Gemwright Ch 35

* Author's note. This will be a bit of a spoiler, so feel free to skip until the end.*

* Grey and Vai'yun will discuss child rearing. I offer no advice for what is proper, what is effective, or what is otherwise 'good'. The discussion on this matter is what a fictitious tribe has come up with to meet the challenges of their harsh landscape, and MC is reacting to it. *

While I can craft enchanted rings myself, it takes me time to do so, about fifty minutes on a good day. Bor'wa, somehow, sees order where I see chaos, and with her help, I finish a Spinel enchanted ring for Hana in no time flat. Hana let me know how excited she was about this several times.

Hana, "Hurry hurry! I wanna try this!"

Hah, same excitable girl as ever. "Alright, it's done. Come over to your house and let's try it out."

The three of us walk... Two of us walk, Hana jogs over to her cart. Putting her hand with the ring to the inner wall, she shouts, "Hurry up!"

I laugh, and send my thoughts through Sentral, its cart, the carts tablet fused to the wall, and finally open the Topaz to Hana's cart. Pushing my gemsense through, I fuse her ring to the wall. "Try now," I say, but I can sense through telepathy she already feels the change.

Hana, "It's like your ability, but only for this one golem. Sentral is rejecting me." Hmm?..Ah, right, the Topaz is still open, so her cart, and Sentral's cart, are both considered the same entity right now.

Me, "Can you move the cart a bit, against its chains? Turn the lights on and off with gemsense, rather than telepathy? Turn the shower on? Reach through the Topaz and turn my home's lights on?"

She can, it turns out. The lights flicker on and off, and the carts.. well, try to move. They're chained down by their wheels still.

Hana, "Which one of these is Jericho.. Oh, shoot, I closed it. Where'd that Topaz go again..."

I step into the cart while she plays around with the Topaz and tries to find my satellite's Topaz. "Since it seems the enchanted ring needs to be fused to be of use, having it loose is pointless. I'm thinking of fusing it to the side of your table, so you can control the carts as needed."

I pause. Does this mean..? Hana looks at me, and says, "An fun thought! But no, I can't shape gems. That would be fun!"

Not sure if I should be disappointed or relieved, honestly. Anyway, "Where do you want the ring? On a wall like that is probably not comfortable, since you need to stand."

Rin interrupts, standing in the door, "Grey, open up Sentral's door!"

Hmm? I do so, and nod at her. "It's open. What's wrong?"

Rin, "There's an elemental inside somehow!"

That's a surprise. How did that happen? Rin jumps down and runs out of sight. I follow her to Sentral's cart, open. Wed is near the door, looking concerned. "Grey, what's going on? Are we under threat from a water elemental?"

I wave him inside where Rin is standing in front of the Jericho table. She must have heard him, because she says "No, it's not a water elemental. I.. I can't be understanding this correctly, but I know it's not water."

I've got the Topaz facing outside, so I can't tell by sight, but gemsense confirms it's on.

Rin, "That's certainly new... um, please close the portal to Jericho."

I take control of the cart golem, overriding Hana, and close all active Topaz. Good to know I can do that, I suppose. Not that Hana was fighting me. "What was that, Rin?"

She shakes her head. "It doesn't make

sense

. That

can't

be right. Um. It was an asymmetry elemental. But that's not an element. I've never even heard of this before."

...

Huh. Weird.

This is probably some profound revelation in the nature of magic, but magic is largely new to me, so I don't feel it the way Rin seems to.

Me, "Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but light and dark are elements, but there's no elementals for them, right? Maybe.. asymmetry is like that but the other way around?"

We pause the conversation as a merchant returns to his cart. From the stairs on the other side, but still, "Let's take this conversation indoors. Should we fetch the 'Inner Circle?'~"

Rin gives me

a look

.. then sighs. "Why can't I go one week without anything the world upending itself? Yes, assemble the Archon's Seven.. even if there are only five of us."

Hana, "I'll go gather them, Grey. Bor'wa, help me find them?"

Bor'wa, always chipper, responds, "Okay!" and the two of them go jogging upstairs.

I guess that's her saying without saying. It's good advice though. I take it. "Rin, are you alright? Do you wanna talk about it before everyone gets here?"

Rin slumps slightly. "No. Yes? I guess so. Why aren't you more upset by this? You believe me, right?"

The thought that she might be lying about this didn't even cross my mind. "Yeah. It's just weird. To me, magic is interesting, but not a fascination." I put my hands to her head and start touch-telepathy.

Rin looks to the side. "What if you woke up one day, and learned you had another sibling? Your parents never told you. Or... one day you learned that a campfire can be run by tossing normal rocks in to be burned. You never knew, so, what else don't I know?"

Hug? Hug. I wrap her in my arms. "It is strange, make no mistake about it. I don't have the answers. But I'll keep you safe while searching for them."

Rin hugs me back. "I know. Thank you."

Hana, Vai'yun, and Wed don't keep us waiting long. As they approach, I motion for us to enter my house and quickly craft a fifth chair at the table. Just in case Hana decides not to sit in my lap.

Hana never left telepathy with me, so she expands out connections. I close the door and get started. "We've found something that seems like a big deal, so I want to talk to you all about it before doing anything. Rin?"

Rin, "Right.. As you know, there are six elements: fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness. There are also four elementals for those first four, but none for light and darkness.

"Today, through the Topaz portal to Jericho, an elemental called out to me. It was an Asymmetry elemental." She pauses to let that sink in.

Wed, "I've never heard of such. I've heard some propose additional 'elements' such as lightning or life, but they're typically dismissed as there is no such thing as a lightning Lens in any human, or other spellcasting races. Is my understanding dated?"

Rin, "You're correct. Asymmetry is not an element."

Hana, "Is it dangerous to contract with it?"

Rin grimaces. "There's no way to know. Probably not? But I plan to reject this one anyway, as it wanted me to.. make my hands asymmetrical." She puts her hands splayed on the table, palm down, with her left pinky folded under her hand.

Oh.

Oh.

Vai'yun, "I would not think less of you for accepting the proposal. But I also think I would not take the offer."

Rin, "I couldn't have anyway. Something about the planet drives the elemental away. I would need to go up to Jericho personally and then close the portal. I'm not sure it could stay with me when I came back."

Hana, "You sometimes think about the structure of your elementals, right? Where would it fit?"

Rin shakes her head. "I have no idea. Each elemental feels like it stands in a circle, across from its opposite, and larger ones atop the smaller ones." She shares a mental image of what she's talking about; a stone circle perhaps twenty feet in diameter, with her four lesser elementals near the middle, and her standard water elemental further back. "There's balance that way, especially if I get a standard fire to compliment my water next. There's nowhere to fit this new elemental, I think. I don't understand."

Wed, "What can we do about this, then?"

Me, "Not much, I think. Anyone who wishes to, can research alternate elements. Perhaps see if there's a precedent for this? I'll continue work on Jericho so it's visitable. At that time, Rin can visit to pick up a new style elemental if she likes."

Rin, "Should we.. keep this a secret? If word gets out, it could be big!"

Hana, "I don't think it matters. Nobody would believe it. If it hadn't come from someone here, I'd assume they were lying, or misunderstanding something."

Me, "So, nothing actionable for now, while we're at sea. Rin, do you want me to leave the portal open? See what other elementals stop by the satellite?"

She nods cautiously. "If it's not too much of a drain. I'm curious to see what else is out there."

Me, "The Jet in orbit gains more than enough power to keep it open indefinitely. Any other concerns?" A round of head shakes.

Vai'yun, "While it does sound like an interesting facet to magic, we cannot do much with it as we are."

Nobody disagrees. After a long pause, I say, "Quite so. Thanks everyone. Can someone fetch Bor'wa? I might as well make the rest of you Spinel rings too."

Hana's ring gets moved to her table, on the wall with a small gap, so her hand can fit comfortably while seated. Probably. I'll fine tune it for her later. Vai'yun's ends up in the same place. Rin asks for hers to be placed near the doorframe of her cart. Bit odd, but no big deal. They won't often be used anyway.

I offer Wed one, and it gets put into his room in the Barracks.

Wed does surprise me with a request though. "If you have extra, I'd like to request some Jet shaped in specific ways and activated to collect mana."

Me, "Sure, I can spare some for you. Can I ask why though?"

Wed, "As I'm sure you know, I'm a darkness mage. As most do, I wear a lot of clothing to keep a certain amount of Shadowed Area around myself."...I have no idea what that means. "However, Lady Ringara mentioned something that jogged a memory. Your Jet seems to create especially effective Shadowed Areas when it's collecting energy. Can you make Jet long and fibrous?"

Interesting. First I'm hearing about this 'Shadowed Area' thing. I guess it has something to do with him being a Darkness mage. "I'd have to try, I don't think so though."

Wed nods. "There's not a rush. I suspect it would be a step up in terms of my abilities' power, but it's not usually needed these days."

I nod. Fair enough. "I'll work on it when I have time. How's your ring of Fadeout, by the way?"

I'm standing alone near my carts. Umm, wait, what was I doing just now?

Wed, "It works pretty well. It costs a lot of mana to make you forget, but it's quite effective. You should remember our entire conversation up until now, right?"

Whoa

, yeah, "Yeah, it's all coming back to me. That was pretty wild."

Wed, "It's useful for making a quick getaway, but everyone remembers once the spell ends. If the target is hyper focused on you, such as during a duel, it can simply fail."

Me, "That's a potent technique. Maybe I should buy a similar ring myself."

Wed, "Maybe." He holds up a hand and looks at the ring on his finger. "These types of items aren't common by any means, but you're a man of some wealth. If you made it known you were looking for such a ring, then maybe one would turn up." He puts his hand down and looks at me. "Want us to check? Once we get to Friegheim."

Could be fun. "Yeah, if you wouldn't mind. It seems to be the only way I'll be casting most anything."

Wed, "Just keep in mind that casting aids like this still need your Lens to convert your mana."

.. Which I might not even have, for five of the elements. "Noted, thank you."

Wed, "If I may make a suggestion for your next project?" Interesting. I nod. "Rhodonite. Your ability to output power is already unparalleled. Endurance should be the next focus."

Me, "That's a good point. Perhaps that's what I'll do."

Hmm. What might the rest of my gems do when I perfect their color? Their effects seem to change slightly. Sapphire giving the golem emotion, and Jet letting me see in other wavelengths. It stands to reason that the others would also gain new aspects. I'll probably improve it anyway just to maximize its storage, but what new ability might it get? Mana sharing with people? Reduced mana use on cast? Diamond might let me blast out radiation rather than visible spectrum light. Regardless of what cool effect the other gems might have, let's go with the boring but practical 'Increased MP' gem, and hope for an interesting new effect.

Me, "Alright. Let's-" I look around. Wed's already left.

Huh. To work then.

Rhodonite, once I rip a hunk from Sentral, seems to be mostly varying shades of pink. This paler part has too little of 'something', while a deeper pink, almost red, has too much. As before, I have Sentral hold the gem in place while I force the gem to move with gemsense. The excess material, some reddish white dust, falls into my waiting hand.

Now, where is... Ah, Rin's in her cart. I walk over and knock on her open door frame. "Hey Rin. Can I borrow your powder power for a bit?"

She's sitting at a table with a book and a few papers. "Sure thing. What is it?"

I put the collection of dust on her table. "I need some more of this, for the Rhodonite. Once I've purified my stock, I'll put it in a ring and enchant it, see what happens."

She makes a thinking gesture. "Maybe we should figure out what it does first? We don't want to make a lot of something if it's dangerous."

Good point, given what happened with Sentral... "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll try it on my ring first."

Rin, "You can try that with your current one... Right? I'll duplicate this dust in the meanwhile."

Me, "Yeah, that should work. Then, please do. I'll replace what I've got now. Let's see."

Sitting down across from Rin, I put the dust on the table, then take the Rhodonite ring from my necklace. I equip it (removing some other ring) and get a feeling for my expanded mana capacity. Then I remove the ring, put a hole in the Jet shell, and draw out all the Rhodonite. I set it aside, then grab some 'correct' Rhodonite and push that in its place, filling the shell. As the last Rhodonite goes into place, I feel the enchantment snap into place, and I close the Jet again.

Hmmm. "So, the capacity went up, more than it did before purification. I haven't worn this thing in forever, but.. it feels like my mana is recovering faster? Maybe?"

Rin, "A faster rate of recovery? Interesting if true. Just another thing for mages to be jealous of you for." She looks at her rings. I.. don't actually remember what she's got. Strength, constitution, Zone, water affinity, and one other. What was the fifth one? Not counting the Spinel fused to the cart, of course. "I'd be interested in a ring like that. I've been thinking recently that my mana is holding me back a bit from being more useful to you. What do you think? Constitution, Zone, extra mana, water affinity? And, of course, I'd switch out to Strength when we exercise." She blushes a little. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but agility is perhaps unneeded when Sentral so expertly protects us." Ah, agility. That's what I was forgetting.

Oh, she's waiting for a response. "That seems like a good set to me. You don't need my permission to use any rings you want. But I agree those four seem most ideal for you." I have Sentral bring over the Amethyst, Jet, Diamond, and Rhodo- wait, I have the Rhodonite in my hand. The gems are split from its body and float to me via its telekinesis. "I can make the basis of it for now. Give me your hand?"

Rin takes off one of her rings, reaches across the table, and puts her hand in mine. I mold the gems into a rough ring shape, looking outwardly like any of my other solid black rings.

Me, "What are you researching, anyway?"

Rin, "The existence of other elements. It bothers me, so I wanted to read up on it. I don't really have much to draw on though, so I'm just double checking some facts. We can finish the ring when we see Bor'wa. Test it in the golem next?" She taps a knuckle against the table. It takes me just a moment to realize she's suggesting I test using the cart golem.

Me, "Alright. Let's see what happens." The entire cart is a gemstone golem, even if the outside is covered in rock. I fuse the leftover correctly-colored Rhodonite into the table, and connect to it with my gemsense. The mana capacity is much higher than I remember it being, and... Well, that's odd. I command it to begin draining mana from me for half a second. It does, and I almost don't feel a miniscule amount of mana leave me. "I can leech mana from myself. Or you. But it's a tiny amount."

Rin, "Interesting. I believe there is a light spell that drains mana.. or was it fire? Anyway, it lets you drain mana from others, but the ratio you gained was really bad."

Hmm. "Is there any sort of health risk for being at no mana? If I completely drained someone?"

Rin shakes her head. "They'd be worthless in a fight, but it's not harmful as far as I know. Take some mana from me, I want to see what it's like."

Shrugging, I have the cart golem absorb her mana. "Let me know when to stop."

She looks at her hand, lying on the table, with a curious expression. Her expression shifts, and she changes her posture a few times, before looking at me. "That's all." I stop the theft. "I was trying to resist it, but it was like my mana had become oily as it was taken. Curious. Does it make the golem regenerate mana?"

Good question.. I open the cart's Topaz to Sentral. 'Sentral, does this Amethyst make your mana regenerate faster?'

Sentral, 'No.'

I have the golem leech some of my mana again. 'How about that, just now? Did you get usable mana?'

Sentral, 'Yes. 71% of the mana extracted is unusable.'

Huh. I close the Topaz. "Sentral says no to regeneration, but 29% of the mana stolen is usable."

Rin nods, "Good to know. Wait here for a second, honey."

She puts her finger into the Spinel ring fused to the wall, and a few seconds later, a small plate floats in the door. She places it in front of her, removes her hand from the ring, and does that strange shaman thing where she creates matter from mana; reddish white dust falls onto the plate. There's a small pile when she's done. "That's my mana for the day. I can make you more tomorrow if you need."

Me, "You're too kind. I'll get you that ring sometime today."

She smiles. "Happy to help. Now, go make Sentral into more of a menace than he already is." I stand up, and she pokes the Rhodonite blob I fused to the table. "And take this with you. It's pretty, but it's in the way." Hah, that's true.

I walk out with my Rhodonite and a plate full of gods-only-knows-what. At Sentral's box, I pull out some of the Rhodonite. Noting it's completely full of mana, I put it into a loop, mix in the dust, and use gemsense and telekinesis to mush the two together. After several revolutions, I note I'm still short, add more dust, and go again. Once gemsense is satisfied it's nearly perfect, I squeeze out the small amount of excess dust. The result is a foot wide circle of vibrantly rose-colored gemstone. I take a moment to admire it before smoothing it back into a ball and painting it back on to Sentral's box. As I do, I notice Sentral opens the portal to Jericho to withdraw some mana.

Me, 'Sentral, how much mana was lost when I removed the Rhodonite, changed the color, and put it back on?'

Sentral, '18%.' That's manageable. I wasn't exactly gentle with the gemstone. Guess I can just take care of all of it now.

- - -

Re'dan, "Vai'grey, what would you prefer cooked for your date?"

Hmm...? "Sea God, I suppose. For the sides, no preference."

Re'dan nods and heads off to the food cart. Think we've got a bunch still in there. I leave him to it.

My date with Vai'yun, huh? I should make sure everything's ready for that. No intimacy tonight, unfortunately, but tomorrow we'll begin trying for a baby.

Fuck me. Can't believe I agreed to that. But.. it'll be okay. I have an entire tribe worth of people I can turn to for help or advice in raising it.