46- Somewhere Out There

  7/2/5/4353 M.A.C - Ashraman village at the edge of the Great Western Rainforest- Early evening

  "It will take a decan or two of rest and treatment, but your friend's shoulder should fully recover."

  Arctic and Emi exhaled a sigh of relief at the news. Although they had both been excited to finally witness firsthand what the world outside the confines of the great forest was like, their attention had thus far been entirely occupied by worry for their companion.

  "Thank you. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. How much will it cost?"

  Emi's arms rummaged around within her plumage as she retrieved the pouch in which she kept the coins Majusculus had given her.

  Better keep an eye out on her emotions; Majusculus didn't teach me the value of money, so I have no idea what these coins are worth.

  Emi studied the healer's reaction closely as she opened the pouch, revealing one golden coin and some smaller silver change.

  "You have imperial marks? That works. Too bad, though... I thought you wouldn't have currency and would be willing to trade me the egg your little friend is holding..."

  Emi reeled back, puffing her feathers in a show of disgust.

  "I didn't plan to have a kid yet, but what kind of monster would sell their unborn child!? How could you even suggest-"

  Midway through her rant, Emi noticed the confusion taking over the middle-aged woman's aura and stopped.

  "Sorry to tell you this, but this egg is not viable. Is it the first time you lay one?"

  Not viable?

  "Well, you haven't recently, huh, copulated with a compatible male, right?"

  Compatible male...Is she asking me if I had sex with a bird?! What the hell? I would nev-

  Fear took over Emi's mind as she searched through her owl memories for episodes she truly wished were not present. As it turns out, Lyre Owls must have been a fairly rare species as Emi did not find any encounter with her species in her memories, aside from the time she was an owlet living with her progenitors.

  Phew...Safe!

  "Nope, not me. Why would you want the egg instead of coins then? I can't imagine that a slightly oversized owl egg is worth much."

  The middle-aged lady smiled at Emi as if she was dealing with a young child.

  "It is pretty weak, so you won't see it unless you know what you are looking for, but this is a natural lifespan treasure."

  Arctic stilled and looked down at the egg he was carrying, his eyes growing wide. A series of three words slowly flashed across his chest in bold and clumsy print.

  CACARE VITAM THESAURI!

  Although Emi could not speak Modern Imperial, the meaning flashed into her mind as she read the words across his chest.

  "I do not poop lifespan treasures!"

  Emi was unequivocal in the moment, but then doubt crept over her. She had not really paid attention to it beforehand, doing the deed mostly based on instinct, but the disposition of her natural plumbing came to her as a shock.

  I only have one...so everything...through the same?

  Emi felt as if she was going to be sick as she realized Arctic's statement was factually correct.

  "Wait, how do lifespan treasures work? Don't tell me you...?"

  The grin on Arctic's face grew exponentially wider, mirroring the shame and nausea taking over Emi second by second.

  "Well, eat it, of course. As an omelet, fried, poached, or scrambled. If you wanted to make sure to get the most out of it, you'd straight up boil it in the shell."

  Emi dipped her head forward and hid her face with her large wings as if to hide her embarrassment.

  "It is nothing to be ashamed of, young lady-"

  The slopping sounds of Emi's last meal hitting the clinic's floor interrupted the healer's attempt at reassurance.

  "You! Put the egg down and stop grinning; you are on mop duty."

  A grimace replaced Arctic's smile as he followed the healer's orders.

  Sun Hanukong started laughing, the raspy, airy kind of laugh that had creeped out Emi more than once, but the movement pulled at his stitches and made him wince in pain, making him stop abruptly.

  "Good day, Aunty Dipta! I heard you had some guests."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  A robed young man walked into the room but froze in front of the door, obviously not expecting the scene awaiting him.

  "Should I come back later?"

  "Nah, the young lady is a bit unsettled, but she should be fine in a minute. I'm done with the patient for now."

  The young man sniffed at the air and pulled up the hem of his robe a few inches before taking the next few steps.

  "Greetings Forest Folks! I recognize your friend in the bed, but might the two of you be in need of my services?"

  Emi wiped her beak on her chest feathers and cocked her head to the side at a right angle.

  "Hello. Who are you? Let me first tell you that we don't have a lot of money."

  Emi was instantly suspicious of the young man; his aura and his tone told two extremely different stories. Although the man was trying to appear nonchalant, his aura was filled to the brim with eagerness.

  "You have money!?"

  The young man's aura first turned blazing white in surprise before losing its brightness and settling into a morose greyish blue.

  "Don't tell me you are also after my egg!?"

  "Your egg? What egg? I already ate..."

  Aunty Dipta decided to rescue the young man and correct the misunderstanding.

  "This is Ishan, our Imperial Enumerator. Don't worry; he is not after your money or your egg. Our small village doesn't call for much 'enumeration', so he is just excited to finally have something to do aside from filling in tax paperwork for us."

  "Not exactly how I'd put it, but Aunty is correct. Also, registering new spirit beasts is the kind of thing that gets one noticed for a promotion. If you already have money though, I imagine you have already been out in the empire for a while."

  "Good for a promotion, ey? What about registering a spirit beast and a quasi spirit beast at once?"

  Emi handed the introduction letters bearing Majusculus's name to Ishan, whose aura once again underwent abrupt changes.

  "How about we leave your friend with Aunty Dipta? She'll take good care of him, I promise. Follow me to the Tabularium, and we can get the registration process sorted."

  Emi stifled a giggle provoked by the peppy bounce in the enumerator's steps and instructed Arctic to come along.

  ***

  "All done. I've got to say, this was as swift and pleasant as could be. You did give me a bit of a fright when you popped out your hand to grab the pen, though."

  Emi patted Arctic on the head and beamed.

  "He is a smart boy, ain't he?"

  Arctic looked torn between shame and bliss, but he did not move his head out of the way.

  "One last step now that the paperwork is over. Follow me."

  The Tabularium was a grand-sounding name for what had thus far been a fairly common wooden building with an office, a classroom, and multiple filing rooms, but the pair was now being led up to the second floor. Their opinions were swayed by the sight before them. The second floor was a large room with a pedestal at the center, upon which a large glowing crystal sat, beaming shimmering rays through a skylight above.

  Woah! Fancy! It could be used as a prop in one of those superhero movies.

  "This is our village's Akashic Beacon, our link to the Akashic Network. Emi, you have already made your Choice, so all touching it will do is move your sigil to your hand, as is requested of every citizen of the empire. You can use the hand you like, although the dominant hand is customary."

  "That sounds inconvenient; why not on my weaker hand?"

  "If you are using your dominant hand to show your Sigil, it makes it harder to attack at the same time. You'd need to trust someone quite a bit to get close enough to read their hand while they are wielding their weapon of choice in their dominant hand."

  Oh, that is a good point. I can see why they would try to make this sort of rule.

  "Now, Arctic. The chances are slim, but there is a period when someone is at the cusp of their First Choice where touching the Beacon will trigger it. In humans, this period is usually between the ages of 8 and 10 depending on the individual. Your tribe leader, Majusculus, has come by and tried it every year since I took this post 10 years ago, and according to my predecessor, he tried for the 18 years he was posted here before me. Give it a try, but don't be too sad if it doesn't work."

  ***

  "No worry, no work for me too last try. This why we go out of forest. When come back, two of us make it. Tribe leader go mad and we laugh."

  Emi had brought a dejected Arctic back to Aunty Dipta's Clinic, prompting Sun Hanukong into a rare bout of brotherly banter. One of his arms being stitched up and bound in a sling, Sun Hanukong was showing the fruits of his training as beautifully curved and legible script appeared on his torso to convey his words.

  "Don't be too mean if it does happen. Remember that Majusculus is focusing on his duties as tribe leader to give you a chance to travel as he did."

  "Sister is right. We only laugh a little, then say thank you."

  "Don't complain if he stabs you 'a little'."

  Aunty Dipta decided this was a good moment to jump into the conversation with a little self-promotion.

  "If you get stabbed, just come back here, and I'll fix you right up. I'll even give you a discount."

  The group laughed for a few seconds until a slightly awkward silence fell.

  "Uh, Miss Dipta? How much do we owe you for Sun Hanukong's care?"

  "I talked with your big brother while you were gone, and we came to an agreement. 50 silver should cover the cost of materials and remedies, which he says he can afford himself, and he offered to stay and help me as an assistant for a while to cover room and board."

  "He got hurt protecting us; he shouldn't have to be the one to pay. Let me-"

  Aunty Dipta crossed her arms and shook her head.

  "I have already received payment. Your big brother asked me not to take any of your money as you will need it in your travels. If you want to give me your egg, though, I'll return his money. I inspected it while you were gone, and I'd say it contains about two to three days' worth of lifespan. Lifespan treasures normally go for about 10 silver for every day of potency for the weaker ones of the more common kinds, but since yours is not common and I've never had it before, I should be guaranteed the full potency with no future overlap."

  "Wait, how does that work? What do you mean by overlap?"

  "If I eat your egg today, and have the next one you make whenever it pops out, the second will have no effect on me if of the same potency. Same should apply to all eggs of your species that have the same or lower potency. Now, if your next egg has a potency of 5 days and I eat it, I will only gain the difference, two days. There is a chance that it might also overlap with eggs from other closely related owl species, but since I've never seen one of those before, not a big risk."

  "Ah, so the more exotic, the less likely you are to get your hands on a higher potency one making your first purchase a waste."

  "Exactly. Since you are the only member of your species, as I understand it, I'm pretty much guaranteed not to regret the purchase in the future, so I don't mind buying the egg for 50 silver. I broke through the level 10 threshold sixty years ago, when I was in my mid-twenties; since I started aging again ten years ago, lifespan treasures have become a lot more attractive to me than money."

  Well...even if it came out of my...I guess I can understand why someone would still want to eat it...

  "Okay, you can have the egg under two conditions. First, you let me wash it well before you take it; second, you don't eat it in front of me. deal?"

  "Deal! I'll even let you sleep here tonight since our small village doesn't really have an inn anyway, and a contubernium is occupying our guesthouse."

  "Yeah...I think they chucked a spear at me...Thanks for the offer. I'm not sure I'd be able to sleep with people who tried to turn me into Yakitori, so I'll take you up on it."

  ***

  Emi couldn't sleep. They had finally made it out of the forest, and although they would soon part from Sun Hanukong, the new day would mark the start of a whole new adventure, and Emi's giddiness surpassed the melancholy of the coming parting. As Emi peered out the window, she could see the moon was high in the sky, casting a soft light on the land stretching to the horizon, nary a tall tree in sight. Emi started cycling her energy as she let her mind drift.

  Just as she felt as if her thoughts were becoming naught but distant echoes, Emi noticed something that snapped her out of the trance she was entering. There was not even a whisper of a draft in the room, yet Emi felt as if a feeble breeze was blowing. After a moment, she noticed that her skin and feathers did not seem affected, only her energy and whatever contained it. The force seemed to call her away towards the horizon, opposite of the forest.

  "I will incarnate the second soul into a beautiful bird, in a large forest to the North-West of where you will be born." Could this be it? The force seems to want to pull me towards the south-east...Since Sundar said my father was the key to finding Ben and Meg, I need to find my counterpart first."

  Emi peered into the night to the southeast, a wave of melancholy battling against her hopes for a reunion as she quietly played a bittersweet tune to herself.

  Somewhere out there. Beneath the Pale moonlight...

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