A few weeks later

Preparations with Leigh have been going well. Sometimes I can tell she’s still apprehensive around me, but we’ve been making steady progress on the ritual and she finished Mom’s stove request days ago.

We discussed the potential of summoning, and both agreed that Leigh would be best served by some form of fire-attuned spirit. A simple fire element would be the easiest to contract, or maybe even a heightened heat element. Leigh made a good point about her dwarven blood giving influence to earth magic as well, so a Magma or Forge-attuned spirit wouldn’t be impossible and would likely be the most effective for her future endeavors.

We have a lot of things to do to get ready for the actual day of the summoning, so things are likely to be very busy for some time now. The first, and perhaps the easiest task, is to transcribe the actual spell chant for Leigh to learn. With a summoning contract like this, higher efficiency isn’t going to directly translate to something as tangible as spell power, but it definitely allows for a more favorable contract to be struck.

Unfortunately, due to my specialization, I never ventured into practicing summoning magics much at all. So as a result I can’t quite recall the entire familiar contract from memory, but I can recall the gist of it and fill out the rest through context and theory craft. I doubt it will be fully optimized, but it will definitely be better than nothing. It still requires work though, so as I continue to make progress there the other preparations come along nicely.

Leigh has been image training in her forge for the past several days, contemplating the kind of familiar she’d like and what elements resonate most with her personally. Right now I’m on my way to her workshop to assist in the drawing of a ritual circle to focus the summoning itself. The actual circle need not be very big, but if we get sufficient detail it will be a tremendous improvement over the base spellform. Luckily I can remember enough of the conjuration sigils to construct something passable even if I can’t fully recall the optimized version of the spell. “Cirune’s Summoning” is included in every beginner spellbook, but I wasn’t exactly a traditional mage on my first go around.

“Good morning Leigh!” I call out as I open the door to her workshop and stride my way inside. I find Leigh sharpening a set of chisels at her workbench, the forge itself cold and unlit.

“Are you wanting to finish the circle today?” I ask, crossing the distance to her workspace. “Yeah.” She grunts, putting the finishing touches on the chisel in her hands. “I think that’s really the last thing I can worry about until you finish that translation thing you were talking about” Leigh replies with a nod.

“It wasn’t so much a translation as it-” I start to counter, but catch myself mid-sentence. “You know what, it’s really not that important” I explain through gritted teeth. My constant need to show off and prove my worth temporarily getting the better of me. A faint buzz echoes behind my eyes.

“It’s almost done anyway, I should be able to finish it tomorrow.” I explain, glancing over the diagram Leigh and I had sketched onto the floor in chalk. It was almost exactly fifty centimeters in diameter and as close to a perfect circle as we could manage. I double-checked the sigils one last time and asked Leigh over my shoulder, “Does the diagram make sense to you? Your intent when drawing can be just as important as the final structure.” She didn’t respond immediately, merely rolled her eyes and silently nodded. “I’ve been over it enough times to scrawl it in my sleep. I know what it does” Leigh huffed.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Okay, Okay, Sorry. I meant no offense” I laugh, taking a piece of chalk from the drawer of her workbench and moving across the room. Leigh cleared a section of the workshop floor yesterday specifically for the ritual to take place. She places the diagram in the center of the floor between us and we begin carefully scribing the shapes in chalk. The circle isn’t overly large, but with multiple intertwined rings of sigils it is vastly complex.

We spend the next several hours drawing, correcting, and redrawing the summoning circle as the day creeps onward. By the time we complete the complex symbol, it’s already time to break for lunch. I’m about to leave the forge when Leigh calls out to me, “Hey Vincent? I’m gonna work on the offering thing you told me about for the rest of the day, see what I can come up with. Can you ask your mom to just send some food down here?”.

Her dedication, as usual, is unwavering. “Yeah, sure thing” I call over my shoulder when I finally exit. I make my way quickly to the edge of the village and up the small hill that leads home, relaying Leigh’s message as soon as I arrive. Mom agrees without hesitation and begins packing up a small satchel to take down to Leigh. I briefly offer to make the trip myself, but Mother refuses saying “I have some things to talk to Leigh about anyway, don’t worry yourself dear. I know you’re both working hard”. Then, much to my frustration, Neia kisses me on the forehead and leaves, fully ignoring my protests that I am far too old for such things now.

I’m not quite sure how long Mom was gone since I moved into the cellar almost immediately after finishing my own dinner. I worked well past sundown in order to finish my transcription of the chant Leigh would use to summon her familiar, and by the time I returned to the house Neia and Daniel were already in bed for the night. The transcription itself was more tedious than difficult, having to manually work through the individual concepts to reverse engineer a simple spell I’d never bothered to learn properly. As soon as I got back into my own bed, I collapsed into a much-needed sleep.

When I awake the following morning, I groan in surprise as the curtains of my small bedroom are abruptly drawn open. Forcefully blinking away the dazzling sunlight, I look up to see Leigh already standing over my bed impatiently, her hands on her hips. “What?” I grumble, rubbing my still groggy face and sitting up on my single bed.

“It’s almost noon Vincent. How long are you going to sleep?” Leigh asks with a huff. She seems almost upset at me, but I have to remember she’s likely nervous about the summoning.

“Sorry. Sorry.” I groan, sliding out of bed and pulling my boots on. “I stayed up late to finish the transcription. We can do the ritual after I eat.”

Leigh seems excited to hear the news and briefly lunges forward as if to hug me before she stops cold. “Thanks..” She murmurs, and exits my bedroom, leaving me to get dressed in peace. I quickly throw on my clothes, not caring much to think beyond clean, and move to the kitchen for breakfast.

Leigh was already sitting at the table, chatting idly with Mom as they both ate breakfast. Their conversation grinds to a halt as I enter. “Good morning sugarplum!” Mom calls out to me, gesturing to a pre-set place at the table. I sit down in silence and start eating without delay. My stomach grumbles one final protest before the food hits my lips. “I hear you two are doing a little project today?” Mom asks, tilting her head toward Leigh.

“Yeah,” I mumble, my mouth full of fresh bread as I chew without stopping. “Vincent is going to show me how to summon a familiar today” Leigh interjects, explaining in my place as I finish my breakfast. I glance up at her and notice she’s already finished eating, and jittering nervously in place. I sigh internally, feeling a faint buzz trying to build in my head. I close my eyes and try to convince myself she’s just excited. It’s okay.

I choke down a few more bites of food, take a deep swig of water, and stand up from the table. “Okay. Are you ready to go Leigh?” She jumps out of her seat and beats me to the door. By the time I’ve made it outside, she’s already a good few steps down the road. I sigh and smile. “Wait for me!”