I spent the better part of several hours giving small lessons in magic to the elves of Icehome. There were issues of course, mostly that I had to limit what I was teaching to the absolute smallest things. They didn't want to 'waste' their mana on my teachings when it could cause issues for them or their families, so many only wanted tiny tricks.

That wasn't too much of a problem though, as there were tons of things I could do with only the tiniest trickle of power. Most of these were parlor tricks, but small color-changing lights, sparks, illusions, and most popular, the manipulation of water from the cooling pools. Eventually a few of the watchers in this room came to see why so many were gathered around, but since there was no disturbance in the flow of energy to their precious crystal they didn't complain.

“You're pretty good at this,” Imra observed as we wound down for the day. “You know, you could probably go with the stronger hunters to get a personal fire crystal if you wanted. My cousin did years ago and the Matriarch was so thrilled she met with him personally.”

“My own personal fire crystal?” I asked the flirt. “Like the one in here?”

“Well, sort of, they're normally only the size of a grain of sand or something, and kept in sap or little stone boxes. My cousin keeps his in his rooms to keep them warm himself. Said it was a lot easier than coming to donate here, and works better too.” Of course it worked better, it wasn't trying to heat an entire fucking mountain of stone.

“Interesting, so people want those?” I asked innocently.

“Oh yes, though they only come from large beasts in the south. It's said there's this large hill of rock that spits fire and the monsters there have little tiny ones in their bodies. You need to use magic to find them though. Supposedly it's where the Matriarch got the one for Icehome, though she beat a much more fearsome monster than most of our warriors could even consider fighting.”

“So if I could get one...” I was already aware of how to make similar things, heck, my hammer had been an amalgamation of them.

“If you got one you could have almost anything you wanted for it,” she said, smiling like a Cheshire cat.

“Like a meeting with the Matriarch.”

“You're no fun, you know that?”

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“I've been told, but thank you.”

I left her then to gather Chien and find Lorn. He might have been in charge of the entry to the hive that was Icehome, but as one of the leaders here I was sure that he could help me with a few small things.

“I cannot help speed the meeting on any more Justin, please stop asking,” he said before I even had the chance to speak. He was of course near the main entrance to Icehome, overseeing people coming in and out.

“I'm not here to request that,” I told him honestly, though I may have pestered him a few times over the last several days.

“Oh? What do you need then?” the elder asked, clearly disbelieving.

“A workspace, somewhere plain with stone walls. The main issue is that it's going to get very hot in there and I might damage the rock, so I didn't want to do it in our sleeping area.”

“How hot are you going to make it?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Enough to melt stone.”

“Why!?”

“Nothing bad I assure you, but a surprise. Help me with this and I won't need to pester you about meeting the Matriarch again.”

He looked at me for a few seconds solidly tapping his chin. “Your companion Isha, she's done some trading, don't suppose you'd be willing to trade something?”

Isha of course was trading, she was always trading for things we needed or things she wanted. She'd gathered several new pelts for bedding and even some lights for when we left this place. In exchange she'd sold some of the spices and trinkets she'd gotten from Rolan's people. I had no doubt that when we went south she'd trade more.

“Very well, how about this, I'll make you some small gems, they're pretty and I'm sure someone will want them.” I could make diamonds almost without effort, so it wasn't like it would be an imposition.

“Alright, I can do that.”

He handed off some of his duties and led me back down below, all the way to the heating room once more. Here he broke off, making his way all the way down to the center, where he spoke with another elder who joined him coming back up.

“Lorn says you need a room that you're going to get hot?” she asked.

“Yes, it might damage things.” I didn't know this elder, but she seemed to at least consider things.

“Alright, I've got somewhere, and the extra heat will be welcome anyway.”

People moved quickly out of the small woman's way as she led us around the room, taking me to what looked almost like a storage closet. There were others nearby, but this one was empty, it didn't even have a door, just a small open space in the center. Of course I would have liked some privacy, but it would do.

“Good enough?” she asked.

“... It should work. Won't be a problem if I damage the walls will it?”

“No, I can repair them if needed, just don't go trying to dig new tunnels or anything.”

The left me and I got to work. One grain sized mana crystal was enough to get Matriarch Neera's attention? Pfft, I'd made a whole hammer of them, of a different element granted, but I could do fire. I loved fire, I worked with fire, controlled fire, weaponized fire, we were friends. By the time I was done the leader of this conclave would have no choice but to come and see me.

“So boss, what's the plan?” Chien asked, having kept back while I dealt with the elders.

“First thing's first.” I took a second to grab up a little of the carbon from the air and form some diamonds like I'd promised, I even worked in some of the local stone to give them color, ending up with light yellow crystals.

“You gonna teach me that trick?” he asked.

“Not today, that one I'll need to run you through a lot of things for, but we're doing a much better trick. Can you put up some barriers for me...” I really needed to get around to running him through... well a lot of things.

Once we had privacy barriers I explained how magic crystals were made and the young man's eyes got wider and wider. It was one of my most closely guarded secrets, but Chien had proven himself time and again, and he deserved this much at least.

“So we're going to make one?” he asked.

“One? Oh Chien, who do you think we are? One won't be nearly enough.”