It was always harder being successful, Alister found. When one failed, they were forgotten. When one succeeded, ever greater demands were placed upon them.

Even so, Alister preferred the latter.

When an entire nation succeeded… well, in that case, everyone had more work to do. Which certainly seemed to be the case in the wake of the Sahevin attack, though it was less the attack, and all that had presaged it.

Standing atop the peak of Mount Aeternia, Alister did his best to ascertain his coming priorities, gaze settling upon the valley below.

Honestly, he wasn’t certain what the Protectus had been thinking when he’d opened up an entire valley and flooded it with enough mana even a man like Alister could see it.

While it was rather pleasant to look upon, the sudden disruption to the Shapers and many of the Tethered was somewhat off-putting.

It also neatly hid the destruction the Protectus and the Sahevin had caused in the forest. A great deal more trees that needed to be set aside and processed. Yet another cost of the man’s success.

Would it be so terrible if his employer succeeded with a little less collateral wealth generation? It wasn’t as if it meant much to them at the moment other than additional work to ensure it didn’t lose it’s value.

Not like a dragon’s hoard.

And the dragon!

Once more his gaze shifted, looking for the divine beast, though not truly expecting to find it.

He wasn’t certain the dragon had been the Protectus’ doing, not directly. There were rumors spreading that he’d personally invited it for a visit, to show off everything they’d done.

Preposterous.

If the Protectus had extended such an invitation, he would’ve informed Alister prior to its arrival. The young man had that much sense at least.

His gaze flicked downwards. Usually. The young man usually had that much sense.

Thoughts in order, Alister left the mountain behind, pausing at the Waygates. Despite over a month of Tender’s trials and successfully pushing his body into tier two, his interactions with the drowned things hadn’t improved.

It was to the point he was considering accepting the Protectus’ offer to make him an ensouled. Perhaps then he’d have a better idea why the Waygates caused Alister to suffer so. At least his employer had thought it might help.

“Not sure I’d be able to use them, if they affected me like they do you,” Vendil said from his nearby desk. “I’d probably plant myself in Southport and never leave.”

“Are you not hoping to do so anyway?” Alister asked, moving to join the man for the few minutes it would take him to work up the nerve to press forward to Mistvale. And for his stomach to settle.

“I mean… I was, before Tamrie decided to run away with the fish,” Vendil said, looking down at the work in front of him. “But I’ve got a lot more responsibility since she left. I’d feel bad leaving the Protectus right now.”

Alister followed the man’s gaze, noting that it wasn’t quite what he’d thought it was. Well, everyone had their hobbies, and Vendil didn’t let it interfere with his duties, so Alister wouldn’t judge, no matter if he’d never had a use for any sort of romantic partnerships.

Logistics and math were far more invigorating.

Speaking of men who had far too many romantic relationships, the large Untethered, as he’d heard them calling themselves in the last couple days, appeared from one of the Waygates, slowing when he saw Alister next to Vendil.

“Ali!” Tanis called, making his way over with a large smile full of overly white teeth.

“It remains Alister, Tanis,” Alister said, nodding at the large man. “How does the day find you?”

“Good, good, you know how it is. Ladies are demanding more of my time lately. Boss suggested I hire a lady to help out, which was good and all. Helped them stop fighting, even. Now they’re saying they want more time cuddling and such,” Tanis said, shrugging. “Not a bad thing, but sure does keep a man busy.”

“I would rather expect it would. The pregnancies are coming along well?”

“Yeah! Boss even brought up a nature mage from the big city who specializes in babies to check on the girls. Said he was working on a whole new medical division,” Tanis said, clapping his hands.

Alister nodded. The Protectus had arranged that through him, having mentioned that it would be good to have someone other than Egerta around who knew how to handle the birthing process. As experienced as the woman was, Alister had to agree that her methods were hardly appropriate for most people. The medical division had been them realizing they’d left a rather large gap in their organized support.

“So, what’ve you two been up to lately? Anything interesting?” the big man asked, leaning forward to glance at Vendil’s latest sketches.

“Just being where Perry expects me and passing on messages,” Vendil said with a shrug, the man rather underselling himself in Alister’s position.

But then, a good assistant often felt unappreciated if their employer didn’t acknowledge them. Alister made a note to discuss the matter with the Protectus. And to arrange a gift Vendil would enjoy. Perhaps sword lessons with the Knight Exemplar?

While he was uncertain Calbern would return Vendil’s affections, it would certainly give his friend more fuel for his writing and drawing.

“That’s an important job,” Tanis said, echoing Alister’s own thoughts as he patted Vendil on the shoulder. “Without you, I’d spend twice as long running around trying to find people. Was how it was before you set up shop here. Even Tamrie wasn’t so good at keeping us all talking.”

“Really?” Vendil asked, stroking his beard.

Alister nodded. “While I wasn’t present, Tanis is correct. You do a good job.”

It was the highest praise Alister could give someone, and Vendil straightened.

While the discussion was rewarding, Alister couldn’t linger. Having worked up enough moxie to tackle the Waygate, he went through to Mistvale, and much as he had expected, stepped into chaos.

Something he would set to rights.

Just as soon as the world stopped spinning.

Tanis waved goodbye to Vendil shortly after Alister left, darting out through the Waygate to Tetherfall.

He had classes to get to.

Much as the new teacher was knowledgeable as anyone Tanis’d ever known, he didn’t much have a good way of talking to others. To put it kindly, Folras had a whole lot of rope, but tended to throw the entire coil, more like to shove a man off the cliff instead of letting down the end to help a man up it.

Tanis chuckled as he realized that getting hit with one of Folras’ lectures left him feeling a bit like getting hit in the face with a coil of rope used to, back before taking the friendly horn-headed forest spirit’s trials.

Arriving just before the new professor, as Folras called himself, Tanis looked about the room. Those who were gathered were interested in the more advanced subjects. Most of the Untethered weren’t learning the basics of reading anymore, not in the classroom. They were still studying, Tanis made the rounds to ensure it himself, but there wasn’t much point in having them all gather in the same room to do so.

Smaller groups seemed to work better, so that’s what they’d done. Even had a pair of more experienced tutors from Spellford showing up to each group’s lessons twice a week. That had been Alvie’s idea.

Ceria was the one who’d suggested he check in.

The ladies were both smart. Like lady Arizar. He’d always liked that about them.

For a bit, Tanis had thought the boss had ended up in a relationship a bit like his. Then miss Tamrie had turned out to be some sort of leviathan rider?

Tanis wasn’t too sure of the details.

What he was sure of, was that the class who were still showing up for lessons intended to learn the hard stuff like math, philosophy and painting.

Painting was the toughest for Tanis. The brushes were all so small and hard to hold. When he’d complained about it to Ceria and Alvie, they’d told him they loved his hands just the way they were.

“They just need bigger brushes,” Alvie had said, curling her fingers around one of his.

“And bigger canvas. If the Protectus can make an airship out of a bunch of cloth and steel, I’m sure they can get you bigger tools,” Ceria had agreed from his other side.

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When he’d asked Vendil about it, the man hadn’t even needed to ask the boss. Apparently the boss had told him to approve any inexpensive requests any of the Tethered put through.

Tanis moved through the room pulling out a blank canvas for the day. It’d taken a couple weeks, but they’d shown up. Folras had started them with a style that was supposed to only be good for beginners, and Tanis was still working on it. He was supposed to paint something real, but he wasn’t very good at it. Folras was always complaining about his lines or the depth of vision and composition.

A lot more than he did with the others.

Still, his ladies liked his pictures, so he kept at it, even if he was bad at it. He’d get better. They’d even asked him to paint some of them, which he’d done. Those weren’t pictures he’d share with anyone, no matter how proud his ladies both were.

Not if he had the choice.

“Ah, there you are,” Folras said as he entered the room, stopping to stare at Tanis’ work. “I suppose you’ve gotten enough understanding that we can move on to the next style.”

Tanis blinked at that, almost setting down his brush. Then he shook his head. “Gotta finish first. Can’t leave it halfway.”

“Persistence is admirable, I suppose,” Folras said, letting out a long sigh. “We can always start on your next project tomorrow.”

So said, he went off to instruct the others, leaving Tanis alone to paint the scene he’d been envisioning all day.

It was of the boss, facing down the Sahevin with miss Bevel and lady Arizar at his side. After his silly mistake to get to the boss, he’d been there to see them work together. Was embarrassing that he’d missed such a simple truth.

Boss didn’t need just anyone helping, he needed his family. Made sense. Tanis worked best with Alvie and Ceria. Not with old Myris. Even as Tanis set his brush to the side, dipping it in the enchanted jar made from one dead Sahevin or other, stripping it clean, he shook his head. He’d been silly.

Hopefully the boss’d like his gift. Wasn’t anywhere near good enough, but Tanis figured they were all recognizable.

Lady Arizar with the golden locks as she soared forward, dress painted just so as to preserve her dignity a good bit more than she’d bothered to on the day of. Not that he was of a mind to mention such.

Above her was Tetherfall’s good luck charm, miss Bevel, flying forward with the winds themselves at her back, hair as wild as the girl herself, even with the boss’s calming influence.

Looming between them, the serpent-man rose amidst a swirl of color, arms stretched wide, as though it was about to destroy them all.

And, of course, the boss staring up at it defiantly. Tanis couldn’t figure how to fit the rest of them in, to show how the boss wasn’t just standing up to the serpent-man, but putting himself between it and his people…

But he figured he didn’t have to. The boss would know. As would any Untethered who saw it.

He paused for a moment as he frowned at the boss’ face. It wasn’t quite right. He’d drawn the old sharp chin by accident. Boss’ chin had changed the day he’d lit up the lake with magic. Subtle, but just a bit more square.

Once more, Folras came by, opening his mouth before closing it. To Tanis’ surprise, he didn’t offer any criticism.

“You okay, Mr Folras?” Tanis asked, giving the painting one more look over. It wasn’t perfect, but he’d struggle to get it much better.

“Quite honestly, Tanis, I find myself… envious, I suppose,” Folras said, still staring at the painting.

“Yeah. Boss is one heck of a man,” Tanis said, nodding his agreement.

“That is not… you are certain you’ve never painted before?” Folras asked, rubbing at his nose.

“Did a couple pictures for my ladies. Can’t show you those,” Tanis said, offering a shrug. “Only after you taught me about framing and the thirds rules though.”

“I say this with all seriousness. You are the single most talented painter I have ever had the misfortune to teach,” Folras grumbled, the tone of his statement not matching the words as he gestured to the painting. “This is too realistic. How you can manage those details with a brush so large…”

“I mean, it’s not so hard,” Tanis said, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. It’d been a lot easier to take Folras’ criticism than the sudden compliments.

“And that is what I mean. Have you looked at the others’ art?”

“Didn’t wanna get discouraged, being weeks behind and all,” Tanis admitted with another shrug.

“That… makes a disturbing amount of sense. Well, come along then,” Folras said, waving Tanis after him.

Tanis glanced back at the picture, hand twitching towards his brush. Except he knew he’d only muss it up if he attempted to adjust it further. Sometimes a rope was cut and more cutting wouldn’t make it any longer.

When Folras pulled the first picture out, Tanis thought it was some sort of joke. He even laughed, patting the man on the back. “Oh, you got me good, Mr Folras. Real good.”

“This was your friend’s passing picture, Tanis,” Folras said, gesturing towards one of the other Untethered who nodded back politely at the gesture.

“I…” Tanis didn’t know what to say to that. He’d hardly meant to insult the man. It was just that… even Tanis’ first attempt had looked more real than that. And that’d been back when he’d been using the little brushes.

“As I said, you have a natural talent, at least with this style of painting. There are others, though I suspect whether you pick them up or not will have more do with how much they appeal to you, not your ability,” Folras said, pulling more of the others’ final results out.

“Why did you always criticize my work, if it was so good,” Tanis asked, staring at the pictures.

“Simply because you were good, didn’t mean you were perfect. Did you not learn?” Folras asked, gesturing back towards Tanis’ latest effort.

“I did, didn’t I?” Tanis said, puffing out his chest.

“More than any other Tethered,” Folras said, causing Tanis to frown.

“We don’t call ourselves that anymore,” Tanis said, shaking his head.

“Oh?” Folras asked, pausing in the middle of putting away one of the pieces of art. “When did that change?”

“It’s been changing for a while. I just realized it didn’t fit no more when I overheard something the boss said,” Tanis said, receiving nods from the rest of the Untethered about the room.

“And what did Percival say that changed your minds?”

“Was talking to lady Arizar,” Tanis said, thinking back. “Was thanking her for bringing the tutors. Said that it was a delight to see so many of us taking to reading and flying. She said it was good that the Tethered were taking to it so well.”

“I… see,” Folras said, with the sort of tone Tanis knew meant he didn’t.

Tanis gestured to the pictures the man was stowing behind him. “Boss replied with a chuckle, and said in a low voice, don’t you think they’re a bit more Untethered now?”

“Ah,” Folras said, nodding as he put the last of the pictures away. “I see.”

“Lady Arizar weren’t done either,” Tanis said, getting into it as he met the others’ eyes. He lowered his voice, doing his best to match the lady’s golden tones, knowing he’d fail even as he did.

“It isn’t so much that they are Untethered, Perry. It is that they have been given wings and been shown how to fly. How could they have done anything less?”

Blood and fire.

It was days like this that Selvi hated her job.

Still better than Percival’s. Their Magus Protectus had done his job, kept them safe against clan lords, sea devils and a dragon. Now it was time for her to do her part.

If only that didn’t include brokering peace between her own people.

The Untethered, as most of them had started calling themselves, were a bit… overboard, in their support of Percival.

Even if Selvi found herself agreeing with them, she was enough of a realist to know that blind faith wouldn’t be good for anyone.

She wasn’t the only one to think that way, but Myris and a few of the other older Tethered weren’t as diplomatic about it.

“And I’m telling you, Perry don’t need us shoving our noses so far up his behind we can’t see daylight,” Myris snapped at Vayin.

Ever since he’d been saved by the Protectus after getting the airship crashed, the young Tethered had been one of Percival’s biggest supporters in the village. “And I’m telling you, he’s setting us free of all our old baggage. It’s symbolic.”

“It’s stupid,” one of Myris’s friends said.

Selvi fought down a groan. At least she’d convinced them to have this conversation here, inside her home, instead of out in the open. Already she was regretting her decision to leave Tanis out of this. She’d wanted to spare the man, since she knew how busy his wives were keeping him, not to mention everything else he did in the day.

Yet he was the ultimate peacekeeper. Not a single villager, Tethered or Untethered, whatever they wanted to call themselves, could stay upset in the face of that man. Well, other than his wives, but they were both pregnant, and from what Selvi had learned recently, that could affect a non-ensouled woman a lot.

It seemed to have no effect whatsoever on Egerta, so Selvi was hoping that by the time she considered having a family, all the empowerment would mean it would be the same for her.

Instead of being relying on Tanis, Selvi did what had worked for her so far. She cleared her throat and glared at both parties.

“You both know the other has a point,” Selvi said when they glanced towards her. “You’re just too wrapped up in your own to see it.”

They both started objecting, in a moment of… Selvi didn’t know the right word, but it was amusing to see them both start to argue only to cut off and glare at each other.

“Ain’t saying Perry ain’t done good things for us. Not a one of us means that,” Myris said, spitting to the side.

Selvi did groan at the mess. It wasn’t that much of a surprise, but it still irked her that she’d have to get someone to come clean the floor. The old woman was used to being on the nets, barely going into her own home to sleep.

“Then… I don’t understand,” Vayin said, glancing towards Selvi.

This time, Selvi had an inkling of something that might help. “She’s saying that just because he’s done right by us, it doesn’t mean we all need to start calling ourselves untethered. Especially those of us who prefer to stick to the ropes.”

Vayin opened his mouth, as if to object.

But he met Selvi’s glare and had the good sense to pause and think about her statement.

“So… it’s okay if we call ourselves Untethered… as long as we don’t group you in? Isn’t that going to get confusing?” Vayin asked, looking between his friends and the older generation. “We’re all from Tetherfall.”

“You so daft you can’t remember a couple of old faces?” Myris asked, crossing her arms and leaning back, only to stumble when there was no net to support her. Luckily one of her friends caught her. Selvi would’ve hated having to explain how the old netmaster had gotten injured. Even with her first slot unlocked, Minor Heal just didn’t do enough.

Vayin looked offended, at first, which Selvi supposed was fair. She was pretty sure that had been Myris’ intent. His concern when she’d stumbled had been clear too, and he’d got to her about as fast as her friend had.

“Fool boy,” Myris said even as he helped her stand.

“That’s never been in question,” Vayin said, nodding. “Only a fool would’ve gotten his best friend killed and crashed the Magus Protectus’ ship.”

“Told you it’s not the fault of the man who’s struck that he bleeds,” Myris said, swatting Vayin on the head. “Blame those damn refugees, if you’re to blame anyone. Better yet, learn. You’re young enough for that.”

“As if you’re not,” Vayin said, chuckling. “We’re all gonna live longer now, unless you forgot.”

Myris just glared at him for a minute, before letting out a soft chuckle. “Ain’t none of us forgot, boy.”

“Acting like you did. Guess I’m not the only fool,” Vayin said, flashing a grin.

“Too much change,” one of Myris’ friends said. “Too fast.”

“Like a net that’s been released without a rope,” Myris added, nodding. “Feels like it’s caught us and it’s hauling us into the unknown.”

“Isn’t that… good?” Vayin asked, looking towards Selvi.

“The unknown’s scary,” Selvi said, pushing off from the wall to go over to her window. Something they all had these days. Something Percival had done in a couple hours one afternoon after someone had asked for them. There’d been a visit from Tamrie and a whole crew of people to mark out where everyone wanted them and then…

Windows.

Selvi pointed at the window. “Sometimes, it’s like these. A little bit of wonder, suddenly coming into our lives.”

Everyone nodded, looking at the window. And out through it, to the trophy that hung in the center of the chasm. One of the dead Sahevin, hung there by a group of Untethered who wanted to brag about the Protectus. It was what had set the whole argument off. “And sometimes it’s like those.”

“Isn’t it better to know, though?” Vayin asked, looking back at his friends, only one of whom nodded back.

He actually received more nods from Myris’ side of the room.

“That it is boy,” Myris said, taking an uneven step towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “And that’s what we’ve been saying. Perry doesn’t need us to follow him blindly. He needs us to keep our eyes open. Cause it’s not always the unknown gust that tosses you to the abyss.”

Selvi reached up to her scars. Even after becoming ensouled they hadn’t healed. Not even with Tender’s trials, which had unstuck the wood rat. Her scars hadn’t come from outside. They’d been given to her by Grivis, someone she’d known her whole life. With a nod, she finished the saying, “Sometimes, it is the hidden fraying of the net that sends you down.

“And when you’re untethered, the fall comes all the harder.”