I’m holed up in the Orpheus to avoid another run in with the city watch, which means I’m bored. My schedule is full, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that I’m wasting time with busywork. At least Mikko’s counsel holds true: laying low gives us time for the brouhaha to die down. The others aren’t under any real suspicion of wrongdoing other than spending time with a hot-head like me, so they’re free to come and go as they please.

When they come to visit, my brilliant friends keep me apprised of their progress. They’re getting more work done than I am. We’ve all continued to try to decipher the runes I remember from the Azure Rod. Developing a working prototype has become a friendly race, as well as validation for our unique approaches: Rakesh with his odd Skills for pattern-matching and library-lookups, Melina with her creative use of time-space manipulation, and my dogged efforts to test runes in real-time.

I spend my evenings etching one rune at a time onto the surface of palm-sized panes of glass. Attempting to initialize the runes with my mana hasn’t been going well, though. Despite our growing runic dictionary, there are still too many ideograms that I don’t fully understand. All too often, I let out a frustrated sigh, melt down the glass when it inevitably fails to produce the intended results, and wrap myself in a blanket before passing out on the floor of the hot shop.

Every failure cuts me to the core. The longer we take to help Lionel, the more I worry that his chances are slipping away.

I pace back and forth one evening, pondering the meaning of a swooping line bisecting a golden spiral. I want to believe that I’m closer to unlocking its meaning than I was the first night I tried infusing my mana into the rune, but I’m trying not to lie to myself.

I stop in the middle of the hot shop and snap my fingers. “Perhaps it simply intensifies the subsequent runic array?”

I fetch a second pane of glass and use my Domain to etch a simple rune for fire. I feed in a drop of mana, watching closely through my mana sense as it flares to life. Too big for a candle and too small for a hearth fire, the pure flame burns like a merry little torch.

I stack the two panes of glass, with the intensifier on top of the fire rune, and offer up the same exact amount of mana—the smallest discrete unit I can produce. As I hoped, the mystery rune lights up just before the fire leaps into the air. The resulting flame is taller and brighter.

“Just over half again as high, and definitely greater intensity,” I mutter to myself, pleased at the minor epiphany. Greater efficiency is always welcome, particularly for people who struggle with mana control. Lionel could use the rune to combat his mana leakage. He might amplify his efficiency to average levels with this new modifier.

Jubilation dies as my gaze drifts over to the pile of runes I plan to test later. What’s one small victory compared with a hundred defeats? I know that I shouldn’t think about the mountain of work still to come. Focusing on the next task is the best way to avoid getting overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of the task at hand. Still. It’s hard not to wallow in my failures.

I set the runes aside, noting down my discovery, and shake out my stiff muscles. I’m in the studio every day, rising before dawn to work for the Orpheus. Staying up late each night to puzzle out runes means sleep has fallen by the wayside, and it’s starting to take its toll on me. Without the gift of [Lesser Resistance: Mental Strain] from Lionel’s Class Skills, I don’t know how I’d continue to function.

Mana-imbuing more glass items for Orpheus is lucrative enough to sustain all of us at once, thankfully. My team no longer has to put in long hours at their work, which means that my friends have more time to spend on the runes I copied. The extra money is going toward raising the homey [Sanctuary of Glass] to an entirely new level of luxury—or so I hear.

I sigh, shuffling over to my favorite chair and slumping down to rest my weary body. I didn’t live in the [Sanctuary] for long, but I miss the place all the same. It’s more of a home than most places I’ve stayed on the road, including the hot shop at the Orpheus into which I’ve moved recently after Ozana intervened on my behalf.

Speaking of Ozana, I had a long and eye-opening discussion with the iron-fisted ruler of the Orpheus House about the auctions for an audience with the [Headmistress]. According to the bylaws that Rakesh studied, paying to jump to the top of the long waitlist is illegal. Ozana confirmed that’s technically true. No public official ever enforces the statute, however. There’s too much money flowing into their coffers thanks to patients the world over making pilgrimages to Gilead to visit the Menders.

Like all things, there seem to be two sets of rules: those for regular people, and those for people in power. The elites turn a blind eye toward the fundraising auctions, provided that gold continues to flow.

In a rush, I told Ozana that we could use the auction to our advantage and simply buy the next available time slot. Excitement blinded me to reality, but she soon set me straight. Even if I crafted an imbued masterwork every single day for the next few years, I likely wouldn’t earn enough to win a bid. The amount of money the wealthy could throw around to heal a family member was so far outside of my expectation that I found myself numb to the cost. It’s too hard to wrap my mind around the number as anything more than a concept. It’s simply too high.

My frustration with the situation drove me to redouble my efforts with the runes, which is why I called tonight’s meeting. I expand my [Arcane Domain], checking for the third time in the last few minutes if my friends are here yet. While we’re still far from figuring out the full array, both Rakesh and Melina are confident that I can prototype a lesser variant soon. We might not be able to fully heal Lionel, but perhaps we can reverse some of the damage bit by bit.

Progress is progress, I tell myself. Melina keeps earning small victories, as much as my competitive nature hates to admit that I’m falling behind. We’re all in this together, though. The more runes she uncovers, the easier it becomes for the rest of us to fill in gaps and determine the hidden meaning of the remaining runes. It doesn’t matter that she can’t fully translate the inscriptions; she’s been able to guess at the rough purpose of a few arrays, and that’s better than I’ve done until my discovery tonight.

Familiar presences enter the farthest range of my Domain. I leap up to my feet, my weariness and mopey thoughts instantly forgotten. With a pulse of mana, I activate a ward that Ozana keyed to my signature, allowing me to open an otherwise-locked side door for my team.

Minutes later, they’re gathered in the studio, and my isolation ends. If only Lionel were here, too, then my life would be perfect.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Avelina complains as she makes herself comfortable on a pile of pillows I’ve set aside in the corner just for when she visits me for a crafting session. “Why do you have to know what they mean? Copy all the runes directly and see what happens.”

I suppress a sigh, about to launch into an explanation of why that will never work due to the lack of resonance with the underlying concepts, when I wonder if maybe we’ve been looking at it all wrong. We know the meaning of the full paragraph, but not the words and sentences. Is that enough? If it is, then getting the broad strokes correct is what’s important right now. We can unravel the rest of the mystery after Lionel is restored to good health.

Warming to the idea, I consider my words as I place my last piece in the annealing kiln and join the team at a low table on the side of the studio space. We’re sprawled on the floor, reclining on incredibly plush cushions and eating cheese, dried meats, and candied nuts.

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“Um. That might actually work,” I find myself saying around a bite of smoked cheese.

“Then why hasn’t someone done it before?” Mikko asks. He gives Avelina an apologetic look when she scowls at him, but he’s got a point.

“Usually, runes require intent. If you don’t harmonize the meaning with your goal, then nothing happens. But we already have a clear example of the intent and meaning; we simply lack understanding of all the symbols. Most of the people who get close enough to the artifact to see the runes probably aren’t also able to imbue or decipher runes. We might be able to copy the entire thing and successfully power the entire runic array without full comprehension of the individual runes, as strange as that sounds.”

“Let’s do it!” Avelina cheers.

“That’s dangerous, Ava,” Melina rebukes, but her mild tone tips me off that she’s simply answering by rote. The thoughtful furrow of her brows tells a different story.

Rakesh laces his fingers together and rests his elbows on the table. “It’s dangerous for most people, yes. But we have enough runic experts here to give ourselves a shot.”

“I hate to repeat myself, and I know I’m not as smart as the rest of you, but why haven’t others done it first?” Mikko asks.

“Without Melina’s ability to look at my chicken scratches, recreate them, and rotate the corrected runes in three dimensions, we’d never have gotten close. I don’t think you realize how many strange and powerful Skills we have as a team.”

Mikko smirks at me. “I just hit things with a hammer. Seems to be working out all right for me. Some might say I’m the more successful brother, honestly.”

“Boring as always,” I tease.

“Effective,” he counters.

“Also, not the brother who got arrested. Again,” Avelina helpfully adds. She turns an innocent gaze toward me, her eyes wide and unblinking.

I can’t help but laugh.

“Got me there,” I admit. “While I’m under house arrest, why don’t you help me put our new theory into practice? Let’s make a healing artifact!”

Mikko puts a protective arm around Avelina. “I don’t want to risk anyone getting hurt if it goes sideways.”

“You’re tough enough to protect us against a backlash, Mikko,” I say tentatively, not sure if I should volunteer my brother to shield us in case of disaster.

A proud look settling over his rugged features. “Someone has to take care of you fragile little mages.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek. “You sure? Don’t let us pressure you.”

“I’ll do it,” he growls, absolute conviction radiating off him in waves.

I salute him. “Proud of you, bro.”

He waves me off, a rust-red blush creeping up his neck. I take pity on him and turn to our [Researcher]. “Rakesh, how much longer until your contacts are in position?”

He scowls. Before he answers, he sends his paper birds to the corners of the rooms with a flick of his wrist, setting up the protective silencing array of his beloved Skill. Satisfied at the security of the room, he finally speaks. “They’re ready.”

“Are we?” I ask quietly.

He shakes his head. “We still haven’t managed to identify the remaining rotten elements of the Menders, however. We’re confident that we’re getting close to determining precisely how the [Lady] Saphora is connected to everything, but we don’t want to move too early and spook them into hiding.”

I frown, stroking my beard as I consider his analysis. “Not sure I agree. Cut off the head and the body drops lifeless.”

“Hmph. And if the rest scatter instead, biding their time and reemerging in a few years?” Rakesh says. He leans back on his cushion, adopting what I assume is a dignified look. He only manages to seem cozy, instead.

“I guess we can wait until we try Ava’s idea with the Azure Rod.”

Rakesh nods in approval. “I’d hope so. I’ve spent my days planning and writing letters like a madman possessed. I won’t risk upending things by acting prematurely.”

“You just want to count this toward your graduate project,” Melina says, a knowing smile on her face.

“That’s always been the plan,” Rakesh says. He shrugs helplessly. “Why do you think I agreed to join your adventure? Ezio insisted that traveling abroad and seeing the world would be good for me. He was right.”

I smile. “No surprise there.”

“An excellent mentor,” Rakesh agrees. There’s a hitch in his voice, though.

“But?” Melina interjects.

Rakesh sits up and pours himself a cup of tea. “I’m still a [Secretarial Researcher], but these days I have a hard time imagining myself sitting in front of a desk for the rest of my life. What will Ezio say?”

I take another bite of my cheese, savoring the savory notes. “Easy. Ezio will be proud of your growth. No wonder you’re putting out feelers for new lines of work. I didn’t think of you as [Inquisitor] material before, but you really excel at forensic analysis. I’m positive [Chief Inquisitor] Xharrote will take you immediately if we pull this off.”

“That’s a lot of pressure.”

“You’re so talented that he’d take you regardless,” I say, amending my previous answer as smoothly as I can. “Don’t let it get you down. Besides, you don’t have to do field work all the time, even if you’re good at disguises.”

Rakesh sips his tea, taking a while to answer. “I enjoy subterfuge. I used to hate when people teased me for being caged in the library, but I’ve gotten a taste of freedom. Honestly, I don’t want to go back.”

“Then don’t. Now stop moping and give me a hand with those runes.”

Avelina leaps up, bouncing on her feet in excitement. “You got it! I’ll assist.”

I spring up from the cushion, reinvigorated by Avelina’s intriguing suggestion. “I’ve been studying the scrying system more. I think I can duplicate the effects. Let’s get to work.”

I wave my hand, beckoning a glass golem over to my side. It’s simple in design, looking more like a table than an animal. Its surface is covered in small, elegant runes.

“Watch this!” I boast, connecting my [Arcane Domain] to my newest golem creation. The runic arrays glow with power in my sight, and an instant later the smooth table top lights up with an image of my latest runic combination, showing off the intensifier I discovered.

“Ah! It includes magnification,” Rakesh exclaims, leaning over the table to study the up close and personal view of the sea serpent chalice that I made. “This is better than that device Ezio ordered for the SCA.”

“The microscope?” I ask.

“Precisely. Can you get this golem to work with the scrying sensor?” Rakesh murmurs, writing down the runes I used while he observes.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t had any success with making my own sensor yet. I’d have to steal—er, borrow—one from Ozana. It’s only compatible with my Domain currently.”

“Once you figure it out, I’ll help you optimize the runes and buy a few,” Rakesh promises. “I can think of a number of uses for this level of detail. Perhaps we could return to the armor that you were making. If we can find a way to miniaturize it, then I could finally manage the weight.”

I wince. “Sorry about that. I ought to craft you a replacement gift since my present wasn’t very practical.”

Rakesh straightens. In a rare display of sentimentality, he tucks away his notebook and smiles, his eyes crinkling. “Gifts aren’t why I travel with you. I’m your friend, Nuri.”

“I’m glad to count you as my friend, too.” I break into a grin. “It helps that you’re also a runic expert.”

He chuckles and pulls the notebook back out, thumbing through the pages to pull up his most recent research on the Azure Rod. “To the crucible, my friend.”

Mikko slides the entire platter of leftover snacks over to his spot, a happy smile on his face while the rest of us scurry into position around the studio. Avelina takes up her place by the workbench, ready to support me with the glass shaping. Her flameworking is better than ever, thanks to all her practice lately creating jewelry and curios for the Orpheus, but it’s been a long time since we worked side by side on a glass blowing project.

Melina and Rakesh re-write the runes that we’ve been able to verify, writing each one on a separate piece of paper. I display the design on my little scrying table, enlarging the view so that we can see the next one at a glance. I’ll need to supply the mana and intent to complete the work, but Melina agrees to etch the runes into the glass rod. I can’t wait until she earns an imbuing or enchanting Skill of her own. Maybe this project will be the impetus she needs to take the next step.

Avelina collects a gather of molten glass for me while I consult my notes and finalize the plan for our knock-off version of the Azure Rod. I breathe in deeply, filling my cheeks with air, and blow out in a slow, steady stream as I envision the exhale carrying away all of my doubts and fears.

“Ready, Ava?” I ask.

She grins. “Let’s make a miracle!”