The Grand Weave

Another heavy book crashed down on top of the already intimidating stack before me. As Celanae flew away down the row and turned to disappear even deeper into the library, I couldn't help but think that Eodyne and Igas were right to run away when they did. If I had stopped to think about the strangely desperate looks they kept sending each other, I might have been able to pierce together the truth.

When Celanae said I should get some books to do some light reading during our travels, I had severely underestimated what she counted as light. I stood up and grabbed the newest book from the top of the pile. It was bound in dark-grey leather and was thicker than my arm. It was titled 'Inorian Beasts for the Common Elf'. As I flipped through the book, I was impressed by the sheer extent of useless detail the author managed to cram between its pages. I highly doubted I would ever need to know the seventeen-step mating dance of the ventilcrest rankora. The only redeeming quality of the book was that it was filled with detailed pictures showing each beast and monster while identifying their anatomy.

I sat back down and tried to dissociate from my reality. I wasn't sure how much longer Celanae was going to take, but I was starting to long for the cloud bed I had slept in. It was as blissfully soft as it looked, and I was very tempted to see if Chomperz could store one away. There was no way I would ever actually try to commit theft, but it was sorely tempting.

At some point, I was brought out of my dazed state of thought and dragged back to reality by someone snapping their fingers. I slowly blinked until my eyes regained focus, and I stared at a blurry figure shining in golden light. The person was tall and muscular, their shirt tight around their body. The snapping stopped, and they put two hands on my shoulders. As the light bounced off the pearly whites of their smile, I had to turn and shield my eyes.

"Teddy. You're radiant. And I'm not talking about your perfect complexion. You are literally burning my eyeballs," I groaned.

Teddy pulled away and moved out of the light under the shade of a large lamp. "Sorry about that. Ever since I reached tier two, light tends to behave weirdly around me. Another quirk of ascendant evolution. It's not bad, but I have to actively suppress the effect at times," he explained.

I looked around and didn't spot Celanae, but I did notice the pile of books had grown to an even more daunting seventeen. "Is she trying to bury me in books? Surely she's done, right? I love reading, but not this much."

Teddy laughed and then shook his head. "Don't worry, the four on the top are for her. Sometimes, we spend months away from cities like Helio that contain actual libraries. She likes to stock up on a good supply, just in case. Though, I should have warned you. She can be a little too enthusiastic about getting others to read. Eodyne and Igas run away from the idea of reading, and Isaac is loyal to only a couple of authors that write his favourite fiction novels. And while I do enjoy reading a good book, I cannot match Celanae's enthusiasm."

"That explains their weird, skittish behavior as we left the inn."

He patted my shoulder with a consoling look on his face. "I'm sure you'll come out of this ordeal stronger than before. Now, how about we leave and I show you some of the best food stalls in the city? My treat."

"What about the books? I only have some silver left, and I'm not sure I can afford all this."

After spending most of my coin reequipping myself with gear, I had a measly sixteen silver left.

"Don't worry about it. Celanae already agreed to buy them for you as a gift. She has spent so much money on books in every library in the kingdom that they gave her a special discount. Leave them on the table for now. She'll be stuck on the third level for another hour or two at the least."

I shrugged my shoulders and followed Teddy out of the library. The day was warm but not hot enough to make me feel discomfort. Following behind Teddy was easy; the large man made most people politely step out of the way. Our first stop was a small stall where a diminutive old lady was busy filling what looked like thinly layered dough with seasoned meat. She put them all in a basket and dropped them into a pot of hot oil.

Teddy patiently watched as the elderly woman prepared a fresh batch of food and topped it off with a generous drizzle from a red bottle. She then placed the container on a heating plate before turning around to face her customers. Upon seeing Teddy, her smile transformed into an expression of joyful surprise.

"Theodore! You're back in the city already. How are you doing, child? And who's your cute friend?" she exclaimed cheerfully. She quickly maneuvered around the stall and hugged Teddy. The size difference was so much she barely reached above his waist.

I felt my eye twitch at being called cute. Again, I was now all too aware that I hadn't grown a centimeter of facial hair since I awoke with this new body. Maybe Sam's slander about me looking like a pretty-boy elf held some merit.

Teddy hugged the woman back and stepped back to motion toward me. "Hello, Wenda. This is my friend Cyrus. We arrived yesterday, and this is his first time in the city. I promised to take him on a tour to some of the best food stalls."

She placed a hand on her hip and grinned like a shark. "Oh ho ho. So naturally, you came to my stall first, yes? I see, I see. Flattery will get you everywhere, my boy. Especially since I can boast about this later to that geezer, Marv." She scrambled behind the counter and pulled out the container of food she had made not even a minute ago. She leaned over the stall and slammed the container down dramatically. "Come, come! Take a bite and tell me what you think."

I approached the older woman with a crazy gleam in her eye and looked down at the still-steaming food. She offered me a toothpick, and I took it and pierced one of the fried balls. It crunched through with a satisfying sound. Holding it up to my nose, I took a deep whiff. It smelled sweet. Under the intense gaze of Wenda, I stuck the food into my mouth and bit down. It tasted good. The sweet sauce mixed well with the fried dough, and as the juicy meat on the inside reached my tongue, it practically melted.

"Good, isn't it? I perfected this recipe after years of trial and error! Nothing beats my dingle balls!" Wenda declared.

I nearly spat out chunks at the name. I summoned a flask of water and downed it greedily as I worked the particles down the proper pipe. When I looked up and regained my composure, I saw Teddy give me a nervous smile, and I heard a hmmph coming from Wenda.

"Sorry, sorry. I wasn't expecting the name. Your food, though, was amazing. My compliments to the chef," I said.

Wenda held the affronted look for a second but then lowered her chin and snickered. "Bah! No harm done, child. People can mock the name all they want. I know that my food will speak for itself. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to beat Marv at the monthly sales meeting."

I apologized once more for my mistake and attempted to purchase ten small boxes containing dingle balls. However, Teddy stepped in and kindly bought them for me instead. Rather than argue, I graciously accepted his offer and called upon Chomperz to store the other nine boxes, keeping one out to snack on as we strolled. As it was already eleven in the morning, the city was bustling with activity. After a brief chat, Teddy led us to a quieter area of town, where we settled on a bench next to a massive stone fountain.

Teddy relaxed in the light as it seemed drawn to him. His hair took on a lighter shade, and his piercing blue eyes lightened as the golden rings around his iris glowed.

"Can I ask you something, Cyrus?" Teddy asked while staring at the sky.

I swallowed the last dingle ball and drank more water before answering him. "Sure, go ahead."

"What are your plans? And I'm not talking about something shallow, like what you want to do tomorrow. I'm asking what you plan to do going forward."

I raised an eyebrow in response, confused by the sudden loaded question being thrown my way. "What do you mean? I figured I'd follow along with you guys for a while and move on from there. Why? Is there a problem? Because if there is, you might as well tell me now instead of when I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere. Is it because Isaac seems to hate me for some reason?"

If my tagging along was a mistake, if I was a burden like I feared I was, then I wanted to know now. Getting along with everyone, sharing meals, telling stories at the campfire, and training with Eodyne all day was genuinely fun. It was a calm feeling of peace and normalcy that I was starting to let pierce the ball of stress and anger I hid at the back of my thoughts. Better to rip the wound wipe open at the start, where the only damage I could do was expose my insecurities and hurt trust. Tearing the hole wide open after bits of meat had already started to form would break me.

To my surprise, Teddy sighed deeply and closed his eyes instead of confirming my fear or crushing my spirit. "I'm sorry. You are not a problem in any way. That's not where I was going with this. And Isaac doesn't hate you. He just... doesn't understand you."

"That sounds stupid."

"A little, but that's only because you don't know his history. It's not my story, so I won't tell it. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be allowed some context. All you really need to know about Isaac is that his family treated him poorly. And because of who his family is and what that makes Isaac, that meant he had to deal a lot with people who always had ulterior motives. Endless backstabbing from a young age would mess with anyone's head. And somebody like you, well, it's not a surprise he finds it hard to be relaxed around you."

"Again, what do you mean?"

This time, Teddy opened his eyes and turned to face me. The golden rings were glowing, an intense bright light that attracted my gaze. His face was no longer smiling, nor was it frowning in any way. "A random stranger from a race that's so rarely seen in our world that one could count on their hands the number of people spotted belonging to said race. Young, most likely around our age, maybe a little younger, maybe a little older. Within a day of appearing at the village, he somehow befriended the guildmaster to the point of receiving special training and attention that no new adventurers would ever receive. Not to mention that this stranger appeared with another stranger, both claiming to have total amnesia and somehow, even worse, are actually untiered. You are not hiding your tier, nor did you hide your powers. Rather, these two anomalies appear like newborn fawns running out of the woods into civilization."

Teddy bombarded me with facts that I couldn't refute. Suddenly, mana rushed out of Teddy, and I saw tiny golden runes appear along the band of glowing gold in his eyes. He maintained a neutral face and ignored my shock as he continued. "Even stranger is the display of two individuals who have storage powers, the kind of thing entire clans and families fight over. And the one individual has not one but three familiars, another very rare kind of skill. Not even to mention the fact that this familiar is a healing skill of serious power. No association is known or discovered, no slip that reveals who this person can be or belong to. Then when a wild rift of the highest colour appears, the two individuals get placed within the expedition team despite being tier zero. And in the end, there is some sort of catastrophe where only three other people survive. And now, finally, this stranger turns up alive, but only after being discovered emerging from a dungeon that somehow got corrupted by the rift. Followed in the end by a visit from a god, spikes of uncontrollable rage, and now our beloved Uncle asked us personally to take you along with us and guide you."

I wanted to argue and somehow defend myself, but I was too stunned. My shoulders sagged, and I dropped my gaze. The intensity of Teddy's stare was too much to match. "I... you're right. That sounds extremely...suspicious. I understand." I admitted, defeat evident in my voice.

The mana I felt coming from Teddy waned until it disappeared entirely. Teddy relaxed his shoulders, and he returned to staring at the sky. "In truth, I don't care about that. I'm curious, but I'm not worried. Celanae isn't either, in case you're wondering. And none of what I mentioned is really why Isaac is so bothered by you. I'll interfere if it ever becomes too much, but try to talk with him at some point. Maybe after another couple of weeks, he'll willingly explain it himself."

I looked up in surprise and with more than a bit of doubt. "How does all that not matter? What could possibly be more of a reason for Isaac to act weird than all that you mentioned? Why are you so okay with this?"

“To put it simply, I trust Brelten and even you. I have good instincts when it comes to people. Literally so, I have a passive skill for it. When I say I trust someone, I mean it. Uncle was like a second father to me, to all of us. He was a mentor, teacher, parental figure, and friend to us all. He's family, so I would never needlessly doubt him. If I lived life like Isaac, constantly doubting others, I wouldn't enjoy it. Therefore, I choose to believe in you. Although I may worry about your past experiences and anger issues, I'm excited to have you travel with us, Cyrus. After all, you can never have too many friends."

I was starting to feel mentally exhausted. Within a small frame of time, I was whiplashed through a rollercoaster of emotions and thoughts. The feeling that something was wrong, that something wasn't right, would never be truly crushed and erased. But that didn't mean Teddy didn't help shrink it down even further. The raw honesty in his words and actions gave me much to think about, many of them positive. I remembered the offer he made about taking me on a tour of all the best food stalls. After checking my system clock, it was still a long way off before lunch.

"Thank you for being candid with me. I'll try to talk to Isaac at some point." I said. He gave me a smile in return and said nothing else. I smirked back in response. "You know, you did offer to take me to several food stalls. And while the unfortunately named dingle balls were delicious, that was only a single stall. Are you still offering to buy me a meal?"

Teddy laughed good-naturedly and slowly stood up. He offered me a hand, and I took it. "Very well, then. Let's go find Ulfan. He makes delicious pastries."

I trailed behind him as he walked away from the fountain. While departing, I noticed another person standing under an archway leading into a grand building. The building was made of black marble with gold and silver accents and was the most prominent structure in the vicinity. As I turned a corner to catch up with Teddy, I still felt the lingering stare of the robed man on my neck.