“Why are they worried? What has happened that has them so jumpy?”
“Do you know where Salina was stationed before she sought refuge here in Lo’sar?” Lisander asked tentatively.
“No. I thought she was an ambassador to Lo’sar. Is that not the case?”
“Oh no, not at all. Why would our kingdom require an ambassador to one of its colonies?” She asked. “But perhaps you are unaware of the governmental reality that Lo’sar and Varidian have between us. That is no matter. Salina was an Ambassador from Varidian to the human kingdoms of Tor. She had just recently arrived when the Torish purification declaration went out.
“You are more than likely familiar with how it affects those with outsider heritages, but a lesser-known provision exiles all non-human inhabitants from the kingdom, save a handful of specifically designated regions such as the Iron Coast, which is ruled over by a dwarven king and is only nominally loyal to Torish sovereignty. But, where those with outsider blood were given months to vacate, those of non-human races had to leave immediately or face purification.” I shuddered, and not from the cold.
“Salina’s guards were concerned that this proclamation would extend to her and her retinue, despite assurances from the ill king's steward to the contrary. They were worried that the thrones steward could not keep peace, and that the embassy would have been stormed by fanatics despite his best efforts. So they fled north.”
“Tol’geth was among those guards if I'm not mistaken.”
“You are correct” Lisander confirmed. As we walked we came across a small tributary of the river, barely large enough to have a steady stream of water, we stepped over it with no difficulty. All around it wildflowers of every kind sprouted in a riot of colors that followed the tiny stream's course.
“He, he thinks himself a failure.” She said quietly, so much so that I might have missed her words had even the slightest sound been made just then. “He lost someone on their retreat north.”
‘Oh. who?” I asked trying to mimic her quiet, soft tone.
“Her name was Pina, she was felled by many darts dipped in sleeping poison. If she survived the ordeal, she has no doubt been sent to slavery. She is a human, just like you, but her heritage is one of Varidian, which some might call ‘other’ or ‘outsider.”
“It sounds like someone actively pursued them across country when they fled. Is that right?”
“Yes. When Salina and her retinue and her two guards, feld from the Torish capital they were followed. Their pursuers caught them near a northern Torish stronghold of that nation's religion dedicated to their sun-god, in the name of some saint that relates to wheat. It is named Sowers Vale I believe.
“Pina was a nature-speaker, a druid according to Torish custom, of some skill. When the attackers found themselves at a bottleneck, she and her animal companion decided to stay behind and hold there, while Tol’geth and the rest of the retinue escaped with the ambassador. In his recounting of the tale to the council when they first arrived, Tol’geth told us that he looked back only once, and saw that Pina had been struck by nearly five darts laced with the sleeping poison the attackers where using.”
“So she’s a prisoner in Tor now,” I said mind racing as I thought of things we could do to try and resolve the situation.
There was a silence as we walked for a few seconds before the librarian responded. “Well, I know that Tol’geth certainly thinks so.”
“But that's not the opinion of the council?” I asked after she didn’t elaborate.
“No. Sadly, most of us are not hopeful about the prospects of her still being alive, let alone being anywhere we might affect a rescue of one kind or another. If she did survive, she has more than likely been sold to the glass isles as a slave.” Lisander was being gracious about the subject and trying to be as discreet as possible. “In fact, a goodly portion of tonight's festivities involve allowing the Varidian delegation time and space to grieve for their lost Pina of the wildwood, and Barisel.
“Oh, so you have all really written her off,” I said. “No offense mind you, if I were in the council's situation, I would probably feel the same way. However, Tol’geth in my experience is an excellent judge of both character and skill. The man is truthful to a fault at times. I doubt he would allow even his own heart to lie to him about anything, let alone the realities of a potential rescue.”
“If you feel as he does, may I suggest you speak with him on the subject? I find the entire affair tragic in the extreme. Though I have not met the poor woman, I did know her grandmother years ago when I visited their home. If she was anything like the woman I knew, then it was indeed a great loss to all of Varidian, and the world of the wild.” I nodded my understanding and allowed the conversation to move on to other topics of mutual interest.
We discussed Libraries more in-depth, how such institutions worked in my homeland, and how they worked here. She was fascinated by the idea of an entire population of people who were mathematically and literarily literate. I explained how the basics of public education worked, how it was all funded generally, and how my people relied not on magic, but technology for most things.
She explained her fascination with the American school system explaining that while Elves where by far the most educated of peoples on the continent, decent comprehensive education was far away from being a universal thing. We discussed how such a system might work in theory in an elven state with me postulating ideas, and her shooting them down, tweaking, or adopting the ideas based on her people's unique idiosyncrasies.
In exchange we discussed how a Magical Library was founded, what skills were required and the economics of operating and maintaining one once it was built. Most Magical Libraries she explained where massive, multi-story affairs, some with towers that reached towards the clouds, others with labyrinths and labs that went miles underground. Others were parked precariously near volcanoes, or high in the mountains where snow melted into runoff each year.
This wasn’t just an aesthetic choice she explained. The more node points and ley lines that a Magical Library could directly tap into, the less expensive the upkeep, and the more grounded it would be in the case of magical feedback where the library might normally be damaged.
Access to such places offers a decrease in costs, as well as an increase in protection. In addition Magical Libraries had a sort of leveling system themselves. Lisander explained that It wasn’t common, but such buildings, once they reached a critical point in their construction, formed a Geni Locus, or a spirit or ghost of the place. It sounded remarkably like a Genius Loci from Roman lore, and again I found myself contemplating, and then putting aside the similarities in high elven to Latin. At least for the moment.
That spirit was tied to the building and its grounds. The Geni Locus grew as the structure grew, and died if the institution ever ceased to function. After a building had reached a critical mass of size, access to mana, and experience in operation, it could level up increasing the Geni Locus’s intelligence and awareness. This allowed for the building to operate far more efficiently, but could also lead to unfortunate side effects if the spirit of the place was not treated well, or some of its needs were neglected, or if tragic events had transpired nearby.
According to legend such places could turn into Fell Libraries, Blood Covens, or Abyssal Catacombs depending on the situation. However the reverse was also true, and if good things happened in and around the library before it came into its own, it could become a Celestial Study Hall or an Academy of Magic. Such a thing was soon to happen to her beloved library, though small it was. It had been in operation for nearly three hundred years, about half the average elvish lifespan (though they could live much longer lives then that depending on a number of factors), and they had just connected it to a new earth node they had discovered about a week ago, almost directly under the structure.
Combining that with the air ley line that it had access to being so high up on one of the Home Trees, what I came to understand as Lo’sa
r’s city center, and they had effectively just doubled both the amount and type of mana that the Library had access too. The only thing she was worried about was the fact that at its inception there was a murder that had taken place about a mile from the structure, the first and only murder in the colony, and it had gone unsolved.
Noticing obvious quest bait when I saw it, I asked to visit the site when I visited Lo’sar proper and got the following notification.
“You have found a historic quest ‘Murder Under Elven Skies.’ Investigate for more details. Type: Historic. Difficulty: Unknown. Accept? Yes / No”
I mentally selected Yes, and I received the following prompt.
“Congratulations, you have found your first Historic Quest. Such quests can take lifetimes to complete. Quest has been added to your Quest Log for reference at a later time.”
A small flashing icon on the bottom of my vision appeared in the shape of a scroll. I clicked on it and a list of all of my active quests appeared. “Say, Lisander. Do you think you might be able to show me the murder site? I would like to take a look around some time.
“Did you get the historic quest? I love historical quests. So few of them have ever been answered. Historians of every species have traveled the world seeking adventures and answers. I’ve always imagined I'd be able to join them.” She let her voice trailed off slightly at the thought. “But, that can’t happen. At least not for now.” She explained smiling at me as we walked.
“Your siblings?” I asked and she nodded.
“ I have a responsibility to them. But, to answer your question, yes. Actually, we are headed there now. The festivities we have planned for the end of this trek, and for the grieving of Pina, will happen directly under the Young-tree.” When asked, she explained that the Young-tree was a second Home-tree planted a few short years after the founding of the colony due to concerns when the original home tree had shown signs of illness.
The first sapling survived, and the colony ended up with two of the giant magical trees, which had caused some trouble early on. The common trees in the forest, spurred on by the magic of both of their giant cousins, grew like weeds so thick that traveling through the forest grew difficult, even for the elves.
It was why the Cutter Hollow settlement was allowed to stay, as their constant need for lumber used up much of the excess magic in the soil when they replanted the clear cut forest acres in very early spring. By mid-summer, the trees grew large enough for them to harvest, and by the start of fall they were fully grown behemoths that would fetch a pretty penny each at market.
As we walked and talked, it grew darker and darker as the sun moved first below the tree line, even in the largest of clearings, and then beyond the horizon and finally setting in truth. Once that happened, I was stumbling all over myself. About the third time, I accidentally ran into Lisander, I got fed up and compressed my mana into a small, tight ball that gave off a steady stream of white light. After a few minutes of sustaining the mana construct, and making slight improvements as I grew to understand how best the mana transitioned into light, I got a prompt.
“Congratulations! You have learned the spell, Light Ball 1. This spell can be cast to create a ball of light out of pure mana, that will stick to any surface that you will it too. See Spell Sheet for more details.”
So I pulled up the spell sheet screen and took a close look at the spell.
Light Ball 1
School/Type
Cost
Casting Time / Duration
Cool Down
School / Type: Light
1 mana / 60 seconds. 30 mana at time of casting.
3 seconds / 28 minutes before needing new mana source.
3 seconds
Effects:
Creates a small ball of light out of pure mana that will stick to any surface you will it too, illuminating 30 feet around itself.
“I just formed a new spell,” I said and described what I had done to Lisander after I apologized for running into her again. Walking from that point on became much easier, and I only bumped into others a handful of times the rest of the journey.
“Ah, yes. That is a spell common to human magic users.” Lisander explained. “Elven light masters typically find enchantment for such things far more useful in our settlements as they last longer, and are typically more mana efficient in the long term. But such an ephemeral spell as you just described seems to serve your peoples needs well.” it was both a boast and an olive branch, something that I was coming to associate with elves of every stripe as simply an idiosyncrasy of the race as a whole.
As it grew darker, true to Lisander’s words, the elves each produced a kind of light wand with a tiny milky white crystal at the tip that produced light. That's a magic flashlight, I thought amusedly. “Would you mind if I get a look at one of those at some point?” I asked the librarian.
“Of course Rayid.” She pulled another from her pouch and handed it to me.
“You have received Wand of Directed Light. This wand is imbued with the spell Directional Light 1. Light time remaining, 15 / 100 hours.”
So she gave me an old one. Best not let the lowly and seemingly bumbling human wizard mess with any of the fancier or nicer wands. I thought sarcastically. Eh, she’s probably right. I barely know what I’m doing. I unraveled my light spell with a thought like I had done to the mana constructs on the road to Cutters Hollow, and found I had about 15 mana points left over, just hanging in the air, the rest having dissipated into the forest.
After a few seconds of thought, I tried to imbue the magical device with the mana. There was enough light from the other flashlights that I could walk safely, while also conducting my experiment. If I broke the flashlight then I'd just have to buy my new friend another one in recompense. Or find a way to fashion one myself.
As we walked I first tried to tether my little remaining free mana in the air to the crystal but was rebuffed and I lost nearly half of what I was working with. Grimacing, I felt along the rod for a sigal, writing, or some kind of activator rune, button, or precious stone. There wasn’t any, so I willed the light on as I would a spell, and it worked. “Gah!” I yelled as I nearly blinded myself by turning it on while I looked directly into the crystal that produced the light. You think knowing how to use a flashlight, and many experiences just like that in boy scouts, that I would have learned by now!
I blinked furiously, and after a second or two, my vision was fine. Lisander, wore an amused expression on her face while politely and pointedly not say anything about the incident as we continued on. I had only about two or three mana points leftover from my light spell to experiment with, as I had lost some in both the first attempt with the crystal and when I lost concentration after blinding myself.
I didn’t want to have to expend more in something that was intended to just be a simple essay in re-imbuement of an enchantment. That would just be embarrassing. As embarrassing as blinding myself with a flashlight in front of people whose children nearly tripled me in age and who were hotter than most supermodels back on Earth? Probably not, but my ego still got in the way. After a moment or two of thought, I decided to try something else and turned off my flashlight.
I willed the mana into the device, even as I willed the device to activate again. My mana, tethered to my will as it activated the spell inside the wand, was greedily taken in by the imbued spell. I smiled, and I heard a slight clapping from a few of the people around me. I looked up and about three or four of the adult elves on the trip, including Lisander, clapped politely smiling at my accomplishment. My face turned to beat red I was sure, and they all turned their attention back to the road, their own feet, their children, or the beauty of the forest at night. I also earned a prompt!
“Congratulations! You have gained a new skill, Enchantment. Current skill level, 1.”
“Praise well earned, young wizard Rayid. Learning to re-imbue an enchantment without any formal lore training? My people value such dogged determination and ingenuity,
as it often leads to personal growth. Praise by our kind is rarely given in such a fashion, however, so if we caused embarrassment please forgive us.” Lisander said with a slight bow in my direction. “Many of us Green-Elves have adopted that custom when dealing with humanity as it seems to be shared by most of your societies.”
“What? Clapping?” I asked shaking off my embarrassment and getting back into academic mode where I felt safest.
“Yes, applause at a great feat undertaken and succeeded is common in all of the Torish lands.”
“Hmmm. Interesting. On my home, Islands.” I caught myself again. I really needed to actually sit down and write a formal cover story of some kind. “Yes, on my home islands…” I re-emphasized the word, trying to play it off as a hiccup of translation. “It grew out of the desire of a crowd to show their appreciation, agreement, and support of one political leader over another in the great open forum, in the Greco-roman states. It swept from there across our world at least that's what our historians believe…I mean Island chain… I beg your indulgence, this one concept is difficult to translate.” I felt my cheeks going red again and covered it with a yawn.
Lisander nodded her understanding of the mix up before speaking. “Interesting. There have been many who have theorized a similar root origin for it in the Torish lands, though there it was not a signal of support as much as it was a sign of a willingness to obey the warrior kings that once brutally ruled your kind.”
I nodded, “There are many scholars who believe that that is the true origin. It is an interesting debate, as they both have evidence that the tradition started at separate places. If I may ask before we go too far down an academic rabbit hole, how do elves traditionally praise another?”
“In-person, one on one. If it is great praise, it will be publically done, but still is a matter between two individuals.” I began peppering her with questions about elven society. Our conversation shifted topics a few times before one of the handful of tiny moons that Ethria sported, rose high in the sky. Lisander explained that moon was named Essal’ia to the elves, it was the moon of light, and warning, and was nearly tidally locked opposite the sun around Ethria.
Ethria- the Pioneer Page 24