“It looks marvelous.” Mordred admitted, his hands gently roaming over the silver-focus, feeling the symbols and the object in general. I seriously doubted that he would be able to detect the tolerances with a tactile inspection, what he had given me had stated tolerances of the tenth of a millimeter, something that would need a clear contrast to be detected by a human without tools. But still, the hand-off had been successful, so he could do with his rod whatever he wanted and I would not care, as long as he performed his task in return.
“Thank you. Now, about those warding cubes?” I asked, getting him back on track. He looked over to me and gave a short nod, so I gestured to another table on which the prepared cubes sat, worked to similar tolerances. According to him, the better precision on my part, the longer his enchantments would last.
Again, he let his hands gently roam over the cubes before turning to me and nodding.
“Those will work splendidly. Once I’m finished with them, you won’t have to worry about people scrying into your spaces, at least not without serious links on their side.” he assured me, making me raise an eyebrow, a gesture that was reflected on my mask.
“Links?” I asked, knowing that almost no security-measure was absolute. Only that I had no real idea just what the limits on magic were, or psionics for that matter. Technica had given me some ideas but they were vague, nothing absolute that could be relied upon. Apparently, it was merely a collection of observations, none of which could be used to form a reliable model. Which meant that it might work for most Powered but some others would simply ignore it, due to the particulars. No matter how much I hated it.
“Yes, links. If you have something that acts as a link, a focus, for the magical power you can do things that would normally be impossible. For example, if you have something that used to be of great, personal significance for someone, that would work as a focus, or even better, if you have some hairs or blood.” he explained, causing a worried frown on my face. I did not like the sound of that and it made me wonder why my father, back when I had first faked my death, had failed to track me down, using something like that. Everything I knew about him demanded that he kept control, that he would move heaven and earth to track me down, if I tried to run. Unless he was fully convinced that I had been killed, he would have done so, would he not? And if I remembered correctly, the Shadowbroker had talked about a diviner being brought in, to get an idea of the events.
“Can such links be beaten or misdirected?” I probed, trying to shake off the strange melancholy I was feeling, pushing away the questions about my past.
“Certainly. But the better the Mage is at scrying, the harder it gets to fool them, obviously. If you want, we can make another deal. I have a few ideas for magical formations that I want to test and the precision you are working with is quite useful there.” he explained, making me internally chuckle. On one hand, he had told me that his magic was supernatural and not bound by law and on the other hand, he was trying to figure out the laws of magic, even if he did not call them that, by experiment. The obvious cognitive blind-spot made me wonder where my blind-spots were, I somehow doubted that I was not arrogant enough to believe I had none.
“You mean, no longer arrogant enough?” Galatea asked, having heard my thought, causing me to chuckle out loud.
“That would be good, yes.” I agreed, knowing full well that what was a marvelous precision for him, was child’s play if you had the tools I had either bought, built or traded for.
“How long will you need for those cubes?” I asked, getting my mind back on track.
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“I’ll do them next week, the full-moon will help a great deal.” he said, making me grumble with annoyance at yet another variable that needed to be accounted for, if I wanted to understand magic. Or rather, yet another variable that might influence the test-subject, which meant I had somehow to account for the test-subject’s biases. There was a reason I disliked working with living subjects, machines were so much more predictable and understandable.
“I am certain you will be able to do your thing.” I told him, trying and failing to keep my annoyance out of my voice, causing both Anath and Mordred some amusement.
“Are you done here, Metis?” Anath asked from her position next to me, giving my hand another gentle squeeze.
“Is there anything else, Mordred?” I asked in return, looking over to my visitor.
“No, I don’t think so, the two of you can do whatever you do when you are not buried in your lair.” he replied, a smile audible in his voice. It was something of an open secret, or rather a pair of them, that Anath and Metis were a couple and that we were students on Accord Island. But at the same time, there was an agreement of silence, that people would not try to break our identities open, allowing us to remain relatively anonymous. It did not quite work that way, especially with me being attacked and almost killed by Clark, on the Island, sustaining massive wounds in the process.
Walking around with a shiny, obviously artificial, silver arm was a clear sign that something had been going on. I had since installed some additional parts that masked the silver, making my arm look like a normal arm but there had been questions. I had managed to deflect most of them and it helped that almost nobody knew what Metis actually looked like beneath the black armour, but people knew that something was up with me. Sophia had garnered some attention by virtue of association and due to being missing at the beginning of the year, when various Powered from all over the world had helped with the recovery-effort in South-Asia. Sure, there had been a lot of mundanes that had volunteered to help, but the Powered had garnered a lot more limelight.
“Good, then I thank you for your help.” I told him, offering my hand to shake.
“And I thank you. Until we will meet again.” he answered, shaking my hand and bidding me farewell before starting back towards the elevator. A small part of me kept an eye on him, using the cameras in our lair, while focusing on Anath, next to me. At the same time, I ran a scanner to make sure no technological surveillance gear was left behind in the meeting-room we had talked in.
“Let us get out of here.” I told Anath, not wanting to talk in an area that might be under surveillance.
“Sounds like a great idea, I do have a few plans for the rest of the day.” Anath answered making me wonder if I had missed a special occasion. A quick glance at the calender told me that there was nothing noted down, just a normal Saturday evening. That allowed me to make a reasonably certain guess, regarding her plans.
“Oh? And would those plans involve me, by any chance?” I asked, feeling my lips curl into a smile.
“There is a chance I would consider you as a partner to go dancing, yes. Or maybe chance is the wrong word, certainty would be a better one. And you wouldn’t want to let me go dancing all on my own, who knows what kind of unsavoury character would approach a lone maiden.” she answered, amusement bubbling in her voice.
“No, no, I certainly would not, someone needs to protect the poor, hapless fools who would approach one like you.” I joked, causing an offended huff, followed by a chuckle.
“Well, does that make you the biggest fool? You approach me quite a bit after all.” she replied, causing me to raise a hand to my chest, feigning injury.
“The greatest fool of all, that is me. All my wit, all my desires, bound to you, ensnared by your beauty and enthralled by your strength. I am yours, my lady, now and for evermore.” I lamented, hamming it up, even as I opened one of the secure rooms we used to change.
“What a tragic fate, but maybe, just maybe I can offer you a kiss, to soothe your longing.” she replied, letting her mask drop off and I could see a fire in her eyes, even as I let my own mask drop.
“A kiss, what reward, what pleasure.” I stepped up, letting my arms circle around her, while I took the offered kiss, enjoying her velvety soft lips. It was a sensation I had felt hundreds of times and hoped to feel thousands of times more.