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Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 4:17 pm
by Kala Leukos
Cintamani Pavilion
30 Searing 121
When a week passed without word from the young apprentice, Kala was not bothered. Deals could move slowly and the Leukos zaibatsu was playing a long game. When two weeks passed without word, Kala returned to the forge to speak directly with the master smith. She played the part of the younger child of a minor hatakomen well, free with her praise of Torin and Timon in the man's absence, eager to make a small deal for her family's small holding. If the man thought her out of her league, he was polite enough not to say anything. The deal was struck. A contract was signed. Her promissory note from the Bank of Kalzasi would finance the transaction for the nonce, the remainder to be paid upon completion.
While the smith read through the legal document, she caught Timon's eye and made a gesture reminding him to correct his grip on the dagger he was polishing. His eyes widened and he cast a furtive glance at his master before sharing a conspiratorial smile with her and correcting his grip.
Their business concluded, the smith bowed and she nodded a respectful acknowledgment. Artisans were not ill-treated in Kalzasi, but among her people, their skill was held in high esteem. There was no promise of future business and surely he thought her minor house was spending more than it could afford even now, though the deal negotiated was mutually beneficial. When she returned home, there was word from Torin, that he would come the following evening after his duties were performed. She sent a brief acknowledgment back.
The following day was spent at the Academy in one of her courses. Now that she had taken on more of the family's affairs, she had been obliged to curtail her academic activities but managed to keep up albeit at a slower pace than when she first arrived.
When Torin made his way into Adira's Promenade to find the Leukos family home, it was not so impressive as most of the surroundings. It was built upon terra firma, not terra flying for one. It was large enough, but looked more like small fortress than anything else. Upon ringing the bell, he was quickly welcomed inside and the inside of the structure was wildly unexpected. Perhaps it was their mountain culture — but any adornment the walls might have held outside were brought inside. There was warm light, a riot of colors from stained glass windows to mosaics upon the walls to tasteful furnishings. Perhaps to a smith's apprentice it screamed wealth, but to another denizen of the Promenade, it was more likely to impress in the cohesion of disparate elements, as if one eye had overseen the development of décor over the course of generations.
The sharp, spiced scent of incense was present but neither cloying nor overpowering. All the same, it was quickly replaced by the smells of nature when he was brought out through a loggia into the central gardens that seemed to be what the whole structure was guarding. In the lingering summer warmth, late-blooming flowers nodded in the breeze while trees put forth fruit. The fountains murmured to each other and birds and butterflies glutted themselves on the feast while the sun still shone. Though grand enough, it had the feel of an actual home. Finer mansions floated above them, and even the great houses of Cloudhaven were visible from here.
A table had been set for three in the shade, but it looked as though the actual refreshments were only just being brought out since his arrival. And on the flagstones, a strange sight: the twins wearing far less than they had in the forge that day, locked in combat. Kaus wings were mantled, his chest bare. His longsword and longer arms had a reach advantage on his sister, and his leaps lasted longer than they ought to due to his wings, but she was holding her own, using her lower center of gravity to her advantage, twisting so her daggers caught, deflected, or countered with lightning swiftness. On occasion, he would manage something with his blade that ought not to be possible, perhaps implying some magic at work. Her own magic was invisible, but its effects were quite clear when she seemed to punch at nothing and one of his wings caught a violent gust of air that threw him off balance, though only for a moment before he recovered. It was an improvised dance, though Kala was the one who looked like she might as well have been on the stage of the Golden Peacock, dancing like a stylized bird on the wing.
While Torin watched, the servant kept walking, approaching the pair but remaining at a safe distance.
"My lady," he said. "My lord."
As if by some silent, mutual agreement, the combat was just over. They bowed to each other, something old and a little off compared to what one saw in Kalzasi. Then they turned toward Torin. As they approached, Kala smiled, wider and more open than when they had been in the shop. Her curved, feather-shaped blades spun and disappeared into sheaths. Kaus swept his platinum hair back with a hand and smiled wider still, ever the more ebullient of the pair. Another servant brought him a sheath for his longsword, which he put away and leaned against the table.
"Welcome to our home, Master Torin," she said, Kaus adding his welcome in her wake.
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:34 pm
by Torin Kilvin
Torin was kept mostly busy, between working on ideas for Aurin's business and actually working. He kept the invitation from Lady Leukos tucked into his head without mentioning it. Timon had been as tight-lipped as a monk's vow of silence about the encounter with the noble twins. Something that raised the often flighty child in Torin's estimation significantly. He did occasionally give Torin an over-exaggerated wink but with all his other eccentricities the conspiratorial nature of the expression went unnoticed by anyone else.
He hardly noticed the passage of time until the lad came to him one day and told him that 'The Fanthy Lady' had come back to the shop and made a small order. He spent the rest of that day hurrying through his current work so that he could be free the next afternoon and sent a note warning of his visit.
The next day he dressed in the outfit he'd worn to Aurin's dinner except now the leather vest he had ordered was finished so he wore it too and chose black breeches instead of the light ones. It was a nice walk, still cool enough in the evening that he wasn't sweating when he arrived at the fortress-like mansion. He rather liked its hardy exterior. It looked like somewhere one could be private even inside the city. There was also the fact that he could simply walk up to it.
He was greeted almost immediately upon ringing the chime, ushered inside by a warmly polite servant, and then stunned. That was how it felt anyway. Torin had never seen so much color at once in his life. It was like a rainbow had chosen this for its home and spread out to fill every corner. The servant was apparently used to this reaction and he waited with a knowing smile on his face while the apprentice blinked and stared. The scent of spices hit his nose and he wondered if this infusion of colors, light, and smells was what Starfall was like. It made him smile thinking of how the twins, who were as pale as the snows of their home, chose to surround themselves with color. When he turned back to the servant, only a little embarrassed by his shock, the man led him to an inner courtyard where a table was set for three. He was confused for a moment and then realized that he was, in fact, excepted to dine rather than being sent to the kitchens for a meal.
Refreshments were being carried out by several servants; pitchers beading with condensation and trays covered in delights ranging in color almost as profuse as the courtyard itself. Taking this in he did not notice his hosts until a grunt of effort drew his attention. It seemed nothing about what he had expected was going to be true. The apprentice watched, at first curious and then rapt as the matched pair danced, parried, struck, and flew across the flagstones. Without really thinking about it he reached into the shoulder scrip he'd brought and pulled out a small book that he kept for ideas and a charcoal pencil. He sketched without looking away from the fight for more than a moment. When the servant moved to interrupt them he raised a hand to stop the man but let it fall. It was not his place. Tucking the stretches away he straightened his coat and presented himself.
"Thank you." His voice was deeper than the casual business tones he had mostly used in the runesmith's shop, his awe as plain as the fact that he was overwhelmed. Unsure if bowing would be appropriate he lowered his eyes and bowed his head briefly, untrained for anything grander.
"I apologize for not coming sooner, an apprentice's time is not his own." Thankfully he was too full of the ideas that watching the twins spar had seeded in his mind to allow the fidgeting that was his normal reaction to new circumstances.
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 1:01 am
by Kala Leukos
Servants arrived with cotton robes, light summer yukata, each helping a twin into them, then allowing them to tie their own obi. Both young nobles thanked the servants, who seemed to take that in stride as well.
"There is no need to apologize," Kala assured him. "I placed an order with your master to keep our home supplied for the next season, but that also gives us time and space to negotiate for the future."
"We wouldn't want you to feel rushed establishing your forge," Kaus added with an easy grin. "It's a big step. I envy you. We try to maintain what our ancestors created, build upon it. You are going to make a thing for yourself."
Kala smiled. "As I said, we have time and space to negotiate. Would you care to sit or perhaps we could show you more of our home?"
"We tend to go out to socialize rather than invite people here," Kaus said. The financial matters were Kala's to attend to, but Kaus would remain to be supportive and because if they were cultivating a connection with this up-and-coming artisan, it behooved the both of them to get to know him. House Leukos was funny like that, with their old-fashioned manners and ancient regional zaibatsu.
The servants brought water, lemonade, iced tea, and even a bottle of distilled spirits should they want a bite to their refreshments. Summer fruits and cheeses stayed under trays lest the garden's denizens think the array was for their benefit. More substantial food would come later, when they had been sitting and taking their ease. But while supper at the blacksmith's table might be a timed affair, here they knew how to take their leisure and there was no rush either to business or to dinner.
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:55 pm
by Torin Kilvin
He knew he shouldn't stare, not at nobles generally and especially not at these two, wearing far less than he'd typically seen anyone in except Aurin. But he did. They were beautiful, like clockwork was beautiful, like the moment when a dragonshard gave up its magic into his hands and fell, at his will's dictate, at the exact turning of his hand, into a new object, a new purpose. These twins were purpose and magic, and will.
Ideas swirled in his head, things of airy flight and sharpness, of curves and clear lines.
He blinked eventually, swallowed, dropped his eyes to the paving stones to center himself back into his mind, away from the place he went when he created. Nodding to her words he said,
"Of course, the work will be from the same source, mostly. I'm starting to look for a place to plant myself, no luck yet but it's months before I'll need it really." The idea she was speaking of had been in his own head many times, it had terrified him in his youth, he had shied from it as a child scared of a dog. Now was different, he wasn't doing it alone, but for and with others too. He wasn't excited exactly, but he wasn't afraid.
That her mind had so quickly hit upon something that had been such a big part of his life was oddly relieving, made him feel a kinship. He had no idea what to make of the offer of a tour. He had never been in a noble estate nor any home where one might need a tour. Sivan had shown him around his cottage but it had been mostly a joke, something gently teasing between the two of them. "If you wish to show me your armory or other works of my craft I am always eager to learn."
Perhaps that was what she had meant, but perhaps not. "If there are other things you would enjoy showing off I would enjoy that as well." He stumbled a little over the last sentence, not because it was untrue. He was off-balance, not uncomfortable but not at all sure how to behave or what was expected of him. The condensation forming on the cool drinks called to him and he glanced at them but he would wait to see what the Lady wanted.
It made him wonder how he would act when he had a place, however much more humble than this great house, of his own to invite people into. What sort of host would he be? He had only ever imagined Aurin being in a space that was his and when doing so there had been no formality about it. His mind thought of his space as Aurin's space already.
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:04 pm
by Kala Leukos
Kala's smile was gentle but knowing as he fumbled for the right things to say.
"Please," she said, and inserted her hand into the crook of his elbow, leading him toward the loggia. Kaus fell in on the other side of his sister. "We don't maintain a great armory within the city. Our greater threats lie in the mountains, though we always heed the battle cry of our sovereign. But we are also a private family, and while we enjoy the open sky, we don't enjoy too many eyes upon us."
She pointed upward, where one could see several Avialae wheeling in the distance. It was unlikely they were peering into the courtyard of the Pavilion, but her point was made. Kala didn't know how much the runesmith knew of architecture, but she didn't condescend to overexplain that the column she led him to only looked as though it supported the roof. In fact, the pilaster supported something else entirely. From out of a nondescript little shelf, she pulled a monacle made of aura glass and handed it to him. Then she put her hand onto the shelf and the pilaster lit up to her rune-augmented eye. Others around the courtyard did as well, supporting the complex weave of Masquerade that allowed one to shroud the entire building in illusion.
"It seems a great expense of time, money, and power," she said, "but I have only read some of the personal accounts of my ancestors so perhaps there was valid reason to protect their privacy to this extent."
Through her Rune of Semblance, she could see some of the structural magics that had been forged into the building, though Master Kilvin would understand better what he saw through the monacle. The aura glass would also show him the illusion she had manifested: couples in loose, flowing clothes of white dancing in the courtyard. More tables like the one that was real were draped with flowers and covered with food. Musicians played and one could hear the music faintly, and the laughter and conversation. Their intimate gathering would look like quite the party should anyone look down.
Kaus gave her an expectant look, and she smiled and nodded to him. Pleased, he was content now to wait before doing his own showing off. Kaus was much more comfortable around people than his sister.
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:52 pm
by Torin Kilvin
Torin was grateful when his hostess rescued him from his flailing conversation, enough so that he didn't even jump when she reached out and took his arm.
It felt... nice. She was soft and hard all at once in an entirely different way from Aurin or Timon. He tried to remember the last time a woman had touched him and couldn't. It surely had been his first master's wife trying to care for him but he would have been a child. He sometimes brushed past women in the streets but that was very different from someone choosing it.
He had no silliness over it, no ideas of secret romance or even instinctive attractions. He settled into her lead, as Kaus seemed to, and almost as easily.
Knowing nothing of architecture he hadn't learned helping repair thatch in his village he did not mark the column as anything special at first. When he was handed the tiny aura glass, a rarity in itself, he looked at the support beam closer with his normal vision first. He could see the tiny markings of a runesmith in the stone, tilting his head he frowned, the patterns were not complete. He couldn't figure out why until he affixed the glass to his eye and Saw.
Her reference to privacy and pointing out how it was rare to see the sky entirely free of Avialae in Kalzasi immediately made sense. The pattern had seemed unfinished because it was only one piece of a much larger whole. He stepped out and looked up at the web of woven magic, closing his uncovered eye to study the effect, tilting one way and another, probably looking ridiculous.
"It's..." His hesitation this time had nothing to do with social awkwardness, he was struggling to put name to the wonder. "Wonderful."
That he meant 'wondrous' was fairly obvious. He walked from one column to another, looking with his eyes and then the glass, as though he had forgotten his hosts. Moving back over to where Kala stood he ran his fingers over the first column very lightly, as though trying to read it with touch. Murmuring that sounded like calculations coming together and then falling apart came from him and he shook his head.
Noticing the Lady watching he stood up straight suddenly like a small child or a pet caught at something they knew they weren't allowed to do. "I'm... Ehem," He cleared his throat, color high on his cheeks but not as much as one might expect, "I'm sorry. I would love to hear your family history, or, I mean if there is a written history?"
Having her tell the entire history of a noble family would be asking a lot, but his interest was electrically clear. That he was choking back tripping himself over a thousand questions was just as obvious. Pulling out his little sketchbook again he opened it to the same page he'd been scratching out ideas on while watching the twins sparring and began scribbling down a series of complicated-looking calculations.
The already written on page had a few crude sketches of the pair that managed to express their motion and intent in simple charcoal lines. Alongside those were sketches of wings from different angles with bits of the math specific to runesmithing in notations, some overlaying parts, and on one of them was a set of straps one might wear to attach wings to one without them. He stopped after a moment and looked back up between the white-gold pair.
"I'm," He sighed out exasperation that sounded like it might have been laughter in another place, "I'm sorry. I've never been allowed to see anything like this before. I've heard of the feats of the old Smiths of course but, this is like a dream." Tucking his book back away he firmly pushed his satchel behind him and stood ready to continue being shown around.
"Forgive me if I seem rude, I'm very grateful to be allowed into your home. Please, continue?"
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:50 pm
by Kala Leukos
The twins were not bothered by his reaction. They shared a secret smile, perhaps, but otherwise gave him time and space to gawk, to calculate, to take notes.
"Your reaction, Master Kilvin," she said, "is wonderful." Full of wonder. "You needn't apologize. We had hoped you would enjoy the inspection. I do believe the plans are kept at Starfall, however. Perhaps if you go to work with our runesmith there, she will bring them out for you. In the meantime, you are welcome to look and take notes. But I hope you will keep our little secret. I am quicker to trust than many of my family."
Kaus laughed. She smiled.
"I think you are a good man, sir, and even if we can't steal you away, you might be a friend of our House and work with us here. That is why we are willing to show you what wonders we have, and invest in your career when it is budding. Of course, we hope it will be a mutually beneficial relationship. We are not offering charity, nor do you require such."
"Here," Kaus interjected. "You have the aura glass. Look."
When he had Torin's attention, Kaus seemed to reach into the air, but he was reaching through the air and through the aether, pulling forth a silver-seeming longsword engraved with falling feathers.
"It is my understanding that the Pact of Reaving cannot be made with a magical weapon, but perhaps that is something a Master might accomplish. There is no runeforging involved here, but it's bound to my soul through another rune. Perhaps you might learn something useful by looking..." His mouth curled up into a smile. The lad had a magnetic charisma; it demanded smiles. There was something almost bashful about his manner as he showed him the weapon that was a part of him. They were young like Torin, but brought up with privilege and heavy responsibilities. They were not popular in Kalzasi, either. They were oddballs, and quietly respected for the accomplishments their family made, but most forgot about House Leukos, and that was all right by them.
But as much as the twins were loyal to their House, they were not a monolith.
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2021 3:32 pm
by Torin Kilvin
Torin blushed. Of course, he did. Praise was something he earned through hard work, not by being inadvertently rude in his enthusiasm. Aurin praised him generously, sometimes when he earned it and sometimes just because. It was something the large blond was trying to decide how to get used to, where it should fit in his understanding of the world.
His basic ideas for how society worked were being turned slowly as he stepped out of his protected childhood into tentative adulthood. He had assumed that most people were neutral, in that they would take advantage of others to gain an advantage for themselves. Some were truly bad but even that was only a deepening of what they were willing to do for that advantage. The good people were a lessening of the same.
These twins seemed willing to give a lot to gain something that, he recognized was not small, but which they could have gained with much less kindness and openness. They could have given less and they had chosen to give more anyway. Perhaps it was a trick but his instincts were not warning him to be wary of them. They hadn't even really asked anything of him yet; a future contract perhaps but that would be as much a gain for him, or more so, than for them.
"Of course I will keep your trust, My Lady." He smiled at her in an altogether more friendly way than was entirely respectful of her rank. "Telling anyone would mean I would never get to study the plans." He was serious in that the loss would feel great but he wouldn't have told their secret anyway. Being allowed inside of secrets was something he'd been denied as a child, an unwelcome orphan in circles of whispering children. He wasn't actually an orphan but, in the way of children, when something wasn't able to be seen or experienced it didn't exist and his parents had been decidedly absent from his raising.
"It would be my honor to work with your house." He made the impression of a bow without actually making one, "I would be pleased to devote my time to projects for you and your people."
The difficulty in making or obtaining runeforged items was time, and the reason it was much more expensive than merely the already high cost of materials. Runesmiths were rare and became rarer the higher quality of item one was looking to have made. The time required to make even a simple item was restrictive. A runesmith offering all of his work hours to a single client was rare unless they were a subject of the noble in question.
Torin wanted to work on his own projects of course, but he was still very young for a fully trained runesmith and he would have the energy to work long hours for years yet before the fatigue that restricted the profession further began to set in.
Watching carefully through the small aether glass when instructed to do so, Torin was able to see the magic split the air in a smooth line, see the nobleman slip his hand into the rent in reality, and draw forth a sword.
He moved around Kaus slowly, inspecting the blade and how it tethered to the one whom it was bound to. He did not pull out his book and begin taking notes again but he let the ideas filter down deeper into his magical understanding. Ideas of bonding, of the nature of existence, and of how aether tied all things together. He spoke almost absently as he inspected,
"I am no Master, but I hope someday to become so. My first teacher believed I had it in me, that's why he sent me to the city to learn." He was finding he liked Kaus as much as he did Kala. There was something kin between the nobleman and the apprentice; a similar exuberant enthusiasm that was bashful even as it was irrepressible. Perhaps Torin might have been like Kaus if raised in a similar manner. He did not think these things, he only thought about magic and allowed himself to be unconsciously charmed by the pair.
"I do not think I could enchant the blade, or any such weapon. It is..." He struggled for a way to translate what his senses were telling him into Common. "It is enchanted already, but it's not." He shook his head, "It has become a magic of its own. I couldn't enchant a rune etched into someone's skin, or a spell being cast. But," He circled Kaus slowly as he thought out an idea,
"I could probably create items that would enhance your ability to use the blade, or your ability with it specific to you and your bond." As he was circling Kala came back into his view, he could see both twins through the glass at the same time and several things fell into place at once in his head.
"You're bonded." He said without thinking.
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:46 pm
by Kala Leukos
Of course, both twins were pleased to hear that working with their House would be considered an honor. Both were trained not to take compliments at face value, though Kala thought Master Kilvin was an honest man. Kaus agreed, and they tended to be good judges of character because they met people from two distinct perspectives and shared much of what they thought without even translating into mere words. Kala considered how she would scriven a contract that would bind him to their secrecy if certain things were to be shared or formalized, but she was certain she could persuade him that it was for their protection rather than to manipulate him to their will.
Kala thought it better to be loved than feared, and it was the way of her family. Fear was an effective tool in some ways, but limited. Love could effect less direct control, but it could be the foundation for greater things. She looked on with an amiable expression. Though neither twin would give up their bond for the world, she knew that they both needed to make more connections with other people lest they become too insular and their bond become a burden rather than a boon. He was surprisingly shy about showing his pact weapon to the smith, though inordinately pleased by his interest.
"I would be interested to hear more about such items," Kaus confessed.
Neither twin seemed startled by Master Kilvin's revelation. Their bond was a given, a foundation of their understanding of the world. They didn't hide it.
"We are corebonded," Kala affirmed. "Since birth. You have a good eye. Not everyone recognizes that, even with aura glass or the Rune of Semblance." And she knew from whence she spoke. Her own power with Semblance grew as much from learning to understand what she was seeing as from being able to look deeper or separate the complexities. She Looked at him through her runic eye and saw no judgment, just more wonder, the same at their bond as with the pact weapon or the massive masquerade that protected their privacy here. She saw Torin Kilvin and continued to look, letting her own small magic teach her nuances about this man she proposed to sponser.
Re: Poaching Talent [Torin]
Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:15 am
by Torin Kilvin
Torin had no idea he was being observed as more than himself, though he should have realized it could be happening considering Kala showed in small ways that she could see what he was seeing. He also had no idea what a corebond was, knowing only the most basic information about their race and what a bond meant. The glass was telling him more than he'd learned from the gossip and overheard conversations that had been his previous education on Avialae.
What he saw was difficult to understand in his conscious mind so he left it alone. Perhaps he could get a book that would explain to him what the nuances were since they seemed open with sharing the ideas. To his embarrassment, he was still examining the blade and its bearer when his stomach reminded him that it was time to fill it. It wasn't overly loud but enough to hear.
The twins were kind enough to suggest they head back to the table laid for them without referencing his obvious need. When they were sitting he considered some of his ideas.
"I would have to study significantly more but it seems like one should be able to make an enhancement that would allow you to call the blade directly into your hand." He spoke briefly about the nature of the aether-space the blade was pulled from. "It's not a lot but seconds can be significant in situations where a blade would be needed." Of course, both the nobles at the table with him would know that, they had proved as much at his entrance. He was more confident when talking about his craft than he was other subjects, it was nice to be in company to do so.
"I could make you a bracelet or a ring, something you could wear on your dominant hand that could add an element to any weapon you wielded. I should work on your bonded blade." He thought about this while taking a bite of some delicately cut fruit he was offered, "I think it would. Wouldn't hurt to try." If he could get it to work it was the sort of thing that would appeal directly to the sort of folk who could afford his work.
"I wouldn't charge for the work if you wanted to pay for the material to let me try it out." He considered this only fair since he didn't know if it would work for sure. "It wouldn't have to be harmful magic, although that would make the most sense. It would need an activation, a certain gesture or spoken command so it wouldn't just come on while you're cutting up your meals." He nodded toward where Kaus was eating with a fork.