Tala kept up with the diminutive woman leading her and Rane each by an arm.

Rane, for his part, was quite confused as to what was going on. “Mistress Noelle-”

The Archon spun on Rane, briefly releasing Tala’s arm as she thrust her finger into his face, cutting him off. “You get one warning, Rane. I am Noelle. Use your universal moniker on others, but I’ll have none of it.”

Rane pulled back, looking cross-eyed at the finger still aimed his way.

Tala briefly reflected that the gesture was a lot more threatening from a Mage than a mundane, and it was uncomfortable, even from one of those.

He nodded. “Yes, Noelle.”

Noelle smiled up at him. “Good boy.” After patting his shoulder, a couple of times, she turned back, easily catching Tala’s arm and moving inexorably forward once more.

To his credit, Rane recovered quickly. “Noelle.”

“Hmm?”

“Where are we going?”

“Oh, to my workshop. I need to examine the two of you.”

At that moment, Terry flickered into being on Tala’s shoulder.

Noelle stopped dead, looking at the avian, then to Tala. “Oh, you two are very interesting. You should-” she cut herself off, shaking her head, “No. That would be foolish.” She met Tala’s gaze. “Get stronger, bond the bird, then come back.” She pointed back and forth between Tala and Terry. “I will be fascinated to see how that settles out.”

Then, the latest distraction dealt with, Noelle snatched up Tala and Rane’s arms once again, leading them onward.

Tala cleared her throat, then. “So, we’re going to your workshop to test us for… soul-syncing.”

“That’s one name for it.”

Tala sighed. “What would you call it?”

“Soul-syncing.” Noelle’s tone was perfectly level.

Tala huffed a short laugh. “Fine.”

Strangely, she was finding herself relaxing, just a bit. She realized that a part of it seemed to be related to the change to her surroundings. Even in Makinaven, trees and wood had dominated her environment. Apparently, mushrooms are better. Well, they were different at least.

Tala returned her focus to the matter at hand. “Naming aside, what is it?”

They were to the base of the stump, and Tala was able to see wide stairs carved into the dead tree, up which Noelle led them both as she answered. “People and things that are around each other for enough time start to fall into sync. A rock resting on the forest floor will leave an impression. It will change the mini-biome of the area, affecting what can live there, and how well it will prosper. Given enough time, the rock will become almost indistinguishable from the surrounding forest floor.”

Rane was frowning. “So, that sounds like a passive process.”

“In that sense, it is.” Noelle let out an exaggerated sigh. “Things that are truly in sync can act as a single magical unit.”

Tala cocked her head to the side in thought, even as she took a quick step forward to thread around a variation in the width of the stairs. “Like a soul-bound.”

“Like that, but without the combination of the spiritual being required.”

Tala nodded. “Hence ‘soul-syncing.’ ”

“Precisely.” Noelle smiled. “Soul-syncing is more like a rock. Is a rock, a rock? Or is it a collection of molecules, fused together? Why should that one rock be a unit, magically speaking, but be separate units, the moment they break apart? Why does a molecular bond impart magical oneness?”

Tala had honestly not ever considered that portion of magic theory. “I mean, I can target a part of something. So, I could target a portion of the rock, without it needing to be broken apart.”

“Ahh, but are you targeting a part of the rock, or are you targeting a smaller rock, that happens to be fused with others, as part of the larger.”

She didn’t really have an answer to that. That’s an interesting question, probably worth considering at some point. Tala had no idea what the implications were of either answer, but she was sure that it would be fascinating to investigate.

Noelle turned them inward, facing the side of the stump at a seemingly random place in their ascent. By that point, they were so used to following her lead that neither of them registered that she was leading them into a solid wall, until they had stepped straight through it.

Tala craned around, staring back the way they’d come at the perfectly normal looking, open doorway. “Why can’t I see any magic?”

“Because the effect isn’t magical.”

Tala turned back around to frown at Noelle in confusion. “What?”

“It’s an incredibly precisely controlled, regulated, and focused hallucinogenic effect.”

“That’s not how hallucinogens work.”

“Oh? You’re an expert?”

Tala opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. Finally, she sighed. “Magically manipulated, but not magical in nature.”

“Precisely.”

“What could you do with that kind of fine control?”

Noelle tittered slightly. “Well, I’m actually a two-thousand-pound leopard, but I’ve convinced the local Mages that I’m one of them and use that to lure my prey back to my lair.”

Both Rane and Tala stopped dead, trying and failing to pull free.

Even so, Noelle stopped as well with an overdramatic sigh. “Relax. I’m joking.”

Tala felt an almost irresistible urge to laugh but managed to contain it.

Rane began chuckling, but his eyes showed that it wasn’t genuine.

Noelle looked back and forth, between them. “Oh, my apologies.”

His laughter stopped, and the air was suddenly a lot clearer.

Tala blinked, looking around. The effect was similar to being in a smoky kitchen and stepping outside for the first time in hours. I didn’t even notice the stuff in the air.

“Of late, my spores tend to shape themselves in attempts to meet my subconscious desires. It’s dead useful much of the time, but there’s a reason I don’t work in a city.” She winked and started forwards again, or at least, she tried.

Tala found that she easily resisted the small woman’s pull, now.

Noelle grunted. “Ahh, right.”

Tala found herself bristling with irritation. “You were manipulating us since we were at the wagon, weren’t you.”

The older Archon sighed. “Technically every interaction is a form of manipulation, but yes.” She thought about it for a moment. “Actually, most of it was keeping you socially off balance.” She grinned at the two. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

Tala and Rane shared a long look. Terry let out an indifferent, quiet chirp, continuing his fake sleep. Finally, Rane shrugged. Tala gave a half grin back his way and shook her head in resignation.

Noelle had walked about ten feet down the corridor before stopping and turning to regard them. “So?”

They followed after her, and she led them another dozen yards or so before they came out into a large chamber, open to the air above them.

This is in the center of the stump. Odd to have the entrance hidden, then open the space itself to the outside for anyone to drop in. The woman likely had other security precautions, regardless.

As Tala looked around, she noticed that the layout was very similar to Master Jevin’s workshop. There was even a couple of dasgannach in glass jars. “You’re studying those, too?”

Noelle looked to where Tala was pointing. “Oh, yes. They are utterly fascinating. Every researcher worth their metal has at least one to experiment with.” She smiled widely. “Besides, those are arguably fungi.”

Rane frowned. “I’m not an expert on fungi, or whatever that is, but it’s moving. Aren’t fungi, by definition, non-motile?”

Noelle grimaced. “You sound like Darmin.”

Tala looked to the woman. “Darmin?”

“My research assistant.”

Rane looked at the moving mud, then back to the woman. He seemed to decide on ignoring her deflection. “So…How are they fungi?”

“…I want them to be.”

Tala huffed a laugh. Then, she realized what the woman’s reason was more likely to be. “You want to control them.”

Noelle regarded her for a moment. “Well, obviously.”

Tala shrugged. “Why not just soul-bond one?”

“They are sentient enough that their assent, as well as mine, is required for the bond.”

Rane started nodding. “But not sentient enough to choose to bond.”

“Precisely. I’ve tried making an Archon star of their chosen food, but even if I put the star in, by itself, they refuse to eat it. No matter how long they are kept from other sustenance.” Noelle sighed. “It doesn’t help that they seem to not need to eat.”

“They don’t need to eat?”

“Not really. I’ve never had one starve under my care, and I’ve left one without food for centuries. Never did take that star…” She sighed. “It didn’t shrink or become less motile, either, so it wasn’t actually ‘starving’ or anything.”

Tala was frowning. “Wait, Master Jevin said that they don’t have any will to speak of.”

“That’s true. If will was water, they’d be a desert.”

“Then how are they sentient?”

“Oh, Tala. What makes you think sentience requires a will?”

She blinked in confusion. “What? Isn’t that the definition of a will? Of sentience?”

Noelle shrugged. “Sentience just means that they are capable of making a choice between utterly equal options.”

“What?”

But Rane was nodding. “The starving donkey.”

Noelle pointed to him. “Precisely.”

“Starving donkey?” Tala was lost.

Noelle looked to Rane. “You or me.”

He shrugged. “It’s your workshop.”

She smiled. “Fair enough. The postulate is that if you place a donkey between two utterly equal sources of food/water/shelter, etc, then there should be nothing to allow it to choose one over the other.”

“Alright.”

“So, if there is no ‘reason’ for it to choose one over the other, will it starve?”

“Of course not. It will just pick one.”

“How?”

Tala opened her mouth, then closed it. After a long moment, she shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Sentience! Sentience my dear is the ability to make a choice that seems to have no reason behind it. The starving donkey is just a hypothetical extreme to illustrate the point.”

Tala grunted. “I suppose.” After a moment, she shrugged. “So, that’s not will?”

“Oh, no. Will is the ability to make a decision against reason. It is a step beyond mere sentience. Many humans are perfectly sentient, but never do anything that is too hard, or that is opposed. They lack will.” She shrugged. “Or their will is weak, however you wish to state it.”

“I think I get it. So, bonding a dasgannach?”

“I’ll figure something out eventually, but that’s not why we’re here.”

Tala cleared her throat. “Right, soul-syncing. Why, again? I don’t think you’ve said.”

“Ahh, yes. It’s simple: I want to inscribe and empower every fungi in this region as one.”

“Why would that be useful?”

“Well, then I could make a small script on, say, that mushroom.” She pointed to a rather plane looking specimen growing from one of the tables. “And it would affect them all.”

Oh! Wow… that…That would be rusting useful. Tala started thinking through the various implications. It’d be like aspect mirroring, without needing the conscious effort. It was how her elk-leathers functioned. They were, magically speaking, one item. Shared pool of power.

“I can see you’ve realized at least some of the advantages.”

Tala nodded, but Rane was frowning. “You said that Mistress Tala and I are moving towards soul-synchronization?”

“I said you were half-synchronized.”

“Is there a difference?”

Noelle laughed, walking over to a cabinet and pulling out a set of tools. She then lifted two that had identical handles, but wildly different tops. “These are half-identical, right?”

Rane nodded.

“So, are they moving towards being identical?”

“Oh, I see.”

Noelle nodded sagely. “Good. You see, I assume that you two spend a lot of time near each other, yes?”

They glanced at one another and shrugged. Tala responded. “Yeah. We’re friends, sparring partners, and we’re both Mage protectors for this caravan.”

“Right, so your bodies and souls have fallen into sync. You aren’t becoming one, but you are becoming intuitively aligned. Your heart rates are not identical, but they are sub-rhythms of each other. You breathe either on beat with one another or directly opposed. You fall into step. Tala, you lengthen your stride, and Rane, you shorten yours.”

Tala tsked. “What does that mean?” After a moment’s hesitation, she frowned. “Wait. How could you even know this, even if it were true?”

Noelle looked at them. After around five seconds, she nodded. “Confirmed. If you’re looking for it, it’s hard to miss.” She hesitated. “Well, if you have the perceptual acuity to notice. As to what it means? Well, what you two have is the physical side of things. I’ve found it most often in guards, or long-term friends. Some marriages, and many research associates.”

“Darmin?”

She waved that off. “No, his bio-rhythms became subservient to mine almost immediately. One morphing to match the other isn’t true synchronization.”

Rane pointed at himself and Tala. “So, how do you know that’s not what happened, here?”

“Because of the second part. But the physical side first. Mushrooms can’t do that, their rhythms are set by nature, and their environment. I can force such alignment, but that causes the same issue as one suborning the other.”

Tala groaned. “Can you get to the point? I feel like you’re spouting nonsense, trying to sound profound.”

Noelle laughed again. “You’re funny;” the mirth left the small woman’s face. “I like you.”

Tala felt color drain from her face, but she had no idea why. What is wrong with me? She swallowed involuntarily.

Rane shifted. “So…?”

Mistress Noelle sighed, glancing between Tala and Rane. “Fine. I don’t know what it means, alright. All I know is that certain things can have a sort of resonance between their spirits, which is partially reflected in the physical. I’ve seen it in predators and prey; I’ve seen it in people who’ve hated each other for years; I’ve seen it in people who just met; and I’ve seen it absent in couples after more than a century of marriage.”

He cocked his head in confusion. “So, you don’t know what it means, or what it affects, but you can detect it?”

Mistress Noelle waved that away. “Oh, I know what it can do, and what I’m trying to do.”

There was a long pause.

Tala took a seat, waiting. Think small thoughts. Don’t notice me, here

Rane, for some reason, didn’t sense the frustration coming from the Archon. “Well?”

Mistress Noelle grunted and flopped down in another stool. She glanced to Tala, and saw that she, also, was sitting. Noelle smiled happily at her, then turned back to Rane. “You’re distinct. Your magical pulse, cadence, rhythm is compatible with the other’s, but not the same. Your heart rates aren’t identical, but they are harmonious.” She shrugged. “I’d bet that you are far more effective, magically, against each other than you would be against anyone else.”

“Still haven’t answered my question.”

“Haven’t I? I want to unify life-forms magically, without them having to be linked physically or spiritually. That magical link often manifests spiritually or physically, but it doesn’t require it.”

“And Mistress Tala and I are…?”

“Physically in sync, which implies a soul-synchronization, and hints at the possibility of magical unification.”

Tala sat up straighter at that. “Hang on. What are you planning on doing to us?”

“Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just take a bunch of measurements.”

Tala’s eyes narrowed, as she regarded the woman. She didn’t want to antagonize her, but she was definitely not going to be forced into unity of any kind with another person, not even Rane. Nope. I am me.

Mistress Noelle seemed to sense her hesitation. “I swear to you that I will only take readings.”

“If only oaths were binding.”

The woman sighed, pulling out a slate, manipulating it for a moment, then pressing her thumb to indicate a confirmation. She passed the empowered item over.

Rane walked over to read over Tala’s shoulder.

“This is a contract stating that you will only take readings.”

Mistress Noelle nodded. “And if I do more, you, or your heirs, will be entitled to a ridiculous sum of money, mainly your weight in gold, for any infraction.”

Tala cleared her throat. “I’m very heavy.”

“It really doesn’t matter, Tala. I’m not going to do anything but take measurements.”

Tala shrugged, feeling at least a little bit better and looking to Rane.

He shrugged too. “She could probably just compel us, if she has as much skill with targeted hallucinogens as I suspect. At the very least, she could render us unconscious, do as she wished, and be done with it. Her asking for our agreement shows something of her character.”

Mistress Noelle straightened a bit. “It does, doesn’t it.”

Tala rolled her eyes. “Very well.”

The Archon stood, clapping her hands in glee. “Wonderful! Let’s get started, then. I have just a bit of set-up that I need to do to perform the tests.” She waved a hand, and one of the cabinets opened, showing a selection of random snack foods, and bottles of various liquids. “Help yourself.”

Tala and Rane did just that as they watched the elder Archon work.

Mistress Noelle retrieved a large array of bronze plates, each inscribed with spell-forms that reminded Tala of those Master Jevin had.

She moved around an open space to one side of the workshop, placing them in two mirrored patterns. Once that was done, the Archon pulled out bronze wire and carefully ran it in an intricate pattern between the various plates, wrapping around small, raised pins.

All in all, it took her nearly half an hour to get all set up.

“There we go. Tala?”

“Yes, Noelle?”

Mistress Noelle smiled at her. “You stand there, please.” She indicated the center of one of the two formations. “Rane?”

He started walking towards the other.

“Good boy. Right in the center, mind you.”

When they were both in position, Mistress Noelle clasped her hands. “Are we ready?”

The two nodded.

“Alright! Let’s begin.”