The Emptying of the Vault

We got Firstborn moved into his dorm room. 

Again. 

Left our house. 103F in our area right now. 

Arrived at the college some time later. 104F there. Checked into the hotel, rested up a bit, and then went and got some truly excellent Chinese food for dinner. 

That was when the storm blew through. Big storm. Massive storm. Huge amount of falling water, amazing display of lightning. Just absolutely a blowout. Dropped the temperatures by... I'd say nearly thirty degrees during the night. 

So the next morning we got up, ate the hotel breakfast, and then zipped off to get the key to Firstborn's room. Gave the room a quick check and filled out the preliminary survey on what was already damaged, then headed over to the storage unit and emptied most of it. By now it's gotten thoroughly, painfully sunny -- but the air is still in the mid-eighties.

We get everything unloaded into the room, then go for milkshakes -- or in Secondborn's case, a banana split. 

Went back to the storage unit and emptied the last four items, then got them up to the room and started assembling things. Got the whole thing done was it while still relatively cool, before 2:00 p.m. Secondborn was a huge help with both the lifting and the unboxing, and after that we were able to go back to the hotel room and just collapse for a bit. Firstborn elected to stay behind in his room, I think just settling in and feeling smug about having it all set up. 

Then it rained again. So we got up the following morning and had breakfast while watching the rain and savoring the comparative chill. Secondborn attended a class online from the hotel room, and that gave Firstborn -- who had slept in a bit -- a chance to catch back up with us. So then, before we left, we went to visit a Cat Cafe. I had a nice latte -- something with dark chocolate, cinnamon, and vanilla, and probably also the most concentrated caffeine I've had in the last couple of years, and got to sip and sit while kittens climbed on me and ran around and swatted at things. 

It was healing on an existential level. 

Even more impressive, we managed to leave without any new cats. 

The trip back was overcast, drizzly, and cool for the first half, and then reverted to crazy-hot as we got back into Texas. But it was done, everything is finally settled, and I can return to my ongoing project of learning how to be Normal About Things again.

Writing Projects

I pulled the Monsterville posts because I think I'd like to actually make that into a novel. I've been filling in with Remant, who I mostly write as an episodic adventurer with really bad PTSD. I'm also in the process of proofing something I wrote back in 2003 -- the pulp Wuxia Cyberpunk Fantasy Adventure -- with the goal of at least getting it self-published. It was a fun project, and very much representative of where my mind was at the time. 

I also have the Gravedigger project, which I'll come back to at some point. I need to take a better look at its pacing. 

Finally, I just caught up with the most recent book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which is the first thing in a long time that's actually got me writing fan-fiction. Not sure how far I'll take that, because if I stay true to the timeline of the source material it either becomes tragedy or it comes to an unsatisfying conclusion where the protagonists depart the battlefield before the battle is done. That's the ending I'm leaning towards, but it's... I don't know. Open to change. The teenage students might force it into becoming a tragedy. 

Anyway, I hope all my readers are doing well, and I'll likely pick back up with Remant next. He's a blog-project, not a book-project, so he gets some slack. 

Now We Burn It All Down

Last week was... fraught. Secondborn started school. Our Internet went out on Thursday. Various other issues came up, some work, some personal. Some weeks are just one damned thing after another, and that was one of them.

This week we'll be back to having one kid left in the house. She's doing classes and assignments, some synchronous and some not, online -- which seems to be working better than whatever trainwreck her former school was inflicting. So we're cautiously optimistic, there. Firstborn is back at college, ensconced in his dorm room, and given firm instructions to quit pushing people away. He could have friends, he's just chosen not to, and we're doing our best to steer him back to making connections with people or at least be open to them. A lot of that is just him (he gets it from me, sort of) but I feel like Covid isolation also robbed him of some critical socialization experience. 

Anyway, I've taken some time off from work and I'm generally trying to have a normal sleep schedule and not be crazy, but I swear to all the gods, known and forgotten, that the world is trying me right now. 

Raven Lake University

Raven Lake University is a sprawling, unlikely institute of higher learning set atop a plateau well back into some of the most ancient mountains in the world. Chase Grimwald has no idea what he just stepped into: he applied late, accepted late, and arrived too late for the Orientation sessions. The campus itself is a set of ancient stone buildings, his dorm room is hidden away in a back corner of the uppermost floor of his dorm, and some of the other students are sleeping outside in tents. And who anchors their tent to a slope on the edge of a rocky cliff?

Strange things roam the halls at night -- and at least one of them has already tried to kill him. But was that because he hasn't yet learned the elaborate rituals that the other students use to protect themselves? Or does someone genuinely want him dead? And what about the lamprey-things in certain parts of the stream? Where are they coming from? Why do they drop off these weird, fleshy lumps before swimming back into tiny holes in the rock? And what was that bigger one behind them? 

A sensible young man would have opted right back out, but the students are friendly, the food is plentiful, and the education is top-notch... Oh, and the road is gone. The professors may be a little idiosyncratic, but Chase finds that enjoyable. Then a chance encounter with the Fenwick family who run the University leaves him wondering if he might not have some sort of connection to them, and he begins to realize just how far he's in over his head. He'll have to untangle old enmities and alliances, uncover secrets, and possibly negotiate an unexpected marriage if he expects to survive the school year with his grades intact.

RoH: Dinner in the Darkness

Remant stepped into the palace cautiously, though with Kalla and her family leading the way he didn't think he was in danger. The place was all high walls and stalagmite towers from the outside, dim light spilling out from the open doors. Everything here was stone and metal, or else an unfamiliar sort of cloth or leather. Limestone had been smoothed and shaped, ceilings carved into arches and set. There were no guards in evidence, which could mean any of several things. He hoped the Presbyterium realized that he came peacefully among them this time.

The light came from soft flames, set atop metal cones; similar to and different from the light-crystals the upper world had once produced. He would have loved to stop and examine their magics -- there were thing here that would be invaluable if he could reproduce them -- but this was not the time. Still, if he survived this gathering then he needed to return at some point simply for this. 

The scene inside was chaos struggling to become order: a double-dozen Undergray spreading out to find their seat at the carefully-arranged tables. 

"Honored Elders," Kalla said, her voice filling the space. "I present Remant of the Sunlit Lands, who is heir to our former master Huoron and also our savior from that mastery. We welcome him to Shadowguard, and give thanks for his company."

Remant was fairly certain that he'd never seen a room settle down so quickly. "I'm honored to be here," he said, forcing the words out but making them sound natural. "I regret that we were once enemies, and hope that we can be friends." 

One of the Elders raised his voice and lifted his glass. "Likewise," he said loudly. "We welcome you, and offer you hospitality."

That was binding, and with that reassurance Remant came forward into the room. "It is my honor and pleasure to accept," he said, raising his voice to make sure it carried. That was binding, too. It meant that he would be equally bound by the laws of hospitality. Any violation on either side was likely to be punished by the gods, even down here. Until very recently, Shadowguard had been hidden away from the eyes of the gods, but that was no longer entirely true.

"Then come and dine with us," said another Elder, and Kalla led him forward. 

RoH: Introductions

Remant had never been below the Grand Hall. When he'd come in here with the heroes, he hadn't needed to. Now, with Kalla leading the way, he found himself looking out into a sprawling underground city, scattered around the bottom -- and top -- of a massive underground cavern. A river rushed down the center of it, wide and shallow as it washed over the limestone floor. A few lights flickered here and there, some glowing faintly like distant stars, but mostly it was dark.

The structure she led him to was not far away, and he could see faint light within it -- not as bright as flame, let alone the sun, but some small glow to ease the way. Zara followed along, and as they walked another of the Undergray fell in beside them. "Durken," the man said, and offered a hand. "Kalla's husband, and Zara's father."

Remant nodded and clasped his hand. "I'm glad you're both happy." 

Durken grinned, squeezed firmly, and then released him. "I'm glad I finally get to meet you. I always wondered what sort of man you were."

"At the time? Desperate. I don't know how much your people knew of it, but up on the surface we were losing the war. Huoron's armies had wiped out most of the cities, burned out smaller settlements wherever they passed, and were laying siege to the last real source of organized opposition. The Gray weren't in much better shape, but my people had reached the point where even if we did defeat them, we'd have nothing left. Or if they won, neither would they."

"Ah," said Durken. "So they sent their greatest warriors away from the siege, to come here and slay Huoron himself."

Remant nodded again. "Exactly. Five champions, and the squires they accidentally acquired along the way. Two of the champions made it into Shadowguard; the rest of us were squires, replacements for the other champions: rich in magical blessings, but inexperienced, only partly trained, and utterly terrified."

"And only you lived," observed Kalla, sadly. 

Walking beside her, Zara gave a startled squeak.

Remant huffed. "Even so, I was much changed." He swallowed, then changed the topic. "What can I expect inside?"

Kalla hesitated, then said, "Reactions will be mixed, but not actively violent. Your intervention freed our people, but some of the Presbyterium still lost family -- close family -- to you and your friends." 

RoH: A Dinner Invitation

"I'd hoped to have you join us for a quiet family dinner," Kalla said. "Instead, I need to offer you an apology. As soon as word went out of your return, the entire Prebyterium began lobbying for a chance to host our savior."

"They're probably going to be disappointed," Remant predicted. "Still, I'm grateful for their hospitality -- and yours." 

"You'll do it, then?" She frowned. "You could just turn away. With a little effort, you could travel through this darkness like we do. Nobody would stop you."

"No, I..." he sighed, because to the left he really didn't want to do this, but to the right he was genuinely curious. "I'd like to meet your people."

"Don't sound so enthused," Kalla answered, gently ironic. "But okay, if you're still willing, come with me. They've been preparing for over an hour now."

Remant followed, making an effort to hide his reluctance. Zara followed them, holding on to a corner Remant's cloak.