I was glad they’d funded the communication necklaces, but asking for more money wasn’t something I was comfortable with.
Keras returned a few hours later. “Okay. Let’s go shopping.”
I grinned. “I know just the place.”
An hour or so later, I paid my first visit in several weeks to the Climber’s Court.
They always had the strangest customers.
That day, the weirdest was a student who looked to be about my age — maybe even younger — that was being followed around by a half-dozen golems of various materials.
Instead of a traditional necklace, he wore what looked like a cube with runes etched all over it. I didn’t recognize a single one of the runes.
He mumbled something to himself, complaining about someone named “Zach”, and then left the building.
On another day, I might have asked him about that cube. Or the golems.
His relationship with that “Zach” was less interesting.
But I was busy, so I ignored him and headed inside.
“Corin! My favorite customer.”
I rolled my eyes at Lars. “Hey, Lars. I’ve brought a friend to intro—”
“…Lars? Lars Mantrake?” Keras’ voice was full of disbelief.
Lars took one look at Keras and made a belly-deep laugh. “Keras Selyrian. I never thought I’d see you in a civilized place like this.”
“Believe me, it’s not by choice.” Keras stepped forward and gave Lars a hug.
Huh.
“You two…know each other?”
Lars turned to me. “Might have gone on an adventure or two together, back in the day.”
Keras nodded. “He used to serve as quartermaster for an expedition in the Unclaimed Lands. I traveled with them from time to time.”
“Well, well.” Lars took a step back, waving at the shop. “If you’re here, I have to charge twice as much.”
Keras laughed. “I would expect nothing less.”
I spent a while catching up with Lars while Keras looked around the shop.
Business had been slow with the spire closed, but he still got some from students and other regular customers.
I didn’t tell him about much. Just generalities. Nothing particularly personal.
There was a part of me that wanted to tell him, though.
Maybe in a different place, at a different time.
I almost considered inviting him to come with us to the spire. He was a former climber himself, after all.
But I’d seen how he looked after Mizuchi’s attack.
Sad. Shaken.
Not afraid. No, there was something else there.
I’d noticed that Lars told a lot of stories about his old days in the spire, but not about why they’d ended.
I didn’t mention Mizuchi attacking the ball.
I let him spend some time catching up with Keras, too, while I searched the shop.
I listened in to a polite degree.
“Do you remember that time in the tomb, with that undead sorcerer?” Lars asked.
“You think I could forget that? We must have held that doorway for two hours. You kept pouring healing potions on me whenever I got injured. I never got the stains out of that shirt.”
Lars laughed. “That sounds about right. Can’t believe how many potions we wasted that day.”
“We? I’m not the one who tried to drown a wight in them.”
“Now, that’s not fair. We all thought healing magic would hurt them.”
I smiled.
It was good to hear them sharing stories.
It was a little surprising to hear that any of Lars’ stories were actually true, but I decided to chalk that up to him being selective while a friend was around.
I lingered a little longer than I needed to in the store, picking out what I wanted long before we actually left.
“Oh! And there was that time with the hydra…”
I smiled. For the first time in days, something felt right.
With Patrick, Marissa, Keras, and me, we had a group of four.
I invited Derek, but he turned me down.
He was staying at the hospital with his aunt, Professor Meltlake.
She apparently didn’t have anyone else.
There were obviously other members of the Hartigan family — they were a prominent house. I didn’t ask why no one else was there for her. If he wanted to explain, he would have.
But I realized the fact that she didn’t use the Hartigan name might have involved more than her just acquiring a fancy personal title.
I visited her, but she hadn’t woken up. She was…not in good shape.
I tried not to think too much about what I could have done to prevent that.
I tried to visit Professor Vellum, too, but she’d already left the hospital. That was good, I guessed.
I didn’t know where else to look for her. She wasn’t at her office, and the school was basically shut down for the year.
I wanted to know what had happened to her. But, perhaps even more than that, I could have used her advice.
Even if I knew she wouldn’t approve of my plan.
I resolved to figure out how to contact her later, but for now, I had more pressing concerns.
Without Derek, I wanted someone else who was close to his level of power. That didn’t leave a lot of candidates. Teft was still badly injured, even more so than his students.
Sheridan was the logical choice. I asked them to come, and they agreed faster than I’d expected.
With that, we had a healer. And I was pretty confident that Sheridan had a few other tricks up their sleeve, too.
Number six had to be a Diviner. Or, at least, someone with a comparable skill set.
I headed to the Divinatory.
“So, I know you have information gathering magic. Does that work the same way for you inside the spire?”
Researcher blinked. “I am a Researcher. My abilities are designed to function within the tower. The original that I am copied from resides and studies within.”
I nodded. “That’s what I thought. Do you have spells designed for locating people?”
“Yes. My abilities are similar to a human Diviner’s, but with a stronger emphasis on searching through large quantities of data. Location spells are within my abilities.” She gave me a quizzical look. “This is an unusual line of questioning.”
“I need to find someone who is inside the tower.” I folded my hands in front of me. “Would you be able to help with that?”
“It is… generally not permitted for me to provide information on anyone inside the spire to anyone other than one of the visages or other researchers. As you are an Arbiter, however…” Researcher frowned. “I have not been prepared for this situation. It may be irrelevant, however, as I am not capable of reaching the spire.”
She waved down at the apparatus that was providing her with the mana necessary to remain stable.
I’d thought of that, though. “How much mana do you need to remain stable?”
“I consume a total of one hundred mana per hour.”
That was more than what I was hoping for, but I could work with it. Maybe.
I took out my bracer of mana regeneration and offered it toward her. “This device is designed to regenerate the wearer’s mana. It has a mana capacity of sixty, and regenerates one mana per minute. Can you determine if the mana inside is something you could use?”
She took the offered bracer, turning it over in her hands.
For a moment, her pupil and sclera shifted to bright azure. “The mana inside is pure, and the transfer function would work on me.”