[A painting of the classically styled images of Waas, Torc, Faust, and Aurial kneeling before a glowing white featureless figure depicting Oan]
G is for gods, the children of Oan, he made them before leaving for reaches unknown. They created the Fonts with each other's assistance and used them to build our very existence.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
Once the papers had been collected, and the professors had read them, they asked the students if they needed anything.
“Where’s my mother?” Zale asked.
“We do not know,” Tigereye answered, sympathetically. “We looked. But, you know her.”
Zale nodded and grew pensive.
Kole didn’t really feel like now was the time to ask, but he figured it was best to rip the bandage off.
“Are we going to be dropped from the Academy or disqualified from the adventuring program for missing four weeks?”
Professor Underbrook let out a laugh, bordering on a giggle.
“If we dropped students from the adventuring program every time they got wrapped up in an adventure that took them away from class, we’d have lost all our best graduates.”
Kole felt relieved at the words but didn’t know how he’d ever be able to pass his classes now.
Reading the concern, Underbrook continued, “We will arrange for tutoring and an altered curriculum along with assigned work for the semester and summer breaks.”
This revelation soothed Kole’s worry, even giving him hope at the mention of private tutoring. Rakin didn’t share that sentiment.
“Faust cursed slag!”
“If that will be all,” Donglefore said, “There are some people who are waiting to see you and then you must rest.”
Kole noticed then that Hawk Talon had fallen asleep at some point during the writing session. He was feeling healed but could use a good rest himself.
The professors left, and then a strange mix of students entered the room. Amara came in, accompanied by Gray, Mouse, Herald, and Esme. Esme and Gray stayed by the door, while the other three ran eagerly to a bed. It took a moment for Kole’s brain to catch up with his eyes.
Intellectually it made sense that Harold and Mouse would be here, but Amara’s presence among them confused him. He couldn’t recall the girl ever interacting with anyone who hadn’t initiated the conversation.
Mouse ran to Doug’s side, and Harold to Zale, while to his surprise, Amara ran to the space between Doug and Rakin’s beds.
“Doug! Rakin!” she said excitedly. “You’re finally back!”
Doug gave her a polite and uncertain wave, before returning his attention to Mouse.
“Why?” Rakin asked bluntly.
Amara pulled out her back, and pulled out two small wooden boxes, putting one on each bed.
“Your amulets are done!”
“Oohhhh,” Kole said aloud, the scene finally making sense.
Of course, that’s why she’s so excited. She’s been holding onto those for weeks. Wait… he thought with growing concern. What else has she been up to in her workshop?
He made a mental note to check and make sure she hadn’t gotten too carried away.
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Amara’s pronouncement brought Doug’s attention momentarily away from Mouse, with whom he had begun speaking excitedly, starting with the Scalequines.
Rakin snatched his box out of the bed and snapped the lid open, he eyes growing wide. He pulled the amulet from the box, and Kole saw that the flaming stone soul stone had been surrounded by three bands of metal of different colors, each a different type of metal and engraved densely with runes.
The chain too had runes on each link, which Amara pointed to proudly.
“My ants did the work on the links. Normally they need to use costly magics to enlarge the chains while they work on them.”
“It looks like the Hardune’s symbol,” Rakin said, admiration clear in his voice.
The Hardune, the once secret dwarven society that took up the mantle of imprisoning rogue Primordials once the gods left Kaltis, had a symbol representing the planet itself.
The three bands represented the three gods Torc, Waas, and Aurial who formed the planet out of their bodies to imprison the god Faust, the god of flame and evil that to this day resided in the planets heart.
Doug pulled his out, and looked disappointed to find his looked almost the same.
“What? Is something wrong?” Amara asked alarmed, noticing his concern.
Kole was impressed she’d picked up on the look at all.
“No… I just thought they were tailored to us. I was expecting something more in line with Assuine.”
“No,” Amara said firmly, “There were no conceits to form, only function. The triangle was the perfect shape to contain the permeable containment runes, the control runes, and the extended field runes. The connection to the Hardune is purely a coincidence.”
“How does it work?” Rakin asked, eagerly.
“Put it on,” Amara instructed them, and they both obeyed. “The soul stones were required to control and power the permeability and range of the protection. Without them they would have been beyond your ability to control and anyone’s ability to craft. You can block out the power of your Fonts by Willing it to be so. You should start with low levels to feel out your abilities. Rakin should work on not losing control, while Doug must learn to sense his instincts that reach for the Font.”
They both thanked her sincerely, and she beamed, prouder than Kole had ever seen her.
“So,” she said, casually. “What have you all been up to?”
“Amara,” Kole said, cautiously, not believing what he was about to ask was necessary but also certain it was. “You do know we’ve been missing for four weeks right?”
“It hasn’t been that long… Right?”
“How much class have you missed?” Kole asked.
She did some math in her head, looking up.
“No more than two weeks. Three tops,” she said. “I thought you guys were only gone for a week or two. I spent some time trying to find you, playing with trackers, but when those didn’t work, I moved on to other projects. Professor Donglefore excused me from some classes to work on the necklaces, and I just sort of lost track of the days I guess, and didn’t go back.”
“We have good news!” Zale said excitedly from her bed. “We have a lead on your sister.”
This derailed Amara from any more rune talk, and she and Gray’s team all listened with rapt attention to Zale’s recounting. Kole had never realized Zale had a flare for storytelling, but it was clearly something she’d practiced.
Kole split his time watching the faces of the listeners. Esme just looked bored and uninterested, glaring at Zale when she paid her any attention. Harold watched Zale proudly, with the occasional concern evident on his face.
Mouse and Doug whispered commentary through out it all, the little of which Kole picked up suggested they were discussing the flora and fauna he’d seen on his trip.
Gray looked concerned at first for Zale, but when she got to the first attack, he looked at Kole’s way accusingly and then gapped in awe as Zale described his magical exploits—sans the illusion abilities. He looked from Zale to Kole in disbelief, and Kole could see him restrain the urge to call Zale a liar.
“And then we ran out the door into the PREVENT room and were brought here,” Zale said in conclusion
“And now, they will all be going to sleep,” a soft voice said at the door.
All eyes shot to the speaker. The Arch Druid had stepped in silently and unknown and at some point and waited patiently for Zale to finish the story.
Mouse seemed shrunk in on herself, while all the others gave outward signs of respect. They said their goodbyes, Gray and Kole staring daggers at each other across the room and left.
“Hmm, smells much better in here,” Rakin noted, and Zale threw a pillow at him, striking him hard in the side of the head.
“Nice throw,” Doug complimented.
And then, they too settled down to sleep, joining Hawk Talon who’d not even awoken for the arrival or departure of the other team of students plus Amara.
----------------------------------------
“Good morning!” Zale shouted cheerily, waking Kole and Rakin.
“Good morning yerself!” Rakin shouted, rolling over and covering his head with the extra pillow Zale had so graciously given him.
“Was that supposed to be an insult?” Zale whispered to Doug, who was with her in the middle of the room.
Groggily, Kole sat up. Zale and Doug were cleaned up, dressed in new sets of clothes, and were back with food already.
“Why so early? We don’t have to go to class anymore. Right?” Kole asked, siding with Rakin.
“First,” Zale said, holding up a finger. “It’s already 7, so I did let you sleep in. Second, we still need to go to PREVENT and meet with tutors. Third, it’s Monday, which means it’s time for training, and without any classes for the rest of the day, we can finally get some real work done.”
Rakin and Kole both let out a groan.