Irwin's Journey 481: Time to multiply

"As you can see, the tree-wharf is close to being fully functional," Rindiri said as she stomped beside Irwin.

He nodded as he followed her, half of his attention on the massive changes to the eastern part of Trunkle. The wall had been expanded a few hundred feet outward, around one of the larger trees, allowing the small docks and buildings a clear view of both the city and beyond. 

The other part of his attention was on Rindiri herself. 

When he'd left, she had been a Crathan for a while, but she had still seemed somewhat unfamiliar in her movement and behaviour. He'd not expected only ten months to change much… yet it had. 

Rindiri moved with a physical confidence he'd seen only with a few people, Brecka one of them, walking forward as if she fully expected to be able to move through a wall if she had to. He knew that it was exactly like he did, but that, combined with the confidence and joy in her eyes… 

"How are you feeling?" he asked, barely realising he had interrupted an explanation about how she was having issues with a set of the runes that should allow the ships to move through the glacial areas of the portal gallery.

Rindiri looked at him, her mouth slowly closing, an eyebrow raising.

"I feel great," she said. "The others and I have found a few ways to more quickly get used to the changes, and since that-" she shrugged, a wide grin on her face.

Irwin hummed thoughtfully. "What ways?"

"What seems to have worked the best is that we have joined the Viridian and Oxarite fighting rings," Rindiri said.

Irwin blinked in surprise. "You what?"

Rindiri looked up with a small grin before her usual calm demeanor took over again. "There is a large combat competition that spans this area. According to some of the older Treeshapers, it's something that is done everywhere. Trunkle has one of the larger arenas in Rootknot Grove, with the other being in Eleafrin."

"And you just fight?" Irwin asked, thinking back to the underground fighting rings Greldo was part of long ago, when they had first arrived on Fiverion. 

"Yes. No teleportation is allowed, nor any skills that can cause damage to the area. Movement skills are allowed sometimes, depending on the rules of that evening, but mostly it's physical prowess and fighting skills," Rindiri said, the corner of her lips curling up. "Before you ask, we are doing really well. Even without soulcards, all of us are in the one soulcarded or two soulcarded divisions."

Irwin had stopped walking, watching his old friend, and the first one who was a lot like him. 

"How high does that go?" he asked, curiously.

Rindiri immediately shook her head. "If you join, there would be little to no competition for you. There are a few four soulcarded Viridians and Oxarites that sometimes travel here, but-"

"What? Since when are those here?" Irwin exclaimed, spreading his soulforce senses out in a wave that encompassed the entire city and a large area around it. Tiny pinpricks of soulforce resonance appeared everywhere, with a few larger ones that he recognized as the other Crathanathair and a few of the nobles. The strongest was a two-soulcarded.

"They live in small towns or on their own," Rindiri said, showing little reaction to his sudden outburst. "And only come here with their wards, children, or friends when they need something they can only get here."

Irwin pulled his soulforce senses back and continued walking forward.

"Do you have any idea how many of those exist?" he asked.

"I tried finding out, but most with three or more soulcards in this area prefer their privacy and remain in seclusion," Rindiri said, matching his stride. "I know that Rinbus has been gathering information on them, so he should be able to tell you more, but, Captain, I don't think you need to worry. Most are old and have barely any interest except living in their little slices of life."

Irwin didn't react, and after a while, Rindiri resumed explaining what had happened in his absence.

When they had finished their round through the city, Irwin was impressed and reassured. With Rinbus constantly spreading out through the area with his shadewalkers, little managed to slip through, and that which did caused no issues. Beyond that, his second charter was growing rapidly, and could potentially grow without him, which meant he could head for their third location.

"Good," Irwin said, as he looked across the square at the tall wooden building, shaped from four small trees, their trunks intertwined into a chaotic but beautiful building with a roof of leaves. "Can you gather the others later tonight? I need to explain a few things to you, as we are going to be changing our plans slightly."

Rindiri nodded, taking a step back. She seemed to want to ask something, but was hesitating.

Irwin's mind made a click, and he realized what she wanted. He quickly pulled a tiny stack of letters from his soulscape. "Before I forget, here are some letters. Zender managed to reach the others, so there's one from each of your children, including a few from the Yuurindi that are waiting to get here."

Rindiri's eyes lit up as she took the stack.

"Thank you, Captain," she said, holding the letters close. "I will speak to you tonight!"

Irwin felt a tiny stab of sympathy as she turned and walked away, already opening one of the letters.

It's good that Earilla will be coming here, he thought, remembering the frosty young woman's reaction. Though I do wonder what the effect of her existing soulcard will be… 

Humming as he pondered the implications of handing her a Crathanathair card, which was based on fire and heat, while she had one that dealt with summons and cold. He'd not even bothered asking if she would be okay with him shattering it. For one, it was too stable, and even if he still could, she was so bonded to her Faerit. 

'Kid, don't forget that she will be bringing Sprig with her,' Ambraz rumbled to him. 'You will need to talk with Zegritar if you do that. Although Sprig formed her soulskill and fully split from him, that doesn't mean she doesn't still fall under his rule.'

Irwin sighed, thinking back to the giant Green Bird that had grown out to be their main connection to the Pinae, the first offshoot world they had found on Eluathar. He'd had so many other things to do that he'd not really paid much attention to the Leafarit and the Sylvaneth. Still humming, he let what he knew about them play through his mind, and as he did, an oddity jumped out to him. With it came a sense of worry that seemed to bubble up from somewhere deep inside, though he couldn't put his finger on the cause.

The Leafarity legends say that Pindrag, the first of their species, was brought there by Yilda, he thought to himself, trying to understand what he was even thinking. He gazed at the Smith's Guild building, without really seeing it. What if the Leafarit aren't a natural species?

'Kid? You okay?'

Irwin hummed, trying to clear his head before focusing on Ambraz.

'How likely is it that Yilda was like a cardsmith?' he asked. 'With the ability to form heartcards from nothing?'

'Yilda? How did we go from Leafarit to…'  Ambraz began, before falling quiet for a moment as Irwin felt a wave of realisation across their connection. 'Right. That legend. No idea. I guess it's possible, but there's little known about her, remember?'

Irwin nodded as he crossed his arms.  'What if she created the Leafarit by changing one of them?' 

'It's possible,' Ambraz said, a slight confusion flowing from him. 'What does it matter?'

'If she did that… the question is why,' Irwin said slowly. 'We always assumed she saved one of their species and put it there, but what if she actually changed a being from another species? I mean, it's possible, right? But why? And, if she has the same issue I have with cardseeds, perhaps the Leafarit are similar to her?'

'You mean, because her own types bleed over,' Ambraz muttered. 'Okay, that's all possible, and I have no idea why she would do that, if that's even what happened. Maybe… no, that makes no sense… Or… hmm. Okay, fine, it's possible, but even if this is true, why do you feel so worried?'

Irwin shook his head. 'I don't know… I… Something about this feels… wrong?'

As he said it, Irwin tried to figure out what was making him worried, but nothing stood out. He thought for a while longer, but when he reached the entrance, he still couldn't figure out what was bothering him about the whole thing.

'Well, you could examine Sprig when she's here,' Ambraz said. 'Maybe we can find something that proves it.'

Irwin felt his worry fade slightly at that. 'Let's do that,' he said, walking into the entrance of the Smiths Guild charter. 

And perhaps I can figure out what is worrying me about it, he thought.

--

The rest of the day passed slowly, with Irwin helping in a few classes and being genuinely impressed with the growth of many of the apprentices. When evening fell, he was glad that Rinbus and Nimlarel had returned, and after a quiet dinner, he sat with them, Rindiri, and Flowrishin, in his private chambers. 

"As you all know, speeding up Scour's time dilation went as well as it could have," Irwin said, after a sip of his drink. "It did take me far more energy than I had expected, so we can assume for now that next time I will be gone at most seven or eight months."

"Did what you tried with your giant body have any effect?" Rindiri asked.

Irwin nodded, sensing how his otherself was quietly practicing creating his third soulseed while using the body she meant.

"It grew only a tiny bit," he said. "But if I keep doing this, eventually it will start paying off. Not in the least because it will mean I can speed up time for just a bit longer each time."

"How long were you on your own world?" Flowrishin asked.

"Just over a day," Irwin said. 

Rinbus whistled softly, shaking his head in disbelief. "So, if you were able to keep this up longer, you could have thousands of years pass here."

"That won't be for a very long time, if ever," Irwin said. "For now, let's focus on something else."

He looked at Flowrishin, who was the one who had been in control of the smithing side of things while he was gone.

"Because I can move to my own world more times, I'll be bringing more smiths each time. Daubutim is searching among the young smiths of my world for those willing to come here for a long time, perhaps a hundred years or more."

"How many are we talking about?" Flowrishin asked curiously.

"As many as I can bring," Irwin said. "And, if I can manage to finally create a cardseed of my true-clone, they might start helping me move people around."

"Can you do that?" Flowrishin asked, leaning forward with a glint in her eyes. "I thought even you said it was too difficult?"

"It probably is," Irwin said with a weary sigh. "But I'll keep trying. If I can create more of those cards, even if only a few hundred, it will be invaluable. Not only will I be able to move another of them here, so they can do what I can, but when the Guidar arrive, we will have those with the ability to fight and lose a body which will be able to return."

"So, that means there will be more Crathan's coming," Flowrishin said thoughtfully. "I think it might be time for you to think about finding an area where you can create an empire for them. Especially if they are going to stay here for hundreds of years or longer."

Irwin leaned back, somewhat startled that he hadn't thought of that. On Scour, every species had an area of its own, though the Parealion had only a tiny bit, which had been granted to them by the Viridians. Besides creating a sense of belonging for the people, it also meant they had a place to build as they saw fit, without having to deal with the existing rulers. He glanced at Rindiri, who seemed deep in thought.

"Rindiri?"

The ex-Yurindi looked up, startled. Irwin didn't know what she'd been thinking about, but her flaming silver eyes, so like his own, sharpened.

"Flowrishin is right," Rindiri said. "If only because we need a proper excuse where we are from."

Great, Irwin thought, as he realized that meant he had another thing to deal with. Where could they even go?

"I think I can help with that," Rinbus said, sharing a smile with Nimlarel.

Irwin felt a slight relief. Perhaps he wouldn't get something new on his plate after all?

"You know of a place?" he asked, curious.

"We had wanted to wait till you were all done, as good news is best brought at the end," Rinbus said, his square, black-eyes eyes twinkling. "We found an enormous lake of Ancestral Copperion a few months ago. It is in a cavern, many miles below the most southern edge of the Blackglass Desert, and the lake contains more than all of the things we found put together."

Irwin hummed, unable to keep a grin from forming as he imagined just how much Ancestral Coperion that had to be. 

"Besides being far from any of the existing empires, there is only a single way down, and the cavern is massive. Easily twice the size of the one the fire snakes near Flamerock live in."

"Ah," Irwin said as he leaned back. His mind began spinning. Although it would probably be a great spot to create a small town, and eventually perhaps many for the Crathan, it did pose some issues. "What about food?"

"That's not an issue," Flowrishin said. There are plenty of trees and other vegetation that will live as long as there is enough heat and fire. You just need some Treeshapers to help you start a small Lavatree Grove. Those are good for eating, and you can even make Volcanic Honey from them. Then there's Cinder Berry Bushes, and Burningshade Vines, that all grow perfectly fine below the ground."

"Also, as soon as there are enough plants, you can bring some animals there," Rinbus said. "I don't know much about hunting, but I'm sure we can find animals that will live there."

Irwin found himself nodding along as the idea began to spark his interest. An area below ground, with Ancestral Coperion, lava, heat, and flame, meant lots of fire-typed soulforce. That would help many of the cardsmiths during their reforging, either to draw it in if they were capable enough, or otherwise to refill their own soulscapes.

"Alright," he said. "Then let's start figuring out what we need to get this started."

"Well…" Rinbus said slowly.

Irwin held back a sigh as he looked at the Centi, knowing there was a catch. There always was.

"Before we can do that, you will need to clear out the rather large Burrow that's there."

"Of course," Irwin muttered. "Tell me what's there."

--

"You have to promise me you are careful!" Rubini said.

They stood on the open square of Trunkle Charter, as the resident Smiths Guild was being called now. The blazing sun burned down on them, and those without the proper cards were sticking to the shade.

Rubini looked at Julla, wishing she could stop her and knowing it would be a fool's errand.

Over the last seven years, her friend had grown from a small, underfed girl into a tall young woman with tight ropes of muscles that showed her years of practice. The long quarterstaff she was holding seemed as comfortable in her hand as Rubini's hammer was in hers, and she radiated a sense of surety that Rubini only saw with the warriors.

Julla snorted, shaking her head. "Of course I'll be careful. What do you think I am, suicidal?"

You are going into a ruby-rank portal to close it! Rubini wanted to shout. 

Instead, she took a deep breath, looking at the group of over twenty warriors that stood behind Julla. 

Like her, none of them had a heartcard. Instead, all had six fully bound handcards, with the sixth and highest one at ruby rank. 

"Rubi, don't worry. I know it's scary, but this isn't the first portal I've gone into. We have closed dozens of portals already, and-"

"And those were all below ruby-rank," Rubini said, crossing her arms. "You will be the first going into a ruby rank portal. There's no saying what you will encounter."

"Insects," Julla said with another snort. "There's always only insects. I almost wish we would encounter some of the beings the Guildmaster told us about."

No, you wouldn't, Rubini thought, staring at her friend, knowing there was nothing she could say to stop her.

She remembered the fear she'd had when Julla had entered her first portal, a year ago. One of two healers among a force of fifty. It had felt like overkill, but in the end, they had still lost seven carded while the other healer had gotten severely injured. It hadn't stopped her friend or any of the others from going into another one a few weeks later.

Now, a year later, Julla's had closed over thirty portals, one of many groups working on the insurmountable chore of clearing out the infestations deep below the ground. 

"We will keep her alive," a rugged voice said.

Rubini looked at Botat, still not sure what to think of the Viridian even after a year. He had grown only a little taller, as was normal for the slow-growing Viridian, but he radiated a power belying his relatively small stature. Something about his last handcard had caused him to feel table, almost immovable. Over the last few months, he and Julla had grown closer. To close, if you asked her. Not that she would ever tell her friend.

"You better," she said, as a soft call came from the back of the room.

"We are leaving," Julla said. "Thanks for coming to wave me off."

Rubini nodded, then hugged her friend. "Just make sure you come back, alright?" she said, seeing one of the teleporters wave at the group.

Julla hugged her back before pushing her away with a grin. "I'll be fine!" she said, before turning and walking away.

Rubini watched her and the others gather around the teleporter, and a moment later, a plume of yellow smoke hid them all from sight. When it dissipated a minute later, the group was gone.

"They will be fine," she muttered before turning around and walking towards the overhang that led deeper into the building. 

A short while later, she arrived in the main-smithy, a place only the teachers and the best of the apprentices were allowed. Dull thudding came from the far end where the largest forge stood, burning softly as the towering giant before it hammered on the Ganvil before him.

Guildmaster is early again, Rubini thought, noticing none of the others had arrived yet, probably still teaching the junior apprentices. 

She was about to move to her own small alcove when a deep voice stopped her.

"Rubini, how are you? Did Julla seem confident?"

Rubini turned to the Guildmaster, who was walking towards her, casting a long shadow in front.

"She is as confident as she always is," Rubini said, taking a deep sigh. "I just wish she were a bit less confident and more careful."

The Guildmaster stopped before her, looking down with a tiny bit of sadness in his eyes. She'd seen it before, and wondered if it was because he was the one who wanted the portals closed. It wouldn't surprise her, even though she had long since learned what it was for. Not that he knew that. 

Time-dilation instability, she thought, recalling the things she'd overheard Rinbus and Nimlarel talk about a few years ago. She'd been sleeping in the smithy back then, nestled in a crook on the ground as she still did sometimes. Although she hadn't heard all of it, she'd heard enough to understand that if they didn't close the portals, there was a possibility that there would be nonstop burrow overflows.

"They have a group of experienced fighters and portal closers with them," Irwin said. 

Rubini nodded before smiling. "I do worry she won't stop when she has hit her quota," she said softly. "I think she actually enjoys the challenge."

A frown flashed across the Guildmaster's face for a moment before he shook his head. 

"We are growing in portal closing groups rapidly, and we also need experienced healers and teachers. She can continue for a few more, but eventually she will be asked to do something else. Don't worry."

Rubini held back a weary smile. The Guildmaster clearly didn't know her friend. She didn't think Julla would accept that.

"Now, I have to leave in a moment. Do you have questions?"

One immediately popped up in Rubini's mind, and she barely managed to keep it in. Still, apparently her face had shown enough, because the Guildmaster let out a soft, barked laugh.

"Yes, Frisyuustis will send a new batch of rank zero Ganvils over soon. I think I heard Flowrishin say they would arrive in a few months. I'm sure one will bond with you."

Finally! Rubini thought, unable to keep from smiling widely.

With a Ganvil, she would finally be able to progress at the speed the other bonded pairs were, instead of being limited by what she could do on her own.

Let's just hope the guildmaster doesn't bring another batch of his own people over before that.

"Thank you, Guildmaster," she said.

"It is fine," the giant rumbled, nodding at her. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

Rubini watched him walk away before turning to her own forging alcove and the old anvil in it. She couldn't wait to be able to return it in favor of a real Ganvil!"

--

Irwin grinned as he walked away, sensing how Rubini was almost glaring at her anvil.

"She's not wrong," Ambraz said, humming softly. "Have you thought about my suggestion?"

Irwin's grin was wiped from his face, and he sighed. 

"I have. Are you sure about it?"

"I wouldn't suggest it otherwise," Ambraz grunted. "It's not like I want to, but it's going to be the best way to get more Ganvils because it will give me the time to create them without cutting into our smithing time. You know the rank zeros I make are far better than those of Frisjuustis, and we will need more of those."

"You will be alone for over a year..."

"If I have to, I can always warn you to return early," Ambraz grunted. "Besides, we need to attempt this, and you know it."

Irwin knew his friend wasn't wrong. They had to see if he could return on his own, or if his soulscape couldn't hold up without Ambraz. If, for some reason, they had to split up, it was best to know what to expect instead of just doing it when they had no choice.

"Fine," he said, feeling a bit of sadness.

"Come on, Kid! For you, it will only be a day," Ambraz exclaimed.

Yes, and for you, it will be over a year, "Irwin thought.

Before they could continue their conversation, they arrived in the small library, and Irwin sensed Rinbus and Nimlarel in a private corner at the back. 

Irwin walked towards them, noticing both were staring at him, and approached with a look of worry.

Now what?

"What's going on?" he asked, sitting down opposite them. "Is there an issue with the Blackglass Cave?"

"No, I'm almost done gathering the information on where all the massive insects are hiding," Rinbus said, shaking his head, before hesitating. "I… have another question. Could you bring both of us into your soulscape for a moment?"

Irwin blinked, then frowned. Moving them both in meant they would need to stay there for a day before he regained the energy to move them back out, but they both knew that. So, whatever they wanted to ask had to be important and something they didn't think anyone else should know.

"I… can," he said. "Right now?"

"Yes, please," Nimlarel said.

Irwin frowned, noticing she was less worried than Rinbus. He decided to just see what was wrong, focused on them, and pulled them in.  The outpour of soulforce still felt staggering, but he ignored it as his otherself focused on the two that appeared on the library shelf.

"Now then, you have me rather curious," he said. "What is going on?"