First, Tristan walked towards the house after insisting that they remain behind. Apparently, the Enchanter really didn’t like to meet new people. Three new people and an only slightly tame wildcat were not exactly easy to get used to.

Zalia watched him sidestep a glowing rune on the ground, then walk in an arc through a corridor of invisible runes that were only visible to Zalia as vibrations in the air. After reaching the door, he knocked on it. Only, he didn’t knock where one usually might, instead putting his hand to the height of his knees and knocking there. It looked odd, performing such a menial thing as knocking in any different of a way somehow causing Zalia’s brain to grind a little in confusion.

Tristan waited for a few minutes before the door was finally pulled open. The person who opened the door was… basically still a teenager. They looked to be barely twenty and shorter than Zalia, wearing robes that glowed with multitudinous runes.

Despite the unassuming look of a youngster, Zalia knew that this was not someone to mess with. She could see the power radiating from them, undeniably Silver rank. It looked like they might even be close to Gold, according to Aura Observation.

Congratulations! Aura Observation has reached Iron 20.

Congratulations! Aura Observation has reached Bronze 1.

Aura Observation - passive

Tin - you are able to identify what rank a creature is by sight, unless it has a method of hiding that information.

Iron - you are able to identify a creature's general progress to the next rank.

Bronze - your strength of observation increases. Fluctuations in the auras of undisciplined beings can give insights into their emotional state.

New information suddenly assaulted Zalia’s eyes, another upgrade to a sight based ability causing her bonded mental stats to work hard to keep up. Not only did the ability do as it said, allowing Zalia to see people’s auras almost as if it were a loose skin layered coating but she could also tell the state of them.

She could even see the faded auras of the few Tin and Iron people that were on the street nearby, looking as depressed and hopeless as the people they belonged to.

She looked back over to where Tristan was talking with the Enchanter. He gestured back towards her and the Enchanter met her eyes. She held contact, trying to keep her expression neutral.

The Enchanter nodded, then said something in response.

Zalia was surprised she couldn’t hear them. The range of her hearing had grown quite good since gaining access to magic yet their words must have been blocked by one of the many, many runes that protected the house since she couldn’t hear a word. She could see the vibrations of their speech still, however, and did notice that they stopped abruptly at the border of the property. Might it be possible for her to read what people were saying in the vibrations their speech made? Another skill to learn perhaps.

Tristan looked resigned at something the Enchanter said but trudged back over, looking at Zalia.

“He said that only you can come inside.”

Zalia frowned.

“Why?”

Tristan’s eyes flicked down to Boreal then back up.

“He said, and I quote, that he does not want to deal with wild beasts or children in his home.”

Ember, Aylie and Boreal all looked simultaneously offended.

“So was he calling me a wild beast or a child?” Ember asked.

Tristan winced and Aylie poked him in the knee.

“He’s basically a child as well!” she complained.

“Aylie, don’t be fooled by how he looks, he has some kind of magic that makes him younger. Physically, at least.”

Zalia sighed.

“Yet he still acts like one. Can I go and talk to him? I might be able to convince him to change his mind.”

“Don’t worry about it Zalia, if he doesn’t want us in there then we don’t want to be in there. You know where to find us.”

Ember gave her a long hug, then a peck on the cheek.

“But do annoy him a little for me, would you?” she whispered in Zalia’s ear.

Zalia smiled, a little tingle going down her neck.

“You can count on it. I’ll see you three later.”

She knelt down to give Boreal and Aylie a hug as well, before standing up and following Tristan to the house. She had to avoid the runes as he did, not wanting to accidentally set off some kind of death trap.

The first thing she noticed as she got closer was how… perfectly symmetrical everything about the Enchanter was. From the clothes, to the runes he drew, to the house he lived in to his face. Even the garden in front, nothing more than a lawn, looked as if each blade of grass were perfectly mirroring one on the other side.

Closer now, she could see the aura of power about him in more definition. She could also see that he was indeed close to reaching Gold, a fact that Aura Observation told her.

“Hello.”

The Enchanter looked her up and down.

“He told me that you have a… ritual that affects the demons directly.”

His voice was high pitched and sounded almost whiny. Some Silver ranker they had the misfortune of having to rely on.

“I do. It directly counters the nature of the demon's aura.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“And how did you manage that?”

Zalia gave him a look up and down, aiming for an expression of disappointment, like she had just opened her bag of bread and discovered mould. She needed to fulfill Ember’s request after all.

“It’s based on one of my abilities. It is antithetical to the demon's aura in a more reactive way, the ritual does the same thing but in more of a… subdueing manner.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She didn’t really know how to explain all the things she did on instinct due to Herbal Magic. She just hadn’t ever really considered needing to explain how it all worked before. The best way she could describe it was Healing Presence acting like an acid that neutralised itself and the aura it was fighting. The ritual was more like a heavy weight that stopped it from standing up.

“Based on an ability you say? What is your class?”

Zalia smiled.

“I have a few. Would it be ok if I actually walk in the door, or shall we have this entire conversation on the doorstep?”

He looked like he was actually considering it for a moment, but relented and stepped aside to let them in. Tristan let out a deep sigh behind her but followed them inside as well. She didn’t think he was going to have a very good time, talking about rituals and power specifics. While it was certainly not a big point of study or conversation for Zalia, she at least had abilities related to and an understanding of it. This was about as far from Tristan’s powerset as it could get. Yet, he probably wanted to stop her and the Enchanter from killing each other, an event with a nonzero chance.

The Enchanter led them through a small hallway, past doorways placed symmetrically to the sides, before heading into a small dining room. There was a table, thankfully with four seats around it, not one.

The room itself, as with everything else, was symmetrical. There were more runes decorating the walls, a large one centrally on the ceiling lighting the space.

“What did you mean by a few classes?”

The Enchanter wasted no time nor energy on idle conversation, jumping straight into things again. Usually, Zalia would enjoy that kind of thing, yet recently she had been a little more… okay with other people’s presence. She even enjoyed idle conversation sometimes too.

“I have three, though only two of them will matter for this particular task. Herbalist and Druid. One of them gives me Herbal Magic, a type of ritual magic that uses herbs as fuel. The other gives me my aura, which is antithetical to the demon's own.”

The Enchanter leaned far forwards in his seat, as if trying to view the answers to his questions directly through her forehead.

“Three? How?”

Zalia leaned back, away from the inquisitive eyes.

“That is neither the reason we are here, nor important to this.”

She could see the hunger for knowledge burning in the Enchanter’s eyes. It was oddly unsettling.

“So be it. Show me the ritual you speak of.”

Zalia summoned a tiny little circle on the table using herbs from her Grove’s storage.

The Enchanter stared at it and seemed… disgusted.

“That is… a horrible way to perform rituals.”

Zalia stared at him, taken aback. Maybe Tristan wouldn’t be the one who enjoyed this process the least.

“What did you say?”

His eyes flicked up to hers.

“Inefficient, messy… unsymmetrical.”

Wonderful.

“Why exactly does it need to be symmetrical? Look, I’m not going to go around giving you bad mouth about how you do your magic, so don’t come over here attacking me about mine. Can you obtain the same effect or not?”

The Enchanter grumbled, staring at the little ritual circle.

“What is your medium for permanency?”

“Huh?”

He gestured around the room to all the runes that were glowing on the walls.

“Permanency, what is your medium?”

Zalia was a little confused. Well, she knew what he meant but did all ritual magic then have some kind of permanent version? How then was his fueled, was it in the symmetry of everything he did?

“Plants, mine is plants.”

His expression turned from disgust to horror.

Plants, arguably the most natural thing in the world. Nature also tended to stray from symmetry, however. The cause of her own ritual's messiness or a symptom of it?

“Why do you ask?”

He stood from his chair and paced back and forth. One hand idly scratched at his head while the other flicked like he was dismissing thoughts with a wave.

“You have, perhaps, the least compatible ritual magic I have ever seen. At least, the least compatible with mine.”

She couldn’t help but agree.

“So are you unable to do it? Convert what mine does to something you can emulate?”

He whipped around to face her.

“I didn’t say that! It will just… take some time.”

Zalia nodded slowly.

“Okayyyy then. What do you want from me? Is this circle enough?”

He looked at her with annoyance, then resignation. Slowly, he closed his eyes.

“You’ll have to leave a permanent ritual here so that I may study it. It is easier to do with one that is active.”

Ah.

“Right, where do you want it?”

She stood as well, looking about the room. She had to admit, the chaos of her living rituals would very much disturb the aesthetics of the immaculate, bare, symmetrical room. Not that she minded it. She didn’t really like that aesthetic anyways.

“The table.”

He sounded miserable.

“I can put it in your front yard somewhere maybe? It might-”

“No, the table.”

Zalia didn’t argue any further.

“I’m going to need some dirt.”

He nodded and a ball of dirt floated through the doorway. Where had that come from?

It dropped to the table and Zalia got to work. She spread it into a little circle, then put small flakes of plant into place, growing them until they made tiny versions of the real plants. Then, when it was all ready, she activated the living ritual.

The Enchanter sat down in front of it, head in hands, staring with confusion.

“Are you going to need anyth-”

“No.”

Shrugging, but trusting the man to know what he was talking about, Zalia took his words as a dismissal and left. She could say with certainty that she definitely annoyed him. Perhaps even a little too much.

Tristan followed her out and led the way through the rune maze in front of the house. She noticed that this was symmetrical as well, there were two paths through. Or… were there. If she were the Enchanter, the second path would be the one thing she made unsymmetrical, as a kind of trick.

Though, she was far from the Enchanter.

“That went well I think.”

Tristan turned to look at her, both of them now safely off the house grounds.

“About as well as I expected, yes.”

“I didn’t even raise my voice or anything. I barely even reacted to him calling my magic messy and inefficient!”

Tristan eyed her.

“Well, compared to the Enchanter’s it does look a litt-”

“Don’t you dare, you won’t receive as much leeway as he did,” Zalia interrupted, finger pointed.

Tristan chuckled lightly.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go find your… friend.”

“Partner,” Zalia corrected.

He didn’t seem surprised, just giving a shrug.

“Didn’t know if you’d put a label on it yet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” she grumbled.

“Oh, well… you know…”

He looked at her as he trailed off.

"Yeah, I know."

Then, he smiled brightly at her, the weariness leaving his face for just a moment.

“I'm happy for you Zalia, really.”

"Thanks, Tristan, I appreciate that."