Thinking towards Teuila, I conjecture, “I think the spell has some built in stuff, where if we use repeat applications of it, and layer up the permanency with rarer and rarer qualities of rubies, in greater and greater quantities, it can have greater and greater range for example. I’m not sure if it’ll ever give us accelerated thinkspace time, but we have no idea how Rayileklian magic really interplays with us being Can’Z’aasian and us already having had similar effects in our lives in the past.”
Teuila’s telepathic avatar nods along, then she suddenly stops nodding as her eyes light up, a realization dawning upon her. She quickly claims, “So, so, so remember the thing? I was going to give it a few days to see if it panned out. It’s, eh, not what I thought, or hoped, but, remember how I got some weird ethereal fire thingy, where it seemed like I was somewhere ahead of me? Only, like, I could send that ahead, and then if I wanted to, I could be there, like it dragged me, not like a teleport. At least I don’t think so. Anyway, the Eenookie buddies were practicing lots of things, I think like, in preparation for defense against ol’ manxy.”
Teuila’s avatar looks quizzical for a moment as she taps her chin with her index finger. She realizes she was in the middle of telling me something, and gets back to it, “Oh, right right. So, lots of things going on, I was trying to learn from all the books, beyond just like sucking up enchantment juice or whatever. Shush Bud, you’re a dirty monkey, ya dork. Haha, yes I know you’re not a monkey. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. So I understand a couple of runes, at least like, their names and stuff. I’m really trying to find one that means wind and air and stuff. Can you please keep an eye out for one Airhead? I want to see if I can sorta somehow get my hurricane shot back, even if I’ve gotta use some Rayileklian moony runey magic instead. Plus some other things, I’ll tell you about them if they pan out, obvee.”
I nod along before agreeing, “Of course Teuila, absolutely. I’ll dig through our available spellbooks, or any that we find in the bubble room. Do you want to help me dig through the bubbles for useful books? Oh oh oh! I found one that, I’m like, ninety five percent sure was like, super detailed diaries by Taylynn’s great grandmother. I mean, she had a great grandchild called Tabitha Lynnia who was a wild child with a shock of red hair that wanted to learn swordplay and fencing and equestrianism instead of etiquette and grammar and finishing school and stuff. She ran away from home after shaving the sides of her head, stealing a dagger, a sword, and a horse, only stopping back every few years to check in on great granny. That’s gotta be her, right?”
Teuila’s mental avatar chuckles and shrugs before responding, “I dunno, you tell me. I’m not the one dreaming steaming steamy dreamies about a couple of Rayileklian cuties from Aces’ past. Hehe, my Airhead.”
My live self, and my telepathic avatar blush to high heavens. I forgot about that minor detail. When Lu or Te are in my head, they take pretty much any opportunity to fluster me with embarrassing things. Oh well, hah. Anything to have you back in my head, My Wings. I love you so very much.
Teuila’s telepathic avatar looks ponderous again. Teuila compares herself, “Ya know, if I lived on Rayileklia first, and I had a family that wanted me to do that sorta stuff, I’d probably do the same thing. Heck, it sounds like we’ve got about the same haircut too. I betcha she’s fit as all get out, and ravishing and stuff. I hope she’s still alive, I kinda want to meet her. You talk her up in your dreams about Aces and stuff. Definitely someone I’d smooch on.”
I chuckle. I love how Teuila can be so open with me, especially in my head, and that certain emotions that aren’t as deep for her, just sit at the surface, and she’s willing to spill them anywhere. It’s those deeper, harder to name emotions that catch her off guard, and leave her unable to voice her thoughts. There’s that underlying subconscious fear that too much will boil over when she allows herself to share something from such depths within her.
It’s also amusing in a bit of a hilarious way to think of Teuila meeting Taylynn, and Teuila trying to flirt enough to end up sharing smooching time. Though, until recently I’d only suspected that Taylynn might have had romantic feelings for Selunie, so I didn’t know Taylynn’s preferences for sure. Her great grandmother’s diaries confirmed that they’ve been in love since Taylynn was in her late teens, early twenties, or so.
Teuila coughs and sputters telepathically, “She what? Hack, koff, ow, what? Really? I mean, I kinda thought maybe you were getting a little, well, maybe some crossed wires with our own big poly love circle and stuff. Ow, I snorted so hard my sinuses hurt. Meanie. But really though Airhead? Sel and Tay? And they both were with Aces too? Lucky skulker I’d say. Poor Selunie though. Dead since June. Heck, poor Taylynn, probably doesn’t even know either of her squeezes are gone yet.”
Teuila pretends to whistle innocently, but I know exactly what she’s thinking. She’d make a salacious joke about comforting Taylynn in her time of grieving with her lips. Teuila catches my line of thought, and her mental avatar tackles mine off our hill, we go rolling down it, laughing as she’s swatting me in the face with grass that she rips up from our mindscape.
Teuila grumbles, “Shush your airy brain ya big Airhead, only I get to tease you about that kind of stuff. Nyeh.” She blows a raspberry from her position mounted atop me, straddling my torso.
I can’t help laughing at the hypocrisy of it. She can be such a goof, and I absolutely adore her for it. I draw a ragged, shuddering breath as my meatspace body’s eyes well with tears of joy. I loose a contented sigh while smiling widely and shaking my head playfully at Teuila.
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As we drop out of thinkspace, Teuila asks, “So, you need like, better and better rubies to layer that up more and more? Have you just been using like saddle and shoe glue to make the rune ink stuff? Don’t we have anything better than that? Or does the, um, compound not really matter so much as the gem reagent?”
I nod in response to most of Teuila’s questions, answering, “Yeah, aye, more and better rubies, and I’ve been using up the glue paste, yes. I couldn’t think of anything offhand, and I was out of water, though the water wouldn’t really hold the gem dust anyway, it’d just sink. But yeah, exactly right, it’s mostly about the rarity of the reagent, somehow certain minerals and crystalline structures communicate something to the mana of Rayileklia to infuse something permanently, but each batch is basically a single use, so I could understand why there aren’t tons of enchanters doing tons of enchantments.”
I try to explain my reasoning, “Gems are pretty scarce here, what with dragons and kobolds eating them, and stuff. I’m sure when Berinon settled in The Brook, he probably did like, single rune durability enchantments on all the houses or something like that. I remember Tiago or George I think saying something about Berinon’s enchanting skills. Oh, before I forget, do you have any rose carnelians in your inventory? They’re what I’d need to make the telekinesis enchantment permanent, so that I could always have it active.”
Teuila takes up a ponderous appearance yet again, before shrugging in response, “I’m not even sure I know what one looks like, but I’m pretty sure the answer is no. Lots of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, agates, peridots, but nothing further down the Mohs’ or deeper into quartz and quartzite, stuff like that. It would be good to get that power for you though, it was strong enough to capture a, well, a lady who made some bad choices. Poor Hellga.”
I have to rub my itchy, wet eyes upon hearing Teuila’s lamentation. I entirely agree. Poor Hellga. Oh crap on a cracker. I need to tell Teuila my fears about what I’d seen with my scrying sensors.
In meatspace, I start out, “Te? Good news is, I’m certain Daffodil, Keeper of Noirdivinhoz is okay. Bad news is, I’m not sure any of the dwarves or kobolds are. When I used magic to look in on their locations, everything was pitch black, or just stone. I checked them first, and worried that I did the spell wrong, but then I tried again to check in on Daffodil, and the spell worked fine, and she’s okay. So, um. I fear the worst.”
Teuila’s eyes water and her lips quiver as she fights back a sob to express her sorrows, “No, oh no. Miza, Scrap, Elder, Dippy, Shroom, even that dickhead Timbik. Oh no. Airhead, we should start heading that way soon. We can stop by The Brook, and maybe ferry across the lake with our carriage. We have to see if they’re okay.”
I nod in agreement as I choke back my own sob. I cough while I try to flex my facial muscles and neck and shoulders to fight off the encroaching pain. Oh, right, we’re both dehydrated and starving. We should go eat, and maybe wrap things up with the Sisters. Though that bubble room is tempting. Quite possibly a window to every single existing book still intact on Rayileklia.
I’m suddenly incredibly weary and worn out again. We’ve been sitting in a cramped stupor, piled into a corner of the wall for days. We’ve been completely left to our own devices by the Sisters. It’s remarkable that none are stalking the halls, especially none near such an impressive room as the bubble room. I struggle to stand, and even Teuila appears wobbly as she stands with me.
We’re not through grieving Dawn, not by a long shot. We are however ready to start moving forward again. Little bit by little bit. It’ll be tough, slow going at first, and we might sink into bouts of depression, but we’ve got an awful lot of work to do on this planet. Hopefully our work eventually lets us catch up with the triple L squad, Lil, Luni, and Lucky.
I miss my Lil dragon pal so much, My Heart. Luni too, Lu is My Anchor. My eyelids sink lower and lower as the weight of it all bears down on me once more. Of course I even miss Lucky, our lovable mutt. He’s quite literally a crossbreed between a bunch of different sources and energies. I was convinced for the longest time that Lucky hated me. I think he was really just trying to get me to stay put and heal up. It’s hard to tell though.
Lucky wasn’t a critterkin, he was closer to a mob spawn, like the fish or the cragbeasts. But he’s still an individual. I guess he’s closer to Luna, our feathery bear friend. She was remarkably intelligent. Heck, she was more intelligent than several of us about certain facets of our world. I know she understood my speech too, which is remarkable, since no critterkin did without being in a party. Humans were able to understand me, thankfully. One of very few things that worked out for us with human society.
Can’t believe Priss thought it was a good idea to crash my entrance exams to her stupid military, and arrest us under charges of impersonating a noble. I didn’t even use any noble’s family name or anything. She was such an idiot back then. Anyone in the crowd could have told her I defeated an entire platoon of her fire mages without breaking a sweat, literally. Or that I not only defeated a platoon of her ice mages, but I saved several of their lives when their idiot comrades let loose a runaway spell, taking an injury to my right ribs and lungs in the process. Huff, the spot on my body that I take the most frequent injuries by far, for certain.
The only reason Priss even stood a chance of apprehending me was, firstly, I went along with it, since I needed to speak with a military higher-up anyway. Secondly, I was barely even weakened at all at the end of my exam. The only bit I’d really suffered, beyond the lung injury was because I was fighting their best of the best, their top tier specialists in thunder, acid, and poison. Adom sneakily casted a cloud of poison around my head before the duel even began, and I had to do most of that fight holding my breath as he created an even larger cloud once the battle started. Har and Sal’s wind magic pushed enough of the poisonous cloud out of the way, thankfully, despite the fact that we were technically supposed to be competing. They yielded when I took down Adom and Jazharn in something like a single blow apiece, which I followed up with accidentally sort of spike piledriving Sofu into the ground to prevent him from shattering Jazharn and Adom who I’d frozen.
Huff. I’m too sleepy to be thinking about all this. My brain has been all over the place, I’ve been so scatterbrained for the last fair while. It’s hard to keep hold of a train of thought. Oh well, it’s not like it’s anything new in the life of Reggie Shellcracker to be unable to focus. My lack of attention has nearly gotten me killed, mostly related to falling and plummeting out of the sky and such. If you suddenly forget to keep flying, while you’re hundreds of meters in the air, well, yeah, you can probably work out what’s going to have happened.