The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

WM [30] The Need To Commune

The morning started the same way it normally did. Joha led Tanisha and Bjorn through stretches and breathing techniques. Followed by a detailed accounting of all of their goods in preparation for their sales. Tanisha didn’t sleep the previous night and instead took a concoction she made to keep herself awake. Bjorn knew she was trying not to think about the werewolves tied up in the cellar. Especially after he stopped her from using her seiðr infused fist to execute Adelheid. 

He wasn’t sure why he did it to begin with. He didn’t care about either of the assassins that threatened her life and even agreed with killing them. If Bjorn was there when they attacked, he would have used every available ability he had to ensure they were put down permanently. Something about Tanisha executing them just felt wrong to him in a way he couldn’t quite put his claws on.

Is it because they were already beaten? Did I feel like it would change Tanisha somehow?

Then the memory came to him. The execution of his mother in his past life. The memory was so vivid and intrusive that Bjorn reared on his hindlegs and fell backward. Tanisha and Joha ran to check on him and he did his best to show that he was fine. 

“We will be staying together in town today.” Joha said. “There is a chance that the rest of the pack will come for their missing members.”

“Okay.” Tanisha said in a whisper.

Joha was hitching his horses to his wagon. “If you aren’t feeling up to it today you can stay in my wagon. Alfred will find us if there is any sign of Sabec.”

Tanisha was silent, letting the words hang in the air for a while before she finally spoke.

“What do you think I should do? If you were me,” she said.

“That is a difficult question to answer. Firstly I am far older and far more powerful than you. Moreover, I am capable of living with my choices. Fact of the matter is there is no right or wrong here at least when it comes to demons. In my homeland if someone attacks us or our loved ones we attack back with just as much furocity if possible even more. 

“They killed your son, you take their family. Then they escalate and take your hometown and you take their country. It never ends, it is just constant bloodshed and pain. Even so, to them it is a game. Maya numbs pain; it protects us from the things we fear and what we fear to lose. If I told you I would kill them, would you? If I told you I would show them mercy would you do that instead? The Way of The Rakshasa is a path to power and freedom. In this case you have the power and the freedom to choose.”

“What if I choose wrong?” Tanisha questioned.

“Then at least it was your choice. I told you once power has a habit of changing people. It gives us shortcuts to solutions that we otherwise wouldn’t have. It is good that you are questioning the choices you make. However, when you make them be ready to face whatever comes with that choice. You are my apprentice and I will have your back and I will help you stay the course you choose. For now go get your wagon ready.”

Bjorn could feel Tanisha’s frantic emotions through their bond. She was torn. Part of her wanted to go back to the cellar and finish what she had started, another part of her wanted to put those thoughts aside and let Joha decide what would be best. The thing was Joha wouldn’t tell her what to do. He let her make her own decisions; he was a demon and killing a few werewolves wouldn’t play on his conscience. 

Joha was ready to leave the town behind and go somewhere quieter. He wasn’t a warrior anymore, he was a traveling merchant and that was where his heart truly lay. He would support and protect Tanisha and Bjorn but not make their choices for them. Joha was old despite appearances, the rakshasa people lived a little longer than wendigo and he was definitely a couple centuries through his journey. He treated Tanisha knowing that if she had one thing it was time. She had centuries ahead of her and it was fine to make a few mistakes along the way.

Bjorn didn’t agree with his method of letting Tanisha go down a self-destructive road just because she will live long enough to come to terms with her life choices a hundred years down the road. Tanisha needed some guidance and while Joha was a mentor and friend he was not the support Tanisha needed right now. The closest she had to that support was Helina but she is not here anymore. 

***

Tanisha and Joha were setting up stalls in the town market. Tanisha was ready to lose herself to the cold calculations of potion brewing. She would have to quickly restock some of her more in demand potions and ingredients. Bjorn followed her almost on autopilot. He was vigilantly looking out for any more would-be assassins. He noticed more than a few Jackrabbits also looking out for any suspicious people. Robert had already told them that they would have bodyguards but he didn’t expect so many.

“We have to find a way for me to talk properly.” Bjorn said in his head.

“I agree. I mean you are a fierce silent guardian but that doesn’t do much here.” Failsafe said.

“You said it would take some type of sound magic for me to be able to talk, right?” Bjorn asked. “What about wind magic?”

“I mean possibly.” Failsafe said. “I could probably make a spell but the problem is you use animal magic. It is the most rigid type of magic there is, aside from sorcery. Even if you had wind magic which you don't, we would have to delve into your core and alter it so you can use normal magic–normal aetheric magic which is far more complex.”

Bjorn didn’t want Failsafe to have access directly to his core. It wasn’t necessarily his soul but as far as he knew it was an access to it. Failsafe was already connected to his core as any spell he cast would be. The construct’s true form was just a super advanced magic construct with little difference from its base than any of Tanisha’s conjured water. The connection to the magic construct was different from a normal spell. It was a part of him but also separate. 

Bjorn could tell the construct had cursory control but only if he opened himself up to it. So far all of Failsafe’s progress with the menus, real time translation and even the Identify did not require the construct to meddle with his core. Instead all of those spellforms are layered over his core while not being a direct part of it. Being adjacent to but not a part of his core allowed the construct to monitor everything in a way it would not be able to if it was a part of it directly. The separation also allowed Failsafe to build these new skills without them requiring mana or in this case aether directly from Bjorn.

“I will deal with my core.” Bjorn said.

“Oh perfect,” Failsafe said sarcastically. “That just leaves the extremely large problem of not being able to use wind magic.” 

“I'll be able to use wind magic if we figure out how to commune with Tanisha. One of the abilities I would gain is called Air Claws. I think it's derived from her Mystic Wind Hand spell.”

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot about those.  Didn't she get like venom or something from you?”

“She said her venom is different from mine. She doesn't have fangs or anything, it's literally her saliva and it's necrotic instead of–– actually of what did she call ours again?”

“A neurotoxin, it means that it shuts down the nervous system. Hers on the other hand will break down cells causing the body to die. Now that I think about it I feel sorry for her future boyfriend.”

“Why?” Bjorn asked.

“She won’t be able to kiss them or anything.” Failsafe said.

“Wendigo don’t kiss as it is. They do that nuzzling thing. Their teeth and tongues are too sharp to kiss each other. So kissing isn’t in their culture; they consider it a human thing.” Bjorn said.

“Their tongues are sharp?” Failsafe questioned.

“Yeah something like that.” Bjorn said then shifted to get back on track. “Anyways, she got the ability after I bit her during the fight with Thyra  so maybe the other abilities will work if we expose each other to the magics.” 

“If that was the case shouldn't she have the Poison Cloud ability or something, she's been around you while you've used it multiple times now. What would exposing you to the magics entail? I will admit that I am intrigued, but I don't think she'll actually survive if you target her with the majority of your magic.”

“I'm not trying to use Plague Fire or anything like that on her, but this isn't about her gaining my abilities, this is about me gaining hers. Specifically the Wind Hands. When I used my venom on Tanisha there had to be some kind of trick as to why that gave her venom.”

The two were silent for a while as Bjorn followed Tanisha into her wagon where she quietly went through her various goods to take inventory. She then took out an apparatus he had never seen before. It was her cold infusion basin. She meticulously set up the device and once it was done she rolled her neck. 

“Okay, let’s figure this out.” Tanisha said.

***Author Note***
Things got pushed back because of the hurrican in the Eastern U.S. but we should be back on schedule now.