The Ghost in the Wall [Torin]

[Kala Leukos]

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Kilvin's Forge, Kalzasi
79th of Frost, Year 121 Steel

Kaus wasn't so very tall for an Avialae, but when he followed Kala into the showroom, such as it was, he certainly towered over her. His face and Timon's were mirrors of glee.

"Hi, Kauth," Timon lisped. Then, also affectionate, "Lady Kala."

"Ser Timon," Kaus said, saluting. Kala just smiled and bade him a quiet greeting.

Over the course of his many visits to their Cintamani Pavilion, she had schooled Timon in some of the basic tenets of necromancy if only to assuage his fears about the ghost that had haunted the house behind the forge. For the time being, she had the situation under control, and now she was here for a regular conversation with the lost spirit. Kaus had come in case Torin took her up on her offer to share her ghostwine and introduce him to the spirit as well. Her twin could be trusted to watch over their empty bodies as well as keep Timon from spiraling into a panic. She was quite aware that it could all be quite alarming.

Timon was also excited to cook for them, having pestered the cook at the Pavilion for tips and tricks to add to his repertory. It was the end of the workday, and her ghostwine would only allow them about half an hour of time wandering like spirits, and the hot, homecooked food would help ground them back into their bodies.

The apprentice bounced to the door to lock it behind them and lead them back to the yard that would take them to the haunted house, which sounded much more impressive now that the kind necromancer and her invincible brother were here to keep him safe. He had done everything that needed doing, only waiting to lock the door until they arrived. He said as much, and that Torin was likely done with his bath by now, and then they were inside and he was introducing them to Huntress, who was clearly a wolf pup and not a dog.

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[Torin Kilvin]

It had been ten days since Aurin had neatly scored the Rune of Semblance into the body of the man submerged to his chest in a tub of heated water. He hadn't been into his forge since that night. To say the threshold sickness had hit him hard felt like an understatement, considering what he had expected based on study and the firsthand experience of others. It was no one's fault, but his mind was still a little vague at times.

At the moment he was watching tendrils of aether so thin he wouldn't have been able to see them if they'd been physical things, pushing out of the little water-heating device he'd made, lacing together in intricate patterns of red and gold to the subtle movement of the water. Trying to remain perfectly still so he could better study the patterns wasn't quite possible, so he kept almost catching them. It felt like, if he could study them long enough, he might understand the nature of how aether attached to fire to become Magmatyte. It wasn't a conscious thought, not really, it lived in the place where his mind understood how runeforging worked. But the latticework kept slipping away as he breathed, as the air moved in tiny ways throughout the room, as the earth moved below the house. The front door opening and shutting caused the water to move significantly more, scattering the aether-lace. In reality, it barely rippled, but it was enough to shake Torin out of where his mind had strayed and remember that he had guests due.

Timon had been slipping from the shop into the house all day to check on the food he'd been cooking. Having convinced Torin to let him use the hearth oven in the upper part of the hearth he had undertaken a flurry of baking. Some of which had been fine, good even, some of which had been awful, due to being burnt, underbaked, or just failed experimentation. The ingredients weren't expensive and the lad was more than happy to fetch them himself. So far he hadn't managed to burn himself, or the house down, so Torin let him keep on. Even when it pulled him from the shop, it wasn't as if he could spend all of every day studying finance or dusting the shop.

Heaving himself from the water to dry and dress himself, Torin ran a comb through his hair before tying it back. Walking down the stairs he found Timon using the method they had agreed on of introducing the newest member of their family to new people. The pup, to her credit, was snuffling at both the twins in a defensive posture, but was not growling. He walked over slowly, not wanting to overwhelm the little animal, greeting his guests before squatting down and saying,

"Good girl, Huntress." While scratching between her ears. She seemed particularly responsive to praise, while chastising her caused her to dig her heels in and try to fight more often than not. This case was no different and she gave an excited yip and wriggled between the four blonds before heading back into the kitchen where it was warmer.

"Hullo," He said again, in his normal tone rather than his Puppy Instruction one, "Thank you for coming. I'm glad you're here. Would you like to sit down?"

The large dining table that was newly placed on the side of the large common room nearest the kitchen had eight chairs around it. There were bookshelves against the opposite wall, creating an area that might evolve into a sitting room at some point.

[Kala Leukos]

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The way Kaus shot a glance at Kala when the pup retreated, it was clear to anyone with eyes that he wanted one too, whether he asked out loud or not. Both pairs of eyes settled onto Torin then, both concerned, though now the smith might notice the flare of Kala's rune as she sought to assure herself that he was fully recovered from his bizarrely strong reaction to his initiation.

"We could sit," she said, diffident to his needs. "Or I could speak to the ghost straight away so we can put that behind us and focus on friends and food." She paused. "I brought enough ghostwine for two, just in case you want to meet the spirit yourself. If you feel up to it. With your Rune... I think you will be able to sense the spirit more clearly if you've been shown it with the ghostwine in your blood."

Anticipating Timon wanting to drink the ghostwine and hang out with the dead, Kaus asked him what he was cooking and whether he had taught the pup any tricks yet and was soon following him—or expertly corralling him—into the kitchen. That gave Kala and Torin a bit of room; she could sense the heat coming off of his skin, likely from a bath, and that his Rune had found a sort of harmony with his own aetheric pattern. But she was learning the limitations and pitfalls of relying entirely on Semblance when she was at the Tranquil Gardens, so she had to ask how he was doing.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly. Her concern was palpable, but she didn't want to make him feel weak or broken. It was a delicate thing.

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[Torin Kilvin]

Torin felt a moment of guilt when it became obvious that Kaus wanted a puppy now too, but there was no reason why the Lord couldn't have a puppy so it passed quickly.

Oddly, after ten days of doing less work than he had in his living memory, he felt more tired than he would at the end of most working days. His body was slimmer than it had been since he came to Kalzasi, slimmer than it had been since his last major growth spurt three years before. He had always been trim aside from the muscle on his frame, but he now looked like the muscle was the only thing on the frame.

"Oh." The smith stopped on his way to sit down at his large new table and turned back to Kala. He hadn't considered that he might be able to commune with the ghost as the apprentice Necromancer was. His Semblance, which had been running, at least on a low level, since Aurin had given it to him (of his will or otherwise), had shown him little bits of what he thought might be the ghost. Aurin had explained that he could sense something but not much about it, Torin was finding himself receiving similar information. The living threads of his home; Huntress, Timon, Destyn, dormant plants, impressions from the forge and runeforge, were now so ingrained in his mind that he could feel them while barely awake in the darkness of sleeping night. Now Kala and Kaus were added to his growing list of people who he could recognize with his magic sense alone.

"I suppose it would help, to know for myself." He wasn't reluctant, only he had no idea what one was supposed to say to a ghost, or what might help or hinder. As Kaus took Timon under his wing (literally) and led him away he stepped back to conversation distance with Kala.

"I don't want to upset her, er, it." It was a woman in his head, though no information to confirm this had been gained. "How will I know how to act?"

[Kala Leukos]

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"Perhaps we can take her hunting when she's old enough," Kaus was saying from the other room, and then the boys' voices became little more than background noise.

When Torin sat, Kala did as well, happy to take things slowly for his sake. His threshold sickness had been the worst she had seen in some time. Semblance hadn't been a rocky introduction for her, even as a child. Then again, she didn't know how adept his lover was and she knew that could have something to do with it. But she didn't speak ill of the man she didn't know, and it was past now. She did wonder why it was inscribed on his inner thigh, but she wasn't going to ask if he didn't volunteer the information.

"My Semblance Rune," she said, pointing to where it was on her left wrist. The glyph itself wasn't the same as his, but it resonated similarly enough to augmented senses. Then she pointed to her right wrist, where an entirely different glyph was inscribed. "Elementalism. The rest of my magic doesn't require a Cardinal Rune. Kaus has Elementalism and Reaving, both on his right wrist." She nodded toward the door where the boys had gone with the pup. She figured he would want the context to better understand what he was sensing. The sooner he had a better idea, the sooner the overlay of new sensations would cease to throw him off.

"As for the ghost, I do believe it is a she," she continued. "And as for how to act, like yourself. You are a good person and I think she will sense that. Usually, ghosts are tied to a place or our plane because of a violent end or unfinished business. But her soul has degraded somewhat. It might be helped by conversation with thinking beings, or we might have to wait until I'm skilled enough to trap her in a soul gem and urge her along. But I think that if she knows you, which would be easier if you encounter her without your body, she will be less likely to act out because you are living in this place."

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[Torin Kilvin]

At first, the smith did not understand why Kala was pointing out her Runes, but then his new sense caught up, showing him the difference between the glyphs. Perhaps if he studied the ones he had access to, via his friends, he would be able to tell the difference with his Semblance sense even if they looked different. As his looked different frame Kala's but he could feel that they were kin. 'Feel' wasn't exactly the right word, but it was the only one his vocabulary could connect to the new sense, so he let it. Sometimes he saw with his Rune, but other times it was another of his five natural senses that his mind interpreted what he was feeling as.

There had been a time, he wasn't sure how long, during his threshold sickness, during which he had thought he'd spoken to the ghost. He was still sorting through the myriad flood of experiences the Rune had thrust upon him, not yet sure which parts had been real, and which illusions, and which had been real but so convoluted by what else he was seeing that they made no sense. It was wholly possible that he had only imagined the encounter with the ghost.

"I would like to try. I haven't been into that room since..." He shifted a little in his seat, subconsciously trying to cover his Rune, "Since I was sick."

"Do you think you could use your Elementalism? Only a little." The overt use of other Runes still sometimes felt overwhelming. "You don't have to. I can learn what it feels like the next time we are Scrivening together if you'd prefer not to right now."

He thought he should stand and prepare to go upstairs before realizing that their physical bodies would not need to go. Then again, the pair just slumping over the table for however long the ghost walk would take might not be comfortable.

"Would you like to go to my room or..?" He glanced toward the kitchen, where she had sat during her encounters with the ghost so far, but it was currently occupied by two people playing with a puppy.

[Kala Leukos]

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"Please don't be ashamed," she said quietly. "Your threshold sickness was a trial, and far more grievous than anyone anticipated. You were strong enough to weather the storm, though. Others aren't so strong."

As for the rest, she didn't speak on it, but obliged him. She held up her right hand and he could likely see the Rune on her wrist flare to life as she transmuted the aether above her hand, first to Earth, then to Air, then to Fire, and finally to Water. Each element was given its moment so he could mark the difference, and then she let it all disperse back into the pattern of everything. Her eyes went distant for a moment.

"I think Fire has chosen me," she murmured. "I had always hoped for Air, like Kaus. I dreamed it would help me fly. But Fire makes sense. It can be destructive or nurturing, and it is required to make new life grow. Anyway."

She stood.

"Let me introduce you to your housemate. I do believe you were seeing her when I came to sit with you. Once you've been introduced, I think you will sense when she is manifesting. You might even be able to sense when she wants something, when you need me to come and help." She didn't mind communicating with the spirit for Torin; it was quite the opportunity for a novice necromancer such as herself. But if it turned out that the ghost would remain, it would be good for Torin to have a greater sense of her. He might not be able to communicate as clearly as they would with the ghostwine, but the spirit was a person, and people wanted to be heard.

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[Torin Kilvin]

Torin nodded, trying to acknowledge her words without letting his mind remember any of the alien environs of his threshold sickness. Whenever he did it felt like his mind was twisting into something just as alien. He knew he had understood what was happening to him when it had been happening, or at least he had fully believed he had. But when the thoughts came back now they made no sense. If he tried to push for them to make sense it felt like he was falling, or sliding sideways, but not in his body. The sensation came with unreasoning, or, perhaps, entirely reasonable, terror and he always pulled away from it as quickly as he could.

Sleeping was still odd sometimes now too, when he was alone. When Aurin, or even Destyn, was in bed with him it was like an anchor, keeping him inside the normal realms of himself.

When Kala obliged his request it helped, snapping him back into reality with a distinct click. Her Elementalism was beautiful all on its own, but as he tuned his Semblance on it, it became something else. Still beautiful but also... not alive. Not even sentient in the way of the sprites Sivan called to him, but there was something to the aether that danced along her slim palm. His new rune registered each element as itself in a new way, making note of the way each was individual.

Tilting his head, still staring, he asked,

"What does it feel like, when they Choose you?" The emphasized word was in Common, but also, something else, but he was obviously hardly thinking about speaking.

When she stopped channeling her aether and stood Torin blinked and then nodded, standing more wearily than he should have done, as young as he was.

"I've felt her, some. But I let her alone and she seems to be remaining asleep." It wasn't sleep, but it was the closest he could come to think of the state Kala had been keeping the ghost in.

As they climbed the stairs he thought for a moment and then asked,

"What should I do? If I sense she wants something? Would giving it be better, or worse?"

The little room was mostly empty still, though there were now several pots filled with dark earth, awaiting the coming of Glade to sprout the seeds nestled in them.

[Kala Leukos]

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"It..." She hadn't really had time to process it herself. "I'm not certain I can explain it. The aether is alive in a sense. Life derives from it. But it felt more... conscious? Like it recognized me. You might have to ask me again later." Her smile was rueful. She felt a little thrill of joy coming from Kaus, who recognized what had happened. Her smile widened a bit. "Sometimes magic feels almost alive. Almost aware. It felt almost like affection."

And then they were up and ascending the stairs. Kala considered Torin's question even as Kaus' voice rang jubilantly from below as he and Timon played with the wolf pup.

"This early in the relationship, the negotiation, I suppose it is best to try to give her what she wants if it doesn't harm you or anyone else. She doesn't seem particularly vicious. More curious. But sometimes, she gets frightened and fear can lead to anger or people can lash out from fear as well. My hope is that by next season, we will either have a strong enough rapport with her to ease her into her afterlife or I will be skilled enough to remove her and urge her along to the Shepherd."

If it came to that, she would try to alter a soul stone to transport rather than incarcerate; she would take the stone and the soul within it to the Temple and offer it to Saedene, Who might play psychopomp and take the spirit to its proper home.

She looked around the room, inhaling the scent of wet earth. With a nod, she took a seat and began to pull out her vials. She had one for herself, one for Torin, and there were more that she might leave with him in case he needed to communicate with the spirit when she wasn't there. Kala was prepared.

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[Torin Kilvin]

The smith nodded as Kala spoke, her words making perfect sense to him, even if he himself wouldn't have been able to explain it any better. Since he'd been a child, a part of him had recognized that something in aether was more than just a natural force of mindless energy. Perhaps there were no entirely mindless forces of natural energy at all and people only saw them that way because they were unable, under normal circumstances, to observe their kind of thought and intentional purpose.

Aether sang to Torin, since the first time he'd been able to sense it, it had. Now that he bore the mark of Semblance, he could, in a way, sing back. If not exactly communicate with it directly, he could much more clearly understand its intent and, in doing so, bend it more expertly to his own intent. It was less bending it to his will now, and more working with its will to get to the place he wanted it. He hadn't actually been practicing runeforging more than in idea since he'd gotten the rune, but his use of his own previous creations felt more...complete.

He did not have the words to express these things yet, so he only nodded to Kala, gave her a little smile that tried to say he did understand, and was in the place she was concerning the ideas. Having expressions felt odd to him now, and had since his threshold sickness. He was getting over it, and it was slowly fading as well, but it sometimes didn't feel like his face was his own face at all, only a strange mask that he could manipulate inexpertly.

Torin listened mostly, even more than usual, because his voice too, felt like it was only pretending to be his. It wanted to be his, but they had been severed in some unthinkable way and were now wandering towards each other, unsure, anymore, if the one they were seeking was the one they were finding. He nodded though, made gestures, which oddly seemed as natural as ever.

Following Kala was easy too, as if a part of him thought it was his place to follow her, so he knelt and got comfortable on the floor. Close enough that he could feel her warmth, if not so close as to touch her. Her presence in his mind, her aura through his new senses, were as soothing as any he'd encountered. All his friends helped; each aura revealing things to him that he had known, on some level, but hadn't been directly understanding before the rune. All of it had been nice, or more than nice. Even the odd revelations it had brought concerning his own feelings toward Sivan were not bad. He hoped they were not bad. They would need to talk soon, but the smith was, again, as he had been when the relationship with the eld had been new, afraid of pushing into places Sivan did not want to go.

Taking the small vial of ghostwine when it was offered he drank it without hesitation. It felt like cold, slipping down inside him. As its effect started to settle into him, he wondered if living as a ghost felt like the wine made his body feel; sort of floating, detached, and chilled. Blinking as the normal color of the world drained from his vision he leaned forward, only to realize his body stayed where it was. Turning to look back at himself he made a surprised little sound but looked away quickly. There was enough strange in his life since the threshold sickness, staring at himself, disembodied, could wait for another time.

Looking to the side, he saw Kala was there too, and he was able to return her smile with the one he'd had before; brighter and more stable. It was probably bad that being disembodied felt more natural than being in his body, but he could talk about that later, for the moment he turned to where he could now see the sewn-up hole in reality and waited to follow Kala's lead.