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6/11/04

Corvus made his way to Yeande’s balcony on his last legs, or wings, as the case was. He was completely and utterly exhausted. Having summoned half a dozen blooms, started a breeding, and teleported at least one time too many today, he was ready to sleep.

But he had to see Yeande first.

After seeing Simon and his reaction, Corvus feared the worst. He had done the equivalent of using Yeande in the worst way possible: one night of pleasure, no return call. While he did not love her, he liked her enough to not want to put her through that. The sooner he apologized the better.

Landing on the balcony, he stumbled the last few steps to the sliding door, just barely managing to summon up enough magic to push it open with a wave of his arm. “Yeande?” he called. “Are you here?”

The dark feien wasn't seen immediately, but she appeared soon enough, peering over the edge of the table where her home sat. "Corvus?" she whispered, eyes widening as if she wasn't really certain of what she was seeing. For a moment, she rubbed her eyes with one hand, blinking again and breaking into a smile as she leapt off of the table and used her magic to float down to him. "You're back!"

She hadn't really had much doubt that he WOULD come back. She was, however, very glad that she'd gone to the house when she had, otherwise she likely would have given him a rather chilly reception. However, she had been convinced that it was NOT his fault he'd been carted off, and stopped just before where he stood, not wanting to touch without his permission. "Welcome home."

“I’m so, so sorry,” he began. His day seemed to be full of apologies, which made adding another apology that much easier. “It was not my intention to leave you how I did.”

Nodding softly, she reached, letting her hand pause just near his cheek. If he wanted to lean towards it, he could, but she wasn't going to force him into contact. "I know. I came looking for you shortly after you disappeared. The others at your house told me what had happened." She glanced over him, frowning softly, then looked towards his eyes again. "You're about ready to fall over... come inside? It's at least more comfortable if you sit."

“Yes.” While he did not learn towards her hand, he reached out to take it, apparently interpreting the motion differently than she had intended it and putting her in the unusual position of physical support.

She wasn't about to correct him. She was just happy that he was here, in one piece, and back where he belonged. She took his hand gently, then wound an arm around his waist to help lift him with her own magic and take him towards the small house.

"Yeande, who's..."

"A friend," she replied, glancing towards the small white Feien that hovered nearby. "Go on now, this isn't the time to meet him." She barely noticed the soft nod as Shalafi darted off again, her focus intent on getting Corvus somewhere that he could relax.

Corvus shot her a funny look concerning the unfamiliar feien, but was too exhausted to truly care. He was simply thankful to finally make it to the miniature house, where he promptly dropped to the floor, curled up under one of his wings, and closed his eyes.

Yeande sighed faintly, giving him a faint smile before she moved to get the pillow from her own bed and slid it beneath his head. She curled up to sit nearby, letting her fingers trail against the feathers of his wing gently. "You're safe here... and no one will disturb you. Get some rest, Corvus."

~~~

When Corvus awoke, it was without any sense of time, date, or place. It took him a moment to recognize Yeande’s house. When had he arrived? He recalled leaving, but after that things became rather blurry. He stretched out a stiff wing, grazing the ceiling with his feathers.

Yeande was nearby, curled up on the pallet that was her bed. Her wings were folded around her, the jagged membranes fluttering with the breeze that came from the doorway. The ceiling fan sent a draft into the house almost constantly, keeping the place cool.

When he stirred, her eyes flicked open, watching him for a moment before she pulled herself from bed and moved to where he was laying, then curled up to sit alongside him. "Good morning," she whispered.

“Morning.” He squinted at her a tad and smiled wryly. “You look much the same.”

"Not much has happened to change me," she replied, the smile coming back to her lips as she wound her arms around her knees. "You're still in one piece," she said, stating the obvious rather well. "I knew you would come back, I've just been waiting."

Yeande chewed on her lower lip for a moment before tilting her head to the side. "So much has happened while you were gone... I hardly know where to begin. Are you hungry? I can get us something to eat while I catch you up on events."

“That sounds excellent. I also have a great deal to tell you.” He sat back and waited, both expecting her to serve him food and unwilling to speak his half until fed.

If she took offense, she didn't show it. Yeande was used to Corvus' particular quirks, and got to her feet in silence. "I'll be right back. Make yourself at home." She left out the door then, vanishing from sight as she headed for the kitchen to get their meal.

It wasn't too terribly long before Corvus heard a rustle outside... one that couldn't be caused by Yeande's leathered wings. Shalafi leaned in through the doorway, small fingers tightening around the door frame as he listened. "Hello?"

“Hello,” answered Corvus suspiciously. “Who are you?”

Smiling softly, the boy stepped in, keeping a hand on the wall. He'd never actually been too far inside here before. Yeande liked her privacy. "My name is Shalafi. You must be the one Yeande was waiting for."

Corvus sniffed. “My name is Corvus. What are you doing here? And where did you come from?” Julius had told Corvus the second summoner was too young to summon flowers. Had that been a lie?

"I live here," he replied, tilting his head slightly. Youko is my bonded, I've been here about a month now. He moved in a bit closer, keeping his steps small until he was able to sit near Corvus.

"Yeande said that Julius summoned me. He's a Feien that she met when she realized that blooms were still appearing and thought you had come back."

“Julius summoned you?” echoed Corvus. Alas, there went yet another detail he had been so proud of before which now no longer unique to him. Wait, was this-- “You’re the new summoner!”

Shalafi blinked, staring towards Corvus on shock. "Me?" he squeaked, shaking his head softly. "No! No, I'm not a summoner... At least I don't THINK I am." He was pretty certain that a summoner wouldn't get the tar kicked out of them by another Feien. "I'm not as strong as you are. I couldn't be a summoner."

Corvus considered that. If this feien were a new summoner, wouldn’t he know? Or was Julius keeping the fact from him until later? Best to hold on to that and ask. “There are no other feien as strong as I am, save for Julius.”

Nodding, Shalafi smiled. "That's what Yeande told me. She said I'm good at magic, but not as good at it as you are. Did you really get taken to another dimension?" He couldn't help but ask, the Feien's wings nearly vibrating as he tried to keep himself still. He was curious, to say the least, and he was finally getting to meet the only Feien that Yeande respected.

“You make it sound like something out of the ordinary,” noted Corvus. “I cross dimensions every time I go between my home and the shop. Furthermore, Gaia is another dimension for a lot of people. They merely visit it and leave every single day.”

The boy leaned back slightly, nodding. "I hadn't thought of it that way," he murmured, gaze flicked towards the ceiling as he thought. "I suppose it's not that uncommon when you put it like that... perhaps someday I'll get good enough at magic that I can go between them as well."

As he was musing, Yeande came back with two thimbles full of iced tea and an array of tiny cut-up pieces of fruit, including grapes that were already cut into pieces. "Shalafi, OUT! Leave him be, now's not the time to harrass him."

Smirking wryly, Shalafi bounded to his feet and bowed to Corvus. "It was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope to speak to you again sometime." With that, he darted towards the doorway, however he seemed to be heading for the wall instead.

"LEFT!" Yeande cried out, wincing as she kept one eye open to watch. Just in time, the white Feien swerved and made it out the door without incident.

Corvus shot Yeande another funny look, but was too concerned with the arriving food to press the matter. “Alas, you forgot I prefer my grapes whole,” he noted, taking one of the pieces.

"I didn't forget..." she answered, setting the tray down and moving to sit beside him. "However, I'm not the one who prepared them. Youko had a container of them set aside for me already this morning, and that's the last of the grapes." She picked up a piece of melon, eating slowly as she glanced towards the door. "I'm sorry if he bothered you. He's insanely curious about nearly everything, and since Talonfaust went home, he's been stuck with having only me around."

“Since what?” asked Corvus.

Ah yes, he hadn't been here. "One of the other younglings. His name is Talonfaust, and he believes he's a dragon. He was staying here for a few days while his bonded was away,a nd was here when Shalafi emerged from his bloom. He was invaluable with helping us through those first days." She didn't want to tell him the rest. If he knew just how badly she and Youko had screwed up with that poor bloom...

However, hiding it would probably make him even more angry. "Shalafi is blind. He's gotten used to the house and can maneuver around here relatively easily... he's getting used to the shop as well, but Talon was his eyes for the first few days."

First Simon, now Shalafi. “I’m beginning to think someone may have tainted our gene pool with ocular defects,” joked Corvus. “Is that all that’s happened since I left?”

Yeande shook her head softly, swallowing a bite before answering. "I met an elder... I believe that's the first time I've ever seen Arturo speechless, was when I told him. The drama around here seems to have slowed down, but there are a lot of new little ones running around. Some of them seem to thrive on causing trouble, one of them almost got Arturo's son killed by a bird."

“Really? But he survived? What happened?” The mention of a potentially grisly story excited him. He wasn’t yet sure if he was relieved or disappointed to hear the boy had survived. “And just how many ‘little ones’ are there? How did they come to be?”

"He survived, yes... Arturo and I pulled their tails out of the bird's nest in the rafters of the shop." She shook her head faintly, half scowling. "There are a lot of them. Arith and Shux... Aquafina, Talonfaust, Shalafi, Ianios, and some little troublemaker I haven't met yet that seems to scare the hell out of Shalafi. I honestly have no idea if there are any others, those are just the ones I've seen."

Yeande shifted as she was sitting, wings folding tightly behind her. "At first, I thought you had come back. There was no other explanation for the new blooms. When I went to find you, I found Julius instead. He's apparently been the one bringing about the new blooms."

Corvus swore bitterly in an unfamiliar language that sounded like two sharp rocks being banged together. “Is there nothing left to my domain?” he scowled, looking crossly at the table. “If Julius wanted to play summoner, there was no need for him to summon me in the first place.” He swore again.

"He said that his coming here had nothing to do with you," she started, trying to soothe him. "It could just be that they needed to find a bonded and he didn't have a choice in the matter."

He thought about that. It was entirely possible Julius had another summoner working in secret somewhere. Maybe Corvus had not even been the first. “I should have a talk with him, then. Assuming I can find him. He’s hard to get a hold of.” He took a large bite of grape and followed it up with a swig of tea.

"When I ran into him, he yanked me beneath the porch of your house. There was some... THING flying around and he said it would kill me." Yeande shuddered at the memory, it having been one of the low points of her existence. However, she'd be damned if she told anyone just how frightened she'd been at being wrapped up in cloth and carted off. "When I went back again another time, he wasn't anywhere to be found."

“He can be standing five inches away from you and you’d never know it,” agreed Corvus. “Magic detection and all.” He busied himself with eating, not eager to revisit the subject.

Nodding, Yeande turned back to her own meal. It was very likely that she simply hadn't noticed the elder Feien at all. She had been working on her magic, but it was no where near those levels yet. "So... what HAVE you been doing for the past months?"

“I wish I knew,” he started, which was perhaps not the most reassuring way to start. “One minute, minding my own affairs on the back porch, the next, Emperial’s snatched me off for a jaunt on this absolutely horrid planet called Nikoths! Then, a mere week later, it’s off to this giant windy field! I nearly died there! We hadn’t any real food and we got separated. I ended up in this library place, and a day later I suppose Emperial ends up there, too, only we still haven’t got any food or water.” He paused to pound his forehead with his hand. “That girl is going to kill me! I just know it!”

Yeande reached, shaking her head faintly as she brushed his hair back. "She's not going to kill you... I think she'd rather die first. However, I definately don't envy you the journey you had."

He jerked up. “But it didn’t end there! In fact, it just didn’t end! It kept going and going... So here we are, trapped in this library, and there’s no food or exits, and I have no idea why we’re there, but we’re there for several DAYS until we conclude that there’s an important book missing from the library. Then, by pure mad luck, we are rescued by a girl named Rose, who has one of these special books, and then we have to go find a book, too, and we do. We finally get out of the library then, only not to Gaia, and not to the place Rose is from, but to a mountain, which we apparently must climb to the top of!” He waved his arms for emphasis as he spoke, nearly knocking his tea off the table as he did.

One slender hand reached out to grab the tea, her gaze still fixed on him as she listened. "How on earth could such a place even exist?" She waved a hand then, stopping him before he could start. "Nevermind, I don't want to know. I just pray Youko never gets a wild hair and decides to go to one of those places. How on Gaia did you get home?"

“We didn’t,” he said, taking the tea and sipping at it, “at least not for a long time. First we went to the top of the mountain, then we had to go into this Citadel, and then I accidentally teleported into a wall.” He scowled.

That made her start slightly, Yeande's eyes widening slightly. "Corvus you could have gotten killed! Are you alright?" She started to look over him as if making certain all of his limbs were still in place.

“That’s just the thing,” he smirked, “it did get me killed. For a whole two or three days, during which time I was stuck there in the Citadel’s walls with half a dozen other dead souls.”

Yeande's pale skin went paler at that and she stared at him in shock. Sitting back heavily, she shook her head faintly, part of her mind trying to digest that information, while the rest went in circles about just how easily she could have lost him forever. "What happened?" she finally managed to ask, her voice shaking slightly.

“Oh, well, I got over it,” he said, and took a large gulp of tea. “Got reunited with my body in the end. And it turned out the book was supposed to be mine, and got an egg to go with it.”

At least he was alive AND in one piece. "I'm glad you're home," she whispered softly, picking up her tea and sipping from it. "I kept the shop going as best I could. But I'm just glad you're back and safe."

“Then you should probably know I can’t guarantee that for long.” He didn’t sound particularly upset about this statement.

Somehow, she'd had that inkling. It wasn't like Em to truly stay sedentary for long, and it would stand to reason that Corvus would be going with her. "I understand. Just know that you always have someone who will be glad to see you come home."

He stared at her. “You say that now, but will it be the same tomorrow?” he mused.

"It's been the same since you left last time," she replied, smiling wryly at him. "I don't see how one more day will change it."

“Because today, I’m going to meld with a gemstone,” he boasted, “after which point I will be changed forever. You can never guarantee tomorrow, Yeande. Don’t try to pretend you can.”

Yeande blinked, staring at him in surprise. "Gemstones... you mean you've found a Gemstone? I'd heard about them, that it's what happens to us when we finally die." She glanced down at her hands then, tightening them into fists against her lap. He couldn't change THAT much, could he? It wouldn't change who he was.

But it might.

Closing her eyes for a few moments, Yeande then turned back to him. "Then I won't guarantee tomorrow. But I will guarantee that very little can change my opinion of you, Corvus."

He sniffed lightly. “We’ll see. But yes, gemstones are dead feien, and by melding with one, a fairy can obtain previously unheard of levels of power.” His eyes glinted. He no longer cared what she was doing or how she felt, he was simply bragging for the sake or it.

"I'm happy for you," she said softly, her smile widening faintly. It was good to see him this excited about something... ANYTHING. "Will you let me be there when it happens?" She had to admit to a bit of curiosity as to what happened when a Feien merged with a gem... and this would likely be her only chance to see it.

“Sure, if you like. You can take notes for Simon. He’s currently too preoccupied to observe. I probably should have mentioned it to him earlier. He would have liked the chance to watch the process.” He shrugged and finished off his tea.

Nodding, she started to gather up the remnants of the meal, her mind working in overtime. "What will it do, do you have any idea other than power? Will it change how you look? How you act?" She couldn't help but think that if the gemstones altered power, they could alter other things as well.

“It varies from stone to stone,” he explained. “Physical changes are a given. Mental changes are rare but have occurred in the past. If you’ve seen Julius, then you’ve glanced the power and some of the changes that can result, but he keeps most of the more drastic modifications hidden under all those robes.”

"I've seen his wings... three pairs, from what I saw. What else happened to him, do you know?" She was half wondering if his vision hadn't been damaged, with how he wore the veil over his face.

Corvus pointed to his face. “His eyes. Rather nasty little effect there. And the double sets of ears. Or was it the split ears?” He thought a moment, then shrugged. “Not important. Quite a few markings under the robes. I don’t know why he’s so bloody self-conscious about it all, really. The tradeoff in power is more than compensation enough.”

"I was wondering about his eyes... it didn't seem like he could see, but it didn't slow him down at all." Yeande crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back slightly. "I don't see why he would be self conscious over it, either. Things happen, and it's not like we can stop it, we just deal with it and move on." She was reminded of her wings, and felt a bit hypocritical as she folded them tightly behind her back.

“Indeed not. But now that I’ve got seven gems, I get to pick one to merge with, and I intend to do it as soon as possible, which would be today.” He finished off his second piece of grape, which he had picked up during the course of the conversation. “The power might not make me immortal, but it will be quite useful overall, I think.”

Immortality... that was something Corvus wanted most of all. Yeande could understand why, he would be the shortest lived of all of them if he didn't find some way of stopping it. "I hope it at least helps you achieve that immortality. Perhaps it'll make it easier."

“My thoughts exactly. In any event, we can leave whenever you’re ready. I’ve had enough to eat, I think.”

Nodding, Yeande cleaned up the mess and headed out to take the tray to the kitchen. "Shalafi! I'm going out, I'll be back later." She didn't really feel the need to tell HIM where she was going... but Youko wasn't home and he would be able to relay the message later.

“Whatever,” shrugged Corvus, rising.

~~~

Corvus brought Yeande straight to the gemstones, which he had hidden underneath the porch, “Where even Julius can’t find them,” he boasted. There were seven in all. He picked up the one he had chosen for himself: an octagonal yellow one that glowed. It was the only one of the gemstones that shone so.

"They're beautiful," she breathed softly, looking at the gems and hesitant to touch them. She gazed over each one, violet eyes wide as she took in the sight of the sparkling stones. "I hadn't expected them to be so pretty... I feel stupid saying that now, but I didn't think that anything that came from death could be this lovely." She leaned down, letting her fingers brush against one of the stones, an amber coloured sphere that lay gleaming against the soil.

“ ‘Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,/Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.’ Shakespeare,” he quoted. He turned around and looked behind them a moment. “Hm. Must have been the wind.”

"Romeo and Juliet," she whispered in reply, barely glancing towards him as she got to her feet once more and watched him. "How do you merge with it? Is there a spell, or does it simply happen?"

“You must have someone do the spell for you,” came Julius’s voice, as calm and even as ever. The Ancient appeared behind them from seemingly nowhere.

“Aha, I thought you were there,” said Corvus.

Smiling faintly, Y eande tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear as she turned towards the both of them. "Hello again, Julius," she greeted him, glad to see that he was still around. She'd been worried that he'd gone for good the last time, when she hadn't been able to find him.

“Are you to meld as well?” asked Julius, folding his fingers together.

"I..." Yeande paused then, glancing to Corvus and then back to the stones. As tempting as it was, she couldn't just TAKE one. "The stones belong to Corvus," she replied. "I believe I’m simply tagging along."

“Gemstones cannot belong to anyone,” said Julius firmly. “They are equal to all fairies. As one feien may not ever own another, so too gemstones cannot be owned.”

Corvus scowled, disappointed at that edict.

She glanced back towards the amber sphere, fidgeting slightly as she watched the play of light over its surface. "I suppose... if I'm able. That one has had my attention since we arrived here."

“You are welcome to her,” nodded Julius, “but before you accept a gemstone you must know that while they bring great power, they also contain great dangers. To accept a gemstone is to accept another as part of yourself. You will take aspects of that person’s power, but also of their physical being and even their mind. The changes can never be predicted, even by myself.”

Nodding softly, Yeande picked up the stone and looked over it. It felt soothing in her hands, and almost seemed to beckon to her. She glanced to Corvus then, noting the excitement that was barely contained beneath the Feien's gruff exterior. "I understand," she replied to Julius, ready to take that risk.

“There is one more thing,” said the Ancient. “If you do this, you will never be able to bond with another feien to create new blooms, and the process is irreversible.”

She stepped a bit closer to Corvus, curling her arms around the stone and letting her eyes stay locked to Julius. Whatever he was doing, she wanted to see it. "I have no desire to bond with any Feien other than Corvus," she replied honestly. "And there would be no blooms, regardless." She'd felt that way ever since she was a child, and now was the only time she'd ever been able to let Corvus know that. He'd been so adamant about it being a flaw of his when she was younger... and she honestly didn't care whether or not she ever made blooms.

“You’re making a mistake,” said Corvus. He seemed suddenly very cold. “Yeande, while I am aware of your feelings, I don’t share them. Don’t ruin your chances for me.”

"I'm in charge of my own feelings, Corvus, and they won't change simply because you don't share them." Yeande continued to look towards Julius, not even glancing towards Corvus. "Every word was true, I have no desire to bond with any other Feien. So regardless of whether my feelings are returned or not, there is still no chance for anyone else."

Corvus looked Yeande up and down once before shrugging. Her choice. If Julius said she was allowed, Corvus was in no position to stop her, and he could care less if she decided to throw away her life. “What now?” he demanded of Julius.

“Simply hold the gemstones to your chests, and I will start the spell.”

Yeande nodded, holding onto the gem and taking a deep breath. She had no idea what this was going to entail, whether it would be painful or not... she was having second guesses, but kept them quietly squirreled away.

Julius hesitated a moment. He seemed to have doubts of his own, but his role here was the same as Corvus’s role as summoner: to do what others wished him to do. He held his hands up. A whisper broke his lips, something low and faint, and he began to shine a brilliant light blue that reminded Corvus briefly of the Citadel. The gemstones they held turned insubstantial and sank into their bodies.

Of course, Julius had failed to mention one thing about this process: it hurt like hell. It felt as if molten lava were coursing through their veins, insects consuming them from the inside out, a thousand migraine headaches poured into one moment.

Yeande trembled, trying to keep her control as long as she could. She did NOT want to seem weak in front of Corvus, but she couldn't keep up the control for long. She let out a scream, her arms holding tightly to herself as they folded over her chest, the gemstone disappearing and settling within her. Her hands clung tightly to her arms as she fell, dropping to her knees and curling forward tightly from the pain.

A hand landed on her shoulder, offering aid and support. Corvus, unable to see his eyes were so tightly closed, was still able to locate her using his other sight, magic detection. The hand was the least he could do for someone so foolishly throwing her life away for him. His teeth ground together as he knelt next to her. The pain was excruciating, but he was beginning to get used to such torments. Still, he let out a strangled cry.

Gradually, the pain faded and their senses returned to them. Julius was gone.

Gasping for breath, Yeande tried to focus, tried to see through the sparkles in her vision that were the result of the pain. "C-corvus..." she whispered softly, trying to turn towards him and curl against him as she waited for the trembling to stop. Something was wrong... something different that she couldn't put her finger on just yet.

He was too preoccupied with himself. Extending out from his original black markings were golden swirls, totally covering half his body. He reached behind and found he suddenly had long hair -- long yellow hair at that. “Damnit,” he swore, “should have listened to Julius.” Then he bothered to look at Yeande and whistled appreciatively.

The whistle was what got her attention, Yeande's gaze lifting to him as she was about to ask just what the hell he was whistling at when she felt like curling up into a ball and dying. She stopped halfway through that thought, however, and stared at him, bringing up one hand to cup Corvus' cheek, then let it slide down his right side where the markings had changed. "Corvus, you're..." Different... changed... so many words could have summed up her thoughts at that moment.

"Damned good looking, as if you weren't before." She grinned then, pausing and staring at her own hand... and the orange-tipped claws that scratched lightly against Corvus' skin. NOW she understood what the physical aspects were... as well as the dark amber-coloured folds that seemed to be stretched between her arms and her sides, forming a secondary set of gliding 'wings'.

He took her hand and moved it away from himself, looking vaguely amused. “All in all, I think I may have to complain. I wanted the multiple ears and claws.”
"Ears?" She reached, bringing her fingers over the dual ears on either side of her head, then chuckled faintly. "Not my fault you picked the wrong gem." She glanced down then, noting where her markings had changed as well, and her feet... she had claws on her feet? Something told Yeande that she would be spending a LOT of time in front of a mirror when she got home.

Looking up to him, she smiled still, tilting her head tot he side. "I have to say that you look ravishing, even without the ears and claws, Corvus. And your hair..." As if just noticing it, she turned to get a better look, peering around behind him.

He picked up the long ponytail and stared helplessly at its yellow color. “Yes, well, I suppose casualties were unavoidable.”

"All in all, I think the casualties were a minimum," Yeande said, bringing a hand to run through the blonde hair. "This will definitely take getting used to, I believe. And the others won't know what to make of it."

Corvus stood, shaking away any and all of her attentions. “I believe I should seek out a mirror, not to mention my bond.” He cast an eye at the remaining five gemstones. “Perhaps they can be sold to other feien.”

Nodding, Yeande got to her feet as well, stretching and looking over the new addition of wings. "Perhaps it would be a good idea. I doubt either of us could go through something like that again."

“We don’t have the choice,” he remarked bitterly, recovering the remaining gemstones with sand.

"Then that's what we'll do," she said, helping him to cover them, then heading out from beneath the porch. It had been a very enlightening day, indeed.

9/18/04

Sunil steeled herself, repeating a phrase in her head before stepping through the portal. She was dumped out onto the lawn of a house that was by now familiar to her and she made her way up to the front door. Resolving to herself that this trip would not go as the last had, she knocked as loudly as she could on the door, positive that Corvus probably already knew she was in the area.

There was no immediate answer from within the house. Apparently no one was within hearing distance of the door, or perhaps the knock was not quite loud enough to attract attention. Whatever the case, it was clear further action would be required, but just as the thought of knocking again entered Sunil’s mind there was a sudden voice behind her.

"You were with Corvus before," the voice said, calm and controlled and sickeningly familiar. An invisibility spell fell away, revealing the blue-robed form of Julius.

Sunil turned slowly, already placing the voice in her mind. Once she facing Julius, Sunil inclined her head slightly just as Ruya had recommended. A sign of respect, she had said, was never wasted.

"I was. You, however, are the one I really needed to talk to. I would like to speak to you about the quest for immortality."

She put her arms on her hips out of habit and tried not to scowl.

Julius remained silent a moment, face stony. "Yes, what of it?" he said. When he spoke, only his lips moved. The effect was a bit unsettling--and intentionally so.

Sunil clenched her jaw, intimidated by Julius but unwilling to give up. She tried to relax, taking a deep breath before replying.

"I want to be immortal. I have reason to believe that you have information that would assist me towards that end."

Once again, that infuriating pause. "Yes, I do have that," he said, and then returned to silence.

Sunil tried really hard to hold onto what Ruya had said. Getting mad would solve nothing. Remaining calm was the only way to get what she wanted. In a falsely calm voice, Sunil prompted Julius.

"Would you please share that information with me?"

Is this 20 questions? She thought, narrowing her eyes. Fine, she could think of good questions to ask if he had to have the information pried from him.

"It is a fallacy," said the elder, "for no one may live forever." The words peeled from his lips only with great reluctance. A bit of a breeze tugged at his long hair.

Sunil blinked, totally caught off guard. She wanted to ask if he was sure, but he had to be. He didn't seem like the type to make something like that up.

"Is there anyway to at least extend our lives?"

At last, Julius’s lips curved into a slight smile. "Yes, to the length of the one you are bonded to. To do so requires great effort, and only one who is experienced and knowledgeable should attempt such an undertaking. There is always the chance of failure, and as with any other journey, it is fraught with dangers."

Only as long as Kam? Well, that was longer that the estimate on her lifespan Corvus had given her. Unless of course, Kam died prematurely, but that would have been a problem regardless. Sunil nodded to herself, absorbing his warning.

"I'm up to the challenge." She would admit no weakness in the face of what she wanted. "Will you tell me how I can link my lifespan to that of my bonded?"

Julius raised up one of his hands, the first substantial motion he had made since her arrival, and beckoned. "Come here, and we will see if it can be done."

Sunil's naturally suspicious nature kicked in, making her reluctant to approach Julius. After a pause, she forced herself forward until she was well within arm's reach of the ancient.

He placed his hand upon her forehead, fingers splayed against her temples. Suddenly, that expressionless mask fell away from him, his jaw tightening and the corners of his mouth turning down as he concentrated. The blindfold he wore began to glow. The long cords trailing off the blindfold in the back suddenly flew to life, golden charms on the ends rising into the air.

Whatever he was doing, he was clearly expending quite a bit of energy in the process. His magical signature, which was usually masked beyond perceptibility, seemed to flare to life and spread into the air around him. Only when the magic seemed to have reached its peak did he speak, and then it was an unearthly sound, distant and cold.



At that, Julius suddenly fell away coughing and gasping, plummeting through the air towards the ground. He managed to catch himself some two feet below his previous position, but it was little consolation to him, as he quickly doubled over and clutched at his head.

Sunil just gaped, feeling a little overwhelmed. She had a feeling she wasn't going to ever hear that again, so she tried to commit as many details as possible to memory. After a long stretch she slowly dropped to Julius's height.

"Are you... alright?" Obviously he wasn't. Thank you probably would have been more appropriate, but it didn't occur to her.

"Fine," he gasped, stretched out in the air like a dead cat. He clasped his hands against his head in a vain attempt to stave off the furious pounding of an oncoming migraine. "You must find the Mountain. It is in the aither. From there, your path will be obvious. I can say no more." Not simply because there was no more to say: he seemed incapable of carrying on any further conversation.

"Thanks." It probably sounded odd, not being something Sunil said very often.

Having said that, she took one last look at Julius and then zipped off, making her way to the portal.

Only to find that she couldn't get back out. She blinked a couple times, trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. Finally she gave up and made her way back to the front door, boosting her strength and knocking. Hopefully whoever opened the door would know something about the portal out.

This time, there actually was a response. "Can I-- oh," a faintly surprised voice went. The silver-hair man in the doorway was no more than twenty-five years of age, his face smooth and youthful. He wore round glasses and some sort of dark blue jumpsuit with short white sleeves and a light blue sash. He wore a forehead protector similar to ones seen on Gaia recently, but with a musical note imprinted on the metal. Most notably, a small feien sat on his shoulder, dark red markings with bright blue hair and two large curved horns. "Can I help you?" the young man asked.

Sunil momentarily raised her eyebrows at the feien on the man's shoulder. That made at least four feien in the area. She appraised the man second and decided to stick to the not pissing people off plan.

"Yes. I can't seem to leave through the portal I took to get here. Do you know if there is anyway I could get that reopened?"

She placed her hands on her hips, trying to look patient.

"Oh, certainly, I can do that for you." He gave her a slightly confused look, wondering why someone who had not yet come inside was already leaving, but did not ask questions (as per his instructions).

He stepped out onto the porch with her, the little feien on his shoulder watching Sunil with curious eyes. "Who are you?" the diminutive creature asked as his bond loosened up his fingers in preparation for the task at hand.

"My name is Sunil." Sunil crossed her arms over her chest and hovered so she was eye level with the juvenile. "Who are you?"

She studied the feien carefully while watching his bond out of the corner of his eye, wondering about the horns. "Are you the child of an existing feien?"

"Fifth," said Kabuto, casting a wary eye at his feien, "behave yourself."

Fifth stuck out his tongue at Kabuto. "I’m Fifth. I was from a breeding. How did you know? Is there a way to tell?" As he carried on the conversation, Kabuto made some complicated motion with his fingers in the air.

Sunil watched the pair's interaction with amusement. Behave himself? What could such a tiny feien even do?

"Your horns," Sunil pointed, "they reminded me of a feien I met named Simon. It could be a similar mutation, but I thought it might be somehow genetic."

She felt pretty superior after pointing that out, Sunil floated closer to Fifth.

"Why did he tell you to behave?" Sunil pointed to Fifth’s head. "You look too small to cause any trouble to me."

Kabuto broke off his portaling efforts just long enough to say, "Believe me, he can cause trouble," and then resumed. Fifth pointedly ignored the man.

"Yes, I got my horns from Simon. I don’t cause trouble for nice people, and you look niiiiiice." He followed up this statement with a broad smile that almost--almost--looked genuine.

"I'm not," Sunil said drily. "And flattery will get you nowhere with me."

She turned to watch Kabuto's hands, ignoring Fifth pointedly.

As Fifth pouted over that answer, Kabuto stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth thoughtfully and ran his thumb along the air in a straight line. He stepped back. "There. I think that did it. I’d better go through first and check. I’d hate for you to end up in the wrong place!" He smiled cheerfully at Sunil. "Fifth, go wait on the windowsill." Fifth kicked Kabuto on the cheek but did as he was told, drifting over to the nearby window.

Taking a deep breath (in case he ended up at the bottom of the Durem Reclamation Facility), Kabuto closed his eyes and stepped through, fading away in the blink of an eye.

Sunil's eyebrows raised for the second time at the younger feien as Fifth kicked his bond in the cheek. While she waited for Kabuto to return and tell her the coast was clear Sunil drifted over to Fifth's windowsill.

"You know that your life is essentially linked to that of your bond, correct? It is probably a bad idea to hurt him."

Not that a kick would do much damage, but eventually he might find something that did.

Fifth stared at her curiously. "But that’s why I picked Kabuto as my bond. As long as I don’t bite his ears or poke him in the eye or jump on his man bits any more, he said it was okay." Verbatim, in fact.

Sunil snorted. Life with Fifth sounded amusing and possibly painful.

"Ah. It is good you have an agreement then."

Wait, picked his bond?

"You said you picked Kabuto. You had a choice of bonds?"

"Of course. There are like fifteen people living in this house!" He swung his feet back and forth, bouncing them against the sill’s edge. "Well, Emi said he had to watch me, and then I picked him."

The air in front of them shimmered and Kabuto came back into view. "All clear," he reported, smiling. Fifth’s earlier smile was like a flawed reflection of his bond’s. Where Fifth’s had seemed fake, Kabuto’s looked quite sincere, but the smile was nearly identical.

Sunil nodded to Kabuto, noting his smile. It reminded her in a vague way of Fifth's, which made sense given that they were bonded.

"Goodbye."

Sunil gave Fifth and Kabuto each a small wave and then made her way out through the portal, a lot on her mind already.

Kabuto watched Sunil leave, and once he felt she was safely through, resealed the portal. "Please, please tell me you behaved," he said when he was done, turning to look at Fifth pleadingly.

Ba-donk went Fifth’s heels against the sill. "I behaved."

"Oh, thank you!" Kabuto nearly collapsed with happiness.

Fifth looked away, his legs finally coming to a stop. "I remembered what you said."

"Good. In the long run, it pays off. You’ll see." Kabuto plucked Fifth from the window and dropped him back on his shoulder.

Fifth just tugged at his bond’s ear sullenly. Perhaps Kabuto was right, but personally, Fifth much preferred immediate satisfaction over long-term gains.

"I wonder what she was doing here?" mused Kabuto as they returned inside."

"Dunno," said Fifth.

Kabuto chided the feien lightly. "Next time, you should try to get information like that. It might be useful." The door closed behind them.

Unbeknownst to Sunil, Kabuto, and Fifth, a very weary feien lay hidden in the front bushes, his blindfold in the leaves beside him, and stared up at the awning of the porch.

He had forgotten to warn her, and he had no way of going to Gaia to correct that mistake. Swallowing, he slowly pushed himself up, grasped his now limp blindfold in his hand, and crawled back underneath the porch. All he could do now was pray that his oversight would not prove problematic further down the line.

10/13/04

"Julius." The voice was low, accusing.

Julius, for his part, did not want to listen to it. He was having a particularly bad day. He woke up and found a leaf tangled in his hair, which meant he had to wash it, and the water from the faucet in the backyard was COLD. Furthermore, since he was at the time invisible, he had been unable to style it while it was wet. Now there was a lock in the back that was flipping up like mad and driving him up the wall.

Then there had been that feien wanting to speak with him. About what precisely he did not know, for even after having spoken with her for some time he had not found any reasoning behind her presence. Sure, she had wanted to know what feien were like before the bonding, but he lacked the sort of patience required to recite the entire recent history of the feien to her. Quite frankly, he wasn't sure anyone with half a whit of self-respect had the time for such things. The incident left him feeling empty and irritated.

And now this. This, which he had known was coming for some time, and which he could no longer avoid. Oh, sure, he could go invisible and hide under the porch, but his current disposition was already so foul he had no wish to return to that cold, dark place. Particularly not since he had seen the cat nosing around the side of the porch earlier this morning.

So instead he chose tea and crackers and cheese and The Conversation.

That low, accusatory voice continued: "You're not giving Corvus an immortality quest for a reason, aren't you?"

Julius stared at the miniature teacup in his hands for a good long while, a frown on his face. The sight was misty and indistinct from beneath his blindfold. Not that it mattered. His eyesight was so poor to begin with it made little difference whether the veil of cloth was on or off. Better to leave it on that no one need see his shame.

"I don't believe he should have one," he admitted at last, and quickly raised the teacup to his lips.

The resulting explosion was immediate and furious. "What!? But, he'll die!"

The tea burned pleasantly as it slid down his throat. Inevitable. He licked his lips lightly. (How he loved lemon tea.) "Some feien should not be immortal. It is better if they die."

A human hand came crashing down on the table, upsetting the tea in Julius's hands. It sloshed onto his robes and he gasped with dismay.

"Who are you to make that decision! It's Corvus's life we're talking about! You can't decide to just end it!"

Julius looked down at his empty teacup. "Ending is inevitable and the natural way of things. All things must end."

"Dammit."

Julius placed the now-empty cup back down on the tray. "I am under no obligation to give quests to those I feel are undeserving, and so far as I can tell, Corvus has done nothing to deserve immortality. If he were to become immortal, it would only prolong his reign of terror. I did hear about the murder attempt he made." If only because Emperial's yelling had carried down to the underside of the house.

Emperial sat back down and sheepishly looked at Julius's empty cup. She picked it up delicately between two fingers and scooped up more from her own cup. "Thank you," said Julius as she placed it back in his hands.

"Corvy's my fairy, Juli, and I want to keep him. Can't you do it, just for me?"

He wanted to, just for that reason, but it was his responsibility to determine who lived and who became immortal, and Corvus was the last feien he wanted to see immortal. Well, second-to-last, actually. But Yanvir was already an immortal and there was nothing to be done about that. "I'm sorry."

"So'm I," scowled Emperial, pushing the small plate of crackers and cheese in Julius's direction. "More crackers?"

"Perhaps just a bit."

Emperial picked up one of the crackers and broke it into pieces, one piece of which went to Julius. She smeared brie over the rest and crammed it into her mouth. "There's nothing I can do to convince you to change your mind?" Miraculously, not a single speck of cracker sprayed from her mouth when she spoke.

"No," he said coldly, and that was that. They finished their tea, making idle bits of chatter about the weather and the coming winter, and parted ways.

Emperial sadly watched Julius disappear from view on the front porch. Unbeknownst to her, Julius stopped a mere two feet away, turned, and looked at her. His expression was equally forlorn, if not more. He raised up a hand in her direction as if trying to reach her, but at that very moment she turned away and went inside. His hand fell back. "I am sorry," he whispered as he retreated back underneath the porch.

11/07/04

Well, it was finally time. When someone is an aspiring scientist hoping to discover great scientific things for the world, they typically must first start with being taught by an experienced science instructor. In this manner, it would make sense that someone who aspires to discover great magical things for the world would need to seek the wisdom of someone more experienced, first. Wasting valueable time and resources to reinvent the wheel did not appeal to Irisa very much.

And so, she had finally mustered up the courage to go speak to Julius. Following the instructions, she had reached the emergency portal. A portal which she wasn't actually using for an emergency, but the instructions in the shop said it was okay.

...goodness, she hoped it was okay. Irisa didn't want to aggravate Corvus or the elders.

Come to think of it, the instructions said that Corvus could be found through the portal, too. So as it was, Irisa had no idea whether she'd be meeting him or Julius first. Well, she supposed that would have to be left up to fate. With that thought in mind, she entered the portal.

The sensation was vaguely disconcerting, like being thrown down a water slide, but quickly passed with the scenery change. The shady alleyway behind the shop was quickly replaced with an open-air porch. The front yard stretched out on her left. On her right sat the house itself, white vinyl siding with a large window next to the screened front door. The windowshade was down.

This was, if anything, the last place one expected to see a feien. The street was lined with cars and dogwood trees, brick houses as far as the eye could see, and nothing seemed even remotely magical. The only notable feature of the white house was the peculiar green color of the porch floor.

But this was where the portal led, and presumably where one might find any number of magical creatures, if only one took the time to look.

Hmm... that was interesting, to say the least. Irisa never experienced going through a portal before. She wondered what type of magic was used to power it. Well, one could make the logical deduction that it likely wasn't feien magic if Em or other nonfeiens were the ones in charge of reopening the way home, so she supposed that she'd better keep her eye on the ball and concentrate on other things.

Mainly, the current task at hand, of course. Even if Irisa would have loved to stop to observe the various types of magical beings that surely roamed this place (...and if any of them drove those cars, come to think of it, or if the machinations were purely for the nonmagical).

Well, there was no turning back, now. Irisa took a deep breath and prepared herself. Remember to always smile, to be polite, to be courteous... whoever answered that door was most likely in a far greater position of authority and respect than a young feien who was less than two months old, after all.

Calmly, Irisa knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" came a clearly female voice from just behind a set of curtained windows near the door. A small hand (for a human, in any event) pushed the curtains aside and a dark-haired bespectacled girl looked out onto the porch. Amusingly enough, she was upside-down, leaning so far back in her chair it was a miracle she did not tip over.

The shop notice mentioned a Kabuto, Kancho, Em, and Max inside the household alongside presumably Corvus and Julius, although... it didn't really give much info about them. Well, at the very least, Irisa was pretty sure she could assume that whoever was speaking to her wasn't Max due to the gender.

Ah well. Irisa was sure she had her own business, so she didn't want to take up too much of this human's time, intriguing as her current pose was.

"Hello, ma'am." Irisa politely greeted with a curtsy, as taught to her by her fairy godmother. "My name is Irisa, and I'm here to see Julius about an inquiry. Is he in right now?"

Truthfully, Irisa didn't know whether feien elders were supposed to be addressed as "Lord" or as "Sir", but being as the shop notice gave neither title, Irisa made the deducation that presumably, such formalities weren't asked for. At least, she hoped so. Irisa was on her utmost guard to make sure she didn't make any outstanding mistakes on her visit to ones as respected as the elders or summoners of the feien.

"Oh, sure!" The girl flipped around in her chair so she was facing Irisa through the glass. "Julius is usually around the house outside somewhere. I should really put up a sign about that, or a bell. A bell would be a good idea. But hang on a sec."

The girl stood from her chair and went to the window, prying it open so she could more easily speak through the screen. She took a deep breath. "JULII--"

"I'm here!" came the dignified exclamatin as Julius faded into view. He was tall, clad in pale blue robes with pale blue hair sweeping down across his back and an impressive arragement of wings on his back. He looked not at irisa but at the human girl. "Please. There is no need to yell. A bell will suffice."

"Then I'll have one put up for you post haste. But you always know when I'm about to call, it's like you're psychic!" There was no answer from the feien. The girl just kept on going. "This is, um, someone come to see you." She had already forgotten the name.

Now Julius turned to Irisa. He had a peculiar way of moving through the air, pivoting without actually making any physical motion with his hands or wings. His hands were steepled in a position of prayer and his eyes covered by a blindfold, which had the effect of making him appear unearthly and wise. He waited for her to speak.

This was the first time that Irisa had ever seen Julius or any elder face to face. Julius certainly looked very impressive, although Irisa was expecting that he probably would. She wasn't dissappointed, that was for sure.

How was one supposed to start off with this sort of thing? Irisa had never talked to an elder before, saw someone talked to an elder before, or really truly listened about someone talking about how the've talked to an elder before (with the exception of Ankou and Shalafi, which was an entirely different situation from this). The shop notice mentioned enhancing powers or starting quests, but Irisa wasn't sure if she wanted to be that blunt.

Hmm... well, she supposed she'd just have to be polite without beating around the bush too much and then be ready for how things went from there.

"Good day, Julius." the young feien curtsied. "It's an honor to meet you. I am Irisa, daughter of Tahki and Talonfaust. I've come hoping for a quest, because I wanted to see if there's anything I could do to improve the feiens' situation regarding the decline of magic in the world."

Irisa decided not to go into a tirade about why she had her goals, although she was prepared to answer if Julius asked. Still, as long as she could be polite, Irisa disliked wasting time if she didn't have to. And she imagined that wasting the time of a feien as important as Julius would be nearly criminal.

...she wasn't completely sure if quests about doing tasks for the elders, or doing tasks for one's self. The shop notice wasn't exactly the most descriptive guide in the world, unless it meant that enhancing your own powers and all quests were one and the same. Still, Irisa hoped her assumption that at least some of the elders' quests existed to give feien direction and leadership in this matter were correct, assuming there was hope for the future of the feien at all.

If Julius were in the habit of displaying his emotions he would have smiled. Behind him, Emperial slid the window shut so as to not intrude and returned to her computer. Assured the human was gone, Julius opened up his hands so his palms were facing upwards.

"May I see your hands?" he gently inquired.

It was a bit hard for her to tell how Julius felt about Irisa's greeting and inquiry, although at least she wasn't asked to leave outright for something such as say, asking a stupid question. Still, you never knew about these things, Irisa supposed. She had a good feeling though (Julius in general made her feel very certain of him), and the instructions Julius gave her were as clear as day.

"Oh, certainly." she politely nodded as she held out her hands to the elder.

Whatever the Ancient was looking for, he looked for it very carefully, examining her with extreme care. He first pressed her hands between his palms, then turned them over and ran his fingers across the tender young skin. He tested her fingers in particular, flexing them back and forth. Her juvenile hands seemed so small compared to his. The attentions did give Irisa ample opportunity to observe Julius's long, slender fingers, with their slightly knobby joints and finely tended nails.

At long last, Julius seemed to reach a conclusion. He released her hands back to her and clasped his own before him. "Have you taken any thought into becoming an Artificer?" he asked.

Julius's hands looked rather worn, yet beautiful in their own way. It was really something... for an elder who has lived so long, yet obviously still to this day has such a strong will.

Although his question brought to Irisa a question of her own.

"An... artificer?" Irisa pondered, before remarking, "My apologies. I tried to read all the information on our race that was publically available at the shop, but I don't believe I've ever seen a profession such as an Artificer mentioned. What is an artificer, if I may?"

Julius resumed his earlier position before continuing. "There is more magic than is known to Corvus, and the Schools are proof of this. In fact, when it comes to Artifice, I rather fear Corvus shows greater promise, for his fingers are particularly deft, but he has no interest in the subject, and furthermore I have lost all hope in that one. He's too in love with his Elementalism to bother pursuing any of the other avenues of magic."

There was perhaps the tiniest flicker in the Ancient's stony expression. "Artificers are the craftsmen of the feien world, and with your fingers I think you would make an excellent Artificer indeed. This is not to say that you could not become something else, but Artifice would clearly suit you best, and while you might excel in any other area, you are naturally attenuated to Artifice more than any other School." His voice was calm and melodic, almost hypnotic in its steadiness.

This... was amazing. Irisa always knew that a lot of the documentation at the shop was incomplete as well as a work-in-progress (the lack of fire spells recorded into the spellbook while it's opposing element, ice, had many was a rather clear indication), but she did not know that it extended to the point where there were entire schools of magic apart from elementalism.

"That's... too bad about Corvus." Irisa remarked. "There seems to be so much to magic... even more than I realized, that it seems sad to ignore the other aspects."

Indeed, if Irisa had her way, she would like to learn each and every one. ...but that was rather impractical, wasn't it? Besides the obvious fact that as a cold earth feien she couldn't learn air spells, time was a limited resource, and you should handle what you specialize in the most.

Well... both her bond and her fairy godmother said she was extremely dexterous. And Irisa had a place in her heart reserved for the stone shaping spell she had read about in the spell book. It made sense, didn't it?

"However, an artificer sounds like it would indeed be really wonderful." Irisa smiled. "How does a feien start down the path of becoming one?"

"The knowledge of the School of Artifice has recently become lost," said Julius gravely. "One would have to seek it out and recover it."

Lost? An entire school of magic... Feien history was filled with tragedies and travesties. Although if it was only recently lost, then perhaps there was still time.

"Then I will do whatever I can to recover it. It would be terrible for a school of feien magic to be lost forever." Irisa nodded, a determined look on her face, before she paused a bit in thought. "Ah, do you know where I could begin? Come to think of it, if I may ask, how was it lost?"

An entire new school of magic separate from the elemental school that was all she thought existed until now... How intriguing. She wondered what could have happened to make the knowledge die out...

"All of the Artificers died," said Julius, eyeing her from beneath his blindfold. "As did the teachers and students of the other schools. If Artifice is truly your desire, then I will tell you what I know of the school, but I can only recommend the path, not force you upon it."

"Oh. I... see. The history of the feien dying out is worse than I thought then, isn't it?" Irisa commented sadly.

When it was stated that the feien were a dying race, that was definately no exageration. But now Irisa's curiousity was piqued even more. Julius seemed to have a very wide air of wisdom, and obviously had a lot more experience and knowledge than Irisa (and probably even anyone Irisa knew) did, but he seemed insistent on Irisa making her own choice. And for that, Irisa would have to know all the options available.

"I trust your judgement, and rediscovering the lost knowledge could be a very significant step towards reviving the magic of the feien, but I do not know what the other paths are like." Irisa replied curiously. "How many and what types of schools of magic are there? I'm... very sorry. Much of this is new to me but discovering that feien magic extends beyond what I've ever imagined makes me want to find out so much more, especially before I finally choose a single path down it."

Julius gave the tiniest nod of approval. "There are five schools in all, but for myself, I only know well of two, and my own school of Summoning would not suit you. Summoning requires greater charisma than I sense you to possess at this time. In addition to this and Artifice, there exist also Enhancement, Mentalism, and Abjuration. Not Abjuration for you, I don't think. But you could potentially be a good Enhancer or Mentalist."

Hmm... Irisa was able to at least guess at the purpose of some of those schools, judging by their names. Summoning was obvious, and enhancement did not seem too difficult to realize what it was. Abjuration... well, that one was a bit more difficult to pin, although if it was anything like the literal definition of abjure, Julius was probably right that it wasn't for her.

"Enhancement... is that the art of imbuing magic into existing items?" Irisa asked curiously. She pondered for a bit. "I'm not completely clear on mentalism, either. Could you please explain to me what it entails?"

Truthfully, the spellbook scroll in the shop mentioned an ability to enhance charms with good luck (or... something like that. Irisa had never observed the actual ability in action) but she didn't recall any abilities that were psychic in nature, so while she was still learning towards artifice, the curiosity of what mentalism was intrigued her.

Julius nearly sighed. As calmly as he was able, he informed her, "ARTIFICING is the art of creating magic items. Thus artificers are the craftsmen of the feien world." It was all he could do to keep himself from disappearing, so sudden and thorough was his ire. But he remained calm and kept his face devoid of emotion.

Meep. Well, she obviously was completely off about enhancement. It must have been for enhancing something else besides items. Other feien, people, or something, but not items. She wished she had made that logical deduction five seconds ago.

"I'm sorry." Irisa quickly apologized. "I didn't realize the full scope of artificing in comparison to enhancement when... I really should have. My apologies. Please forgive me."

Julius seemed to not notice this admission and simply continued along as if reciting from some pre-rehearsed script. "Enhancers are those whose magic is invested in their own bodies. You may be familiar with the spells Growth, Regeneration, and Giant Strength. These are all Enhancer-type spells, but Enhancers can do far more than merely change their size or increase their strength. They are capable of amazing physical manipulation, and at the highest levels, even transformation. You would have to focus most on your physical attributes to pursue Enhancement, and seek information on it from someone other than I. At present, your physical state would not be entirely conducive to that sort of pursuit."

Ah, so that was what enhancement was referring to? Well, Irisa definately learned never to make assumptions from here on.

"How... intriguing." Irisa remarked, before glancing at her hands. "Although I can now see why artificing would be a better path for me. If I may, what is mentalism?"

Irisa's knowledge of mental abilities from the spellbook seemed to mainly enhance elemental casting in a lot of ways. It made her extremely curious as to what this school could be. Something psychic, perhaps? She believed that mentalism in the literal sense of the word involved mindreading, but she wasn't going to make the same mistake of even merely implying an assumption twice.

Julius's fingers twitched ever so slightly. "Mentalists are the exact opposite of Enhancers. They are masters of the mind. They can separate their spirit from their being, project themselves across great distances, and influence the minds of others. Your mind has potential in this area, but no greater potential than you have for Enhancement. And again, if you wish to pursue Mentalism, you will have to seek information elsewhere. Alas, you may only pursue one avenue, and while I cannot choose for you, my recommendation for Artifice still stands. If your heart tells you otherwise, then I can only say to listen to it."

Irisa paid great attention to Julius' words. This was all so much. She wished she had brought her pen and paper so she could write down everything. ...but then again, writing down everything in front of Julius would be quite rude anyways, she supposed, so she simply made sure to commit all the details to memory as much as she could.

"I see." Irisa remarked. "Hmm... I have to admit that neither mentalistm nor enhancement appeal to me as much as artificing does. While I can see the potential of both, artificing sounds like I could truly create great lasting things for the feien, which appeals to me. The decision is made more sound by how it's what I am most naturally suited towards."

That would be it, wouldn't it? If she succeeded, Irisa could create all sorts of great items to help the feien, or maybe to even help restore magic to the world, while recovering to the feien a lost school of magic at the same time. She actually felt excited (well, excited for her, which to her was a lot)!

She was admittingly curious about the details of abjuration, but to string Julius along with such a question about that when he already said it wasn't very suited for her and when even without him describing it in detail, she had a feeling it wasn't for her either, would be rude. As it was, she was more than ready to inform him of her choice now. She did make a note to ask him about abjuration after that subject was out of the way, though.

With that, the young feien gave a nod, before smiling a bit. "Thank you for your wisdom and advice, Julius. I would indeed like to pursue the school of artificing. How or where should I begin to recover the knowledge?"

"There exists a set of tablets onto which have been inscribed the teachings of the School of Artifice. Perhaps you may be able to unlock these skills with the tablets. I know little of the school except that it was built into the ground, a veritable warren of tunnels, and the entrance is in a Roman crypt marked with the letters R, X, F, and C. You might find more information in the city of Rome, or perhaps the Vatican's libraries. Several Artificer works are said to reside in the Vatican's great collections for their magical and therefore presumably holy origins." Julius stopped and looked at Irisa expectantly.

Irisa paid careful attention to Julius' words.

"I understand. I shall do whatever it takes to get to Rome and get to work on finding these tablets, immediately, then." The young feien replied by nodding affirmatively when he was done, before asking a bit more curiously, "Is there anything else you might know that may aid me in this quest or that I might need to know?"

Indeed, Irisa didn't know if the Artificer works would be readily identifiable or not, or if they are available to the public or locked away in the government's vaults. Or any slew of possible obstacles that she may not have even imagined yet, come to think of it. If these obstacles existed, it would be good to obtain as much information about them as possible before beginning.

Actually, come to think of it, even any special way or shortcut to Rome would be of great assistance. Travelling to Rome definately exceeded Irisa's small amount of experience she had so far with travel. Still, one couldn't accomplish great things if one wasn't up to doing great tasks. The question was a matter of how to accomplish them. Irisa supposed that if worse came to worse, then she would simply have to find her own way around it.

For all Irisa's musing came only one chilling response: "No. There is nothing. If you have no other business, then I shall bid you good day."

"I see. Thank you again, Julius." Irisa bowed. "I'll do whatever it takes to recover the Artifice school of magic. I will be on my way after speaking with one of the portal controllers to open the way back home."

Irisa had decided that she had taken up enough of Julius' time. She imagined that someday, another feien would come to find out about Abjuration, anyways. That was out of her hands. What she had to worry about right now was her own part in the grand scheme of things. A part which brought a lot to worry about, but if there was a will, there was a way.

"May good fortune follow you on your journey, and your path be one of Righteousness." With that, Julius faded from view as easily as steam dissipating into the air.

And just like that, he was gone. Well, it was time to get ready, then. First thing first, she had to get home, of course. Well... best to contact one of the people who could create a portal back home.

Exactly how to go about that, she wasn't sure. She didn't want to just step into the house and go exploring for one of them when she wasn't invited in. Well... she had to do something. Time was wasting away that could have been spent recovering a feien school of magic.

Hmm... might as well do what she did in the first place to get someone to come over. As far as she could tell, it shouldn't bother Julius since he wasn't the one in charge of answering the door (indeed, an ancient had better things to do with his time, she was sure).

With that in mind, the young feien calmly knocked on the door again, even though it was already open. It was time to go home.