Why was he telling me so much? My thoughts were awhirl with serious information that I struggled to make logical sense of. What were the hidden political currents that he was hinting at?
Another sigh rushed out of Monroe as he sat back in his chair looking up at the ceiling. His voice returned to a normal volume before he added. “Perhaps change would be good at this time, and maybe I have done all the good that I can with my current stance.” His eyes clouded a bit and took on a haunted cast before he confided in a lower tone. “I’ve grown tired playing my quiet part, as others continue to suffer while I am forced to remain passive.”
The feeling of aged weariness spread forth from his figure. There were no age lines on his face, but his silver-streaked hair and wise yet fatigued expression bespoke of his exhaustion. His hands gripped hard at the arm rests of his chair, and I could hear the creaking of the sturdy wood. It wasn’t the weariness and weight of the body, for he was incredibly strong in my eyes, but more so that of the mind and heart that I read in him.
Changing positions, he looked down at his interlaced fingers with palms up, resting on his lap. I watched as his expression hardened and his eyes became turbulent. “I’ll need some time to prepare for the fallout. There will be many powerful people who will be upset, and vulnerable innocents that may be impacted.”
Looking up again to meet my gaze, his eyes were filled with fierce passion, tempered with caution as he implored me. “I honestly want to explore and likely reciprocate Victoria’s interest in me, but I need time. With you as her apprentice and the main contact point between us, you would be the optimal individual to be involved in this. Will you aid me?”
His fervent and heartfelt plea echoed deep within me. I felt the start of chills and warmth echoing forth from both the amulet at my chest and the staff grasped tightly in my hand. This was something incredibly important to him and by extension Victoria and me. If this were back at home, I believe that based on the solemnity of the situation, I would be feeling like I was in a veritable storm of sensations as my ability flared with potent promise.
I swallowed hard at the dryness in my throat and nodded. “Yes Sir.” I felt my own convictions solidify as I dared to take on this charge that felt so monumental.
I knew nothing of the details regarding the stakes that were in play. However, to my eyes in this moment, Monroe appeared like a lightning rod in the midst of a storm, bearing the brunt of the electrical strikes to protect that which he held precious.
With some minor effort, I forced my own to settle, and I braced myself to ask him. “What can I do to help?”
With a smile he answered me. “Not much more than you are already doing. The cave that you are digging is actually more vital than I previously revealed. In addition to it aiding in the eventual replacement of the southern city guardian; due to the nature of the replacement creature being bonded to me, this will allow for a much greater show of strength and a deterrent to those that would seek to wreak havoc within and without our walls.”
Monroe then gave what sounded like a helpless chuckle. “As for Victoria, I hope that you might be able to convey these details to her and emphasize my desire to explore our mutual feelings once I have things settled more on my end. Too much additional contact between her and me could tip my hand and my hidden enemies might take that as a call to action.”
“Woah.” I couldn’t help but exclaim before agreeing.
With that Monroe stood up from his chair and guided me to the front door.
Raising his voice in farewell he spoke up as I departed. “I really enjoy these sparring and training sessions! I look forward to our next appointment next week, same time!”
Thanking him and acknowledging his parting words, I began my return trip to Victoria’s shop.
Upon my arrival back, Victoria practically dragged me past the entryway to the dining room table to discuss what happened during my training session with Councilman Monroe.
I shared the details as best as I could with her, taking in consideration her hopes. Despite the disconnect in age and general temperance, the image of a teenage girl sitting at the very edge of her seat worrying about news regarding her crush overlaid that of my master. I could see the sparkling of glistening snowflakes in midair forming in reaction to her emotional state. Despite the danger I had seen in her wielding her magic before with the mage and the tom cat, I felt safe in this moment.
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The sparkling and suspended grain size ice particles felt more like a magical manifestation of her emotional release rather than a gathering of power. The element of ice itself appeared to love her, and it echoed forth her own unrestrained emotions. I felt gratified that she would trust me enough to release the immense self-control she must regularly maintain in order to conceal this side of her.
Trust is something that I hold incredibly dear and precious. Trust, respect, and genuine appreciation are the staples by which I yearn to live by and for. I believe that the great majority of men and possibly women share this sentiment.
Feeling both elated and lightly burdened with that entrustment, I set my mind to task in order to prove that their hopes were rightly placed.
The day resumed with routine work and studying on my end as Victoria practically danced about with excitement doing her own tasks. Night fell soon after and I began getting ready for bed with great plans for tomorrow. I had not originally planned to work at the falls so soon again especially after the training with Monroe and recent excavation. However, with today’s new developments and discoveries, I felt that this was a good time to accomplish something that had been held off for far too long.
Victoria had some time ago gifted me a small field-kit for creating potions. I had not needed to use it until now, but this was a good opportunity. Packing that in my bag to take to the falls for tomorrow’s excavation, I shivered inside with repressed excitement at the possibility that I just might be able to finally assimilate a mage stone! I did not inform Victoria of this endeavor because to be honest, I did not want to get her hopes up only to dash them to pieces. Her emotions were already turbulent enough with the Monroe situation.
I hoped and looked forward to the results of a successful assimilation for many reasons. Firstly, based on what I had learned from Gertrude regarding the benefits of elemental assimilation, I felt that it would aid me greatly in my excavation efforts. Being more in-tune with the earth had to be useful in chipping away at a stone wall somehow. Secondly, it should offer me an increase in strength to enact the movements that Monroe was taking me through, for learning self-defense. Thirdly, it would prove that I was ready for the assimilation of other elements that would be beneficial in my apprenticeship under Victoria.
Last of all, and in my own mind most importantly, I felt this was a pathway to potentially evolve my gift which has continued to be such a mystery to me in life. I shivered again in anticipation at this opportunity.
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Early afternoon of the next day:
Once again at the rock face by the falls, I began chipping away at the stone. A bemused smirk crossed my face as my mind was tossing about a new theory regarding my eccentric apothecary teacher. None of the days I was hacking at the rock wall or the two times I had learned martial arts from Monroe, did she dose me with a poison or compound by which to test me. It had become so commonplace for me to need to cure various symptoms that it was almost a surprise when I wasn’t afflicted.
It was honestly very good if that was the case today, as I desired to have no complications with my plans for the earth stone potion. I was also hoping to find another basic earth stone to hedge my bets with the assimilation. From my prior experience regarding the light potion and the failed assimilation, I held a personal suspicion that if I had only doubled or tripled up on the mage stone components, that it might have been successful.
As my hands swung away with the pickax at the stone depression, I kept stimulating small pulses of energy within myself. I was unsure if this would be truly helpful, but I was hoping that such exercise of my ability would better reveal any hidden earth stones. To be honest, I was immensely grateful that I was able to achieve this benchmark of stimulating my ability here. However, with how faint the pulsing energy was within me when I purposely sought to trigger it, I was often unsure if anything was actually happening at all.
Too often, with my greatly reduced feedback as generally compared to when in real life, I needed peace and quiet to feel the gentler manifestations of this energy. The nearby crashing waters and filtered sunlight beating down on me did much to distract my finer-tuned senses. Like using white noise to block out the sound of your own beating heart to sleep at night.
It wasn’t until I had knocked out a particularly large slab of stone, that I felt something was different. A faint stirring sensation, like vague memory I could not recall tugged ever so gently on me. It came from where I was working away at the wall, and became consciously noticeable only once it changed its origin. Pausing my work to investigate, I sat down amidst the shattered remains of my excavations, heedless of the many shards jabbing into my thighs. The large chunk of stone that drew me to it was about 2 fists in size. Picking it up and holding it made me realize it gave off a similar feel as the earthen stone from before.
Elation touched upon me as I believed this to have what I was looking for!
Digging out the earth stone from my pack, I held it up to my eyes and studied its faceted edges and overall texture. Then holding it along-side to the chunk of stone, I compared it to the various flaws looking for inclusions on its surface which might reveal the presence of another earth stone. After several careful searches, I was unable to distinguish any parts as being different from the others.
With great care, I began tapping on the chunk of stone with the tip of my pick in hand. I waited until I had formed several hairline cracks over the surface of the stone before I changed to smacking it with progressively harder impacts against the wall. After the fifth such impact, the stone finally shattered into several pieces.
My heart leapt into my throat as I feared I may have broken the crystal! Staring down at the many remnants something then dawned in my mind, and I suddenly felt like an idiot. I was going to have to grind them down into a powder anyways. What difference would it make to have an earth crystal break a few minutes before being fully powdered?
Digging around in the shattered remnants, I was able to find a few pieces that actually equaled up to 2 of the initial earth crystal I had found prior in size. My eyes lit up in pleasant surprise at having what looked like 3 crystals to work with.
Wasting little time, I drew as far back from the falls as I could, while still remaining out of view from the distant platform populated by many of the city folk enjoying its sights. Drawing from the flask of distilled water I’d brought specifically, I set about preparing the few components involved in the creation of an elemental assimilation potion. Then as the second to last step, I placed all three of the stone crystals in my mortar and began to work away at them, crushing them with the pestle.