Broken Lands

"With all of that said, how are you leveling so quickly? I know you planned to push to reach the second upgrade before you entered Mazehold, but there's a large difference between level eight and level ten." Los'en leaned forward with a frown. "Don't tell me you're skimping on your Abilities in favor of levels."

Sophia shook her head quickly. Los'en had a point; if their Wisp accumulation had followed the expectations Jax set for them before they entered Mazehold, they should all still be level eight, not (almost) halfway to the third upgrade, in level at least. "Bai thinks it's because we're both fighting almost every night and spending a lot of time down in the Professionals' areas."

She frowned and tried to remember his whole explanation. It was going to be difficult to express without the charts he used; they really did help. "We're gaining Wisps at the speed of … what did he call them, Dav? The one who did what we do in the Arena, but while traveling?"

"It translated as torchbearer, but I don't remember the exact word," Dav admitted. "There were apparently a couple of different groups, but they gave shows and spent a lot of time around people without a Sphere. It's not as fast as people who went into the Maze or the Tower back then, but it was close, as long as you pushed yourself. The moment they started taking it safe, their Wisp accumulation dropped to something a lot closer to what we were expecting."

Sophia nodded. It was a huge difference. "We've been restricting ourselves, doing fights using only a predefined part of our toolkit. It's good practice and seems to make a huge difference in how many Wisps we get."

"We're also being careful about what we face," Xin'ri added. "It takes a lot of planning to pick the right way to do things so it looks impressive and is still easy enough to add restrictions. The fights aren't bad, really, even though they sound like they should be."

"A lot of that's because of you," Jax told Xin'ri. "At least half of our flexibility is your doing."

Xin'ri snorted. "Maybe at the beginning, but I'm barely keeping up with the rest of you now. Between Sophia's summons and Dav's ability to duplicate himself, never mind your ability to be whatever we need-"

"Not in the Arena," Jax interrupted. "That only works if I have time to plan in advance and it doesn't work at all if I'm keeping my Mask intact. You made almost everything I use and half of what everyone else uses, along with everything you have, and you're a full-fledged spellcaster in a fight on top of that. Don't sell yourself short. You always do, and it's not right."

A chuckle from Los'en interrupted whatever Xin'ri was going to say to that. "Never thought I'd see the day when a Night Owl wasn't the one people complained about. That tells me you're all doing well. Speaking of Ci'an, I think I've given her enough time to greet Marcie. There's news from home she needs to hear." He heaved himself up off the cushion and turned towards the exit.

Sophia frowned at Los'en. "Is something bad happening in Izel?"

Los'en's chuckle sounded amused. "Only to the Templars. No, her brother's going to marry Azalea. I figured I'd let her know before I give her the letters they sent."

Sophia remembered Azalea. She was the bow-wielding horned elf in Lan'ti's team. She didn't remember any signs that they were dating. Had she just missed it?

"Huh," Dav sounded surprised. "I thought she was going to join another team and try to push for the third tier, not settle down in Izel."

Sophia nodded to herself. It wasn't just her, then; it really was a surprise.

"If anything, I thought she'd get Lan'ti to join her team," Dav continued. "I know several of the others were ready to settle down in Izel, but they're from Izel; Azalea wasn't. I didn't think their relationship was that serious."

Sophia sighed. No, apparently it was just her. She hadn't caught any signs of them having a relationship at all. Dav didn't just know they were dating, he had opinions on where it was probably heading.

Los'en shrugged. "It wasn't, until it was. Azalea promised Lan'ti two children or five years; that's short enough that she might choose to find another team afterward. Lan'ti thinks she'll stay, but there's only one way to find out."

"When is the wedding?" Sophia bit her lip. Would it be better to escort Ci'an to Izel through the interspace or overland on the normal route? The interspace was probably faster, but the more times they went to see Tiwaz, the more likely it was that they'd be seen by the Blade's people. They'd escaped notice when they repaired the connections that let Tiwaz reach the Garden and Bai's backup command center, but if there was enough time it might be better to head to Izel through the "normal" route. It wasn't like they were in a hurry to get through the Maze; they had time.

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"They've likely already exchanged vows," Los'en admitted. "Ais'lin wants to be a grandmother almost as much as she wants Lan'ti to have a proper Aurora heir, and a child of Lan'ti and Azalea would be both. I expect Ci'an to come home to meet and acknowledge her niece or nephew, but there's no need to rush. A few months after the child's birth will be plenty soon enough for that."

The door closed behind Los'en before Sophia could figure out how to ask why a wedding wasn't important enough to wait for family to come home. If you couldn't have your family there, what was the point in the wedding at all?

Well, all right, there were some people who didn't want their family at the celebration, but Sophia knew that wasn't the case for Lan'ti and Ci'an. They were close, even though they'd spent years apart while they traveled.

She looked up at Dav, but he didn't seem to have an answer, either.

The next few days were calm and peaceful but still filled with triumph, despite the complete lack of any Arena fights. They saw a few as they waited for Dyleda rounds to begin, but they'd decided not to participate in any until after they got back from the Maze. It was time for practice and training, and they didn't really need the money; they had enough, even with the amount Los'en recommended they take into the Maze with them. He wouldn't explain why, but Sophia was pretty sure it was nothing more than wanting to see their reactions when they got back out. He wouldn't tell Ci'an, either.

Morning practice did bring one surprise: Dav was finally able to take off without the help of the boots Sweetfire had enhanced from Xin'ri's original design. He finally figured out how to make his Unreal Space change the direction of gravity instead of simply canceling it.

Dav tried to incorporate that into his flight and his fighting style, but the fact that he shifted shape into a different form each time he triggered the Call didn't help. Wings got in the way if he was trying to fight on the ground, but they helped significantly in the air. He intended to learn to push his Call in the direction he wanted it for that, as well, but he needed to practice directing gravity first.

Sophia learned a lot more about Dyleda strategy, enough to know that the best players were the ones who could predict their opponents, not the ones with the seemingly best Abilities for the game. Those helped and were probably vital at the top end of play, but a better player would beat a better Ability nine times out of ten.

Of course, there were a lot of Abilities that were useful in Dyleda, especially in the team games. Sophia was particularly amused by one person who could dissolve into a pile of sludge that carried the game pieces inside himself, make his way across the game space along the floor surprisingly quickly, then drop them into a bucket without ever giving the other team an opportunity to do anything about it. His team came in second place for that round, but Sophia thought it was as much because the winning team didn't think they were worth going after as because they were actually good.

According to Bai, being annoying to deal with but not fast enough to take first place was a viable strategy in the tournament. It wouldn't get you into the final game on its own, but no single strategy was good enough for that.

Four days after Arryn arrived, he was ready to leave again, but Los'en and Bai managed to talk him into staying for the rest of the Dyleda tournament.

That night, before the evening team round, the expedition they'd originally planned to head into the Maze with returned. They were late and injured, but it quickly became obvious that most of the injuries were minor. Even so, the Dyleda round was delayed for a couple of hours while the injured were handled in the infirmary.

Arryn made quite a few sales that day, mostly of a bracelet that temporarily removed the sensation of pain. It would last only a few minutes, but it also wasn't terribly expensive, and the effect was strong enough that it could cancel the pain of some of the more extreme healing Abilities. Dav's was pleasant, but many others, especially the faster ones, weren't, and the healers weren't even trying to keep the pain to a minimum.

The following morning, a messenger arrived at Arryn's building while they were still having breakfast with an invitation to meet Arak, the man who led the expedition, at the Arena.

Sophia expected to meet him in an office or a meeting hall of some sort. A training room or healer's ward wouldn't have been out of place, either. None of those were where Arak waited when they were led in to see him. Instead, they were led into a sumptuously furnished room filled with cushioned seats and pillows.

It reminded Sophia of the "party room" back at Arryn's. Now that she thought about it, maybe it was a meeting room. If it was meant to be a comfortable place for people to sit and talk, no matter what the context was, that sort of was a meeting room, wasn't it? Arryn probably used that room when he was making large deals.

In that sense, this was probably a meeting room as well.

Arak sat off to one side, next to an end table that held a pair of tall lidded ceramic pitchers and a selection of ceramic mugs. He cradled one of the mugs between his hands and looked up when they entered. "Oh, good, you're here. Have you had breakfast, or would you like something to drink? There's hot water for tea; make certain to ask Lori for the leaves you want. I admit I have a fondness for coffee with chocolate, myself, so that's what I've got here, but I can have something else brought in if you want it."

"You have coffee?" Dav sounded almost as surprised as Sophia felt. They'd seen chocolate here; it was shipped in from somewhere far away, but it was pretty common in Mazehold. They hadn't yet found coffee.

Arak grinned. "It comes out of the Maze; most places will have it, if you know to ask. Please, help yourself, though I warn you I like mine closer to hot chocolate with a hint of coffee than the other way around."