Arthurian Cultivation

I was back at the Ban household planning my next move. Playing music, it turned out, was a great way for Barclay to quietly dip out of the conversation. Never did schedule a duel with me. The two goons relaxed immensely once he was gone, which said a lot about the power dynamic, they seemed to genuinely enjoy the music and gave compliments and apologies before leaving.

Lancelot filled me in. Barclay was the grandson of the current lord of the Falls, one of the Fos brothers who ranked the same as Ban. The Orders were always trying to cosy up to the lord and by extension his family. She had good things to say about Blue Hair which surprised me, the guy was called ‘Gareth’ though Lancelot did mention she tended to call him ‘Gaz’ when he wasn’t on duty. The Order of the Kraken was mostly a seafaring Order, with their power base far from Fosburg they had to do more sucking up than most.

I didn't tell her about the Guiding Star, I wasn't about to talk about it to anyone but Ban, Elaine, and Miss Peaches. I knew I could trust them to at least not be secret cultists and give the threat the weight it deserved. Lancelot was definitely trustworthy, I just also felt she might run off and do something stupid. She was politically savvy, but considering how close we came to a fight, seemed lacking in control.

Especially right now, she was bouncing off the walls with impatience as we waited for the sanctum's defences to fully activate. “Lancelot calm down, we can talk more in a minute.”

“I've already told you to call me Lance, really all my friends do.” Lance casually dropping the offer of friendship distracted me. I felt embarrassed but the burst of joy I felt at the simple but honest gesture. I had been drowning for so long in a sea of enemies with only the rare temporary ally to help keep me afloat. Even those were constantly changing caught up, battered and capsized by capricious storms of politics.

“I'm flattered.” I managed, so wrapped up in my thoughts of darker times I'd forgotten I was in a better one.

“Did you just blush, look I want to be clear here I mean–” She sighed and began what I imagined was a polished rant. I cut her off.

“Friends, I get it. I was merely appreciating your kindness. Runes are fully lit by the way.” I nodded to the walls.

“Tell me everything you know about the Moon Gift.” she was practically vibrating.

“Alright, first I don't have it, so just to be clear I'm talking about observations and rumours. And I will assume you don't want the long-lauded history, more practical applications.”

“See you already get me!”

“Alright, so things I know are possible include, reflecting opponents glamour attacks back at them, empowering your weapons and armour with it to enhance your blocks and counter, using it for mobility, not Levity but literally stepping off the air, oh and illusions of course. Even sound, someone used it to muffle sound, like a targeted echo.” That last application I'd seen in a hunt with one of the princesses when she'd visited the Harkley estates, she'd somehow muffled everything around her, making everything sound like it was coming from the wrong angle. It'd caught my attention as before then I'd never considered how echoes actually worked.

“You're not lying, that's all actually possible?” Lance's face was unreadable, she stared at her sheathed sword.

“I mean yes, it's reflections. I'll be honest it's going to be tough, it's a very broad gift so mastering it is notoriously difficult.”

“But it's not useless? It's not one of those that's really useful at lower ranks and then tops out at Iron? Like Fire often does.”

“I'd personally disagree with what you said about fire, but no It's literally the preferred tool of the High King of Albion and his family,” I said.

“How do you think I train it? Use it?”

“So I did actually speak to…” He didn't say the word princess, Mary Quilvern did not appreciate the title and using it was a great way to derail the conversation. But it's not like I could hide I was talking to important people.

“You don't need to tell me who, just what you learned.” Lancelot wrung her hands together, I could taste the desire for knowledge on her. Also what choice did I have? A Fae Goddess had put me in her path, I doubt she wanted me to play a game of half-truths with someone who she was possibly related to.

Come to think of it, was I not being dragged into possibly the biggest family spat in all of Euross? Passing around knowledge from one arm of the family to the other.

“I feel I should reveal at least a little. Look nothing I say here leaves this room right?” I wanted Lance to trust me, and I didn't want her second-guessing the only piece of real advice I had directly from a moon glamour user. Still, the spectre of the Harkleys loomed over me and every time I spoke of these things, even indirectly, I feared it would somehow sense it and come claim me.

The feeling was intense right now because I knew that I would have to share at least some parts of my story with Ban, Elaine, and Miss Peaches when explaining the threat to Fos. A life I'd assumed I'd leave behind and forget about was becoming more relevant by the day. I could always remain hidden, and say nothing, but I hated Divine Cultivators with a passion that eclipsed my own desire for secrecy.

I'd not survived everything I had just to survive. I had survived to spite them, to bring about their loss. Living my life was not a victory, their failure was what was most important to me.

“Of course, you have my silence, especially after last night, which I'm sorry about, I promise we weren't trying to snoop,” said Lance, looking guilty.

“It's alright, to be honest, I'm a little thankful to know the Lady is keeping such a close eye on me.” It did answer a couple of questions about my current situation.

“Is her attention related to how you know all the things you do?”

“It's complicated. Look first things first. How did I, your friendly bard get loaded down with this knowledge? Well, I spent some years in what I would describe as captivity at the hands of a House of Renown in Albion, a powerful house. The kind of house that occasionally hosts members of the royal family. I have since escaped but the idea of being caught by them fills me full of dread. Still, I feel confident that my escape was successful as during my escape I met the Lady, and that's where I was given the name Taliesin.”

“That sounds–rough .” Lance couldn’t find the words.

“You have no idea. Look I told you that so that when I explain that I spoke to one of the Quilvern's it doesn't come as across as nonsense. The sound thing I mentioned, I was dragged on a hunt and saw it used that way. I asked about it which she took well to, apparently, it was the trick she was most proud of, and chose to spend some time explaining it to me. Much to my fellow's frustration” I didn’t want to get full frustrations of ‘my family’ to that, my peers have been getting no traction with her all day, and suddenly the bookish boy had the princess's full attention. They were jealous enough that the hunt was when I first learned I could return from death and was the first time I brought death to another person.

Getting this knowledge had literally killed me.

“So you have experience flirting with royalty? No wonder you were so smooth with the Lady.” Lance tried to inject some positivity, my emotions must be showing. I silenced the urge to point out that my behaviour back then was based around a bookish and delicate persona of Regus, not my bombastic self that had emerged since my rebirth.

“I am not a flirt, I am just friendly. Now look what she told me was that reflections are a moment of loss, if you bounce a ball off a wall you hear a thud, if light reflects off a sword over time the sword heats up, a reflection is a redirection of glamour coupled with a small sacrifice of its original power. She mentioned her earliest training was in bouncing something off her and controlling how much energy she absorbed and how much she returned. The echo control was like a tuned-up version of that.” I’d been digging that conversation out of memory since I’d seen Lance’s trick at the table. It helped that I’d used the same theory to create a simple technique of my own, a smoke cloud that could muffle my movement, trapping the sound within it.

“So what do you suggest?”

“I’m going to throw things at you.” Lance didn't so much as pause, she just grinned.

“So that’s why you were collecting pebbles on the way home. Alright, bring it!”

“Stop dodging!” I yelled an hour later.

“FUCK!” She exploded flinging her arms up and cursing the sky, the sanctum rang with echoes. “This isn’t working. I can feel it but the second I do, my brain tells me to fight back, to react.”

“Look, you’re so close do you really want not to get this because you can’t stay still?” I was getting frustrated, I’d had trainers who used to take sick pleasure in flinging rocks at me, claiming to train my ‘awareness’. Till now, I believed it was purely for their entertainment, but an hour in and it got boring. It was not helped that every time I could start to feel the familiar glamour shift, Lance would instinctively dodge an attack.

“I’ll try.” She wasn’t any happier, I’d hit her a lot. Adding just a bit of glamour to the rock seemed to help her train, but also came with the downside that they hit far harder. Five rocks in and I felt her glamour start to flow. The sixth rock she dodged, the seventh that I fired right after nailed her dead centre of the chest. I sensed something and the rock fell limply to the floor.

“I did it, I did it! I–fucking ow!” She clutched her chest.

“What happened?”

“I caught all the energy! I did it!” She winced as she tried to throw both arms up. “I can see why this glamour is broken there’s way more power in just a small rock than you’d expect.”

“Congratulations!” I was impressed, manipulating a new gift was always a challenge. I still hadn’t used my death glamour.

“My hearth is exhausted though, I was dumping so much into each attempt to make something happen. I’ll get better but I’m going to need to take some time to cultivate to get the glamour back. Now I know what I’m looking for though it shouldn’t be difficult. I can’t thank you enough.” She ran over and gave me a hug. I went stiff from the surprise.

“Oh, crap before I do that I need to help you. Look I have a request from the Lady, mum was going to cover it but as we have some time now I can get you started.”

“A request from the Lady?” I was starting to think I was nothing but a convenient translator, what had she lined me up for?

“The Lady said to take you through the basics of dream glamour cultivation. Implied it would be useful for you.” Lance worked hard to keep the curiosity from her tone. I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise at the offer though, it wasn’t like dream glamour was of any use to me.

“Didn’t explain, not that I remember. There must be a reason though, I bet it’s because dream glamour is different than most glamors, in that you don’t take it into your hearth. Not a good idea, has too much of the source’s soul and mind in it. It’s why so many Oracles all seem kind of mad and crazy.” Lance was speaking casually as she started to tidy up the sanctum collecting the pebbles. She was ignorant of how my racing heart and pulsing hearth. I could feel my death gift stirring at the implications.

“Please tell me more.” I kept the desperation from my voice as Lance continued to share the secrets I needed to keep my mind sane.