The Business of the Day [Torin]

[Kala Leukos]

.

70th of Frost, Year 122 of Steel
Cintamani Pavilion, Kalzasi

It was too cold to bring her work out into the courtyard. Even though the magic of her wings made her somewhat impervious to it, that didn't make it exactly comfortable. And the servants would want to attend to her; she didn't want to make them uncomfortable either. So she sat at a desk in the solarium, her home office pro tempore. Thankfully, Lord Minister Tianoch appreciated the comforts of his own home office, and so she could betimes avoid the curious glances her wings occasioned in public.

Her domain was Karnor, but she had yet to receive any communication from the flying islands of Zaichaer upon receipt of relief supplies. She wanted to tour the Free Cities, but Sahfri was against her putting herself at risk. The Queen-Regent was wise in that. Still, the old Fire chafed within her. Now it was star fire. Her people knew her for a burgeoning goddess now. She could hear them in the back of her mind. Someday, she would be strong enough to do what she must.

"My lady?" There was a timid knock at the door, a moment as her assistant gathered himself, and then he strolled in with some bravado. She saw quite a bit in him, and not all of it his greed. There was potential, and she wanted to bring it into line with the greater good of Kalzasi.

"Thank you, Kanedama," she said, looking up to acknowledge him with a smile.

He nodded as though she were lucky to have him, and gathered up those things that needed to return to the Palace today. She could feel his eyes on her, trying to figure things out on a deeper level than her wings. It was a contest of wills, and she would win with patience and perseverence.

"I will look over your work today. Tomorrow, we will be at the Palace."

"Sure. Oh, the maid said to tell you Master Kilvin and his boy are here to see you."

"Ah, yes, thank you. They will see themselves in. Once you take everything to the Palace, you are free." She smiled again. "Until tomorrow. Good day, Kanedama."

"Yeah. Oh, uh—my lady." He bowed and saw himself out just as Torin and Timon were at the door. The slender elf looked them over almost arrogantly before nodding them toward the door as if giving them permission. He was a strange one.

Kala rose to her unimpressive full height, smiling more widely for the young men who knew her secrets and kept them close.

"Hello, my friends. Welcome. Timon, I believe Kaus is taking a nap. Would you mind waking him up and bringing him here?"

A servant came in with tea and snacks. Timon was a growing boy and Torin often forgot meals. Leukos hospitality was not famous, but it was dependable.

.

[Torin Kilvin]

Nothing really had changed, Kala was still Kala, and Kaus, Kaus. The Pavilion was still almost a second home to Timon and though Torin spent less time there it was still a comfortable place for him to learn and share.

At the same time, everything had changed. Torin had always been respectful of all the gods, but hadn't specifically associated with any of them out of what was probably an overabundance of that respect. He considered himself unworthy to 'choose' a god. If one chose him that was outside of his understanding. Timon had been interested in all the gods in a way that was mostly childish awe. His brief introduction to the prince who was also a god had been one of the highlights of his life.

Now a friend to both of them had ascended and neither knew exactly how to react to it. Timon was more used to the idea than Torin, since he'd still been taking lessons with both of the twins for different things. Now as they entered each bowed, Timon more fluidly than his master but not with more respect intended.

"Hullo, Kala!" The younger man said, his voice still piping but significantly less so than when they had met. "How's your day going?"

Torin, satchel held closely to his side by one arm, advertising that something precious was hidden within, hung back a little, shy again as he had been the first time they had met to work. Once Timon spotted Kaus in the courtyard through one of the latticework windows and bowed himself playfully away Torin stepped closer.

"Hello." His shy smile was still friendly, even if his voice, too, seemed deeper. "I brought the knobs for their final Scrivening. They had been working on them together, off and on, as they underwent the process of becoming. The first time he'd barely been able to speak to her, but it was better now.

As the smith pulled out each set of knobs, indentations now filled with differently colored gemstones and laid them out on the work bench he considered what he wanted to say. Kala had been open to questions but it had taken Torin months to get over how irreverent it felt to ask a goddess personal questions.

[Kala Leukos]

.

"Timon!" Kaus exclaimed when the lad found him en route from his nap. He swung him up in his arms, glad he was still able to as the lad was growing ever toward manhood. Kala smiled after them as they went to find mischief or food or whatever it was they did when they weren't training.

"Ah," she said, her attention coming back to Torin and his bag. Her eyes lit up with interest that hadn't changed since she had gone through apotheosis in far off Atoria. "Excellent. I am excited to see them finished, and the scrivening has proven most interesting work." In fact, all that work had helped her increase her skill to new heights, so she was pleased to see the project through. "Oh... and don't let me forget to give you that grimoire back for your friend. It was most helpful as an alchemical primer."

Master Len'Myren had been kind enough to lend her—through Torin—a book to help her begin her alchemical studies, the first step in giving wings the the women of her race and perhaps even to bring others into the race. Torin would look excellent with wings, but she would have her work cut out for her granting wings to the women.

"Do you need my help with the finishing touches or are you simply doing me the honor of letting me observe them?"

Her smile was sure; she was content to watch or to help, pleased to see him accomplish things whether in concert or by his own skill. If nothing else, he would relax into his work. She didn't want him to treat her differently than he had. He was respectful enough in that she was nobility, and while someday she might grow accustomed to worship, today was not that day. Mother Naori had opened a door and put her on a path, but she did not yet see herself as a goddess. She would have to earn that.

.

[Torin Kilvin]

Timon laughed delighted when Kaus swung him up, helpless to stop it even for his dignity. He considered protesting that he'd been fourteen for almost a whole season now, but knew it would only make him sound younger. Besides... he liked the way Kaus handled him. Reaching out he tousled his friend's white-blond hair instead of wrapping his thin wrists around his neck. When his feet were back on solid ground he made a playful show of being dizzy and then they walked on.

Torin didn't really need Kala's help with the Scrivening work anymore, but it still felt safer having someone with significantly more experience in terms of time and projects completed watching over. There were many good things to be said about picking up a craft quickly, but it meant the mind didn't solidify the common mistakes and automatically correct them. The smith still had to carefully think he way through each project, and, with something as complex as the knobs, through each part and sometimes even each rune.

Kala's use was more fluid, more instinct driven from years of practice, and Torin admired watching her work. It was like art when she did it, where as he felt more like he was a brute, pushing his way through. Ease and instinct would come to him too with time, he was beginning to feel the beginnings of it, but for now, it was nice to be with her when he did important Scrivening.

"I can finish them, if you've other work, but you're welcome to work on one of the sets if you aren't busy." The idea of a goddess being 'not busy' seemed nonsensical to Torin, but he was beginning to realize that the reality of ascension was not what he'd been taught to believe growing up.

Settling down in his normal spot he took his own set of Scrivening tools from his bag, then fetched out the schematic. Laying it open on the table so they could both reference it he began to carefully etch the final connecting runes with his diamond stylus.

After a moment, without looking away from the work he said,

"How are you getting along with Alchemy?" Sivan had explained several of the simpler things he did but the smith could never make heads nor tails of it. "I'm awful at it. Even with an alchemist working in my shop with me, the ideas just don't... fit in my head?"

There was nothing solid to it, all unbound principles and unexpected, seemingly unexplainable reactions.

[Kala Leukos]

.

Here in the safety of Cintamani Pavilion where everyone was aware of her nascent divinity, she didn't feel compelled to entirely hide her divine nimbus, but it was a subtler thing than some might expect. The light favored her, always finding her, and everything seemed to catch the light more enthusiastically, whether the shine on the polished wood or the bead of water condensed on the side of a silver ewer. Behind the wards of her family home, the aether seemed more. How it was more would require long meditation of a Sembler, but it responded to her mere presence.

"I will observe first if you don't mind," she said. "Then I can help with the rest." She might be more skilled at scrivening, but it was Torin's project and he had proven receptive to her constructive criticism in the past and so she wanted to be able to offer that in order to help him become a greater craftsman. That was still what the contract between him and her family meant to her. "And this will prove a wonderful distraction from my work for the ministry. Lord Minister Tianoch has delegated quite a bit to me and while I have always relished a challenge... well, it can get terribly boring."

As he laid things out upon the leather mat that protected the ancient wood of her desk, she stood up to watch what he was doing. But because she rarely had the opportunity to speak with a friend—her twin and the boys notwithstanding—she kept talking, knowing he would hear her and listen, and perhaps later, when his mind had time to process, he might even answer. She also was able to put a conundrum in the back of her head while focusing on a task of minutiae like this work only to find her less conscious mind had solved the problem while she wasn't focused on it.

"The most interesting challenge at the moment is my secretary Kanedama..." she said, fixing tea from the service that had been laid on a cart for them as she watched. "His aura was interesting to say the least. Not only is he marked by Avenna, which will serve him well in the Ministry of Finance, but I have also sussed out that he is possessed by a demon." She said it all so matter-of-factly. "My guess is that he was—is—also a summoner, but ran afoul of his infernal familiar. When we finish with the knobs, I want you to look at my blueprint for a demon-trap. I don't know yet if it will be necessary, but I would like to be prepared." Asallon had offered to initiate her in Summoning, and she was interested, though she would be more circumspect if she ever bonded with an actual familiar. The world could not afford even a half-baked demigod's power under the control of something nefarious. She was interested in every Rune now, wanting power in order to protect her power, which she realized was a slippery slope. But she also realized that she was vulnerable; Talon had proven that.

"And I hope there will be time to discuss your thoughts on the moonshards..." But eventually, she fell silent, attention rapt on Torin's work.

.

[Torin Kilvin]

Nodding ascent to the suggestion Torin finished laying out his tools as he liked them and settling himself comfortably. He was going to hunch as he worked, there was really not helping that, as tall as he was, particularly at a desk made for Kala's comfort. She never felt small to him, in his head she was as tall as her house, as her ability, as her power. If anything, she stood taller now than she had when he'd met her and been afraid of her station. Physically, Torin was head and shoulders above her head, but the tips of her wings brought them near to equal.

When they were both settled the smith glanced over the schematic once more, though he had it fully memorized, and then took up his diamond stylus. He almost laughed when she confessed how uninteresting working in the government was.

"Maybe," His answering tone was almost serious, but held a hint of gentle playfulness, "You can set some of the work to Timon. Tell him its an exercise. He'll take to it with a will to impress you and learn as much as he can." The boy always did. "And some of the more tedious aspects will be lifted from your shoulders."

It was supposed to be a joke, but Torin would not have been surprised if Timon could grasp the concepts and solve some of the more mundane issues associated with Kalzasi's finances. Kala could check over his work after it was done, of course.

Having said his he began to scribe the minuscule runes into the metal that formed the outer edge one of the five indents that would hold beacon stones. His hands did delicate the work surprisingly well for being both large and calloused. Far from being distracted by the conversation, listening to Kala's voice seemed to help him concentrate, even more so since she'd returned from her ascension journey. It was almost as if, in her presence, the magic wanted to work out, or maybe it was that, spending time with her made Torin better at his craft.

Even the surprising knowledge that Kala's new secretary was possessed didn't break his concentration until the rune he was drawing at that moment was complete. When it was he looked up, eyes wide.

"Is that... safe?" Of course, a goddess could protect herself and he wasn't questioning that but... what about everyone else? Mind catching up to the suggestion that he examine a new blueprint he immediately began considering how a demon trap might work and the implications of such a thing being possible.

"I would like that." Then, "I can have Sivan come and observe Kanedama if you would like. He is a master Summoner now, he might have insight." Not sure if speaking of another's aidolon was considered inappropriate he refrained from mentioning that Sivan's was celestial. Leaning down again he began on the next rune. When one of the indents was finished he sat back enough to show her. The urge to explain bubbled up but she was the one who had taught him Scrivening and she would understand.

After they had discussed the pattern and intention she brought up the new kind of dragonshard that had appeared at the same time as the Eclipse. In truth he was more than eager to study the new form of magic but asking for something so precious had felt like too much. His patience was, it seemed, to be rewarded.

"I would like that too, very much. I was hoping that, when I journey to Starfall at the New Year, it might be possible to study one of the new shards."

[Kala Leukos]

.

Kala laughed quietly.

"I suppose if Sahfri is grooming me to be the next Minister of Finance to keep me safe in Kalzasi, I can groom Timon to follow me once I cannot hide the other changes in me. He does seem to have a knack for the ebbs and flows of commerce the way you do for aether."

Nodding along with his work when he checked for her opinion, she once or twice drew runes in the air out of pure aether to show him slight alterations that might make the flows more efficient; suggestions only, as he knew his work now.

"Safe enough. He's a prideful creature, but I should be more wary of his avarice than a desire to hurt. 'Tis strange, though... I have spoken to a friend who plans to meet him and make a quiet evaluation, but I would appreciate your friend's expertise as well. He is part Dratori, no? Many of their people grow up with the ability to speak to spirits. I sense elven and infernal spirits within him, but they are not separate. Perhaps a summmoning gone wrong...?"

More time passed in comfortable silence.

"I will send you home with a sample. Starfall isn't the only place it has been discovered, but it can be difficult to come by. The demand is high and the supply limited."

Sensing tension in his back and neck from hunching over, she gently placed her hand there twining Fire into his aura just so, the heat blooming gently outward from his spine to relax his muscles—not so much that he would be startled or slump over and pass out, but for his comfort and so he wouldn't make mistakes for that growing tension.

.

[Torin Kilvin]

The offering of a new type of dragonshard to study was worth all the work he'd done for Kala's house in itself. At least, to Torin it was. He loved his work but the time he spent in study of the concepts and theory was no less loved.

"Thank you." He said, simply, but with meaning. "I'll make notes and be sure you get copies of everything I discover."

Asking Sivan to meet with this demon-filled new servant of Kala's struck Torin at exactly the same time as being an excellent idea and a terrible one. The second feeling was his own sense of protectiveness towards his friend who was now his lover. Sivan could look after himself, he was an amazing Summoner and Exael would be with him besides... and yet.

He would tell Sivan about the situation and let him choose for himself. He made most of his living as a Summoner, teaching and doing what other work he could find. This would be a good opportunity for him professionally and it would be wrong of Torin to withhold it out of fear.

"I'll let Sivan know the next time I see him. I don't know how much experience he has with demons but I know he has some with celestials." He didn't want to say that the elf was bonded to one, it felt personal, so he left it at that and instead added, "One of his parents is Dratori, so maybe he'll understand that too. I don't understand much about Summoning or the bloodline."

Sivan's summoned spirits seemed to like Torin but he figured that was an extension of Sivan's own feelings.

Having not even realized that tension was building in his body, it was still a relief when it began to ease. Glancing up from the work he gave Kala a grateful smile that hearkened back to how their relationship had sat before she had ascended to godhood. In quiet moments of working together as they had since the beginning the part of him that was both awed and a little afraid could relax and see her as a friend again.

Finishing the first of the knobs he set it carefully aside closer to Kala than himself.

"Would you like to try?"

[Kala Leukos]

.

Eventually, their words ceased and she continued to watch Torin work. She often felt like an audience at the opera, watching feats of artistry that were beyond most people's reach. With her Rune, she could appreciate the intricacies and elegance of his work in a way that few mages could. Sometimes it felt as though they were children sneaking off to unleash their imaginations, only this was real, and she was glad that he was slowly becoming more comfortable with her again. At some point in the distant future, she might be less immediate and human than she was now, but for the time being, she needed that tether to what she had been to keep her from spinning out of control on her path to what she would become.

"Are you sure?" she asked. But, of course, he was. Torin seemed to derive as much pleasure from people appreciating his works as from making use of them himself.

Kala took the knob in hand, admiring how the webwork of aether had crystalized when his enchantment was complete.

She concentrated upon the door to the shop, a simple, short-range traversion, all the while observing how it picked up on her thoughts and began to order the aether to her will. This must be similar to what a person with travel magic felt. It was fascinating.

Placing the tip against the door, she felt its energies expand. When it was ready, she turned the knob. There was a click, or perhaps she imagined it, or that was how her mind translated the snap of the aether as the connection was completed. She pulled and the door opened even though it was only a thread of aether connecting the knob to the door itself.

Through the doorway, Huntress made confused growls at them. She smelled her master, but he had left through the door opposite this one.

.

[Torin Kilvin]

Torin sat silently, holding his breath as Kala attached the knob that he had spent half a year working on to the door and activated it. When she turned the knob, counter clockwise, to the only gem currently in its settings, till it clicked. All that was needed then was that she turn it clockwise, as one might turn a normal knob and...

Torin felt the magic coalesce then come together in what his senses interpreted as a click. A particularly satisfying click. The culmination of multiple different magical disciplines, runes users, and aether types forming a bond that caused the door to open into his own backyard.

He laughed. A sort, helpless delighted exclamation. It had worked.

It should have, of course, he'd been as careful in this project as any he'd ever made, more so, as it was more complex, but still. It worked.

For a little while he just stared, felt the cold breeze of season roll out over him as he grinned. After a minute the wolf that had been staring back at him with her nose lift gave a little huff sound as though accepting that whatever was happening was at least real, and as such, not cause for major alarm. Stepping forward she gave the doorway a through sniffing before raising her head to greet Kala, who she knew was one of the acceptable people, with a lick on the hand.

Standing Torin came over and accepted Huntress' longer than usual inspection of his person before shooing her back through the door into the yard. There were very many new and interesting smells in the new room that had appeared for the wolf, so it was only with reluctance that she obeyed the smith and trotted back into her domain.

When Huntress was back where she belonged Torin watched as Kala closed the door and released the knob from its surface. Taking it tenderly between his two hands when it was offered, he inspected it with the full extent of his magical abilities. No harm had come to it, no malfunction of magics or warping of the delicate weaves. Smiling again, more quietly but with a deep satisfaction saturating his aura, he handed it back to Kala for her inspection.

They did, it could not be denied, great work together.