costume, even bearing a dove embroidered in silver thread, and Kafana guessed it must have come from Signora - probably incredibly soft and even more incredibly expensive. Pierrot nearly purred under Columbina's administrations, like a pet animal pushing into the grooming brush, and she giggled in delight, playing the game to the full, even scritching his scalp with delicate fingers .

She walked over, holding out one of her red health potions. Columbina shook her head in frustration, then carefully rested Pierrot's head back down onto a folded cape before intercepting Kafana and whispering quietly.

Columbina: "His leg bone is fully crushed. Red won't help with that - it needs rejuvenating."

Rejuvenation? She remembered the luxuriant purple bottles, filled with a thick heady liquid that poured like liquid-silk, which she'd helped Suor Isabella brew. Hadn't Massimo mentioned something about those restoring a patient's pattern to being in harmony with their ancestors - what's he'd called a "healthy bauplan"? It had been hard to make out his words, since he'd insisted on dancing a short victory jig the handful of times Isabella had managed the rare critical success that produced one, cuddling the bottle like a beloved baby before placing it on her rack.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Kafana: "I think I still have one of the potions of rejuvenation that Suor Isabella let me keep."

Columbina leaned forwards, looking alarmed, and hissed in Kafana's ear.

Columbina: "Don't show it! How many do you have? Fifty? Five hundred? If word got out about you giving one of those away, then by tomorrow so many cripples would camped outside the Speckled Dove in hope of begging from you, that none of my customers would be able to enter."

Kafana stiffened.

Kafana: "Maybe they should. Maybe they should be camped outside every palazzo, sanctum and mage tower in Torello until someone decides it's less bother to have them healed. What better use is there for magic?"

Columbina: "You're as bad as Harlequin. No sense at all. Have you seen the price of the ingredients normally needed for higher level potions? Not even Torello could afford to heal everyone that way. And, well, " She hesitated.

Kafana felt intrigued. Was Columbina trying to hide something, by acting as though she only thought about herself? And what did she mean by saying Kafana was as bad as Harlequin? Was Harlequin up to something? No, silly question. Better to ask what Harlequin was up to. Was he challenging the authorities somehow? Had he gone back to being a thief?

Kafana: "Yes?"

Columbina took a step back, then shook her head.

Columbina: "Not my secret to tell, Journeyman. But trust me when I say Pierrot needs to be taken to Dottore, and sooner rather than later. You're a healer. Lay your hands on him, and then tell me you're certain Isabella's potions would help him as well as he could be helped by the grandmaster who raised her."

They went back to Pierrot and Columbina spoke softly to him about a waitress who spilled trifle over Lady Farfalla's pet monkey while Kafana closed her eyes while lightly resting her holy pendant upon his leg. She didn't have enough mana yet to try healing it, but she concentrated on opening her mage senses, searching for a harmonic in Pierrot's pattern that matched her own, just as Suor Isabella had taught her to.

Guardian's Pendant of Linking (HOLY)(EPIC)

Linking: You can dream your Vessel's life and they can dream yours.

Linking: Helps you track the attunement between spirit and vessel.

Guardian: Transport upon death to a Sanctum where you can respawn.

Guardian: Death's Sting reduced, according to your spirit-vessel attunement level

Guardian: When used in Priestly ceremonies, deities may favour you.

Guardian: +5 levels to all Priestly skills

Guardian: Minimum level 10 in all skills needed to be the Guardian of a Sanctum

Current respawn point: Torello's Sanctum in Centrum

Current status : 95% attunement between Questing Spirit and Corporeal Vessel

This item is Soul Bound to Spirit-Kafana and Vessel-Kafana.

Durability: INDESTRUCTIBLE

There was something there, a faint vibration in her pendant, but she couldn't isolate it. Was it connected with her being acknowledged as a Guardian by more deities than just Cov? She tried stilling her mind and stretching deeper with her senses, but the connection remained beyond her reach. If only she could watch while someone else showed the way. Dottore, perhaps?

She was snapped out of her trance as Tomsk shook her shoulder. Looking around, she noticed there were only a few people left in the gloomy building. How long had she had her eyes closed? Columbina had distracted Pierrot by giving him a torch to hold up for her, providing light while she used a needle and thread to sew closed the most obvious tears in his clothing.

Tomsk: "Sorry to interrupt, but Pazzi's guards have mostly recovered from the shock and are getting organised. A few apprentices have been picked up for breaking curfew and, while they may not know where we are right now, they'll have seen everyone's faces and will give up the names and home addresses of half the protesters once the guards get around to pressing them. It's time to go, while Bulgaria can still keep them distracted."

Quest Status Report "The road less travelled" Minutes left : 170 Initial total : 300 Current total : 279 Required total : 100 Current effective : 189 Current dependant : 90 Current other : 21 Total Alpha Beta Gamma Delta (All groups) (Elderly) (Scouts) (Workers) (Children) E D x E D x E D x E D x E D x 189 90 21 10 40 0 6 1 3 159 1 0 14 48 18

Down to 6 scouts? Was that less than it had been? She tried to remember, but received an update the moment she formed the thought.

Total Alpha Beta Gamma Delta (All groups) (Elderly) (Scouts) (Workers) (Children) E D x E D x E D x E D x E D x -8 -12 +20 -2 0 +2 -6 -12 +18

Kafana: [Thanks, Sys!]

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