THREE HUNDRED SEVEN

Observe

Am I in over my head?

He hadn’t been at first. He’d answered their questions about what he was doing here and how he and Stuart had dealt with Olget-ovekondo after the wand incident. Seth-wereft had explained the basics of their current activity to him, as she’d promised. But then the four young knights had switched from being interested in the alien that had joined them to making plans for their training quest, and Alden was suddenly scrambling to get more than a surface-level understanding of what they were talking about.

New people, new terminology, and new magic. Even a new way of holding an effective meeting. They could each pay attention to two things at once. They all had equal control of the display on the table that was projecting the three-dimensional map.

When he listened, he was having trouble telling who was talking to whom. When he tried to study the terrain, it kept spinning like a top and zooming in and out. And when they used a word he didn’t know, he could barely finish reading the definition on his interface before another one needed to be defined.

“I know you all like the flockers, but I hope Forduan has let some larger ones slide through his pools into our field by now.”

“Split into two groups like that time under sticks?”

“It looks like we can still request a yamset’t or a pass-winder, but the delivery time’s increased. We should assume our pick-up is going to be delayed, too, with the way things are going to the west.”

“Do you think we can drag Postor out of his sulking nest if we tell him we’ll die without a castle?”

“We should shove Emban into the nest with him at this point.”

“Tilliver.”

“Let’s stay together for it. It looks like they’ve progressed enough for a new world keeper to be established two patches to the south. If we could get there on our own instead of waiting for pick-up, it would be a stitch on our coats. But I worry we’re not fast enough to do it without the treat degrading too much.”

I know what a world keeper is, thought Alden, looking away from the spinning map to give his eyes a rest on the calmer, more comprehensible parts of the room.

There was a patterned rug under the green table. The vathas had begun to leave, so the boat’s windows and skylight were only half-covered, and sunlight shone on a music box built into the wall to his right. They’d turned it on shortly after he’d arrived. Through the clear front, he could watch green and silver beads fall onto glasslike threads to produce the songs.

It was cool, but he hadn’t had any time to listen to it while he was trying to keep up with the planning session.

Every few sentences, it’s one thing I know and fifty I don’t.

He wasn’t actually a part of their conversation, so that was fine. But, on the other hand, he’d asked to stay because he wanted to be involved in conversations just like this one in the nearish future.

Being this lost…

His excitement at running into a group of knights the right age doing a thing he’d thought he could easily grasp was beginning to turn into anxiety.

He’d been taking notes, but they’d devolved into strings of questions to ask Stuart. What did under sticks mean? Who did all of these random names belong to? Did everyone call their quest objectives in this kind of training a “treat” or was that just a word this particular squad had come up with?

And did Emban get mad at her friends for being welcoming to Divin-zadja and leave the boat to avoid socializing with her?

Alden thought he might be doing a better job of picking up on the squad’s interpersonal drama than he was at building a mental image of how they would perform their actual mission. He cared more about the second, but Seth-wereft’s explanation earlier just hadn’t been enough. He still didn’t get what all of their skills did. They kept referring to in-group knowledge instead of actually describing how they would do things.

Half of what they say sounds like, “We could ask for a thingamajig and use it to try the fiddly-widdly maneuver we heard about Somebody-somebody using once upon a time on Planet Hisshiss.” And I’m not even sure the hissing was a planet name. That might have been a noise of disagreement.

Despite far fewer words being said about their relationships with each other, he did think he understood that the one in pink, Divin-zadja, had asked to join this squad for their next trip to Goldbush and Emban had feelings about it. They were practicing together today for only the second time. She brought her own experiences and insights to the table, and everyone here seemed to get along with her. But Bithe was growing more antsy to have Emban return from wherever she’d gone, and Tilliver-gare had half-apologized to Divin-zadja about the absence a while ago.

It sounds like they were being professional this morning, and then maybe something happened at the beginning of their break and Emban dipped out in a way that wasn’t as nice as it could’ve been.

And one member of the original squad, Postor, hadn’t joined them today at all.

Alden could imagine that Ryada-bess’s shadow was darkening the mood. It didn’t seem, to him, like Divin-zadja was supposed to be a replacement for her. From what Stuart had told him, squad sizes could vary. It wasn’t as if the original group had to accept a new member or like accepting one meant Ryada couldn’t come back when she felt better. But maybe Emban and Postor weren’t ready for another change so soon.

If I can understand that much, I should be able to unravel at least a little more of the practical stuff.

He decided to ignore what they were talking about for the next few minutes and sort out some of what he’d already heard. Accessing his notes, he started with their names and what he’d gathered about their skills.

Emban-art’h was The Definer of Grooves. Alden had learned the basics of what she could do when they flew paper airplanes together. Repeated actions leading to more potent effects. “The first arrow falls short. The last pierces the sun,” was in his notes about her. She could define grooves for herself, for objects she held, and a short while ago, he’d learned that she could do it for another person.

Right…they said she wanted to help Tilliver-gare with his jump. Later, one of them said something about how many options Emban’s new “swap” ability would open up. And…I don’t even remember making a couple of these other notes, but I think it must add up to her being able to transfer a groove she’s made through her own actions to one of the others.

Firing an arrow twenty times, then giving someone else the bow. Or maybe running up that hillside, using her skill along the way to run faster and faster, and then passing the groove on to someone behind her so that they can catch up?

He might not have it exactly right, but it was a start.

Then Bithe. The Vatha Lantern. “That which mesmerizes only to burn.”

Instead, it should be called Sexy Moth Summoner.

The vatha boat situation got funnier the more Alden thought about it. He wondered if Bithe had known this kind of thing would happen before today, or if he was going to come out of his mellowing and have to process what he’d done. And the fact that everyone who lived along the river knew about it.

They must have passed Esh-erdi’s house by now. There was no way Esh saw a boat covered in ten thousand vathas cruise by and didn’t want to know what was going on.

Alden glanced at Bithe. The knight was still happy. He was contributing, but he was delivering compliments to everyone almost as frequently as ideas. Everything they suggested sounded good to him as long as it didn’t involve people splitting off from the group for too long. He said that he couldn’t believe he’d been so upset after this morning’s failure, and he was sure they were going to do well this time.

He caught Alden looking at him and smiled. His bangs had been clipped back. They made a little puff on top of his head.

You poor dude, thought Alden, smiling back. I know you want your squad to get along. I bet you were trying to destress and accelerate your camaraderie with the new member of the team. But people are going to remind you about that time you accidentally made a vatha boat until you’re a grandpa.

Moshk would be gossiping about it at the pitcherhouse tonight.

Then there’s Seth-wereft.

He’d caught the name “Driftseed” for her skill. He was inclined to think that was a shortened version of the full name because they did abbreviate one another’s skill names to make the conversation faster. He looked at all the notes he’d written so far whenever he knew she was the one they were talking about.

I’ve got multiple references to things floating. She said something would be too far away for her to use it once. There was that one mention of her “loosening up the stubborn ones so that Bithe can pull them in, too.”

He remembered her hand sticking out the boat window and the weird movement of the vathas right before he boarded. He’d been attributing most of that to Bithe’s skill, but actually, hadn’t she said she would get rid of them so that Alden wouldn’t step on them?

That wasn’t just them being afraid and scattering. It was them drifting. In response to her skill.

So she makes things float around. I don’t know how much control she had over them individually. But it seems like she can apply it to an area. Or maybe to a category of nearby lifeforms or objects? “All vathas, drift now!” Something like that.

He felt like he suddenly understood at least ten percent more of the plans they’d been hatching.

They were anticipating lots of small enemies surrounding them. If Bithe could attract piles of weak demons, then he could burn a bunch of them. Seth-wereft could make the ones he didn’t instantly kill all float around helplessly so that they couldn’t do damage. And the others could clean up?

That’s a start.

Divin-zadja had helpfully introduced herself to Alden as Divin-zadja, The Recaller of Storms. With a name like that, Alden was going to assume that she was on her way to being something apocalyptic, but for now, she was probably more like a Sky Shaper with extra features?

At least an S-rank Sky Shaper, he decided. Mega Vandy? No, more like Vandy’s mom.

She seemed to have been to Goldbush more often than the rest of them, so he thought she might be several affixations in.

Postor whose last name I don’t know can be left out since he’s not participating.

And then there’s Tilliver.

Alden had learned his last name was gare. His skill…he had one. He hadn’t said its name, though. And they weren’t talking about him doing much at all with it, unless Alden was missing it every time.

He mentioned not liking the flockers and wanting something else. Assuming that was a nickname for swarms of little demons, then he must want to fight something bigger? Maybe he’s better on individual targets. He missed a jump, so I can’t imagine him like a Brute. I’ll pretend he’s an Adjuster with a single-target damage spell until I hear something to the contrary.

So there they are. Definer of Grooves, Vatha Lantern, Driftseed, Sky Shaper, Adjuster.

What else did he know?

Most of them had only been knights for a year. Possibly two. This was a squad that had been put together in hopes of finding compatible partners for inesvul.

Their power is probably comparable to each other since the bond was a goal. Wait, if that’s the case, then maybe Divin-zadja isn’t that much stronger than the rest of them? And I don’t think Emban’s stronger than Stuart, so…

He downgraded Divin-zadja from Vandy’s mom’s level back to Mega Vandy.

They weren’t a squad that repaired the natural environment. Maybe with Postor and Ryada they’d had options along those lines, but these five together seemed more like a group that needed to focus on demon-clearing.

Their objective was very simple. They needed to get up the hill, getting rid of demons along the way, and then they were going to collect the thing on top and take it to the world keeper or protect it until someone else could come pick it up.

The treat.

Seriously, why are we calling it a treat? I’m picturing them fighting demons to save a doughnut.

He closed his notes again and went back to listening. To his surprise, having some ideas about everyone’s skills and power levels, regardless of the  accuracy of those ideas, helped him understand a lot more about what was going on. As did boiling down their mission objective to “go uphill.”

Exactly how was that scheme Seth-wereft wanted to try going to work? Didn’t matter. Assume Tilliver-gare was going to take care of it with his unidentified Adjuster powers and move along.

Caring less about being sure and more about getting the gist of it all was finally helping Alden hear the things he actually wanted to learn about. How knights trained and interacted with each other. What their expectations for themselves were and what they thought older knights expected from them.

“We can’t let Jatyam-en down a second time today, can we?” Seth-wereft said an hour after Alden had arrived. “And you know the newest ones will be watching this weekend if they aren’t already. Let’s show them what’s ahead for them.”

“I think having a prize is a nice memory to take along, and the barter is a good time,” said Divin-zadja. “You all need to experience it since you haven’t yet. My last squad had two pieces that we passed around every day.”

Tilliver-gare was frowning at an expanded view of the map. “It would help Opnee’s squad if we cleared a lane through their field. And we’d push the whole battle forward a little. But let’s not take advantage of the pass-winder at least. Leave it for someone to have this weekend.”

“Emban’s fine with that,” said Bithe. “She’s started saying no equipment again. I wouldn’t mind impressing the instructor.”

“We have to use some equipment this time,” said Tilliver-gare. “Divin’s right that taking too little and failing is the worse outcome.”

“You’re listed as healed now, Tilliver. We should settle on what we’re doing soon,” said Seth-wereft.

The others all made gestures or sounds of agreement.

And Alden was getting it. Finally. He had enough pieces of the big picture to know what they’d just said.

A large simulated battle against chaos was taking place here in the training fields of Rapport III. It had been going on for several days and would continue for a few more.

The main three regions of the battlefield were assigned to different senior knights. Each of those knights had put out the call for other knights to help. This squad, being one of the most inexperienced ones, had volunteered for one of the smaller tasks in Hn’tyon Jatyam-en’s region.

Something was stabilizing the hilltop compared to the surrounding area. Another knight had figured that out on a flyover yesterday. This morning, the squad had gone to try to find whatever was holding out so well against the chaos so that it could be protected. They were calling it a treat because they knew it would be a prize for them to keep. Tilliver-gare’s injury and their skills being close to exhaustion had forced them to retreat before they reached it.

He hadn’t really been hurt, of course. The Contract informed participants about damage, protected them from real harm, and managed the whole battle.

“Injured” knights didn’t have to sit out for as long as they would have if they were really recovering, but there were consequences to their failures and successes that affected the whole battle.

Other people had had to stop their own work to come help extract them earlier. Their squad had cleared some demons, so the hill wasn’t lost yet. But because the vehicle they’d used on their way in had been declared severely damaged, that vehicle had been removed from the list of tools available to everyone for the duration of the exercise.

Resources were limited. One squad’s victory made another’s easier. Hundreds of people would be involved before the end, but the biggest shifts in the state of the overall battle usually came from the successes and failures of the most powerful knights involved.

Alden thought it must be very tense for people at Jatyam-en’s level. It sounded like if he made a mistake, he’d lose huge amounts of land to chaos and watch dozens of younger knights who were trying to help him “die.”

But there was plenty of difficulty down here at the lowest level, too. Alden was impressed by how much freedom the squad had to use those limited resources and make their own decisions about how to get the job done. They received no orders from any superiors, as far as he could tell. The instructor Bithe had just mentioned was Rel-art’h, but it didn’t seem like he was actively involved in what they did. Alden wasn’t even sure he was here in Rapport III today.

And because it was such a realistic, long event, there were a ton of factors for them to consider. Like Tilliver-gare wishing they could clear a path through someone else’s assigned field. They could just get to the top of their hill, or they could try to do more. And the difference between the two, in terms of difficulty and outcomes, was way bigger than anything that could happen on, say, an obstacle course at Celena North.

They don’t have to care about as much as the more senior knights do, but they still need to have this awareness of how their hill mission is affecting the people working nearby. Maybe they should use more expensive vehicles and enchanted weapons if it’ll put them in a position to help the other groups get farther ahead.

It was way more cooperative than competitive, but that almost made the decisions more difficult.

“If someone like Hn’tyon Opnee or Hn’tyon Forduan has trouble, does your squad need to be ready to go help them? Do you do things to prepare for that, or are you not senior enough to be called for aid?” Alden asked.

Those were the only two names he was sure belonged to people working in areas neighboring the hill.

Everyone stopped talking. That was wild of them considering how much they’d been talking over each other, but he supposed they’d forgotten he was here and he’d startled them. This was the first thing he’d said since he started observing.

He wanted the answer because it was something he’d be worried about when it came to choosing how deeply he’d pull from the shared supplies. And he hadn’t heard them talk about the possibility of needing to completely switch gears and rush to another knight’s aid, even though someone had had to do that for them earlier today.

“If someone like Forduan is in danger, we couldn’t help,” said Bithe. “We could check for an update from Opnee’s squad at the last moment, though. If they’re having enough trouble, I think it would justify us using a high defense flyer to finish the hill quickly and join them.”

“It would,” Seth-wereft said after thinking for a moment longer. “And hello, Alden! I know you said you wouldn’t interrupt us, but you didn’t have to be that quiet for that long.”

Bithe’s smile stiffened. He looked at Alden. “Your already impressive knowledge of our language seems to have grown in the short time since we last saw each other.”

“I’m not being quiet because of that one comment from weeks ago about my mouth-wind mutilating your language, Bithe.”

“What’s this?” asked Tilliver-gare, lifting sharply arched white eyebrows.

“I just didn’t have anything to say to you all,” said Alden. “Other than questions you don’t have time for. Since I know so little about you, the only ideas I’m having involve my own skill. If you want to take an Avowed along to hold the thing you’re collecting so that it won’t degrade while you try to make a run for the world keeper, say so. Otherwise, I’m glad you’re letting me listen.”

It sounded like there were observation locations for people who wanted to watch the battle play out live. He hoped to ask them for an invite to one of those before they parted ways so that he could see how all this talking he’d been trying to absorb turned into action.

“I want an Avowed to carry the treat,” said Seth-wereft.

Alden did a really good job of not gaping at her. “All right. If you want to consider me as a possible option, you should probably put an eye on how I use my skill. I have some video of how it works from my training classes at school.”

Seth-wereft jerked like she was going to fall out of her seat. “I apologize,” she said, suddenly losing all of her levity. “I didn’t realize you were sincerely offering.”

She was joking…yeah, that makes more sense.

“It was generous,” Divin-zadja said quickly. “Thank you, Avowed Alden. Seth didn’t mean to make light of it.”

She and Bithe had both winced in unison. Alden wondered if it was more for him or their squadmate.

“It’s fine. I didn’t expect you to want my help,” he said. “But it was a sincere offer. My skill preserves things. It’s also a shield. If one person was wounded, I could hold them until the job was finished or until rescue arrived. I’m sure I’m not as strong as any of you are, but I doubt I’m so much weaker that I would be useless. Or I wouldn’t be if we’d had more experience working together. The main issue would be how unfamiliar I am with everything you’re doing. So you would have to give me a lot of instructions, and having me along might interrupt your flow as a squad.”

He thought that was a fair assessment of himself.

Now seems like a good enough time to ask for favors.

“Actually,” he said, “since you don’t want me for that, I was going to ask you all if you minded me watching from one of the observation places.”

“Of course we don’t mind,” said Seth-wereft.

Bithe and Divin-zadja quickly agreed.

Tilliver-gare had propped an elbow on the table, and two of his fingertips were resting against his chin. One eye was stuck on Alden. “There are so many Avowed summonings left for this battle.”

So summoning Avowed is part of it, too? And there’s a maximum number allowed.

“I think I’m a summoner who would want to choose an Avowed carefully. But you’re already here. You’re volunteering. Nothing bad will actually happen to you. And I like to give people instructions. People who listen, that is.”

The others were all looking uncertain now. Alden honestly didn’t know if he’d rather go with them for a practical experience or enjoy the view of the wider battlefield from what was no doubt a luxurious observation place.

“I suppose it’s a bad idea, though,” Tilliver-gare concluded. “I’d be curious to hear what you think you could have done with your skill to assist after you watch us.”

“I’ll tell you. Or send you a message if we can’t meet easily,” Alden said.

He felt relieved, so he must have been more worried about getting practical experience today than he’d realized.

Makes sense. The chance to humiliate myself during something like they’re doing seems extremely high.

A repeat of every mistake he’d ever made in gym class, but in front of however many knights were observing. And for all he knew, half the residents of the Rapports might watch the replays of this like they were Saturday morning cartoons.

I can’t believe I offered. I must have gone crazy for a second.

He settled down while the conversation went back to where it had been before his question. They’d stopped spinning the map. He could study it now. And he’d gotten control of his spinning thoughts. He could hear the music box.

I feel good about it all.

Just like last night, he’d taken a seat at the table. He’d introduced himself to a few people. He’d shown he cared about the thing they were doing.

And now he got to go spend the rest of his weekend watching knights use their skills.

I’m not even going to take notes while I observe the battlefield. I’m just going to try to absorb what I see.

When Emban finally arrived, the awkwardness he’d expected to well up in him didn’t make an appearance.

Sure, he’d run out of the kitchen and mildly insulted the art’hs, and she’d told him this wasn’t his world. But now Stuart knew the name of Alden’s skill and his wishes for his future. Alden had helped serve wevvi at Esh-erdi’s house. And Emban’s squad had been thoroughly welcoming. If they’d been a little stupid to each other that morning, so what? Bygones.

She came in through a door that had just a couple of vathas left on the outside. Her braid was simpler than others he’d seen her wear, but she had the ribbons in it to match her cream-colored coat.

Everyone greeted her. As she took one of the empty seats, she reported that Ryada had enjoyed watching them this morning, and Alden perked up even more at the thought that he might run into Ryada while he was observing.

“Look who found us!” Seth-wereft said, after Emban finished delivering tips from Ryada to each member of the squad. “Alden Thorn!”

“Yes, Bithe mentioned him in a message,” said Emban. “This must be our week for visitors.”

It wasn’t rude, to Alden’s ears.

He thought her tone was neutral, leaning pleasant. If there was any inflection on the words “him” or “visitors,” it was so slight he would never have been sure it was there on his own.

But he wasn’t the only person in the room.

Seth-wereft’s smile dropped. Bithe’s more than dropped; he looked like somebody had stolen a cookie from him and stomped on it.

Whether Emban had subtly vocalized something awful that only native speakers could understand or she was on such thin ice with her squadmates today that she wasn’t allowed to have even a tiny slip of the tongue, he didn’t know. But she’d clearly messed up.

Did she send them a bad text message at the same time? Did I miss a translation?

Divin-zadja sighed and reached out to touch Bithe’s hand.

Something about that made Alden think that this might be all about Emban suggesting her fellow knight was only a visitor. That could have been a pretty bad dig, especially if there had been lead-up to it he hadn’t witnessed.

But if Divin-zadja was the person who’d been insulted, he couldn’t grasp what thought process led to the next words spoken in the room: “Alden’s coming with us.”

I’m doing what?

Tilliver-gare, who’d made the declaration, was looking at Emban instead of him. “I’m summoning him to join our battle. He’ll be a critical part of our quest.”

No. We just said I would not be. I generously offered, and you wisely refused, and you moved on to finalizing a plan that has nothing to do with me. I get to observe.

None of them were focused on him except for Emban herself, who was staring at him like she was hoping to find an explanation for what was happening written on his forehead.

“That…doesn’t make sense,” she said.

“Perhaps our choices would make sense to you if you had been here,” said Seth-wereft.

You’re in on it, too, now?

I offered to let you guys use me against chaos, not each other.

“Hn’tyon Tilliver-gare, I think—”

“Please call me Tilliver, Alden. We should all use one another’s first names. We’re about to be busy, and titles take too much time.”