Dinner had been a tepid affair, as it always was these days, with little to recommend it and no flavours to speak of. It was nutrition, pure and simple, and that was all that could be said in its favour. Indeed, it was a meal to dampen the spirits, as were all the meals taken on Yn Dref these days. It was in those dampened spirits that the three friends found themselves wandering the city streets, past grey mothers and greyer children.<\/p>\n
Ira waved a hand at the Hanians that flocked around them. \u201cAre you sure you don\u2019t want to help these people, Yaden? There\u2019s little reason not to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yaden sighed. For once, the boisterous nature was gone. \u201cIra, I\u2019ve nothing of what they truly need.\u201d He flicked his hand into the air, and a light shower of sparks came from it, twinkling as they extinguished themselves in the night air. \u201cYou\u2019ve witnessed something near to the extent of my powers right there. And what we stand on is the floating remains of a mountain top, ripped from the ground and upended by magics that we can barely comprehend. The gulf between my meagre talents and the arcanists of the golden era of Hania is so vast as to swallow all the valleys that feed us and then some. To save our people, we need gifted who can cross that gulf. Instead, the very best we have exhaust themselves daily just trying to keep what remains flying. And they\u2019re failing. The old Market District is somewhere down below, now. As are the original barracks, some of the Temple Quarter, and who knows what else that fell before I was old enough to understand. The entire might<\/em> of our existing arcanists is not enough to keep one skycity in the air, and yet in the history books, we learn of a time when there were dozens, if not a hundred or more, floating above the vast canyons of Ogleddol. So no, it\u2019s not that I won\u2019t, it\u2019s that I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Canere, ever the scholar, began to muse. \u201cBut why has our talent level fallen so far? We\u2019ve the same bloodline as the arcanists who came before. Indeed, most of the upper families remaining can trace their heritage back to the greatest of the great, and are more intermingled than any twisted vine. So that\u2019s the same. The world around us has changed, for sure. The old empire of Arhosa is no more, but Hanian society was long somewhat separate on our skycities in the first place. The Enayinbo magicians who helped forge Arhosa were our equals, not our betters.\u201d He paused. \u201cI\u2019m going to the archives. The answer has to be in there somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n The other two groaned. They had seen what happened when Canere got caught in the throes of an idea, and it would mean him spending hours upon hours digging through whatever had caught his fancy. And then dragging the two of them into it.<\/p>\n \u201cTomorrow, Canere. Despite being the one who wasn\u2019t<\/em> a fool on the edge of the world today, I\u2019m tired. Maybe that\u2019s because I was doing actual work. So, before you have your mad moment, I\u2019m leaving and going to bed. Yaden, I suggest you do the same.\u201d Ira departed, shaking her head at the ideas that would sometimes sprout in that mage\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n \u201cYaden, I kept you safe today. The least you can do is give me a little bit of a hand with the research.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCanere, I\u2019m going to say yes, even though I\u2019ll regret it within moments. I\u2019ll help until the midnight bell, but then I\u2019m off to the comforts of my bed, such as they are.\u201d<\/p>\n With that, the two of them set off in the direction of the arcanist archives.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n It had taken some begging and other whining to have the librarians allow the two of them access, but after being persuaded it was a historical topic, they relented. The librarians, mages themselves, had seen too many young fools hoping to find the secret to the lost power of Hania somewhere in the stacks. Usually followed by said young fool attempting to cast one of the spells he had found and killing himself and possibly others.<\/p>\n And yet it was precisely to those shelves that Canere first went. Although he did send Yaden off to collect a host of histories from around the golden age until the present. As a fully trained arcanist, albeit one quite far down the pecking order due to youth, Canere did technically have access to the shelves in the back, although his instructors had rather pointedly not<\/em> mentioned them to him. He\u2019d had to discover their existence for himself, as well as what they contained. But his studies in the dusty corners of the archives had given him some of the insights that allowed him to become the arcanist he was today. Which, on the whole, was not saying a great deal.<\/p>\n Yaden returned to find his friend nose deep in a scroll, peering at oddly scribed words. \u201cI\u2019ve got the mess of documents that you wanted. Now what?\u201d<\/p>\n Canere poked his nose over the scroll. \u201cStart reading.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI need to know what I\u2019m reading for\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomething that\u2019s not the same as it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCanere, that\u2019s everything. Aside from the fact we still, barely, live on a skycity.\u201d<\/p>\n The young mage paused, marshalling his thoughts. \u201cOkay, here. Look for things that aren\u2019t done the same way as today. Especially magical things. Something\u2019s changed between their day and ours, and I want to find it. Our connection to magical energy isn\u2019t as strong as it once was, and it\u2019s not the bloodlines that\u2019s causing it. So somewhere in those documents should be at least a hint of what\u2019s causing it. Habits, behaviour, something\u2019s changed that brought about Hania\u2019s downfall. And it has to be wide enough to affect a whole civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if there isn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s either in your documents or mine, so start reading. Hemming and hawing isn\u2019t going to get through them any faster.\u201d<\/p>\n Shaking his head at his friend\u2019s surety, Yaden began to pour through the stack of old books in front of him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dinner had been a tepid affair, as it always was these days, with little to recommend it and no flavours to speak of. It was nutrition, pure and simple, and that was all that could be said in its favour. Indeed, it was a meal to dampen the spirits, as were all the meals taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[60,4],"tags":[19,62],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pRIK4-bt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":710,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=710","url_meta":{"origin":711,"position":0},"title":"The Last City – Part 1","date":"May 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Last City is the next in the series of short stories and novellas that take place in the land of Arhosa, a long standing setting of mine. The city of Yn Dref floats among the clouds of the Ogleddol Mountains, the great expanse that spans the north-eastern region of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arhosa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":718,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=718","url_meta":{"origin":711,"position":1},"title":"The Last City – Part 7","date":"May 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It was late the following day, after dealing with the various reports, minor injuries, and other detritus of being a \u201ccommander\u201d, that Ira was able to track down Yaden and Canere. Who were engaged, as often, in an argument. \u201cLook, I need you to come help me with the research.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arhosa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":719,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=719","url_meta":{"origin":711,"position":2},"title":"The Last City – Part 8","date":"June 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It had taken two weeks of wheedling, purchasing, and research, but at last the three friends were standing around the portal, each of them heavily laden with supplies and other materials. Canere, for his part, had spent those two weeks discovering everything he could about Keleborn\u2019s Arcanum and Adweyed. Which,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arhosa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=725","url_meta":{"origin":711,"position":3},"title":"The Journey North – Part 5","date":"June 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Roaring and growling as it sprayed forth from the cliff, the avalanche tumbled onwards, some falling upon the downed Hanians, most of it missing and landing beyond them, wedging them in against the base of the cliff. Some of their belongings were not so lucky, with Canere\u2019s pack having been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arhosa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":722,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=722","url_meta":{"origin":711,"position":4},"title":"The Journey North – Part 2","date":"June 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cBehave, children.\u201d Ira shot an amused glare at them both. \u201cYou\u2019re right, though. It\u2019s been more drudgery and less excitement than I\u2019d expected. Not that I particularly want to be fending off hordes of ravening monsters each night, but we\u2019re journeying through a land that was once owned by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arhosa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":724,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=724","url_meta":{"origin":711,"position":5},"title":"The Journey North – Part 4","date":"June 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The three friends glanced at once another with bemused expressions, ones that changed as the shock of combat wore off from grim focus to delayed surprise, and thence to laughter. \u201cReally, Canere? You fired sparks at its butt?\u201d Ira, by now, was laughing, her whole body shaking, even as she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arhosa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}