Lissa basked in the waning golden light of the afternoon sun. The mousey-haired teenager leaned against the frame of her south-facing window in her small bedroom. Even though today was her sixteenth birthday, puberty seemed to be late in coming to her figure. She was still somewhat small, short, and shapeless for a human woman, though lean muscle supported her whole body. She hoped that with a few more years, her body would fill out like her mother's. Her father reassured her that she would be beautiful even if her body never changed further, and her value had nothing to do with it.
The wood of the window frame under her forearms was pleasantly warm in the afternoon sun. She turned, glancing around her room. She'd lived in this small room for just over eleven years. It had seemed so large to her then, a whole continent compared to the closet that had served as her bedroom in their first home 80 leagues to the north. It was barely a fuzzy dream in her memory. Had it actually had dirt floors, or had just she imagined it? She had grown up since then, and so, so many things had happened in the intervening years: gaining her magic early, private lessons with Mistress Glee, apprenticing under multiple masters, ...the [king]'s offer four years ago, her subsequent vow of fealty, and all the preparation she and the others had done since.
Her mother and father had been planning something special to celebrate her birthday this evening. Sixteen was a milestone for humans known as a Journeyman Day: if she had taken a traditional path, her apprenticeship would have officially ended today, and she would have been able to take the journeyman level of her discipline. That wasn't an option, she reminded herself, as she closed her eyes and serenely took in the last golden rays of the warm daylight on her face. In the coming spring, when the oceans were safest, she and her companions would sail south to attempt to find whatever the ancient youths had encountered. She and her companions were attempting to recreate the conditions described in the ancient scroll in the [king]'s archive: five youths with specific apprentice professions sailing south. They were still officially short a bard, though Lissa had decided who she would approach when the merchant caravans came through again around the winter solstice.
The fading sunlight highlighting the party garb laid out on her bed reminded her that she didn't have much time to get lost in her thoughts this afternoon. She crossed the rug-covered floor to the silk garments. The lustrous camise's high-collared neckline fastened along the side of her neck and across her right shoulder. In keeping with Etoleem's fashions, the garment cinched tightly about her bust, but left her arms and midriff mostly exposed. Because it was for autumnal wear, she had woven a sheer gauze for puffy sleeves that cinched at the middle of her forearms and an extension of the bodice that draped over her midriff to keep her a little warmer. She had finely pleated the two man-heights length of cloth that had gone into her ankle-length pants, and she had dyed the outfit in an ombre from deep ultramarine blue at her neck to pale silver where it cinched at her ankles. The silver would coordinate well with her grey [wristlet of Anella] on her right wrist and the silvery [oath bead] on her left.
Embroidery in medium grey, as close to her bracelet's shade as she was able to reproduce, adorned the sides of the bodice up under the armpits, and nearly invisibly along the inseam of the pants. It had taken more money to buy the material for that thread than for the rest of the outfit, but the [crystal cattail bast] with a [water, purity] fundament had come from a dangerous dungeon far from here. She'd only bought three shekels of the fiber, barely a couple of handfuls, and almost didn't have enough to spin the thread for the enchantments. The enchantments weren't particularly powerful, but the second-order [wick] enchantments removed any moisture from the two garments quickly, sweat and rain alike.
Lissa filled with satisfaction and a bit of pride as she looked over the outfit. She had fashioned it from fiber to fitting almost entirely by herself—two flowers yielded four times the fruit, as the saying went—her uncle had helped her finish weaving the cloth in time, and her mother had helped her with measuring herself. Lissa had personally designed and stitched every part of the garments, and had even left enough extra fabric in the seams to let it out if she ever became... more shapely.
She shook her head in frustration at her body. Not only was it not shaped exactly how she wanted it to be, but the hormones that were taking their sweet time caused her to focus on things that she didn't actually care about like: others confusing her for a 12-year-old boy, and her being way too easily distracted by Ezh's muscular—She blushed a deep red under what remained of her summer freckles even as she reminded herself that she would need to be ready soon. The party would start at sundown, and she didn't know what exactly her family had planned. It was time to get changed.
Lissa emerged from her room a short time later to ask her mother to do her hair. Tecka delightedly obliged, taming her daughter's mousy brown waves that were identical to her own with a crown of waterfall braids. Tecka secured them at the back of her head with a midnight blue ribbon. They had a small hand mirror, which Tecka handed to Lissa to see the cascading braids on either side of her head. Lissa's nervous and happy expression caught her mother's eyes in the reflection.
Still standing behind her, Tecka leaned down and wrapped her arms around her beautiful daughter, pressing her face against Lissa's. "You look beautiful, sweetling," she said, and Lissa could tell that her mother meant it.
"Thanks, mom," Lissa replied as joy spread the corners of her mouth into a wide smile.
"You know," Tecka began thoughtfully.
"What?" Lissa asked.
"I think Prince Ezharim will agree with me," Tecka remarked mercilessly.
"Mom! Oh my gods!" Lissa tried to pulled away, but her mother held her fast, chuckling at her discomfort. "Mom, stop! We're just friends," Lissa's high-pitched protest belied its own falsehood.
"Sure, sure." Her mother's voice showed how very much she believed Lissa, but she played along, saying, "Oh, then maybe you want Skottie to think you're pretty instead?" Her mother's teasing continued, referencing the quirky [apprentice alchemist] who was part of their expedition team. "Hmm?"
"MOM! No!" Lissa scoffed and genuinely laughed at the suggestion.
"Oh no!" Tecka suddenly released Lissa, dramatically throwing her arm over her forehead as if she was a distressed damsel in a play, and exclaimed, "Don't tell me, Lissa. All those play dates with Buppero..." Fake tears welled up in her mother's eyes at the horror.
"EW! GROSS! Bup's my cousin, mom!" Lissa stood up, finally free of her mother's hold, rolled her eyes, and walked towards the door. "Ugh. You can do whatever you want. I'm gonna go put my shoes on."
"If only you were dragonkin, you could be together," Tecka's melodramatic response called after her as Lissa walked into the main room of their house shaking her head.
Her father, Drust, had apparently gone ahead to wherever the party was being held, and was nowhere to be seen. Lissa found and fastened on the specially made pair of grey leather sandals, so light they were almost white, that Bup had fashioned for her. He had taken up leatherwork in preparation for the expedition. If his familiar had been an herbivore, that might have proven a difficult premise, but Artaxes often supplied Bup with small game provided he got to eat everything besides the skin. Lissa didn't really understand how Bup managed what seemed like cognitive dissonance to her—some creatures he would tame and befriend and others he would literally disassemble for parts. She did eat meat herself, but she wasn't an [apprentice tamer] like Bup. Maybe her position was inconsistent too. It briefly occurred to her that she hadn't seen Artaxes in several weeks, even though she'd seen Bup, which was quite odd.
She reminded herself again that this wasn't the time for distractions, and called toward her bedroom where her mother still lingered, "Come on, mom. Don't we need to leave soon? What are you even doing in there?"
After a moment, Tecka appeared at the doorway, expression innocent, "Actually, yes, we do. Give me five minutes to finish getting myself ready, and we'll go."
Less than five minutes later, mother and daughter walked out into the cool autumn air as the last rays of sunlight began to fade from the tops of the trees.
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Lissa barely needed to concentrate on her [night light] spell as she and her mother walked through the tree-branch paths high up in the forest city of Etoleem. Zhareem's capital city stretched vertically from forest floor to canopy in winding, live-wood paths that glowed with internal bioluminescence, interspersed with rope swings and swaying vine bridges. Not every tree glowed with that indicator of [awareness], but enough did that Lissa's spell-fueled, floating ball of moonlight was almost unnecessary for her and her mother to traverse the city safely in dusk's gloam. Even so, the second-order [night light] spell was two levels shy of being maxed out, and Lissa took the opportunity to practice.
They were approaching her cousins', the Albehsons, house. Not only did Lissa know the way well, but they were close enough now that they could hear Artaxes's whistled snickers over the quiet murmur of conversation. The eagle's presence tonight at least answered the question of whether or not he was doing alright. Warm gold-green treelight, spilling through an open doorway from within the multi-level treehouse, encountered her spell's cool moonlight, as Lissa and her mother rounded the last curve in the cobble-bough road. Along with the warm light, the sounds of laughter and loud conversation spilled out into the cool evening air.
The women crossed the last rope bridge along their way and stepped onto the Albehsons's mid-level porch. Tecka didn't pause, but led Lissa through the open doorway, and through the sequential rooms that spiraled about the grand trunk of the ancient [aware] tree who had grown them. Her aunt Igmi and uncle Hayzen's bedroom was toward the top of the spiral, Lissa knew, and she had never actually been this far up in the house. When their path led them onto the landing outside of Igmi and Hayzen's room, Tecka, who Lissa gratefully noted was wearing pants that cinched at the ankle like any sensible forest-dweller, led her up a rope ladder. The laughter and conversation in familiar voices grew louder as they confidently climbed, and Lissa could just see the underside of a deck past her mother on the ladder.
Tecka knocked on the closed square door in the floor above her at the top of the ladder. The familiar voices above suddenly hushed, and Lissa heard her uncle's voice call down, "Who is it?"
"It's Tecka and the birthday girl!" her mother exuberantly replied.
"Oh, well if Lissa's with you, I guess you can come in too," Hayzen teased good-naturedly as he swung open the hinged portion of the deck above.
Lissa couldn't see much past her mother, but as Tecka climbed the last few feet off the ladder, Lissa could see dozens of tiny lights in green, gold, blue, and silver winking at her through the opening above. She climbed the last few rungs with her mouth slightly open, taking in the beautiful sight. As her head passed through to the deck above, she was greeted by Artaxes's wickedly-hooked black beak, golden eyes, and ear tufts perked happily at her less than a handspan from her nose. She squeaked in sudden surprise, and heard laughter at her response as she realized he was roosting in a large nest that had been placed right near the opening she was climbing through.
Someone sang a short initial pitch, and then there was a short, dissonant, but very enthusiastic chorus of the traditional Journeyman Day Song as she began to look about, still standing on the ladder's rung. Suddenly a calloused blue-black hand reached down toward her, and Prince Ezharim's handsome, blue-eyed silhouette blocked the twinkling lights above her. Lissa warmed, suddenly thankful for the extra expense she'd put into her outfit's [wicking] enchantments, and took the young man's offered help up, grasping his toned forearm. He didn't even appear to need to brace himself, but just lifted her gently by returning the grip on her own forearm until she felt both her sandalled feet touch down on the deck's smooth surface. His grip immediately released her arm once she was standing on the deck, and she opened her grasp as soon as she realized he was pulling away, warmth creeping up into her cheeks.
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"Thanks," she said quietly to him, and then more loudly to the rest of the group around her, "Hi, everyone!"
The deck had been nestled under branches that acted as a trellis for flowering evergreen vines. Their delicate floral scent welcomed Lissa to move a little further into the space as Ezh shut the floor-door. The colorful twinkling lights that Lissa had spied from below were tiny insects that were attracted to the night-blooming vines, and she forgot that she was the center of attention for a moment as she took in their glowing beauty. As her gaze lowered, she noticed a table with refreshments and snacks, including the traditional Journeyman Day 16-layer phyllo dough pastries soaked in honey.
Among the cozily decorated deck, she spied all of her local family: her parents, her aunt and uncle, Bup of course, but even her older cousins Falton and Cammind as well. To her surprise and delight, Mistress Glee and even [archivist] Shlei'alan smiled at her from across the deck. The tall prince, Ezharim, stood next to her; Artaxes roosted just on the other size of the floor-door; and finally, next to Artaxes, the rust-red eyes of the quirky [apprentice alchemist] Skottie peered at her from behind the huge tangled mass of auburn bangs that covered Skottie's face.
It had taken Lissa the better part of a year to get used to Skottie after they'd met four years ago. The strange child wasn't human, nor elf, nor gnome, and was in fact, an orphan of indeterminate origin. Skottie had staunchly refused to let anyone [identify] her. Surely the [king] knew what she was, since an [oath bead] adorned Skottie's wrist just like Lissa's, but if Zharim I knew, he wasn't telling. The girl's too-wide mouth smiled, revealing too-sharp teeth, but Lissa had known her long enough to know that she was just happy even if the expression was a bit unsettling.
"'Grats on Journeyman day, Liss," Skottie's melodic voice didn't match her sharp smile.
"Yes! Congratulations indeed, Mellissa," Mistress Glee echoed from across the room.
Family and friends continued to echo the sentiment as Lissa took it all in, a sense of contented pride filling her heart. She had worked hard to get here, and soon, very soon, she and the others would be setting off for shores unknown.
"You've come a long, long path from the chatty child who interrupted my archive," the willowy Shlei'alan said.
"Now, now. Save it for the toasts!" Her mother chided the small group, and led Lissa over to sit on a low, cushioned bench.
Bup came to sit beside her, wrapping his huge farmer arms around her in a vice-like hug. "Congrats, Lissy," he said, "My tiny cousin's all growed up now."
"Can't breathe," she managed to squeak out. He chuckled, giving her a final extra squeeze that made Lissa feel like her eyes might pop out of her head, and released her as he scooted over into his own space.
Lissa frowned deeply and narrowed her eyes at her best friend as she rubbed her crushed upper arms. "Rude," she fussed at him.
Igmi came around with drinks in actual glassware that Lissa presumed Ezh had brought from the royal kitchens. Lissa took a small sip of the unfamiliar beverage. The tart pink fruit juice had been sweetened with syrup that gave it an extra layer of caramel flavor.
"This is really good, aunt Igmi," Lissa said. As others had a chance to try the drink, many voiced their agreement.
"Glad you all enjoy it," Igmi said simply, but Lissa could tell her generally stern aunt was pleased as punch.
After everyone had a drink in their hand, her father raised his cup and spoke just loud enough to command the gathering's attention:
"Good eve', fair folk. 'Tis tradition among my folk to make toasts on a young lad's or lady's Journeyman Day, and as Lissa's father, I find meself in the enviable position of going first. I get to set the proverbial bar after all. Although, if we're being honest, t'was Lissa who really set the bar—back when she were naught but six years old. Alone in her room, when all other little ones would have been asleep, Lissa was challenging the natural order all by herself. You can't do magic before your ageteeth fall out, we told her. Well," he turned to look Lissa in the eye, "you sure showed us, didn't you, Lissa. Showed us, the kingdom, and gods, that you've a special kind of determination. Much as we've argued about the safety of your expedition over the last few years, we both know that you're gonna go, and you're gonna come back, because that's just the sort of person y'are. You see what's impossible and says to yourself, 'yeah, I'll do that.'" He quickly swallowed the lump in his throat. Before the tears welling at the corners of his proud brown eyes could fall, he continued, "Of course, your breakthroughs always come at night and scare what's left of the daylight out of your mum and I."
Chuckles sounded around the small deck as Drust hoisted his glass a little higher, finishing his toast, "My little lamb, may your determination carry you through the darkest of nights. To Lissa!"
"To Lissa!" the listeners echoed and drank.
Not everyone gave toasts, but Lissa was especially touched and amused when Artaxes asked Skottie to hold his glass up for him so he could toast Lissa properly without getting up. The bird's compliments included Lissa's quality perching shoulder and skill at preparing nesting materials. Lissa just smiled and tried not to laugh or shake her head at what the proud Eagle thought to be toast-worthy qualities.
As each familiar face spoke about her with pride, encouragement, and good-natured teasing, Lissa's heart did fill with determination. Here were the people who knew her best in the whole world, who taught her or learned beside her, and they were all proud of her. They were all behind her—even her father who wished she would do anything besides sail off the edge of the map, had decided that supporting her dream was more important than his idea of her safety. It meant all the world to her. She wished she could bottle all the joy welling up inside her to drink later on her bad days. Maybe one day Skottie would be able to do something so ridiculous. She sniffled, realizing that silent tears had passed the harbor of her eyelids and were trying to escape through her sinuses. Bup quietly handed her a handkerchief from somewhere, and she gratefully dabbed at her face.
As the last toast rang out, Lissa beamed at the circle of warmth around her, "Thanks, everyone. I know I haven't always been the easiest friend or apprentice or pupil, and you've stuck with me anyways. I promise I won't let you down."
Smiling faces beamed back at her, knowing that she would do everything she could to keep that promise.
Igmi's hostess voice drew attention from the contemplative group, "Okay! Enough sentiment. Who wants 16-Layers?"
All hands and one wing rose into the air, and Igmi grunted as if she should have known better. Lissa watched her aunt placing pieces of the honey-soaked flaky triangles onto small glass plates that matched the drinking glasses. For once, Lissa just enjoyed the ambience around her, hands not even busy. She assumed, when her mother stood up, that Tecka was going to help Igmi pass out plates, but instead she walked over to Artaxes. The two whispered together for a few moments, and the eagle shrugged. At Tecka's beckoning, the tall prince, Ezh, joined them, leaning down to whisper with them as well.
Lissa leaned over to Bup, saying quietly, "I know you know what's going on over there. You gonna tell me?"
The large teenager who was nearly as large and tall as his own father, just huffed a laugh at her, and pushed her small frame away from him. "Nope. You'll see in a minute," he paused, considering, "or in a few weeks, maybe?"
She pushed him back, her expression both amused and annoyed, "What do you mean, in a few weeks?"
"You'll see," was all he said, as he closed his mouth and smirked at her.
Igmi arrived with 16-Layers on plates for both of them, and Lissa bit into the flaky, honey-soaked pastry. Decadent hints of citrus and rosewater told her that these had come from her favorite baker whose plant propagations she'd [nourished] for years. She let out a little groan of pleasure, and thanked her aunt with her mouth full. Igmi turned away, hiding her mild annoyance as she continued distributing the sweet desert. "You're welcome, Lissa," the response finally came.
The whispered conversation between Artaxes, Ezh, and Tecka seemed to be going somewhere, and Ezh knelt down next to the large nest, blocking Lissa's view as Artaxes got up somewhat stiffly and began stretching. It was then that Lissa noticed two tiny white-bright bundles of magic within the nest that glowed even through her veil of [dull senses]. Lissa dropped the spell just in time to see the flaking yellow-red-black [metal, forge] fundament within Ezh send out two long tendrils that approached those tiny bright bundles. As they made contact, bright light like forge fire suddenly silhouetted Ezh to Lissa's mundane senses. Lissa leaned forward in surprise and curiosity, though she squinted against both magical and mundane brightness.
Her mother watched whatever was happening intently despite the light, and suddenly beckoned in her direction without turning her way, "Liss, Bup, come quick!"
No further encouragement needed, Lissa stuffed the rest of her 16-Layers into her mouth and launched herself from the bench, with Bup just a steps behind her. She arrived between Ezh and her mother, while her large cousin went to the opposite side of the nest. Down in the tangle of branches and Artaxes's fluffy down, glowing with forge-light, were two iridescent-black scaled eggs no larger than a robin's. Shining with light from within, cracks formed as the creatures inside the tiny eggs squirmed against their confines. Artaxes leaned in toward the quivering eggs that he had been incubating as Ezh's spell faded. Lissa heard the prince sit down hard on the wooden deck beside her, but her gaze was transfixed on the hatching. Tecka also took a step back as Lissa and Bup both leaned in to watch.
Minutes passed as the tiny creatures wrestled with the homes they had outgrown. The shining cracks extended and widened. Conversation had started up amongst the onlookers, and Lissa gathered that these two dragonkin eggs had been part of the initial pile of gifts that the [king] had given them when they had first arrived in Etoleem. All she really remembered of that day was seeing Elvenkin for the first time and watching her oldest cousin receive the shiny silver [oath bead] from the [king] that had sparked her own pursuit of magic.
Tiny iridescent claws, like they had been dipped in soapy tar poked out from the eggshell in front of her. The creature stilled again, but the tiny toes tipped in talons even smaller than her finest needles remained visible. Lissa oohed and aahed over how precious they were. More waiting later, the little creature's nose appeared, an egg tooth perched on the tip. From what Lissa could see, the tiny creature's face was long and narrow, more raptor-like than snake or crocodilian, and it too bore teeny tiny iridescent rainbow scales.
Lissa glanced over at Bup, who was also totally enraptured by the egg closest to him.
"Mom," Lissa asked, looking back down at her own egg, "Are you giving them to me and Bup? Do I get to keep this one?"
"Yes," came Tecka's reply. "We didn't want to say anything, because we weren't sure if they eggs were still viable after so long lying dormant, but Bup insisted they still felt alive." Tecka's voice filled with mirth. "We might have told Artaxes we didn't believe he could incubate them, and the next thing we knew, he had built this nest with his own beak and talons and refused to move for the next six weeks. We were at his beck and call to bring him water and game."
Bup's [familiar] puffed his chest out and let out an ear piercing shriek. He said, "I wasn't goaded. I just saw some eggs in need, and knew no one else would be able to help them as well as I."
Lissa laughed, saying, "Of course. Good job, Artaxes."
The egg, no, her egg, shook again, and the tiny dragonkin's whole head emerged through a chunk of the shell that stuck to the baby's face. It let out a quiet sound, high pitched like a cheep but gravelly like a roar. It was adorable, Lissa decided.
"You can do it, little one!" she whispered excitedly.
Over the next half hour, Lissa, Bup, and the others present, verbally encouraged their tiny new friends in the first trial of their lives. Eventually two teeny tiny shell-free creatures lay exhausted in the bottom of the nest. They each had two bird-like wings, dragon-like hind legs, and a long slim tail that nearly doubled their overall length, which meant the hatchlings were about the length of her index finger from teeth to tail tip. Black baby feathers, still slick with egg fluid, clustered around the backs of their heads, traced their spines, and spread across their tiny immature wings. Artaxes leaned over to inspect them like a proud father, nodding a beak larger than both of them combined at their perfect miniature forms.
"They aren't aware yet, if you want to [identify] yours," Ezh said quietly.
Lissa took him up on the offer, extending [identify]'s loop of unaligned magic around her tired hatchling. Even though Ezh said it wasn't aware, she was gentle when she pulled the magical loop tight and through the bright bundle of magic at its center. The thread immediately knotted itself into information she could understand.
It read:
"Unnamed Worm Wyvern
Species: Worm Wyvern; the smallest of the winged dragonkin.
Age: <1 hour since hatching
Attributes: Forming
Fundaments: [Fire and Earth, Petrol]."
"Mistress Glee," Lissa addressed her former tutor, "have you heard of a petrol fundament? My [identify] spell seems to indicate it's both fire and earth. How is that possible?"
She heard the gnomish woman approach and observed her use her own [identify] spell on the newborn dragonlings. It didn't manifest physically, but Lissa saw the woman's eyes moving back and forth as she read the invisible spell results. "Hmm," was all the response the woman gave as she concentrated.
"Well?" Lissa prompted, though she turned her attention back to the tiny worm wyvern that she had claimed. It was beginning to dry, and its black baby feathers were beginning to fluff up adorably as it moved about and fell asleep in cycles.
"I had read one report that suggested the possibility, but... ." Mistress Glee's voice trailed off, then resumed with more certainty. "Seems like this creature's fundament is in keeping with your life's pursuits, Mellissa: to discover what is not possible, and make it happen. I expect you to perform ethical research about these wyverns' abilities."
Lissa nodded and looked down at the chirping creature, beginning to shiver, and very, very gently scooped it into the palm of her hand. It's scales were smooth and feathers soft, but its tiny claws gripped her skin like burrs. This was a wonderful Journeyman Day present. She looked about at her gathered family and friends, grinning widely, and said simply, "Thank you."