PftA Book 4 - Chapter 43 - Planning for the Future

Mom accepted her part in the adventure without comment the following day – a concession I suspected was due to my planned three-hour absence when I left to teach my class.

It still felt weird to think of myself as having something worth teaching to the disciples of the sect. I often found myself feeling like an imposter when I stood in front of the ‘students.’

Mom and Kaylee stayed at the ridiculously expensive resort in the Maldives while I was gone. The cost for Mom and Kaylee to stay was expensive… for Tier Threes, but it didn’t hold a candle to the amount they charged me.

It actually cost me more to stay in the underwater hotel than it had to stay at the resort on Pylos for a week!

I would have claimed it to be a form of robbery had the experience not been neat enough to actually justify the cost. I’d probably feel otherwise if I wasn’t super wealthy from all the materials and items I’d sold.

When I returned from Aegeas, we popped over to the resort in Hawaii to compare the two. I was immediately disappointed that we hadn’t visited the new resort first instead of renting a room at the older resort.

The one in the Maldives was amazing and an interesting experience, but it was still based on mundane technology. The new resort in Hawaii, however, had been created almost exclusively with magic.

Naturally, it made the cost of staying there even more exorbitant, but the idea of staying underwater in what equated to a forcefield bubble was simply amazing.

We could even reach through the barrier to touch the water if we wanted, but nothing could enter from the outside without coming through the entry portal or holding a key.

Since there was no reason to rent two rooms simultaneously, we just paid for a tour of the resort in Hawaii, but I made a mental note to visit again at a later date.

Mom insisted on returning to the hospital for ‘work’ on the third day, so Kaylee and I were on our own for the last full day of her trip.

We spent most of the day visiting the large island nation that was once Iceland. I’d mentioned the hot spring there in passing, and Kaylee had latched on to the idea, though I made sure to stop by a few key sites before heading to the Blue Lagoon.

I felt a little bad that Mom was once again missing out on the experience, but I quickly realized that I could easily bring her back the following day after Kaylee left. After spending so long without being able to soak in rejuvenating waters, I didn’t mind spending a little extra time there.

“This is amazing,” Kaylee said with a groan of pleasure. “You said it existed back when Earth was mundane?”

I leaned into the shaped stone and let the warm water flow up to my neck. The thin coating of frothy bubbles floating atop the water was new, as were the almost manicured alcoves nestled among the volcanic rock.

There were also several privacy arrays hiding the resorts from view, making it seem as if the shallow, milky blue pools were isolated from the rest of the world.

I could still sense the rift on the opposite side of the resort, but it was invisible to regular sight, just like the buildings around the edges.

“The mineral hot springs did, but obviously, there was no magical rejuvenation involved,” I replied.

“I’d still visit,” Kaylee said confidently. “Just being able to relax in this kind of environment is its own benefit. I’m definitely going to come back the next time I visit Earth.”

“Just wait until you see the Northern Lights,” I said with a grin before describing the phenomenon.

Earth was not unique in having colorful auroras near the poles, but I’d always thought Earth’s auroras were particularly special since they existed before the return of mana. I hoped that Kaylee enjoyed the sight.

= = =

“So? Did you bond with your sister? Have I been replaced by a new best friend?” Zavira asked playfully through the interface call.

Since I was using the interface to make a real-time call, this section of my personal dimension was currently running without time dilation. Once the call disconnected, it would revert back to it’s standard twenty-times speed.

“Nobody can replace you, Z,” I replied honestly as I mentally shifted the floorplan of my pod from a three-bedroom layout back to a one-bedroom. “But the trip went well. Mom even orchestrated a day with just me and Kaylee. I took her to that mineral hot spring I told you about. We were able to see the northern lights from the water. It was pretty amazing.”

“You still haven’t taken me there,” Zavira reminded me. “I want to go before you return to the dungeon.”

The sound of hammers hitting metal echoed in the background, which meant Zavira was near one of the traditional forges. She had to be really close since there were sound-dampening formations around that section of her sect.

The formations weren’t as necessary at the forges dedicated to Force or Space Smiths, which was where Zavira usually spent her time.

“We can go whenever you want,” I offered. “Are you teaching today?”

“Not officially,” Zavira replied. “I accepted a disciple. Did I tell you about that?”

“No.”

She most certainly hadn’t mentioned taking a disciple.

“Well, it’s only been a couple of days. She’s brand new to the sect and barely knows anything about Smithing. I’ve got her training in the traditional methods for now.”

Before I’d spent years challenging the dungeon with Zavira, I probably would have wondered how someone with almost no experience in the crafting specialty of Zavira’s sect could have been accepted as a disciple.

But now I understood.

It was often better to have someone join early – provided they had the right aptitude and attitude – before they developed bad habits and techniques. It took far more time to change unwanted behavior than it did to learn something new.

At least, it did most of the time.

“What is special about her, in particular?” I asked as I scrolled through a list of new movies I’d recently downloaded onto my tablet. A lot had been produced since I entered the dungeon, and I’d barely scratched the surface.

“Avana is Kestin’s niece.”

“Oh really? Nepotism already?” I asked with a grin. “What if you two decide not to get married? Wouldn’t that be awkward?”

“I don’t think so. Besides…” Zavira paused, and I noticed a sharp decrease in the audible background noise. “We’re going to make it formal – the engagement, I mean.”

I could hear the nervousness in my best friend’s voice. I could tell that my opinion mattered to her.

“Congratulations! I assume you’ll wait to set a date until he reaches Tier Six?”

“That’s the plan,” Zavira replied. I could hear the relief in her voice. It was almost like she thought I’d try to talk her out of it.

I might have tried before I knew anything about the wider universe, but I was a very different person back then.

So much had happened – almost everything I knew about existence had been upended. At this point, a century-long arranged marriage seemed like just another thing.

At least, it did for other people. I probably wouldn’t feel so glib about it if I was the one being pressed into marriage.

= = =

“Enchanter Momentia, how nice to see you again!” the Vice-Guildleader of the Garnet City Enchanters’ Guild said as she entered the cramped Guild library where I was studying. “If you’d told me you were coming, I could have set up a more comfortable space for you like last time.”

I looked up from the digital representation of a three-dimensional rune and smiled at the newcomer. Rhania’Aether was one of the friendlier and more helpful Enchanters, so her presence was very welcome.

“The library is fine, Vice-Guildleader. I was just doing a bit of extra research for a project I plan to craft in the next couple of years.”

I’d had Lisa record all the runes I came in contact with, but I somehow had nothing that aided a couple in conceiving or keeping a fetus healthy. I had plenty of runes that could be used to prevent pregnancy, but nothing to facilitate it.

I could have come up with something on my own using my knowledge of glyphs and rune-crafting, but it seemed smarter and safer to find something that had already been tested.

Now that I was actually doing the research, I was glad for the decision since even established fertility runes were finicky, at best.

A small shift in focus could result in multiple births or fertilization without implantation. Ectopic pregnancies were also a real problem because sometimes the magic made even inhospitable locations function for a while.

Even with my background in healing and medicine, I still didn’t feel qualified to craft something to aid my best friend in her future endeavors to become a mother.

While she hadn’t mentioned having children recently, I knew it was something she wanted to do. It was part of the reason I’d decided to craft this particular gift.

The other reason was that I really hoped Zavira managed to have a child before I had to return to the dungeon. I was tired of missing everything important in my friends and family’s lives, and I really wanted to be there for the birth of my best friend’s first child.

I still planned to give Zavira a top-of-the-line MealMaker with a Master crystal as the official wedding present, but the fertility charm would be the real gift.

“Do you have questions about the project?” the elf asked curiously, stepping closer but not making a move toward the empty chair.

“I wouldn’t mind running a few things by you if you have time,” I replied casually, though I was cheering inside. I’d hoped to pick the Master Enchanter’s brain, but hadn’t felt right approaching someone in her position for help.

“Of course, I have time. I always have time for one of the Guild’s brightest!”

I suppressed a chuckle at the Vice-Guildleader’s comment. Without my triple affinities, I wasn’t so sure she’d feel the same way, even with my accomplishments in the field. It was why I was so leery about asking for special assistance.

But since she’d offered… I described my idea and concerns about fertility charms to Rhiania, outlining the problems I foresaw using the runes I’d reviewed thus far.

“There is a reason this particular set of runes is not available before one reaches the Expert stage in Enchanting,” Rhiania said knowingly. “It isn’t that these specific three-dimensional runes are inherently too difficult for Advanced Enchanters; it’s that errors with such an enchantment can have fatal consequences.

“I’m glad that you asked before pressing forward, especially if the item is for someone you care about,” she said as she manipulated the three-dimensional hologram hovering above the tablet.

After looking at it from every angle, the elf shook her head and flicked the rune to the side. She went through several more runes before clicking a tab and swapping to a new series.

After scrolling for a few moments, Rhiania stopped and motioned toward the tablet. It showed a simple, two-dimensional rune that any novice with enough understanding to properly form the intent could craft.

“That’s the rune I would use as the fulcrum of your enchantment,” the Vice-Guildleader said. “It focuses less on the fertilization aspect and more on priming the womb for pregnancy. It is a far safer approach than trying to affect other aspects of conception and has the added benefit of improving fetal health.”

Her recommendation made so much sense that I felt a little dumb for not making the connection myself. Of course, I’d never really had a reason to bother learning about anything related to conception or childbirth beyond what kids normally learned growing up on Earth, but that didn’t make my oversight any less embarrassing.

“That would probably work much better than what I was trying to come up with,” I admitted a little sheepishly.

So much for being one of the Guild’s brightest.

“Don’t feel bad,” Rhiania said soothingly. “Many Enchanters find it easier to focus on a niche within the field instead of becoming generalists. True generalists are rare, and even they wouldn’t know runes for concepts they never work with. It’s why the Enchanters’ Guild exists in the first place.”

“I thought that was the whole point of teaching Enchanters how to create their own runes.”

“It is part of the reason, though very few actually bother with rune-crafting when lexicons are available to Guild members,” the Master Enchanter answered before her eyes momentarily unfocused.

“I’m sorry to cut our chat short. I hope my advice helped. Let me know if you have any more questions,” Rhiania said as she stood to leave.

I thanked her for her assistance and returned my focus to the rune she’d recommended. It was definitely a better option than one of the higher-level runes I had been considering prior to her arrival.

Though I still took several minutes to review and record the rest of the lexicon – something that was frustratingly unavailable for direct download – I felt confident that the rune selected would work for what I had in mind.

Even if it didn’t, I had plenty of time to figure out something that would work. The wedding wouldn’t be for at least a couple more years.