Jebidiah's Change Bk. 01 Ch. 02

The shock of events threw Jebidiah off balance enough he had to use Stern's shoulder to steady himself as he rose from his knee. Dana, rising with him, once again walked off leading the way. The room the Princess chose contained a long table surrounded by a dozen chairs and a sideboard holding a pitcher and mugs. The Princess lifted the pitcher, sniffing inside. "Water. How provincial. Shut the door and have a seat." She then grabbed three mugs and the pitcher, setting them on the table in front of Jeb and Dana.

"Your Highness, please allow me to pour for you," Jeb said before sitting. He was unsure what etiquette required and looked to Dana for guidance.

"Oh, the water is for you. I'm not drinking untested water. For the time being it is simply Stephanie. The Highness stuff gets old and never goes away. Come, sit." She motioned to the mugs she had placed across from her. "There is much to discuss, and I really don't have time for the social dancing." She pulled out a flask from her belt and poured something red, definitely not water, into her mug.

Dana sat, pouring water into her and Jeb's mug. "Stephanie, what in the divine are you doing here? It's bad enough they had to announce my House this morning, but now to have the crown princess show up? We need to find out what is going on with the Tally, and this distraction is not going to help."

Dana's admonishment of the princess caught Jebidiah off guard. He realized just how little Dana had talked about her place within the House and its internal political dynamics. The princess sat in silence with a smirk on her lips then regarded Jebidiah with an evaluating expression. She was, Jeb had to admit, a good-looking woman. Almost as tall as Jebidiah, her build was hidden by the tunic and armor she wore. The lines the elven chainmail settled on and muscular arms extending past her sleeves alluded to a woman's curves on a warrior's frame. Like most of the Tonstar line, she sported amber hair though not as red as Dana's, together with the trademark steel gray eyes. A proud nose settled over lush lips all set on a round face accented by slight cheek bones.

Even though he had spent many hours in the public areas and archives of the Keep, Jebidiah had never met anyone in the royal family besides Dana. He considered what he knew of the princess. Crown Princess Stephanie Tonstar of House Tonstar, Third of Her Name, Duchess of Coventry, was a Warrior Mage Talent. During her schooling, she specialized as a Darido Redemption Paladin with Evocation as her chosen School. It was a slightly odd combination as the Redeemers tended to peaceful resolutions and Evokers liked sledgehammer solutions. It was the "If negotiations fail, just kill them all" approach. Dana had mentioned her enough times to maybe fill the fingers of one hand, leaving Jebidiah with no ideas for how to proceed.

"The infamous Jebidiah. How Dana does prattle on about you in her letters. And now word has reached us that you are on the verge of shifting into the 'famous' category. Dana says you are the most studious person she knows, rivaling the whispered stories of wizards pouring over their secret tombs deep in their towers. Tell me, Jebidiah, or is it just Jeb like in her letters? Have you ever researched the odds of a Talent with a draw for a Lost actually being lost to humanity?" Coming from other people her words might have been taken as mocking but Jebidiah was given the impression he was being tested.

The question caught Jebidiah by surprise though. He had to think hard and it took a minute for the answer to finally come. "House Barret lost a Diviner during the Dragon Flight, I think, Your Highness. And it would be my pleasure to have you address me as you wish."

"You've been training him, Dana. That will help in the months to come. You are correct Jeb. Howard Tyson Barret was indeed the last time a Talent was lost to Humanity as a Lost One during a Change. I'm impressed you could recall that so quickly. I spent the last hour before coming here getting a dozen Artificers to look it up. Another tidbit of information they brought back to me was the full list of Talented similarly Lost. All three of them. Care to wager the odds that your friend Stern would not have Awoken?"

Since Jebidiah had done a portion of the math earlier while laying with Dana, his answer came back unbidden. "Call it fifteen hundred-millionths of a percent."

Stephanie raised an eyebrow then looked back and forth between the two before settling her gaze on Jebidiah. "Honestly, I had assumed Dana's praise on your analytic skills to be some form of pod crush, trying to butter up father into giving you a job in the keep so you'd stay near. I may have to go back through those letters and pay more attention. That is near enough the odds the Calculator came up with. So yes, nigh impossible odds. Come Jeb, this is proving a welcome distraction. Let's continue this exercise in deduction. What can be deduced from the information we have?"

With his brain focused, he allowed the current stream of thoughts to speak for him. "It's actually an exercise in induction; we're theorizing based on assumptions. By association, if the odds of Stern becoming Lost are so low, then the odds of me Awakening are exactly the same. But then you have to take into account the probability of there being sixty-nine Humans left out of twelve pods when the math says there should be sixty-seven point seven Humans. Or that there are ten males when the math says eight point six. The odds of me sitting here are a hole in the graph."

Dana punched Jebidiah in the arm, almost knocking him off his chair. "Fucking dolt! It's like you devote all your brainpower to thinking and leaving none to think about what you are saying! I swear I am going to make all this go away by simply killing you today. Tally solved."

"I apologize to Your Highness for whatever I said out of line. I do not realize when I do it and mean no disrespect. It is a major character flaw."

"There was no offense given, and with time, I am sure Dana will finish beating it out of you. What you, ah, induced is where we are at. You represent an impossibility, and yet here you are. Our initial conclusion is that the Divine are involved, and finding out why is paramount. As such, when this Judgment is concluded, your pod will take up residence in the keep, under constant observation of course, with an accelerated Guild apprenticeship before you are carted off to the Bh'orel Academy for formal training."

Jebidiah was dumbfounded. "Your Highness, I cannot enter the Academy. I am an Artificer. It has never been done."

In a patient yet amused tone the princess said "To repeat myself, 'And yet here you are'. What is more impossible? Your Awakening or having an Artificer in the Academy? One breaks a Divine law and the other Kingdom rules. Rest assured the exception has already been made."

A knock on the door distracted Jebidiah from his thoughts. "Enter." Stephanie called.

A guard opened the door enough to look in and catch the eye of the princess. "The Judgment has started, Your Highness."

Stephanie emptied her mug and turned back to the two. "I shall join you with your pod. We all want to see what happens with the Stark girl."

By the time they made it back to the banister, ten of the fifty-one judgments had been completed. On the stone surface below, a diviner stood gazing at his feet. With a short incantation and wave, a portion of the stone under his feet became transparent. An anxious Gnome became visible, sitting on her bed with their legs pulled into their chest, head tucked, arms hugging their legs tightly. Another incantation followed and the gnome began to glow with a soft light. An artificer standing a short distance away declared, "Wanda Theridon, Artificer, Gnome Female, Seventh Day, Second Tenday of the Antaen in the Year of the Divine Eight Hundred and Thirteen, welcome to the Light."

The surface returned to its former opacity, and the diviner moved on a few feet. He repeated the process to reveal another Changing Room. Within this one, a stooped-over troll raged. The bed was destroyed and the troll was incessantly alternating pounding the door and ceiling. The diviner repeated his second incantation, and the troll grew darker like a miasma coated it. The artificer made his next announcement. "Petra Domeric, Female, Fourth Day, Second Tenday of the Antaen in the Year of the Divine Eight Hundred and Thirteen, Lost to a Troll." This time, when the diviner walked on, a pair of Evokers moved to his former position and began their own incantations. The troll, now a Lost one, had to be dealt with.

This process repeated as each Changed was Judged and declared welcomed or lost. Selene, the first of the three Changed from Jeb''s pod was judged a Dark Orc. The next, Henna, was a Light Dwarf. Finally, the diviner came to the last room and repeated his process once again.

The room below revealed a very naked green-skinned female goblin. She stood defiantly, staring at the ceiling. Judging from what he recalled of the scale of his Changing Room, she stood around 4' 10", very petite. Her body he could see was well-toned with medium sized breasts topped with dark green nipples. Her hair, now a dark green with a massive white streak starting at each temple, was much longer than when he last saw her, tumbling down to her waist. Her pubic hair had also grown long. Of the same dark green color the top of her mound was adorned with a patch of white in the shape of a downward facing V. The sight of her brought a horrified gasp from Dana and Tenner. Jebidiah grasped the banister railing with white knuckled strength. The diviner repeated the Judgment incantation, and the dark miasma began to encase Crys' form.

Jebidiah closed his eyes to hold back the tears as the artificer spoke once again. "Crystal Crag Stark, Goblin Female."

"Hold!" came a shout behind Jebidiah. That voice came from the princess with all the authority she was able to project. Jeb's eyes opened as the murmuring and shouts that could not be escaped this day started once again. Starting at Crys' three white patches of hair, streaks of white light joined the darkness, spiraling around her body. The artificer looked to the diviner who stood stunned. Crystal's eyes began to glow with a piercing light and her voice rang out. "Heed my voice, children of Tresolmar."

Someone screamed as another cried "A Divination!"

Princess Stephanie moved beside Jebidiah and muttered low enough only they could hear "It appears we're not through with the impossible today." The Changing Rooms were sound proof, indestructible. The wards placed on them had been reinforced every tenday for hundreds of years yet Crystal's voice still carried to everyone's ears. Her glowing eyes turned to look directly at Jebidiah and she raised her hand, pointing directly at him. She continued to speak as the distance between them somehow shrank until her face filled his vision. Her voice drowned out all sound.

"Jebidiah Tonstar Valor, First of Your Name, Breaker of Bonds, House Fallen, Twenty bear witness the Trial of Twelve, Scion of Power, House Risen, Prime of the Eight, Bond Reforged, Mountain Sundered, Judgment Met."

-- Somewhen, Somewhere --

Comlain paced impatiently. Thanks to the rules the Power had set for the great game he was forced to work with his polar opposite, Axteus. Comlain respected rules above all else, he was the embodiment of Law itself. He did not care why the Power chose the rules it had nor why he was forced to have Axteus as a partner. The rules just needed to be obeyed. Axteus was pure chaos and everything it decided to do seemed to center around testing those rules.

They had both decided on their player for their third round of the great game by consent but how they introduced the player was all Axteus' doing and not what had been discussed. Comlain was used to how his partner bent the rules but this, this had now gone beyond bending and shattered a rule established when the Power was once again freed. He worried about repercussions and any advantages those repercussions would give the others.

His partner was just supposed to switch Jebidiah's Change so he stayed human and let the large one's Change ensure his removal from the board. Instead the insane fool Awoke both. Every Divine was allowed to grant a player one advantage and while he felt Axteus add something to Jebidiah he had no idea what or how useful it would be.

A rabbit jumped into the nothingness in which Comlain paced and stood on its hind legs then began thumping one with a rapid beat. "Game's afoot!"

Comlain scowled.