System Lost: My Own Best Friend

The Fa'aun—or rather, the rangers, since I feel a little uncomfortable referring to them by species—huddle up for a private meeting following Talla's interrogation. I get the feeling I'm not meant to be privy to it, but they aren't willing to let me out of their sight and sound carries pretty far in the cave.

"[She's from the convergence,]" Talla informs her team grimly. "[Not a demon as far as I can tell, but she materialized along with the latent space.]"

"[Dungeon borne?]" Saban asks. "[Like the alchemist? What do we do with her?]"

"[Right now? Nothing,]" Draga replies. "[It's not our job to decide such things. When we get home, we hand her over to the church and let them take care of it. Until then, if she came from inside, then she's our best shot at finding the break.]"

Uh oh. I don't like the sound of that.

"Aw man," I mutter miserably. "I just got out of there and now they're gonna drag me back in?"

"I'd be more worried about them figuring out that you don't actually know anything about the cave system out here," Vi remarks.

"I'd be more worried about the fucking invisible hyperdimensional death machine lurking about," Maggie adds.

I just sigh, my muttering going unnoticed by the rangers. I think they're getting used to me talking to myself.

"[Talla, did Allie say how she got out here?]" Draga asks. It feels really weird hearing him call me that, but my full name is apparently a tongue-twister to them.

"[No, but from the look of her, she's been lost in these caves for a while,] she says. "[She might be able to guide us.]"

Augh, beans! I don't know anything about what's out here beyond the Mushroom Cave. They're going to figure out that I lied to them. Maybe I should just come clean now? Rip the bandaid off before it gets any worse.

"Relax, Allison," Vi reassures me. "I don't think they're going to turn hostile on us any time soon."

Talla won't, Saban would in a heartbeat, I'm not sure about Draga.

"[Alright then,]" Draga says. "[We'll take a day or two to scout the surrounding area. See what you can get out of her in the meantime. I'm not going to say no to additional intelligence, but I'm not staking our lives on the word of some dungeon borne runt that doesn't even speak our language.]"

I...guess I'm off the hook? Honestly, I've got mixed feelings about this whole thing, but all I can really do here is go with the flow. Talla seems nice, and she's talkative, so maybe I can learn more from her. I'm really curious about this "alchemist" who's apparently in the same boat as me.

The rangers break up their meeting and sure enough, Talla comes straight over to me. It seems that she's my babysitter by some unspoken agreement between the rangers.

"[Hey Allie,]" she greets me. "[We had a long hike to get here, so we're probably not going to be doing much until tomorrow. Do you know where we can find some water so that the boys can get started on lunch?]"

I perk up immediately. Food?! Like, real, actual food?! Not dried out snail meat or week-old lizard filets. Not tasteless crackers that may or may not have gotten blood on them. Actual, honest to goodness food that's been prepared and cooked for human—or, Fa'aun—consumption!

No force in the world can stop me now. There's nothing I want more than that—except maybe a pair of shoes. I launch to my feet and take Talla by the hand, practically dragging her towards the Mushroom tunnel.

"[Wait, wait!]" she giggles, turning to the leader and raising her voice. "[Draga, we're going to fetch some water.]"

He gives her a small wave of acknowledgement. Interestingly, she didn't phrase it as a question or ask for his input, despite his status as their leader. I wonder if there's some kind of tension between them. I haven't noticed it, but Draga seems like the sort of guy that would be careful not to reveal that in front of a stranger.

Saban is not quite so reserved, sneering at us as we head into the caves with Nipper following closely behind us. What's his problem?

"[How long have you been lost down here, anyway?]" Talla asks, once we're out of sight.

I'm not sure how to answer that since I don't even know myself, so I just shrug. As we get further from the lit parts of the cave, I take a candle out of my cloak.

"[Oh, don't worry about that, I've got it,] Talla says. "[Create Light]."

A glowing mote of light appears behind us, illuminating the tunnel far more brightly than my pathetic candle. She tunes the brightness down a little bit, then smiles proudly at the perfectly lit cave.

"Holy shit!" Maggie exclaims. "How did she do that?! Ask her to do it again, I want to see it in action. That looks so useful."

"It's a skill, Mags," I sigh. "I'm not going to pester her just so you can try to steal her magic."

"[What was that?]" Talla asks curiously.

I look up at her and shrug meekly. "[Sorry,]" I apologize in Fa'aun.

"This isn't over!" Maggie insists. "I'm gonna learn the cute goat lady's secrets and you cannot stop me."

I ignore her as Talla blinks at me. "[Your accent is still atrocious, but you're picking the language up pretty fast.]"

Well, it helps having a mental cheat sheet. The headache isn't fun, but...eh, I've had worse hangovers. Probably. At least one I'm sure.

Okay, maybe not, but what am I gonna do? I need to understand these people. I'll just have to live with it.

After a short silence, I realize how I can answer her first question and hold up both hands, my fingers splayed out. "Ten days, I think."

She puzzles over it for a moment. "[I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me.]"

I try again, this time counting from one to ten on my fingers before repeating myself.

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"[Oh! Wow, that's not as long as I thought...]" She notices my pained grimace and quickly waves her hands defensively. "[Not that I meant to downplay it or anything! I'm sure it was hard to survive down here.]"

I nod slowly. Talla's been asking me a lot of questions—which, to be fair, seems to be part of her job, whatever that is—but I've been paying close attention and I think I'm ready to try one or two of my own. The most important words to learn in any language are interrogatives—who, what, when, where, why, how, et cetera. I've been trying to listen for them, and I think I've got my first question ready.

"[What...Talla.]" I say, carefully enunciating the words in the Fa'aun language.

She squints at me for a moment, then purses her lips. "[Hmm, good try. But you got the word order wrong and forgot to phrase it as a question. Without the interrogative particle you're just saying I exist. Also, I think you meant to ask who I am, not what.]

I stare up at her blankly. If I didn't have the ability to magically understand her, she would be the worst person to learn the language from. She talks too fast, uses some pretty complex vocabulary, and rambles past the point she's trying to make. She's also wrong about the question—though I'll take the word for "who."

"No," I say, shaking my head before switching back to her language. "[What is Talla?]"

It's an awkward way to phrase the question, but I don't have the word for "you" yet. Or rather, I've heard several words for "you" now and I have no idea which ones make sense in which contexts. I'm not even sure why I know so much about language in the first place. Maybe I learned it in school?

"[Oh, I think I understand now,]" she says, nodding. "[I'll start from the beginning, I suppose. My full name and title is Lady Talla Goa Baanu, and I am a tier three Fa'aun—the world's predominant sapient species. When my mother passes away—a very long time from now, Goddess willing—I'll inherit the title of Marquise, and all the responsibilities thereof, assuming one of my sisters or cousins don't weasel their way into the position of heiress in the meantime. Frankly, I wish they would, but none of them have the ambition. Aside from being a noble heiress, I am also a postgraduate student of the University of Arts and Sciences in Stebaari, my home city. I have tier one degrees in theology, astrology, and history, tier two degrees in astronomy and thaumaturgy—and I'm working towards completing a tier three degree in cosmology. By profession, I used to just teach at the university, but most recently I've taken a tier one commission as a ranger to broaden my horizons.]"

My eyes widen as I try to take all of that in. I'm at a loss for words, but Maggie manages to express the same thoughts in her own expressive fashion.

"Holy fucking shit!" she says appreciatively. "Allie your new girlfriend's not just a nerd, she's a giga-nerd. If I'm interpreting the translation here correctly, she's basically got two master's degrees and she's pushing for a PhD, all while doing this ranger stuff as a side-gig. She's a genuine polymath!"

"She is not my girlfriend, Maggie."

"Not yet, you mean," she presses. "Come on, you gotta admit, she's pretty cute, and who doesn't love a girl with a brain? If you don't go for it, I totally will—to get some of those juicy magical secrets if nothing else."

"Oh my gosh, Maggie!"

"I don't think it would work out anyway," Violet says. "She's a member of the ruling class."

"Not you too, Vi."

"[Why do you talk to yourself so much?]" Talla asks, breaking me from my distraction and reminding me that while she can't hear Maggie and Vi she definitely hears me.

I look up at her nervously. Do I tell her? Will she think I'm crazy? I mean, she's bound to meet Maggie and Vi eventually anyway, and unless they want to pretend to be me, that's going to take some explaining.

"[Actually, never mind, you can't really answer that can you?]" she says, saving me from having to make a decision. "[Besides, I think we've arrived.]"

So we have. The colorful glow of the bioluminescent fungi in the Mushroom Cave hasn't gotten old yet, and I stop to admire it as we enter.

"[What a beautiful cave,]" Talla comments, before gesturing to the lazy river. "[I'll bet this spring feeds into the Sagaa river at the base of the mountain, if it doesn't just disappear back into the ground.]"

I don't really know what that is, so I just shrug and go along with it. When we get to the river, Talla takes a moment to refill her own waterskin, so I follow suit, making sure Nipper gets some water too.

"[Did you make that yourself?]" she asks, pointing at the laser gecko stomach I've been using. "[That's quite resourceful, though it'll eventually rot if you don't cure it properly. You should take it to Draga, he's got a skill for that.]"

Or, they could just give me back the other waterskin. Not to be insensitive, but I don't think the original owner needs it anymore.

"She's kind of a blabbermouth, isn't she?" Maggie observes. "I'm not sure her friends would appreciate her giving away their skills."

I shrug. The more Talla tells me about this world the better, and it's nice to have someone other than Mags and Vi to talk to, even if communication is a bit of a struggle. In a way, I'm kinda glad that she's willing to just blather on. It lets me focus on learning the language instead of trying to come up with questions.

"[Could you give me a hand with this?]" Talla asks, producing what looks like a big leather sack from a satchel at her side and unfolding it.

Unfolded, it kind of looks like a giant waterskin with a big shoulder strap, bulbous on one end and tapering to a smaller opening.

"[One of us needs to hold the strap while the other fills it up,]" she explains.

After a bit of awkward maneuvering, Talla stands at the edge of the river holding the strap while I keep the bag submerged, slowly filling it with clear water. It takes both of us to haul the thing back out once it's full, but then Talla slings it over her back with a grunt of effort.

"[I'm glad this was so close by,]" Talla says as we start heading back towards the camp. "[The hike down to the river would take all day, and hauling this stupid thing back up the mountain is a huge pain.]"

I can only imagine. Even my gecko stomach is pretty heavy when it's full—that giant water sack looks exhausting to carry around. I wonder how high her Power attribute is? She seems like more of the academic type, but she's also a ranger—whatever that actually means—which sounds like it takes a certain amount of outdoorsiness. I bet it's at least higher than two.

When we get back to the Door Cave, Draga and Saban have already set up a big cauldron over a metal frame set with more of those orange crystals. Wait—don't those explode?

I give the pot a wide berth as Talla fills it with water. Saban taps one of the crystals with a small metal rod, and it begins to glow more brightly, followed by the ones next to it, then the ones next to those, and so on in a pulsing chain reaction that circles its way around the pot and back again in a constant rhythm.

"So they can be used for lighting, heating, and explosives?" I muse aloud. "That's so versatile. But what the heck even are they?"

"We haven't actually seen how they work in the guns yet," Maggie points out. "Vi's theory could just be wrong."

"It's not like we can test it now anyway," Violet sighs. "They took our gun."

"Eh...it wasn't exactly ours, to be fair," I point out.

"[Having another conversation with yourself?]" Talla asks as she makes her way back over to my little corner.

I give her a sort of half-shrug, half-nod in response. It's kinda hard to break the habit now that I've gotten used to talking to Maggie and Violet, so it works out better if they just accept it as a personal quirk.

"[The boys should have the food ready in an hour or so,]" she continues. "[Do you mind if I ask some more questions in the meantime?]"

"[No.]" I shake my head and gesture for her to continue.

Talla reaches into her cloak and pulls out one of the candles. I thought they'd given most of them back along with my cloak, but I guess she held on to some.

"[I don't think my colleagues have noticed just how remarkable these are,]" Talla begins. "[I've got a skill that senses magic, you see, and these have a lot of it. All sorts of weird stuff comes out of convergence points. Cases like yours are rare, but not unheard of. This, though?]" She rolls the candle in her hand. "[Not even the alchemist can produce mana crystals as stable and condensed as these things. They look like candles, but what are they really? And where did you find them?]"