18 Frost, Year 122
[Closed]
For all that she had watched her teachers go through this process, the creation of lodestones fascinated Hilana to no end. She had seen Daemon do it. In fact, she had the three that he had made and given to her. She had watched Palaemon make them, forming the crystals into exquisite shapes and imbuing them. Sentinel Ævril had, and his had been no less elegant than those of her Moonborn paedagogus. But for the different styles, the end result was the same. Beautiful quartz crystals, each with a different glow to illuminate what was inside of them.
The lodestone had been one of her biggest motivators from when Dominus Æros had first started to convince her to study the discipline. The idea of producing her own gemstones and being able to imbue them with another element, or even personal magic, in order to use those as well.... Her Rune had become more detailed recently, and that meant that according to her teachers, she could at least attempt more. But for now, Hilana would practice with just creating - and using - the lodestone. It would just be inert when she was done with it at this level, since basic lodestones could not recharge on their own. Not like the ones Daemon had made for her, which were fine as they were without any extra effort. Time was all they took. Hilana still used them carefully, but he had told her to practice with them to assist her studies...
She had her notebooks out from her lessons, and her main textbook in front of her. Hilana looked at Tiaz, who was lounging on a pillow on the couch beside her. Having earth on hand was a good start, but her homework was to manifest, sculpt, crystallize, and imbue it. That meant starting only from her own aether, conjuring first. Using sand or soil as a starting point would be cheating, and knowing her paedagogi would certainly test her on such a key fundamental of the craft later in person.... She was disinclined to attempt the shortcut. She was comfortable on the rug on the floor, sitting cross-legged for now, her pink and white skirts pooled around her.
Hilana took a deep breath, bringing her hands together, and focused on her Rune. It was a steady process for her as she encouraged the aether to flow through it and turn into earth, and from earth, she enhanced it further by crystallizing it into quartz. Where the others had made much more rounded stones to start, Hilana focused on longer, more rectangular ones for the time being just to give herself enough of a jumping-off point. She could then start shaping it into an oval, compressing it and increasing the fractals within it to increase the complexity of the outside. Once it was the size of her palm, that was when she had to stop and take a break. She turned over the faceted, clear crystal in her hands. “Tiaz, we did it,” Hilana held it up to show the python, who lifted his head and flickered his tongue. It wasn’t food, so it was of limited value to him, and he lowered his head once more. Basking was better, and with the ever-present sun, there was no shortage of it. When he got too warm, shade was at hand, simply by moving further back on the couch and out of the light where it was cooler.
She stretched herself a bit, her arms extending over her head as she took a drink of the tea. She’d made this one for a trial to see how it tasted and if it helped with studying. As she had another drink, she closed her eyes and savoured the flavours that she had built into it. The green tea that Vasilei had brought back from Karnor decades ago, apple and hibiscus for flavour and to help sooth the sharper tastes of the blood orange and rosemary. The roasted chicory root added a warm, nutty flavour to help round everything out, and as she leaned back against the couch she let out a contented sigh. The hot liquid didn’t bother her, and she enjoyed the warming feeling that pushed back the effects of her practice.
This one was a keeper.
After taking a few more minutes, Hilana picked the lodestone up. Now she had to charge it, and she considered her options. She didn’t have the ability to create ice, or she would have done that and used it to help cool things down. Raithen could have used it. Or perhaps Finn. But water was valuable in the desert. Even if she couldn’t put a lot in it, she could still put something there and practice with it again. This part was a bit trickier to her than making the lodestone itself, but she had watched Palaemon, Ævril, and Daemon do it, and she could surely do it without it exploding in her face. Hopefully. She held it in both hands, reading the textbook passage again before focusing on the translucent quartz crystal in front of her. Within it, Hilana manifested water, spinning her aether through her Rune, and stored it within the lodestone. She pressed until she thought it was full and stopped, picking up the fabric of her skirts to polish the lodestone with the cotton, and laid it on the coffee table beside her teacup. Up there, she could look at it in the sunlight, and she could see that the colour of the gemstone was a shimmering, swirling blue as the aether within indicated just what element was contained within.
Water.
She laughed - it was a small thing compared to the skills of her teachers, even compared to children who had been classically trained at the Academia Arcanum. But since when had she had any need to compare herself to others? Best not to - if a fish was judged by its ability to fly, then it would always receive a failing score. Everyone progressed at their own pace, but Hilana felt that she wasn’t doing too badly, all things considered. There would always be greater and lesser persons than herself, and if she sought to compare herself with them, it was an exercise in futility. The Vastiana had another sip of her tea, and picked the lodestone up again. She wished she could combine it with air to make ice, but she was not Arche to anything, not yet, and the elements would surely show her when she was ready. She already knew that attempting it anyway wouldn’t work. At best it would just displace the water stored within; at worst it would blow up in her face.
But she had already gotten a lesson on this from Palaemon and Ævril. She might not have been able to combine them into one yet, but she could impact them. One could affect the other, and then she could make it work. This was a tougher ask, using two at once, but since it was about stretching her limits... If she stayed in her comfort zone, nothing good could come from it. She had to keep progressing, she had to keep trying. That was the only way forward, and that had been the case all of her life. Hilana had never been one to settle for the path of least resistance. If she was... her life would have been a lot easier. A lot easier, but so much more boring.
She got up, leaving the lodestone on the low table although she did cover it with a cloth. With as much as sunlight as there was coming through the windows here, the last thing she needed was to accidentally set something on fire thanks to the sunlight refracting through the crystal. Hilana didn’t care that there was aether swirling inside of it, it was just safer not to take that chance. The Vastiana stretched again and took her now-empty cup of tea to her kitchen before refilling it, and grabbed one of her mixing bowls from the cupboard. If she was going to release the water within the lodestone and practice with it inside her apartment, then she may as well take some precaution to prevent her from making a complete mess. She opened up the jar of dates, and grabbed herself a hearty handful of those along with another small dish to put them and the pits in. Those she would wash and take to the greenhouses to start in moss and soil to start yet another generation of date trees.
Besides that, they were delicious, and eating helped replenish spent aether. She was in the mood to continue now, and so she shimmied her way back into the living room, her skirts swishing around her bare feet, and set everything up on the coffee table. Fresh cup of tea, mixing bowl, bowl of dates. Risdra padded over, coming to press against her and climb into her lap. The cat was disinclined to bother the snake, and Tiaz had no interest in the patterned feline, so peace reigned as the Vastiana sat back against the couch, enjoying the rich, caramel-chocolate taste of the dates.She was hardly one for stillness sometimes, but the lodestone creation and charging had definitely helped soak some of that surplus energy that she was always filled with. But patience, calmness, and stillness were all virtues. Just like Wildness. But the secret was in knowing the time and the place.
[Part II]
[Closed]
For all that she had watched her teachers go through this process, the creation of lodestones fascinated Hilana to no end. She had seen Daemon do it. In fact, she had the three that he had made and given to her. She had watched Palaemon make them, forming the crystals into exquisite shapes and imbuing them. Sentinel Ævril had, and his had been no less elegant than those of her Moonborn paedagogus. But for the different styles, the end result was the same. Beautiful quartz crystals, each with a different glow to illuminate what was inside of them.
The lodestone had been one of her biggest motivators from when Dominus Æros had first started to convince her to study the discipline. The idea of producing her own gemstones and being able to imbue them with another element, or even personal magic, in order to use those as well.... Her Rune had become more detailed recently, and that meant that according to her teachers, she could at least attempt more. But for now, Hilana would practice with just creating - and using - the lodestone. It would just be inert when she was done with it at this level, since basic lodestones could not recharge on their own. Not like the ones Daemon had made for her, which were fine as they were without any extra effort. Time was all they took. Hilana still used them carefully, but he had told her to practice with them to assist her studies...
She had her notebooks out from her lessons, and her main textbook in front of her. Hilana looked at Tiaz, who was lounging on a pillow on the couch beside her. Having earth on hand was a good start, but her homework was to manifest, sculpt, crystallize, and imbue it. That meant starting only from her own aether, conjuring first. Using sand or soil as a starting point would be cheating, and knowing her paedagogi would certainly test her on such a key fundamental of the craft later in person.... She was disinclined to attempt the shortcut. She was comfortable on the rug on the floor, sitting cross-legged for now, her pink and white skirts pooled around her.
Hilana took a deep breath, bringing her hands together, and focused on her Rune. It was a steady process for her as she encouraged the aether to flow through it and turn into earth, and from earth, she enhanced it further by crystallizing it into quartz. Where the others had made much more rounded stones to start, Hilana focused on longer, more rectangular ones for the time being just to give herself enough of a jumping-off point. She could then start shaping it into an oval, compressing it and increasing the fractals within it to increase the complexity of the outside. Once it was the size of her palm, that was when she had to stop and take a break. She turned over the faceted, clear crystal in her hands. “Tiaz, we did it,” Hilana held it up to show the python, who lifted his head and flickered his tongue. It wasn’t food, so it was of limited value to him, and he lowered his head once more. Basking was better, and with the ever-present sun, there was no shortage of it. When he got too warm, shade was at hand, simply by moving further back on the couch and out of the light where it was cooler.
She stretched herself a bit, her arms extending over her head as she took a drink of the tea. She’d made this one for a trial to see how it tasted and if it helped with studying. As she had another drink, she closed her eyes and savoured the flavours that she had built into it. The green tea that Vasilei had brought back from Karnor decades ago, apple and hibiscus for flavour and to help sooth the sharper tastes of the blood orange and rosemary. The roasted chicory root added a warm, nutty flavour to help round everything out, and as she leaned back against the couch she let out a contented sigh. The hot liquid didn’t bother her, and she enjoyed the warming feeling that pushed back the effects of her practice.
This one was a keeper.
After taking a few more minutes, Hilana picked the lodestone up. Now she had to charge it, and she considered her options. She didn’t have the ability to create ice, or she would have done that and used it to help cool things down. Raithen could have used it. Or perhaps Finn. But water was valuable in the desert. Even if she couldn’t put a lot in it, she could still put something there and practice with it again. This part was a bit trickier to her than making the lodestone itself, but she had watched Palaemon, Ævril, and Daemon do it, and she could surely do it without it exploding in her face. Hopefully. She held it in both hands, reading the textbook passage again before focusing on the translucent quartz crystal in front of her. Within it, Hilana manifested water, spinning her aether through her Rune, and stored it within the lodestone. She pressed until she thought it was full and stopped, picking up the fabric of her skirts to polish the lodestone with the cotton, and laid it on the coffee table beside her teacup. Up there, she could look at it in the sunlight, and she could see that the colour of the gemstone was a shimmering, swirling blue as the aether within indicated just what element was contained within.
Water.
She laughed - it was a small thing compared to the skills of her teachers, even compared to children who had been classically trained at the Academia Arcanum. But since when had she had any need to compare herself to others? Best not to - if a fish was judged by its ability to fly, then it would always receive a failing score. Everyone progressed at their own pace, but Hilana felt that she wasn’t doing too badly, all things considered. There would always be greater and lesser persons than herself, and if she sought to compare herself with them, it was an exercise in futility. The Vastiana had another sip of her tea, and picked the lodestone up again. She wished she could combine it with air to make ice, but she was not Arche to anything, not yet, and the elements would surely show her when she was ready. She already knew that attempting it anyway wouldn’t work. At best it would just displace the water stored within; at worst it would blow up in her face.
But she had already gotten a lesson on this from Palaemon and Ævril. She might not have been able to combine them into one yet, but she could impact them. One could affect the other, and then she could make it work. This was a tougher ask, using two at once, but since it was about stretching her limits... If she stayed in her comfort zone, nothing good could come from it. She had to keep progressing, she had to keep trying. That was the only way forward, and that had been the case all of her life. Hilana had never been one to settle for the path of least resistance. If she was... her life would have been a lot easier. A lot easier, but so much more boring.
She got up, leaving the lodestone on the low table although she did cover it with a cloth. With as much as sunlight as there was coming through the windows here, the last thing she needed was to accidentally set something on fire thanks to the sunlight refracting through the crystal. Hilana didn’t care that there was aether swirling inside of it, it was just safer not to take that chance. The Vastiana stretched again and took her now-empty cup of tea to her kitchen before refilling it, and grabbed one of her mixing bowls from the cupboard. If she was going to release the water within the lodestone and practice with it inside her apartment, then she may as well take some precaution to prevent her from making a complete mess. She opened up the jar of dates, and grabbed herself a hearty handful of those along with another small dish to put them and the pits in. Those she would wash and take to the greenhouses to start in moss and soil to start yet another generation of date trees.
Besides that, they were delicious, and eating helped replenish spent aether. She was in the mood to continue now, and so she shimmied her way back into the living room, her skirts swishing around her bare feet, and set everything up on the coffee table. Fresh cup of tea, mixing bowl, bowl of dates. Risdra padded over, coming to press against her and climb into her lap. The cat was disinclined to bother the snake, and Tiaz had no interest in the patterned feline, so peace reigned as the Vastiana sat back against the couch, enjoying the rich, caramel-chocolate taste of the dates.She was hardly one for stillness sometimes, but the lodestone creation and charging had definitely helped soak some of that surplus energy that she was always filled with. But patience, calmness, and stillness were all virtues. Just like Wildness. But the secret was in knowing the time and the place.
[Part II]