Tomaim walked in silence up the Grand Stairs. Made of pale white marble, the stairs stretched from the base of the city and the airdocks that hung precariously off the western cliff all the way to the castle known as the Crown. The city of Rola-di was found on the tallest of six high peaks cutting their way through the clouds low below. This small kingdom controlled all six peaks and even had several keeps built in the lower valleys to protect the peaks from any leviathans strong, desperate, or dumb enough to try to climb the peaks in search of food. However, only the highest cleft peak, known as the elder brothers, had the full fortifications of high city walls and armed battlements. The city loomed over the lower peaks, covered in white stone as if a blanket of marble buildings had been draped over the peak at some distant time in the past. The city of Rola contained a little over half of the small nation’s population, making it home to just over a million souls.
Passing through a throng of bodies, Cirine and Tomain still made good time traveling the main path from the inn near the city's walls to the academy near the peak of the city. Walking in silence began to wear on Cirine so she decided to work past the extreme awkwardness of the last few minutes and ask more questions of the city she found herself in.
"So, I've seen a few Yetri in the city, however it seems everyone else in this city is a man. Most walled cities I've seen have have many races. What makes Rola so different?" She noticed a pointed stare from a loaded down merchant that was walking uphill next to them as she asked the question. Yet with their good pace, and the merchants large backpack, they were quickly past him as they hurried upwards.
"Well it's certainly no different for us," Tomaim replied almost harshly. His previously cheerful demeanor had been replaced with a look of concentration on the task at hand and possibly some hurt hidden by his hard features. "Ages ago, before the time of my family, Rola was full of different peoples."
Leaving it at that Tomain began quickening his step leaving the significantly shorter Cirine to take the stairs 2 at a time. She knew without her brands she would have been left far behind and yet it took almost no extra effort to bounce along besides her guide. Her interest now sparked she asked, "What happened to change?" Trying to keep her tone cheerful and light despite her growing concern.
"The Blood Wars happened, that's what." Tomaim nearly spit out, anger palpable in his words. "Some bloody scale-skin bastard snuck gods blood into the city proper and started feeding it to all the blood addicts in the city. After the inevitable string of spontaneous combustions, one of the addicts awoke to the blood’s power. Before he could be stopped nearly a third of the humans within the city had been killed. Once he was stopped the remaining scale-skins were expelled, those who resisted were executed." Stopping he turned to the woman following silently besides him. "I understand as a Sky Lord you must have a different view and may not agree with how things are done here. But understand this, we humans are smaller, weaker, and less inclined to manipulation of blood or rasa than any of the scale-skins. We can only survive by our numbers and our wits. And we will do what it takes to survive."
Cirine was surprised by the air of authority that Tomaim mustered in saying that. She understood that it was probably due to years of being told the same thing by his father, yet he still spoke his own mind in this. Not here to try to change a nation she decided to play it safe and agree with him. "I understand and I will not call the decision of you or your ancestors into account. You must always do what is right for your people."
Nodding Tomaim seemed to accept this answer and began striding quickly up the stairs in front of him. Cirine was again taken aback by this young man's confidence and maturity for his apparent age as she resumed following after him.
The rest of the short trip was filled with questions Cirine asked about landmarks and shops they passed and Tomaim's short replies. By the time they were reaching the top of the stairs Cirine had managed to get Tomaim to relax and speak comfortably with her, even managing to make him smile with several jokes she cracked at the expense of some of the stranger inn signs they passed. They reached the gates to the academy's courtyard in light spirits as she recounted some of her recent drinking misadventures.
"Without even a moment’s hesitation I smashed my stave as hard as I could into his jewels. Which I must say he deserved for where he had decided to grab ahold if me. But you wouldn't believe what happened after that..." she trailed off waiting for his question.
Tomaim stopped laughing and involuntarily groaning at the thought of this deceptively strong woman swinging her stave into his manhood to ask with an expectant look "What? What happened?"
Suddenly from ahead of them a low authoritative voice spoke "Absolutely nothing happened. You see Grackian women are the ones who grow beards. Admittedly it's not really a beard but rather is a scale mane, but it still tends to throw people off." Stepping through a marble arch on the side of the long courtyard they were quickly moving through was a mountain of a man in a royal purple robe embroidered with gold designs that went a few fingers past his knees showing off toned branded legs and leather sandals beneath.
Stopping suddenly and quickly bowing at the waist, Tomaim sputtered out surprised "Father, I mean Town Master, I was surprised to see you. I brought the Sky Lord as you asked."
"I see that." He said giving the boy’s bow a critical eye. Turning to the young woman he said with not a little disdain in his voice, "I must say that story was much funnier with a few drinks in my belly." Giving a slight nod of the head he continued more formally "Thank you for coming to today's class. I am honestly surprised you made it after the condition you were in last night."
Looking over this man Cirine did have a vague memory of sharing several drinks and stories with him last night. At the time she had no idea he was the City Lord but upon realizing the most powerful man in the city was drinking at a commoner bar, her opinion of him rose a few notches to nearly a simple distaste. He was a gargantuan man and if she had to guess he had spent at least a few of his younger years in the Lowlands to grow up to his size. Dark black hair with a heavy sprinkling of gray cropped short in a military fashioned cutting stood above the handsome chiseled features of a clean shaven face only marred by a nose that looked as if it had been broken a few too many times and a pair of intended glyphs on each temple. Looking now she immediately saw the resemblance to her guide that had brought her here today.
"Well I must say I did cheat a little and brewed something that took care of my pounding head for me." At the note of this the City Lords eyebrows shot up but, holding his peace, she continued. "And thank you for sending your son to guide me. He was an absolute pleasure and he taught me a lot about this city of yours City Lord." At this Tomaim blushed and looked at his own feet.
"Please, call me Town Master. It is far too much pomp to call me lord. I will have to inquire into this brew of yours as even our academy alchemists do not know of such a brew. But as for now you have a class full of students who are eager to be enlightened by your alchemical knowledge Sky Lord." As he said this, he gestured behind himself towards a set of doors revealing his hands from the folds of his robe where they had been hiding.
As he did this Cirine choked back an involuntary gasp upon seeing what was left of his hands. At the center of the backs of each of his hands he was branded with a large sacrificial glyph. These glyphs gave an incredible amount of strength and endurance to both his arms and would continue up to his shoulders and connect behind his back, however the tradeoff for this incredible power was what had happened to his hands. Both of his thumbs had rotten off long ago leaving him with four long stone-gray talons tipped with blood red scale like claws that she knew could tear out even the strongest leviathan's throat.
After composing her thoughts and only giving a moment's thought to the monster that may be hidden underneath that regal robe of his, Cirine nodded her head and stepped past the City Lord towards a large set of pale green doors. These doors dripped luxury and appeared to be carved from jade slabs at least twice as tall as she was. As she approached closer, she noticed each half of the door was carved with half of the sun or the moon transmutation grids. Noting the quality of craftmanship she pushed the heavy doors open and entered the lecture hall.
Finding herself in the center of a large open-air amphitheater surprised her for a moment but she quickly concealed her emotions as she saw several hundred faces staring back at her. The low murmur of talking she heard walking in completely quieted as she walked up to the raised stone podium, leaning her stave against it she began bringing books and bottles out of her bag and arranging them in front of her on the large podium. As she finished, she saw Tomaim take a seat near the front next to several other students near his age and take out a pad and quill expectantly. Seeing her glance, he gave her a sweet smile and a thumbs up. Smiling back, she began to speak but was interrupted by the City Lord.
"Please welcome the Sky Lord miss Cirine to our classroom today students. She will be giving a lecture on principal materials. Please give her your undivided attention. She is a great alchemist of no little renown." The words boomed out aided by a glyph that was hidden but Cirine knew would be located near the base of his throat similar to her own.
"Yes, Town Master!" The students resounded in unison with practiced ease. Then Cirine was greeted by the enthusiastic clapping of a genuinely interested audience.
Thinking to gauge the understanding of the class she decided to start with a question. "Could anyone please tell me about the principal materials?" Her voice echoed out powerfully to the back rows aided by her glyph but, while understandable, it was not nearly as loud as the City Masters words. After asking she saw a flurry of hands raised. Deciding to operate a little differently than she suspected this class usually worked she pointed to a large furry hand near the back row. "Yes you Mr. Yetri in the back. What are the principle materials?"
As she expected the man looked shocked at being called but quickly stood up to his near 5 bow (~20 foot) height and spoke clearly if a little slowly in a voice that easily carried over the audience "The five principal materials are the materials that make up any alchemical reaction. Not all are required for every brew but the reaction that requires the least amount of materials still requires three." To Cirine this man seemed educated if not fully correct in what he knew. Already he had made several mistakes as she knew of seven principal materials and the formula to a brew that only required two materials. However, she listened intently as the Yetri continued speaking.
Stolen novel; please report.
"The materials are as follows. Firstly, and most importantly, is blood. As it is known the spirit resides in blood. The blood of a leviathan must be added to provide the spiritual energy to any reaction and the blood of the one using the pill must be added to bind this spirit to the user. Secondly fireheart, the gem within any leviathan that is a source of energy, warmth, and rasa for any leviathan. This material provides rasa for the reaction and only a minuscule amount is used for each reaction. This is usually added by stirring the solution with a glyph pen." Raising his large hairy fist and giving a large grin past his low tusks, he beat his fist on his broad hairy chest. "Even I have a fireheart within my chest. It beats away and provides me with strength greater than my foes. However, my fireheart is a spec compared to any master or higher graded leviathan." Saying this he almost seemed downcast for a moment before continuing, enjoying the attention and ability to show off the knowledge he had gained through his studies.
"The third material is firecage. Every fireheart is surrounded by a wall of metallic flesh that both protects and activates the fireheart. This material reacts with the fireheart to give off the heat and rasa required to catalyze the reaction along with the different metallics of the cages reacting with the life or herbal material that is the fourth principal material. Life or herbal materials provide living energy along with nutrients that fortify, heal, or manageably poison the consumers in a beneficial way. And the fifth is metallics. The most common use of metallics is to add iron shavings to the reaction to further react with the fireheart and increase the temperature of the reaction. However, some metallics such as silhydra, the flowing metal, can vastly alter the reaction usually changing the state or the temperature of energy within the resulting pill." Finishing abruptly, he gave a small bow and sat back down.
"Very well done. At first I couldn't believe what I heard when told you only taught five principal materials, but I've begun to realize you follow the ancient teachings of the Ayurvedic Medicinal Church. Is that right?" She addressed the question to the City Lord sitting behind her and to her left. With a simple nod he acknowledged her question.
Turning back to the class she began to flip throughout a book in front of her as she continued to speak. "The first point I will make is simply one of clarification. The materials of life and herbal I consider two separate materials. Even if many herbals have life energies and many things that have life energies have herbals, they are two separate materials." She looked up from her book to see many hands deftly scratching away with quills as she was speaking, and she smiled to herself continuing "Life energies are actually the same energy you use to fuel your own bodies. This writer named Bouillon” she said tapping the book in front of her ”first discovered the distinction through experiments with the humble potato. I would challenge you to do the same. The potato has no herbal materials unless is left to sprout and has gone green. Before then it is simply what you referred to as life energies and what Bouillon refers to as starch." Many of the students had a shocked expression on their face however they all continued to write what was being said dutifully as she said it.
"The next point I will make is one that it seems has gone undetected even in this great institution. The seventh principal material is the material of decay or as some refer to them, consumers. To many they don't ever think about it but just simply accept that when bread is left out for several days it begins to rot and fall apart. However, a group of lowland alchemists in the western plains discovered something remarkable. This was discovered just a few decades ago, sadly only a year before their whole civilization was overcome by the leviathans they came to the Lowlands to hunt and study. There are living creatures so small they cannot be seen without incredible lenses made by a type of glass smithing I have never seen before or since. The only other way I know of to see these creatures is with a specific glyph that, while it lets you see the incredible world of the inexplicably small, is a sacrificial glyph that in a short order of time will consume your eye and leave you irreparably blind. These creatures when mixed in to an elixir in high enough dosages will change the fundamental properties of the elixir and if what the rumors say is true..." she paused for a moment to let those frantically scribbling to catch up "with the power of the consumers, elixirs can be made that can completely stop aging or even bring the dead back to life."
She let that sink into the crowd as the inevitable whispers broke out and people began to talk amongst themselves. The two thoughts that kept being repeated were "There is no way. She's making all this up. First potatoes are an alchemy material, and now invisible creatures can revive the dead." and "How incredible, a Sky Lord really is something else." She was only able to hear these whispers due to her glyph aided hearing and years of experience sifting a single voice out of a crowd.
After the murmuring quieted down she took a few questions from the group and recommended several books that just maybe a passing sky trader would have then excused herself from the podium and let the City Lord take over the class. As she was leaving, he asked her to wait outside for him so they could discuss her compensation after he finished with the class.
She soon found herself sitting on a white marble bench in a long empty courtyard waiting for a man that made her feel nothing but uncomfortable.
Becoming bored, she began to fidget with her stave. About as long as her forearm and made of a smooth alabaster colored piece of leviathan rib, Cirine spun her stave around her hand and wrist expertly as she waited. She admired how the fireheart set in the end glimmered in the sharp mountain sunlight. About twice the size of her fist this large egg-shaped crystal was covered in an intricate web of intended glyphs that the leviathan she harvested it from was born naturally with on its fireheart. The surface peaked and crested like agitated waters and, if one looked closely enough, they could see a small pulsing fire deep within the gem. This heart was the heart of the first queen grade leviathan she had ever killed. She remembered that fight like it was yesterday despite the many years that had passed. It had nearly ended in her death at least a handful of times, but this heart she harvested, and the glyphs she learned from studying it, as well as all the materials and blood she was able to harvest from the corpse, made the fight worth every risk.
Lost in thought she didn't give much mind to the doors behind her opening and students beginning to pour out. First one to her was a middle-aged woman in the dark blue robes of a master student. She quickly walked up to her and gave a quick but deep bow.
"Lady Sky Lord, thank you so much for your lesson today. You really broadened my horizons. I had given much thought to the alchemical processes of decay, but I had no idea what to make of it. I will have to research it and learn more of lenses. My husband's brother is a glass smith for the Crown, and I will see what he makes of it." Seeing the growing line of people queuing up behind her to speak with Cirine, she gave another quick bow and quickly walked off with books and notes clutched tightly.
The next two hours were spent answering a seemingly endless stream of questions, shaking many dozens of hands, giving many tips on what kind of elixirs they should begin with in their potato alchemy experiments, and even giving a few simple recipes away to students she liked.
A few moments stood out from the flood. The first one was when the Yetri she called on came to speak with her. She soon found out his name was Oonmar. Born of a trading family that had settled in Rola-di several generations ago. Their hive was now known for sending gathering and hunting parties into what he dubbed the midlands at the uppermost edge of the Lowlands. Standing at nearly four times her height and being covered in a thick white coat of hair, he had what appeared to be a torn students robe tied as a loincloth around his waist. He would have been terribly intimidating if Cirine hadn't known several Yetri before and was able to interpret their body language. His lower and smaller set if arms were clasped behind his back in a sign of deference and respect while the short-spiked cluster of fleshy tails running along his lower spine were flicking back in forth in a playful and happy manner.
After asking several questions about the outside world and specifically about the dispersion and the wellbeing of his people, he asked a question she didn't expect.
"Lady Sky," as he had taken to call her "I must ask is there a way to increase the health or size of one’s fireheart? I know you do not come from a species that is born with one, but I find that I must ask for my family's sake. You see my youngest father was born with a stunted fireheart and my mother/wife has been worried to the point of becoming ill herself over it."
Cirine had almost forgotten the complicated family relations of the fiercely matriarchal Yetri society and had to keep in check the natural repulsion that wanted to creep onto her face as she thought about it. Yet she relinquished the thought and feeling as she remembered that Yetri are hatched from eggs anyway and had no external sex organs to speak of. It was beyond what came naturally to a human like her. Putting her feelings aside she responded "I know of no way to enlarge a fireheart. I'm sorry. However, I am well versed in many dozens of healing alchemical arts and may just know of something for him. Let me come and take a look tomorrow morning. I will be staying at the Fat Skrat Inn near the city's walls. I hope there is something I can do for your family."
Bowing nearly to the ground while holding his tails perfectly still, as is a customary form of Yetri respect, he agreed to find her tomorrow and went off his own way.
She also had the opportunity to see Tomaim as he came through the line. He kept it short and surprised her by leaning forward gesturing as if he had something to whisper to her, and as she leaned in, he kissed her on the cheek. Her surprise and blush were enough to set him laughing as he invited her to an upper city restaurant for dinner this evening. Partly due to shock, and partly to see that smile again, she said yes.
Thinking about Tomaim, she halfheartedly spoke to the last few students. "This is dangerous." She thought to herself. "All I can find myself thinking about is his smile. Those damn lips..." as she argued within herself, she gave the last student a simple recipe for a pill that gave a strong resistance to cold and would heal any injuries less than life-threatening. "He is just so damn young." She thought so herself. As she began gathering herself to leave, she couldn't stop imagining the age gap between them as an insurmountable chasm.
Turning away lost in thought she was surprised to see the intimidating silhouette of the City Lord waiting for her as the last of the students departed. "I see you and my son get along well." He said in a low voice full of implications.
Gulping past a suddenly dry throat she felt at this moment very unsafe. Not that she couldn't kill this man in a moment. Despite his strong brands, her decades of combat experience and the strong glyphs she had harvested over several lifetimes of killing leviathans gave her confidence in her victory even in a battle with even a king or emperor class leviathan. She knew she could rip this man in half. However, for the first time in a very long time the free and unbounded Sky Lord felt cornered.
"Yes he is a charming young man and I've agreed to get dinner with him tonight." She managed to almost seem confident while saying.
"Does he have any idea how old you are?" He asked with a fire in his eye. "How many lifetimes you have lived? How many lovers you have had and then discarded?" Voice now ringing out in the empty courtyard, Cirine flinched at each of the questions that was spit her way.
"No, I don’t believe he does. And I don't believe he needs to until I feel he needs to. It is my life to share and my past to keep. As is the right of any Sky Lord." Her last sentence rang out with an air of authority as she remembered to act accordingly with who she was.
"Even a re-bonded? One who let her savior and friend die horribly and still chose to tie her cursed fate to another Sky Scraper? One who is not even respected or accepted among other Sky Lords?" At this last question her brows rose and lips began to quiver in shock, hurt, and confusion.
"How did you..?" Before getting to finish her questioning, he interrupted.
"Because I am the City Lord and Academy Grandmaster of the great city nation of Rosh-hasha. Not a single soul, not a single coin, nor a single book comes through my empire that I don't know everything there is to know about. Did you think it was a coincidence that I found you in that greasy bar last night?"
As the understanding struck her that she had been watched since the moment she got here she went to grab ahold of her stave. Faster than she thought possible the City Lord's hand flashed out and grasped her hand on her stave. She saw that his hand was already coated on his own blood which is what it took to activate a sacrificial glyph such as his.
"Let's not get nasty to each other." He said in a sickly-sweet tone and he held her hand in his talons, nearly grabbing hard enough to break her strengthened fingers. "I have no doubt that if we were to actually fight you would destroy me in a moment." The City Lord confessed as he removed his claws from her hands. "It is said that only another Sky Lord or a god can kill a Sky Lord and I have no intention to test that."
Backing a few steps away, Cirine kept her hand on her stave as she asked, "What do you want then?"
"To be fair." He said with a hint of mockery. Reaching into his robe he removed a small pouch and tossed it to her. "In there you will find 20 nail of gold. I believe this is adequate payment for the services you rendered to the academy."
Checking the bag, it appeared to be what he said. 20 small crescent wafers of gold. This was beyond fair. She had never been paid a fraction of this for a simple speaking event. "What's the catch? Why are you paying me like this?" She asked with her suspicions full on display.
"Well I figured if I treated you well in this small exchange, we might be able to come to another agreement."
Groaning Cirine prepared herself. She knew it wouldn't be easy when dealing with city royals. Especially one as twisted as this. "Again, I find myself asking, what then do you want?"
Smiling the City Lord took a moment to respond. "Well you seem rather fond of my son, and I'm not entirely sure he would be as fond of you if he really knew you. How about this, for the low price of me letting my son go blissfully unaware, and I'll even throw in letting you do whatever you want with him, all you have to do is inscript this slate with the sacrificial glyph you spoke of in class today." Reaching again into his coat he removed a square piece of gray slate and held it her direction. "In fact, it is well past time Tom became a man. And who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and have some sky brats running around."
The slate hung in the air for several long seconds as Cirine thought to herself. "Man, I really fucking hate city royals."