Chương 65: The First Rune

"What work are you referring to?" Lyra asked.

"I need to get another aura read of your cores."

"Didn't you do that already?"

"Yes, but not as deeply as I should have. This time, I want to know if Vitae's core is somehow messing with your core."

"Okay." She seemed unsure but nodded, then gestured to Maus.

"Maus has a present for you, by the way." It was only then that Arielle, who had been hyperfocused on Lyra, noticed that Maus had a basket in his hand. He gestured with it tentatively.

"My mother finished the robe ahead of time and sent it over by express raven. She wanted you to have it before severance." Arielle took the basket slowly and withdrew the robes from within. It looked almost identical to her regular student robes, but it was set apart by the sheer quality of the fabric and intricate embroidery on the hems. The robe was made with cloudweave, which gained its name from being a silk so soft to the touch that it felt like a cloud.

Despite that, it was somehow incredibly insulative, capable of withstanding even the worst bone-deep chill of the Agora Mountain peak. Cloudweave cost a small fortune, especially when buying enough to make a robe out of it. Only wealthy nobles could afford such a thing. How did Maus' mother do it? She eyed Maus and said, "Your mother bought all of this with her coin?" He nodded.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes, but aren't you…?" She was about to say the word 'poor,' but she could feel Lyra's warning gaze boring into the side of her face. Lyra had mentioned before that Maus worked so hard to become a mage in order to improve his family'sfinancial situation. Arielle had followed up by asking what the financial situation was, and Lyra explained that Maus'family, despite being part of a mercenary sect, were essentially serfs who lived on the charity of the Nobles they served.

His father had accumulated some debt that they were still paying off, which made them desperate for coin. He wanted to buy their freedom so they could leave the sect and live in a city somewhere else. So it didn't make sense that his mother had bought Arielle such expensive fabric. How did she afford it? Somehow, deep inside, Ari knew that it would be unwise to ask him the question as it was phrased in her mind, if only because Lyra's eyes widened dramatically, her lips forming a firm line.

Do not ask him if his family is poor. Do not do it. Ari searched for another way to say it and landed on, "Is this not a waste of coin for your family?" That apparently was still not good enough for Lyra.

"Arielle..."

"It's okay," Maus smiled weakly.

"Yes, we are a little tight on funds. The fabric was a gift… somewhat. Lady Sinclair had purchased some cloudweave from a travelling merchant, but when it arrived, it wasn't the color or thread count she wanted. She got angry and threw it in a pigpen. My mother fished it out of the pen and painstakingly cleaned it until she'dreturned it to its original vibrancy. It also needed magical spot removal, and she asked a friend of hers to help her.

She was saving it to perhaps sell or make me a robe upon graduation, but I told her she could use it for you instead."

"Wow," Lyra said.

"That's very nice of you, Maus. Isn't it, Ari?"

"It's…" Arielle looked down at the fabric and shook her head. It was beyond nice. It was a burden. She knew that it took a lot of effort to procure and clean cloudweave. For the lady to throw it into a pig pen was unconscionably wasteful, and the amount of time it would take to get that pig litter off the silk without damaging the fabric… Not to mention that Maus' mother could have sold it for several pieces of gold, but she had given both the fabric and her labor to Arielle for nothing.

"Arielle?" Lyra called.

"Are you there?"

"Yes." She bowed deeply to Maus with her hand on her chest.

"Thank you, Maus." He put his hands out.

"You don't have to–""[Air Slice]." Arielle straightened, took out her wand, and targeted the tiny air blade at her finger, slicing only deep enough to bleed. Still, it caused both Lyra and Maus to start with Lyra stuttering.

"What are you doing?" Ari reached out and traced her blood on Maus's forehead.

"If you or your mother have a problem," she said.

"And it's within my ability to solve, I will solve it for you. You have my word. I now owe you a blood oath, and I will do everything within my power to fulfill it." They stared at her, stunned as she healed her injury and wiped the remnants of the blood on the back of her hand.

"Oh gosh," Maus laughed a little nervously, touching the blood from his forehead.

"I wasn't expecting that. I mean, I appreciate the gesture, but owing me a blood oath is a little much for just a robe." Arielle shook her head. She didn't think it was much at all. She thought it was appropriate to the effort and cost of the gift she'd been given, a gift that had come to her for reasons she did not entirely understand. All she'd really done was be Maus' friend and help him here and there. That was what friends were supposed to do for each other. It did not deserve this cloudweave robe.

Usually, she wouldn't accept such a debt, and she would look for a way to pay back instantly, but she knew from Celie's reactions that that could be seen as offensive. So instead, she had given him an open invitation to ask for her help anytime he needed it, and she would help him, provided she was not bound by any other laws or obligations, as was dictated by the blood oath.

"A blood oath. Wow," Lyra said.

"I'm a little jealous. I know how seriously Mossbornes take their blood oaths. They'realmost as bad as the elves."

"You should not be jealous," Ari said.

"I'm also going to give you a gift too that's almost as good as a blood oath."

"Almost as good, huh? What's this gift?

"I'll show you. Come in. You can come in, too, Maus."

"Okay," Maus said, and he entered the room after them. Students were allowed to have other student visitors in their rooms before curfew, but Maus moved woodenly into the space as though he wasn't supposed to be there.

"It's alright, Maus," Lyra said wryly.

"We've tucked all of our feminine things away so they won't jump out at you." Maus' face turned beet-red.

"Oh th-th-that wasn't…I mean, I wasn't–""Sit, Lyra," Arielle said.

"I want you to cast spells while I observe."

"Okay." Lyra sank to the edge of the bed while Maus stood awkwardly leaning against her desk. Then she took out her wand from her robe pocket and began waving it in the air, saying, "What spell do you want me to cast?"

"Any of them," Ari responded as she tore her aura-reading charm. She then closed her eyes, activating [Sensate] and Orion again. It took her a few minutes to deeply meditate, tuning out the sound of Lyra's spell-casting and Maus'fidgeting. Her suspicions were correct. It did seem that the Vitae cores surrounding Lyra's body had a weak link with Lyra's Vitae core, and that was what was exerting influence on her internal energy flow.

Her cores had improved after Ari's tutoring, but her Vitae cores were still the most refined, and they focused on controlling the Vitae in the spell. But the good thing was that her core's command of Vitae didn't seem proportional to Vitae's control of her cores, so they might not be entirely linked. So Arielle's solution should work once she learned how to craft the runes.

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"Runes are some of the most exacting magical implements to craft. More demanding than spells, charms, or potions, runes require a deep and precise understanding of reagents, mastery of bonding instruments, expertise in stoichiograms, and proficiency in the preparation of the inkform that will carry the enchantment. Each rune is a careful composition of arcane theory and meticulous practice, inscribed upon a rune scroll. Runes come in many forms.

Like charms, they can be inscribed on scrolls which are torn to activate. However, unlike charms, the rune scroll is reanimated and reassembled, enabling it to be reused after spell termination. They can also be engraved on static objects for a more permanent effect, including but not limited to weapons, battlements, skin (although this can be harder to achieve correctly)." Arielle reread the passage and broke down the things she would need.

For the reagents, she would likely have to purchase them in Khor or somewhere similar. She had already used up two exeats and wanted to reserve the rest for visits to her family, but perhaps she could ask Rava to get her some when she went to the market on Saturday. That was once she knew what reagents were required. Just as with the charm-making sessions, she worked backwards, isolating the spell form first, before looking for what would help her make them.

The spell form was, of course, the easiest thing for Arielle to learn. Thanks to her orb sight, she could essentially use a trial-and-error method to workshop the perfect structure. She began by casting a spell that contained Vitae, Calor, and Vacu, but prevented the spell from reaching completion. She held the charged essences in different stable configurations, moving Vacu and Calor closer and closer to Vitae, agitating it even more.

Once she found the configuration that made Vitae the most active, she built on that, adding more and more orbs until she'd reached a point where the Vitae outer shell mini-orbs were basically jumping from rings, begging to bond. She could probably create a Vitae-only spell with this rune. Eventually. She spent the next few days poring over the book Telip had given her, which was confusingly organized in order of reagents.

Orion helped her find the materials she needed almost instantly, and she studied to work out the perfect amounts, which she could test out once she had the herbs in hand. She could figure out the preparation of the inkform herself, but using bonding instruments to inscribe them onto the scroll, and also the preparation of the scroll, were two of the harder things for her to do. During CPR, she practically begged Telip to help her make the scroll.

She told him she'd read almost a seventh of the book in a week and that she would continue to learn so that he would help her. He was reluctant at first, but he tested her anyway.

"What are the uses and interactions of the Shen herbs?"

"It holds Calor𝞪 in a single-essence matrix, and is used for spells where a lot of force is utilized. It interacts negatively with Li leaves, which cancel out the effect."

"What about Oca flowers?"

"That's for when any spells involve silver."

"Good. And Song bark?" She didn't know that one but cheated with Orion.

"It holds a Luxa-Vacu complex, except in spells where Massa is involved." He raised his eyebrow, and a small smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"It seems you've read a little more than a seventh. You must have worked very hard. Good job." Arielle smiled, pleased. She had worked very hard, although she was a little guilty that she had cheated on that last question. But it was for the greater good.

"Okay," he said.

"I will teach you how to make the scroll and how bonding works, but for everything else, I'll only do it when you're halfway through the book."

"Okay," she grinned. Halfway would take her months, but for now, she was happy that he was helping her with the hard part.

"This is the standard stuff," he said as he worked with the stoichiograph and the runemaking equipment. He told her the names and functions of connected tubes and volumetric flasks, the pipette, the beakers, and the scope.

"We use all this to feed the scroll potion, making sure it drips down in layers. You must pay careful attention to the measurements at every turn. That is one of the most detailed parts. The other most challenging thing is selecting materials and ensuring they interact in a way that gives you the spell form you want, and so they always come back together after each activation."

He showed her then how he did it, how he weaved together a scroll for a sample spell form (one that Ari was happy enough to provide), feeding the bonding and reanimating components in increments. It took the entire session, and then some. They were there almost until dinner time, but Telip didn't complain. He seemed almost like he was enjoying himself. And when he was done, he let her have the scroll.

"Your present for working so hard," he said.

"Once you get halfway through, I'll show you how to make that spell form bond onto the material."

"Of course," she said.

"Thank you, Telip." He nodded.

"You're welcome, Arielle." It all came together in a few days. Arielle asked Rava for the favor, and Rava agreed. She didn't know how much the materials would cost, so she gave Rava the few gold coins that Elric had sent her.

"Wow." Rava's eyes widened.

"I didn't know you were so wealthy, Arielle."

"It's a recent development," Arielle said.

"Ah. I'm sure your cousin spoils you. He seems like the type. I wonder if he'll ever have kids of his own. Some Archmages chose not to, until much later in life, because of the nature of their work." Arielle waited for her to finish speaking, then reiterated, "Can you get it?"

"Of course." Ari had it the next day. She ground the ink in her room, using Orion to adjust the amounts based on what she observed. She then fed the ink into the rune scroll that Telip had given her, watching it soak and fold around the fabric, and instead of bonding instruments, she simply held the spell form still for long enough for the bonding to take place. And just like that, she had her first-ever rune. It took her a week and a half, and she still did not know enough about rune-making.

Without Orion and her book and Telip helping her with the rune material, she never would have made it. But she had enough to help Lyra for now. She breathed a sigh of relief at the item in her hand. She had spent all her time on this, ignoring everything and everyone. She had been to see the blue orb a few times, but spent most of the visit telling it about her plans on making the rune for Lyra. The blue orb seemed to like her yapping, even if it might not necessarily understand it.

And it was productive, because yapping to orbs was partially how she refined her cores when she was a child. She could feel something within her whenever she talked to it, and so she kept doing it, hoping to grow that thing enough to actually use it. Her family was still sending her daily messages, her mother ranting, Celie threatening, and Brom reminding her to write to Greta. But Arielle had told them all she would be busy, and she would answer their questions later. Now she could reap the fruits of her labor.

On that Wednesday, she took the rune and Lyra outside to the forest.

"Why are we here?" Lyra asked, looking around.

"I thought we were going to the study rooms."

"It will be dangerous to cast [Spore Burst] there." Lyra raised an eyebrow.

"[Spore Burst]? The Tier-6 explosion spell that only two masters have ever used since its creation?" Professor Valeria had mentioned this in one of their classes in passing. Arielle nodded. Lyra laughed. She actually laughed in Arielle's face.

"Ari…you realize I'm a level twenty, right? I'm not even solidly an apprentice yet."

"I know, but your Vitae capacity is at least a lower adept level. It's the rest of the cores weighing you down. I chose this spell because it's one of the few attack spells that are almost entirely Vitae."

"That's a hard spell, Arielle. Even adepts struggle with it. It's almost a lower-master tier spell."

"Yes, but it will be easy for you. Vitae likes you and will obey you."

"Vitae is not a person."

"Regardless, it will work, especially with the rune I created."

"Rune? You want me to use a Rune?"

"For now. Eventually, the plan is for you to do it without the rune." This was the first step in Arielle crafting Vitae-only spells for Lyra to use. She had started trying to move the mini-orbs manually, although the fine control wasn't quite there yet. Her phantom fingers were too large to really hold onto the mini-orbs, much less change their positions. But she would get there.

When Arielle figured out how to make Vitae more active without including other essences, she would teach Lyra, and Lyra would no longer need any help with runes.

"The runes are to make Vitae's outermost mini-orbs more active to overcome the pull of their core to yours also."

"I don't understand."

"I know. But I just want you to try."

"I don't think I'll be able to do it even with a rune. It's a very hard spell."

"You'll do it," Arielle said.

"I believe in you." Lyra breathed out and brought out her scroll. Arielle showed her the spell form, and Lyra copied it into her miniscroll. Then she tore the rune as the particles rose in the air, waiting for her. Lyra waved her wand, attempting to draw the orbs together. But not really. Even her Vitae was slow today.

"Do it with conviction," Ari said.

"Like you believe it's going to work."

"I'm not sure I do."

"Pretend," Arielle said, and Lyra did it again. This time, the orbs came together reluctantly, although the Vitae happily followed her lead. Some of the Vitae attempted to eject the Calor-Vacu, but the rune weakened Vitae's effect while maintaining her core's hold on Vitae. It also made Vitae more attracted to the two. When the orbs were in proximity, it approached the time limit, and Lyra said, "Arielle, I don't think we can–" Boom!

On the heels of her word, the orbs combined, creating an explosion of spores in the atmosphere, the force of which reverberated through the air and bent some trees, snapping branches, creating clouds of dust that mushroomed into the air. The spores had been called forth by the spell, containing lots of flammable material, and only needed a small spark to go off as it did. Luckily, the damage wasn't much.

Arielle hadn't been sure what the damage would be, which was why she'd experimented outside, but no tree had been uprooted. Just broken branches and lots of dust. At the blast, Lyra had screamed and dropped her wand. She'd pushed her hands around her ears and crouched to protect herself even though the blast had been in the other direction. Now she turned slowly to regard Arielle with a shell-shocked look.

"You were saying?" Ari said, more than a little smug.