Well, there goes our steed. At least we’re within sight of the river. That felt like the longest six days ever. Alright, one more page in this libram. Ooogh, oof. Ah, I get it now. Ow, my brain. The knowledge is rearranging itself, decoding itself, linking mnemonics and other necessary parts of the runology. It, it isn’t teaching me this language, not a language. It’s, it’s imbuing my brain with a permanent spell? I’m learning plenty of runes from having the spell shoved into my head, but apparently the book is losing its magic, for a very long time after having imbued my brain.
This spell makes me want to simultaneously laugh, and cry. It allows me to comprehend any writing, or script that I see. Where were you when I was starting out on Can’Z’aas!? Hah. Oy vey. Whatever, it’s fine. It’s an immense boon towards speeding up the deciphering of these other books. It might even be faster than reading normally, since the knowledge of the script is translated, and analyzed by this new spell in my brain, instantly on sight.
I’m lucky Milbert hadn’t gotten around to using this book yet. Or perhaps he had it for enough years for it to recharge. Currently it’s as useful as a paper weight. Could be a good bludgeoning weapon in a pinch with the hefty copper-binding. It seems a shame to abandon it though, well, maybe we don’t have to, if we haul this carriage to the river, and stow the wheels somehow. We can keep some things in the carriage, things that are of less value to us currently, in case they, or the cart itself, get stolen while we’re exploring away from the cart.
I excitedly share the new ability with Dawn, Percival, and Teuila. I obviously shorten it, “Guys! The book wasn’t just reading knowledge into my brain, it was casting a spell on my brain! The book will take years to charge, but the spell now lets me read any script or language I see!”
Teuila calls down, “Really Airhead? I want to see if your noggin’ has grown any, come on out here.”
I chuckle as I attempt to comply with Teuila. Oof. Note to self, check for a sudden Dawn Death Grip before leaping out of the carriage. I slammed my chin down on the lip of the carriage itself, ow.
Dawn asks, “Rej, pal? Where’s the rest of you? Wait, why are you down there?”
I chuckle, then catch myself. It’s not funny that Dawn’s blinded and has lost her other senses yet again. It’s mildly humorous that she didn’t density sense along my arm to see where the rest of me was before asking though. Really, this carriage is more of a blessing than a lot of things could have been. At least we get to keep traveling with Dawn as we try to find an answer, at a reasonable pace. We’d have to slow down to my walking speed if we were still hiking while Dawn’s senses were diminished. All of us want to seek an answer to her curse as soon as possible.
I’m terrified that we’re both nearing our ends. Dawn likely sooner, since I’ve had exposure to dragon blood and a heart. I wonder if those would help Dawn’s soul fight off the pull of the spell? That doesn’t seem like the way to interact with a soul-based spell however.
Still, I offer Dawn a hand down so that we can climb out of the carriage, stretch our feet, and work at getting the cabin to the river. Okay, that was fairly easy with Teuila at the lead. Teuila’s grinning proudly and flexing into some poses for Dawn, who happens to be laughing at the chicanery as it appears in her density sense. I’m glad we have each other. Percival elects to stay in the cabin, being that he wouldn’t have been much help moving anything anyway. He doesn’t even reach the back of the carriage when he’s standing.
As we approach the river, and the forest proper, the glaive at my back calls out to me, a feeling of homesickness, of hastiness, of urgency. The glaive is home, or near it anyway. Its ancestral home lies at the heart of these woods. I suppose I’ll be able to return it to someone or someone’s family here. It’s likely an heirloom, with as much knowledge as it carries around. Compared to other items that often require either fiddling around with, identification scrolls, or knowledge of the base parts of the magic, the glaive basically communicated its abilities to me.
Having come to a stop near the river bank, I glance around to take stock of my party. Our newest friend, Percy the Potted Plant, Dawn, Teuila, a carriage with no locomotion save us pushing it at the moment. Te has been a bit distant. I hope I haven’t been neglecting Teuila during being caught up studying and caught up worrying about Dawn. I’ll check in with her.
I ask, “Te, you doing alright? You’ve been kind of distant a bit for the last couple of days. Is it the driving? Do you want me to do the river rafting?”
Teuila adopts a sad smile as she shakes her head. She leans in to whisper, “My Airhead, my Air. I’m, I don’t mean to be. I’m just kind of sad how it is with Dawny and all. She’s too embarrassed and upset at needing closeness. I’m glad to be there for her, but it sucks to not have really felt your touch for most of a week. To not wake up with one of the two of us in each others’ arms. I don’t want her to feel bad about needing the closeness though. You know?”
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Sadness adorns my face as I realize what Teuila’s explaining, during her explanation. I nod forlornly along. Before I can respond, Teuila adds, “Besides, you’ve got more books to study, and since you got the only copy of that brain buffing, you get to do all the reading. Airhead.”
We chuckle as we stand, holding each other for this short while as we lean close to share whispers. I rest my forehead on Teuila’s as we gently sway in the light drizzle that makes it through the forest canopy. It looks like after a short ways down the river, the forest canopy becomes so dense, that the rains don’t even reach the ground at all. Just like Lucky said.
Wait. What? I rattle my skull, trying to shake free whatever the last thought I just had was. Something about rain I guess. Whatever it was must not have been that important. I wonder if Lil is still at the Hidden Heart. I’m not entirely certain what Lil’s overall plan was going to entail after cooling down and collecting their thoughts. Whatever their plan was, Luni and Lucky are with them at least. I really hope we can all be together again soon, just, just I want us to be okay.
Huffing a sigh, I use the magic hand to help Teuila disconnect the wheels and get them up to storage. I’d upgrade to using telekinesis if we knew for certain we wouldn’t run in to any more trouble today. I’d still do the upgrade if it seemed like Teuila was suffering or annoyed by the slow pace of the magic hand. Alright, phew, we’ve got that done. My eyes are starting to droop again. I’ve barely been conscious for about twelve hours a day this last week. I might be energized after a twelve hour rest, for a while, but then I’m basically gone half the time.
Huh, Teuila’s got one of the wheels rigged up like a rudder. She could even ride inside, as long as she faces the slot towards the front of the cab. But to do that, well, she’d have to straddle Dawn all day for a day and a half’ish til we get to the Hidden Heart. I wonder if Dawn would be okay with that. Is there a chance that Dawn going numb could stop Teuila from being able to steer? Are there any dangerous rapids along this section of river? I don’t think there are. I think it even slows down a bit near the city.
I curl up on the seat as I let Dawn and Teuila work on their seating arrangement. My eyes droop more and more heavily. It’ll be July fourth when we arrive. All that much closer to having been here a whole month. I let sleep take me.
When I awaken, Teuila is being comforted by Percival while Dawn remains motionless. I gasp, but I quickly recall the details of the spell. We wouldn’t even know who Dawn was, and all ancestors, or soulless bodies would be wrought to dust. She’s okay, just in that weird hibernating standby mode.
Raising an eyebrow, I query, “Te? Are you okay? Dawn is just unresponsive right now, right? The spell didn’t take her from us yet. We still know who she is.”
Teuila sniffles as she looks at me, shaking her head sadly, “Oh my Air. It’s just. Every day it feels like we’re closer to losing Dawny. Forever, in a big way. I’ve never felt like the odds were impossible to beat before. I can’t even help find the answer, because I don’t understand Rayileklia moonrunes or runescript or whatever. I, I mean. It’s not that I don’t have faith in you, it’s just. Nothing has seemed like a real, direct lead yet.”
I flash Teuila a sad half smile as I nod, “It’s okay Te. I don’t want to fail her either. I’ll keep plugging away at the books. Maybe if we take a week in the Heart, I’ll be able to get through the majority of the important stuff. Then hopefully the Sisters of the Mist sanctuary won’t be too hard to find. I’m pretty sure Aces totally knew a path to their sanctuary, just never bothered to go.”
Dawn is roused from her strange hibernation, and seems not to have been affected by it. In fact, Dawn is looking like her spirits are lifted if anything. I wear a tender half-smile as I toss a slight nod her way. Hopefully she can enjoy the-, well, let’s not jinx or prophecize anything.
Dawn asks, “So Rej, what’s new? What’s shaking?”
Trying to maintain a light mood, I offer, “I’ve got the languages down now, so I’m starting on the book that requires the magic hand to open it. I’m not sure if Milbert could even open it, since he said he only practiced necromancy. I’m hopeful though that it will have some sort of multi-school secrets or something, being locked by magic and all.”
Summoning the magical duplicate of my hand, I have it press into the palmprint on the surface of this black stained-glass tome. The glass is incredibly resilient, likely enchanted. Hm, the pages are silk, yet another curious binding method. Hm, a wealth of knowledge though? Not so much. Only a handful of pages, with incredibly complex runotype. The language magic is working its, well, magic, but I still have to be able to comprehend what gets translated. Wait. I get it.
These are spells. I know some of these spells. Or at least, the staff does. This one makes light, this one is, hm, I understand the basics of it, but I’m not quite sure its full potential yet. It seems to be an extremely minor conjuration ability. Dusting something off instantly, pulling a quarter out of someone’s ear, stage magician foolery mostly. What did they used to call them? Prestidigitators I think. Wait. It can clean! Yes! If I learn the basics for this one, and I learn enchanting, I can pull out that basic function, expand on it, enhance its capability, and I should be able to finally duplicate the soapstone.
Rather too excitedly, I add to Dawn, “This one can clean! It’s a spell, it’s only the basics, dusting mostly, sort of like patting yourself down without using your hands. It has other effects too, but that’s the one I’m most excited about.”
Dawn snorts, “Really Rej? You’re an adventurer covered in acidic mud nine times outta ten, and you’re hyped over a dustmop spell?”
I chuckle as I blush with chagrin. I know there are more important matters at stake, but it feels like a breakthrough to begin to understand Rayileklian magic. I really hope it leads to solutions for us.