True to his word, Rakesh has a workable runic structure prepared for us by the time the Linas arrive at the Orpheus. In a trance, I review the information he scrawls in his notebook and holds up to the scrying golem. I barely register when the twins arrive. I’m too busy scraping my jaw off the floor, shocked by his speed given how long it took us to chip away at the mysterious runes previously. While I’m still recovering from having my whole world rocked, Avelina immediately begins work on the improved rod, claiming a sudden burst of artistic inspiration.

Melina trots off to track down healing potions to use as fuel for the medical operation. I stare at the paneled wood door for a full minute after she leaves, my eyes roaming the polished wood as though I’ll find a clue in the crisp paint that will tell me how Rakesh did it. His Skill is so unfair sometimes.

Avelina hums under her breath as she works, shaking me out of my envious reverie. In a quick sweeping motion, she ties back her hair with a scarlet sash that matches her dress, and goes over to the furnace to collect a gather from the fresh batch of glass waiting for her. When she returns, she offers me the blowpipe to start the process. I soon fall into a familiar rhythm of turning the blowpipe and rolling it across the marver. I tuck the end of the pipe under my arm, bracing it for stability as I roll with my only hand, and guide the glass to create the shape I want.

I angle the pipe so that I can shape the tip of the glass and let it cool down. The glass is thicker at the end, leaving the middle to expand while I blow more air into the bubble. Avelina tends to it with her flames, keeping the glass at a malleable temperature while I rotate the pipe. Technically, I could use my own [Greater Heat Manipulation] for that purpose, but it’s nice to focus on crafting exactly what I want and nothing more. It feels more rustic this way.

With a pair of jacks, I constrict the glass near the pipe. I move the jacks to the end of the glass and hand the pipe to Avelina to continue turning. I pull aggressively, elongating the bubble and creating the outer layer for our updated attempt.

Lost in the creative rush, I almost miss Rakesh’s pained expression in the scrying image. He’s still sprawled on the bed, although there’s not much room given the other two patients. His hands occasionally twitch toward his notebook, but he’s not writing anything down. There’s a grim pallor to his face that makes me worry for him. That much sadness is contagious.

I nudge my [Flameworker] friend and offer the blowpipe back to her. “Ava, take over, will you? We’ll need inner layers, one for each team member. You’re the best at detail work.”

She grins and takes the pipe, deftly spinning it in her hands. “Nuri, Nuri, Nuri. You wound me! I’m the best at everything.”

I chuckle at her joke—although I’m not sure she’s actually joking—and pat her shoulder as I walk over to the table displaying the image of Lionel’s room. I pick up the paired paper bird, cradling it close to my lips as I whisper to our despondent [Researcher].

“Everything all right, Rakesh?”

He twitches, but doesn’t respond. I raise my voice a bit and ask Mikko to move the bird closer to Rakesh, then repeat my question. This time, Rakesh glares up at the scrying golem they smuggled into the Menders campus.

Uh oh. He’s ignoring me.

For a split second, I consider putting the bird back down and helping Avelina with anything that she needs. Chances are, she’s perfectly self-sufficient, but it’s still a convenient excuse. Then I remember how many times my team has helped me when I was struggling, and I try again with a softer voice.

“Hey, buddy. Something tells me that we didn’t get the full picture earlier. You figured out what we need to do with our next attempt. That’s great! So why do you look like a man staring down his own execution?”

“Skill goes two ways,” he grunts.

I wait for him to elaborate, but he’s still staring vacantly into space. It’s so unlike him, so uncharacteristically terse, that I lose my line of thought entirely. What’s going on?

With a jolt, I get his meaning. “Oh. Oh.” I swallow hard, dreading the next question. “So, what did the information cost you?”

“Everything,” he whispers bitterly. His eyes grow hard and flinty. “I had to trade the entire dictionary so that the Index could ingest it and synthesize an answer. Anything less would be far too lacking to train the Index. Insufficient to save our friends. Thus: All of our work. Gone.”

I freeze, forgetting to breathe. My heart skips a beat before the world stutters and starts up again. “All of our secrets?”

“Ripe for the picking.”

Despite Rakesh’s forlorn, grim declaration, I breathe a sigh of relief. “So it’s not spelled out for anyone to read? If I understand you correctly, then people still have to research the new entries you created and put all the pieces together.”

He shrugs one shoulder. “Yeah.”

“You’re overrating their research Skills. Most people aren’t as gifted as you are,” I say as diplomatically as I can. What I really mean is that most of the world isn’t as crazy about esoteric knowledge and obscure books, but I’m not about to insult our resident scholar after his sacrifice.

The sour twist to his lips means he must have figured out my meaning anyway. “It’s just a matter of time. We’re giving away an enormous advantage.”

I tap my forefinger against my chin. “Does the Index credit its sources?”

“Who cares? I’m just a lowly [Researcher] from the borderlands. The central Academies will run with the information and ignore me.”

Mikko coughs. “Uh, sorry to put my ignorance on display, but weren’t you planning on releasing a book of your findings anyway? What’s the difference?”

Rakesh offers a thin, pained smile. “The difference is that I’d present our discoveries as my thesis. After I graduated from the SCA, I’d go on a scholar’s tour to present at the major centers of learning. While the information would still get out, my career would be established.”

“But now anyone might steal your ideas and not give you credit?” Mikko asks, frowning as though the concept personally offends him.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“Precisely. The information will be attributed to me in the Index, naturally, but without the clarification from my essays, it will be considered raw data and not a polished work. Thus, I’ll be relegated to footnotes or postscript. Not many people read those.”

“I’m sorry, Rakesh. You shouldn’t have had to give up your career just to figure out the right runic combinations,” I say with as much gentleness as I can.

“Don’t be. What good is a scholar who trades blood for ink?” Rakesh says, rising to his feet with great dignity and smoothing back his dark hair.

“Admirable, but I still feel bad for forcing you into this. If you weren’t stuck with me, then you wouldn’t ruin your chances of graduating.”

He plants his fists on his hips and glares straight at the scrying sensor embedded in my glass golem. Defiance blazes in his eyes once more. “I’m too clever to pin all my hopes on a single thesis. I have a dozen—no, a hundred other ideas just as good!”

“Glad to hear it!” I say, putting extra cheer into my voice as the door opens and Melina returns with a healing draught clutched in each hand. “Now put that big brain of yours to work and figure out a backup plan or two if this one doesn’t work out. Mel just got back, so we’re on our way soon.”

Rakesh salutes with an exaggerated flourish, and I’m relieved to see that he’s gotten his confidence back. I tear myself away from the table, repeating whatever words I can to convince myself that he’ll be fine. He’s a grown man. He’s got alternate plans. He doesn’t need my help. Time to get back to work, anyway.

It’s a hollow consolation.

In the quiet recesses of my mind, I swear that I’ll find a way to pay him back. He doesn’t want me to “fix” things for him, but I can’t let him bear this burden alone in good conscience.

I rush over to the Linas and catch them up to speed, although I try to downplay just how devastated Rakesh was about giving so much information to the Index. Melina sees through me at once, but she simply presses her lips together in a thin line and doesn’t comment. She places the expensive potions on the table and lays out her notes instead.

“Good work on these layers, Ava. Ordinarily, I’d be worried since they’re so delicate, but I’m sure you can mitigate that with [Strong as Stone]. Let me know when you’re ready for me to anneal them. We’ll have to wait for them to cool before I etch the new runic arrays. Nuri, can you make a small bottle while we wait? We can pour the healing potion into it and attach it directly to the back of the healing wand.”

I nod. “Of course!”

As I turn toward the crucible to get a gather of glass, a new thought hits me. I spun back to Melina, turning on my heel so quickly that I almost overbalance, and hold up a finger.

“Question, Nuri?” she asks, an amused smile playing on her lips. “I know you’ve been working on grander pieces lately, but I hope you haven’t forgotten how to make simple bottles.”

“Very funny, Mel. I have an idea!”

“This oughta be good,” Avelina mutters.

Her sister elbows her in the ribs, although I’m almost certain the same thought occurred to her at the exact same instant. For all their differences, the twins are a little too much alike sometimes.

“Imbuements don’t require waiting for the glass to set. In fact, they don’t work once the piece has solidified and taken shape. So why limit yourself now that you have a mana pen?”

She flushes pale crimson. “Nuri. You know I can’t imbue yet.”

“This is the perfect time to try, since you don’t need to forge a connection to any higher order concept. You only have to work with the mana to make the right shape.”

“And if I fail?”

“You won’t,” I insist.

Avelina grins. “I believe in you, sis!”

Melina nods in a slow, jerky fashion, as though she’s trying to convince herself that we’re right, but can’t quite let herself hope that it’s true. “All right. I’ll try. But if this doesn't work, then you better make a replacement rod as quickly as you can. Mender Uttara needs our help.”

I squeeze her shoulder gently. “Trust me, Mel. I wouldn’t suggest this option if I didn’t think you could do it. I agree that we don’t have time to play around.”

Bolstered up by our encouragement, Molina takes a shaky breath. She hovers over the intricate glass pieces of the newly-crafted healing wand, which still glows the cherry red thanks to Avelina’s flames.

Instead of forming a singular mana pen and inscribing runes onto the surface of each layer, she grasps each of the individual pieces with her [Object Manipulation] and impresses her will on them directly. All the while, I watch through my [Arcane Domain] as the multivariate hues of the world’s energy swirls and coalesces around our new version of the Azure Rod. Absently, it occurs to me that I shouldn’t call it that anymore, not with all of our modifications. This is new. It’s ours, not merely a derivative.

Awestruck, I cheer on Melina as she coaxes the ambient mana around us to paint the extravagant and intricate picture she envisions. Utilizing imbuing techniques, she successfully imprints the runic arrays in a single, unbroken script that connects each of the unique layers of our new masterwork.

“Exquisite,” Avelina murmurs.

I can’t help but agree. Melina might not have imparted a higher order concept to our homegrown artifact, but she still counts as a master in my book. What she just accomplished is far more delicate and demanding than adding sharpness, for example. I choke up with emotion as I echo the words Master Melidandri once said to me.

With a bow, I address my friend. “Master Melina, I’m honored to witness your ascension. You’ve truly earned your place as a foremost expert of the craft.”

Adelina’s eyes go wide as she realizes what my words mean, and she squeals and hugs her sister so hard that [Object Manipulation] cuts off.

My Domain catches the delicate healing wand before it shatters on the floor, and with a pulse of willpower, I levitate it back up to the same height it was before so that the twins don’t notice anything amiss while they celebrate. I don’t want to ruin the fun.

Once they regain their focus, I leave Avelina to cast [Strong as Stone] on the multiple layers of the hollow, interconnected rod. It’s hard to keep my focus in the midst of the excitement of creating new things and growing into abilities, but I finally head over to the crucible to get the glass required for a container that will fit into the back of the wand. With the help of my Domain, I confidently measure the exact dimensions to slot into place, ensuring that the narrow phial I create will fit perfectly.

By the time my work is complete, Melina has finished the annealing process. It’s still unsettling how rapidly she’s grown in strength recently. Everyone always praises me for creating my [Sanctuary of Glass] and bringing my new army of golems to life with [Glass Animation], but it occurs to me—not for the first time—that Melina is the true genius in our group. How she can complete an entire night’s worth of annealing in mere moments is beyond me. The dilation effect on her time bubble is more powerful than ever before.

That thought brings a smile to my lips. I can’t wait to introduce her to Master Melidandri and Lady Evershed once we finally depart Gilead. Leaving fills me with hopeful anticipation. I’m tired of the petty politics and dangerous games we’re playing here, and I look forward to getting back to the simplicity, creativity, and pleasure that comes with an honest day’s work.

The Linas fill up the small vial in the back of the wand with half of a healing potion, and pack up the remaining one and a half bottles for backup in case our plan doesn’t work as well as expected. With their nigh-on miraculous work complete, they race back to the Menders Campus to try out the new artifact, barely maintaining their composure in their rush to heal Mender Uttara and finally restore Lionel.

It’s only after they leave the range of my Domain that I remember with a rush of dread that I never created a variant of the wand to use the complicated restoration magic from the Azure Rod. The whole point of the extra layers was to spread out the vitality draw between the team. While we’ve theoretically created a breakthrough artifact that will allow a non-[Healer] to amplify a healing potion many times over, we still haven’t solved the original problem of helping Lionel.

I slump back in my seat, my mind reaching for miracles as I search for a solution. One step at a time, I tell myself. Without my friends here to help, there’s only so much I can do. No matter how strong I become, I’m still just one man. That small, lonely thought has never made me feel so helpless before.

I let out a deep, weary sigh. I miss my friends more than I realized.