“Eva? Did you get the reports from the first Scaldin battle with the Volanter?” Sten stood in her workshop doorway, arms crossed. His features remained shadowed, but Eva could see enough.
Eva raised an eyebrow. She put down her tools and twisted the stool to face him. “I saw. What do you want me to say about it?”
“I guess I asked for that,” Sten said. “Let me be more specific. Did you see that the Volanter have advanced their technology?”
Eva bowed her head. “I did. It’s very concerning. I’m not at all pleased to see that the Scaldin will get the more difficult of the fights.”
“And, that’s saying something, considering we had some difficult fights ourselves.” Sten gestured over his shoulder. “Meladee and Benham are outside. They want me to come along on the trip – in your place. The one that Irini wanted us to join.”
Eva looked down. “Oh. I suppose they can replace one engineer with another.”
“I suppose they could. I’m going to say yes – if you don’t.”
“To free a creature that might have the potential to destroy a planet?” Eva hopped off her stool. She crossed the workshop to Sten. “I don’t want Scaldigir to take the brunt of Volanter punishment. I will do anything to help them that I can – except free something like Pen Pal.”
Sten, already stood straight, but he seemed to straighten further. “Then, I’ll go. I’ll make plenty of decisions you don’t approve of along the way.”
Eva frowned. She studied Sten and decided that this subtle expression of his was the one she liked best. “You really want me to go?”
“I want you not to have any regrets about this crisis. Unlike the last.” Sten kept his steady eyes on Eva’s.
“Who will take care of Lurren while I’m gone?”
“I will.” Sten stood aside.
Eva looked past him, into the hall, where light rounded the corner from the open front door. “You left them waiting outside.”
“They didn’t want to come in. They just wanted me to come out. I thought they might be happier to see you.” Sten held out his arm, as if to say after you.
Eva began to walk the hall. “If I’m there, I can decide if it’s something we should free. I can make the call in the moment.”
“Right.” Sten followed.
“I’ll want my weapons.”
“I gathered them by the door for you.”
Eva smiled. She paused at the corner. “My coat?”
Sten’s brow furrowed. “Your coat?”
“Meladee says I should wear a coat to help my organic friends feel warmer.” Eva pointed in the direction he would find the coat.
Sten nodded. “Alright. How very thoughtful of you. Go ahead. I’ll catch up.”
Eva turned the corner and walked the last stretch to her open front door. Light poured in, and Eva stepped into view. Or rather, Meladee and Benham came into hers.
They waited outside. Each leaned on a simple column, framing the door. Meladee uncrossed her arms and stood on her own two feet.
“Sten convinced me to join you in his place,” Eva said.
Meladee’s eyes widened. Joy filled her face. “Oh my god. Really?”
Eva nodded. She picked up her tools and weaponry from the side of the door.
“Allow me to help with that.” Benham, grin on his face, took the tools and the weapons. He headed for the ship.
Meladee waved Eva out. “Well, come on. It’s adventure time. We’re going to get that Pen Pal and save someone else’s world.”
Eva held up a finger. She saw Sten on his way down the hall, with a blue, ruffled coat in one hand. The other hand hid behind his back.
“What?” Meladee asked.
“I need one more thing.”
Sten reached Eva’s side and held the coat out to her. She accepted it and swung it onto her shoulders. As she pushed her arms through the sleeves, Meladee put a hand to her heart.
“You shouldn’t have. Man, I just feel so appreciated.”
“I’m going to say goodbye to Sten. I’ll be over in a minute.”
“Don’t take too long.” Meladee waved her farewell and jogged after Benham. The Halfmoon occupied the entirety of Eva’s front lawn and threw shadows on the frosted grass.
Eva faced Sten. “I trust you to take care of things.”
He inclined his head. His arms remained behind his back. “Thank you. You can count on me, and I won’t let Leonidus take over. I also have no plans to steal secrets from our studies of the Volanter. Sorry.” Sten frowned. “I must admit. I’m a bit disappointed in you. I always thought you were the better of us.”
Eva blinked slow and set her gaze down. “I took nothing, and I took back my request very quickly.”
“But you didn’t stop thinking about it.”
“No.” Something in Eva’s internals burned to know that she disappointed Sten. She had the chance to redeem herself and do right by their worlds and maybe even the Pen Pal. But, it would feel best to return and find herself in Sten’s good graces.
Sten said, “Please, consider Pen Pal’s situation. Consider how long he’s been trapped. Empathize with him. I think you should be able to by now. That’s the last I want to say.” Sten pulled a brain box from behind his back. “Now, if you would take this along, you can join Meladee and Benham.”
The sleek black exterior blinked, with a handful of lights. A battery pack jutted from one side.
“You can ignite my shame for my actions, but you won’t change my mind about the box.” Eva stared longer. The blinking lights and battery suggested the box already held some information, thinking information.
“It’s mine actually. A copy of my brain.” Sten nudged it into Eva’s hands.“It might help to have two engineers work together.”
Eva took the box and held it gently. “Thank you. I’ll plug it in as soon as I board.” Eva gave Sten one last solid look in the eyes. “And, I will consider Pen Pal’s plight.”
Sten smiled. “That’s all I want. I’ll see you later, Eva.”
Eva nodded her goodbye. She held Sten’s brain box in both hands and headed for the Halfmoon. Benham and Meladee waited on the ramp, and Eva held her head high as she crossed her lawn to them.
She could remember how it felt when the Finial and the Syndicate for Sentient Aide, offered their help on the end of a string. They would help but only if they got something back from Iruedim. The only trouble had been that Iruedim had nothing to give.
Eva could also remember how it felt to be trapped in a box, with nowhere to go, and a wasteland all around.
Pen Pal had even given them several actions of good faith.
Maybe, she should do likewise.
Camellia picked up Valerian and brought him to the window. She sat on the window seat, settled, and tucked one leg beneath her. Their view overlooked the front garden, but Camellia cradled Valerian and turned his view skyward. She looked at the same white clouds in the blue sky. Valerian probably focused on the patterns. Camellia looked up and away.
Meladee, Eva, and Benham headed for Scaldigir, to pick up Irini. They’d come back, and then, they’d head on to Pen Pal.
Camellia wished them godspeed.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
She didn’t really believe in a particular god, but she believed in the sentiment.
Camellia glanced down at Valerian and found he stared back. She smiled. His eyes looked into hers.
“Camellia.” The voice belonged to a man, but not to Florian.
Camellia stood up and backed away from the open window. Standing just beyond the garden, was her father. Daystone glinted around his neck, a new bit caught in a diamond of resin.
“Did you always have that?” She nodded to the daystone.
Meanwhile, she locked up her thoughts, especially those of her own daystone, its whereabouts, and the chain it shared with her shard of obsidian mirror.
“No, I bought it about three months ago. I’ve made deals during the day, and I’ve relied less on your brothers and sisters.”
Camellia frowned. “Okay. That’s nice, I guess. It must have cost a lot.”
“Not too bad.” Viorel raised his arms and threatened to step into her garden. “Can I hold him?”
Camellia shook her head. “I won’t pass my son out a window.”
Viorel’s eyes moved in the direction of Camellia’s door.
She shook her head again. “I can’t. I’m about to work. Florian is setting it up in the basement.”
“Work?” Disgust twisted Viorel’s face. His arms dropped to his sides. “Why would you work this soon? What’s wrong that you have to work before six months? Can’t he feed you for that long?”
Camellia scowled. “He could feed me indefinitely, and I do plan to take full advantage of my leave and flexible postings. Don’t worry about me.”
Camellia preferred the AAH’s version of leave to what she could find at her family’s farmhouse. Strict leave indoors, followed by simple manual jobs with a baby on her back or at her feet, offered less stimulation than part-time paper review.
Their first meeting in over a year, maybe two, wasn’t going well at all. Camellia almost turned away.
“Wait. I’m sorry. Don’t go yet.” Viorel reached toward the window.
Camellia stopped. “If you’re interested…we have a new toy – so to speak. It’s a holoprojector, and we set it up in the basement. It’s like going to a dig site, without leaving the house.” Camellia kind of smiled.
Viorel’s eyes widened. “That’s good. Perhaps, less travel for you.”
“Well, we’ll travel again – when we’re ready. For now, I can travel without traveling.” Camellia edged away from the window. “I’m sorry I have to cut you short.”
“Can I at least see him?”
Camellia couldn’t find harm in that. She inched close to the window and cradled Valerian against her body, facing him upright. Valerian’s brow furrowed as he studied the upright view of the world, something he hadn’t see often in his short life.
“He’s wonderful, Camellia. You should be very proud.” Viorel kept his hands by his sides and did not venture into the garden. He studied Valerian with his eyes. Even his mind stayed where he promised it would.
Camellia knew. She shielded Valerian and herself. Nothing tapped on their defenses.
“I won’t keep you longer.” Viorel began to turn away but stopped. “I’m just curious…Valerian. It starts with a V. Did you have me in mind when you named him?”
Camellia’s mouth fell open. “Oh, no. Sorry. We just liked it.”
Viorel gave her a rueful smile. “That’s fair. It’s my vanity at fault for thinking you had. Well, Camellia, can I come visit you again? Or not?” Viorel stayed, half-turned. He would wait for an answer.
Camellia pulled Valerian back into a tight cradle and, returned to him, his view of the ceiling. She studied her father and, in his presence recalled old memories, good and bad. Camellia felt her eyes narrow. “I want to give you a chance. I never wanted for us to… I just want you to be the father I used to think you were.”
Viorel didn’t say anything. He nodded once and headed on his way.
Camellia thought it must have hurt. It hurt her to say. She bet it hurt more to hear.
“Ready?” Florian poked his head out the basement door and peeked into the sitting room. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” Camellia glanced at the window. “My dad just showed up.”
Florian emerged from the cellar and headed to the window. He had a look in his eyes that approached anger.
As soon as he got close enough, Camellia put a hand on his chest and stopped him. “No, no. It’s fine. He didn’t come in. It was a short visit. It was…strange. Please, let’s just go in the basement and…”
Florian stared past her to the window. “Okay. Later, I might go shopping and buy an anti-entry item – if that’s alright with you.”
“Another one?”
“The first one was for the Volanter. We need a different one for your dad.”
Camellia laughed a little. “Why? They all work the same?”
Florian walked past Camellia and pulled the window closed. He latched it. “Because they’re two big problems, and I don’t think one anti-entry spell can handle the situation on its own.”
Camellia laughed louder.
Florian smiled. He gestured to the basement door. “I set up the basement with the projection of the magic rings. Might help to have the papers about experimental magic open. What are we doing with Valerian?”
“I’m going to strap him to me. He’s fed and changed – for now. Besides, he’ll like the patterns.” Camellia slipped Valerian into a carrier.
He glanced left and right, not sure how to feel about it. He scrunched up his nose, about to complain, but decided it was alright, once he was securely strapped against Camellia’s chest.
Florian took the steps fast. Camellia took them slow. She thought the view was worth the extra time it took her to descend into the basement.
The projector sat at the center of the floor. It beamed circles onto the surrounding stone: floor, walls, ceiling. Darkness enhanced the projection, making the circles seem real. They glowed, and Camellia’s heard sped, sensing a false danger.
Florian coughed and cleared his throat. He waved dust from his airspace. “Since the projections are flat, I tried to set them against flat surfaces. It was hard to see details when they hovered in empty air.” Florian had moved their unofficial restoration projects against the walls, in the spots where representations of magic did not need to be. He traced a finger over a row of stray runes that hovered just above some furniture, under sheets. “Dusty down here.”
“It looks so real.”
“Only because I adjusted the brightness up and set them on walls. They don’t really glow like real circles. That’s an illusion. And, there’s a lot of these little imperfections.” Florian crossed the basement and ran his hand over a projection where the symbol looked like a scribble.
“So, what did we take them from?”
“Walls of a battleship’s garden. You’ll see a lot of pieces are missing.” Florian gestured to several incomplete circles that spanned the floor.
Camellia took the last step off the stairs. She saw the Volanter file on a small wobbly table. It lay open to the experimental magic section. Camellia scooped the paper up.
From across the basement, Florian pointed to the page. “According to that file…” He walked back to the stray runes and pressed his hand to the projected symbols. “Single runes are the standard form of magic.”
Camellia nodded. “Makes sense, but we’ve come such a long way. We tend to think of the single ringed circles as standard.” She glanced at the file and saw several stray runes littered over the page. “It says here…that one of these is the tree rune.”
Florian pointed to a rune, just above a blanketed table. “This one. It even looks like a tree.”
“What does it do?”
Florian shrugged. “Apparently, it’s the kind of thing that Volanter children learn before they reach school. The file has no explanation for the rune’s purpose, and of course, the wall doesn’t. But, it appears in healing spells and a few spiritual ones. So, that gives us the general idea that it isn’t a particularly dangerous rune.”
Camellia’s eyes darted around the basement but came back to the stray runes. She studied them and saw that the runes formed a kind of tree. Several spread over the bottom; a handful formed neat lines at the center, and more runes spread over the top: roots, trunk, branches.
Florian waited; hands tucked behind his back. She let her gaze pass over him, and he continued to wait.
Camellia looked to the circles themselves. On the far wall, she spotted a row of single rings. That part of the projection was set up like a chart. Big circles formed the top row. Below them, little rings rang in neat columns, as if they stemmed from the large circles. Camellia guessed the chart represented different classes of spellwork. She wondered which spell served as chief of each category.
Finally, Camellia’s eyes wandered to the nearest wall. Four more columns ran over it and continued onto the floor. The first column displayed dual ringed circles. The second column collected rayed spells, and the third column showed overlapped variations. The fourth column spread largest and showed chains of spells, intertwined by a rune in common.
Camellia’s head swam. She heard Valerian snore and wondered if she should join him. A peeling wooden chair sat half covered by the stairs. Camellia sat on it, keeping the sheet between her and the flaking stain. “I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“The single ringed spells are most powerful because they force the mage to put more of themselves into it.” Camellia set her eyes on the large chart. Then, she looked to the fourth column of chained spells. “That’s why the Rhizo stuck with them, I suppose. Those chains are choreographed rotating rings, right?”
“Correct.” Florian smiled, with a hint of humor. “Though, I didn’t hear much of a question there. If you want to discuss single ringed spells…then, it’s true. One ring relies more on the mage - the mage’s individual stamina and abilities. They need longer cast times and better control. Because there are so many of them and little room to write new ones, the Volanter found them a bit unwieldly. Yes, the Rhizo continued to use them, but even they tried to improve them.”
Camellia nodded along. “Now, for the question I was leading up to. How powerful are the single runes?”
Florian stroked his chin. “Hmmm. I’m not sure. It might follow that they’re very powerful, more so than the single rings. Perhaps, they require the cooperation of several mages. Or, they might be weaker. Just one rune…that’s a fragment of a spell.”
Camellia agreed. The increase in power had to stop somewhere; otherwise, she could envision the most powerful spell – a single dot that required sixty mages to cast. Camellia snorted and laughed.
Florian gave her a funny look but let it pass. He wandered to the center of the room and gestured to the projections. “What we’re looking at is a strategy textbook. That wall is probably battle.” Florian pointed to the four columns.
“Right. Dual rings, rotating combinations, and the weird ones.”
“The stray runes are the building blocks.” Florian pointed, but his finger aimed a bit low. He seemed to point at the covered table instead. Then, he jabbed his thumb behind him, to the far wall and the chart of single rings. “And, that section shows categories of magic.”
Camellia looked down, past Valerian’s snoring head, to the paper about experimental magic. She tried to read. The letters seemed to blend together. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and tried to read again.
“Should I summarize.”
Camellia nodded. “Please.”
“Anything that wasn’t a single rune or a single ring was considered experimental for a long time. Dual rings are the second oldest. The rayed spells came next. Then, the choreographed sets and the overlayed versions got developed around the same time.” Florian walked through the basement and arrived at Camellia’s side. “You won’t find the work of the Blath or the Anther in there. That’s too new. Apparently, they were ready to lead the new branch of research. It was their time to shine. It explains why the Volanter want us to return so badly.” Slowly, Florian took the paper from her hands. “I can leave the projection up for a while – if you need to sleep.”
Camellia let him have the file. She did need to sleep. “I keep thinking about Pen Pal. Do you think that Eva and Meladee will get him free? What do you think he did to deserve being locked away?”
Florian shook his head. He offered Camellia his hand.
She didn’t take it immediately. “He can use magic. What is he? Is he a wayward child?”
“Camellia, sleep.”
“I just wonder if the answers are in these papers.”
Florian paged through the file. “If the answer is here, it won’t be in experimental magic. Probably not among the myths. But, I might try the correspondence with other species.”
“Please. That is if you don’t need to sleep too.”