Gemwright

*Author's Note* There are no intimacy scenes in this chapter.

Wait, what?! No, those are fucking

Diamond

, I don't care if Rin is strength enchanted, Diamond is the hardest natural substance or something, right?

... first things first. I glance over Rin's hands with my Zone; no bleeding, not even abrasions. Her defensive ring did its job, which is a relief, so I turn my attention back to the broken restraints.

I pick up the pieces and mush them together. Gemsense confirms they

are Diamond,

so why??

Didn't I smash Sentral with branches right after I made him a suit? Was the wood just too soft?

Note to self, don't punch the wall of any carriages, it might fragment into a million pieces...

Rin, "That's a lot of thoughts all at once from you. So, Diamond isn't overwhelmingly hard after all?"

Diamond is

not

unbreakable... bleh. Okay. This doesn't matter a whole lot, I think, but it does mean I like my chances of ever having a habitable satellite are even lower.. unless I start

incredibly slowly

pushing metal out to space through a Topaz.

Me, "Yeah. Ultimately this isn't a huge problem, but it does mean Sentral isn't quite as physically durable as I thought. Maybe. Going to space ourselves, also, will probably take longer than expected." Ah, I should check in on Jericho.

I sigh. This is a little depressing, but not actionable.

Hana and Vai'yun get home. They jog up to me, all smiles.

Hana, "So what does Spinel do?!"

I blink. "What?"

Her face falls. "You haven't finished it yet? Didn't you have everything?"

Ah, right.. They got me food so I could finish that earlier. "Um. You see, haha, I-"

Rin, "That's on me. I was feeling a little low, and convinced Grey to spend extra time with me."

Vai'yun adds Rin and myself to the telepathy, then says. "That is more important. Vai'grey, we have brought you dinner. We would like you to eat with us, then solve the Spinel mystery, please."

Works for me. "Sure."

We all sit down at the table in the middle, rather than the food cart. I do ask Sentral to levitate out four forks for us though. I grab some Spinel from the reserve, and some of the sands I'd set aside earlier. I set them in three piles on the table.

Supper is whale meat. Predictably, Vai'yun has a small mountain of rice with her meal. Rin talks about her day, and tells us how the tutor from yesterday taught her more of the Friegheim language. Vai'yun shares her experience with the docks.

As I finish my meal, I wonder.. Where's Bor'wa? Hana picks up the question. "She's playing with Wed and the Crew. She'll be back later. Now, do the thing! With the gems! We're curious."

Alrighty, then. "First up. Rin, if you touch these materials, can you create more of them?" I pick up the sands with telepathy, and put them near to her. She reaches out both hands to touch them, closes her eyes... and after a few moments, more sand appears in one pile, then the other.

Rin withdraws her hands. "How's that?"

Seems... correct. "Great, thanks! Now then.." Taking a pinch of both sands, as well as a small blob of clear Spinel, I mash them together. It starts to turn yello-

I remember/already know/learn/comprehend--

Vai'yun, "Are you okay?"

Ow... "Yeah, I always get a brief migraine when this happens. Let's see.." I pick up the gem again; it's horribly polluted according to my gemsense, barely even valid (it is

vividly

yellow), but it

is

valid, so let's see what you can do. Focusing on it completely... "In enchantments, it allows bio-integration. What in the world? And for golems, it replicates an exterior of biologicals, making them appear like a living thing."

Hana, "I want the first bio..integrashun ring please!"

Rin, "So, you can make the gemstone birds look like real birds? Bor'wa will be thrilled."

Vai'yun, "Can you make Sentral look like a person?"

Me, "One at a time... Okay." I call out Sentral to the table, as well as a bird. "I need to actually make some of this stuff, and that'll take me a few minutes to make it all yellow. This is.." disturbing to look at, I don't even want to touch it, "going to take me a little while to make enough for Sentral and a bird.

The girls get up, and Rin gives me a hug. "Call us out when you've got it ready, okay? I want to watch when you turn the skin on."

Me, "Will do. Hana, your ring will probably wait until Bor'wa gets back, she has some kind of knack for helping me out."

Hana waves at me, then drags Rin away towards one of their carts. "Now, Rin, tell us all about it!"

I laugh, I wonder how much of it she'll tell them, verbally or via telepathy. Oh well, they're probably just going to talk about girly things like shampoo or something. I take a quick glance at the wall; good, the carts do block line of sight, no risk of being watched from there. Now, I've got gems to work on! I start by smashing my entire stash of Spinel together, and mixing in about half of each pile of sand...

- - -

Alright, I think that's the last of the Spinel changed to yellow.

I've got a bit of leftover sand, and easily enough Spinel to thinly cover the bird and Sentral. I coat the bird, then I start covering up Sentral. It makes no movement as I do. "Ready out here!"

I walk over to meet the ladies with Sentral and the Bird. They were in Vai'yun's house this time. Once all come outside, I hold up the bird. "Behold!" I say, pushing a thought at the bird golem.

I'm suddenly holding what appears to be a red-tailed hawk.

Hmm. Its movements aren't lifelike at all. I have it move its head around, then its wings and talons. The feathers brush against my skin and feel real enough, though it's been a while since I've interacted with a live bird.

Hana steps forward and picks the bird up. "It's so lifelike! A little cold, but it feels just like a bird!" She pokes it in the chest. "Oh, there's the gems. A little below it's new skin." The girls crowd the bird. Rin tries to bend the wing backward, but it won't quite go. Vai'yun touches the talons, and comments that they aren't very sharp.

They step back, and Rin hands me the bird back. "Make it fly for a moment, so we can watch." I nod, then connect to the bird. Soon it's hovering in place at about chest level. I'm no birdwatcher, but to my untrained eye, it looks like a normal bird flying in place. Once we've gotten a look at it, I command it to cut the camouflage, and the feathers disappear, leaving a yellowish bird golem below.

Hana, "Wow.. That'll be useful. Now Sentral!"

Alright. At my command, Sentral walks in between our loose grouping, and activates the camo. It instantly looks like a fairly bulky, but pale Caucasian man. Right, with all the gems I've been attaching to it, Sentral has gotten a little wider.

Anyway, it has no hair, its chest is neither flabby nor muscular, and no genitals.. It's curiously smooth looking. We poke it.. him? and just like the bird, the skin feels realistic, but there's obviously hard gemstone below it. It's clearly not bone or anything, the hardness is even, and way too wide to be skeletal. Curious, I try pushing an order at Sentral. Its skin tone changes to islander brown. I try again, and it's Kengen black. Next is hair; it seems short hair works, it now has a tame beard, mustache, and crew cut up top. Longer hair, it seems, is more than this amount of gem can handle.

I call over the unused Spinel, and add it to Sentral's face. Now when I order it to change, the facial hair is much longer.

Vai'yun, "Can you order him to look like me? Or yourself?"

Oh.. interesting! I do, and Sentral changed. The face does resemble Vai'yun's, though the hair is different. The skin tone is exact, but the body is shaped somewhat differently. Also, there's no breasts at all.

I could probably add my entire Spinel stock, and it wouldn't be enough to replicate her gigantic breasts. I smile, glad I'm not in telepathy for them to hear that thought.

Rin, "It's close, but the body structure is a little off. It's what Vai'yun would look like if she had Sentral's overall body shape."

It goes without saying, I can't get it to talk at all. The mouth can't move, because Sentral doesn't have a movable jaw.

Seems we're satisfied with not-Vai'yun, so I change Sentral to look like me. There's again, a close resemblance, but there's some uncanny valley.. ah, that's what it is. The eyes are completely unmoving.

Me, "Interesting. It'll take a bit of work to impersonate someone, but I think it can be done. I can't get it to talk, maybe a job for the future." I think that's all for now. "Will Bor'wa be home soon? We can work on those rings." Actually, I'd like to make them all a full set of rings.. But I should probably wait until I've purified my stock to do that. Something to keep in mind when we're traveling, perhaps.

Hana looks to the side for a moment, probably checking in with Wed or something, then back at me. "On her way back already, it seems."

Eh, we'll it's fine then. "I can get the pre-work done, then. Come on, Hana."

I pull some relevant gems off Sentral and its box, and take a seat. I almost pull out a seat for Hana as well.. Then just open my arms, and she sits on my lap. "Heehee, you know I won't pass up a chance," she says.

I take a few moments to enjoy hugging her.. then take one of her hands and start up the basics of the ring.

Bor'wa arrives back at camp, coming from around one of the carts. Wed follows.

Me, "Welcome back! Did you have fun, Bor'wa?"

Bor'wa, "Yeah! I got to paint! It was kind of like cloth staining back at home, but different!" I send her a telepathy invite, and ask her to help with the ring. She accepts, but continues talking about her experience with paints. She apparently will also be painting more tomorrow.

Hana's ring completes. "Feel anything, Hana?"

She frowns, and removes her strength ring. "No, nothing."

Wed, sitting at the table, raises an eyebrow, so I repeat Spinel's benefits for him. I also call over the Spinel covered bird, which looks like a hawk. Bor'wa looks delighted, and reaches a hand toward the bird. It becomes

bright

blue, then white, pink, and flips through a few more colors, before returning to the normal hawk it was before. "Does this mean I can fly them around during the day?!"

Um. I guess? "Sure."

Bor'wa cheers.

Wed, "The potential for impersonating others is interesting, but being unable to talk limits its usefulness a lot. Still, you could use it to make a decoy of yourself."

Me, "True. I'll think about making one of those. I could even control it. Might fool anyone who isn't paying close attention. Anyway, if you're here Wed, I assume you've got some gems you want made?"

Wed takes a paper out from somewhere, and pushes it across the table. "Indeed. I assume you still have the leftover gold ingot from last time? We wish to sell more pieces like it. Also, one of your wife's works requires gilding, it should be in her cart. Ask Lady Vai'yun for it when you have time. We're not sure how long we're staying here, so we aren't taking too many more commissions on your behalf. Has there been any progress on that front?"

Me, "Nothing concrete yet, but the Faha group seems willing to ship me over if I agree to work a lot of gemstones for them. I'm thinking about taking them up on it."

Wed shrugs. "Probably the best way to get it done, by appeasing one of the nobles. It'll help with disembarkment too, to have a friend that'll help us with inspections on the other side, too."

Me, "True. I don't want any more trouble than is necessary. Maybe tomorrow I'll stop in to talk to them?"

Wed, "They'll probably send another messenger tomorrow morning. It's sort of how business is usually done, though said business usually takes place more than twenty-four hours later. They're moving fast with you."

None of the requests on the page look new or challenging. I summon some gems over as well as the gold ingot.

Wed stands up, but waves a heavily clothed arm over the table. I hear some clattering as what looks like Amethyst raws drop onto the table. "We located a small incoming shipment, and bought out the contract on your behalf. For the new work, just pass them to tomorrow's minder; she'll get it back to us." He steps back, and turns. "See you around." He leaves, heading east, rather than north-ish towards town.. Ah, but there's more shadows that way.

Me, "Bor'wa, would you help me make a Spinel ring for myself? I'd like to play around with it after I craft it, see what I don't understand."

Bor'wa, "Okay. Rings are easy to understand!" Wish I knew what you do, kid. In a few minutes, I have my own Spinel ring.

Me, "That's all I needed for today. Thank you for the help, Bor'wa. You were very helpful."

She bounces away somewhere, and I yawn a little. Wonder if it's bedtime already. Hana and Vai'yun are talking about something on the other side of the table.

Rin, "Need anything else from us?"

I shake my head. "Trying to think what else I need for today, but I think it can wait until tomorrow. I want to clean up my Sapphire to hopefully improve Sentral's intelligence. As for the rest of the gems, I want to wait for the boat ride, give me something to do while we sail."

Rin, "I wonder how he'll behave, when he's smarter? Will he want to come with us into town?"

Me, "I know Sentral will remain loyal, but as for what other effects it will have, I don't know. Maybe it'll be able to predict the future or something?"

Rin, "Anything is possible. What does Sapphire need to be pure?"

Me, "I'm not sure.." The loose Sapphire got put onto its head at some point along with the Sapphire it already had. I have Sentral come over, and ask permission to take off some Sapphire.

'Yes.' Not that I expected it to refuse, but it's still important to me. I snip off a hunk of Sapphire from the periphery, and look closely at it with my gemsense. Ah, might as well show this to Rin with telepathy. I connect to her mind.

Looking at the Sapphire, almost all of it is under-saturated with 'something'. I find a small portion that has too much, isolate it, then clean it up. As expected, dust falls out. "Rin, would you please create more of this? Whatever it is."

She's watching what I'm doing, and even as I ask, she reaches out to touch it. "It's easy to do while I'm touching it, but I don't actually remember what the last one is." The tiny amount of dust becomes a small pile. "Can you make a section in Sentral's box, or somewhere, where these sands are kept? So that I can make more for you as needed."

Me, "Oh, that's smart. Yeah, I'll make one soon." For now, I set aside some of the metallic looking dust, make it a small cube for safekeeping, before putting the rest into the Sapphire. I swish it around, then use the loop trick again to get the correct ratio into the entire Sapphire. The extra metal sand goes into the cube.

Someone knocks on my brain, and I let them in. My head suddenly feels like it's in a vice... ¬

How do you make the Spinel clear-colored? What methods, what spells, what reagents?

¬ 'boof', I feel like someone took a foam sledgehammer to my brain. My consciousness is filled with static and whiteness.

What... I just can't, what...

Gotta..

Disconnect..

A few seconds after it starts, before I can manage the concept of disconnect, the pressure suddenly evaporates, and I find myself on the ground. Moments later, I hear a distant shrieking.

A crying Rin is at my side, and helps me stand up. She asks me something, and I nod, "I'm okay, just give me a minute." Soon I'm on my feet, and Hana walks out of one of the carts towards us.

Me, "Thanks, you two. I was having trouble with.. whatever that was."

Hana smiles. "No problem! Are you alright?"

I nod. "I think so. My brain feels a bit numb still. You did something like that to me once, but you were much gentler. I

was

being attacked just now, right?"

Hana nods. "Something like that. Somebody tried to telepathically stun you, and dig through your mind for secrets. He learned a couple things about you, but let's just say he 'unlearned' them when I got through with him."

Huh. Someone assaulted my mind. Shit.. "I suppose for Rin and Vai'yun, don't accept any telepathy, unless you've tapped on a golem in the last few seconds. Or if you can see me." I think about it. "Should we bring this back?" I make a hand gesture at my head, the way I used to for the Islanders while learning their language.

Rin, no longer crying but still red faced, says in an even tone, "That would be prudent. I can't believe they sent a telepath after you though. People that strong are fairly rare. I'll make sure the islanders know, too."

Hana sighs. "Unfortunately, he didn't know who he was working for. He was hired by someone he didn't know, to try to disorient you and steal your gem secrets. This is

super

illegal! He's definitely going to get caught, but someone offered him enough gold he was willing to take the risk."

Me, "Should we.. chase him? Turn him in to the guards?"

Hana. "Do you want to? We might have to stick around longer and give testimony. I've made certain he forgot everything."

I sigh. "No, I want to get out of here quickly. As long as he won't be coming back, that's good enough."

Perhaps I imagined it, but Hana's grin looks, just for a moment, profoundly cruel. "Oh, you don't need to worry about him.

He won't

."

My mind is clearing up now. Deep breath, Grey. We're all right. The Sapphire experiments can wait until tomorrow. "I need a swim, a shower, then bed, I think."

Hana nods, and smiles. "It's just you two tonight. I'll be quiet, but don't close telepathy, okay? Just in case."

I walk over to Hana and give her a hug. "Where would I be without you? Thank you for watching out for me."

She hugs me back. "Dead in a ditch somewhere! Enjoy your swim, I'm going to play with Bor'wa."

I turn to Rin. "Care for a swim? Get the heart rate up?"

Rin, now calm again, says. "Alright, sure."

- - -

We come back, smelling slightly of saltwater, ready for bed.

Rin, "So Wed's company will mostly just be for acquiring gems. What about using it to gain political alliances? Having friends in high places can only be a good thing, since we'll have a permanent presence there."

Me, "That is true. Ingratiating myself with the local powers will probably be wise. Should I just bribe them? Hmm."

Rin, "I just think it's a good idea to spend some of the money on good relationships with the government and nobility, instead of wealth accumulation. We'll probably be fine either way, but it gives you more options, probably."

Me, "No, I like the idea. I'll talk it over with Wed while we're on the boat. I already have so much money I don't know what to do with it."

We walk into my cart, brush our teeth, and get ready for bed. Rin takes some extra time to brush her long hair, "The saltwater, it's bad for my hair. Can you show me the Zone in my home, please?"

I connect to Sentral and do just that.

Rin, "Please bring this bottle over," she says, mentally nudging my attention towards one in particular. I have Sentral lift it up. "Right, that one." I start navigating it over. "I want to keep my hair smooth, and salt isn't great for that. So, lotion."

The bottle arrives, and I put it on the counter. "Can't just exclude the water?"

Rin, "I could, but it's a lot of surface area. It would drain my mana too quickly. At least for now, I want to reserve my mana for you. It takes more than a day for it to all come back."

Me, "Is that why I was able to swim faster than you this time, because you weren't using your water elemental? I see. And yes, I agree that making out in a flooded shower is critically important, thank you for prioritizing correctly."