Back at the observatory, Jacob worked on some pottery inscriptions, likely more for Arbory’s garden or water containers. Off near the furnace a girl a few years older than Lana, Layla, was hard at work making glass panes. She was Jacob’s other apprentice, and she often did all of the hard physical labor that Jacob couldn’t do.
Lana waved. “Hey!”
Layla was tall and muscular, with a large, ever-present grin on her face, and long braided black hair. “Well if it ain’t Ms. Perfect! I saw the map, and I sure wish I could scribble that well.”
Lana laughed. “That’s funny coming from the person who watches glass mold all day.”
She shook her head still chuckling. “I won’t ever miss that snarky attitude.”
Layla was like an older sister to Lana. She had watched over her when her dad left and always took care of her when Julie couldn’t. She was strong, and Lana always admired and appreciated that about her. Nothing could get under her skin, not even Ray’s underhanded comments could invoke a reaction.
They smiled at each other, and Lana walked to a small secluded area in the corner of the room surrounded by drapes. Brushing them aside, a work table with papers, pencils, and other drawing supplies was scattered about. She pulled out a small stool, brought it closer to the table, and began working. She quickly created an outline of a ship, measuring out the proportions and sails.
Some time passed before she had finished a rough outline of the exterior, and started on the interior for the captain and crew quarters. She thought showing Jacob her progress would be a good idea, and he’d likely be impressed as always. She blew off the pencil and eraser shavings, cleaned up some of the line work, and gave it to Jacob.
He intently stared at the piece for a moment, adjusting his glasses and viewing the design of the interior. Lana started, “I haven’t finished the interior design. It will be just like that for now until I can figure something out.”
He looked at Lana and exhaled. “If this were a completed work I’d fail it.”
Lana looked at him in shock, not once had he ever failed her on anything. She always had room to improve her schematics and work, but not once had he failed her. “What’s the issue with it? The proportions are near perfect, I drew everything accurately and if it were real it would work as intended. Why?”
He sighed. “Lana, take a look at your drawing. You’re right, everything in this drawing would probably work as an intended boat. But it lacks something. Do you know what that is?”
“No? I’m pretty sure everything is here.”
“I gave you the project, not hoping you’d create an actual ship, but one of your designs.”
She looked perplexed. “It is my design. I drew it, I did everything, so why did you fail it?”
“It lacks creativity, Lana. It lacks that spark, that innovation that is needed for change. Improvement only occurs through creativity and unique solutions to an issue. You need to make something different.”
Lana stared blankly at him, baffled at his response. “Creativity? I need creativity? What’s the point, all I’m doing is drawing a boat. Why does it need to be any different? It works as it is intended, and I don’t see any improvement needed.”
“Lana, I know this is a difficult task, but if you don’t finish it you won’t pass the apprenticeship.”
“It’s not like I can fail an apprenticeship, I’ll just try again.”
“That’s the spirit! Keep that kind of attitude and you’ll get it for sure!”
Lana didn’t understand what Jacob was trying to get her to do. She did the assignment correctly, but Jacob didn’t want to see that. She wasn’t rushing, she was taking her time to figure everything out. Creativity is abstract, there is no correct way to do it. “It’s not like I need to reinvent the wheel.” In frustration, without saying goodbye to Jacob or Layla, she stormed out of the observatory.
Lana found herself doing the only thing that helped soothe her when she riled up. She picked apples. It reminded her of simple times when her emotions wouldn’t get in the way and her father was still around. The sun shined through the branches, and the apples glittered in its light.
Her nerves slowed as she calmly picked apples under the blue sky. Eventually, her basket was filled and she brought it once again to the little shack. She placed it next to a row of baskets that would be used over the next several days. Walking from the shack, she closed the door behind her and sat against the wall. Her hand brushed over the engraving with her father’s name. She wasn’t around when he had built this cabin, but she could feel exactly what had happened. Memories of him cheerily building the shack alongside her mother. She could feel the warmth of his smile, and his vibrant personality. Tears ran down her cheeks as euphoric memories ran through her mind, she couldn’t help but feel sad.
Suddenly, a calm voice formed ahead of her. “I knew I could find you here. What’s wrong, my girl?” Sliding down against the wall beside her, Julie concernedly looked at her daughter. “Did something happen?” She helped brush the tears out of her eyes as Lana sniffled.
She laid her head on her mother’s shoulder. “I miss him. I wish he were still around. I wish I could speak to him.”
Comforted by her mother, she cried for several more minutes until calming down. “I miss him too. Which is why I think you’re old enough to have this.”
Lana didn’t even notice that her mother was carrying a worn leather-back book with her. Calling it old would be an understatement, the thing looked like it had been hit by lightning. Her mother held it out, gently handing the torn thing, and commented, “This—this used to be your father’s. It’s his journal.”
As she held the battered book, she could faintly read the smudged title “Alaric’s Research Journal”. She flipped through its pages with a sudden excitement. Each one was filled to the brim with her father’s handwriting, it seemed like a journal he’d kept since he was young. “I didn’t ruin the journal, so blame him for keeping his belongings in such an awful way.”
“But why now? Why didn’t you give this to me earlier.”
“I was searching through your father's old stuff, hiding in a small stuffy spot in his old bookshelf.”
“A research journal? I didn’t know Dad did any research.”
“Well, I suppose after you were born he became more of an idiot.”
Lana laughed. “What?”
“He was more focused on research before you were born, and that focus swapped to you instead.”
“But what does that have to do with him being an idiot?”
“He hid his research book inside a giant textbook about flora and fauna, knowing no one would read it.”
“Oh, and I’m assuming you gave it to Gabriel who opened it to see this old dirty thing?”
“Exactly. Now I would read through it myself, but I thought I’d give it to you first to read through. I remember he used to write all the time in that thing, it was stuck to him constantly.”
The book sat in her hands, and she was left speechless. She didn’t know whether to open it immediately and read it or store it in a safe place where it wouldn’t be damaged. She couldn’t tell if she was supposed to laugh or cry.
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Her mother kissed her on the forehead and stood up. “Lana, my sweet girl. I’ll leave you to read, but make sure you take a coat before it gets too cold or head inside.”
“Yes Mom, I know.” Lana hugged her mother before heading off to her room. She clutched the journal the entire time. It had been years since she last saw her father, and this was the first actual piece of him she could interact with. Her heart raced with excitement and anticipation for what was contained in the journal.
Sitting on the bed, she flipped open the first page and began reading. A header at the top of the first page reads, “Runic Laws Part I”. Proceeding it was a plethora of information regarding these small colorful orbs called Runes. They were used as conduits for magic because humans couldn’t inherently use magic. Runic magic existed in the space around them, in the trees, plants, rocks, and water. It was a resource unseen by the eye and could be captured by glass orbs called shells. Once harnessed they could be imbued into inanimate objects for use.
The journal continued to list the general rules and restrictions of Runes. First, no Runes could be directly imbued into living beings. Second, Runes can only be imbued into something once. However, multiple Runes can be imbued into one thing but it might become unstable. Third, a Rune’s complexity and strength can be seen by the amount of color in its shell. Four, the more complex a Rune is, the longer it takes to create, and the longer it takes to imbue. It continued on and on about a Rune’s capabilities and limitations, going into extreme detail.
After reading the entire first chapter of the journal, she closed it, softly placed it on her bed, and thought, this can’t be real. There is no way my dad wrote an entirely fictional book, and called it a “Research Journal”. It was so unbelievable that Lana thought it might be real. Her father’s description of the Runes reminded her of the orb that Jacob held as a centerpiece.
Before she knew it, the day had already come to a close as the sun set on another day. There was so much more for her to explore in her father’s journal and so much to uncover. She decided to visit Trent tomorrow to help her understand the journal. There was so much to explore, and so much she didn’t understand about her father. If only she had the chance to speak with him, but she didn’t. So instead she clung to the journal as if it were her father, and imagined that each line was being spoken by her father directly to her. It made her feel wonderful.
“This—this is a well thought-out system,” Trent said sheepishly. He held the journal carefully, trying not to bruise or damage its edges. He was a sweet guy with long straight brown hair and quiet brown eyes. His arms were still skinny, but he had recently put on more weight and muscle because of his training with Ray. His face turned back to Lana as if he had more to say, but he stopped himself.
“Do you think it’s real?”
“Well… it’s not impossible. But honestly, I’ve never seen anything similar to it.”
“Yeah, but if he wrote this–”
He interrupted her, with his hand shaking, “Lana. I understand you want this to be real. But… I’ve never seen anything like this in our library. We don’t have a single book that discusses Runes or whatever else. That’s not just speculation, it’s the truth. I know all these books, it’s my job to know every book here, so believe me when I tell you I doubt this journal is real.”
She stared him directly in the eye. “I believe you, Trent. But I still want to believe it can be real, and I know Jacob has something similar in the observatory.” Standing up, she grabbed Trent and pulled him out of his seat to drag him with her. She glanced back at the poor guy she’d unearthed from his welded seat and smiled. “You sound more confident when you say what’s on your mind.”
The journal contained multiple pictures and drawings of different Runes within it, all of them marble-like in nature. They weren’t drawn in color, but Lana could tell they were vibrant and enchanting.
Trent whined, “C’mon why do I gotta go with you.”
“Because you’re smart and I need to prove you wrong.”
He whispered, “Fine.”
They arrived to see a usual sight, Ray and Layla were yelling at each other over something stupid. “I told you, I need a new crossguard! This one is about to fall apart. I mean just look at this.”
Layla sighed, grabbed the sword from Ray, and pointed, “I just made you a new one a month ago dumbass. You’re exaggerating princess.”
That struck a chord with Ray. He got closer to Layla and looked up at her. “If you didn’t make it so poorly, maybe it would actually work.” He swiped the sword back from her and wiggled the crossguard. Then he poked it and the thing fell unceremoniously to the ground with a clank. “See? If this is your fine handiwork I never want to work with it again.”
“Oh, you did that on purpose! I know for a fact I secured it. I welded it together, so there shouldn’t be an issue!”
“Clearly there is an issue!”
They continued waving their hands and arguing about the crossguard until Jacob intervened, “Can you both shut up? How about both of you are in the wrong here? Layla, you should have checked the crossguard to make sure it was secured. And Ray, be more kind about it, she’s the one making and replacing your sword after all. Now stop bickering like children, please.” They both went silent, it wasn’t often that Jacob had to raise his voice, but when he did everyone listened. “Lana, I see you standing in the corner over there. What do you need my dear?”
She walked over to him, and said, “I’m sorry Jacob. I got too emotional yesterday when I shouldn’t have.”
“I appreciate the apology and honestly. I also see you brought Trent along with you. What do you need?”
“We just came to look at the orb.”
Trent looked around sheepishly, and Jacob noticed. “Trent, did you come here willingly?”
Lana sent him a dagger-pointed gaze, and he mumbled, “Well I mean yeah… kinda.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “Alright, go ahead. You’re doing something shifty, but as long as you don’t touch it I’ll let it slide.”
“We’re not doing anything shifty, just some research is all. Don’t you trust me?”
He murmured something under his breath and grunted. Then he continued back to his work. Lana noticed Ray standing off in the corner watching Layla repair his sword hilt. The tension between the two seemed to have cooled off, but now they were just ignoring each other.
The orb was held up in the center by a stone pedestal and roots shot from the ground like an arm to grasp the sphere. Its color reminded Lana of the ocean, everchanging and moving while never staying the same. She took out the research journal, flipping through its dusty browned pages until she found the one with the Rune’s illustration. As expected, they looked almost identical. Trent looked at her and asked, “Are you happy now? Can I go back?”
“No, not just yet. Let me try something.”
Her whole life, Lana had followed instructions. She obeyed what her mother told her to do, and tried to be a good student under Jacob. Her hand shook as she reached to touch the illuminated bulb. She glanced at Jacob, who was hunched over his table working. It was now or never, and she shakily placed her palm against the orb.