“You aren’t either a Kosun or Koshai?”
“Indeed. People like me don’t have Habits at all.”
“What do you mean? You don’t have a Mantle? How do you weave kose then?”
“I have a Mantle, it just never forms into a Habit. It makes weaving kose exceptionally difficult. Every time I weave a shape into the world, it’s like the first time doing it. Since my Mantle never calcified into a Habit, I have to form the shape through sheer will and memory. Every time.”
“So you aren’t either...and you have no mark on your hand...wait, every time you form the shape from memory? Does that mean once a Koshai forms a Habit, it’s way easier for them to just form their shape?”
Kellog was nodding along at the questions, and Wellynd paused to consider the implications. Forming shapes out of habit. The name did make sense.
“How many shapes do you know anyway?” asked Wellynd.
Kellog smiled, wiping off the dirt from the end of his stick with his shirt, and turned the boar over once more. It sizzled, the fat now rendering in the pan wafted a delicious aroma throughout the cave.
“More than a few. And they come to me when I need them. Sort of like how the next word in a sentence isn’t a conscious thought. You know?”
“I guess...but definitely not with the shape I use for Gusting. I’ve been drawing it in the dirt daily, or wherever I can really, so that I can remember it faster when I need to use it.”
Kellog’s verdant eyes examined Wellynd, moving back and forth as if he were reading the pages of a book.
“It doesn’t come to you any easier? Even after practicing for some time? How long have you been "gusting" for?”
“Well, I was practicing for a few weeks. I’ve been sort of on and off with it because I’m not getting any better.”
“And when you start to concentrate, it takes you how long until you’re "gusting"?” Kellog asked.
“Probably like half a minute or so…I guess I’ve always had a harder time. When I pull in kose, I feel this intense heat in my chest. Like I’m burning on the inside. It goes away when I push it into a jant, or more recently, when I weave the gusting shape. But the whole time I’m making the shape in my head, it’s painful...”
Wellynd absently brushed his hand over his pocket.
“But you must have gotten used to it, no? You seemed quite relaxed a moment ago when you stoked the fire.” replied Kellog. He’d stopped tending to their dinner and now stared intently at Wellynd.
“Yeah, I guess. At least, this place seems to be ok for me.”
“Ah! So you’ve used the kose here before, then? Was it on the day that these boulders became suspended in the air?”
Wellynd winced. He’d slipped up.
“Uh...well...we were just messing around in here, and uhm…yeah… the cave started trembling, like an earthquake or something, and rocks started to fall. My friends expanded their mantles and the rockfall slowed. I ran to get help, hoping they could hold on while I fetched the mine’s foreman. When I got back it was...like this.”
“What did your friends say happened while you were getting help?”
This was where he had to be careful.
While it seemed more and more unlikely that Kellog was some sort of Vertan agent, Wellynd was still uncertain if he wanted to reveal what happened. After all, he hadn’t told anyone about what actually transpired that day. Then again, he was probably sitting with a person who might actually know what was going on with him.
“Well, my two friends, who are now at the Observatory, eventually passed out, so they don’t actually know…”
“And the third friend?”
“Who says there was a third friend?”
“My source said there were four of you.”
Wellynd frowned. “So you already knew that we were here that day. Who told you?”
Kellog wagged a finger “I knew that someone was here when this happened, and I knew a young woman was involved. You and I only confirmed it was you and your friends a few minutes ago. And my source is just someone who doesn’t make enough money for the work he does.”
Wellynd thought back to the men who had come with Bert’s dad that day. It could have been any of them.
“Oh. I guess that makes sense. And the fourth? He was a little foggy with the details. He said that there was a flash of light just as Neer and Bert, uh, my other friends’ mantles disappeared. When he looked up again, the rocks were just floating there.”
Kellog scratched his chin “Hm. That is very strange. And this friend doesn’t remember anything else. Anything that he did or felt, or perhaps something he saw one of the other friends do?”
“No. It was all a blur…I think he said, anyway.”
“What’s his name?”
Wellynd paused. “Why does it matter?”
“I’d like to know. Maybe see if he’s willing to speak about it more. It’s always strange talking to people without knowing their name. He’s from Kellek’s Watch, like you? It’d be strange, and quite rude, asking around for ‘the friend of Neer, Bert, and Klof? Don’t you think?”
Wellynd swallowed. “Yeah, I guess. His name is Wellynd. Most people call him Welly.”
“Wellynd. What a curious name.” Kellog leaned back and slapped his hands on his knees. “ Okay, then. That helps. I’m not sure when I’ll get to Kellek’s Watch, but all this information is useful.”
Wellynd stared at the three shapes Kellog had traced on the ground. “What’s so special about what happened here? Have you never seen this happen before?”
Kellog let out a hearty laugh as he stood up and turned the meat over in the pan and pressed his finger against it. “Ah. That wasn’t part of the bargain, was it? Let’s eat first shall we? Maybe we can talk about it after.”
Wellynd’s stomach rumbled again in response and he grinned, unable to resist the succulent smell of the meat. “Sure.”
After grabbing the pan with a cloth, Kellog sat back down and started to slice off a piece.
“I’m sorry I don’t have any other plates. Do you mind eating with your hands?” Kellog asked.
“Sure, no problem” Wellynd replied, eyes already hungrily devouring the meat.
“Did you want any extra salt on your meat, Welly?”
“No, I’m good. It looks like you season…..Oh, what? No. I mean…I’m not Welly…Wellynd.”
Kellog let out another hearty laugh. “I knew it! Hah! Now, now, don’t get upset. Your secret is safe with me. I just wanted to save myself a very awkward trip into town. Yes, that was probably a bit devious of me. Here, take my plate.”
Wellynd took the plate of meat begrudgingly. Normally, his secret having been revealed would have thrown him off his appetite, but the day’s journey, combined with the overwhelming scent of whatever Kellog had seasoned the meat with was too much to resist. He grabbed the chunk of boar shoulder and bit into it, the juices spilling down the sides of his mouth.
It was so good.
“What did you put on this? This is amazing.” Wellynd grumbled with a full mouth.
“You like it? I travel often, but I’ve always said if one has the right spices they can eat well anywhere. Paprika, black pepper, a little bit of crushed cumin, a good pinch of salt. Dark sugar if you have it!”
The pair eagerly ate as they huddled closer to the warm light of the fire. The wind had grown wild outside and the fresh air whistling through the cavern had taken a turn for the frigid.
In between mouthfuls of succulent boar, the two continued to converse, though on less immediate matters. Wellynd mostly talked about Kellek’s Watch, what the town was like during the festivals, how they almost nearly shut down during the Season of Storms. He avoided discussing Laine and the smuggling business, as, while it was unlikely Kellog was some sort of Vertan investigator, he still had the gut feeling that there was something off about the man. He was, after all, trespassing in Snellium’s mine without anyone else’s knowledge, and, as was the case with most Illuvians, Wellynd inherently distrusted all visitors to the island who had unknown motives.
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Kellog, on the other hand, had no problem divulging much information about himself. He mainly talked about the places he’d visited. He’d been to all five nations on the continent of Estioch, including the Northern Reaches of Melyar and even the remote capital of Shadkara, Vel Anghun.
“They’re strange people, the Shadkarans. It’s almost as if the world itself has cursed them. They act like that’s the case, anyway” Kellog ruminated, as he tried to dry his greasy hands on a rag after he’d finished his fourth slice of boar.
“Why do you go to all these places though? You said you’re investigating ‘anomalies’, but what for?” Wellynd asked, having himself just finished a third plate.
Kellog brushed his hands together before casually throwing another log into the fire. “As I mentioned earlier, there is much we don’t understand about kose. In fact, we are infinitely more ignorant than we are knowledgeable of its origins and properties. Let's take what happened here, for example.” Kellog turned and gestured towards the floating boulders in the cavern behind them.
“A guiding principle of magic, of weaving, is that the more outlandish of a thing you try to weave into the world, the more difficult it is to have the world accept it.”
Wellynd nodded, this was what Henry had been talking about on the beach. “Yeah, different people have different ways of ‘asking’ the world to take their shape, right?”
Kellog chuckled “Sure, that’s one way to put it. The shape you create is, in essence, the words that communicate your intent. Think of it as pure language. If you can find the right words, you can express what you need to do, at least in theory. But, that’s not everything. Weaving a shape is kind of like the voice you use to express those words. You need both to make the world accept your demand. The more incongruent that demand is with the forces that govern natural law, the more effective you need to be with both your words and voice. Do you follow?”
Wellynd scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, it’s not entirely different from what Henry told me.”
Kellog raised an eyebrow “That’s this famous Guster? Good on him. I’m always surprised at how understanding blossoms even in those who had never stepped foot in an Observatory. Hmm let me see here. Let's consider this entrance I filled in, the one that you made with your disastrous entrance.” Kellog said, pointing at the fist sized hole. “The dirt, dust, and rocks had, only minutes earlier, been in the position that I wanted them to return to. When I was young like you, my master would always say ‘Nature has a memory’, though I later found out it was a fleeting one. Anyway, when each rock and clump of dirt returns to the hillside it was just ejected from, each rock and each clump of dirt will support each other, just as they had done previously. The demand I’m making is really not very taxing, and, more importantly, the outcome of my demand breaks no natural rule. Thus, weaving it was extremely easy. I know the shape I need to use, and I received little resistance when I weaved it.” Kellog paused and prodded one of the logs in fire, before continuing. “ The fire was a little more difficult. I am asking the wood to alter its state, and, ultimately, destroy itself. Not a particularly nice thing to ask it to do, you see. As such, the wood requires a little more convincing, but, with the right words and voice, it will acquiesce to my demands. After all, fire exists in nature, with or without us, and it is not completely outlandish for us to ask wood to burn”
“So every part of the world is alive. Even a piece of dead wood?”
“Alive” Kellog sounded the word out slowly with his mouth as if he was tasting it “I’m not sure that’s the right word. I mean, it might be. It certainly has a will, or at the very least, a way it likes to operate.”
“You mentioned earlier that there were more Gusters in Verta and Arta than anywhere else, is that just because more people know the shapes here?”
Kellog bit the inside of his cheek and looked up at the cavern ceiling for several moments. “It’s a good question. I’d almost forgotten that you probably don’t know this. Weaving has a third important factor one must consider.”
Wellynd moved forward to the edge of the stone he was sitting on.
“You know, of course, that each Nation is aligned with an Eikon...”
The diagram in the Principles flashed in Wellynd’s mind.
Mael, Arthus, Deakon, Gwyn, and Val-Kan.
“We are quite confident that kose emanates from the Eikons. There is a good chance they give life to our world. However, not all kose is quite the same. Each Eikon’s kose is different. It’s unimportant for you to know how they are different, at least at the moment, but I’ll just say that it is quite easy, for example, to move the dirt around here in Arta, or, for you to make the wind blow, under the domain of Arthus, where its kose is more dominant than any of the other Eikons’, and that it would not be the case if you were somewhere else.”
“Wait. So the kose that comes from Arthus is different from the one that comes from, say Val-Kan? What if I try to Gust in Rel and I am using kose from Val-Kan? Will it not work?” Wellynd asked.
“It might work, still, but it would be much more difficult, and much less effective. To extend my example of language and voice earlier, the type of kose is kind of like the dialect of that language. It’s still the same language, to be sure, but the expression of it is just different depending on what you’re trying to do.It gets quite complicated after that and I’m not sure a cavern is the best place to explain it, I’m sorry to say.”
Wellynd’s frown deepened. This changed everything. How did he know so little about the world after seventeen years of life? His mind spun with a million questions, but he resisted them. He needed to focus on the immediate problem.
“Okay, but, what does that have to do with the boulders in the cavern?”
Kellog chuckled. “It may seem like I’m going on a tangent. I do tend to do that, but in this case it’s important to know the principles of weaving to understand why I’m here. Before I explain, though, let me ask you, why do you think floating boulders might be an anomaly?”
Wellynd scratched his head. “Well, given what you just said, maybe because boulders aren’t supposed to float? But that can’t be why; I saw some people at the Observatory making boulders soar through the air.”
“Ah! They still do those exercises, eh? But I imagine they were propelling them through the air. Which is not an unlikely thing to happen, no? Volcanoes erupt, rockslides happen, soldiers fire catapults all the time, but when was the last time you saw a rock suspended in the air? Unmoving? Never, I would guess. Even more importantly, if it was a person that caused this, why is the rock still floating when there is no discernible reason for it to be doing so?If it was a natural anomaly, or, better put, supernatural anomaly, why did it happen when it did?”
“And there aren’t Koshai who can do this?”
“Koshai? The fabled Usum himself never did anything like this!” Kellog exclaimed, standing up. “That’s why I’m here. In all my travels, I’ve met people of all Eikonic affinities, studied countless variations of shapes, seen practitioners do simply incredible things, but never, never, have I seen anything like this.” he waved his hands in the air before snatching a stick off the ground and beginning to pace back and forth.
“What do you think it could mean?” Wellynd asked.
Kellog sketched the symbol for Arthus into the dirt. The same one that appeared in Wellynd’s copy of Principles.
“ Well, it could mean I know less about Arthus, or, as we say ‘Arthusian kose’ then I thought I did. Though, I like to think I know it pretty well.”
“Could it have something to do with the Vertan occupation? Does their presence affect anything?”
Kellog tossed the stick between his hands
“Hmm, probably not. The Vertans, as much as I hate to admit it, are brilliant researchers and I’m sure they’re working on many awful things, but this doesn’t feel like something they would do, nor does it seem likely an interaction between Arthusian and Deakonic kose could ever produce something like this.”
He sketched the symbol of Deakon in the dirt beside Arthus.
“Well, maybe the Eikons are changing?” Wellynd suggested
Kellog drew three more symbols in the dirt. Mael, then Gwyn and Val-Kan.
Wellynd’s brows knitted, and he turned his head to see Kellog’s sketches at a better angle.
“That’s the same order that the Eikons were drawn in a book I’ve seen. Is there a reason to that order?”
Kellog’s eyes were locked onto his sketches in the dirt and he completely ignored Wellynd’s question.
“It could be…that…if it is…no…no Eikon here should be able to do this...” the man trailed off before glancing up at Wellynd, his eyes brimming with curiosity.
Kellog walked back to his stone and sat down. He poked at the fire absently.
“Sorry young Wellynd, I get carried away sometimes. It’s just…this is the greatest anomaly I’ve seen in some time. Possibly ever.”
A spark crackled free from the embers and floated into the air before disappearing into the dark.
Wellynd couldn’t help but feel the slightest pang of pride. Whatever he’d done that day befuddled this man. Kellog, seemingly an expert Koshai, no, more than a Koshai, was investigating the feat that he’d performed months ago.
Wellynd swallowed. “Sounds like a lot to try and figure out. How long do you think you’re going to be here?”
“Well, that all depends on how quickly I can discern the truth. As long as it takes, I suppose. Speaking of which, do you know how often these tunnels get used in the winter months? Any risk of running into miners, or angry, ill-paying Mine owners while I’m down here?”
This Wellynd did know. “Probably not. They focus more on processing and refinement in the winter. The storms can end up flooding the mines with water, which then freezes. This is also an exploration shaft. Nobody has used it in forever anyway.”
“Good. Yes, that’s very good.” mused Kellog.
The man scratched his chin, head tilted slightly as he eyed the fire. He glanced at Wellynd.
“It’s a shame you didn’t pass the exam, you know. That wind you weaved earlier was impressive, especially considering the problems you’ve encountered. And you're keen. You would have done well at the Observatory.”
“Uh. Thanks. Nothing I can do about it now unfortunately.”
Kellog eyed him for another moment. “I’ll tell you what.” he started after a long, thoughtful pause. “I’ll need help while I’m here. I have a theory about why this might have happened, but I'll need someone who knows these parts well to help me. Otherwise I’d be wandering around like a bumbling fool asking too many questions…Yes. I think this might be good. Wellynd, how would you like to help me? I can help you figure out your problems with weaving, maybe teach you a few basic exercises in exchange.”
Wellynd didn’t even blink “Yes. I mean, yeah. Yeah for sure. What do you need me to do?”
Kellog beamed. “It’s settled then! It’s getting late though. We’ll figure out the details in the morning. Hmm. I do have a follow-up question though, just so I can start figuring out how to go at this.”
“What is it?”
“If my theory is correct, we will need to start collecting samples. There is one thing that may be…difficult to acquire…here…let me see if I have it…” Kellog started shuffling through one of his satchels “Aha! Here it is. What do you know about these” Kellog said excitedly, stretching out his hand.
In his palm sat a large, fist-sized skald.