“Mr. Dirant, is it a part of the ritual for you to hum and chuckle to yourself?” There was another article for Aptezor to write, though perhaps not for the Amlizen Crier. The habits of Ritualists interested a niche audience and one not geographically concentrated.
Perhaps Dirant's sense of responsibility contributed less to his attitude than the license to use resources he would never again possess, or if he did, be willing to expend on questionable rituals. The crushed pearls which put certain comparisons in his head for example could never be uncrushed.
> +1 to Verve gained.
Dirant finished one design and straightened. “No, and neither does it require that I not. The first attempt is the Fairy Fascination Ritual. This is unlike the Fascination Ritual not only in working on fairies rather than humans but also in the effect. It does not, according to the instructions, cause the subjects to stare helplessly, but rather interferes with the innate magic of fairies, causing them to forget what they were doing before they stopped to fix it, thereby giving you the chance to grab their attention.”
“I am ready.”
“Please order you soldiers to, ah, they already have.” Curious fairies gathered around the design without any command, obviating the difficulty of rounding up test subjects which often stymied academic Ritualists. Supplied with volunteer celebrants, Dirant stepped into the center of the design and laced his fingers together with his left thumb over his right, his right index finger over his left index, middle, and ring fingers, and his right little finger over his left.
Around and above every fairy nearby the air became distorted and wavy as if a fire had been set under each of them, though not a hot one to judge by their reactions. One of those temperate fires. A good amount of turning in circles occurred. Half patted themselves down in the manner of a man searching for his keys while the other half looked up, frowning, perhaps to register their mild displeasure with the gods if indeed some happened to be looking down.
While the fairies did leave off from their previous activities because of the Fairy Fascination Ritual, in no way did that enable Aptezor to strengthen his influence. Instead, his soldiers began wandering off, sometimes muttering like an imprisoned engineer, until Dirant revoked the ritual. Fortunately, the Fairy Fascination Ritual's revocation was much simpler and faster than the human version, requiring only that he arrange his fingers in the opposite configuration while holding between the thumbs a small iron disc included in the original ritual. The fairies hustled back.
“Do another one!”
“That felt weird. I'm not sure if I liked it or not.”
“Yes, please do another one.”
Aptezor raised a hesitating voice. “The ritual worked.” He was daring enough to offer a plain description, but to criticize a senior and a specialist at that was too much for someone who had not yet embraced his recently gained rank.
“General, your transparent leadership style allows your captains to anticipate you in many of your judgments. While not without its potential and something worth testing, the Fairy Fascination Ritual fails to address the present exigencies. I have others.”
“That's encouraging, Mr., or, Captain Dirant.”
Next he tested the Fairy Weapon Master Ritual, the title of which caused both Taomenk and Aptezor to wonder why Dirant started with a different one. The camaraderie of the three men had become such an unconquerable citadel that Dirant told them without the slightest evasion, much less dissimulation.
“The components are cheaper. I wanted to use expensive components.”
They accepted his reasoning. Taomenk made do with the budgets allocated for his projects but always wanted more, and if Aptezor ever had some of his articles compiled and bound, he would consider his career successful. Having illustrations in his book was an idea too splendid for him to imagine.
“This test must be approached in a regular manner.” Consistent with that proclamation, Dirant asked if any fairy consented to flash his status, not for any trivial reason of course but rather as a crucial portion of the intelligence which is to be gathered before war according to a famous general. The fairies without exception complied with the readiness of the Survyai, giving Dirant's assurances a flavor of the ridiculous.
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> Fairy
“Your entire status I believe was meant,” their general elaborated.
“That's it,” the soldiers answered. “Sir,” some of them added. They looked tremendously pleased afterward.
Whether they were concealing their abilities or not, the base was established on which the ritual was to build, for if it fulfilled its purpose according to the instructional scroll, the effect would be the addition of weapon proficiencies to fairy celebrants. The execution was simple enough and the recruitment of celebrants no more troublesome than before. Consequently the results could soon be seen.
> Fairy
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>
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> General Abilities
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> Crossbow (Advanced)
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> Sling (Advanced)
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> Glove, Weighted (Intermediate)
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> Bow, Recurved (Basic)
That was one example. The ritual, as promised, bestowed on every participant's status proficiency in a number of weapons from two to seven. The ranks were random, though each celebrant received at least one Advanced. Not a single Peerless appeared among the few dozen fairies participating in the experiment.
“Is it impossible or simply rare?” Dirant wondered. The importance of amending ritual descriptions to increase precision had been inculcated in every student of Todelk University's school of ritualism, the sixth-most prestigious in Greater Enloffenkir. It was a responsibility every member of the class bore regardless of what use the individual Ritualist made of his abilities after graduation.
Aptezor Ristaofen was excited. “This is a tremendous development! We can win even if the other generals don't—“
“General.”
“I apologize. We can win.”
“Give it a trial before you give yourself a ribbon.” Taomenk, in preparation for exactly that, had gathered a wagon of weapons from the castle and rolled it out to the field. A simple sparring session told the officers nothing, no matter how eagerly the fairies engaged in it; Visionaries, Ritualists, and Functionaries knew little enough about the impact of weapon proficiencies on battles restricted to their own species, let alone the range of fairy prowess. Fortunately, an objective measurement of skill existed in the field of archery, and accordingly they set up sheets as targets which helpful fairy artists decorated with painted clothes and surprised facial expressions.
The emotional connection thus derived in no way prevented fairies who had gained archery abilities from volunteering to take positions, ready their weapons, aim, and miss by distances measurable in the minutes they required to reclaim their errant missiles. The Adabans watched the miserable performance with that mixture of incredulousness and despair typically felt by attendees at a theatrical performance who realize only after the opening scene that they have been tricked into watching a tale of tragic love rather than the violent historical drama they expected.
“Ah.” After a great effort in both the intellectual and emotional spheres, Dirant thought of something to say. “Upon reflection, the wording assured the practitioner the fairies will have the proficiency added to their status. It said nothing about teaching them anything. Ritual descriptions are not as a custom drawn up in a lawyerly manner, and I was incautious on that account.”
“You have more of those rituals to try,” Taomenk stated. Asked by the general what made the logistics captain sure of that, Taomenk said, “Mr. Aptezor, can you not hear how excited Mr. Dirant is? I'll allow he isn't dancing in glee, but that's all.”
Dirant admitted the truth of the assessment without shame, for an eagerness to pursue his profession was reckoned as a virtue in Kitslof at least, and he possessed no others uncontested. “General, with your permission I will undertake to perform the Fairy Bow Education Ritual. The outcome is easy to predict, and yet we must admit the unreliability of our predictions with regard to fairies.”
Aptezor gave his permission. Most condottieri recommended agreeing to a course of action which another party, usually the employer but occasionally an associate or headstrong subordinate, could not be dissuaded from taking in order to minimize the perception of impotence. The ritual captain soon, by his standards, had prepared the next trial. In a rebuke to optimism and whimsy both, the Fairy Bow Education Ritual did indeed impart several bow proficiencies in a purely cosmetic fashion just as all expected.
“What is the advantage of this over the Weapon Master Ritual?” Aptezor asked.
“Ink is not so precious that we are limited to writing down the good rituals alone. Let us proceed to the Fairy Vanquishing Ritual, which is not nearly so impressive in its ostensible effect as I can perceive you hope it to be.” The Ritualist's warning came in time to relieve his fellow officers from the vexing moral questions posed by their acquisition of such a powerful weapon as the name suggested. He explained further that the category of “vanquishing rituals” dealt with effects which suppress sensations such as thirst, hunger, and pain. They were primarily of medical use and helpful secondarily in working laborers to death, a practice not much observed in the present day. “What it does to fairies is unclear from the description.”
“Mr. Dirant, is it fair to say that Ritualists are perpetrating a fraud upon the public when they attest to the reliability of their services?”
The question could have come from another Ritualist, but as a humorous diversion. Aptezor, so far as Dirant had been able to discover, lacked a sense of humor altogether and therefore received a serious answer. Further, because the Amlizen Crier, if it resembled the standard publication of its type, was disinclined to publish articles on matters which touched on theological speculation, he avoided that topic, salient though he believed it to be. “We commit the alleged crime to the same extent as do the historians who assure us the race of fairies became extinct long ago, which is to say that perfect information is never granted to mankind. In the ordinary course, any professional Ritualist makes explicit the capabilities and limitations of our class.”