To the Dawnspire [Torin]

[Kala Leukos]

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1 Ash 121
Nushen Peak, Astralar Mountains

The Blue Star picked them up after breakfast. The flight from Starfall only took a few hours, and they debarked near some ruins in the shadow of Nushen Peak. It was their base camp for luncheon. Kala explained how the village here had been ravaged when her House had first come to Starfall and everything had been terrible. The refugees from this place had come to Starfall, and while it was now largely safe enough that they could have resettled it, hundreds of years had passed. They had called Nushen the White Goddess, the people having a bit more animistic a view of the world than was common, but she stretched up high and white, her shoulders permanently swathed in snow.

From the base camp, though, the climb wasn't terrible, but there was no safe place to debark from an airship any higher than this. Their meal gave them a chance to acclimate to the higher elevation, higher still than Starfall. They split the weight of supplies and equipment between the three of them, but Kaus laughed and took off on his own, calling down from on high, "Last one there is a..." but whatever they were was lost to the rush of wind.

"There's a field of illumite up there," she explained, her smile wearing away as she started up the rocky trail in her fur-lined boots. "Enough that if we are careful about collecting it, the supply is sustainable. So we'll make camp near the summit, and then collect it at sunrise, which will maintain its potency. Feada needs some, but we ought to have enough for me to make a soul totem and for you to have a bit of some local magic to play with at your forge."

While her shoulders were perhaps half as wide as Torin's, she didn't shirk her share of the weight. There were pickaxes, hammers, and chisels, as well as aether nets. Everything was alchemically treated to protect them from any energies that might escape in the mining of the dragonshards, even though illumite was perhaps the most benign of them. They were still quite powerful and too much power with nowhere to go could be dangerous to fragile mortal creatures.

"Do you have any ideas off the top of your head what you might do with dawnstone?" she asked. Even if he began spitballing on the spot, she was curious how his mind worked around such things. And it would pass the time before the altitude made undue speaking a challenge.

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[Torin Kilvin]

Torin's second trip aboard the Blue Star was less nerve-wracking than the first, as well as significantly shorter. Traveling over mountains meant they didn't get as far from the ground and his mind was able to view the vistas in a more abstract way when there were no towns or people to compare his relative height to.

Bundled up as warmly as he'd ever been he stepped from the ship to the basecamp feeling exhilarated. He ate lightly, knowing his body wouldn't want to be full when they ascended. When Kaus abandoned the two wingless ones and zipped into the sky the human couldn't help but laugh, easily shouldering the pack he left behind along with his own.

When they began to climb he found himself grateful for the times Aurin had climbed with him or made him run back to the city from their lakeside hideaway. Strength was different than endurance and while Torin was young and able the air up so high was thinner than he was used to and he had to stop now and then to catch his breath and give his muscles time to absorb fuel. Kala somehow maintained conversation when the best Torin could do between rests was nod or gesture. Of course, her body would be better acclimated to the environment she'd grown up in. Torin's body was used to the warm, wet lakeside with his heavy air and easy travel. Still, he was undaunted and made as good a showing as a low-land boy might, showing excitement at the prospect of being able to finally put a part of his education to use that had been merely theoretical until then.

Good blacksmiths were taught the mining process, though few had to mine their own ore so near such a major city as Kalzasi. Runesmiths were taught to recognize and harvest dragonshards of many types, though they were so rare, and so often controlled by Noble Houses, that it was equally unlikely a runeforger from the region would be gathering them for him or herself.

They had stopped to take a brief rest when Kala asked what he might want to do with the shards they would gather. He had considered it but only briefly. A part of him always liked to feel out a dragonshard before deciding what to do with it. The luxury of listening to what the magic itself wanted was both a whimsy he didn't talk about with others of his profession and one he was rarely allowed since most runesmith work orders were for specific things.

"Maybe something to keep one warm without the need for all this clothing?" He gave a short laugh at his own expense as he glanced down at his well-padded form. Kala made the outfit look elegant, as she'd made even the fighting wraps she wore for sparing. In his imagination he was crafting a ring or bracelet that would allow him to climb this height while wearing his Searing clothes.

"Perhaps, if I find several small pieces I'll make them into lamps for my shop. Lamps for the outside would be good advertisement for what I can do, and steady light inside to show off the smaller pieces for sale would be nice. Might lend the right sort of 'here there be magic' feel one expects from a runesmith's shop." He knew it was a little silly, but not untrue for it. His shop was very small and it wouldn't hurt to have some things that felt like luxury to take away from the idea that he was one bad season away from poverty. "Not to mention, keeping illusions out of where I take payment will lower the chances of being given wooden coins."

Shrugging one shoulder he added,

"There are the usual things, of course, amulets to ward against poison and the like." That sort of thing always sold well, and he wouldn't mind making the money but this was the first time he was harvesting his own shards, not to mention the fact that they were a gift from Kala and her House, it felt more right to use them in a way that meant something.

[Kala Leukos]

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Kala spent much of that first leg of their journey feeling as though she had gone soft down in the lowlands. Her lungs began to burn much earlier than they had the last time she had been high up in the mountains. But even still, she had an easier time of it with her Starfall upbringing than Torin seemed to. It was strange to see someone so well-muscled struggling, but he was keeping up and she was quite aware that there were different kinds of strength. She was only too happy to take a brief rest, not wanting to overexert herself or him to the point where they could not do what they had come to do up near the White Goddess' crown on the break of the morrow. That it took him that long to give her an answer was good and right to her; she wanted his first impressions of things, but she appreciated thoughtful responses as she always tried to give them.

She nodded slowly and offered him a sip of water from her canteen. Dehydration was dangerous up here where the air was rarefied.

"I would not have thought of that," she admitted with all due humility. "I like the idea of lanterns before your shop. They advertise your craft." Smiling, Kala added, "And here I thought I would be the practical one. But in all seriousness, not only what you have already mentioned, but I imagine they might even be some small protection should the Mists rise up. To keep you and Timon safe, and I suppose anyone who shelters behind your doors." The way into the Warrens was right there in the middle of the city, after all. It was a constant threat even if they did have contingency plans.

"I am hoping that a soul totem made from illumite will help me work with purer intentions," she admitted. "It would seem counterintuitive for what many consider the dark arts, but I think it will work better for healing and such." Of course, she was tempted to seek out her father's pact weapon to see if she couldn't commune with whatever sliver of his soul remained within it. Power always tempted.

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[Torin Kilvin]

Torin's strong young body slowly began to adjust, taking deeper breaths with each inhalation, filling his massive lungs to their bottom instead of the normally shallower filling they were used to taking in the plains that house Kalzasi. The lightheadedness faded slowly, until his vision no longer blurred when he turned his head too quickly and he could fully appreciate the landscape, both surrounding him and far below. For whatever reason, climbing had never frightened him as being on an airship did. A childhood filled with hours spent at the tops of tall trees might be part of the reason. Knowing there was more under his feet than a few inches of wood and magic likely also had something to do with it.

When offered water he drank deeply, glad they had brought along plenty. Even so, he refilled his canteen with clean snow when he'd emptied it, so melt against his back for drinking later.

When Kala mentioned being the practical one Torin was surprised but managed to mostly keep it from his face, hoping what did show would be taken for interest in her words. Growing up in a small village had meant having the idea ingrained in him that common folk were practical, hard-working folk and the nobility had their heads constantly (literally and figuratively) in the clouds. Always coming up with insane notions that their servants and peasants had to figure out how to accomplish. In the way of a child, Torin had lived under the assumption that nobles thought the same way, or, at least similarly. Something along the lines of, 'We are the innovative ones'. Hearing that Kala had believed, of the two of them, she would be the practical one made sense but it was also a revelation. Torin seemed to have a lot of those. He didn't hate them but he wondered if he would ever grow wise enough, world-aware enough, to not have them so often.

Taking a piece of jerked meat from a pouch in his pocket he chewed it, listening to her, his brows rising at the thought of protecting himself, and those in his household, from the mists, should they ever rise again to claim the land. It was his turn to have not thought of something. In truth, he didn't know enough of the mists to have thought of it, but it was a comforting thought. Suddenly he wished to light his whole home with tiny pieces of the dragonshards they were to collect.

In a similar way, the boy knew nothing of necromancy, only nodding along at the idea of Kala making something to aid in healing with the magic. It seemed to fit her character to want to heal.

Stretching slowly to his feet once his heartbeat had calmed back to its natural rhythm he leaned down to offer her a hand up.

"I'm ready if you are, let's go find what we need to heal and protect."

'To heal and protect' was the motto of a band of paladins from a popular children's story, at least, where he grew up it was, and he said it adding brass to his tone, as the storyteller had always done when recounting the tale back home.

[Kala Leukos]

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The climb and the atmosphere made most of their journey a silent one. Kala was comfortable in silence with Torin, though they had not known each other long. But the exigencies of the journey required the focus of their minds and their bodies. Kaus dropped down a time or two while they were resting to converse with them. He brought glowing reports of a field of illumite ripe for harvesting. While he wasn't taking the slow road up, he had verified that all the mining equipment was present and accounted for, and had cleaned up the campsite in preparation for their arrival. And then he was off again, gliding along on thermals or whatever he did when he was flying. She only cast one wistful glance after him.

There were hours of daylight left when they arrived at the campsite. The small cabin had a pitched roof to keep snow from piling too high in a blizzard, and there was some snow despite the time of year. There wasn't much at the campsite, winds taking much of it away, though there were little pockets of snow where the sun rarely fell. The cabin had four bunks, so nobody would be sleeping on the floor.

"With two elementalists, we don't have to burn the goat dung to keep warm," Kaus noted with a laugh.

It was markedly colder up there as well, and the weariness crept in on them, except for Kaus. They had food and water, and now they had merely to rest until dawn.

"Thankfully," Kala said, "we don't need much survival skills as long as the cabin is secure." They enjoyed the vistas for a time, marveling as the sun set over mountain peaks, the snow catching the light and throwing it back in new forms. Soon enough, though, they retreated to the growing coziness of the cabin, and ate their food.

"Usually, a team of four is up here for weeks getting a proper harvest. The best quality is mined in that first hour of dawning, so they don't do a lot of work. But they also don't mine too heavily. It's a gift to be stewarded, and overmining would mean there would be nothing for future generations. They grow back so we only take what we need. Feada said she doesn't need much, but at least you know we can offer you quality illumite for future work." She smiled.

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[Torin Kilvin]

The hike took hours, and was as exhilarating as it was exhausting. Torin wondered, if he had not been present, if Kaus would have simply carried Kala up with him. It was gracious of her to make the effort with him, and perhaps she wanted the exercise. The smith was certainly getting the workout of his young life. Knowing that there was a camp set up and ready for their arrival was comforting. Having to spend additional effort to pitch tents and start a fire before they could have warm food or places to sleep would have been a workout of his willpower in addition to the one his muscles and lungs were receiving.

Despite the season, and the hard trek, Torin was beginning to shiver by the time they reached the cabin. Despite living in a northern city like Kalzasi he did not handle the cold as well as one might imagine. His sudden growth spurts over the last several years had stripped his body of almost all fat, and he'd spent the majority of his time in a forge even when he slept. Warming up as best he could he was glad he'd brought an extra blanket and found himself wishing his firey bedmate were present, no matter how embarrassing his inevitable reactions would have been with the twins. Still, it was beautiful, made him understand why some people wandered the wilds all their lives in search of such places.

When they were settled in the heat of the cabin his body began to relax, at last, and he was grateful for hot water and plenty of food. He realized he was eating more than the twins combined but couldn't help it. He was ravenous. If ever he felt he was getting fat he knew where he could come to spend a few weeks slimming back down. Nodding along to the pleasant conversation that flowed easily between the twins he mostly just listened. There were a few things he could add, but he was more tired than he'd expected to be. Like a sleepy child after a long day and a hot meal, he began drooping soon after his belly was full. Knowing they needed to be up before the sun he asked to lay down as soon as it was politely to do so, and gratefully slipped into one of the lower bunks. Sleep took him in minutes, and dreams of Aurin's arms and voice, vague enough not to leave any real memories but strong enough to leave him feeling safe.

[Kala Leukos]

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2 Ash 121
Nushen Peak, Astralar Mountains

Torin and Kala both woke to the smell of cooking. Kaus felt none the weaker for the thinner air, and so he was fully rested and awake before dawn. Kala smiled and he turned to smile back at her; for all that they spoke more in the presence of others, the majority of their communication went silently through their bond. She quickly stripped her bunk and remade it with fresh linens. The outpost would be left in as good or better shape than they had found it. Such was the way in the realm of House Leukos and the Lady's children were even more responsible for its stewardship than her subjects.

As soon as they had eaten, they were off, the oven turned low so the pyrolyth inside would keep the room cozy for their return but would not cause a fire. The small field of illumite gave off a welcoming glow as they approached, brighter for the fact that the sun had not quite crested the mountains to the east. While Kala and Torin sat on a boulder unbundling the various hammers, pickaxes, and chisels, Kaus walked the perimeter of the field, lighting the violet-blue shard beacons. Even with an unaided eye, one could almost see the glow of the dragonshards warping as the runeforged beacons pulled at the latent aether that the dawn stones were emanating. It was just a strange trick on the eye now, but it could be quite a bit more important when they were trying to harvest the shards.

When Kaus had completed his circuit, Kala stood up to hand him his set of tools and then start pulling out the aether nets, which were tied in such a way they could connect them to their belts until they were needed. Their hands were going to be full while they did some delicate work.

Her hand touched Torin's shoulder to catch his attention as he was bent over the packs.

"Torin," she said, voice hushed, almost awed. "Look."

The sun was rising over the jagged peaks to the east. It was glorious. The light was different up here somehow. Perhaps a scientist or an artist could articulate how, but Kala could not. And then, if one looked at the dawn stones, they seemed somehow to shine brighter for the virgin sunlight rather than be dimmed by comparison, as if they drank it up and transmuted it into their benevolent, crystalized power.

Perhaps it was the thin air, but it almost felt to Kala as though they sang.

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[Torin Kilvin]

Apprentices rose early, but even for a boy who had spent the vast majority of his life under the tutelage of apprenticeship, it was rare to wake before the first hints of dawn. Soft sounds of cooking and the movement of people woke him. Torin had rarely slept where other people could be heard, so, while it was a gentle waking, it did rouse him.

The three teenagers ate quietly, comfortably companionable without needing words. The large human was drowsy in the warm darkness of the hut, but his mind came on fully as they stepped out onto the ice that covered nearly everything on the Nushen Peak. The crystals formed during the night crunches softly under the thick climbing boots Torin had purchased just before leaving the capital, and the icy air, though still, chilled his face. His face was the only skin he left exposed, the rest of him being wrapped and bundled into layers. The sounds of his feet, and Kala's, and the breathing of all three, were the only sounds to be heard.

The world was sleeping, or so it felt, to Torin, awaiting the first rays of sunlight to fall upon it and waken it from its deep, cold slumber. When he saw the field of crystals, glowing softly, he smiled, eyes scanning over the whole of it slowly, trying to absorb and keep a sight that he might never have again. Kala moved to a convenient bolder and the two worked to prepare the tools they'd brought for harvesting. Torin had never done any mining himself but had read the books the Lady had suggested to him on the subject. He had no fear of lacking the strength for the task, only the finesse. It felt as though the twins too could feel the sleeping of the earth, for they remained in quiet contemplation as the three worked to see that all was ready.

When Kala's voice broke the shared silence it was reverently, like speaking before a god. He looked where she directed rather than at her, and he saw, in a moment that seemed to draw out and out, the first golden spike of light moved over the peaks, jumping from one to another until he soaked over the field of Illumite. As though it truly were liquid the dawn stones soaked it in and shone to meet the daylight with their own.

Torin's breath drew in, too slowly to be a gasp but with the feel of one, his lungs stinging from the cold air filling them to their depth. The boy was not particularly religious but he whispered a prayer to Ysadrin as he stood watching, ending with, "Bless our hands, to the work, and our minds, to its application."

It wasn't a prayer specific to the goddess, but one his master had used to murmur before starting a project of particular importance. As the twins began to move to the labor so too did he, watching briefly before glancing around for a cluster that could be sustainably harvested. Finding one a little apart he knelt, knee chilling against the snow and rock, and carefully placed his chisel. The stone was not particularly large, but it was a twin growth on a strong base. If he did not damage the base it would sprout more such growths in the years to come, so he was especially gentle when he raised his hammer and began coaxing the twin stones from their mother.

[Kala Leukos]

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The twins murmured a response to his implied call. Though when compared together, Kaus was the more ebullient of the pair, he could be somber as easily as Kala could be jolly. They could present a united front, or be entirely different people depending on the situation. Here and now, they seemed to move and speak in a strange tandem, including Torin as best they could into the dance.

Ysadrin's season had passed, but Her light illumined the illumite. Etaiss' season had come and they asked for Her blessing on their harvest.

Their work was slow. None of them were experienced miners, though they had done their homework, and Kala, at least, could See what she was doing and how it affected the dragonshards. As Kaus had lit the shard beacons, their perimeter was secure and they began their slow, painstaking work. While Torin began to work on a promising twinned shard, Kala smiled and arranged an aether net around his work so any false move wouldn't send a blast of aetheric energy into his face. The nets themselves were runeforged rather than treated with alchemical oils, and they were old. Mistress Feada might have crafted them, or even her predecessor. The illumite field grew slowly here on Nushen Peak's pale shoulder, and so the equipment was well cared for but infrequently used.

Then she left him to his toil and knelt before a shard Kaus had deemed worthy of harvesting. They had also looked for those shards that were easiest to release from their rocky grips. It seemed to her they had done a good job of locating the best quality for the least amount of work, which meant they could take their time within the limited amount of time they had before dawn moved too far into day and their catch would be less potent.

A flurry of conversation passed between them and, through the core bond, Kaus had a ghost of her ability to sense the aether. They set to work, hammers and chisels making delicate, plinking music. This was not work that required Torin's well-earned strength, but did require his keen attention to detail and care.

Eventually, Kala set down her tools and held onto the dragonshard while Kaus finished. They did not want to drop the things, even if they weren't the most volatile of dragonshards. She handed it to him with a shared smile and then went to look for something in particular: potent, clear, and small enough to be swallowed. She also hoped the one she was meant to take would sing to her in particular.

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[Torin Kilvin]

Kala came over, showed him how to set the aether net by doing it. Torin could learn by watching fairly easily, and nodded to express his understanding before she moved off. It still felt more right, in that moment, frozen between the mountain and the sunrise, to be silent.

As he worked he murmured what formal prayers he knew to Etaiss, and to what gods he knew of light and work. Torin did not have a specific diety that he considered his own, or himself their own, he supposed. He had a good education on the gods considered important in the Kalzasi region, and a smattering of other dogma from the caravans that had traveled through his village. Sometimes he felt compelled to express gratitude, to be thankful or appreciative for what he had or what he was attempting to achieve. When he had issues in his own life he had never felt pulled to reach out, as though he could be grateful for the blessings in his life but his problems were his to handle on his own. He went to the people he trusted when he needed help, not the vague ideas of personalities so vast and far he could not conceive of them beyond a concept.

Kala seemed far more religious and he tried to show respect for that. He wondered what gods were most important in Starfall and put the question away to ask as they descended.

As he thought his hands worked with the slow care taught to him by his time in the forges. You could not rush good work. The heat had to be just right and maintained, for sometimes days at a time. Magic could not be rushed as you coaxed it forth, or coaxed it into a new shape. He made tiny cuts in the crystalline structure with his tools, more nudging them apart than actually breaking them. When a last the twin structure of the two came away in his hand, still clinging to each other, he smiled. There was something fitting about the way they stayed together, and his eyes traveled to where the Kala and Kaus were working in tandem, no need for words to be in harmony.

Glancing around he saw another, larger piece that looked easily ready to be harvested. He figured he should work on the ones that were easiest, as he had the least experience. Glancing up at the rising sun, squinting to protect his eyes, he estimated he had time to do that one piece and perhaps another, if another as easy could be found. Tucking the first shards he had collected away with exaggerated care he took his tools and moved to the new spot.

Kneeling again in the snow, the cold leeching up through his thick trousers, he carefully laid the net as he had been shown, switched the tiny chisel out for a larger one, and set to work.