Today was rough, in more ways than one. Turns out that there was a leak in the roof of the scribe hall and Faerkurch was furious about it. The inspection from yesterday either didn’t find it or did a lousy job of fixing it so right in the middle of the day we started hearing dripping sounds that got faster and louder in a few seconds, which meant everyone had to drop what they were doing and scramble to move the books and scrolls out of the area before anything catastrophic happened. When everything was moved out of the way it fell upon the taller kobolds, myself included, to help in the repair job by going to the floor above and seeing where the water was coming from. I was furious to find out that there was a drainage sluice for catching rainwater running right above the scribe hall that somebody had driven mounting spikes for one of the hanging lights right through it. Of all the things it could have been, it just had to be incompetence or sheer laziness that caused all of this.

Once the situation was settled and the error reported back to Faerkurch’s aides it was an awkward situation where half of the scribes were trying to work normally and the other half were busy pailing water out of the front door. I was on my third trip with a bucket in hand when I got pulled aside and told to borrow something from the workshop: a water pump. Why me? Because I work there, which by extension means I know where everything is and what it all does, as one of the aides. I caught myself growling as I trudged along back to the lifts to go and get it, which was a bit irritating since it was already being used. Oh, but Faerkurch wouldn’t have any of that, so he went and pulled some elder authority to get me signed off to build a new one.

If there was any consolation to the day it was that I got to meet the other shift workers for the workshop. Some nice kobolds there, some even friends with Dobo who were willing to lend a hand when the grouchy scribe master told me we needed more pumps. I was lucky to get number 3 put together and running smoothly when the end of shift whistle blew for the workshop and I had to contend with the home going crowds as well as the rain to get back down to the hall. Everyone was already gone by the time I got there, except for the big man himself and his stupid floating platform. As calmly as I could muster I set the last pump in the slightly flooded part of the room and stuck the outlet into a drain someone had punched into the wall, but right as I grabbed my bag and stomped off Faerkurch called my name.

“Kayrux, I would like to speak with you for a moment.”

Well I don't want to speak with you right now. I've spent half of the day drenched, sluggish, tired and hungry while holding on for my life on a slippery elevator, banging away with my hammer on one of these damn pumps, or showing the scribes how to run them and where to send the water. Yet I know that even though I am worn and weary I can't just ignore the elder. I turned around with my eyes closed, holding my breath in expectation that he was going to say something that would indirectly mean that he had more work for me. I waited a moment, but when no words came I peeked an eye open to see him pulling something out of his sleeve. Oh, money, how great. He held out a handful of coins towards me, but there was something on his face that told me that he did have something to say.

“I wanted to extend my thanks personally. Your skills were instrumental in preventing my precious collection and works from being destroyed by natural forces, and as such I am in your debt. This sum is a rough estimate of how much you are owed, as well as an increase due to the rushed nature of the work.”

I took the coins and felt the weight settle in my hands. This was a lot, perhaps thirty Draks and a few Skrats extra tucked away under the larger coins. I didn’t know how to respond other than to dump the bits into my bag and offer him a curt little nod, but it seemed that he was not finished talking.

“I must say, I am impressed with the efficiency by which you work both here and at your laboratory. Such craftsmanship would normally require a skilled worker a full day to patch together even a rough approximation of a water relocating device, but you managed to make three identical devices each made with outstanding quality and performance. You must have been a very talented crafter in your previous life.”

Kinda, if by crafter you mean mechanic. Breaking down engines, changing oil, putting egregiously large lift kits on trucks, all well and good but none of it was my own design, and either they were kits with instructions or just something you could pull up in a manual. Actually building something from scratch took a bit more imagination, and the pumps were just that: a minor improvement on the standard design that took viscosity and water pressure into account. He already knew they were different and was trying to allude to it, so I could only smirk and nod along.

“I thought as much, that explains why you thirst so greatly for knowledge and push the boundaries in which you are confined. It never ends but you never really get tired of it all. Quite a gift, or perhaps something of a curse.”

A somber quiet fell on the room as a look of sadness crossed the old lizard's face. I silently nodded along, since it really does take one to know one and he’s without a doubt just the same. He glanced at me before approaching the main door and giving it a knock with his staff. He stood there like a gargoyle beside the exit, silently waiting until I got close. I was reaching for the handle when his voice rose and caught me off guard, making me freeze for a moment.

“Before you depart, I must extend an offer of assistance to you. Your friend, Miss Raevu, was especially distracted today despite the circumstances, and when I asked her why she responded with a tale of what the two of you did with your time yesterday. I must say I am impressed that you are already beginning to experiment with enchantments, but creating such strong devices will undoubtedly destroy whatever it is you made. I dare to assume that you have already discovered as much.”

You could say that, if by destroy you mean turned to ash. I do wonder if it’s possible if he doesn’t know about decayed matter. Oh wait, I’ve been so busy all day that I almost forgot that I had that research paper I wrote! Gosh, this made me remember college, eagerly digging through my bag looking for my papers to show off to my professors, all while sheepishly smiling in a bid for time. There it is, all ten pages of it! Oh, right, I forgot that I wrote down every detail down to the digit,even went a little overboard and added my own speculations, a sketch, and also a diagram of the disc. Judging by the look on his face, he probably wasn’t expecting this as a reply to his statement.

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“These are some…interesting documents. I will have to spend some time going over this, but it looks as though your friend was certainly not lying.”

He snapped his fingers and the pages vanished from view, though I am certain he just warped them up to his desk rather than hold onto them. I swear I caught a glimpse of magic that time, but it just goes so fast I can’t get anything on it. He crooked a finger under his chin for a moment as some thought crossed his mind, then he seemed to look up to his pillar and grumble something under his breath. The click of my tongue I made drew his attention back to me, though he still seemed to be distracted by something.

“My apologies, I was trying to remember the whereabouts of a certain book. If I remember correctly, it is filed under the name of Okopip, shelf number thirty eight, right next to the stonemason registry. Those books weren’t moved due to the waters, so I should be right about its position. One moment while I relocate it.”

He snapped his fingers again, though there was no noticeable change other than a spark of magic at his fingertips. Dang, if that means what I think it does, this guy can move stuff even if he can’t see it, and coupled with his impeccable memory of this place he can just snap anything he wants around to wherever he likes. If that’s the case why’d he even bother having us move all the books if his magic is somehow instantaneous and effortless for him? My guess is it probably drains his magic quite a bit, and not to be rude to the sagely guy but he’s well beyond his prime years so maybe he can’t sling spells quite like he used to. Still quite an impressive category of magic, sounds a lot more impressive than what I have to work with.

“There we go, that should have landed right on the table if my memory is correct. Well Kayrux, I do believe it is time that you head home. The rain is likely going to get worse in the night before lessening in the morning, so the longer you wait here the harder it will be to get home.”

Of course it is, it always has to get worse before it gets better. I let out a sigh as I reached for my slate, which by this point was still soggy from how many times it had been drug out in the rain with me, and used a bit of damp chalk to convey my thoughts.

“I’ll see you tomorrow boss. Have fun with those notes.”

The old man let out a dry chuckle as his eyes flicked from me to the door. I reached my hand for the handle, but as it got closer I felt that same suction feeling from before when he teleported me right to his office. I halted and shot him a questioning glance, but his stern face didn’t change at all even as I continued sliding my hand towards it. My claw just barely touched the handle when everything snapped into a different place, and I was suddenly standing in the middle of my own home. I was a little taken aback by the sudden shift, but I couldn’t help but smile at the clever old bugger’s little prank.

It was a moment before I realized that I wasn’t alone in the house. No, let me rephrase that statement. I was the last person to come home and everyone else was here already. Humey was cooking, Tokols was lounging in the main pit, and Mibata and our parents were crowded around the table looking at something. The only one to notice me was Tokols, who had no doubt seen my sudden appearance since he raised an eyebrow as he put a cup to his lips. I waved to him in a friendly manner, earning me an eye roll before he tilted his head towards the others.

“Kay’s home, why don’t you ask her about it.”

The three at the table looked my way, with my mother holding a book in her hands. I went over and took a look at it, and I was blown away to see that the cover said “Principles of Enchanting Theories - Okopip the Wise '' on the cover. What a nosy old man with powerful abilities, able to warp things right into my home. Hold on a second, didn’t that turtle say he was trying to remember where a table was? Has he been in our house? I don’t like the implication that he’s somehow been in our house recently, or the idea that he can send us unsolicited gifts any time he damn well pleases.

It took a bit of explaining to them, but everyone got the idea that my boss’ special magic was teleportation or warp gates, whatever they were, and that he had sent the book there for me as well as given me a ride home. I didn’t ask for either so I’m not going to let him hold this over me as if he was doing me some huge favor, but I will thank him somehow in the near future. In the present moment I need to…what is rubbing against my foot? I looked down and saw the familiar iron shell of my little bug who had been left at the clinic the day before, but he’s covered in so much more rust than before and somehow slightly green. Oh gosh, it’s not just his colors that are off, the poor thing is positively bloated! I gently scooped him up and scratched at his shell to get him to make that delightful giggling noise he did, all while shooting Tokols a judging look.

“What are you looking at me for? I brought him home, Tuleni was the one who kept sweeping all of the plant clippings his way! Both Wilter and I tried to tell her to stop, but she just kept on feeding him.”

Great, my little isopod spends one day at grandma’s place and he comes home stuffed like a turkey. No more visits to the clinic for you little one, you’re staying with me and we’re avoiding her place until you’re back in shape. I carried him and the book over to the hobby room and set them both on the table, chuckling as Tim tried to curl up in order to sleep only to be stuck unable to close fully due to his bloated shape then giving up and laying flat on his gut atop the table instead. A bug on my left and a tome of arcane knowledge on my right, I began to sift through the pages while petting the bug. The more I read the slower I scratched, until eventually Tim was dozing off and I hand both hands on the book trying to read the fine print.

It’s all nonsense. Just like with the book on practical runes and enchantments, this book is a whole bunch of mystic mumbo jumbo about the essences and puriticals. I took a sheet of parchment and began to try translating some of these gibberish phrases into some form of understandable formula, but the more I translated the more outrageous the components became. One ingredient was definitely mercury, another was probably arsenic, asbestos and chlorine were possibilities, ammonia and phosphorus as well: these enchanters were mixing anything and everything that could kill them into a paste and then setting it all on fire for their magical powers! The list just kept going on and on, but after a while it started becoming ingredients that came from living animals or monsters from places I’ve never even heard of. To top it all off was a warning on the next page stating how the process could release harmful gas and needed to be done in a magically sealed room.

I closed the book and put my head in my hands. There was no math, no science, it was all just guesswork and hairbrained excuses as they tossed everything in a pot and watched the pretty colors. I slid the book away and rested my head, unsure if I had actually learned anything of value from the pages. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, I wouldn’t know unless I got ahold of some of the ingredients on this list and ran some tests on them myself. The question now was if I wanted to find some of this stuff, as most of it was either poisonous, flammable, expensive and possibly hard to source.

Just to be sure that these books were discussing the same idea of enchanting, I cracked open the book about runes and enchantments themselves to see if there was any info that the books agreed on or if there was something I had missed. Interestingly, there were actually a few phrases the two authors had used that differed and described two different ways the enchantments could be bound. The practical guide detailed that enchantments needed to be set during the forging process while the metal was hot, and the theory book said that fire on cold metal was the best option. They both also said that certain monster bones would work better than silver, and there were even ways to have fine crafters reshape gems to hold enchantments too. If there’s one thing I love it’s variation in parts, and this sounds like there’s more than one way about it after all.

Before I knew it my eyes were feeling fuzzy and my head was bobbing between the pages, but before my snout could meet the table a hand pulled me back up and led me to my room. I must have been more tired than I thought, because in my somewhat drowsy state I tried to say thanks to Mibata even though it was my mother who was moving me over there, and in my attempt I only managed to make an awkward mumble and pat her on the head. I didn’t have much time to dwell on it or get embarrassed as my eyelids grew heavy with my precious Tim clutched comfortably to my chest.