Irwin's Journey 413: How will she react?

Trimdir ran. 

He couldn't remember the last time he had, and he could fully understand the startled cries as he raced into Basil's keep. 

"He won't be leaving or anything," Clarish exclaimed, out of breath as she ran beside him.

"You can teleport ahead if you want," Trimdir grunted.

"No teleporting into the exit portal area, remember?" the younger woman managed in between her ragged breaths.

Trimdir just snorted as he glared at the guards ahead. He was forgetting something, but he couldn't get himself to stand still to think about what.

"Open that door!"

The guards blinked, took one look at him, and decided they didn't even need to know why. They jumped aside, one yanking open the large double door.

"Thanks," Clarish shouted as they speared through.

The normally minute-long walk from the first gate to the last one took only twenty seconds, and Trimdir didn't slow as he sprinted to the portal. Halfway toward it, he finally realized what he was forgetting.

"Clarish, go and get Dahlia!" he shouted. "He ignored the annoyed shout and the warnings from the guards as he slammed into the portal and vanished."

Only when he was falling down the exit portal corridor did he slowly calm down.

"He's back…" he muttered, his grin widening. 

As he calmed down, he also realized he might have taken things a little slower. There would be a lot of talk about the headmaster teleporting out in the middle of a class or of him sprinting through Basils's Portal Keep and into the portal. 

"Whatever," he grunted. "I'm sure that Irwin's arrival will draw all attention."

Irwin. His student and the savior of their people. 

I really hope he is going to stay after this, he thought, clasping his arms in front of his chest as he glared at the far end of the portal corridor. 

When he finally reached it, he prepared himself, and as he shot out of the portal at roughly the speed he'd entered it, he was halfway across the room before the guards even noticed him.

"Open that door," he roared, glaring at the next set of guards.

Five minutes later, he was out of the building, looking around.  

Where would they go, he thought, frowning. Why didn't he think about this when he had the time?

Wait… Greldo will be with him.

"Greldo! Get me to Irwin!" he roared, his voice echoing around the large square that bordered the exit portal's main building. When nothing happened, he was about to do so again, drawing a deep breath, when a snort came from behind him.

"You have some strong lungs, old man!"

Trimdir frowned as he turned around. He wasn't surprised to see Greldo, but he was surprised by the intense pressure he felt coming from him. 

Atleast three soulcards… and nothing normal. Why am I not surprised?

Trimdir stepped forward, looking at the boy -no, a man!- and holding back his desire to order him to get him to Irwin.

"You look good," he said. "Dahlia should be on her way soon. She missed you."

Gredo's face softened, and he nodded.

"Thanks," he said. "Let's get you to Irwin."

Trimdir was halfway through his nod when he felt himself yanked into the shadowrealm. He'd been there before and had even reforged many of the cards for Lady Lisbeth's Shadow Scouts, but as the world darkened and he felt the soulforce resonance change, he snapped awake from his rushed desire to see his friend and student.

What… 

His thought was half-formed when the world around him changed, and he was ejected back out.

Did he just teleport us? No… that was pure movement!

Trimdir barely even realized where he was as he spun to Greldo.

"What kind of card was that?" he grunted. "There was no way that was a regular shadow card!"

Greldo’s grin widened. "Nope, definitely not normal. But you might want to ask him about the details."

Trimdir followed the younger man's pointed finger. His eyes widened as he saw that he was where he'd been rushing to. Irwin was grinning at him, disentangling himself from where he'd been sitting on a couch with Scintilla and all of his children.

"Master Trimdir!"

Trimdir blinked, staring back at Irwin in stunned shock. Ever since he'd gotten his second heartcard, his soulforce sensitivity had grown exponentially, and he had become able to gauge people's relative strength. Until now, Daubutim had been the strongest he'd sensed, with some of the smiths not too far off. 

Greldo had already been a step up from that, but now?

He felt like he was standing beside an unending well of power, the rolling waves of soulforce flowing from Irwin, making his hair stand on end.

"Trimdir?"

Trimdir shook himself, noticing the worry in Irwin's voice and eyes.

"I'm fine," he said, stepping forward and shocking Irwin, himself, and everyone in the room by wrapping the other in a tight hug. He had to stand on his toes for it, but he didn't care. A moment later, he stepped back, pushing the other so he could see him.

"You need to find a way to mask your soulforce," he grunted. "Before you knock someone unconscious with it."

Irwin barked a laugh. "Something to discuss later. I really want to hear how things have gone at the academy, but let's wait for Lord Bron to be here."

"Bron will do," a soft voice came from the door, and everyone but Greldo turned in surprise.

Lord Bron stepped out of the shadows beside a cloaked figure who was staring at Greldo in a way that Trimdir guessed was not unlike how he'd been staring at Irwin just moments before. He glanced around quickly, noticing that Esmee had arrived. 

She really looks good, he thought as his eyes scanned her for a short moment before flowing to the others.

Bronwyn was here with his two eldest children, which meant his wife and youngest would be back at home. Scintilla and her half a dozen children… well, her's and Irwin's, he guessed, were watching everything curiously. 

"Irwin, it is good to see you again," Bron said. "I take it you brought all those ships I saw?"

"We did," Irwin said, looking at Bron and then around.

Trimdir guessed he was thinking back to a time long ago, the last time a few of them had been in the same room.

"Now that everyone is here, it's time to hear what is going on?"

Trimdir glanced at Daubutim, the calm man who had become the de facto leader of the new world, who was sitting beside his wife. His children sat nearby, looking very curious.

"Is everyone here?" Irwin asked.

"No, but the others won't be able to get here anytime soon," Bron said as he walked forward. "Can someone take the children into the other room? I don't know about Irwin, but I have some things to discuss that they are too young to need to worry about."

Trimdir snorted as he saw a half dozen young people suddenly glare at Bron. He couldn't blame them. They had probably heard references to lots of things, and now they weren't even allowed to hear the conclusion!

"Dahlia should be here soon," he said.

Bron blinked, then nodded.

"Then we can share some of what has happened here with Irwin while we wait," he said, still looking pointedly at the children.

"I'll take them to Scintilla's home," Esmee said, smiling at her grandchildren before turning to Daubutim's and Bronwyn's children.

Trimdir saw that the oldest three, Daubutim's son and the eldest of Bronwyn, all wanted to disagree, but one raised eyebrow and snort from Esmee got them moving to the door.

"I want to stay with Dad! He's been gone so long!"

Mia's cry caused everyone to stop moving.

"Mia, we can't-" Scintilla began, but Irwin waved his hand, laughing softly. "Who says we can't do both?" he said, walking to Scintilla and his children. "Want to see something cool?"

Mia, Flux, and Glow almost began bouncing up and down while Soot's eyes gleamed. 

"Your soulscape? Did it change a lot?" Ti asked, her calm voice tinged with excitement.

"Definitely," Irwin said. "And Ambraz is dying to see you again! Why don't you and your mother explore a bit?"

There was a cheer from the children, and a moment later they all vanished. Daubutim's and Bronwyn's children were sharing disgruntled looks.

"I'll keep you up to date," Irwin said, giving Scintilla a kiss before she vanished.

"Can we see your soulscape too?" Drum asked.

Before Irwin could answer, Esmee sniffed. "Next time! Now, let's go."

The teenagers again looked like they wanted to argue, but they followed Esmee as they walked out.

As she closed the door, Esmee looked inside, and Trimdir saw her eyes lock onto her son.

"Don't go disappearing or anything!"

"I won't, Mom," Irwin replied, smiling at her.

Esmee nodded, and the door closed, the room suddenly far less crowded.

"Now, this is more like it," Trimdir said, thudding down on a couch. "Takes you back, doesn't it?"

--

Irwin sat back down, trying to ignore the exuberance of his children and Scintilla as they found his other self was now a true giant and that he had an entire, populated village in his soulscape.

He looked around at Greldo, Daubutim, Lisbeth, Bronwyn, Trimdir, and Lord Bron. He still had a hard time picturing the tall man as just Bron. 

"So… the ladies should arrive soon," Trimdir rumbled. "Who wants to tell him what has been going on?"

All eyes instantly moved to Daubutim, who merely nodded, staring at Irwin.

"Let's start by saying that about twelve years have passed since you were here," he said. "I've heard from Scintilla that you have been in and out of time dilation, so you might not know exactly how much time has passed for us."

Irwin sighed, holding back a grimace. His guesses had been close, and seeing Drum as the tall teenager had told him enough. It also hurt. He knew he didn't really have another choice, and he'd also found his own children and Scintilla because he left, but seeing Drum and realizing just how much of his friend's and family's life he had missed would likely haunt him for a long time. It wasn't just Drum either. Except for his mother, the others had all aged, becoming full adults -Bronwyn and Daubutim- or, like Lord Bron, gaining more gray hairs and wrinkles.

Daubutim had fallen quiet, probably to let it sink in, he guessed, and Irwin nodded at his friend. 

"The first few years, we focused on expanding the cities and creating more towns till we had a healthy balance. None of the cities is really done yet, as I've slowed down the construction to meet the needs as they arise. However, many smaller villages have finished," Daubutim said, his words calm and collected. "We have mostly scouted every inch of Verdant Isle, and it's bigger than Scour Peninsula was. I have planned out more cities, further along the edges, and we have towns there."

Irwin felt slightly stunned as his friend continued his deluge of information in short, bite-sized lines.

"The Frozir are slowly spreading across the Northern Isles, but it will take hundreds of years before they have a good population again. They aren't sure if they will stay there or continue searching for a world of their own. Bron will be able to tell you more about that. For now, over the last six years, we have begun creating stronger ties with them by creating combined squads."

Irwin nodded slowly, glancing at Lord Bron and noticing the older man's eyes had a distant look.

"I'll let Trimdir give you an update on the Academy later, but for now, I can tell you that two years ago, the first smiths who couldn't learn more than they had begun spreading across the Verdant Isle."

Irwin wanted to ask Trimdir a thousand questions instantly. What did he mean by: they couldn't learn further? Did he mean they had finished their five years of training… but why only two years ago, then?

"We have been scouting the Eastern Continent that you probably recall we found just before you left," Daubutim said. "And we also found another one in the southwest. Unlike our island, both are far more dangerous. There are also some dangerous monsters in the sea that sometimes swallow boats," Daubutim continued before tapping his chin. "We now have a total of five portals to other worlds that are still open. Pinea, the first world, which is the one inhabited by the Leafarit and Sylvaneth, is the only one where we found other sentients. Ciarog, the one with the insects you might recall, is the most dangerous one we have found so far, and it's one only a few groups of rangers can go. We have kept it open, mainly because the insects have a high drop rate of cards. The other three lead to rank five worlds, which I don't have to tell you is-"

Daubutim stopped talking, cocking his head as he examined Irwin.

Irwin was glad he did as he tried to recall what it even meant that a world was rank five. 

"I think perhaps I'll give you those details later," Dautubim said. "Now, this is most of what has happened on-world, though it is good to note that our population is growing rapidly. With food in abundance, no dangers anywhere, and space for everyone, people have begun having large families. You would be surprised to find that having six or seven children, like you have, is becoming rather normal. Especially with very few dying during birth anymore."

"What he means," Lord Bron said with a grin. "Is that we have over half a million people, and if we continue to grow like this, in a hundred years, we will have filled up Verdant Isle and need to spread to the continents surrounding us."

Greldo whistled, shaking his head. "That means we just have to survive in here for a couple of decades, and our forces will grow!"

There was no response, as Bron's smile faded, and Daubutim shared a quick look with Trimdir.

"Guess I'll take over for a moment," Trimdir said as he rubbed his face. "No way around this, but with so many people and so many smiths, we are always short on cards. One of the reasons we have had to limit how long people can stay in the academy is that there aren't enough cards coming from the other worlds. I take it you brought some cards…?"

Greldo snorted while Irwin couldn't stop smirking.

"How many smiths are in the academy now?" he asked.

"Close to two thousand," Trimdir said, his eyes gleaming as he leaned forward. "But we could have triple those numbers if we had more cards and teachers. Right now, we are burning through almost ten thousand cards a year, losing two-thirds of those in failed attempts… What are you grinning about?"

Irwin leaned forward and held out his hands. The next moment, a large square box dropped into his hands. It was large enough to hold a few dozen books, but that wasn't what was in it. The room had fallen dead quiet as he put it on the ground and opened the cover, revealing rows and rows of cards. He gently pulled out a large stack, looking at Trimdir.

"I've brought about a hundred thousand cards for training," he said. "That's not including those that are too good to lose."

Trimdir was staring at the cards, his eyes almost rolling out of their sockets.

There was a thud, and Irwin looked up to see Clarish and Dahlia appear. Both looked at him, eyes widening before their gazes dropped to the box.

"Gelwin's Beard…" Clarish hissed. "Did you rob the other worlds?"

Dahlia walked forward, kneeling at the chest and taking out a stack, her face slack. She flipped through quickly before licking her lips and looking around as if to try to understand what was going on. When her gaze landed on Greldo, her hands froze.

"Hey there, pretty Smith," Greldo said.

Irwin saw the happy gleam in his friend's eyes.

Dahlia dropped the cards in the chest without even looking and dashed forward, jumping atop Greldo.

Irwin only saw Greldo's eyes widen as Dahlia's lips searched for his, and then they both vanished into the shadows.

Another quiet fell over the room while Irwin and Bronwyn shared a knowing grin.

"Right…" Clarish muttered as she walked to an empty seat and sat down. "Do we wait for them?"

Trimdir barked a laugh, shaking his head.

"Let's not. Who knows if they are planning to remain there and attempt to double our population before they return."

Lisbeth's laughter rippled through the room, quickly followed by the deeper booming of Bronwyn and Irwin.

"Right, as I was saying, we are going to be expanding the number of smiths we have," Trimdir said, staring at the cards. "Beyond that, we now have about eighty teachers, though most can only teach up to topaz. I've finally managed to reforge my first ruby-rank card, though I'm a long way from getting them to any high percentage."

"Ruby!?" Irwin snapped, leaning forward with a wide grin. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you, though I hope you understand I'll have a lot of questions for you soon," Trimdir said. "What rank are you now?"

Irwin shook his head. "Let's discuss cards later. I've got much to tell you all."

"Well, I think you can start now," Lord Bron said. "There won't be anyone else arriving, and we will make sure those who need to learn what they have to."

Irwin nodded, leaning back as he saw the familiar eyes focus on him. 

"One moment," he muttered as his other self had a quick discussion with Scintilla.

A moment later, she reappeared on the couch beside him, the shock still fresh on her face. She glanced at him, then shook her head. 

"I'm really glad you managed to stop your growing and emotional issues," she said, leaning into him and letting out a contented sigh. 

Irwin smiled and hugged her close before focusing on the others.

"Alright, I take it Scintilla told you what happened up till the moment she left?"

Daubutim nodded while Scintilla let out a soft groan.

"He kept asking questions," she muttered, pointing at Daubutim in accusation. "How was I supposed to remember all those details?!"

Irwin grinned and hugged Scintilla closer, reveling in the simple act. Then he closed his eyes for a moment and began ordering his thoughts.

"Alright, let's start after our journey. We reached Dismartinsia-" 

--

Irwin stretched his body as he glanced around the room. It had taken over half a day to share what had happened… mostly due to the barrage of questions he'd gotten. Part of that was his own fault, though, when he'd made the small mistake of letting slip that he was able to create cards.

He still wasn't sure how Greldo hadn't shown up, complaining about the shouts that had caused.

A quick glance at Trimdir showed that the Smith was still staring at him intensely. He'd been doing so for the last hour, his jaw clenched. It was clear that as soon as they were done here, he wanted to know more.

Daubutim hummed, putting away the small booklet. 

"Alright, I think that will do for now," he said, lightning rippling across his eyes. "I'm going to have a lot of questions for you, but I also need to talk with Greldo, Rindiri, Nisziz, and probably most of your crew. "

Irwin gave his friend a quick nod, wondering how the others would react to being interrogated by someone who remembered everything. 

"Most of them will be on the ships," he said. "I'll tell Rindiri, and she can get the others ready for you."

Daubutim grabbed his notebook and continued scribbling, his eyes a maelstrom of red lightning. 

Irwin knew there was something else coming, so he waited quietly, his fingers brushing Scintilla's hair and neck. Finally, after a few minutes, Daubutim looked up.

"Two more things. Those Chaos Whale babies you brought bring our total Chaos Whale population to twenty-three, but we have only three adults. Of those, only Scariander is combat-ready. Although the storm is rapidly leaving, do you think you and Gredo could find more of them? Scarianders have proven invaluable in scouting and the occasional skirmish, and you can sing with them on occasion to fill people's soullakes… Having a healthy pod or two roaming our branch would be invaluable."

Irwin hummed thoughtfully, rubbing his chin as he pondered, finding more Chaos Whales.

"The problem is that we can't move them," he said. "I can hold a larger juvenile now, but not an adult. Greldo has the same problem. So I don't think we can actually get them inside… the barrier here is incredibly powerful."

Daubutim frowned, seemingly deep in thought, while the others were quietly waiting. 

"I'll have to think on it for a bit, but would you and Greldo be willing to search around and find more? We've had multiple groups manage to get inside from the narrow passageways that lead away from our main branch."

"You will have to ask Greldo yourself, but I think we can do that," Irwin said, feeling a slight annoyance at knowing he would have to go outside for a while. Then again, he'd seen so many Chaos Whale deaths over the years that he'd had plenty of those. If he could save more of them, he would.

"Alright, the other thing will be cards," Daubutim said, his eyes gleaming. "You said you brought cards for most of us, and I think it would be best if we get those out of the way as soon as we can. With Doomblade's news, there is no saying when those ships will find us here."

Irwin felt a mixture of excitement at showing his friends the cards he'd gotten them and worry over when the war would reach them.

"Did he explain how long that will take?" he asked before frowning. "Where is he anyway?"

"We have given him a distant area of the harbor for now," Daubutim said, frowning. "He's a handful. Refuses to take directions or orders from anyone but me or Basil, and is obsessed with strength. It's another reason I'm glad you are here. I'm hoping you can help me keep him in check."

"Is he still as aggressive?" Irwin asked, frowning as he realized Scintilla and his children had been living near something he'd once thought of as a demon.

“No, not that,” Daubutim said. "According to him, the damage being in a shardworld had done to him has largely been healed. He's just… well. You will see."

Irwin removed the inhibitions on his soulforce senses and searched around. Scintilla and his friends were like small, beautiful, tightly wrapped songs amidst the soft murmuring ambient soulforce. It took him only moments to find his mother among the thousands of other songs, and he noticed that she was in a nearby house with his niece and nephew, as well as Daubutim's children. 

He stretched further with ease, quickly finding a jumble of more chaotic songs near one of the further trees. A single soulforce resonance sat in the middle, stronger than any but Daubutim, and a distant resonance he felt in the harbor, which he knew to be Basil.

"He feels about as strong as a three-soulcarded," Irwin said, frowning. "Well… his resonance is stronger, but it feels simpler, like most soulskilled."

"That matches what I thought," Trimdir said, eyes gleaming. "But you can feel that from here? How large can you sense the soulforce resonances?"

Irwin stretched further, passed the Chaos Whales. Scariander was louder than anything else. If Irwin had to guess, the giant, battle-scarred Chaos Whale's resonance was as strong as everything else combined, while the other two adults were muted.

As he stretched, he finally reached the edges of the mountains, which he only recognized because the ambient soulforce there was different from close to the portal. The mass of stone and rock seemed to morph the thin soulforce into stone-based soulforce.

"About as far as the start of the mountains," he said, opening his eyes.

The others were staring at him with different looks of stunned surprise.

"I've got an entire soulcard dedicated to it," Irwin said with a shrug. "It'd be weird if it wasn't good, right?"

"Weird, he says," Bronwyn said, sounding weary. He'd been quiet during the conversation, letting the others ask questions. Now, he shook his head before placing it in his hands, which rested on his knees. "Gelwin, give me strength. I can't wait to see the cards you've got lined up for me now."

Irwin snorted at his brother, who sounded both excited, worried, and weary.

"I need to start getting things ready," Daubutim said, rising to his feet. 

Lisbeth and Lord Bron copied him, a moment later followed by Clarish.

"I take it you all need me to bring you around again?" she said, rolling her eyes at Irwin. "Did you bring any teleport cards?"

Irwin nodded. "Don't worry, I've got some of those, though not as many as I'd wanted. Even out there, they are rare."

"Well, some are better than none," Clarish said, smiling at him. "Thanks in advance from me and the others. These guys have been running us ragged."

Before Irwin could say anything, she, Daubutim, Lisbeth, and Bron vanished.

Irwin stretched his arms before hugging Scintilla closer. 

"We should go and see Mom," Bronwyn said, getting up. "Unless you have anything else I need to know?"

Irwin got up, pulling Scintilla along with him as he did. He was about to say he didn't when he thought about something. 

"What?" Bronwyn asked, his eyes wide in worry.

"Well…" Irwin said, humming thoughtfully. "How do you think Mom would react if I said I've got a sister? Sort of…"