The Winds of the Past [Rune Factory 4]

Chapter 62

When we arrived at Porcoline’s, Avani and I found Arthur, Dylas, and her brother and friends at the center of a good-sized crowd of curious townsfolk. Although Rishi and Sharmila looked as though they were enjoying themselves, Chanda looked every bit as uncomfortable as Dylas at the unsolicited attention.

The crowd parted as we approached, and I saw that the seats that had been intended for us were occupied by Amber, who was eagerly asking Chanda all sorts of questions about the flowers and animals in the southern ranges, to the latter’s obvious discomfiture, and by Kiel, who was happily discussing tribal legends and lore with Rishi.

Of our companions, Arthur was the first to notice our arrival, and he quickly rose to greet us. Kiel immediately jumped up, then when Amber remained oblivious, he nudged her hard to draw her attention to our arrival. After a moment of looking around in confusion, she giggled and hopped up, moving out of our way. Avani and I sat in the recently vacated seats, and the crowd slowly dispersed, giving us more privacy.

“So this is your new home,” Rishi said, smiling. “I can see the attraction. The people here are very welcoming, though I admit I had some initial doubts after our reception.”

“My apologies,” Arthur said, “but to be fair, it isn’t every day that a trio of strangers simply… materializes in the middle of the street.”

Rishi looked surprise. “You mean, you cannot teleport?”

“Only in a very restricted fashion. We have a spell that enables us to return to Selphia, or to the nearest pre-determined, secure location to the town, from wherever we are. But we can’t go just anywhere—only to or towards the town gates, or from the gates to our homes. So you see, it is rather limited in scope. Most transportation here is done either via airship, on a mount, or on foot.”

“I see,” Rishi said, thoughtfully. “That is one of our most fundamental spells, so I just took it for granted that others outside the tribe would have something similar. We have a spell that allows us to teleport to any location that we can visualize. So we can’t go anywhere that we haven’t already been, or that has suffered significant alteration since our last visit—the spell simply fails in that instance. We can take anything or anyone that is in contact with us when we cast it, as well. Since we are a primarily agrarian society, it was developed as a means of traveling to and from our more distant fields.”

“But you’ve never been here before,” Dylas interjected with a frown. “So how could you teleport here when you’d never seen the town?”

Rishi smiled again, saying, “Ahh, but I had seen it before—through Avani’s eyes. I checked in on her from time to time, to make sure she was still alive and well—and because I missed her so much. The street adjacent to your airship dock was one of the sights I’d seen most often. I didn’t want to appear suddenly in her quarters, as I feared that would be a shock to her, so the street seemed like a wiser choice.”

“Interesting,” Arthur mused. “A spell like that could be quite useful. Or, it could be terribly abused. I suspect that is the case with much of your magic. One of these days, I should very much like to sit with you and Sharmila, both of you, and learn more of your tribe’s ways. You say you live in the foothills and mountains to the south? I wonder whether your village lies entirely within the borders of Norad, or if you cross the border into the Kingdom of Roland?”

“I believe I can help you with that,” Sharmila spoke up. “Our shrine is the repository of our history and knowledge, barring specifically vocational information, such as pertains to the Avanani, for example. However, I will need to absent myself for a few hours sometime today—I need to return to the temple to check on Pavitra, whom I left in her mother’s care.”