The 8th of Aggrave, Year 373 P.R.F. (High Lunar Cycle)

  On the outskirts of Drebos Altimas

  Instead of speaking, I chose to walk away. To my way of thinking, it was just as much my right to do so as theirs. And I have had enough of them, their silence, their rudeness, the strangeness of it all. I’m done. Maybe they are insane and I am still in Thersia. Maybe I am in a different world, but it has GMs of its own, or some kind of local equivalent. Or not, and I’m truly on my own. But at this point, I can’t think of any reason why I might be better off with these mages than without them.

  So with a small little half-wave goodbye, I turned around and started walking away. We had passed a cross-corridor just a bit ago; I could still see it from here. I had no idea where it led, but it wasn’t where we came from or where they seemed to want to go. Assuming they had any kind of destination at all.

  “Stop! Come back here!” came the unsurprising cry behind me. So what? I wasn’t sure what they might try, but in case I might actually lack the protection of implied divine retribution for wrongdoers, I didn’t truly ignore the mages completely. But guard up or no, I continued walking.

  “I’m warning you! Stop! Or we’ll make you stop!” came the woman’s voice once more. And I… paused in my steps. I hadn’t intended to. But I’d expected to hear her voice turn cold and threatening, laden with menace and danger. If she had become panicky instead, that might have been satisfying in its own way, too. Either way, I had steeled myself for a contest of wills, and was looking forward to striding triumphantly away.

  What I hadn’t expected to hear in her voice was hesitation. Maybe I was hearing something that wasn’t there, but she seemed to believe she could force me to stop, but didn’t want to have to do so. Which just wasn’t a sentiment I was expecting from this haughty, angry, impatient, arrogant noblewoman.

  So despite myself, I turned around. I made no move to return to the group, although I did find it interesting that none of them had seemingly made any move towards me. I was still sticking by my decision not to answer her, though, so I instead just gave them the best glare I could manage. By which I mean I stared at them with a small frown, and tried to choose between crossing my arms or placing my hands on my hips and wound up doing neither.

  (Note to my future self: find a mirror and practice better glares. It’s just not something I’ve spent much time doing before, okay? Don’t judge.)

  I nearly missed it, caught up in thinking about what to do with my arms, but something flickered quickly over her features when I faced them. Was that relief, maybe, or was I just seeing what I hoped to see?

  “Good. That’s good. You will come with us.”

  Oh good! Now I could make it clear I truly wasn’t speaking to her. Awkward silent stare, go!

  “I said, this way.”

  “…”

  “Come!”

  “…”

  “Come on. Obey me! This way! Come! Move! Why won’t you move?!”

  Oh, this is starting to get fun. I’m still no fan of Freya’s, and I hope I never take things as far as she does, but I think I might be starting to understand why she does some of what she does? The younger mage is making sillier and sillier faces in her frustration. I wonder what she’ll do next?

  Hahaha! What she’ll do next is stomp her foot and pout! Oh my! I know I should probably feel bad about this, but after getting dragged all about…

  *After how uncomfortable they made me feel…*

  The elderly mage took a half step forward, putting himself slightly between us. Then, in a calming tone he said “Maybe instead of trying to call her to heel like a dog, you could try treating her like a person?” Really? Now he says that? I was struggling to not let my face betray me with a smile when he continued, “Try asking her ‘Secia, would you come here, please?’ instead.”

  “How dare you! How DARE you! I’ve never met such insufferably rude people! How can you suggest treating someone like a person and insult them, all in the same breath? Who does that? What the heck is wrong with you people? Why did you even bother summoning me here? What is this all even for? It makes no sense! You make no sense! And why, please tell me, why are you so endlessly, insultingly rude!”

  And as I stood there, surprised at my own outburst and trying to catch my breath, the wrinkled old kill-stealer of a mage had the gall to smile at me! The insufferable jerk.

  “I was being rude, you say? To whom? To you or Lady Elutria?”

  “To me, of course.”

  “You say ‘of course’, but I’m not sure why you are so put out. Am I being rude now?”

  “Yes!”

  “I am, am I? And what am I doing that’s so rude? Should I be addressing you more respectfully?”

  “No! But you haven’t introduced yourself. I told you my name, but you haven’t told me yours. Which if you don’t want to, fine, that’s your choice. But if you won’t give me your name, you shouldn’t be talking to me. I shouldn’t be talking to you! But you’re so rude, I don’t know what to do about it any more!”

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  “Oh ho ho, how interesting. The courtesy of another world. I see, I see. Well Miss Secia, most people we summon can’t speak our language right away. It takes weeks or months for them to learn, depending on how much effort they put into it. And naturally, in the course of learning our language, they also learn our courtesy. After all, they don’t just learn what various words mean in those weeks of study, but what’s appropriate to say when, what words should and shouldn’t be spoken in what company, and so forth.”

  “That’s all very informative, but you are still being rude.”

  “And you’ve missed the point. Your idea of what is and isn’t rude is meaningless here. No one will know whatever arcane rules of conduct you and your people have cooked up. Not with regards to exchanging names, and not with regards to anything else you find insulting. Will you take offense with everyone you meet, for the rest of your days? For failing to adhere to standards they have had no opportunity or reason to learn? You’re in another world now, and you’ll need to adapt to it.”

  “I… I don’t know about any of that. But here and now, you are still being rude. I’m here because you… you invited me here, sort of. I’m your guest. And I’ve told you what the problem is and how to fix it, and you still haven’t. Which is also rude.”

  “Why should I? Even if I introduced myself to your satisfaction, how soon before I trespassed another of your meaningless rules? What benefit to either of us, to have you be continually offended by me? It’s far better for you and your education if I continue being ‘rude’, so that you can see things for what they really are and discard such foolishness.”

  I stared at him, frowned slightly, and folded my arms. Ha! Take that!

  “I take it from your silence you agree with me?”

  “No, I do not!”

  He sighed, and yet still never quite stopped smiling. I was fast becoming sick of his various grins. “Secia… Se-ciaaaa…,” he started to croon in a sing-song voice, “Do you have more to say? Because if you don’t, then it sure feels like you’ve conceded to my argg-uuments…”

  I swept my gaze across the other three mages instead. The young woman was maintaining a disinterested air, but our two still-hooded companions were watching our exchange with a surprising intensity, despite their continuing silence. For a moment, I considered saying something to them, but shook my head in disappointment instead. Just because the elderly mage was so rude as to provoke me into speaking out of turn, doesn’t mean I should be so rude as to address these other people as well. Even if it had been implied that they might not find that rude at all, as impossible as that seemed.

  So I once again turned to leave, even though I doubted they’d let me go far unchallenged. Sure enough, an elderly voice with a hint of laughter called after me, “Wait, wait please, miss. I’ll introduce myself, truly, I will.”

  I was sorely tempted to just keep walking, but everyone deserves another chance to make right, don’t they? Even if I got the feeling he wasn’t being sincere at all, and that I wasn’t about to be any happier with him. I could be mistaken. And if you don’t give people an opportunity to make things better, nothing can ever improve between you.

  Gritting my teeth, I did turn back towards them. Right thing to do or not, I really didn’t want to keep doing this. Especially when I saw the mage in question looked more delighted than contrite. But I still had to give him his chance, so I waited to hear what he had to say.

  “Thank you. My name is Rudolpho Yetvem Adrixos, and I am an Achmagus in the service of the Ministry of Magecraft of the nation of Cetimos, currently on official assignment to aid the Ministry of Summoning in their work. Both organizations are headquartered in our capital city of Verimos Duala, although the four of us here are more directly connected to the Ministry of Summoning’s Drebos Altimas branch, which is where most of the actual practice of summoning is typically conducted.

  “There, how was that? Name, affiliation, and location - I tried to copy the way you introduced yourself to me, but I’m not sure what info I should and shouldn’t give to satisfy your requirements for a proper introduction.”

  “I, no, that was fine. Your name alone would have been enough. Thank you.” I wasn’t sure what else to say to Rudolpho. I could almost see his point, if he didn’t know how much he had to say for his introduction to be an introduction. Not that I was willing to admit that aloud just yet. But maybe I would have to be more open to seeing things his way now that we were friends, however reluctantly on my part. I should at least try to get used to the idea. That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?

  “Oh ho ho. And with that, I would say you’ve passed the Tests of Restraint, Passion, and Thought. Well done! Wouldn’t you agree, Lady Elutria?” Rudolpho asked, turning to the female mage.

  “The Test of Restraint Against Violent Behavior, perhaps. She hasn’t made any move to attack us that I could detect, not even as some pitiful reflex when we provoked her. So at least we can do away with these stupid hallways. I’m less convinced she’s shown anything that should be mistaken for ‘Passion’ or ‘Thought’.” Her disdain for me seemed as much a constant as Rudolpho was mercurial.

  “So you’ve been testing me?” I asked, being careful to direct my words at Rudolpho. “This… all this… has been intentional?”

  “The brusque treatment, the chivvying you through literally endless hallways, yes, that comprises the Test of Restraint. Usually it ends when you reach the top of the ramp, but like I said before, most summons can’t speak our language at this point. The test also assumes that the inability to communicate is another stressor, testing your patience and potentially provoking you to violence. We’ve been having to improvise a bit in your case, ever since you greeted us in the summoning chamber. It’s imperative to understand whether you would pose a threat to us and the general populace, before all else.”

  And as he spoke, the most elaborate illusion I had ever beheld, something imbued with so much complexity I would have said it belonged in a myth or a legend, began unraveling before my eyes. As the spell forms behind such a massive conjuration revealed themselves as part of their slow dissolution back into raw magic, I tried to memorize every structure I could see for future study, even as I realized I’d likely never comprehend a tenth of it.

  As the last scraps of the grand working disappeared, I found we stood in the midst of a wide stone plaza of some sort. To my left, no more than fifteen feet away, was the upper opening of the open-air courtyard where we had climbed the ramp from the lower levels. But raising my gaze I saw in all directions a scenic panorama, with a steep, rocky mountainside in one direction and in the other, a vista of a distant green and fertile valley far, far below us, before rising into another mountain on the far side. I’d have to get closer to one of the knee-high walls that ringed the outer edges of this space to be certain, but my impression so far was that we must be atop some kind of massive stone tower, built atop a cliff jutting from the side of a mountain. A broad donut ring of a roof sat directly above us, supported here and there by stone columns, but there were no walled-off spaces anywhere, just this open tower-top patio.

  There was however a small smattering of furniture, here and there. The largest cluster consisted of a ring of chairs and some small tables atop a large, thick rug. Several cabinets and a small wooden chest, all of indeterminate purpose, sat close by. And it was towards these chairs the mages started moving as I slowly trailed behind, looking every which way.