"You may recall from our lessons, that every dungeon has some manner of challenge or test that [aware beings] may take part in." Mistress Glee lectured Bup, Lissa, and Artaxes, as they and Drust walked toward the [floating stairs].
Drust still held Lissa's hand firmly, though she thought maybe he was finally acclimating to the dungeon since he had stopped jumping at every movement on the grassy hills around them. Lissa listened as well as she could to Mistress Glee's lecture while she still took in the shiny sights and brassy sounds of [Hidden Glade].
"In some dungeons this challenge is martial in nature; some require solutions to puzzles or riddles, while others can only be completed with a successful performance of some kind. The challenge here in [Hidden Glade] is called the [Floating Stairs]. As per our usual in a practical lesson, I will give you hints to guide you, but I expect you to use your sharp minds to investigate what the challenge is and how to complete it," Mistress Glee said.
The well-worn path they were walking up a large hill began to level out, and suddenly they were standing at the edge of a long, narrow body of water lined on all sides and along the bottom with golden tiles. Floating above the water were not exactly stairs, but sets of rectangular, grass-topped platforms, each the size of a single stair step, that glowed with cyan light intermittently. At the far end of the lake, resting on a golden platform that spanned over the top of a small waterfall was a treasure chest also made of gold. The hillside cliff around the waterfall wouldn't have been impossible to scale, but Lissa suspected that the chest would give a climber nothing if they didn't take the 'stairs.'
"Here we are. Now. I want you to use your senses: look closely, listen, even touch things. See what you can discover by interacting with what you find. I will tell you that one of the patrons of this dungeon is thought to be Nello, the god of folksong and bawdy humor."
Bup moved closer to the edge of the clearly unnatural lake to get a better look at the challenge floating in the air above it. Lissa looked down at her left hand, mostly obscured from view by the large tanned hand of her father. Her eyes trailed up his arm to find his face looking not at her, but off into the distance.
"Dad?" she asked.
When he didn't respond, she jiggled their clasped hands, "Dad? Hello?"
He slowly turned to look down at her, expression faraway. When his focus finally settled on her face, he seemed to realize that his daughter was trying to talk with him, and he shook himself before responding, "Yes, Lissa. What is it?"
"I need to go over there and look at the challenge. Can you please let go now?" she remembered to say 'please', but she failed to fully mask her annoyance and impatience.
He gave her hand a squeeze and then released it, saying, "Okay, but—," she had already turned and rushed to Bup's side. "... be careful," he finished.
Lissa vaguely registered that Mistress Glee went over to talk with her father, but her attention was sharply focused on the unfamiliar challenge in front of them. She looked down at her feet. The edge of the lake was like that of a tiled pool: the perfectly clear lake's basin went straight down from the edge of the grass, and appeared to be fully lined with golden tiles. Between the golden lake edges and the buttercup sky, yellow dominated Lissa's vision, interrupted by the intermittent cyan glow from the platforms.
She crouched down and stuck a hand in the water. It wasn't water exactly. As soon as she touched the surface, it acted like a magnificent cushion, arresting her hand's movement. When she took her hand out, it wasn't wet at all.
"Huh. I bet that's for if someone falls," she said, and Bup nodded his agreement.
She studied the platforms closely. They were separated into groups of five that together created a path that wound and snaked a slow incline across the length of the lake. The cyan glow seemed to travel from platform to platform from their end to the waterfall and began again at their end immediately after fading from the final platform at the far end. The light paused at the beginning of each set of five, then raced up the other four to disappear for a beat and reappear at the start of the next set.
As Lissa watched, she remembered to listen as well. There was nothing new in the ambient noise that she could identify, so she asked, "Bup, do you hear anything new?"
Her cousin closed his eyes and concentrated, then opened them and shook his head.
"Yeah," she said, "me neither." She gazed out at the first platform, just a small jump from where they crouched next to the edge. "You wanna go first?"
Bup shook his head again, stick-straight blonde hair flopping side to side as he did so. He smiled his close-lipped smile and gave a deep, almost mocking bow, motioning for Lissa to go first.
Lissa scoffed, "Okay. You're on!"
She took a few steps back, waited for the glowing light to approach the waterfall end, and took off at a run to try to land on the platform just as the cyan glow returned to their end. She nailed it. As her right foot made contact with the grassy rectangle, a deep strum sounded from its surface as if she had plucked an enormously long bass string. The not-water under her platform rippled away from it. Lissa was so surprised by the sudden sound that she lost her footing entirely, slipping on the soft grass, and her momentum carried her past the edge of the wide, shallow rectangle to plunge feet first into the lake.
The not-water caught her with incredible comfort, arresting her momentum quickly but with no hint of whiplash or impact. Once she was fully stopped, the not-water became much more like water, and she swam back to the edge, finding hand and foot holds in the edge that she hadn't been able to see from the bank above.
"My turn!" Bup said, not waiting for Lissa to pull herself out of the lake before he jumped onto the first platform. He hadn't waited for the cyan glow to return and a different sound rang out, this one dissonant and unpleasant. When he didn't move after a few moments, the platform became transparent and insubstantial, and Bup plunged into the lake below demonstrating no more grace in his dip into the drink than Lissa had.
They regrouped at the lake's edge. Lissa went again, waiting for the cyan light to appear on this end again. She timed it just right, and began to run up the platforms in time to the light passing. Each lit platform she stepped on sounded a different deep thrumming note. She suddenly recognized the melody the notes made as a folksong that her mother sang to her when they danced in the kitchen sometimes. A long beat followed by four short beats and a short pause before repeating. The words had something to do with honey or bushes and her father always got a sly expression on his face when he caught Tecka singing it.
"I know this song!" she cried.
Lissa knew the melody well, but she didn't know the platforms well, and she slipped again about a third of the way through the climb. Face down she tumbled, from more than a man-height above the surface of the lake. Just like before, the not-water caught her gently, and she bobbed in the stuff for a moment before swimming once again back to shore. She was giggling when she pulled herself up out the water. Bup had already set off on his second attempt, but his rhythm could have used some work and the deep notes sounded just a bit sharp or flat when he landed slightly off beat of the light.
Lissa noticed that her father's expression had become stormy again as he and Mistress Glee spoke quietly out of Lissa's earshot. She hoped he wasn't going to make them leave early. Maybe the song would cheer him up. She turned her attention back to Bup. Her cousin was getting further and further out of sync with the traveling glow. Eventually it left him behind altogether and another dissonant clang rang out before his plunge-fueled scream.
Bup giggled as he swam toward her, but Lissa didn't wait for his arrival and began again when the cyan light returned, doing her very best to keep time with glow. She made it half way this time before she became too tired and missed her jump between the sets of five. Another squeal-accompanied plunge later, and she slowly swam back to the starting edge. When she'd pulled herself out of the lake again, she lay down face up in the grass, arms and legs sprawled out to the sides. She stared up at the strange yellow sky as she breathed in and out deeply. The challenge's concept hadn't been too difficult, but the execution certainly was. Her endurance was only 5, and Bup's couldn't have been much higher than hers.
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She rotated her head so she could watch his attempt. He was doing a little bit better than before, keeping up well with the tempo even if he couldn't match the beats' timing perfectly. He got almost two thirds of the way before another sour note clanged out and he fell more than two man-heights through the open air before the lake caught him.
Artaxes chose that moment to express his disapproval in an ear-piercing cry. The emerald prairie eagle was ill suited for this challenge as a flyer, and he was deeply offended by the lack of accommodations for one of his noble stature. He touched down next to Lissa, emerald-barred ear tufts flattened backwards, and warbled irritably at her. His beak gaped in indignation. Still breathing heavily, she flopped her head away from the lake to look at him.
"I know. I know," she said, as she patted his nearest claw with her hand in the laziest way possible. "Just think about it this way, Artaxes, we flightless humans need extra help like dungeon challenge rewards. Bup will definitely share whatever he gets with you. Besides, you're so incredible you don't need anything from a dungeon challenge anyways."
Artaxes' golden eyes seemed just a bit mollified by her flattery, and he preened his mottled emerald, silver, and golden pin feathers in obvious self-adoration. Lissa's hand absently traced the outer curve of the claw she'd patted as she continued to recover from her latest attempt. She heard the not-water sloshing gently as Bup climbed his way onto the embankment next to her and similarly flopped over onto the grass. Soft footfalls approached, and suddenly Mistress Glee was standing over Lissa, casting a shadow as she blocked out the orange sun's light.
"Is that all you have in you, Mellissa? We won't be returning for some time, so you best get up and try again." Mistress Glee remarked with a coy smile. Lissa blinked tiredly at her as the gnome added, "You won't get any prizes either if you don't finish."
Prizes... Treasures! The reminder elicited sudden excitement and adrenaline, which filled Lissa's 9-year-old body with new energy, and she shot off the ground, ready to try again.
It took several more attempts before either her or Bup succeeded in completing the challenge, but Bup made it there first. Despite his lack of perfect rhythm, his taller body was a better match for the physical requirements of the test. Just as the cyan light left it, he hopped off the last platform and onto the golden span that stretched over the waterfall where the chest waited. He was tired, but joy at his success caused his hands to rise in involuntary jubilation. Artaxes, who had been watching his human's progress closely from above, swooped down to very carefully alight on Bup's shoulder. He preened Bup's blonde hair, obviously proud of the boy's success. Bup leaned his head into his [familiar]'s affection and approached the chest.
It appeared to be solid gold, which would be impossible for him to lift open even if it had been unlocked. As he neared, however, cyan light glowed from the seam between the lid and the rest of the container, and the lid swung open of its own accord. Inside, he found a small glass vial, sealed with wax and a cork, with swirling yellow and cyan liquid inside that glowed faintly. Without access to magic himself, he would need someone else to identify it for him. He took the vial and held it up for Artaxes's inspection, while peering closely at it himself. It was pretty, he decided. Artaxes nibbled at it, rotated his head around to make eye contact with Bup, and carefully took the potion from the boy's hand with his hooked black beak. He launched himself up and away and flew back to the onlookers at the other end of the course leaving Bup to make his own way back. The boy took one look at the cliff sides around him and cannon-balled off the chest's golden dais into the lake below.
Lissa had launched herself immediately back into the course when Bup stepped off the final platform, and she sang the beats to herself as she ran along the curving path in the air, "One-two. One, two, three. Jump-two!" She struggled not to rush or lag behind the tempo, which seemed to be set just perfectly to make her the most tired, not allowing her to build up solid momentum. She was nearly to the end when she fell again with a frustrated squeal and a nearly inaudible sploosh.
By the time she arrived at the start again, Mistress Glee had already [identified] the potion Bup had received for all his efforts, and Bup was sitting cross-legged on the grass looking at the swirling potion thoughtfully. One of Artaxes's golden eyes was basically touching the vial as the bird also closely studied the liquid.
Lissa struggled up the built-in ladder and flopped onto her back again next to them, vaguely registering that all traces of the [identify] spell had already faded. "What's it do?" she huffed out quietly, eyes closed as she recovered.
"Something," he said, smirking at her.
She opened her eyes to see his expression. "Buuuppp!" she whined between panted breaths.
"Finish, and I'll tell you," his smirk turned into a wicked grin, as he uncorked the glowing potion and offered it to Artaxes. The eagle's head leaned back, but his ear tufts alerted sharply on the potion. Lissa suddenly reached for it, but her hand passed through the bottom of the vial as if it wasn't even there. Artaxes took this as a personal affront however, and screeched at her quite indignantly. He placed one strongly clawed foot on her forearm as he twisted his beak to the side and up, so that Bup could pour the potion into his open mouth. Lissa halfheartedly struggled, but the light bird held her with surprising strength even as he swallowed the glowing liquid.
The eagle's eyes briefly flashed cyan and then faded back to their normal golden pools. He let out a triumphant cry, as if he had been the one to complete the dungeon's challenge, and took off for a victory swoop.
Refusing to be outdone by her younger, if taller, cousin, Lissa tried again. And again. An hour later, she finally arrived at the chest's golden dais, having finally caused the music of the platforms to sound all the way through. She was so tired that she just sat down and leaned her back against the chest to rest for a moment. She felt the lid lift away from the body of the chest behind her, but only stood up to see what it held after a few minutes. Inside, was a spool of thread that looked to be made of gold. Without waiting to take it back to the others, she cast identify on it right then and there. She looped her magic into a lasso and pulled it taught around the spool. She then pulled the lasso of magic through the spool, and the spellform began transforming into series of knotted threads she could read by touch like the kelp records in the archive. She reached out and ran her fingers along the lengths of not-quite-physical thread that identified the spool for her. It read:
"Golden Mending thread
Composition: pure gold spun with low [potency] magic
Enchantment: magic-bound to [Mellissa May Brightglenn]
Enchantment: this spool will replenish its thread over time so long as it remains in a [potent] magical environment."
"Huh." Lissa allowed her [identify] spell to dissolve, and closed her hand around the spool of shiny thread. It didn't give any enchantments to things mended with it, but it would provide endless thread. Could she make something out of it directly instead of weaving with it? And what did it mean that it was gold spun with magic? She wanted so badly to examine it with her magical senses, but she dared not release the shadowy veil of [dull senses] again while they were still in the dungeon. Finally recovered enough to make the swim back, she clutched her prize to her chest and jumped off the dais into the lake below with a whoop.
The position of the too-close orange daystar seemed to indicate that mid afternoon was quickly passing into late afternoon. Lissa pulled herself for the final time from the lake of not-quite-water, and slogged over to Bup. "Okay! I did it. Now tell me! What's it do!?" she huffed.
Bup just grinned his tight-lipped grin for a few moments, before he finally laughed and answered her. "You're so funny when you're mad. It was a random skill potion only for familiars. What'd you get?"
She gaped at him. A skill potion for Artaxes sounded a lot better than what she had gotten, and it had been easier for his bigger body. "That's not fair! All I got was this spool that doesn't run out of thread if it has enough magic." Lissa complained, holding out her spool of golden thread.
Mistress Glee commented from her seat next to Drust, "Endless gold thread doesn't sound like a bad prize to me. It's true that a skill potion is quite rare though. All I can assume is that no one with a familiar has completed the trial here in some time. The prizes typically reset every month, and the first to complete the trial typically receives some manner of skill potion or spell book, but they'll only receive what they're able to use. Bup's prize has probably sat there for a long time waiting for someone who could use it to complete the stairs."
Bup nodded along, smiling smugly. Artaxes alighted on Bup's shoulder, bent down to nuzzle his boy's neck, and began preening proudly.
"Well, what skill did y'all get?" Lissa asked, still a little put out that their prize seemed so much better than hers.
Artaxes tilted his head to the side, opened his beak, and said in perfectly understandable Tana'avarian, "I'm not telling."
All four of the Eagle's companions gaped at him, and he snapped his beak shut, appearing to realize he had given himself away by the facetious declaration.
"YOU CAN TALK NOW?" Lissa's shout nearly knocked Artaxes off of Bup's shoulder.
Artaxes responded while preening the feathers on the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with all of them, "I've always been able to talk. You lot just weren't able to understand my language. Now I can speak your languages."
Neither of the children had ever thought to look up what skills a familiar might possess, something they would have to remedy now. Mistress Glee's expression was a somewhat unreadable mix of contentment, pride, and annoyed anticipation. Their short tutor and Drust stood and moved over to the children and eagle.
"Time to go, Lissa," Drust said, taking her hand again.
She was too tired to resist. Artaxes flew ahead of them as Mistress Glee led their small group back to the entrance of [Hidden Glade]. They collected their coats and hats and scarves, donning them while they were still in the springtime air. They thanked the attendant, and returned to the Primeland's crisp winter afternoon, filled to the brim with triumphant exhaustion.