Draith
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Chapter 95 - Still Fix Things
🕑 Added 2025-05-06 14:00:07 +0000 UTCI'd thought about having Bevel there for when I woke Keria. Of course I had. But I'd wanted to be able to shield her if things hadn't worked out with her sister turned golem bath attendant.
"Nearby. Should be eating dinner with Calbern, actually. We can go see her, if you'd like," I said, pushing to my feet and offering her a hand.
To my surprise, Keria took it. She only pulled me half a step forward before realizing the hand wasn't nearly enough to support her weight. Which caused her to inspect herself, running a finger along the length of her arm. Then running a hand along her chiseled hair. Tears began beading in her eyes. When she reached up brush them away, she froze.
With a slow motion, she held her glistening finger up in front of her face. "What… what am I?"
That was a loaded question if ever I heard one.
It also implied she'd been in her new body for less time than the others.
"You're still you," Banya said, putting her arm around the other woman's shoulder. "Just with a tougher body."
"Ha!" Soap Bottle laughed from the small side of the room. "Not sure about you, but I sure as hell wasn't born with these," she put a hand under her breasts and cupped the surprisingly pliant material. "Was flat as a board before the old pervert got his hands on me."
Banya glanced down, a small frown forming. Keria didn't even seem to hear either of them. She was still pressing against her body, testing it. Then she looked up. "Silver. Or water! I need to see my face."
"Kid's catching on," Soap Bottle said, nodding as she pushed off the wall. Inertia kept a hand on her shoulder, which caused Soap Bottle to roll her eyes. "Come on, what's the point of freeing us if you're gonna keep me prisoner?"
"Safe," Inertia let out the word alongside a loud clang.
Her simple proclamation made all three of the former attendants jump back in surprise.
"Holy shit, it can talk?" Soap Bottle said, clapping her hands together with a solid thud. She glanced down at them, then up at Inertia. "Right. Not sure why this world still surprises me."
"Let's go see Bevel," I said, nodding towards the stairs.
"I… what if she doesn't recognize me?" Keria asked, taking half a step before stopping. "I've changed so much."
"She was the one who told me who you were," I said. When she didn't immediately respond, I turned to Banya. "Are you from Tetherfall too?"
She shook her head. "Slavers took me from my home in the north. Sold me to the Dominus along with the rest of my clan. Are they…" She must've read something in my expression, cause she nodded, another silent tear dripping down her face. "I'd feared as much."
"There's a chance… I haven't found all of his chambers," I said with a sigh. "Not exactly looking forward to finding more of his experiments though."
"I… I'm ready," Keria said, taking a deep breath I was pretty sure she didn't need. Well, not physically.
I nodded, then ended up extending my arm as she continued to take halting steps. A habit I must've inherited from Perth, cause I’d certainly never done it in my old life. Once more, to my surprise, she accepted my offer.
Inertia followed at the back of our little group, keeping her hand on Soap Bottle's shoulder.
Right up until Soap Bottle attempted to step out the door of the bath chamber.
In that moment, they both stopped, Soap Bottle freezing as if she'd hit a wall. I didn't notice until we'd taken several steps down and she called out in a frantic voice, "Wa- wait!"
Looking back, her eyes were flicking back and forth, but her body had frozen mid-stride. Inertia was just behind her, poking at Soap Bottle's shoulder with one massive finger. My large friend glanced towards me, then let out a whistle-hiss of laughter. "Stiff."
"Sorry, might just have to hold off for a minute," I said to Keria. Her eyes were distant but she nodded so I moved back up the stairs, Banya right beside me.
"Can you… can you fix it?" Soap Bottle asked, every word having a soft whistling sound accompanying it. It was only then that I noticed she wasn't even able to move her lips. Only her eyes seemed to respond.
"Not sure. There's still a lot of control runes in place, so getting rid of those will probably help," I said, activating Detect Mana to check if anything drew my attention. The entire network of remaining control runes lit up, which was less than helpful. "What do you think Banya?"
"I think she's a jerk who still hasn't even told us her name," Banya said, crossing her arms in front of her. Then her gaze flicked down. "But I suspect one of these three runes is keeping her trapped." Her finger quickly snapped between the three runes in question.
"Okay, that shouldn't take too long. Inertia, could you lay her down in the room again? Gently please," I added at the last second. Inertia had been moving her arm a little too fast for comfort.
Hadn’t forgotten her original plans to smash some skulls.
Soap Bottle closed her eyes as Inertia laid her down. As I set to work, I could barely hear her mumbling to herself in that third language of hers. It only took a few minutes to erase all three runes. After the first, she'd regained control of her body, but she'd insisted I continue, just in case.
She'd wanted me to wipe every single rune off her, but I wanted to take Keria to Bevel first.
And get some dinner.
Despite eating my lunch after the reminder from Banya, I was starving. Considering I'd been drawing mana out of the enchantments, it hadn't been hard on my mana-pool, but it'd still been a lot of tedious work.
This time when Soap Bottle approached the door, we remained in the room, watching. When she passed through without stopping, she released a large sigh. Then she turned around and thrust both hands in the air. "I'm free bitches!"
Again, she'd chosen to use English.
"Not exactly polite," I replied in Elinder, stepping past her to where Keria was waiting, staring out one of the windows. "Sorry about that."
Keria simply nodded, holding her arm out to me. I took it, a little surprised at how natural it felt. Perth had locked arms with a lot of women over the years, but it wasn't something I'd ever done. Old man hadn't really let me be around girls my own age after he pulled me out of school and by the time he died I'd figured out I just wasn't wired for that sort of thing. Or maybe it'd just been broken. Memory Palace was… I still hadn't worked up the courage to open the door to the bathroom. Suspected I wouldn’t like what I found there. And wasn’t like I could afford to break down. Not with so many people relying on me.
Thankfully, we soon passed through the workshop, which drew me out of my thoughts. With the security doors repaired and upgraded, I'd sealed off the entry for the ladder. Neta poked her head out of my robe as we moved through the room, but when she realized I wasn't staying, she returned to… whatever it was she did while she was coiled around me.
Keria noticed, and for the first time, she seemed to have a bit of a smile. "Was that… a kitten?"
"A rope cat, actually. Bevel named her Neta," I replied, reaching up to stroke the pocket where she'd just poked her 'head' out of. Neta's head rose to greet me, as if expecting the scratches, proving she was paying attention even when I had no idea how.
"She's adorable," Keria said, reaching over to add her scratches to my own. Neta pulled her head back, inspecting Keria's hovering stone hand for a moment before consenting to let her scratch her.
"Huh. Doesn't even let Bevel do that," I said, glancing at the woman turned golem beside me.
She shrugged as we continued down the hallway, her eyes finally seeming to take in the area around us. "Where are we?"
"Mount Aeternia," I replied even as I opened the door leading into the crystal chamber. "Though this little section Bevel likes to call the Ways Between."
Keria nodded as we stepped inside, her gaze flicking over everything before coming to rest on Mr Kandle. Bevel had set him up to guard her nook from trespassers after we’d gotten back from our flight. It was clear Bevel still valued her nook, even if we'd brought her into our home, such as it was.
Letting out a soft huff, Keria stepped towards the nook, reaching down to stroke the doll. Then she stood up, looking around the room. "So, how do we…"
"Right. This way," I said, leading her to the Tetherfall Waygate. "Best you all brace yourself. Not sure how this'll affect you, but most folk get dizzy."
We passed through without a single one of them getting dazed by the portal.
Couldn't say the same about Tetherfall though.
"Whoa," Soap Bottle mumbled, stepping forward as her gaze darted around, the platform creaking beneath her.
Banya was a half-step behind her. "It's like… like a place out of a storybook."
Keria stood a little taller beside me. "Tetherfall is a close knit village," there was a slight lilt to her voice as Keria said it.
"You did not just make a pun about all the ropes?" Soap Bottle demanded, turning around with her arms crossed.
"Did I?" Keria asked, though her gaze shifted to her hands, then to the nets once more, her smile fading. "I… will not be able to ascend the nets like I used to, will I?"
"We installed a couple lifts," I said, glancing towards Inertia who wasn't exactly built for easy traversal of ropes either.
She nodded in my direction, letting out a huff of steam.
"Okay, so I know new girl wants to go see her sister and all, but what about us?" Soap Bottle asked, gesturing outward. "Are we prisoners or can we go explore?"
"I mean, if you want me to remove the rest of those runes, you'll need to stick around until tomorrow. I've been breaking them all day and I'm honestly kind of spent," I replied, glancing towards the galleon where Tamrie or Calbern likely had my dinner waiting. And where Bevel would be waiting for her lessons, if the fading light overhead was any sign. "But as long as you don't damage anything, I don't see why you can't explore. In fact…"
I looked around for one of the Tethered I knew and spotted Tanis leaning on a rope a couple levels up. Calling out to him, he turned, then quickly swung down to join us.
"Now that's one fine specimen of manhood," Soap Bottle said, whistling as Tanis approached us.
"Thank you. You are one fine specimen of golemhood," Tanis said, shooting back a wide smile. "Though I had always pictured more gems. And perhaps a more interesting type of stone, like marble or granite. Quartz would be strange though."
Soap Bottle didn't seem to know how to respond, though Banya let out a soft giggle.
Then Tanis noticed the woman beside me. "Little Keria! You're awake. Knew the boss would be able to wake you from your nap. Good to have you back."
"Thank you, Tanis. It's good to be back," Keria said, stepping forward and pulling him into a hug.
"Oof. You got strong, little Keria," Tanis said, patting her back as he returned her hug. "Almost strong as me."
Keria smiled, and Tanis turned to me. "Thanks for bringing her back, boss."
"You're welcome, though that's not why I called you over," I said, gesturing in the direction of Banya and Soap Bottle. "Was wondering if you could arrange a guide for these two for the night."
"Sure thing, boss. I can show them the ropes," Tanis said, nodding seriously as his eyes moved to the creaking boards beneath our feet. "Though might need to stick to the big ones. They're mighty heavy."
I nodded as he led them away. Inertia let out a whistle in parting, then started her ascent up the cliff, leaving Keria and I alone.
"Well, what do you say we go say hi to your sister," I said, gesturing to the galleon that laid nearby.
"I… yes, please," Keria said, nodding her head rapidly while pulling me towards the ship.
I held back a laugh as we approached, pushing open the door. Then she was stepping through.
"You're late," Bevel said from where she was hanging upside down from a net that hadn't been strung along the side of the room that morning. Was still getting used to the number of changes she and Calbern seemed to go through. She wasn't looking at us, her head tilted at an angle so she could read the book she had laid on the floor below her.
"Was a little busy," I replied, a smile forming at her grumpiness. "Had to retrieve someone's sister."
Bevel just rolled her eyes, still not looking in our direction as she flipped herself upward. "Always something. You could've just-"
Whatever I could've just, I never did find out, cause that was the moment Bevel spotted Keria, standing there, giving her a little wave.
Which was when Bevel did something I hadn’t thought she was capable of.
Bevel fell straight out of the net.
Before Keria or I could get a half-step closer, she'd already righted herself. A burst of wind sent the book and the rest of Bevel's homework scattering as Bevel blasted herself across the room, straight into her sister's waiting arms.
Even as Keria held her sister tight, spinning around, a smile formed on my lips.
I might not have been the best Magus Dominus…
But at least, on occasion, if only a little, I could still fix things.
Comments
Jason Hardman
TYFTC! Typo spotted: nodded, then ended up extending my arm as she continued to talk halting steps. -> to take halting steps.
Bocke
That was a cute chapter. Good job! 👍
