Irwin's Journey 415: Dirty bedlinen

Greldo stretched himself, looking around the small bedroom. A contented sigh came from his lips.

"So… any idea whose bedroom this is?" he asked as he looked at the woman lying against him. 

She was partially covered by the blanket that had been on the bed, but it couldn't hide her muscular arms and shoulders. Before Dahlia, he would have told everyone he preferred his woman a bit on the softer side. That was then. However, a tiny part of him was happy that she wasn't bigger and stronger than he was. 

"No idea, you brought us here," she lisped lazily, snuggling up closer to him. 

Greldo rolled his eyes at that, though Dahlia didn't see as she'd closed her eyes. 

Go and check what you can find, he told Coal, who had been calmly waiting in the shadows.

"So… Wanna tell me what happened?" Dahlia murmured. "I'm sure we missed the explanation."

Greldo grinned. "And whose fault is that?" he asked, prodding her in the side.

Dahlia made a jerking motion before glaring at him. 

"You weren't complaining before," she said.

"Definitely not," Greldo agreed, grinning wickedly. "Now, how about I tell you how I saved the day?"

This time, it was Dahlia's time to roll her eyes, but she said nothing as he began talking.

--

"Anyway, that's most of what happened," Greldo said a long time later. 

By now, the two of them were propped up against the back of the bed.

"I wish I could have been there when you went to Suderfuix," Dahlia said. "I've only heard stories. Instead, I only saw Dismartinsia."

"I'll bring you there in the future," Greldo said.

"On the Nocturna," Dahlia agreed. 

"Hmm hmm," Greldo said as he sighed and got out of bed.  "We should go and see the others."

"We could stay for a bit longer…?" Dahlia asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

Greldo shook his head. "Not a good idea. Someone just entered the building, so they might come and check who's in their bedroom."

Dahlia grimaced, then looked around. "Fine, get me my clothes?"

Gerldo began sneaking around, quickly grabbing their clothes and tossing those belonging to Dahlia to her.

They were halfway dressed when he heard someone climb the stairs, muttering something.

"Time's up," he said, shadowstepping beside Dahlia and quickly pulling her into his shadowpocket. Then he looked at the bed linen, hesitated, and pulled all of it in. He quickly looked around the room again before vanishing with a grin.

The bedlinen snatchers strike again, he thought, telling Coal to leave a shadow clone behind.

As he arrived on the shadowy deck of the Nocturna, Dahlia had finished dressing and was looking around curiously.

"I've never heard of someone being able to hold anything this big in the shadowrealm, let alone being able to talk," she said, walking to the railing and looking around the shadowy world beyond. "Are there any of those shadow creatures around?"

Greldo nodded as he walked towards her and looked at two of the small fishes, nibbling from a shadow plant that appeared to be growing straight out of a wall of the building beside which they hung. The prow of the Nocturna stuck straight through the shadowy side of the building, though Greldo knew it wouldn't be visible on the other side. Instead, it stuck deeper into the shadowrealm.

He raised his hand, causing the shadows around the two fish to swirl as he gently pulled them closer. He'd been playing with them before and wasn't surprised when they flowed towards him, circling his hand and making nibbling motions at his hand. From what he could feel, they ate tiny bits of soulforce that leaked from his skin. The first time, he'd almost had a heart attack, but by now, he was used to it. The amount they consumed was a tiny bit of the excess soulforce his body produced. The rest drifted around him, though he couldn't see it. Irwin had, though, and he'd said that was probably the reason the swamp-like area of shadowy life was growing around him.

"I wish I could see it," Dahlia muttered, arms crossed as her gaze was locked on his finger, clearly not seeing the two small dark fishes.

"Well, Irwin said we need to get cardsmiths with different types," Greldo said, humming thoughtfully. "You could get a shadow-focused card after the one you are working on now? I'm sure Irwin could help you fill up your soullake soon."

Dahlia laughed softly before turning serious again.

"If it ever leaks out that you can use Chaos Whales to fill soullakes, there's going to be a hunt on them," she said.

"Good that it only works if they sing with the cardsmith, then," Greldo said.

Dahlia's face turned ugly for a moment.

"Don't say it," Greldo said, holding his smile in place. "We both know what kind of people are out there. We are here right now; nobody else knows, and even if they do, the storm is stopping soon. That means only those Chaos Whales that managed to get through the weakened barriers would be in danger."

Dahlia hesitated, then nodded. "Well, I'll have to see how Irwin creates cards. If he truly makes them from almost nothing, as you say, I'll need to increase my soulforce capacity first. I have far less than he had before you guys left, and he increased an absurd amount again. That will take one or two cards already. Even with Irwin's help, it will take a while, especially if my soulforce capacity increases. I'm not sure I'll be able to get a shadow type card."

"Well…" Greldo said, rubbing his chin. "Irwin did say something about having found a way to purify cards, whatever that means. Perhaps that will help?"

Dahlia let out a choking sound, turning to him.

"What do you mean, purify cards?"

Greldo hummed as he glanced at her. "You will have to ask him. I just know that he said it would mostly work on the cards he had types of, a bit like how he could only create new cards with his own soulforce and something he called a resonance seed."

Dahlia threw her arms in the air and let out an annoyed shout. "A bit over a year, I don't see him, and he's doing things I've never heard of before!"

Greldo grinned, listening to her grumble for a while. Dahlia eventually calmed down, and they stood together quietly before she pressed her shoulder against his.

"I got us a house in New Mallorin, not too far from where Bronwyn got Irwin one," she said, clearly deciding to change the subject.

"Well, then I think you are going to be able to show me," Greldo replied. "Coal just searched for Irwin and the others, but they have already gone through the exit portal."

"What about the others?" 

"I think Irwin brought most of them with him. Only Earilla, Zender, Rindiri, and a few others are still here," Greldo said, listening to Coal. "They seem to be making sure the ships are all anchored, but besides that-"

He fell quiet as Coal's clone showed Gloom, sitting on one of the ships, staring into the distance.

"Greldo? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he muttered, turning to her. "Gloom is still here. I'll go and see if he wants to come along."

"I thought you couldn't stand his groveling all the time?"

"No, but if I bring him along, he might be able to explore Eluathar. Besides me, he is the fastest shadewalker I know," Greldo said, as he began moving toward the Nyzir.

"What about his intention of having children?" Dahlia said, her eyes narrowing.

Greldo grinned. "Oh, don't worry. Irwin and I already had a few words with him about that. If he can find someone who agrees on her own free will, it's fine. But if we find he forced someone, he's not going to like the results. Not that I think he will. He seems rather certain that he can woo someone easily."

Though I'm curious what half-nyzir, half-galladins look like, Greldo thought.

--

Drum moved from a single-handed to a two-handed grip, spun sideways, before, in a smooth motion, bringing his new weapon around. As he grabbed the weapon as a bow should be handled, the two-finger thick blade of light shrank into a cord, and a moment later, he pulled the string as far as he could. Breathing raggedly, he let out a shout of joy as he let the bowstring release to a clear twang.

"Finally!" he shouted, raising his new carded weapon and staring at it happily.

A week had passed since he'd gotten his new card, and he'd been doing nothing but practice, trying to create a way to handle the unique weapon. There was nobody else who could teach him, and that probably should have bothered him. Instead, he loved it. He was learning a weapon nobody else had, and he had free rein over how he developed his new technique. His father and a few others had been helping him with ideas and practice, but he was the one who decided what to do.

"You did, big brother!" Libel shouted, her childlike voice piercing the moment of reflective quiet.

Drum looked up, seeing his youngest sister standing in the door opening that led to the yard. 

"It looked so amazing," she shouted, running forward on her stubby legs. "You went, slash-" she made a movement roughly like he had, almost stumbling as she did so without stopping. "-then swish-" another rough movement and she spun around, barely holding her feet. "-then shoot!"

Drum laughed as Libel somehow managed to stay on her feet while trying to reenact the moves he'd just done. 

He reluctantly unsummoned his weapon when she was almost there before catching her and lifting her to his chest.

"Mom and grandmother said we have to come and eat," Libel suddenly said, eyes wide. "I forgot…"

Drum blinked, then began jogging towards the door. He had no idea how long Libel had been watching, but his grandmother really didn't like waiting.

As he ran through the back chambers, he kicked off his boots before helping Libel with hers. Then, they dashed through the hallways and into the kitchen.  A waft of intense heat washed over him, and he quickly took off his vest, tossing it onto the rack next to the door. 

I guess Irwin's children are eating here again, he thought with a sigh. He couldn't wait for them to get their new cards, so the temperature didn't have to be this high all the time.

As he walked through the kitchen area towards the central table, he glanced at the odd runes that covered the ground. They were glowing a bright red, and he sighed.

Well, I guess I'll be prepared when summer arrives, he thought, focusing on the table. 

Nearly all of his family was already there, and Drum flinched as he saw his mother's frown when she caught his eye. She was right in the middle of handing out some fresh bread to the two fiery boys, Halifax and Gallowil. Or Flux and Glow, as they preferred being called.

"Sorry, we got a bit distracted," he said, quickly pulling Libel to two free spots.

"Well, I guess I should just be glad you decided to show up at all," his mother said, tapping the table with her finger. "Unlike your sister."

Drum quickly glanced around the table, noticing the absence of Celeste. 

Probably still in the forest, practicing with her new card, he thought. 

Unlike his card, she'd gotten a wind-type body card that allowed her to dash along the winds and move around with abnormal agility.

As he sat down, he saw that Daubutim's children still hadn't left. Destir, the oldest, was sitting beside Itirilla, having a soft conversation. The tall and quiet boy was the same age as his sister, Celeste, but couldn't be more different. He was calm like his father and had a prodigious memory. 

Scintilla was chatting with his grandmother, and there was no sign of Irwin. He guessed his uncle was still at the Volcano Academy, as he had for the last few days. He left early and came home late, working on something. Mia had said he was preparing a lesson to teach the high-ranking smiths some things and that it had to be done as fast as possible.

Should I go and try or not, he thought, absently starting to eat. 

It was a question all of his friends had been asking themselves for months. They were almost fourteen, meaning they could try the entrance exam for the Volcano Academy. Brett and Dihlir had even asked him if he couldn't put up a good word for them now that his uncle had returned.

As the meal continued, he remained lost in his thoughts. He was startled when someone waved a hand in front of his face.

"Anyone in there?"

Drum blinked, pushing back his annoyance at being startled. He looked up to see his mother looking at him, slightly worried.

"Drum? Are you alright?" she asked, sitting down beside him.

He looked around, only now realizing the table was empty. He'd totally missed the end of the meal, and everyone was leaving. Taking a deep breath, he felt the temperature was already dropping, showing the Ignitzians had returned to their own home.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Still not sure if you want to try for the academy?"

Drum's eyes widened as he looked at his mother in surprise. 

"What? Did you think I didn't know what was keeping you up at night?" his mother asked, raising an eyebrow. "Poor excuse of a mother I'd be then."

"I… want to become a ranger and scout," Drum said slowly.

"Yes," his mother said, looking at him curiously. "And you can't do that if you are in the academy?"

"I can, but… what if I'm good at it?" Drum said, his frown deepening. He looked at his hands, not noticing his mother's surprised look. "We need cardsmiths more than we need scouts right now! If I can become a really good cardsmith, how can I not do that to help everyone?"

His mother sighed, and Drum looked up to find her staring at the wall absently.

"My boy," she muttered. "All other children dream of becoming a cardsmith like Irwin, Trimdir, Dahlia, Esther, or Montain, but not my son. No, he fears he might become one."

"I'm not afraid," Drum exclaimed.

His mother raised her finger at him, tutting.

"Don't raise your voice at me, young man. If you don't want to become a cardsmith, you don't have to… but I agree that it would be best to see how good you can be."

Drum felt his shoulders slump. He had hoped his mother would have told him he could just head for the rangers in a few months.

"Don't look that sad. I'm not saying you have to become a smith," his mother said, causing him to look at her in surprise. "However, if you don't know how good you could be, how can you make an honest choice? What if you don't go, and years from now, you find you have the talent… wouldn't you want to know now? A choice is only a choice if you know the options. Otherwise, you are hiding from the truth."

Drum took a deep breath before exhaling explosively.

"Alright," he said. "I'll register for the upcoming entrance exam tomorrow."

"Well, you could always ask your uncle to test you beforehand?" 

Drum knew his mother meant well, but he immediately shook his head. 

"No. If I'm going, I want to go with Brett and Dihlir," he said. "I can always hope we all fail and then can go to the rangers together."

His mother stifled a laugh before shaking her head.

"Well, go and play with your new card a bit more, then. I think Libel is searching for you outside."

Drum nodded, pushing himself up, before picking up his plates. 

"Leave them this time," his mother said. "I'll clean up."

Drum blinked, then put them back and smiled.

"Thanks, Mom," he said before turning and running for his vest.

He didn't notice his mother's loving smile as he vanished, nor how it faded, replaced by a worried one.

--

Irwin walked through his private smithy, stopping at the window that gave a clear view of the central area. The open smithy, almost like an amphitheater, though nowhere near as big as the one in Suderfuix, was already filling up with smiths. Even though his demonstration wouldn't be for another half an hour, it seemed everybody wanted a front-row seat.

Still can't believe they prepared this for me, he thought, shaking his head as he looked around his private quarters. There was a small library area to one side, filled with books, one lying open on the thick, sturdy chair. Next to it was a short, low wall behind which was a forge area. Simple heating runes created by the burgeoning Runes Guild drew in the thick ambient soulforce to keep it at a constant blazing temperature. On the other side was a small room with a few rows of seats, a private tutoring spot that Trimdir had laughingly called the teacher's classroom. The last thing was a slight elevation with an enormous desk made from a single piece of wood, beautifully shaped by the woodshapers to resemble two chaos whales looking in opposite directions, their overly large tails connecting above them to create the surface of the desk.

He'd told Trimdir he didn't want the Volcano Smithy's headmaster room, and his old teacher had merely laughed at him and told him they had multiple similar rooms. One for each of the head teachers, including him. 

"Almost ready?" Ambraz asked as he flew out of one of the many small tunnels that riddled the academy buildings.

"Let me check," Irwin said, as he focused on his soulscape.

It felt odd, having it empty again, but he couldn't say he wasn't happy about it. Daubutim had needed only a few days to figure out the proper division, with Rindiri and the Yuurindi being the hardest to find a home for.

The Yuurindi had initially wished for one of the already found worlds, but after a long discussion between Daubutim, Lord Bron, Irwin, Rindiri, Dinehr, and Undiri, they had finally decided on another temporary solution. Most of the Yuurindi had been spread along the villages on the west coast, all roughly within walking distance. Those with the proper cards to scout had been moved to one of the adjacent worlds and tasked with finding portals to other offshoots. 

I still don't believe they accepted Daubutim's command so easily, he thought with a sigh. 

His friend had not agreed to give Yuurindi a directly adjacent world. If, in the future, someone among them decided they weren't happy with the arrangement and wanted to take over, their numbers would prove a massive problem. Irwin had expected the Yuurindi to become angry at that, but they had been surprisingly understanding. Even more so, they had been the ones to state the rule that only the best of their people would procreate and that they would limit their growth as much as possible.

Well. Until they found their own world. 

After that, they would begin the long and tedious task of regaining their species' genetic health.

And create an army we will need in the not-so-distant future, Irwin thought. Which added to the problems he already had. Problems that he would have to solve over the next few months… if he could..

Whatever. I'll focus on this first, he thought, shaking his head.

In a few minutes, he needed to show others how to create cards with their own soulforce and how to purify them. It would probably take months for any of the first time to get the hang of it, and that was if they even had the required soulforce. 

I'll have to create more soulforce enhancement cards, he thought as he walked towards the table and took the stack of cards he'd readied. Some were for himself to use as a resonance seed. The others were for those of the teacher who still had a slot free and for whom the card would fit their next heartcard.

"Let's go," he said as he walked to the window again. "My soulscape is completely ready."

Ambraz shot towards him, vanishing into his soulscape, and Irwin ticked his finger against the windowsill. 

He shot across the soundwaves, down toward the central hall. His control wasn't anywhere as fluid as it had been when he'd been in his active titan shape, as he had begun calling it, but it took him little effort to appear on the central dais. 

In front of him stood the head teachers of the different specializations. In the last few days, he'd been rapidly brought up to speed by Trimdir on who did what, and he'd gotten introduced to the few new teachers he hadn't learned yet. Behind them, in the stands usually reserved for students, were the other teachers. Most were only able to teach either theory or the simpler parts of reforging as most had only seven or eight years of smithing experience themselves. Still, each had shown incredible potential.

He rubbed his chin, a rough grinding sound coming from the stubbles he'd need to shave off soon. He saw close to fifty people looking at him with different levels of awe and curiosity. Some he knew, like Domain, Esther, Dahlia, Gawarn, and Endil, while others were new to him. He'd been introduced before, but with the large amount of names hurled his way, he'd mostly forgotten them already.

"Welcome, everyone," Irwin said, his deep voice easily reaching every part of the large central hall. "I have spoken to most of you, and I'm sure most of you know me, so let me get straight to the explanation of what we are going to do."

"Irwin, could you introduce yourself quickly?"

Irwin blinked before looking at Trimdir, who was looking back calmly.

"You are right that they all know you, most have no idea what you have done besides some unsubstantiated rumors. It will do them good to hear why we are all here to learn what you will teach us."

He did ask me to do that a few days ago, he realized, holding back a sigh.

"Very well," he said, wishing he could just get on with the interesting part. "You all know I'm Irwin Roddington, younger brother of Bronwyn. I was one of those who found Eluathar and got us here. While you were all here building up this academy, I traveled across the Portal Gallery. I learned metal purification from Trimdir, then learned the first basics of Cardsmithing from my bonded Ganvil, Ambraz, and the smiths at Tensor's smithy."

Irwin felt a twitch at that, and he wondered what had happened to Tensor and the other smiths. 

"Together with some of the other smiths from Tensor, I went to Scour, a world with a very high time dilation, where I became an emerald-rank smith," he continued, slightly absently.

 I wonder what happened to Balarn and Yogog, he thought as he glanced at Gawarn. 

The bearded smith was still wearing his ranking tablet in his beard, but Irwin saw a distant look in the other's eyes. He was probably wondering the same thing. Had his brother managed to stay out of the clutches of those hunting smiths? Was he still on Fiverio?

"After that, I traveled around some more before spending a year on Granvox at the Golden Friction Academy," Irwin continued, pulling himself back to the here and now. "That's where I met some of your fellow teachers." 

He waved at Montain, Esther, and Dahlia, who smiled back.

"After that, I traveled around again, returning here before setting out again for a longer period," Irwin said, as his mind drifted back to his years-long journey. 

"Eventually, I made my way to Suderfuix," he said.

Montain and Esther's eyebrows shot up, and Irwin shrugged.

"For those who don't know. Suderfuix is where this branche's main smithing charter is situated. There are a lot of smiths there, and you can learn many styles of cardsmithings. Once there, I was allowed to participate in the ranking tests, where I managed to reach diamond-rank two-"

"WHAT?!"

Montain's shout silenced every bit of noise in the room, the Granitian's words like an avalanche. As every eye in the hall landed on them, Montain's bonded Ganvil, Dar'malder, vanished, probably into Montain's soulscape.

Esther was glaring at her brother, her sleet-gray eyes gleaming.

"Uh… I am sorry," Montain rumbled before frowning and looking at Irwin. "But… how can you have become a rank-two diamond smith already? That should have taken over a hundred years."

Irwin held back a grin as he saw Esther's glare deepen. The other teachers, especially the handful of older ones like Trimdir, smirked.

"I'll explain what I did another time," he said. "For now, let's just finish things with- after Suderfuix, we traveled back here. That trip took us over a year, and-"

"A YEAR?!" Montain roared.

Esther slapped him over the head while a group of nearby teachers laughed. 

"From Suderfuix to hear would be a journey of forty years with a regular merchant vessel," Montain rumbled, not deterred this time.

"That's true," Irwin said. "But we didn't use a merchant vessel. You will find out soon, but Greldo is able to move through the shadowrealm almost indefinitely, and he is very fast. Now… it is time to explain why we are here!"

Montain's mouth opened, but before he could speak, Esther put a hand on his shoulder, her eyes narrowed like slits in the side of a mountain.

"Uh. right…” Montain rumbled.

"Alright," Irwin said as he stepped away from the dais to the area that was meant for a smith to demonstrate something.

Ambraz appeared on his shoulder, rushed to the designated area, and changed into his large working shape.

"I'm going to demonstrate something first," Irwin said. "After that, I'm going to explain what I did. Keep any questions for after that explanation, and know that I'll be doing the same thing again after."

The teachers shared excited but also somewhat confused looks.

Irwin focused for a moment before putting a card on Ambraz's back and summoning his hammer. He felt a great deal of relief that he could finally start reforging, though the prospect of having to answer the flood of questions later made him prepare to flee.

Well, let's just get this over with.

--

Trimdir watched Irwin strike the card, a sense of anticipation growing. He knew what Irwin would do had seen it three times already, but he still could hardly believe it.

Which meant the others had no idea what they were going to see.

He glanced at the cardsmiths and the teachers around him. Many had come from other worlds than Giard, brought here by Irwin and the others on their returns. He knew what those cardsmiths thought of him. Although he had increased his skill immensely over the last decade, most of which was from Hou'dor's teachings, he still had less experience than many of the others. If he hadn't been learning as fast as he had, had Daubutim's backing, and that of the three most experienced teachers, Dahlia, Montain, and Esther, he knew many of the others might have complained. 

As it was, they still did, just where he couldn't hear it. 

He hadn't told Irwin, nor was he going to, as he didn't even disagree with their statement. If it wasn't that nearly all of the people on Eluathar were from Giard and that it was their new planet and legacy, he might have stepped down in favor of one of the others years ago. Not just because there were those better qualified, but also because he hated the job. He wanted to practice, learn, and improve. Not have to spend his time managing the academy. However, ten years had taught him much, and one of them was that the story about Galladin smiths was definitely true. As old as he sometimes felt, his improvement had outpaced that of nearly everyone here, with the exclusion of Endil.

The soulforce around them began rippling and surging as Irwin drew it into a large area above Ambraz.

'I still don't believe what they are doing,' Hou'dor grunted. 'We need to get you some of those soulscape and soulforce increasing cards.'

Trimdir didn't answer, his entire focus on the intricate way Irwin held the soulforce together, moving it in patterns that he could barely follow. Hou'dor had told him that it was beyond even his senses, which told Trimdir all he needed to know. What he saw barely scratched the surface, and yet… he wanted to learn this. Just the idea that they might be able to form handcards from their own soulforce, or… later, from ambient soulforce?

I need to go with Irwin to check on that Aurorium in a few weeks, he thought. 

“This… is…”

"Incredible!"

"Did he just toss another card in there?"

“Why… what…”

"Are you feeling this?"

Trimdir pushed away his own thoughts and the whispers of disbelief from all around him. One look showed that all of the smiths, including Dahlia who had seen this before, were staring at Irwin's smithing in utter disbelief and awe.

The intense sound of Irwin's soulstrum guitar rippled through the building, and the soulforce caused the air in the building to start swirling and spinning. The dull thudding of Irwin's hammer resonated on Ambraz's surface, creating a song that was joined by the towering smith who began humming then singing.

I want to learn this, Trimdir thought, clenching his hands.