64th of Ash, 120 AS
The leather was slightly blue in tint and was soft to the touch. Using clear glue Lyra painted the underside of the wood boards before carefully pressing each of the 3 pieces in the leather. The was enough material that the leather could be folded over the wood completely, glued down as well. Using a small knife Lyra shaved off some of the bundled-up edges, frowning slightly as she tried to get the material to press flat. She let the glue dry for a short time before taking her knife once more and cutting the leather where the hold in the wood was. Then Lyra took a small cut gem, something she had commissioned the day previously. An average Aetherite shard would empower most of the grimoire's glyphs. It could be traded out later for its greater variety, but for now, all she needed was for the basic enchantments to function. The gem itself was cut into a diamond shape, with one side smooth and flat. Lyra applied a thin layer of glue on the edges of the gem, as well as on the inside surface of the opening. She then pressed the gem into space so that the flat side was on the inside of the cover where the glyphs were located. As the gem was placed the scripts reacted, pushing once with bluish light before fading. She held the gem in place for a few minutes, being careful to ensure it would not shift.
Next Lyra applied the glue to the inside cover near the spine of the book, as well as along the spine itself. She then took the stack of papers and pressed its edge into the spine, applying pressure to ensure the glue took. The edges of the cloth were also pressed down into the cover of the book. This was held in place for several seconds while the glue dried. When it was dry enough that Lyra could move the cover without fear of any of the pages shifting she smiled. The last step required Lyra to cut out a blue sheet of paper that would serve as the book lining. As before she applied glue to the inner surface of the front and back cover, as well as the first and last page before applying this thin cover sheet. Once it was in place it completely hid the markings on the inside cover of the book, and thus its effects from prying eyes. Closing the front cover Lyra pressed down on the edges of the leather where the aetherite shard peaked out. Using a wooden tool Lyra pressed the edges down, cutting here and there so that the gem sat snuggly in place. With that Lyra closed the book, pressing her hands on its surface and feeling satisfied with its basic design.
The basics required of a Grimoire had been met. Now came the part that would make it truly a personal tool for the person in question. Picking up the vial of blood Lyra took some of her own blood ink and poured it into a small bowl on the workbench. The bowl was made of white bone and was covered in pictographs for mixing and combining. Using a dropper Lyra added several drops of Finn's blood to the link, which swirled slowly in the container. Pushing the mixing ink to the side Lyral took a small stack of extremely thin paper from another drawer under the workbench. With it she took a small charcoal pencil as well.
The paper would be used as her canvas. Working leather, Lyra knew, was not the same as carving other materials, or drawing itself. She could use her bone pen and blood ink to do everything from this stage on, however, it would not have done a Grimoire justice. Thus she did things the old fashioned way. As always Lyra started with a circle at the center of the paper. This would encircle the aetherite shard at the center of the cover. Around that circle lyra scratched curving lines that twisted and swirled in shapes, making pathways and divides that linked with one another in an artistic fashion. She started with a pictograph on the right side of the page. With simple lines, Lyra created the shape of a harp, its strings forming from the swirling lines that came from the central pictograph. On the second sheet of paper, Lyra started another design that would go on the pack cover. On this one, though Lyra added the harp symbol was on the left side. From each harp designs like half-formed music bars were sketched, winding around a rectangular rim that would be the edges of the journal itself. Here Lyra had to take time and use a straight-edged measuring device to ensure her lines were properly straight. She continued the designs would wrap around each cover to touch the spine of the book.
Lyra returned to the center circle and began drawing more lines, forming a stylized musical note that shaped itself into an eye starting from the central circle. On the back cover, Lyra added additional eyes with musical notes forming from their edges, linking them to the outer edges of the glyph where the bars were located. She then moved to a design for the spine, and here she kept her work simple. Simple stylized versions of musical instruments, music notes, and other decorations that would belong on a journal of a musician. At the very bottom of the spine through Lyra added her own symbol, a curled serpent with no eyes. This was not linked to any of the pictographs, but instead was a way for her to add her own mark.
With the design completed Lyra used a damp cloth to wet the surface of the leather before pressing the paper onto its surface. She then used a blunt-edged instrument to press the outline of the design into the softened leather. The work was slow, as she had to retrace every inch of the design she had created, but when she finished she had an imprint of her work on the leather itself. The next part was an area she was not overly familiar with. She waited for the water to be applied once more before taking a small knife that rested against her index finger, points facing down. It had a fine edge and cut easily into the leather. She applied as little pressure as she could get away with, slowing the process significantly as she was careful not to make erroneous cuts and make all her efforts up to this point meaningless. There were several times she noticed the edges of some of her liens growing uneven and some slight tugging on the instrument. At this point, she would stop and resharpen the blade before returning to her work.
"I must hire another for such parts as this." She muttered, growing tired of the tedium, and was pleased when that portion of the work was complete.
In the last step, Lyra took her bone stylus and the mixed-blood ink, retracing the designs in the leather with slow careful motions. As she worked she whispered beneath her breath, smoke trailing down her hand to wrap the glyphs as they were awoken.
"Wake now to the purpose, your calling. Protect and contain, and obey your master." The glyphs shimmered as she worked, responding to the will. Over the eye shapes, Lyra said softly, "Turn the eye, mask and ignore. Look not here for there is nothing to be found lest your master wishes it. Conceal, contain, hideaway." The eye shapes shimmered, holding an enchantment which would cast feelings of disinterest in those who looked at the book, save for its owners and those he showed it two directly. It was a smaller scale application of Lyra's own zone of disinterest which suppressed curiosity, greed, and excitement and enhanced people's feeling of urgency for other matters, and desire to be elsewhere. Other Grimoire achieved this effect in different ways. Some were invisible to those who were not their owner, while others would shock or burn those that were not meant to handle them. That, however, was not Lyra's way. She found that the best way to hide something is to convince those around you that you had nothing worth hiding.
She moved on to the harp pictographs. The lock and key of this grimoire, and the thing which truly made this tome valuable to the owner.
"Bind the pages, safe from all who are not your owner." Lyra declared as she traced, smoke swirling from her fingertips as the ink sunk into the leather, "Lock your secrets save from the one who wrote them in the first place. Protect that which you contain from the elements and all who would seek to steal your secrets." She tied this glyph to the glyphs of warding against the elements through the aetherite shard which powered them both. She called for both effects to be activated when the book's cover was closed, secure from the outside ravages of the world, and unable to be opened save for by its owner. At that thought Lyra took the vial of blood, poring a significant portion of it onto the harp pictograph itself. It seemed to draw in the blood, the magic of the ink still in effect as it was drying. The book would recognize Finn as its owner, and no one else. As an afterthought Lyra breathed out, suffusing her own aether into the glyph. She needed to be able to open the book as well after all... at least that is what she would reason if asked.
With a last breath, Lyra dismissed the smoke, letting the aether settle and the glow fade away. She lifted the cover, causing the harp on the front cover to shimmer slightly, and the book opened with ease. Excellent. Now she had just one final thing to make.
