Despite Tamrie’s worries, it was with an air of excitement that we prepared for our trip to Spellford.

Though the supplies for our voyage weren’t the only thing we were preparing.

With Nexxa in tow, I visited Keeper once more.

“Ah, young omnivore, what cornucopia have you brought for me today?” The being asked as its skull broke free of the door where it was normally lodged. “That seems a rather tantalizing prize.”

In my hand was a near perfect copy of the first volume of the encyclopedia Britannica. Until using Memory Palace to look through the depths of my memory, I hadn’t even realized I’d ever paged through the collection. It had been back when I’d still been in school, and I’d been sitting around in the school library, waiting for my mom to pick me up. She’d been late that day, and I’d ended up poking my nose into the books just because they had such fancy bindings.

There were gaps, since I’d skipped over some of the pages, but a surprising amount of the series was there. I’d also paged through a few books on drawing, but those proved of significantly less use.

“Think it’s enough for a fourth Order spell?” I asked, handing it over to the being.

It quickly absorbed the contents, its black tongue flicking against its glistening teeth. “More than enough for most, though some would invoke a greater debt. You know which spell you seek?”

“Curtain of the Everstorm,” Nexxa answered for me. “You’ve got it, right?”

“Of course, young omnivore,” Keeper said, holding up its hand and imprinting the spell into a memory jade. Then it explained to her how to use it, which was somewhat more complicated than with ‘simpler’ third Order spells.

Some of the concepts made my head hurt to even hear, nevermind think about. It wasn’t just complexity that kept people from using the higher Order spells.

I read over the description of the spell while Nexxa started the process of scribing it, glad I’d added a simple projector for memory jades to Keeper’s library.

Curtain of the Everstorm.

Despite High Magus Cartia’s complaints that it’s not truly unique, since I used the Everstorm as inspiration, I put forth my first fourth Order spell for the High Panel to review.

Much like the Everstorm for which I’ve named it, once cast, the Curtain of the Everstorm will remain in place so long as it has mana to draw upon. What truly makes it such a powerful spell, deserving of its fourth Order status, is that with enough of them in a small area, they can be used to generate Storm mana.

Cartia has pointed out that the byproduct mana of a dozen mundanes generates just as much mana as ten casts of Curtain. And if mana generation was the primary purpose of the spell, she’d be right to call it a failure.

But the Curtain also serves as a barrier that will stop most spells of the third Order or below. Even spells from the Celestial and Worlds affinities, well known for their ability to bypass typical shields, find themselves stymied by the Curtain. Combined with the retaliatory lightning bolts that strike those who attack the barrier, I feel I have truly created a spell worthy of the name.

That the required complexity and mana cost place it in the fourth Order, while not proof of being a proper fourth order spell, (since even a half-educated spell-slinger could add extra complexity to a typical third order spell to achieve a similar result without adding anything meaningful to the spell,) when combined with the other effects, I posit this spell does indeed qualify to be added to the Aeternia Imperium’s grand repository as a full fourth Order Spell.

My full regards, High Magus Eventide.

Much like it claimed, Curtain of the Everstorm really could generate mana on its own. A quick cast of the spell in one of the side rooms and Nexxa confirmed it worked exactly as she’d hoped it would. Despite the spell’s description, the Curtain would go away, if the caster deactivated it.

Similar to how Secrets of Telthen created pools I could quickly move between, with several small clouds made by the Curtain, Nexxa was able to use them to quickly recharge her mana while using Lightning Transfer to move quickly up and down the highroad.

Buying the spell for her was the least I could do, since she was going to watch over Cape Aeternia while we were away.

The full description hinted at even more of the civilization that’d once existed in Aeternia, including the fact it’d once been an empire. That wasn’t the only form of government I’d found reference to, but I was starting to realize that civilizations tended to change their government styles over time.

“Thank you, Perry,” Nexxa said as we made our way down the stairs to the central Waygate chamber.

“I should be thanking you. No way I’d be able to visit Spellford if you weren’t looking over things,” I replied shaking my head.

“Okay, go ahead,” Nexxa agreed easily, nodding.

“Thank you, Nexxa,” I said, unable to keep from rolling my eyes.

“You’re welcome, little brother,” she said, reaching over to ruffle my hair. “Have a good trip. I’m gonna go stick my head in some clouds of my own making.”

With Nexxa off to set up her perpetual clouds on high rock ledges, my attention shifted to Inertia.

To my surprise, when I’d told her about our plan to visit Spellford, she’d immediately insisted she join us.

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Which meant getting her crews organized for while we were gone.

Honestly, a small part of me was worried about having so many people absent from my domain. It was only supposed to be a short visit, and Tamrie had been recruiting more and more capable people to help with the administration…

But I still worried.

Getting Inertia’s team ready for her absence was the biggest obstacle that remained to be tackled.

“Okay, we’ve got all the parts for the next two weeks planned out,” I said, holding up a pair of thick books before placing them on the table Bolts and Nails were standing beside.

Inertia nodded, the soft clink of her eyes refocusing surprisingly audible amongst the general clamor that surrounded us.

“And you won’t be doing any of the finicky stuff with the airship,” I added, setting another set of books on top of the table. “You should be able to get most of the frame together though.”

“Inertia is concerned about the stills. She knows they will continue experimenting with them, but if she’s not here…” Tresla trailed off as she looked up at her large friend.

Inertia tilted her head, letting out a hiss of steam that hid Tresla for a second. When it cleared, Tresla was waving her gloved hand, shaking her cloaked head.

Tresla let out a musical laugh as she said, “Inertia says she’s worried about the stills exploding.”

“That… make sure you keep the stills away from anything sensitive please,” I said, directing my request to Nails and Boots, who both seemed a little flushed at the comment.

Didn’t blame them. When Inertia was worried about things exploding…

They both nodded, and we spent another few minutes answering any questions they had. It was mostly just reassurances, but it seemed to settle their nerves.

Once that was done, I loaded several different finished products we’d come up with, hoping that some of them might be of interest as trade goods. Then it was time to board the ship itself.

Celinda’s Grace was laying in wait at the base of Verdant Point, hidden amongst the massive trees.

Named after Xoth’s wife, I took a moment to admire its design as Tamrie and I wove our way through the forest along the rope bridges that had replaced the dock.

The long thin boat almost looked like it should tip over, but I now knew that it had a much deeper profile than it seemed, one that could be extended and retracted using mostly mechanical means. Despite the sails with golden sea-panther sewn into them, the deep fin on the bottom of the ship was where the majority of the ship’s propulsion came from when it was in deep waters.

Xelinda was at the helm, a protected area near the back of the ship, raised above the rest. I knew that, inside the cabin, there were enchanted viewports that would allow her to see both above and below the waves with ease. The Howling Defier’s vision enchantments had been based on the Grace’s, though the Defier’s had been simpler. It helped that the Defier didn’t need to adjust for all the obstructions that occluded sight beneath the waves.

“This is soooo fraying awesome,” Bevel said, dropping down through the trees from above, a set of luggage in hand. Mine, I realized as she dropped it on the deck with no regard to its contents. Luckily, it was just whichever clothes Calbern had decided to bring, since all our storage was being saved for high value cargo.

Before I could respond, Bevel was off, practically soaring back up the cliff, though she still used the nets to adjust course every dozen feet or so.

“She’s right excited, sure enough,” Tamrie said, glancing back up the cliff, her hand grazing against her hairpin as she pushed her hair out of her eyes so she could follow Bevel. Her other hand was clasped around her notebook, which she hadn’t wanted to release since we left, still holding it tight against her chest as if Vendil would snatch it away from her, much like he’d done with the rest of her paperwork.

Not that he was within reach of it. Vendil was waiting a few paces back, stroking his beard while waiting for any last minute instructions. He wouldn’t be getting any, but the dwarven elf had made it clear he’d be here right until the moment we boarded. Mostly to keep Tamrie from worrying too much.

“Honestly, I’m pretty excited too,” I replied, after my moment inspecting her and our assistant. “Seeing Spellford in person… it sounds pretty impressive.”

“Was quite the sight, when we sailed north, leaving it in our wake,” Tamrie said, her attention moving back to the ship. “Eyes were like a leaking waterlift, despite myself.”

“You don’t talk about leaving very often,” I said even as Xelinda unfurled the ramp for us. Taking Tamrie by her arm, I led her aboard.

“Wasn’t the best time, leaving as I did,” Tamrie admitted, shaking her head as we stepped onto the deck. We stopped as my luggage whipped by, held by enchanted vines. We both had to duck as Xelinda called out an apology before the vines contracted and drew my luggage beneath the deck. “Even more chaos than this, if you can believe such a thing.”

“Yeah. And it sounds like its only gotten worse,” I said with a grimace. Part of why Thozgar wanted to meet me was because he wanted to set up official relations and more streamlined offloading of refugees. He’d held off a wave of refugees nearly as large as the one Books was bringing.

And unlike our fellow Magus, these refugees were only a week away, at most.

“At least the bladesingers are no longer mucking about the place,” Tamrie said as we made our way to join Xelinda. As we stepped into the protected cab, another set of luggage was deposited onto the deck. Tamrie’s and Calbern’s, if I wasn’t mistaken.

Inertia arrived a moment later, along with Tresla. The diminutive cloaked translator slipped off Inertia’s back, idly picking her way up the ramp. While she’d be spending her time on the ship, Inertia didn’t plan to join us until we drew close to Spellford itself. Hadn’t been doing enough hunting lately, and she was worried her claws were getting rusty.

Metaphorically speaking.

A few minutes later, Bevel and Calbern arrived together. There was no luggage deposited on the deck. Instead, Bevel and Calbern had leapt off the top of the cliff with a pair of Tethered-made kites with a rope between them. Then they’d proceeded to use each other for the leverage to perform tricks as they wove between the trees, all while also trying to tag each other.

It was both amazing and nearly heart stopping to watch.

Tamrie squeezed my hand once both of them landed safely on the deck.

I’d had Restore Form ready, just in case, and their display had me wishing I’d chosen a third Order healing spell to purchase from Keeper, but neither of the available spells were as generally useful as Restore Form.

With the last of our passengers aboard, Xelinda called out, “Celinda’s Grace is departing for the city-state of Spellford. No stops along the way. Any who’re here by mistake, now’s the time to disembark.”

Her words weren’t meant for us, but for the other passengers who wanted to visit Spellford. We even had a couple people who were hoping to return to Spellford permanently.

That was something they’d have to deal with on their own. Considering how many people Thozgar wanted me to take on, I didn’t have high hopes for them.

The voyage was surprisingly peaceful. I spent most of it with the others, whether visiting or helping Bevel teach Tamrie the basics of spell casting.

“No, you’re making it too complicated. You only need to copy the silver lines, like this,” Bevel said, plucking Tamrie’s pencil right out of her hand and sketching the spell out.

“What’d I say ‘bout taking my pencil without asking,” Tamrie said, plucking her pencil back the second Bevel was done.

“Uh… don’t break it?” Bevel asked, brushing her messy hair out of her eyes with a crooked grin.

“Don’t be taking it,” Tamrie said with a huff before looking down at the sketch. “Really have been making a tangle out of it when there was no need, haven’t I?”

“It’s okay, you should’ve seen how bad mine were when Papa first started showing me how to do ‘em,” Bevel said, waving in my general direction.

“I actually still have those in my ring,” I said, holding up my hand.

Bevel’s wide eyes were only matched by Tamrie’s equally wide grin.

Yep, only thing in my spatial storage was the most valuable of trade goods.