***Tirnanog, The Mycelium***

***Magnus***

“That was a close one!” I chuckled and allowed myself to relax just a little bit once we were back at Balthasar's home.

Right up until we entered his property, I wasn’t sure whether the ancient would jump out from behind a corner, but Nisha hadn't shown herself a second time. However, it had to be said that we ran like the devil himself was right behind us.

“We were so lucky,” Astra let out a sigh of relief. “Seriously, we were stupid to leave the village in the first place. We strolled out the front gate without a second thought. Stupid! We could have at least tried to be sneaky about it.”

“I have to disagree. Partly at least,” I said. “This is one of those 'hindsight' problems. Afterwards, one can always claim it was obvious that Nisha would be waiting for us outside the village. Yes, it was a possibility, but seriously! Did we have any reason to assume that someone as important as an ancient would just camp outside the walls and wait for us? Wouldn't someone of Nisha's status be pressed for time? Have something better to do than staking out a few messengers far below her rank?”

“Maybe,” Astra admitted. “But it's not like waiting for a night and maybe getting lucky is much to ask for. She may have something similar to Mary going on, where she leaves the actual politicking to her version of elders. Just because she is powerful and has something to say among the Vier doesn't mean she has to be there all the time.”

“Well, if you don't know her circumstances, then how should we? How many days should we have waited before leaving the village?” I asked. “Two nights? A week? How much time does someone like Nisha have to waste with waiting us out?”

“Well, you were rather rude to her,” Ginevra pointed out. “She may have had a little more motivation than just gaining information.”

I waved her off. Nisha hadn't struck me as a person who liked being buttered up. Yes, I was rude to her, but also truthful, and I doubted licking her boots would have changed the events. “I don't think this argument is going anywhere.”

“This is all well and fine, but it's not like we can do more than be especially vigilant in the future. I am going to lay Thalia to rest,” Mark informed us, clearly aware of his double innuendo, and carried his sleeping partner down the hallway to where Balthasar had assigned us some rooms to stay in.

Thalia had passed out soon after performing her miracle, but Astra assured us her friend would be fine after resting for a few hours. Passing out from mental exhaustion was a real threat of overusing a powerful psychic ability.

“I am still surprised,” I mused while following Mark's departure with my eyes. “At the Old Camp, Thalia wiped a small army of soldiers by turning them batshit crazy. She didn't seem exhausted afterwards, while the stunt with Nisha took her out. And she did nothing more than 'suggest' Nisha should be somewhere else rather sooner than later.”

“Please remember,” Astra reminded me. “We don't know the reason, but prolonged exposure to psychic abilities causes people to gain strong resistance against said abilities. Psychics with mentionable power are rare since there is no known mutation to grant the ability. The only known one with reasonable chances of success is the mindflayer mutation. But not only are mindflayers a rare species, the mutations they give are also rather random. Aerie's entire population has a few dozen psychics at most. And the only other person on Thalia's level I know of is Hochberg's matriarch, Vanya.”

Astra gathered her thoughts for a moment before continuing her explanation. “Mark shares Thalia's mutations and may become a power on his own in the future, but right now he still struggles with controlling the ability. So it’s not only a question of having the mutation, but skill and training as well. The soldiers who Thalia sent into a riot at the Old Camp were grunts who likely never got hit with a psychic power their entire lives. They had zero defences. Nisha is not only old but also an important leader of the Vier. She had decades and undoubtedly countless encounters with psychic influence to build up her resistance. Honestly, I am surprised Thalia managed to mess with her mind at all. When Thalia announced over the chat she would try, I half expected Nisha to notice her meddling and start breaking necks.”

I pondered over Astra’s rather detailed explanation. A few months ago Astra had Thalia train my resistances regularly, but the resistance training became largely irrelevant after we got our sub-personalities. Having multiple-personality disorder seemed to mess with telepathic and empathic abilities, so Thalia cut back on trying to train me. Though, her being able to mind-bend someone of Nisha's calibre indicated she could mess with us if she really wanted to.

“Let's be glad she's on our side then,” I concluded, deciding not to judge Thalia or Mark for what they could do, but for what they were. Friends.

Mind-bending was frightening, but so was my ability to call on Thor's power.

“I will take care of that!” Thiago pointed at the white's body which I still had in a fireman's carry on my shoulders. “We have to preserve the meat if Thalia and Mark don't want to test their stomachs the next morning.”

I nodded thankfully and handed the dead 'white' to Thiago who carried the corpse to the kitchen. The body was useless to everyone except for Thalia and Mark. I had been taught how to dress game, but the ‘white’ was a little too humanoid for me to feel comfortable about doing so.

Hopefully, ‘whites’ hadn’t been spawned into the world by a failed human mutation. I shuddered at the thought. Was eating a ‘white’ cannibalism if that was the case? Did eating other humans give the cannibal one of their mutations at random?

I shook my head, deciding to abandon this train of thought.

“I only said the truth with Nisha. If she takes offence, then I believe she would have found another reason to trouble us,” I pointed out, deciding to return to our original argument to distract myself. “I am not one to mince words for an enemy’s sake. And you have all heard her point of view. Why try to play nice when our diametric opposition in this conflict is so obvious? Why pretend she would have any other reason to stalk us than to try and force information out of us? Or kill us. I may not have been 'diplomatic' about it, but this conflict is already beyond diplomacy anyway.”

“At least she wasn't entirely successful with gaining information,” Astra said after a moment of considering my words. “Though she might be able to put things together if she gets creative.”

“Yeah, right. Because the simple answer will be harder to believe than the fantastic one. Altogether, I think we got away with a light scratch.” I wasn't too bummed out about the encounter. “It isn't all bad. Thalia saved our asses and sent Nisha packing before she got to ask any of the really important questions. Her knowing about Isaac's presence is the only thing which could create trouble down the road, but I never expected our abilities would stay a secret forever. Everything else she would have likely found out by asking Zacharias a few inconvenient questions.”

I shook my head. “And seriously, the way she learned of these things might be better for us in the long run. If Zacharias and his people are forced to confirm what we already told her, it might cause discord between Thich and Vier. Though, I doubt Nisha would outright swap sides and leave the Thich to fend on their own.”

“Why is that?” Astra asked.

“It's just the impression I got of Nisha.” I shrugged. “The way she said she was just out for Vier's gain struck me as completely truthful. That's one cold, opportunistic bitch. If she finds out Zacharias played her like a fiddle, it will be just as she thinks things to be. People like her expect those around her to behave just as egotistical as herself. As long as Zach does not pull her completely over the table and tries to bend her over – excuse the vivid comparison – she will continue their cooperation for as long as she sees a possibility to gain something in the end. Though, she may be more careful about lending Thich her assistance in the future.”

Astra thought about this for a moment before she nodded reluctantly. “We will have to talk with the others. I am afraid Nisha's personal visit to Balthasar might indicate you are right. I doubt Mary would have sent us on this mission if she had known. Nisha's and Zacharias' cooperation must be rooted deep if she decides to run an errand herself instead of sending a letter like Mary.”

I massaged my chin, thinking, “I believe we should do a round-trip through all of our jaunt points and share information with everyone before we proceed.”

“Hey! Hey you!”

The feet of a girl trampling down the hallway drew our attention before Charmaine came to a stop in front of us.

“Dad wants to talk with you,” Charmaine said with a big grin on her face.

I shared a glance with Astra and shrugged. “I suppose he is brooding in his herb garden?”

The girl nodded and ran off to lead us there.

Astra and I followed, but Ginevra excused herself. “I will help Thiago. We are just here to assist you anyway. Not to play diplomat.”

With everyone else out of the equation, that left only Astra and me to deal with the ancient. After our first encounter with the old man, we weren’t too concerned about meeting him with just the two of us.

“I see you were successful,” Balthasar greeted us as soon as we arrived. “May I ask why you returned in all haste? It’s not even noon. I expected you to be out the entire day at least and maybe even the night before you either succeeded or gave up.”

“Because Nisha was waiting for us outside the village,” Astra replied bluntly. “And getting away without a scratch involved a hefty dose of luck.”

Balthasar looked surprised. “Is that so? I don't remember Nisha being petty when it comes to people she thinks of as below her station. Did she have any specific questions for you which would explain her waiting you out?”

Since Balthasar already knew about our ability, we explained what happened.

“Hm...” He shook his head after listening to the whole story. “I highly doubt that from this single event, she will assume you two can teleport huge distances. I still find it hard to swallow, and you have shown me as much proof as possible. This doesn't mean that Nisha won't arrive at the right conclusion at some point as incidents and evidence stack up around you. I have seen a lot of crazy mutations and abilities in my life, but your teleportation is definitely on the far end of the fantastical spectrum. I have seen a speedster or two who are fast enough to make their movements look like teleportation, but they definitely couldn't go from here to Mount Aerie and back within an instant.”

I nodded, glad to hear Balthasar’s perspective. “So, what was your reason for calling us?”

The ancient shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable for the first time since we met him. “I want to talk about your offer to take Charmaine to Mount Aerie. I don’t want to give up my neutrality or my village, but you were right when you admonished me for her sake. This is no place for a child. And while I wish organizing a caretaker for Charmaine would be solely my failing, the simple truth is that our community is dying. There is nobody who has the time to look twenty-four hours a day after a dependent. And while it may look like I am just sitting around all day, you have seen my ability. There are large periods during which my attention is… elsewhere.”

“So you want the Aerie to look after your daughter without paying us back?” I asked.

He sighed. “The payment is what’s up to negotiation. I already said I don’t want to abandon our independence.”

I massaged my chin in thought and Astra placed a hand on my arm. “I am sure Mary would ensure your daughter is safe no matter the outcome, Balthasar. I don’t know the details of your relationship, but I got the impression you were at least a friend of hers.”

That’s when I had an idea. “Balthasar, let me ask you one question. What is this place to you?” I gestured, indicating the village as a whole.

He frowned, not quite understanding. “This place?”

I pointed at the ground beneath my feet. “This house and this village? You always say you want your independence and stay out of politics, which is why you retreated to this horrid environment. But is this ruined village really what you want to keep, or is it the people?”

Balthasar sighed. “It’s kind of both. If I had to choose I would honour my responsibilities to the people above all else. Not many are left and I have neglected my duties as their leader, but they are the ones who followed me here – ill-advised as it was.”

“Then why don’t you pack your things and move to the Old Camp?” I asked, only to be met with a blank stare, so I elaborated, “After the Thich levelled it, the Old Camp is a ruin which has to be rebuilt. Our goal in coming here was to gain your assistance in this conflict and you have shown your ability to pretty much lock down a place by turning it into a fortress. You wouldn’t take an active role anyway, so if your people take over the Old Camp and keep insisting on your neutrality, it would help us at least somewhat.”

Astra nodded slowly. “The Old Camp is a focal point of this conflict. I don’t know how the other ancients would react if you moved there, but if you could lock it down till the war is over, that might serve our interests more than it would the Thich or Vier.”

Balthasar snorted. “Politics. What you want me to do is claim neutrality while fortifying a highly contended strategic position. I suppose I should let your people come and go while laying heavy restrictions on everyone else.”

Astra raised a finger. “That might be true if the Old Camp wasn’t already under our military control. And I expect the frontline to be pushed back even further in the coming months. You would be… an assurance in case things go wrong. A stabilizing force which allows us to move our troops elsewhere. You would only help if someone sends assassins and raiding parties after our people who reside there.”

The ancient tilted his head. “I will have to think about it. Even in the best-case scenario, moving all my people won’t be easy. There will be losses. And taking the Old Camp will come with problems without a doubt.”

I raised a hand. “It was just a suggestion! Don’t start planning the exodus just yet. Before Charmaine came to get us, I mentioned to Astra that we should make a round trip and get information updates on everything. We will have to share the idea with our leadership. Maybe they are even willing to send a few airships to get you and your people.”

Balthasar nodded after a moment of thinking it over. “It might be the best solution, though I doubt Aerie can spare the airships during a war. Their entire doctrine relies on mobility. They will have to move 293 people if they decide to give us a lift.”

I clapped my hands together. “Then let’s leave it at that for the moment. Astra and I will go on a small trip to inform the elders and return with an answer. I suppose it will be no problem if the other four stay with you for the time being? Despite the incident with Nisha we managed to catch a ‘white’. So Thalia and Mark might need a day or two to get used to their new mutation.”

Balthasar nodded. “It will be no problem. If I want to move the entire community, I will have my hands full. I must admit my neglected role as their leader might cause some resentment if I try. So some time to test out the waters before committing is appreciated.”

With nothing more to discuss, we excused ourselves and went to search for the others. Thalia was sleeping, so we gathered Mark, Ginevra and Thiago for a short meeting and informed them of our intentions.

Then it was time to leave and I mused out loud, “The only question is where to go first.”

“Are you seriously asking this?” Astra tilted her head and looked up at me.

“The Old Camp,” I suggested. “See whether they have news and whether the drakes decided to return.”

The coloured patch which was Astra’s left second eye twitched and narrowed. “We go to Mount Aerie to have a look at Isaac, Constella and Aurora. Afterwards, we take the wormgate to wherever the flagship is right now to make a report. Then we decide where to go from there.”

~Right. The kids come always first!~

I nodded to myself as I thought this - then stopped.

Wait…

“When did we decide on names for the girls?”