03 Frost 120
Talon ran his fingers through his hair as he looked over the frostrylyth shard that he had in his grasp. It was of average quality but that was of no mind to him. The point was that he had chosen it specifically because it suited Rickter. His bondmate’s elemental affinity was that of water. The wolf Rathari had an outwardly cold demeanor when he was dealing with anyone but the people that he cared for. Given time, Talon could see the man coming to wield ice as his chosen manifestation of elemental power. It was an interesting dynamic considering that his other bondmate was given to a fire affinity. To that, Talon glanced at the pyrolyth shard nearby. Talon himself was not an elementalist but he was giving consideration to trying to become one some serious thought. He could see the usefulness of it in a variety of situations. But those were thoughts for a different day.
Sitting down to his work bench, Talon placed the frost dragonshard at the center of his pictograph circle. He picked up a pouch of Sorcerer’s Sand and created an auxiliary circle around that one so as to absorb any errant energy that manifested due to his tinkering.
“Time to work on the gauntlets?” Velkan took a seat beside him, reaching for the pyrolyth dragonshard as he did so. He repeated Talon’s motions, first inspecting it for quality to get a clear idea of where he needed to start his work. He then set it in the center of a pictograph circle and surrounded it with a circle of Sorcerer’s Sand.
“Indeed.” Talon opened himself up to his aetheric senses. He attuned them to the flow of the frost dragonshard in front of him so that he could get a clear picture of what he was working with. As he sifted through the layers of noise, it was only a moment before he reached the clear center of the crystal’s essence. Once that was in view, Talon picked up his tonal fork, he tapped it upon the surface of the crystal and then he got to work. Carefully he guided the tonal fork over the pathways inside of the crystal until he found the change in tone. Grasping with his jeweler’s forceps he picked up the corresponding path and began to nudge it loose. Grabbing his chisel, Talon diligently started carving new paths into place so that the energy within the crystal would be optimized. It was not long before he had refined a more concrete flow for that particular direction of aether to follow. Using his forceps, Talon began to redirect the flow more carefully.
“Why do we refine the shards before affixing them? Doesn’t the viscerite process already melt it down into its most concentrated essence?” Talon quirked his head toward his apprentice to show that he was listening even if he did not stop working.
“Not quite. Melting down an object in its found state will also melt and incorporate the impurities found in the materials as well. That is why we do not go from iron ingots straight to a steel sword. We refine them first and then create the sword. The purest state of a material should be used.” Talon was particular in that he would only introduce a component into the runeforge itself, after he had spent time flushing out as many impurities from the object at one of his workbenches. In the case of these crystals, they would not be placed into the runeforge but rather incorporated into the final products directly. The gauntlets that these gems would be affixed to had already been fashioned and they, along with many other pieces of clothing, were waiting for their final stages of preparation.
Talon chiseled a circle into one of the far corners of the crystal that he was working on. He then set to work guiding the fractured bits of corroded aetheric essence toward this circle so that they could be gathered and broken off. One by one he used his hammer and chisel to create the new pathways while deconstructing old, fragmented ones. Beside him, Velkan was doing the same to the fire dragonshard albeit at a slower pace due to less experience. When Talon had finally collected all the corroded and corrupted essence that he could find into the far corner, he isolated the fragmented aether. He then carefully began chipping away at the corner until with a sound akin to breaking glass, he broke off the piece of lesser quality aether. There was a small breeze that was chilled and frost gathered in the pictograph circle Talon had created. It quickly dissolved leaving only a shining frost gem behind. The aether gem shone a little brighter and while that was certainly not enough refinement to outright elevate it, Talon was confident this particular shard would perform better.
Picking up the broken bit of crystal with a pair of forceps, Talon deposited it into a specially prepared mortar and pestle. He then came to observe Velkan’s work closely. Reaching out, he pointed to one of the pathways that his apprentice had chiseled into place.
“You will want to reroute this one. It will be crossing over a fragmented path in the inherent structure. You want to create new pathways while deconstructing the others by tapping, then tugging them into place.” Velkan nodded wordlessly. Picking up the ice gem, Talon turned to see Aoren leaning against the doorway with a smirk on his face.
“You are just in time.” Talon smiled which prompted his bondmate to make a sweeping bow.
“Aren’t I always?” Rolling his eyes, Talon tugged the man forward, pressing a kiss to his cheek as he guided him over to his workbench. He set the crystal upon a runeforged stand built to help regular the energy of what was place in it. Picking up a set of jeweler’s tools, Talon began the work of slowly filing and cutting the aether gem into shape.
“Ice?” Talon nodded.
“Call it a gut feeling.” The feel of warm fingers upon his neck as he worked helped to soothe some of the tension in Talon’s muscles. With his Semblance, he watched carefully where he was filing and cutting at the gemstone so as to avoid sensitive areas or interrupting the flow of magic inside of it. He had spent good coin on these dragonshards and Talon hated to waste perfectly good materials.
“Do you think he will pass the tests?” Talon did not immediately answer. They were speaking in reference to Rickter’s ability to withstand the trials set before him. Thus far, he had proven to be the strongest and most capable candidate. Whether or not he would be able to make it throught he last test however...that remained to be seen. There was also the upcoming bout between Rickter and the other candidates. The logical part of Talon’s brain was telling him that he was too invested and was not approaching the matter with an eye of fairness. However, he dismissed that notion. Rickter had proven himself. Talon had made a point to not be present to directly oversee things so as to avoid the idea that he was influencing the outcome in a predetermined way. But everything was telling him that Rickter would pull through. So he would prepare for that.
“I have faith in him.” Aoren nodded. He did not need to say anything aloud. He knew that Aoren had faith in their wolf as well. They were both just worried. Once the ice crystal was properly filed and cut into shape, Talon blew away a bit of residual dust from it. He rotated it in his hand, inspecting it for deformities as best he was able. It was not the work of perfection that a more skilled jeweler could produce but it suited Talon’s needs. With a nod, Talon walked up to the anvil where rest a gauntlet, fashioned from the cloth that he had hired Circle tailors to work on using his runeforged materials. He tugged Aoren along with him, gently shoving his bondmate toward the stool.
“Hey! I’m beginning to think you only keep me around to help you with these projects.” Talon gave his bondmate a look.
“Are you complaining?” That earned him a grin. Without warning, Aoren extended a wing and gently tapped Talon on the side of the head.
“Nope. Not at all.” Lowering his wing, Aoren took up his place as Talon set the ice gem into its socket to make sure it fit appropriately. Satisfied that it was the right size, Talon went back over to the workbench to pick up the mortar and pestle containing the fragmented ice shard remnants. He collected the remains from his filing and cutting, scooping them into the bowel then stepped up to the anvil platform and began grinding the shards carefully. Talon picked up a bit of purified liquid aether, adding it to the mixture as he began to make a shimmering icy goo. He then picked up a brush, dipped it into the liquid and painted over the interior of the socket on the gauntlet before putting the gem in place. Grabbing his hammer and tools, Talon affixed the gemstone in place. He carefully wove together the arcane pathways so that there was a seamless connection between it and the magic in the gauntlet already.
“Ready?” Aoren nodded, extending his hands so that he could begin channeling his elemental aether. His bondmate was not an ice elementalist but he could still display the technique of Blending adequately. Once Talon observed the aether in motion, he began carefully guiding the techniques into place in order to facilitate the use of the aether gem with the wearer’s own aether. After a few more demonstrations and careful channeling, Talon had affixed the gemstone properly. With a satisfied sigh, he looked to Aoren with a smile then gestured to the gauntlet.
“Care to give it a try?” His bondmate shook his head.
“Oh no. I’ll take my fire. Thank you.” Just as he finished speaking, there was an exclamation from Velkan, drawing Talon’s attention. A spark followed by a brief burst of small flame and smoke had Talon rushing over. Velkan was coughing and waving away smoke.
“Are you alright!?” Talon grabbed the young man by the shoulders, spinning him to get a good look at him. Velkan was coughing and nodding.
“Y-yes! I’m fine! I just...I think I crossed a pathway where I shouldn’t have.” Talon looked over to the dragonshard. He sighed in relief. The dragonshard was cracked and ruined, with the crystal blackened but Velkan looked to be okay. The pictograph and sorcerer’s sand circles did their job. Talon chuckled, patting his apprentice on the shoulders.
“That is alright. I will get another shard and we will try again.” As Talon ushered Velkan away from the workbench, his bondmate came to walk beside them.
“Yeah, no harm done. Plus, your eyebrows should grow back.” Velkan blinked at Aoren.
“What!?” Aoren threw his head back and laughed. Talon smiled, shaking his head. He guided Velkan toward the stairs.
“Come. I should have something in my office to help.”
