Mark of the Fool

“The Herald of the Traveller?” Alex asked. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Carey smiled, looking quite pleased.

The courtyard had fallen silent.

Every eye was focused on the young woman who was both familiar yet unfamiliar. To the research team, Carey was a fallen colleague, one who had been mourned. To the Watchers, she was not only a colleague, but the symbol of a great failure, one where they had failed to protect a student under their charge.

Many here had attended her funeral in Generasi.

Many here had said their goodbyes.

And yet, here she was, looking as healthy and alive as she had before her death.

No, not as healthy and alive.

Healthier. Stronger. More assured.

Divine.

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She smiled, her eyes sparkling. “When I passed into the after-world, I touched the Traveller. Her power flowed through me, and I reached her side in grace. My act of faith for my friends, against evil, and in her name, was enough to forge a bond between her and I. A deep bond. And over time, her energies continued transforming my soul, elevating me and letting me ascend to a new existence. I haven’t returned from death as I once was. Carey, the mortal, will never be again. I am Carey London, Herald of the Traveller. And in my new form, I am very happy to see all of you again.”

Before anyone could say a word, Professor Jules let out a choked cry.

She staggered toward the Herald of the Traveller, and Baelin stepped away from the two women, giving them space.

“I failed you.” Professor Jules bowed her head before the spirit in front of her. “You were my student, and I taught you every safety protocol I ever learned just to keep you safe. You were my responsibility, and I let those animals kill you. I don’t know if you can ever forgive me, but I’m just, so, deeply sorry, Miss London—”

“Shhhh,” Carey said, smiling gently at the little woman. “Professor, might I ask you for a favour?”

Professor Jules looked at her. Tears continued welling up in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. “Whatever you ask, it’s yours.”

“Forgive yourself.”

Shocked silence.

“Pardon?” Professor Jules finally said.

“I have been watching all of you from the after-world,” she said. “And although I wasn’t able to see everything I wished to, I saw that you have been torturing yourself, professor. Please stop. It’s not you who killed me, and you were not responsible for what happened. Villains took me, and I gave my life to save my friends. I did so ever so willingly, and I was rewarded for that sacrifice. You did what you could to protect me, and I was not a child, professor. I was a grown woman who made her own decisions. I chose to stay in Thameland, and others chose to rob me of my freedom. They have been punished.”

Carey looked at her former professor earnestly, meeting her gaze. “You do not have to punish yourself. Please, stop. At this point, you have suffered longer than I did. And pshah! I’m the one who died!”

She laughed at her own little joke, which startled the alchemist into silence again.

Professor Jules looked at Carey for a long, silent moment before she finally spoke again. “I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself, Miss London. But…I will try.”

“I will be most glad if you did,” Carey said. “Professor, after this day, I’m not sure how often we will see each other. As the Traveller’s Herald, I already have much to do. Much to do in both Thameland, and beyond. Far beyond. So, I will need to go soon. But I shall endeavour to look in on you, when I can. I shall endeavour to look in on all of you.”

“I, I think I would like that very much,” Professor Jules smiled. “It feels so strange to see you, here. You had your whole life ahead of you, and now…you’re talking about all of these divine duties. You were a young woman with a full life ahead of you. That’s all been stolen, and I regret that.”

Carey smiled gently. “Now, now, professor. My time as Carey the mortal might be over, but my time as the Herald will be eternal. I do believe I quite like the idea of eternity!”

She beamed, radiating a joy that was infectious.

‘Carey’s truly found her place in the universe,’ Alex thought, smiling to himself. ‘Maybe that’s better than most people can ever say for themselves.’

“Now if you’ll excuse me, professor,” Carey said, her eyes searching the crowd. “There is one other person I must speak to before I go.”

Her eyes fell on Merzhin.

The Saint of Thameland froze mid-step, as though he was a child caught sneaking away from something he was avoiding.

Carey called out to him firmly. “We need to have a little chat, you and I, Merzhin. I don’t want to see you torturing yourself either.”

Merzhin flinched, as though struck, then squeezed his eyes shut like someone building up courage to dive from a great height into the sea.

When he opened them, his expression radiated a mix of longing and dread. “Of course, Carey. If you’ll walk with me; a lot of people were gravely injured in the battle, and I must go to them at once.”

“Of course,” the Herald of the Traveller said. “I’ll walk with you. We can chat as we go.”

The Saint waited for the Herald, then together, they walked away from the gathered crowd.

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They were quiet for a time

There were plenty of words that needed to pass between them, but for those few moments, the friends seemed quite content to just be in each other’s company.

“My, my,” Baelin said, walking over to Professor Jules and Alex. He had removed his starmetal mask, and was watching the two depart with something akin to wonder. “Do you know what one of the best parts of eternal life is? The surprises. Some long-lived folk complain about experience and life growing mundane as the centuries and millennia pile up behind them. They speak as though the universe can no longer surprise them.”

He shook his head. “Fools, the lot of them. No matter how long one might live, and no matter how much one might experience…the universe will still find ways to surprise you. Those surprises only grow more noteworthy as they increase in rarity. The truth of living a long time is that you do learn to anticipate more of what is possible and how life will unfold—seeing patterns—but at the same time, you become more firm in your belief that you can predict every trick that life and the universe have to offer.”

He chuckled, looking at Carey’s fiery wings. “And then without warning, the universe takes great pleasure in showing you how little it is that you actually know. Its surprises are sometimes beneficial, and sometimes not, but yet—to me—they are always welcome. That is something you will learn one day yourself, my young friend, when you complete your quest for immortality.”

“Actually,” Alex’s voice dropped low. “I wanted to talk to you about that. In private, if you don’t mind.”

Baelin smiled. “Of course.” He gestured to the sky. “Why don’t we chat for a bit, then? After that, we both will have work to do and friends to celebrate with. Let us savour this conversation while we can.”

Alex nodded, then turned to see Professor Jules still watching Carey and Merzhin as they disappeared into the keep.

“Professor,” Alex said, startling her. “I just want to say thank you for everything you’ve done for me, and every one of your other students. Once, a long time ago, you told me about how professors help those they see potential in.”

She paused for a moment, then her eyes lit up with recollection. “Oh yes, I remember that. We were in the Cells…goodness, that feels like a lifetime ago.”

“It really does,” Alex said. “Well, I just wanted to thank you for seeing that potential in me. Here, in Thameland, the church and Uldar said the Fool had no potential or value. You didn’t know I was the Fool when we talked, but I still really needed someone to see that potential in me. And I’d bet that you would have seen it even if you did know I was the Fool. You only treated me kindly, even after you found out.”

Alex bowed deeply to his alchemy professor. “Seriously, I wouldn’t be here…none of this—” He gestured to the Research Castle. “—would be here without you, professor. I want you to know that.”

The professor paused for a long moment, then sighed, grabbing him by the shirt collar and pulling him up from his bow. “Oh, come on, Mr. Roth, you know I don’t go for all that. But…still, thank you for saying it.” She glanced after Carey one last time, though the Herald had long gone into the keep. “I believe I really needed to hear it. I believe I really did.”

She smiled up at him, and put her hands on her hips. “Now, get going you two! I know you’re off to plot some horrifying scheme and—quite frankly—I think I’ve had enough horrifying schemes for a lifetime! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I might just go and get very, very drunk.”

Professor Jules looked up at Alex. “Mr. Roth, it’s been a pride and pleasure to help train you to be the exceptional alchemist, wizard and fine adult you have become. Come find me after you’ve finished with your schemes. We’ll drink to victory. To forgiveness and to life.”

“Are you sure, professor?” Alex gave her a mocking smile. “That much drinking might not be safe!”

“Oh, bah! Keep antagonising me and you’ll really see what unsafe is! I’m sure I can find one more chaos bomb lying around in our storage area! Now away with you!” She waved the two archwizards off with a frown before turning and marching toward the nearest keg.

She glanced back once and Alex caught the relieved smile lighting up her face as she departed.

“What a remarkable teacher,” Baelin said admiringly. “Your words were well-spoken, Alex.”

“She deserved to hear them.”

“Indeed, she did, and indeed, she does. Now shall we go off and hatch that ‘horrifying scheme’ she was frightened of?”

“Hah, sounds like a wonderful idea,” Alex chuckled.

The General and the chancellor excused themselves, beginning to float above the courtyard.

As they ascended into the sky, several voices called out.

“Alex!”

The young archwizard looked down and waved at a couple of familiar faces: Kybas and Ripp had come into the courtyard. Harmless crawled along beside his master, looking very fat and satisfied.

“We did it!” Kybas cried. “Well, you did it! But Harmless and I also did many good things down in the tunnels!”

“No you didn’t,” Ripp scoffed. “I’d reckon there’d be a lot of words to describe what you two did down there: terrible, horrifying, mind-scarring, traumatic, but ‘good’ ain’t one of them!”

Kybas grinned, showing many, many teeth. He said nothing in reply, but his expression seemed all too reminiscent of Harmless’ perpetual toothy ‘grin’.

Alex laughed. “I’m glad you three are alright! Go get some drinks, I’ll come find you later!”

“Good, I can’t wait!” Kybas chuckled.

Ripp shook his head. “Life took a strange turn, at some point. Strange turn, indeed.”

The swiftling, goblin and crocodile went off toward where the kegs were waiting. Professor Jules was already there, guzzling from a tankard of wine, as a delighted Khalik cheered her on.

Leaving the crowd to their merry-making down below, Alex and Baelin ascended into the skies as the Castle shrank in the distance, while they climbed high enough to be well out of earshot.

For a moment, Alex took in the late morning air.

It was surprisingly warm.

Comforting.

Full of the promise of better days.

“So,” Baelin said. “Shall we begin scheming, then?”

“Oh yes, absolutely.” Alex rubbed his hands together, with a grin. “I was thinking, now that the Ravener’s gone, you and I could take a run and taking over Thameland ourselves.”

“Splendid idea,” Baelin said without missing a beat. “And I take it that—after we usher in a new age of darkness over your kingdom—we will both become overly greedy and betray each other, oh, in a thousand years time?”

Alex shrugged. “Meh, I’m still young and antsy. Why don’t we schedule all backstabbing for five hundred years from now?”

“Oh, daring are we? Let us say seven hundred and fifty years then. That’s my final offer.”

“Deal.”

The two archwizards grinned at each other.

Then, Alex’s smile slowly faded as his expression turned serious.

“Listen, Baelin—”

“You’re about to tell me you have found a key ingredient for a tincture of immortality, haven’t you?” Baelin’s eyes twinkled. “Uldar’s essence, no doubt?”

Alex smiled sheepishly. “No doubt. How’d you figure me out?”

“When I was waxing poetic about everlasting life, you brought up needing to speak with me. You are a Proper Wizard, and a Proper Wizard would never let something so valuable as divine essence slip through their grasp. How did you harvest it without leaving a mark on the body? I cannot imagine you began sawing Uldar up after teleporting him to a lab.”

“Hannah’s teleportation.”

“Ah, of course,” Baelin said. “I might have known…so then, what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?”

Alex took a deep breath. “—well I was wondering—”

“—if I would help you craft an elixir of immortality out of Uldar’s essence? Of course. I have plenty of experience with that exact task.”

“Am I really getting that predictable?” Alex sighed.

“No, but call my insight a benefit of my advanced age,” Baelin said.

Now it was his turn for his smile to fade, and he slowly looked away from Alex.

For an instant, the chancellor seemed caught up in indecision.

Then he nodded.

“Alexander.”

Alex flinched. Baelin had hardly—if ever—called him by his full name. “What is it?”

The chancellor looked back at him. “I have my own proposal for you. One that I will ask you to think on for a millennia or two.”

“…oh?” Alex asked. “What is it?”

Baelin looked at him directly. “What would you say to—in a thousand years or so—joining my cabal?”