Broken Lands

Chapter 423 – What Should She Write?

A drop of water dripped onto the page and Sophia hastily rubbed the tears out of her eyes and leaned back. 

Sophia took a shuddering breath and tried to think. Why was she crying? It didn’t make sense that she was crying.

It was good to hear from home, good to hear that her family was well. So why was she crying?

Sophia closed her eyes and took another long breath, then another. However much she might push it off and pretend not to, she knew the answer. She missed her home and she missed her family. Good news from them was still a reminder that she wasn’t there, that she couldn’t just go home when she wanted to.

When she got home, she was going to spend a solid month with her family. Well, at least a week. Anything longer than that and she’d be wishing for the solitude of her room in the Guild building. Not that that was exactly far from home; it was just far enough that they weren’t bumping into each other all the time. 

After that .. yeah, a month in and around Aki’s dungeon sounded good. She’d get to spend time with her parents and Leo and probably Xavier. Jenna would probably be off at school, but that would make a fun trip to plan for. Once she got back from that, she could start trying to figure out what she actually wanted to do with her life and set her Path. She wasn’t sure what her time in the Broken Lands had done to it, but she was certain the Voice would help her figure out a way forward. That was what it was designed to do.

Sophia was still sniffling slightly when opened. 

Ci’an leaned inside. “Hey, Xin’ri and I are going to go see what’s on this set of branches and if we can get to the ground or not before the light goes. You want us to pick up anything for you while we’re out?”

Sophia shook her head and smiled, glad that the tears didn’t show anymore. “Where’s Dav?”

“He’s talking to the innkeeper about dinner and the amenities. They don’t have a proper bathhouse here and all of the team rooms are booked, but they do have a sauna and some smaller rooms. He wants to spend some time with you so Xin’ri and I figured we’d get out of your hair.” Ci’an opened her mouth as if she was going to say something more, but nodded instead.

“Thinking of me?” Sophia’s grin widened a bit. “Yeah, that does sound good. I can’t think of anything for you to pick up unless you can find a fourth upgrade wand.”

Ci’an laughed at the obvious implausibility of that suggestion. “As if! We’ll keep an eye out but you know what the merchants outside the Tree said.”

Sophia nodded. She’d heard it from Xin’ri and then she heard it again when she asked. No one bothered to sell expensive equipment lower in the Tree than where you’d need it, because there was no point. If you could afford it, you could reach high enough in the Tree to buy it. It was also almost always custom-made, which meant they’d need to get to a place with people who could make it. 

That meant the same thing: the part of the Moonlit Branches that could be reached by being fourth upgrade even without climbing the Tree was the place to find the fourth upgrade Professionals who made fourth upgrade gear. The fact that it was reached by clearing the third upgrade section of the World Tree’s Challenge and therefore held a lot of peak third upgrade and early fourth upgrade Called was definitely not a coincidence.

They were currently in the part of the Moonlit Branches reached by clearing the non-upgraded area or by holding a single upgrade. The market wasn’t going to be at all comparable. There would probably be some things that weren’t available outside, but not that many.

“I can’t think of anything else,” Sophia admitted. “Dav usually keeps track of the list.”

“He said soap and oil for the leathers, but it turns out Xin’ri already bought both and forgot to give them to him.” Ci’an grinned impishly and then added with a wink, “You two have fun!”

Sophia returned the grin. “We will.”

The smile fell as soon as the door closed again. Today was a roller coaster of emotions. None of it was bad, even, just … busy. It was like finishing the first part of the World Tree and then reading the letters from home had cracked open a door she’d kept firmly shut, the door that was memories of family. She needed to close that door again if she wanted to be worth anything in the next few days, with all the fights that were coming … but maybe she could leave it open tonight?

Dav would understand. He was in the same situation, except without the letters.

Sophia turned her attention back to the notebook. Her father’s letter still had the single wet spot from her tear, but that was fine. 

She flipped through a dozen pages filled with the information he promised - research, math, spellforms, runescripts, and at least three different ritual layouts. It was definitely prepared by her father. He’d included not only the setup that worked and the measurements and information that backed that up but several of the things he’d tried that didn’t work and where he thought they’d gone wrong. Sophia understood bits and pieces of it but she wasn’t really that interested in the Origin, so she knew she was missing stuff and she was only skimming anyway.

It might be useful for someone else. For Sophia, it was a reminder that she was at least a decade away from understanding how to get home on her own. There had to be a faster way.

Sophia flipped the page again and found herself staring at another warped piece of paper. Xavier’s next letter.

Hey again Sis,

It’s been an eventful three months for me but it sounds like it’s been even more eventful for you. Empress Sophia? Really?

I wasn’t there when Dad got the notification - he was in the middle of a dungeon - so no one knows what his face looked like. I WAS there when he told Mom, though. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look so relieved and angry at the same time; she yelled at Dad for at least ten minutes for waiting to tell her until he got home instead of calling her immediately.

You’d have liked it; it was funny.

I want to hear the story about how that happened. Don’t put it in the letter; I want to hear it from you. In person. After you’re home.

And, uh, about that letter. You know how I said it would be a few weeks before I had everything ready to let you write back? I was a little too optimistic. The first one literally blew up in my face. Poof! Smoke everywhere!

I got Althyr to check them after that. Smoke isn’t a problem but some of the things that could have happened would be. Althyr did not pull his punches when he told me what could have happened.

Sophia suspected the old dragon played up some of the worst possibilities, even if they weren’t likely. Xavier had a tendency to try things before checking if he should if you didn’t.

Not that Sophia was any better. She still remembered the feather incident, after all; the consequences of that one were hard to forget.

So it took a couple months longer than I expected to make one that would work. The trick wasn’t making something that would let you send the letter back, it was making something that wouldn’t warp in transit! Or interfere with the initial spell, which is why there was smoke the first time. Anyway!

You see that line about halfway down the page? Cut it there. You’ll also need to cut out the trace that goes around the edges, about an inch in; that’s the containment glyphs that prevent interference and let that part of the paper come through whole. Precision’s good but not too important as long as you don’t cut any of the runes on the back of the letter. Well, none of the ones that are on the portion that’s left; the ones on my half of the letter don’t matter anymore as long as they’re removed.

Once that’s done, write your letter on the remaining paper using something that isn’t rune-influencing (truly nonmagical is better, don’t ask me how I know) and then flood the paper with mana. The runes will take it from there.

Hugs! Love you and hope to see you soon! - Xavier

Sophia wondered just how long she’d had this letter. Based on what the three letters said, she’d had Xavier’s first letter for at least three months. Since the last one was the only one that mentioned her becoming Empress, it was probably the only one that was sent after that happened. Of course, she didn’t know how long they took to get through the Origin and she didn’t know when they actually arrived.

Thinking about how she could have had news from home months earlier if she’d just checked the notebook was pointless. She was just going to have to check more often. 

She’d said that before and not followed through on it. Checking for mail only to find there wasn’t any got old quickly.

Sophia snorted, then dug in her pack until she found an old disposable pen. They were still manufactured completely mundanely; it turned out that having something cheap to write with was useful even in a world filled with magical goods. Most of what she had was pencils, but pencil lead was really graphite, and graphite could carry mana. It wasn’t much, but after Xavier’s warning she wanted to avoid anything that carried mana. Ink from a disposable pen could hold mana, too, but Sophia knew from experience that this particular ink was terrible at conducting mana; it just didn’t want to follow the ink at all. Air was better, and air didn’t direct mana at all.

So, uh. What should she write?

Sophia wrote out Hey yourself Xavier, and then paused. She should plan it first, shouldn’t she?

Yes, she should. There really wasn’t much space available, even if she used every bit of the paper inside the line Xavier wanted her to cut out.

Sophia dug out another notebook, one without enchantments this time, and started writing. It took a couple of tries before she fit everything she wanted to in the small space, but she was happy with what she ended up with in the end.

Hey yourself Xavier,

You can tell Dad I believe it was an accident now. I won’t say how since you asked me not to but it was an accident for me too!

There’s too much to say … much too much … for this small space so I’ll just say the important stuff. I have a boyfriend. His name’s Dav and he comes from another universe. Not the one I’m in now and not ours, ANOTHER other universe. He’s from Terra and he left his parents there, so we’re going to stop by on our way home and pick them up. Can you ask Mom to arrange a place for them? He says his dad’s a barkeep (former soldier) and his mom’s a waitress. Also see if Blaze is up for healing some old injuries; Dav hasn’t been real clear but I get the impression that’s why his dad isn’t a soldier anymore so I figure we should expect to need to fix some stuff. It’ll probably be a few weeks or months before we’re home but I think I have a lead on a couple possible ways.

Oh, and make sure you’re recording Greatest Grandpa Senkovar when you tell him I’m on Arcatiz. Yes, Archons’ Refuge. They speak Suras here. I want to see his face.

I’d say more if I had room but I don’t, so make sure you send more paper so I can write back!

Love you all! - Sophia