This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/KyleKKent on 2024-10-29 22:18:17+00:00.

First

Weight of Dynasty

The first thing they hear when they walk in, Cali’Flynn has a permanent invite and she’s allowed to bring friends so long as she doesn’t bring any troublemakers, is a bit of laughter from the kitchen.

“It’s more embarrassing. I’m out of practice.” A man’s voice says that Cali’Flynn recognizes as Arden’Karm, but changed. Cali’Flynn rushes through the entrance and as she hits the dining room it’s a big crowd of all of The Karm’s greatest hits and her non-band besties!

“Girls! Is he really back?”

“He IS! He’s making dinner with mom! Cheesy meat dumplings!”

“They’re more than just meat and cheese girls, it’s multiple meats! We have slabs of grazer steak, lanwrack, shellfish and normal fish too!”

“No bird meat Mother Karm?”

“Is that Shar’Uran? Is the whole band here?” Valari’Karm asks stepping out of the kitchen. “You ARE! Goodness, I was planning just two more batches but we may need three.”

“Or four, this one is more a loss than a… uh… whole band?” Arden’Karm announces loudly and clearly. Whatever happened to him must have been good for his confidence because he already sounds stronger.

Then he pokes his head out of the kitchen and Cali’Flynn gasps at the sight of him. It IS him! But he’s changed! The baby fat is GONE and his face is weather beaten and his eyes have a glint of something strong in them. The last time she’d seen that was when the Five Flyz had performed at the birthday of Tryti’Margat. Their biggest gig at the time and the security of the palace had been intense and omnipresent.

“Whoa! What happened to you?! Weren’t you a little cuddler in the pictures?” Jaan’Yavar asks.

“Pictures?”

“I have a picture of you napping in The Big Chair.” She says nodding to the living room where the back right corner is completely taken up by a large, overstuffed and well loved recliner chair. It’s the size of a small bed with three times the padding at minimum. It is THE napping spot in any Karm household and so popular that the family had recreated the damn thing so every Karm family home had one. This one was a copy of the original which had been broken decades ago, it wasn’t even the original dark green colour and instead a medium brown. But still a favourite and well loved place.

“Right… anyways, I’m kind of out of practice so I messed up a chunk of the first batch. So we have a little under half a batch.”

“You just made a small mistake.” Valari’Karm says and he shrugs.

“Small or big, it was my mistake. I overstuffed them and they burst through the pastry shell.”

“So… is anyone going to explain what happened?” Hrana’Ilar asks.

“It turns out it wasn’t a kidnapping or anything else. Little brother needed space and was really, really bad at saying it.” Gatha’Karm says before huffing and giving him a bit of a stink eye. One Arden’Karm returns with a frown.

“I TRIED telling you. But even when I shouted before you rarely heard me. Just talking? I couldn’t even hear myself with how much everyone talked.” Arden’Karm says. “Not that it matters now. I got the space I needed to figure out how to handle things and can just get space again whenever. So problem solved.”

“Did you get taller?” Cali’Flynn asks to stop any arguments.

“No, but I’m standing taller.” He says stepping out into the doorway, carrying a tray full of meat dumplings, most of them had burst open and had a savoury smell wafting out. The weather beaten look isn’t just on his face, his hair is longer but only so much as it can catch the wind and move, his arms are defined and he seems to have forgotten what sleeves are used for because he’s clearly torn them out of his shirt that is resting only lightly on a broader and stronger torso.

He moved with a grace that suggested he had been spending a lot of time moving and balancing and all and all.

“Delicious.” Lali’Yavar says in a husky tone. There are some snorts as the comment clearly goes right over Arden’Karm’s head as he looks down at the tray then shrugs.

“I suppose even the burst ones would taste pretty good. Who wants a burst dumpling as an appetizer?” Arden’Karm says to the amusement of the room as he confirms that tougher, stronger and more confident or not, he’s still an innocent little cutie. Everyone raises their hand, including his mother. “Oh! Uhm… there’s not enough. You’re going to have to share.”

They’re fine with that.

•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•

“How by the ancestors does a dust storm somehow match with a forest? Is he conjuring the dirt that it’s sitting on? That’s sitting on the forest? Is it even really a forest if it’s just a massive collection of grasses, bushes, flowers and the occasional tree?” Queen Margat said nothing as her head secretary ranted at the sight in front of her. Every head of staff was here, from the cleaners to the accountants to security and literally everyone else. If they were in charge of people then they were in the room with her, watching the collection of data they had gathered about The Lush Forest and it’s first sorcerer. The formerly missing citizen Arden’Karm aka Dare’Kemka, a consistent and now no longer mysterious contestant in nearly every sharpshooting contest she hosted over the past few years.

All told the young man, barely more than a boy, had won nearly fifty thousand credits off her in prizes over a few short years. Everyone had loved the idea of a mystery man competing and had been waiting to see if he would do something else dramatic, maybe when he won and they had all awaited with baited breath.

Now he was the first Soben’Ryd Sorcerer, had upgraded his concealing cloak and veil to wear The Lush Forest wherever he went, could conjure dust storms at will and still kept his excellent shooting skills.

“It’s not dust. That’s grass. Or rather the seeds of grickle grass. It gets blown on the wind and the first lick of water it gets causes it to grow like mad, flower in a week and if it’s pollinated then the leaves sprout all sorts of ‘dust’ which are actually more seeds. If Soben’Ryd wasn’t so dry then the stuff would be absolutely everywhere at all times. The only things it won’t grow on are complete solids and barren sand.” Her head groundskeeper says and Queen Margat nods. “If he has grickle grass as part of his forest, then we’ve already lost any security. It’s already here, it’s already in every garden and no matter what, every day begins and ends with plucking more of it out and mulching it.”

“And if that’s accurate than his accuracy with that coilgun becomes even scarier. I’ve read the Fire Blades reports. He’s aiming at weapons and isn’t missing. Each of those shots are on tiny, mobile targets at a great range. If he can get into the gardens, then he can put coilshot into more or less every room in the palace at will. Not even the basement’s safe, it has several passages that lead into the outer gardens and we have to assume that if he can talk to plants then he’s going to know about them.”

“Is this how the nobles of Serbow feel? Their innermost sanctuaries and homes all but open to potential enemies?” Queen Margat mutters to herself. “Is, Duke Hart’Ghuran still on Soben’Ryd?”

“Yes Milady, he’s officially extended his business trip due to a roaring success in setting up trade agreements. He has also gained legal custody of a gaggle of peasant children. From the looks of it he intends to set up the personal guard and servants of his heirs early. Effectively rear them into the role. From the looks of it, combined with his known and stated political situation, he’s very concerned about loyalty and is taking the long and slow route to guarantee it.”

“I see. It’s a wise move and usually works. And when it doesn’t it grabs a lot of attention.” Queen Margat notes as the video is rewound and a frame by frame playback shows the supersonic shot leave the coilgun and the dust storm part in front of the shot BEFORE the mach cone or bow shock could. It was very deliberately before the bullet could, by the time it was about three fourths of the way to the cloud.

“The sheer reflexes it would take to do that…”

“Or he’s triggering the clearing as he fires and it takes that time to open then close. Either way, he’s got complete battlefield control and is firing into his control zone. You would need either a skilled Adept or Princess level combatant to survive that level of danger. The only reason we don’t have a body count was because he didn’t want one. No other reason.”

“The Fire Blades are no joke, and White Sparks Squadron is their best inner city attack team. They scout an area and then hit it hard and fast. He intercepted them perfectly. Distraction, disarming and then disengaged with the targets. Which means that the idea that the forsts pass knowledge might be a reality. Considering that a hundred well trained soldiers made such a connection more or less simultaneously. I think we may need to treat any sorcerer as elite combatants as well.”

“Because they weren’t already supremely dangerous. Call Duke Ghuran. I need to speak with him about this. Again.”

“What on any world would someone with that kind of power do? Who is this man now that he can’t be stopped? What happens when a boy becomes an Adept?” The Captain of her Guard states and Queen Margat shudders at the thought.

•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•

“So you then just start gently pin…

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1gf766d/oocs_into_a_wider_galaxy_part_149/