Tyler Kimball - Lessgently
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Pallesia: Chapter 156 - Captain Karlyle
🕑 Added 2024-07-06 23:09:51 +0000 UTCAfter two hours of repeating the same thing he’d been repeating for the last few weeks to other members of the military, Lee was finally finished with this large batch of new healers. He stored his spell book, notes, and another cast of Life Dew into his Hidden Cache, storing them for later.
As he watched the horde leave the auditorium, the man who had been speaking with Fatalina when he entered, approached and offered up a hand. Lee, out of pure muscle memory, shook the man's hand and gave him a small smile. Using his new eyes, he used Identify.
Karlyle Retromore - Human - Level: 78 High Administrator (Rare)
“A wonderful lecture, Mr. Barnes. I hope I did the greeting correctly?” Karlyle asked as he released his hand.
Lee, not even thinking about how a handshake wasn’t considered normal, laughed as he nodded. “Perfectly, and thank you for the kind words. I’ve repeated it so much now, that I don’t even think I need my notes any longer. Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Retromore?”
“Captain Karlyle, please.” He gestured toward the door as he walked off. Lee followed.
“I’ve been instructed to keep you company and protect you should our logistical base be targeted, which it has never been, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Fatalina spoke very highly of you, and I’m inclined to agree with her, given the two titles I feel before me.”
“Luck and happenstance. Don’t think too much about it. I can turn them off if they’re distracting?” Lee offered, and to his surprise, the Captain agreed with a nod. Lee quickly turned off his titles with Hidden Miracle, as Captain Karlyle spoke at length.
“I’ve been told about needing to find a portal of some sort? A means to return you from whence you came? While that is doable, it may take considerable time given the size of the battlefront before us. Tell me, how did you discover those things you called cells?”
As Lee wasn’t an expert, he tried to deflect. “Yes, a portal of some sort. It may or may not exist, but I have reason to believe that a way to return is around here somewhere. When it comes to healing, it was do or die, and I chose to do. You can do a lot when you find yourself at Death’s door.”
Seemingly aware of Lee’s deflection, the Captain moved past the topic. “I’m a practitioner of magic myself, and I would appreciate the chance to exchange knowledge should the time become available. Would you be opposed to such an arrangement?”
The way Karlyle spoke was interesting. It was what Lee would have imagined from a wizened wizard, but Karlyle was maybe in his forties, and most definitely wasn’t wearing an old robe and gnarled staff. He had a beard, but it was well groomed and short. It also matched his hair color, a dark brown. “That’d be fine by me. Although, I expect Fatalina to ask me to teach healing over and over. If not, then I’m probably going to be healing the injured…”
And idea popped into his mind as he looked at the older mage. “If you happen to know anything about the soul, I’d be very interested in learning about it. Enchanting as well. I’ve been learning, but the process is… difficult.”
Karlyle smiled and nodded energetically as he led Lee through the streets. While he didn’t know the layout of this city, he thought they were heading toward the building where he and Fatalina had met. “I’ll be sure to bring my tomes. I’m sure I can get Fatalina to let me steal you away from some of your duties. Actually, I’m sure that she has no power over you, as you’re a foreign dignitary. She mentioned diplomatic immunity?”
At that, Lee laughed. “Yes. I’ve already put it to use once, I could always do it again to get away for a little bit. What type of magic are you focused on? Or, are you a generalist?”
Captain Karlyle held up two fingers, causing a cyan spark of lightning to surge between them like a tesla coil. “Lightning primarily, but I dabble in others. Not much use for lightning in day to day operations. Only on the field, which I don’t go to often. Ah, here is where we must part ways, Mr. Barnes. Fatalina is waiting for you in her office, and I have errands to attend too.”
Karlyle gave Lee a slight bow before he sauntered off, continuing down the clean streets, leaving Lee in front of the familiar building.
Lee entered inside and followed the same path as before, leading to Fatalina’s office. Once he arrived, he raised a hand to knock, but heard Fatalina’s no-nonsense voice say. “Come in.”
He lowered his hand, abandoning the knock, then steeled himself for the tortuous, pervasive silence of the room. He entered inside, finding Fatalina dutifully reading through reports and shuffling through papers, ordering them into separate, well-aligned piles. She flicked her gaze upwards, finding Lee, then pointed to the seat in front of her. “Just one moment.”
Lee closed the door, instantly becoming enveloped in the horrendous silence, then sat down. He could hear the shuffling of his robes like they were pieces of sandpaper being rubbed against one another, and the shuffling of papers sounded like a shredder when nothing else was there to diffuse its sound. Fatalina spoke idly as she finished whatever paperwork she was working on. “I know it’s not pleasant for you, but it makes the world a little bearable for me.”
Lee tried not to shift too much, as the shifts of his body caused sound, which felt amplified. Fatalina continued onwards. “Did Jod fill you in?”
Lee nodded, and Fatalina followed suit—uncaring about being ratted on by one of her soldiers. “Extreme hearing sounds good on paper, but in reality, it is a curse. I can hear your blood flow, your heart pumping, every tiny shift you do, from about a block away. Now, imagine having this hearing in the middle of a battle? It’s a detriment. So, don’t think you’re the only one with a detrimental ability. I’d take healing everything I touch over this any day of the week.”
Fatalina ordered the last of her papers, then focused her full attention on Lee. “How did the lecture go?”
Lee shrugged minutely. “Same as it always goes. They learned, and I repeated what I’ve said again. Captain Karlyle was a kind man. I think we’re meeting to talk about magic later… unless you need something from me?”
Fatalina gazed into his swirling rainbow eyes unflinchingly for a few awkward seconds in the dreadful silence. “No. I’d appreciate it if you could oversee the healing of the new healers if the need arises, and teach more when they become available, but you’re not a part of this country, not a member of the military. You’re a free man. Do what you will as we find your portal.”
Fatalina leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. “I do have some questions, though. Why do you believe there is a portal back to your hospital?”
Lee thinned his lips, not wanting to reveal his connection to his uncle. “I’m an anointed of Arcani. I do not think, after our many conversations, that she would offer me a one-way ticket here when patients can appear through the same portal I took into my hospital for healing. Shane, the God of Travel, is also a friend. He would not leave me here without a way back.”
Her eyes slowly opened, her fierce silver eyes drilled into him. “Yes, Shane. Regina said you two were rather close.”
“We are.” Lee said.
“How did that come to be?” She asked, and Lee was ready to put his foot down.
“That’s none of your business. Is there anything else you wanted to know?” He asked calmly.
A few tense seconds passed by, and he knew that Fatalina was using the dreadful silence against him. It made him squirm. “No. Not for now, at least. Feel free to wander. Captain Karlyle will find you, or you can find him, and he will show you to your quarters.”
Fatalina went back to sorting through her papers, and Lee took that as his signal to leave. When he opened the door, the sounds came rushing in, causing Fatalina’s singular pointy ear to twitch. He left the room, closed the door, then stood there, unsure about what to do next.
There wasn’t much for him to do here. He’d gathered his support against the Healer’s Sanctum, taught some new healers, and healed all of the wounded. He hadn’t actually had a day of rest in a long time, but he didn’t even have a room to rest in right now.
With the only real option available to him, he left to go find, or catch up, to Captain Karlyle. After leaving the building, Lee walked off in the direction Karlyle had gone ten minutes prior. He stopped some nearby soldiers along the way, asking for directions or knowledge about where he usually hung about, and was quickly directed to a stocking yard—A place to set-up the supply wagons for loading, offloading, and stockpiling.
The stocking yard was a clean, flat area with hundreds of wagons in the process of being loaded or unloaded, and many soldiers or military personnel gathered around or went about their business with crates and barrels of supplies that would fuel the ongoing war.
As he traveled through the area, Lee had to pause to get out of the way of several people carrying enormous, couch sized crates, swerve and push through swarms of busybodies, and apologize for bumping into people as the small well maintained working order of the stocking yard had the anomaly of Lee wandering about, disrupting its flow.
He heard more than a few grumbles and exclaims of ‘Get out of the way!”, and instead of him finding Captain Karlyle, the Captain found him.
Karlyle was on a mission, face stern, ready to restore working order and punish the wrongdoer. All of that faded away when Lee sheepishly gave him a wave. “Mr. Barnes?! What are you doing here?”
“Sorry for causing a scene, but I was told you’d show me to my quarters and I figured that I would take you up on your offer to talk about magic.” Lee said as the Captain moved them off to the side, toward an area where they wouldn’t be a bother.
“I can do that, but I have to finish up with my prior engagements here. Are you willing to wait for me to finish?”
Lee nodded. “That’s fine. Keep going about your business. Pretend I’m not here.”
The captain gave him an appreciative look, then stalked off into the busy stockyard to bark orders, keeping the wagon trains running.
Comments
Tyler Kimball
My hands can only type so much. My brain went poof writing this one as well. Too many things working in the background lol.
Wintermelody
Thanks for the Chapter
Danny
The only bad thing about this chapter is it makes me want the next chapter. I read too fast 😭
