Chapter XVII - Sia and some eggs

*** Kiara ***

Sia looked worried and at the same time relieved. Her eyes began glowing, and I was inspected carefully.

“How are you?” she asked carefully. Only to immediately follow up with, “I am so sorry, Kiara. I should never have let you take the potion on your own. What was I thinking? I don’t know what went wrong. I have adjusted the potion size to your body weight and Mana source estimate. I really don’t understand how you could have had such a severe reaction. I am sorry. Can you forgive me?” Tears began welling in her eyes.

It made it impossible not to start crying as well.

“It’s my fault. You told me to accept defeat, and I didn’t.” I sobbed. “I pushed myself too hard and I ate your tree.”

“What?!? What do you mean you ate my tree?” Sia started laughing, and it was downright infectious. Before I knew it, the meeting I had dreaded for days turned into two ladies giggling. I explained how I had eaten the leaves of the tree and what had happened to me.

We moved into a back room of her shop. Warm cookies were stacked on a plate, and some hot tea was waiting for us.

“Granny Sia, are you a real grandmother by any chance?” I asked curiously.

“Not that I know of. I’ve got two boys traveling the world, but neither of them ever settled down or had kids, as far as I know. They rarely visit me.” She complained.

Deep down, I was convinced Granny Sia was a real Granny. Those were mad Grandmother skills she was showing right now. How the hell were those cookies still warm? When did she even have time to bake them, or maybe better, how did she know when I was coming to visit her?

We ate cookies and drank tea. She told me about the time my grandmother and she spent at an academy in the capital. Initially, they had been bitter rivals who pulled pranks on each other. Sia was fiercely convinced she was still in the lead in their little prank war. They had been interested in the same guy, Magdalena would deny it, but Sia insisted it was true, and somehow they had developed a friendship that had survived for decades.

“Your grandmother used to be different. She was always headstrong and arrogant, but she never really recovered, but that’s her story. She is proud of you, even if she might not show it, and she is right, you have to be careful. Your skills are exceptional and might make you a target.”

“I don’t really understand that. Both Mum and Grandmother mentioned it, but I don’t understand who should target me and why.” I admitted.

“Take your Granny Sia, for example. I am a talented alchemist. A lot of organizations would be interested in my skills, and some would not shy away from violence to get what they want. Magdalena told me you like adventure stories. Not everything works out with the good guys winning. There are six great houses, the family of the king, several large criminal organizations, and the big academies. I would be surprised if not at least most of them have one or more crafters locked up somewhere deep in a cellar, forging, enchanting, or crafting for them.” Looking at my shocked expression, she continued.

“How old do you think I and your grandmother are?” She asked.

Ok, pay attention. Sia asked you a dangerous question. A woman asked you how old you think she is. She is definitely older than twenty, so I have to adjust the estimation down to make her feel good.

I took a closer look at her face. Wrinkles over wrinkles, especially around her eyes and mouth. She looked like a woman who had laughed a lot in her life. Her eyes were kind, and yet she had seen loss, and it had scared her. She had lost someone. Not recently, but a long time ago. It had stayed with her.

Her hair had turned gray, and she did not try to hide it. She wanted me to call her Granny Sia, the act of someone who was comfortable with their age and who had accepted that the time of her youth had passed.

Stolen novel; please report.

Time was running out. The longer she took, the more embarrassing it would become when she inevitably guessed wrong. She estimated her to be around sixty to seventy

“Fifty-five!” She blurted out.

Sia started laughing.

“You are adorable, Kiara! Both your grandmother and I are well beyond a hundred years old. The more powerful you become, the longer you live if your life isn’t cut short artificially. There are two things that corrupt ultimately. Time and power, and too many people in this world have both. The king keeps up appearances, but behind closed doors happen a lot of things you or I can’t even dream of.

Which brings me back to your little problem. Your family used to be important. Advisors to the king and a great house in everything but name. A lot of people are happy with your downfall. There was suddenly more remaining pie they could fight over. Now, imagine a young genius with an axe to grind is born, risking to upset the established order. You understand the problem, don’t you?”

It was a lot to take in. When the moment was right, she had to talk with her grandmother about all this. The art of war said the first step to victory was knowing the enemy, or something like that. Or was it knowing oneself?

“Thank you for helping me understand.”

“No problem. Your family has been good to me. If it weren't for your mother, I could have become one of those alchemists who disappeared. There are a few of us here in Northwing. She settled me here. It used to be a crafting hub of your family, and everyone still fears your grandmother enough to leave us alone up here in the mountains.”

“Is she really that strong?”

“Weavers are no longer as respected as they were in the past. Enchanters have taken over a lot of their work. Neither profession is combat-focused, but only a fool would attack either on their home turf. Use your newly gained Mana Sense to take a closer look at your home, and you will understand what I mean. It will probably take you some effort to find them, but believe me, there are numerous security measures all over your house. She personally created the wards on the town wall, town hall, and I know of at least three additional security zones she has established in the town. In an open field, a handful of adventurers could probably beat your grandmother. Maybe. But in this town, she can probably stall the king's army for a day or two if she has enough Mana available to her.”

My grandmother was a mystery to me. She was far from well-liked. Honestly, Sia was probably her only friend, and it was a weird friendship. Even the relationship to her family was strained at best, but on the other hand, she was this old amazing character.

“What happened to her?” I asked.

Sia just shook her head somberly.

“As I said, that’s her story to tell. She lost a lot, that’s all I can say. But as much as I enjoyed our little talk, I should get back to work. An adventurer party has placed a large order, they want to collect tomorrow, and I think it is time for you to go home, before your mother becomes worried.”

We said our goodbyes. Sia did not want me to help, and I understood it was still too early for her to allow me back into her little workshop.

On my way back, I activated my Mana Sense. Sometime in the future, I wanted to be able to always sense the mana all around me. The strain on my Mana source was limited. However, the mental strain was something else entirely.

Mana was always around us. It saturated everything, but at different levels and with different attunements. Enabling my Mana Sense to its fullest was like seeing everything around you. In every single direction. She could sense what was behind her and what was below her feet, and behind the wall she was walking by. To make it even more confusing, she felt the different attunements. Fire Mana, one of the most common, felt hot. Light felt fleeting like a warm breath on your fingertips. The earth below her felt alive, unmovable, and rough.

It was too much. All of this overlapped with my normal senses. I tried to find a way to tone it down, but so far I was unsuccessful. With closed eyes, I leaned against a house wall. In theory, it should be possible to walk around with her eyes closed, but the different saturations of Mana and her spherical view of everything around her without a clear orientation made this extremely difficult.

She sensed the family in the house behind her. Living things were nearly always quite easily recognized. They lit her senses up like a little Christmas light. A small cart with produce drove past her to the market. Vegetables were losing Mana, similar to the herbs Sia worked with. Eggs were giving of different feelings. Some felt alive, but slowly dying. Others felt dead or like they had never been alive in the first place.

Someone touched me on my shoulder.

“Hey, are you alright?” a young man asked me. I jumped back, and stories of kidnapped alchemists came to my mind. The man hurriedly raised his hands and said, “Sorry, I didn’t want to startle you, but I wasn’t sure if you were alright, and you didn’t react when I called out to you.”

“Had she really been so focused on some eggs that she had not heard the man and missed his approach? So much for my amazing Mana sense.” I thought. Out loud, I said, “Yeah, I am fine. Sorry, I was just lost in thought. Thanks for looking out for me.” I gave him a shy smile before hurrying along.

“What a weird kid,” she heard the man mumble as she hurriedly walked away.