Chapter Forty-Seven

Four of Maekus’s apes surrounded the orange glowing cocoon as it pulsed with heat, speaking in sounds and gestures. It had been a process for them to come out of wherever the charter counselor kept them. First, the one Harmony recognized as Rango popped his head out at Maekus’s call, keeping the portal open enough for the partially heard discussions to echo out into the room, culminating in him joining the anxious students, followed by two smaller apes. Then a larger, wider fourth ape whose natural continence made him look grumpy.

They were animals. Fur, muscle, powerful auras that masked their skills from Harmony’s sight, she only had the slimmest knowledge of the creatures from some of Tyler’s books. One had a stick that touched the side and waited until the end burst into flame.   “The large one is a gorilla, Rango is a chimp. The blonde is a gibbon. They really are quite good at this.” Maekus explained

“At what?”

“Research! They rescued me from some nasty Nozzes and Woggs, and now I take them to interesting places in exchange for their assistance.  They want to know more about this world we’ve come to inhabit and all the aspects  that brought our ancestors here.”

“But will they be able to help Tasha?” Harmony asked.

“They stand the best chance of figuring out what exactly is going on, which is a place to start.”

While the apes worked, mostly in silence, Xera, Tun-Knee, and Alex hung back. The end of the chaos had Xera borrow clothes from Tasha’s room, and Adric from Alex’s. With Alex waking up and reverting to human form, the three of them sipped ale out of metal cans. They all looked a little more relieved since someone more experienced was in charge. Maekus and his famous Apes. Harmony couldn’t let it go as she stood by the man who had whisked her away to this school.  

The large gorilla with a streak of silver reached into a portal to pull out a large, clear crystal, which he raised to smash into the cocoon.

“What are you doing, Gorge!” Rango insisted, breaking the silence and causing him to stop.

“The temporal stone won’t hurt it, and it will show an approximate time till completion.” He insisted.

“The one-second price might matter. I think we should contact the doctor.  

“He said not to be disturbed.” The largest ape insisted, standing up to loom over the chimp.

“Except for something notable. And this is exactly what he would consider of note.”

The smaller of the two gibbons got between them. “Gentle apes. I will risk his wrath.” Then he darted into the space where they came from before either could protest. And with that departure, it looked like Rango would rather they had not left.

Gorge stared back as though to say, “Look what you started now.”

[Poise and Bearing] kept Harmony still, even as she wanted to act. “Are they always so…”

“Animated?” Maekus finished. “This will be the first time all of them have left their lab in a long time. Even when they looked at you and Adric, they brought you to the lab. Being in this world strains them.”  The man grabbed one of the pastries he’d brought and took a bite.

A classic delay tactic, Harmony had used many times herself to avoid conversation. Full mouth meant no words, unless you were Lord Tyler. He never seemed to pick that one up while she knew him. That errant memory had her hoping he was enjoying his time as champion.

The emergence of a large orange-furred ape had the others giving it short bows. “Za-as.”

His presence eclipsed the others. Like the air got heavier by his existence in the room.

“Is this it?” Za-as asked with a wave of their long arm at the cocoon.

“Yes, and…” Rango started.

Harmony felt Za-as’s attention hit her as Za-as ignored him and focused on her, raising his other arm to point at her.  “What’s your secret, manchild? What recesses did you scour for this power?”

“I, um.” Harmony started as the lights went out in a flash.

Half a breath and the darkness around her ended as quickly as it came, with her in a comfy padded chair across from Za-as, who sat in  his own chair wearing a green robe, smoking a pipe. “So that our conversation is private. You don’t need to tell anyone else. Even Maekus need not know, but information is key.”  The ape insisted.

Harmony broke down how she made the potion step by step. It’s relation to necromancy in her mind and her theory of monsterification. Taking the essence of Tasha, treating materials, gathering from the cursed prisoner. At grunts, she added her recent observations from the initial transformation and how it seeped in and exploded out, the lack of decay in the cooking smell, and how [Cold Touch] monitored the heat as finally starting to cool down, all while Za-as listened, his unfamiliar features nearly unreadable.

“Uniques. We assigned you that seminar for a reason, but I might as well give you some information now. Uniques these days happen either when an expert makes a masterwork so carefully crafted that it is recognized as unique, or someone is fumbling near the edges of the unknown and dangerous, so that their mistakes produce something novel. Now, which one do you think you are?”

Oh, she wanted to argue. It couldn’t be so simple, and it probably wasn’t. With two options presented, she knew which one didn’t fit and how long it had been since she’d first picked up a flask and thrown in ingredients. “The fumbler.”

“That would make for an interesting profession. But you’re not one without skill or thought, or advantages. Items considered unique have benefits. They leave an imprint on existence. You have one bonded into your soul, and this weighs on your actions.”  

“I have two, Adric considered is unique as well. I just didn’t get credit for creating him”

Za-as chuckled. “No wonder you create such groves by your very presence. But let me continue. Things can lose their unique status, but they can also regain it. Titus created seven swords. The first started out as unique, and when he made its sisters, it lost that status, only to regain it when six were destroyed.  Old things lost and reemerging, new things found, all mistakes. Wars are fought to keep items unique, secrets hidden, or buried. It’s one reason why people control information. I think you’ll find that combining your choice to make everything focused on Tasha and the use of the cursed agent caused this situation.”

“There were no active or living curses in that sample. I checked.” Harmony insisted.

“I believe you. One doesn’t doubt a necromancer about death. Tasha knew what she was getting into. She knew the benefits of having a unique body even if it was something weak and sickly, because it would bend the world toward her. And how could she say no, as you created something unique to her that only she could use, using  ingredients most attuned to her nature. Do you know the story of her ancestors and the ruin that brought her people here? All curses are leftovers from those bits of destruction that came nipping at the heels of the arriving refugees.”

“How much did I mess up?”

“Tasha made this choice, not you. Maybe you should ask why, when someone else makes a choice, you take on that responsibility? Yet, when you choose, you never doubt. Tasha will live through that impressive bit of fooling around, changed as we all are by the choices we make. ”  

This  ape thought he knew her after just meeting her? Cocky, powerful beings. There was plenty of doubt, plenty! [Poise and Bearing] kept her annoyance out of her presentation. “I’ll consider that advice. I appreciate the assurance that Tasha will make it through this.”

“She’ll be unique. If she can find out the history of her ancestors' arrival, she’ll have more answers about her body. I’m sure we’ll meet again, Royal White.”

The scene in the room faded back in

“You’re right, Rango, we shouldn’t hit the cocoon with the temporal stone. What if that time cost was needed to add skin to the poor girl? Think, Gorge!” Zaas lectured.

The gorilla flinched.

It was like no time had passed during her conversation with the great ape.  

“But, doctor.”

“I’m detecting purified curse energy here with strong roots to Wainright’s bloodline. This body type will be based on old powers, even if it is new. But with the temperature cooling down, it should approach body temperature in less than an hour, and with no warning signs, I’d say this girl will live. There really isn’t much else left for us to do here.”

That rotting orange-colored thief. He just took all the information she told him and repackaged it for everyone else. Even if it saved her the trouble of explaining what she did, he could have at least asked.

Alex breathed the biggest sigh of relief and discarded the half-empty ale he’d been holding onto like it was a healing potion as the apes disappeared one at a time.

Harmony moved his way. “Just remember how your new body type affected you before you breathe a complete sigh of relief. You heard the doctor. Do you know anything about her family history?”

“She called me lucky that my ancestors only came here with cute animals, but that’s about it. Most people’s families don’t have records of theirs.”  Alex answered.

“It’s been fun, kids. You can keep the pastries. I’ll count this as this week's academic advisor visit for you, Harmony.” Maekus Von Trell interrupted, giving everyone a bow, before departing so quickly that no one could get a word in.

“You think he would have waited to see if Tasha was okay?” Xera commented.

“Then he’d have to take responsibility if she wasn’t.” Harmony reminded her.

Between the fire, bathwater, apes, stressed-out students, and ale, the place had a strong lingering stench. There was a permanence to the level of destruction now. Even cooling the metal floor under the cocoon was slagged from the heat, not counting deep gouges that were left from the chaos of the soul surgery on Alex.

“We’re never going to get our deposit back.” The fighter muttered.  

Even [Dust] and her maid skills weren’t miraculous for this kind of funk.  The team got to tidying up the damage they could until a crack interrupted their work.  

The white shell spiderwebbed with fractures before flaking off, revealing a yawning Tasha as she stretched out in her new body, which deceptively looked nearly identical to the old body, down to the outfit she was wearing, the one that had exploded off of her and burned to shreds. It fit her better; everything was fractionally better. Skin, teeth, hair, Harmony considered herself an expert at accentuating things with [Beautician], and it was like someone naturally did that to her.

“Teams all here. How long was I out?” She asked.

Alex rushed in to give her that bear hug.

“Ooof.” She responded performantly, her breathing unbothered by the enthusiastic force.

Soul sight looked for the monster. The one she’d put there, negotiated and built by her will out of liver, root, scales, and ash, bridged with a curse and kissed with blood. Not that she should call it to her, but there was more ownership there than she had of Alex’s beast. Those monsters, a thing most students shared through their body types, half-step or full. Including the vital shadow hidden inside hers, one she’d yet to explore. One body, one soul, why did Maekus and his apes have to leave? Lying eyes? Lying soul? Truth? It took effort not to label this a problem for the Eraser to hunt down. Tasha has been revived, so part of her was satisfied, questions or no. Mysteries existed, and you didn’t chase them all. Time would tell, or not.

“How did it go? Did the potion work out?” Harmony asked, settling for inquisitive words.

“Better than you could imagine! Watch this.” Tasha peeled herself out of Alex’s arms, stepped forward, and hovered over the ground by a few finger's height. With zero friction, her whole body spun like a top, red hair spinning around wildly until she chose to stop. And when she did, the hair naturally fell almost perfectly styled. “Let's get out and celebrate. This place smells like a barn.”