Bryn awoke and stretched. She felt amazing. None of the usual aches and pains- thing she hadn't even known hurt had stopped hurting. She smiled, feeling deeply contented. "No good morning this time?" She couldn't see Zeke but could hear the music- it had improved significantly. Still amateurish but less squawky.

“Zeke?” She called again, growing slightly concerned. He’d always been a chatterbox, what had changed? She slid off the altar- she felt that good after sleeping on a stone altar!- and startled as her new claws scored against the floor. Bryn frowned and flexed her toes, working out how exactly to retract them. It’d take practice. A small price to pay to never be unarmed again. She’d be bootless for a while, though.

She had to hold her arms out as she wobbled to the door- it felt like that time she was wearing high heels. With changed legs her balanced had changed, it seems. One of the pipes cut off when she walked through a doorway into the tunnels, the music turning into a sort of discontented warble. She could see Zeke down the hall. A cloud of threads rose up from where he was doing something to one of the pipes and gave her a wave, then pointed at the wall. There was a small inscription there- a woman with feathers for hair surrounded by a bubble. A sphere, obviously Ezekial, sent tentacles to try and pierce the bubble but failed. It meant…

“Aura? Did my aura unlock?” Bryn immediately sat down and began to meditate, only to be distracted by the music changing again. Zeke had reattached the pipe- he’d tuned it. He took a different one down. She closed her eyes.

It took a little to follow her father’s instructions- she'd never been clear on what the hell 'look inside yourself and cut off the outside' meant- but soon she was able to feel her aura and how it extended beyond her body. She could sense all around her! Only a foot of distance but it was enough! Her aura could be built from there.

Bryn surprised herself as she bounced to her feet and pumped her arms- she'd never been the bouncy type before. Still, it was a time of celebration- except… She looked at Zeke. He waved a cloud of threads, still tinkering with something small and metal.

"Can we… Not talk now that I've unlocked my aura?" She ventures. The cloud of threads rises in a shrug. Some venture towards her only to snap back into the shell as they neared her. "Well shit. That’s awkward. Also, it solves an old academic debate- whether a dragon which unlocks aura is complete or the dungeon can no longer change it. Hmm…”

Bryn leaned against the wall and closed her eyes… Then snapped them open as she scrambled to grab The Hidden Aura. She began to laugh. "Did I plan this or did Akasha guide me to it? I already agreed with that theory, but I hadn’t thought about it consciously… Anyways, this book- it’s a very special book. Of course, all Akashic tomes are- but this one especially should not exist.”

“See, Niki Greymist couldn’t read or write. He could barely string three words together and short words at that. Despite that he created a set of aura techniques that haven’t been replicated yet. The first empress found him in a dungeon living like an animal and tamed him. He fathered three of her kids too, though not until twenty years after she picked him up.” Bryn smiled and shrugged, looking down at the empty space where she knew the book to be.

“He could hide his aura, enough that the knights and magisters of the first empress couldn’t find him sneaking around. It took the empress’ flames to flush him out. Later he learned to turn entirely silent and to fade from view in the middle of an empty room. They say at the height of his powers he could even walk through walls.” Her smile broadened to a grin.

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“He never passed on his techniques- he tried, but simply didn’t have the words to explain. He’d throw tantrums when he tried to demonstrate to his children but they just wouldn’t get it. There have been dozens of attempts to replicate his powers in the centuries since, but all resulted in simply strange knights or magisters. You only get one try- once you begin to train your aura you can’t go undo it.” Her grin had faded to a frown. “And since those who attempted it had weird, ineffective results, people are rarely willing to try.”

“But this- this book which shouldn’t exist, written by a man long dead who couldn’t write in the first place, contains detailed descriptions, anatomical charts, aura composition formulas, and aura pathways. It’s a far sight from the grimoires of ‘mystical bullshit-” Bryn made airquotes with a wry expression as she said this, “That my father described from his own magister training. It’s a truly superb guide written in a way I prefer with every question I can think to ask answered.”

“It’s everything I could have ever wanted. I always wished to turn invisible, to hide- proof I’m a coward. I became a scout as a delver because then it was I who determined whether we would start a fight or turn back. Written to appeal to my sensibilities. The nature of the book itself provokes a thousand questions. It even solved a dilemma before the dilemma even appeared- just from what I read at the camp I can tell hiding my aura is what we need to let your threads in.”

She leaned back and sighed, staring at the ceiling. “Do the gods watch so closely? Do they fulfill our needs that exactly? Or when I was in the infinite library did I write the book myself? There’s a theory that gods are ghasts, after all. Great bags of souls that throw out the thoughts they disagree with, which eventually form into a baby god. Could I have merged with Akasha and then parted again?”

She was silent for a minute, eyes closed and leaning back. “Oh, nice tune. It sounds like someone gargling, but pretty and with drums. I wonder if that’s how merpeople sing…” She sighed.

“Yes, I will stay with you. Yes, I will serve you. Not out of fear or gratitude or honor for saving my life. I do have some of all those, but they aren’t why. I’ll serve you because this is the greatest opportunity in my life. I’ll stay because I like talking to you. You bring riches, health, fortune…” Bryn reached for the ceiling, then formed her fingers into a claw, popping her actual claws out. “You even make me better. Maybe not a better person, but a better creature.”

Bryn laughed and sighed, then stood up. “Could I get a table and a chair? And a glass of beer. Oh, and a cake. You mentioned cake before- you can make it with eggs, you know. Doesn’t need yeast. Need my aunt’s recipe? I think she taught me as a cruel joke- my father and I couldn’t afford sugar. I need someone to talk to too- I go crazy when I’m by myself. Can’t stop thinking. I’ll work so I can talk to you, but until then I’ll have to stop by the village now and then.

Bryn stretched. She paused mid-stretch, then stretched far farther, stifling a moan. “Oh gods, this feels good. I can touch my toes now! I didn’t even know how much pain I was in before… Just moving feels good.” She hopped in place a few times, then spun towards Ezekial and gave him a grin.

“Can I bring the rest of my family? Or maybe just my father. I’ll let him decide- been three years since I became a delver. I haven’t had to live with them.” Bryn continued to muse out loud as she watched Ezekial make a table out of raw essence- then a chair, and a beer, and a cake. The final thing was some sort of red orb with a face crudely drawn on it. Bryn laughed, then walked over to kneel before Ms. Kittysaur and give her a hug. The demon who had once severed her spine purred and rubbed her face against Bryn’s feathery hair.

Should she get it turned into normal hair?

Nah.