It takes three days to fix everything. Luckily the cloth sack prevented any of the shards from spearing through my vial, but it’s a terrible mess to clean up. I’m still finding bits of broken glass swept between cracks in the floorboards when they pass within my range.

It took me about a month to build the body the first time, but that was mostly due to all the time spent collecting and then Attuning enough glass to make up the body. Now that it’s all Attuned already, I’m only limited by how fast I can re-Sculpt everything given a pool of only 56 mana. Zyneth gives me a couple recharges, which helps. But reassembling each limb is still a meticulous process.

“Okay,” I finally sign, after checking the body over for the upteenth time. “Ready to try again.”

“Maybe we should help this time,” Noli suggests. “All that glass seems rather heavy, but Rezira could hold you upright.”

Rezira and I look at each other.

“If she wants…”

“I guess if he needs it…”

“Or perhaps I could take an arm,” Zyneth suggests. “And maybe Noli if you wanted to help with his other side. You could lean on us until you feel comfortable letting go.”

A much better idea. And two less limbs to have to think about. “Alright. Let’s try that way.”

Once more, I have Noli obscure my vial with the pouch so I can turn on the head’s sense of sight. It’s slightly less disorienting this time, now that I know what to expect, and I once more allow myself to be strung up like the necklace I apparently am.

Okay. Round two.

I cautiously sit up as before, swinging my legs over the side of the table. Zyneth and Noli stand to either side, and I awkwardly put an arm around each of their shoulders. They pull upward and I try to take some of the weight off of them, levitating the glass in each arm, but my attention quickly switches to my legs as I begin to put weight on my feet. This time, don’t neglect the joints.

“Easy,” Zyneth murmurs, as I stand from the table.

Whew, he’s awfully close, isn’t he? I mean, it’s not like I didn’t ride around on his shoulder for several days like a little glass parrot, but being in this more human body, holding onto him with more human limbs, it feels more intimate. An embarrassed warmth rises within me, which I pray isn’t actually a warmth anyone else can feel.

As I pause there, just trying to stand in one place, Noli grunts.

I shake myself out of the intrusive thoughts. “Sorry,” I say with my signing glass, given my hands are a bit preoccupied.

Even trying to levitate as much of my glass as possible to offload the weight, I’m pressing down on Zyneth and Noli, and glass is damn heavy. Still leaning on them (as little as I can manage), I take my first shaky step. The foot drags heavily across the floor. I set it down. Shift my weight. Now for the other one.

With Zyneth and Noli’s help, I make a slow lap around the room. So much for hitting the ground running. I must look like some kind of hospital patient trying to build up their muscles again.

After about ten minutes of shuffling around the cottage, I can feel Noli starting to tremble. Someone who’s actually building up her muscles again after her body had been in a magical coma for a month.

“That’s enough,” I sign, gesturing back to the table. “I’m ready for a break.”

Well, Noli is, but I’d rather not call attention to it. The two help set me back down on the table, then step back with wide grins. They look happier about this than I do.

“Great job!” Noli wipes some sweat from her brow. “No falls this time.”

Thanks to them. I’d stumbled once or twice, but they’d always caught me. “Still a lot to practice,” I sign.

Rezira shakes her head. “Stop using those dinky pieces of glass to talk. You need to practice with your body’s hands, or you’ll always sound like some kind of country bumpkin.”

“Don’t you guys live in the country?” I ask.

Rezira replies with a rude gesture.

Zyneth chuckles. “I think it was good progress, at any rate. Keep it up and we might be able to head to Miasmere in another few weeks.”

“Weeks?” I can’t wait that long. “I have to get faster.”

“Not too fast,” Noli says. “Another fall will only set you back again. Just try to take it slow.”

Ugh, I hate being treated like I’m, well, like I’m made of glass. Okay, maybe their concern is valid. I just wish it wasn’t so damn frustrating.

“The joints are difficult,” I muse. “They don’t move right.” If I could crack that problem, walking might be easier.

“No tendons or muscles to restrict the movement,” Rezira says. “A little hard to simulate elastic ranges of motion when all you’ve got to work with is glass.”

She’s right. “Maybe I could add something?” Attach strips of leather along joints or something.

“There’s no harm in trying,” Zyneth says. “I’ll keep an eye out for viable materials on my next trip into town. Which actually may be soon.”

“Again?” I ask, disappointed. He’s left twice since I’ve been at Noli and Rezira’s place, each time gone for over a week.

“Sorry.” He grimaces. “Another job came up. This one might take longer than the last—a few weeks, perhaps. But when I get back, we could experiment with the pseudo-tendon material, as Rezira suggested.”

Once again, no explanation of where he’s going, or what the job entails. I’d consider it sketchy as fuck if I haven’t been getting to know the guy. He doesn’t seem like a bad person. So why all the cloak and dagger?

“When do you leave?” I ask.

“Perhaps tomorrow, or the next day,” he says. “I’ve already spent five days here. Time to check back in.”

“Where?” I ask.

Zyneth cocks an eyebrow. “You’ve a lot of questions, all of a sudden.”

“I’m curious what you do,” I sign. “How you make so much money.”

Noli laughs nervously. “Kanin, that’s rude. His employment is none of our business if he doesn’t want to share.”

Rezira tips her head. “No, go on. I’m rather curious myself.”

Zyneth glances between us, clearly uncomfortable with the sudden confrontation. I almost feel a little bad at putting him on the spot—but my nosiness wins out.

“The less you all are involved, the better,” Zyneth finally relents. “It’s not exactly licit work.”

Noli’s eyes widened. “You mean it’s something illegal?”

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“A little late to try to keep from involving us, don’t you think?” Rezira adds. “You already spend all your time between jobs at our house.”

“I’m sorry,” Zyneth says. “You’re right. I should never have done that. If you’d like for me to leave now—”

“No!” Noli cries. “Absolutely not. No one is getting kicked out. Right, Rezira?”

The orc blows air out her nose. “I mean, I don’t know. Maybe we should hear a few more details about this illicit job before making any decisions. No offense, Zyneth.”

“That is completely fair,” he replies, shoulders uncharacteristically hunched. Compared to the typical nonchalant and confident Zyneth I’m used to seeing, this version looks like a scolded schoolboy.

Whoops. I opened a bit of a can of worms here, didn’t I?

Zyneth is still hesitating, but Noli waves a dismissive hand before he can answer.

“Whatever you need to say,” she signs, “you can chew on it until tomorrow. You’re staying the night regardless. Perhaps if it is something worth addressing, we can discuss how this might affect future visits then. But you’re here now, and that isn’t changing.”

Zyneth nods, fidgeting with the cuff of a sleeve, but he doesn’t appear mollified. “I appreciate the hospitality. I’ve some thinking to do on the matter myself. Rezira raises fair points about my presence here involving the rest of you. It might be best if I limit future visits, in frequency and duration.”

“But the trip to Miasmere,” I object. “My research at the library.” And currently my only lead on discovering how I might get my body back.

“As I said, I will return,” Zyneth says. “And you need time to get used to operating that new body, anyway.”

But that’ll be weeks! Biding my time is the last thing I need. I’m sick to death of moving slow.

Zyneth shakes his head before I can object. “As Noli said, we can continue this discussion tomorrow—when we’ve all had time to think through our priorities.”

I, for one, don’t need to think too hard about mine.

“Well,” Rezira finally sighs as an uncomfortable silence threatens to settle over the room. “I suppose I should get things ready for dinner.”

“Have we got any of that rabbit left?” Noli asks, seemingly eager to disperse the cloud that’s still hanging in the air. She heads over to the wall, where her bow and arrows are mounted. “I’ve been meaning to go out hunting again.”

Rezira waves her on. “I’ll never say no to fresh meat. We’re also low on mugroot while you’re at it.”

“Great.” Noli slings her quiver and bow over opposite shoulders. “Be back in a few hours. And please, Kanin, go easy on this body, won’t you?”

“No promises,” I joke.

She smiles, briefly, with worry in her eyes, then heads out.

“Actually,” I sign, after she’s gone, “I need help outside, too. I want to renew my spell.”

Rezira’s eyes brighten. “Does this mean I get my dining room table back?” They’d been sitting out front eating their meals on a pair of hand-made rocking chairs ever since I’d commandeered the table for building my glass body. “Gods’ grace, I can’t wait to use my table again.”

“Maybe,” I sign. “I was feeling generous, but with all this attitude…”

“Careful,” Rezira says. “Keep tempting fate and I’ll just shove you off the table.”

“That’ll be another three days to rebuild. Doesn’t sound productive.”

Rezira snorts, holding out an arm. “You want help, or what?”

With her and Zyneth’s shoulders to lean on, we make our way outside. I call the Attuned void to follow after—a crucial element to working my spell circles. We slowly head around to the back of the cottage, and I marvel at the sensation of soil and grass underfoot. It’s so different experiencing the world through this body as opposed to a teacup-sized orb of glass. I’d nearly forgotten what walking feels like. The simple pleasure of soft ground under your feet.

“Here?” Rezira asks. There’s a clearing where the grass has been dug away to reveal a patch of dusty earth. I can still see the impressions of the last circle I’d drawn a few days ago, though the features are weathered from yesterday’s afternoon rain. Why Rezira had to ask for clarification is obvious, however.

The circle is barely three feet across, sized for a vessel the size of a pint, not a person. I’ll need to redraw it if I don’t want to deal with the hassle of unclasping my core from the necklace and then putting it back on again.

“Here is fine,” I sign, and they lower me to my knees in front of the circle.

“Anything else?” Rezira asks.

I just focus on staying upright. “No. I’ve got this. Thank you.”

“Let me know when you want to come back in,” Rezira says, then waves as she heads off.

“Anything I could help with?” Zyneth asks, lingering nearby.

“No,” I sign. Without Rezira to translate for him, I try to keep my words simple. Zyneth’s picked up some sign language as well, but without Noli to sit down and practice with him every day, like she does with me, his vocab is a lot more basic. Then again, I’m only two months into learning the language myself—though I’m pretty damn proud of how far I’ve come in that time, if I’m being honest.

“Thanks for your help,” I sign, sending my extra glass to scrub out the circle. I’ll need it at least twice the size. Echo, bring up a diagram of the Core Bond spell circle, I tell her.

[Affirmative.]

I’ve recreated it enough times now that I’m starting to memorize the pattern, but I’m still too nervous to try the spell without a reference. I don’t want to risk missing anything—I don’t want to risk messing a spell up, like Trenevalt did.

Zyneth sits down next to me, legs tucked up toward his chest and arms draped over his knees. “Mind if I watch? I’ve some time to kill.”

It’s strange. Part of me feels a little hurt by him—that he’s still keeping things from me. That he’s leaving again so soon. But, paradoxically, I’m glad he’s here, and his presence at my side fills me with comfort.

“Of course.” I finish flattening out the dirt, then begin to sketch out the outermost circle. “Could you lend your magic?”

Zyneth squints at the signs. “You want to know if I could boost your spell?”

“Yeah.” If he doesn’t mind. Given my low mana reserves, I can only go about one day before a refresh. Not a problem, as my passive mana generation is up to 1 point every five minutes now, so I can save up enough mana for a daily spell renewal in a few hours. But it’s definitely anxiety inducing to just be one missed-spell away from an untimely death. Not to mention, the mana cost keeps me from working on my glass body. With Zyneth to help, his entire mana pool boosts the spell’s duration to about ten times what I can manage.

“I can lend some,” he says. “Not all, unfortunately. It would be wise for me to not drain myself today when I plan on leaving tomorrow. Never know when you might need a spell or two.”

“That’s fair.” I work on the second major circle next, prescribed just inside the first.

“Sorry,” Zyneth says. “Didn’t catch that one.”

“Thank you,” I sign instead.

Zyneth is quiet as I continue adding components to the circle. The ten-pointed star. The correct cross hatches and semicircles.

“Is it terribly different?” he asks. “The world you come from.”

I finish my first pass at the circle, and consult the diagram Echo’s manifested in my vision. “Yes.” Where to even start?

“Were you a wizard there?”

I sign laughter. “No. No magic.”

“You couldn’t do magic?”

“There isn’t any.”

Zyneth rocks back, eyebrows raised. “No magic in the whole world? I… I can’t even imagine. How strange.”

“Not as strange as here,” I counter.

But Zyneth shakes his head; he doesn’t know those signs. “Do you miss it?” he asks.

I hesitate. I mean… of course I miss home. That should go without saying. There’s my career, and everyone I’ve ever known, and… well, my body, obviously. Yet I still pause before signing, “Yes.”

Somewhat bothered by the question, and still not entirely sure why, I turn my focus back on the circle. Double and triple checks aren’t turning up any mistakes. I send my Attuned void to overlay the circle, the shadows pouring into the diagram like ink.

“Help up?” I ask, gesturing to the circle.

Zyneth stands, taking my hands, then braces himself with a grunt as I pull myself to my feet. I sway, and he catches me. I stand there for a moment, leaning on him.

“Ready?” he asks after a moment.

No time to think about him. I focus on the feet. The ankles. The legs and knees. Gradually, I push off of Zyneth, holding myself upright but not letting go. Okay. I think I got this. “Yes.”

He steps forward, gingerly picking his way across the circle, as nimble as a dancer. I’m just doing my best to not screw up the lines. At the center, he hesitates.

“Should I step out?”

“Yes.” Probably. I mean, who the hell knows what would happen if an already living person was in the middle of this spell—I’m certainly not willing to find out.

“Alright. I’m going to let go.”

Ankles, don’t forget the ankles. Slowly, Zyneth releases my hand, and I’m left standing on my own. The ground seems so far away from up here.

Zyneth backs out of the circle, but remains just outside the outer ring. He holds up both hands, a yellow glow forming in each palm. “Ready when you are.”

Activate Core Bond Renewal, I tell Echo. And my circle jumps to life.

In contrast to Zyneth’s yellow, my magic illuminates the circle, managing to glow in some surreal hue of black that nearly hurts to look at. A familiar warmth floods through in my soul. I bring up a display of the spell’s mana as I feel my own pool depleting:

[Core Bond: 78 mana]

Zyneth’s magic joins the spell as well.

[Core Bond: 89 mana]

I let it continue until Zyneth lowers his hands, cutting off his magic supply; it’s only a few seconds after that the rest of my mana is depleted as well.

[Mana: 0/56. Core Bond: 543]

[Mana depleted. Spell complete.]

The light fades, and I’m still standing. That’s over a minute without anyone supporting me.

“Well done,” Zyneth says, stepping back into the circle to offer an arm. “You’re already far more steady on your feet.”

Which might be an accomplishment if I only intended to be walking three weeks from now. But that’s not good enough—not if I want to leave with Zyneth tomorrow.

Ambitious? Maybe. But I have a plan.

I call the void up to my hand as we pick our way back out of the circle. I picture the ink layering over my fingers, and the shadows oblige, forming an onyx glove over my glass. The image is all too familiar, and summons memories I spent the last month and a half trying to box away. I suppress a shudder, but close my hand into a fist, feeling out the sensation. I don’t love it, but just like this glass body, it's a means to an end.

Time to get to work.