***Tirnanog, The Mycelium***

***Astra***

It took a few minutes of contemplative silence among the group until Ginevra confidently announced, “I can’t sense Nisha’s presence any more.”

“Is it safe to talk now?” I asked, addressing my question towards Balthasar.

The ancient shrugged. “Who knows? Among all the ancients, Nisha was always the one with the keenest senses. But I can confirm that she left the village – which is as much information security as you will ever get with her around. Though I don’t believe she would risk spying on me after I made clear I wanted nothing to do with this conflict.”

I tilted my head, considering what I had learned of Gurney’s ‘ancients’ so far. It looked like the bioengineer had been going for excellence in specialized fields with his personal guards. If Nisha was the ancient version of a sensor, then was it even possible to keep secrets while she was in the same general area?

Balthasar rolled his eyes at our hesitation. “You can talk. Nisha is good, but she isn’t omniscient. As long as you keep your voices down, your secrets should be safe enough. Even she shouldn’t be able to pick out our voices from among the village’s background noise.”

I nodded and began explaining how events played out from our point of view, and as per Mary’s advice, I left nothing out. It looked like Balthasar already knew most of what we had to say, though there were a few things which were new to him.

Having learned that there was a possibility of Nisha listening in, we didn’t share that Aerie had a working wormhole. However, we assured Balthasar that Jeng’s collapse was far from as inevitable as Nisha believed.

“… which is why I think that even if you hide in this village, some party will come for you sooner or later. Whether it is Earth’s government, Thich’s slavers, or Vier’s ambitions,” I ended my explanations with an inviting gesture after having revealed as much of the current political situation as I thought to be safe. “If you ask me, after the attack on Jeng this conflict is already way past the point at which things can return to normal. No matter the outcome, it will affect all the Clans.”

Balthasar seemed thoughtful, but not convinced he had indeed stakes in this conflict.

“I understand your plight, but it changes nothing for me. Mary was always a good friend and I wouldn’t hesitate to talk with her. Sadly, I have my responsibilities here and can’t leave.” Balthasar’s eyes landed on his daughter who was playing with a ball, using the house wall to bounce it off and catch it. “The villagers and my daughter need me.”

“Can you explain why you are still here?” Magnus asked. “From what I have seen, I would have already packed my things and left. This is no place to live. The atmosphere among the villagers is toxic, to say the least. Your village is badly guarded aside from the protection your roots provide. Don’t take me wrong, those roots are impressive, but you clearly aren’t omniscient with their use or you would have stopped us upon entering the village.”

Balthasar looked irked, but he nodded. “I am actually very sensitive with them, but it’s hard to discern one bug from another when there are hundreds of them crawling over your body.”

He sighed and looked off into the distance. “This place was better, once. We founded this settlement with our hopes and dreams, you know. We just wanted a place away from the other humans. Somewhere where we wouldn’t be drawn into the conflicts of others. Just like this one. And even if the villagers wanted to leave, it’s hard to let go, even if living here is no longer tenable. I see it as my duty to protect this place till the last of them is gone.”

Thalia shook her head. “That’s… a morbid conviction.”

“And unfair towards the child,” Magnus added. “Having a kid in a place like this is criminal. Are there even other kids around, or is she the last surviving one? Can’t imagine the survival rate is very high if they are allowed to play at the wall.”

I elbowed him trying to be inconspicuous while I messaged, ‘What’s wrong with you? Poke him some more and I won’t care if he smacks you to kingdom come.’

‘Just trying to get him out of his comfort zone. Am I the only one who noticed that this stupid, old hermit has a serious mental problem? The villagers too, but he seems apathetic towards the world. If we don’t get a rise out of him, he will just stay in his garden watching the herbs grow.’

“What else do you expect me to do?” Balthasar gestured angrily at our surroundings. “You have seen my power. It’s not like I can uproot myself and transport everyone to safety or I would have done so. And without the root system, I am not strong enough to protect them. Charmaine doesn’t have the power to make the journey out of the Mycelium. I have already lost her mother to this fog. I won’t risk losing Charmaine too. And I forbade her playing at the wall several times. If she doesn’t listen, there isn’t much I can do aside from locking her up for her safety and I am not willing to go quite that far.”

I bit my lower lip, remembering what Magnus had done to quell Isaac’s rowdy behaviour. It was dark psychology, but I couldn’t argue with the result. Isaac hadn’t run off a single time since that day.

Thalia whistled appreciatively. “And there is the root of the problem.”

I raised a hand. “Balthasar, what if we could get your daughter to Mount Aerie for you? She would be safe there with a whole clan between her and any monsters.”

Balthasar shook his head. “I don’t trust anyone else with my daughter.”

Magnus leaned forward and grinned. “But it would just take an instant, you know. No risky journey between here and there. Since we can teleport.”

“That’s some claim.” Balthasar scoffed. “Next thing you tell me is you have a way back to Earth!”

“Maybe?” Magnus gestured for me while he got out of his chair. “Come on, let’s set up a jaunt point and get Charmaine a playmate to prove our point.”

I hesitated, wondering for a moment what he meant before I caught up. “Do you think that’s a good idea? What about the fog and the spores?”

I looked towards Thalia.

“Isaac will be fine if you give him the fungicide and limit his visit, but are you sure this is a good idea?” Thalia replied.

Charmaine instantly stopped playing with her ball and turned towards us. It was clear where her attention had been the entire time. Not with her game, but listening in on the adults. “You can get another kid to come here?”

I placed a hand on my partner’s shoulder and switched to the chat system to keep this private, ‘What’s your angle with this? I don’t want you to risk Isaac just to prove something to Balthasar. He might change his mind when he sees our jaunt ability, but he could just as likely decide to stay.’

‘I don’t want to change Balthasar’s decision at all. That old man’s ways are as rigid as a rod of steel,’ Magnus messaged back. ‘I want to influence Charmaine into wanting to leave. I don’t know what’s going on between them, but that kid has serious attention issues. I don’t know whether he is just a bad father or apathetic after his remote village experiment failed, but that they have a problem is undeniable. The old man doesn’t even bother with organizing a babysitter for her, or she wouldn’t risk her life at the wall.’

Magnus grinned in a way I had seen before – and I didn’t like it at all. It reminded me of a certain box of cards and a very angry elder.

I wasn’t pleased with ‘Magnus the battle maniac’, but I also disliked ‘Magnus the social schemer’.

Why couldn’t he be just the concerned avenger in search of his sisters whom I met so long ago at the Old Camp? I rubbed my temple, feeling a strange migraine coming on. Then again, there was no such thing as a person with a single personality trait. And the longer and more intimately you knew someone, the more you learned about them.

Magnus didn’t seem to notice my wariness at all as he went on. ‘It might not take much to have Charmaine become a pestering voice in Balthasar’s ear. I can already hear the: Let’s go to Mount Aerie so that I can play with my new friend!’

He nodded to himself. ‘Besides, the risk to Isaac is minimal. We already tested jaunting with people and they were fine aside from the physical strain on us. I will get Isaac for an hour or two and watch him like a hawk until it’s time to take him back.’

I looked around the garden. The idea was sound – if a little too manipulative for my tastes. Just like with Magnus’s other social schemes, it sounded stupid enough for it to work. I just didn’t like to risk Isaac.

Then again, Balthasar’s herb garden seemed like the safest place one could find outside Mount Aerie. I closed my eyes and surrendered to the idea. Balthasar was a hermit, but he never gave the impression of being a bad person.

“If you don’t believe us, then the only choice is to give you proof.” I got up and stepped a few metres away from the table, followed by Magnus. Together, we set up the jaunt point which was a well-practised exercise by now. We touched our palms together and began manipulating the electromagnetic field between us, creating a resonance which would ultimately cause a tiny wrinkle in the planet’s gravity field, a fixed point in space-time serving as a homing beacon.

It looked like Balthasar wanted to protest since we were doing something suspicious right next to his house, but he was interrupted by his daughter.

“Are they really going to get another kid?” Charmaine stormed towards us and grasped her father’s arm. She was practically bouncing on her feet and trampling all over Balthasar’s parade. “Can we play?”

Balthasar shook his head. “Whatever they think they can do, Charmaine, don’t get your hopes up. I have never heard of a mutation allowing someone to ‘teleport’. Mutations can grant some truly fantastic abilities, but I have never heard-”

With a small thunderclap between us, the jaunt point was created, rendering any objections Balthasar might have had moot.

In reply to the ancient’s wary gaze, Magnus threw off his gear, stacking the heavy armour on the ground before he waved with a big grin on his face before he jumped into the air and jaunted.

It looked different from flash-step.

When we flash-stepped, it seemed like our bodies blurred and sped up until we reached the target location. In reality, the electromagnetic field around us created something akin to a miniature Alcubierre drive, allowing us to pass through a certain amount of space as long as there wasn’t too much mass in the form of gas molecules or something solid in the way. The theory behind it was complex and we understood it only thanks to Gaia’s teachings, but the casual onlooker could mistake it easily for nothing more than a very quick movement.

A jaunt was on an entirely different level. Magnus leapt into the air and everything around him warped. It looked like the distortion caused by a magnifying glass. Then, for a brief moment, a jagged ring of light formed, giving the impression of a portal, but that was just the light being bent around the spheric wormhole.

It took only a moment and my partner was gone, the wormhole collapsing right behind him.

“He is going to get Isaac, our son,” I explained patiently while we waited.

Balthasar had shot up from his chair when Magnus disappeared. “Where did he go?”

The ancient ran over and waved a hand through the space where Magnus had been.

“I told you. He went to Mount Aerie to prove to you that we can transport your daughter safely,” I explained patiently.

“Then why didn’t Mary use this ability to come here herself if she is that pressed for time?”

I forced myself to smile. Oh, boy. Showing him the jaunting ability had frazzled him.

“I already told you. Mary went on a mission to save Gurney from the Thich. We don’t know where she is at the moment.” I spread my hands in a helpless gesture. “And it’s not like jaunting back and forth is easy. The needed power rises exponentially with the transported mass. I can jaunt four or five times a day without gear and without exhausting myself. With gear and with another person, a single jaunt wipes me out and such jaunts are not safe. That’s why Magnus took off his armour. My partner has more raw power than me, but even he wouldn’t transport another adult lightly. Isaac is small, so it’s no issue. Charmaine is larger, but she doesn’t look like she weighs more than our iobeetle armour.”

“I… see.” Balthasar looked a little lost for words.

“Why don’t we sit down while we wait?” I suggested. “What we just did created a homing beacon for our ability. It gives enough leeway if something already occupies the destination, but it adds unnecessary stress if someone is in the way.”

It took a few minutes, but eventually, the air warped and Magnus reappeared with Isaac in his arms. Our boy immediately looked around the garden with great interest.

While Balthasar had sat down at his table, his daughter had waited next to the jaunt point with obvious anticipation.

When she saw Isaac, Charmaine deflated a little. “He is just a toddler.”

Magnus set Isaac down in front of the girl and our boy looked up to her, holding out his hand in greeting. “Hi, I am Isaac. What is your name? I may be a toddler, but I am way smarter than you. Dad told me that he met you playing with monsters and that I shouldn’t copy your bad behaviour. Playing with monsters isn’t very smart. Hasn’t anyone told you that monsters can be really, really dangerous? They eat people!”

He looked around with wide eyes and towards the sky. “Is this the surface? I thought I could see the sky, but it’s all white.” The words spilled out of Isaac’s mouth just as fast as most kids would have needed for a normal introduction.

Charmaine and Balthasar stared at Isaac. The former lost for words with her mouth open and the latter with both eyebrows raised so high they almost touched his hairline.

I coughed and glared at Magnus.

Sensing my disapproval, he shrugged his shoulders and tried to look innocent. “I just told him about the shroom-things and that he should stay in the garden, I swear. Be more polite when talking with girls, Isaac. You are going to be a big brother once your sisters hatch.”

I groaned inwardly and couldn’t help myself. “Please, Magnus. Can we not use the term ‘hatch’?”

“How else do you want to call it? They are eggs.”

Balthasar looked flustered, which was embarrassing.

“Kiera said they aren’t truly eggs. It’s more accurate to call them incubation pods,” I corrected somewhat sourly.

Meanwhile, Isaac was shaking Charmaine’s hand enthusiastically.

Balthasar cleared his throat. “While that’s all very interesting, Isaac, did you really come from Mount Aerie?”

“Yes!” the boy zipped over, looking at Balthasar with big, round eyes. “Why are there roots coming out of your ears!?”

I covered my face. We really should have thought this over a little more carefully before committing. “Isaac! It’s not polite to call out others on their mutations. It’s the same as asking you why your skin has neon-coloured patterns. I am so sorry, Balthasar. We have been keeping him very sheltered within the family. Aside from Frosts and Tates, he hasn’t met anyone else.”

“It’s fine,” the ancient waved a hand. “They are a part of my mutation, Isaac. I am more plant than human at this point.”

“Wow! Does that mean you can live off water and dirt alone?”

“Isaac!” I admonished.

Balthasar pursed his lips. “I guess I could? Though, that wouldn’t be very pleasant.”

Isaac nodded sagely. “I knew it!” Then he zipped back to Charmaine, pulling two decks with cards out of his pocket. “Do you want to play a game?”

Seeing the cards, Charmaine shook her head. “I don’t know how to play.”

Isaac wasn’t deterred in the slightest. “Then I will teach you.”

I turned back to Balthasar. “So, how is it?”

Balthasar blinked. “I… will have to think about this… proposal. Why don’t you stay for a day or two?”

“Sure!” Thalia joined in. “There is no need to make up your mind right now. Why don’t we switch topics to something less controversial? On our way here, we were stalked by a creature. It looked like an albino night terror, but we came to call it the white stalker. Do you know anything about it? Humanoid with claws? Arms and legs have two joints instead of one. Elongated snout?”

Balthasar nodded. “We call them just ‘whites’. Very smart. Very dangerous. Aside from the stalkers, they are the apex predators around here. They cost us more than a few lives in the early days until they smartened up to my presence and stopped raiding the settlement. Why do you want to know?”

“I want to hunt one for its mutation,” Thalia announced.

“We do?” Mark asked, apparently unaware of the plan.

“Are you sure?” I cautioned, worried for my friend. “Shouldn’t you aim for an easier target for your first hunt together?”

“We already have a night-terror mutation and it’s not like we will go at this alone,” Thalia replied confidently. “You are going to help us.”

“But that’s against tradition,” I protested.

“You mean your family tradition,” Thalia corrected. “I am a Tate and I see no reason to risk my life for an improvement if I can recruit the right hunters for the job. Having already seen how dangerous these creatures are, I am sure you wouldn’t let Mark and me go out there alone. Especially not when my most potent ability can't affect animals?”

I wanted to reply… something… but couldn’t come up with a fitting argument. Thalia was right. In the heat of the moment, I had forgotten that the 'joined hunt' to celebrate a partnering was primarily practised by members of the twelfth strata.

Thalia returned her attention to Balthasar. “So, what else do you know about the ‘whites’?”