Legend of Ransera

"If one of your farmers chooses to become a vintner," she hastened to amend, "I am certain that between Master Kavafis, myself, and whatever Negation-based wonders you create... Or Elementalism-based wonders? Hmm. However your mind parses the problem, there are ways to solve it. I believe the problem with grapes has been climate rather than soil, but rather than tumble down this rabbit-hole, I would suggest any such hypothetical farmer speak to Master Sunrunner about it. The magic is a tool. The knowledge of agriculture and viticulture are currently beyond my ken."

Kala smiled ruefully, commiserating with him. Her mother and even Aquilios these days complained of just how many details required their attention. Torin was learning on the job, and Kala had many hats to wear, one of which included hearing prayers of all things. The tour was enjoyable for her; she tried to listen more than she spoke, offering advice when requested or when it seemed it would be most helpful. At this point, she had a good idea when her friend would be most receptive to it and when he needed mere support.

Later, when he had showed her his domain and she had complimented it until he blushed and kicked at the dirt, she knelt in that same dirt.

"And now, as promised, I will show you how to warm the earth without blighting it. Observe."

Torin already knew that gestures only mattered if they helped the mage. Frequently, she made magic with little more than a glance and concentration, but sometimes it felt more art than science and the mind and body supported the will as best they could. Her hands moved almost as if they were dancing, and Fire answered her silent call.

It manifested in threads, drawn from ambient heat in the air, coaxed into being from secret places, perhaps even the core of her that was hotter than anything else on Ransera. But she wove those threads into intricate traceries spooling it out and sending it down into the Earth around her. He could sense how she wrote her will into the shape of things, but also bent when bending was more effective. She danced with the Fire, with the Earth, with the Water and the Air hidden in each.

He could see how her delicate touch began to raise the temperature below her by a few degrees, careful not to banish the Water and the Air that rooting things needed. It was a gentle thing rather than a matter of brute force. It required no more power than an apprentice might muster, but her mastery was evident in how efficiently, how elegantly that power was used.

Kala held the delicate pattern in place whilst Torin examined it, making little sounds acknowledging what he said as he would be blind to a nod at this point.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "But some of the credit goes to my teachers. I was taught to seek efficiency, creative strategies over brute force. The idea behind it was that if the mage is always making the most of what power is available, by the time they can manage true power, what they can manage will be truly powerful."

She patted his hand. "You have the same instinct, I think. When I look at your work, I see it. Now... if we were to have a truly bone-snapping winter and the wards in the sky and in the earth were overpowered, you could still seek Fire. The Sun is the most obvious source in these mountains, but she is sometimes hidden as we know now better than ever before. But the land holds its own Fire."

Her hand still on his, she tugged at his mind with hers, letting her awareness sink down through the Earth to the depths where Fire ran like blood through the world's veins. It was true they could create Fire, and now she always had starfire within her. But it was often, as she had called it, a more creative strategy to borrow the power of the elements from the world around them, working with them rather than forcing them into submission.

"Do you feel it?" she asked, her voice likely seeming faint and faraway if his awareness had followed her down into the depths of the Earth below the valley.

Two master semblers could easily communicate telepathically, and so they did. Likely Torin could sense Kaus in her consciousness, and hints of her other, more tenuous bonds. But deep in the earth, there was more than enough to engage his mind.

"Yes," she said, either with words or with her mind, "and Earth and Metal are the same, really. Or Earth includes Metal. These divisions are only real because of consciousness. I can't quite articulate it yet. Don't let me confuse you, though..."

Her consciousness seemed to take on some of that Fire they found, and some Air, and she began to rise like a balloon, tugging him back toward himself.

When she blinked back to life, she saw him doing the same and smiled.

"It would be best to have someone to tug you back into your body when you plan on exploring like that," she warned. "The hidden world is fascinating in the best and the worst ways. Think of it similarly to your time in the Aetherium. Remember that you remain something part spirit and part flesh. Don't forget the body you leave behind."

She patted his hand, then placed it on his shoulder, using him to steady herself as she rose and began to stretch out the kinks in her muscles. Time had passed since she had woven her enchantment and taken him on a brief tour of the elemental underpinnings of his valley.

"But being able to do this ought to make your conversations with Master Sivan and the gritaeri more fruitful."

"I think," she posited quietly, "that is one reason people have demigods, and demigods have the Dragon Gods and Mistlords--something to hold the place where logic leads to revelations impossible to hold. Someone safe." She patted his hand. She was learning to be that for mortals, while looking to those greater than herself for the same service.

But even she could only hold these ineffable concepts for so long, and so she was happy to chat about more solid things as they toured the rest of the valley.