--- KOLEN ---
Kolen thought of himself as a very boring person.
This was easily contradicted as the kid sat in front of five absolute strangers and gave them advice for their sob stories. He’d known one of them for about five minutes, but the others were at a grand total of about an hour between the four of them, so…twenty minutes each. Yes, I just made you do math, at least I’m not using watermelons.
Either way, Kolen was in a particularly happy mood today, as he’d found an entire stack of illegal paperwork in his aunt Cherry’s basement and had gotten a chance to show her his newest idea for hiding things like that.
Cherry had seemed at a loss of what to do with a thirteen year old who was better at dodging the law than she was, but she certainly wasn’t complaining that Kolen had been the one to find them instead of say… an investigating officer.
One of the strangers, tall-Yani with a big smile, had started crying at some point. Kolen was patting her back as she explained how she’d lost her job last week. The other four were explaining their own sorrows and Kolen was nodding along the whole time. He led the discussion, but mostly he didn’t really think he was even involved.
“Yani, I think you need to march right back into that architecture business and demand a job. They seem like they appreciate straightforwardness.” Kolen decided with a nod.
Yani nodded as well, “That must be the answer!”
Things seemed much more simple when you were advising others.
Kolen eventually had to excuse himself, but the five strangers kept the discussion going. He thought he saw some of them exchanging addresses so they could all become pen pals. He smiled at that, That’s great for them…
Stepping out of the shop, Kolen hefted the medium sized crystal with a frown. He’d wanted one that was too small for people to detect, but this one was probably right on that line… hopefully aunt Cherry would have a better idea. Chatting with strangers was fun and interesting, but it was also a helpful way to keep people from getting suspicious of him. He cared about strangers, so he tried not to talk to the same people too often, just in case he did something stupid. He’d rather they didn’t get caught in the fallout.
Kolen tucked the crystal under one arm and waved to people he recognized as he walked home, he would call them by name and occasionally ask after a family member or beloved pet. This resulted in one man balling his eyes out for a while, but the recent death of Shaggy the dog was worth ten minutes of comforting a stranger.
I hope Shaggy is happy in Orien…
Eventually, aunt Cherry’s house was in front of him, wedged innocently between two similar houses that had been built by the same man twenty years back. The yard wasn’t tame per se, but it wasn’t wild either, it seemed like it straddled the line between the two, until you would glance at the perfectly manicured grass behind that tree and realize that it was actually dancing on the line all while making fun of you.
Opening the door, Kolen called out for his aunt, using the tone that meant ‘I have something kind of important but if there’s anyone listening who might tell someone about it then it’s not that important.’
He heard Cherry call back to him with the tone that meant, ‘get in here you little fart before the neighbors hear you, I don’t want to have to move again. But the coast is clear so you can explain what the heck you’ve got now.’
The fact that she used that tone meant she hadn’t understood the underlying meaning of his greeting shout again and he would have to try remaking the entire system again. Perhaps using code words would work this time.
Kolen shook his head and closed the door neatly behind him, “Cherry! It’s really cool this time! I think maybe I could make a security system with it!”
“That’s what you said last time.” Her tone was entirely flat, and even the extremely open minded Kolen sometimes had a hard time thinking of her as a person rather than an object from Aeinar itself sent just to torment him.
Kolen set the crystal on the ancient hardwood table and perched on the bench, practically vibrating as Cherry appeared in a doorway and examined the crystal with a blank expression. She held a steaming mug of that new drink the artificers had come up with to keep workers awake. She seemed as if she was just ready to be disappointed.
Kolen felt himself wilt slightly under that gaze, holding up the crystal. “It’s a recording crystal.”
“Kolen. I don’t have time for this, I have to go back to the offices, their prototype is being finicky again.”
He glanced downward, remembering again the papers he’d found in the basement. Records of what she was actually doing whenever she went back. It hurt more that she kept lying about it now that he knew exactly what she was being hunted for. “Alright… I’ll try and set it up while you’re gone then.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“Knock yourself out kid, just don’t let anyone see you using those for more than light,” She reminded him, again. “Most of the city still thinks crystals count as magic.”
Even though the King keeps announcing that they don’t count. His mind finished her repetitive speech. That was why Kolen had subtly convinced them all that he was scared of the dark, it explained to inquisitive people why he always looked for new crystals at the shops. The fact that Cherry couldn’t see that effort was yet another pain of his life. “Yes Cherry, I’ll be discreet.”
That was the fastest way to shut down any lectures, and it also left her in a relatively good mood as the human embodiment of that fungus you found on the bottom of your pantry nodded sharply and made her way toward the door.
She paused, “I appreciate you not sharing those papers.” Cherry said quietly, “I hid them again and I’d like to ask you not to look for them.”
Now that just sounded like a challenge. Kolen sighed as the door closed, shaking his head, no, Cherry didn’t want him to look for them, even if it would help her to know how secure her new hiding spot was.
No, the best that Kolen could do for her was set up a security system.
He picked up the crystal, “Hey is there a spirit in here by chance?”
It remained silent. Okay then, I suppose we’ll do it the hard way. He examined the runes carved on its surface for a moment before holding it up and grinning at it while trying several gestures and common command words. “Spodiocioous! Butter! Wasoooso!”
The crystal remained inert.
Kolen frowned and brought it closer, squinting at the slightly pulsing runes for a moment before setting it back down on the table. Alright, the harder way then.
He placed his hand above the crystal, channeling the slightest bit of energy into it. It wasn’t strictly illegal to know how to do that, but it depended heavily on which official you were on trial with. The crystal pulsed brighter and hovered into the air. Huh, neat.
He tried the gestures and words again, this time receiving a chime of activation for his efforts. Awesome. Kolen snatched the crystal from the air and hooked it up to a wire cage, which connected it to a transmission crystal, who’s other half was in his pocket. It would vibrate when someone told it to, causing his half to vibrate as well.
His idea here was to have the recording crystal tell the transmission crystal whenever someone it didn’t have a picture of walked through its line of sight.
He attached another wire to the recording crystal, adding his most precious crystal. It was the same light blue as the other two, but it was smaller than his pinky nail and generally looked more like an uneven piece of quartz than anything special. Kolen had struck gold when he’d found it at a pawn shop though. He attached it to the contraption and, taking a deep breath, spoke aloud, “Light, I’m sorry to bother you, but could you possibly tell this recording crystal to inform its friend whenever it sees someone it doesn’t have a picture of?”
The small crystal buzzed slightly, and then spoke aloud with a strangely high pitched voice. “Of courseeee! Do you want anything else? I can have the crystal also let its friend know if it senses a higher than usual magical concentration! I can have it gather ambient magic to cure this deadzone of-”
A sudden panic pulled to the front of Kolen’s mind, the authorities finding them because he’d made a beacon leading them right here. “No no, not that last part, but the rest would be appreciated.”
Light buzzed again, “It is done! You should really use me more, I can be helpful!”
Kolen had read somewhere that it was strange for a spirit to want to be helpful. Most of them were more…salty about their imprisonment.
He shook his head slowly, feeling sad for the little unique crystal spirit. He wanted it to be happy. He wanted his friend to be happy. “Sorry, Light, I don’t want people to find out about you.”
The crystal pulsed slightly and he removed it from the contraption, tucking it back with the rest of his crystals lest Cherry go through his pockets again and decide this crystal was too important for Kolen to hold on to.
Placing the box of crystals and wires back under his bed, Kolen affixed the recording crystal contraption just above the door, hoping that it would just end up acting as a long distance doorbell.
He went back out into the city, once again searching for people to talk to.
--
When he came back home, he found Cherry squinting up at the recording crystal with a dubious expression. It was hidden in shadow and it didn’t glow that much since it was in recording mode, ready to take a picture if Kolen told it to.
His transmission stone finally stopped vibrating once he appeared in the crystal’s sight.
“Kolen, what is that thing doing above my door?”
“It lets me know whenever someone comes up to the door.”
Cherry shook her head slowly, “so it told you when I got here?”
“Five minutes ago.” he answered with a bit of hope.
Cherry finally turned toward him with a grin on her face, “Kolen, how would you like to become an artificer? I’ve got a friend who might be able to get you in the Order.”
He felt his stomach sink, no, he didn’t want to be an artificer, he wanted to help people. “Acctually I-”
“I’ll contact him right now, I’m sure you’ll be out of here by this time next year. Thank the heavens I was worried I’d have to kick you out into the streets.”
Kolen felt his throat go dry at that, his words didn’t come out. “Alright.” he eventually said quietly.
“Imagine it, being related to a famous artificer. They’d stop hunting me then.”
Dragonkisser. Cherry is a dragonkisser.