Legend of Ransera

Kaus had been the one to "donate" his elemental magic. He had mastered it before Kala had, so potency was not an issue; more importantly, Kala was concerned that her divine overtones might be more than should be grown in the orchard, even though there was a possibility that it would pass on to Torin when she initiated him.

Sivan had sent along a calming tea, the which they were drinking now. A steady mind would help ease him into his new runic initiation. Thankfully, he and Aurin had agreed to leave Torin in her capable hands. Their worry might spill over and upset Torin when he needed to be focusing on the new patterns of power working through him.

They chatted about the valley, about magic, and such. Kaus signed, sprawled out on a divan.

"...and just because the cold doesn't bother us doesn't mean we don't enjoy the heat. So that was something Solunarium has on Karnor."

Kala laughed. "And you were far from your responsibilities. That didn't hurt either."

Kaus pretended to swoon.

"Well," Kala began, setting her empty teacup down, "these will be your rooms while you are going through whatever threshold sickness you might have. Do you have any questions or concerns before we begin?"

The room was already equipped to deal with many of the possible side effects, though she could as easily leach fever heat from him with her own magic as apply cooling compresses. It helped that she was also medically trained, though; she could see him holistically, as flesh as well as soul. Kaus sat up straighter, knowing he might be called to help, though Kala knew what she was about. Initiation always came with risks, but they had both been classically trained; they knew how to minimize those risks.

Torin would be fine.

Kaus was more worried about Timon trying to work him into giving him a rune without Torin's permission, the little scamp.

Kala smiled softly at him; Kaus' smile was broader. Torin could feel the resonance of their bond in the air. The twins were distinct personalities, but they complemented each other, and it would be difficult to imagine one existing without the other.

Kala squeezed his hand.

"You were a diamond in the rough, my friend," she said warmly. "I am only glad we met and that we recognized that. I can count on one hand how many vassals my mother has, and more than that, you have become our... my friend. Family, even. A fellow steward of our lands and shepherd for our people. In the tawdry terms of coin, you have surpassed my hopes for a return on investment, and... personally... You are one of the few people who know me - truly know me - with wings and divinity and all. You help to keep me grounded in my mortality. I know it will fall away eventually, after lifetimes, but I do not want to be one of the distant, aloof gods. I want the people to benefit from my mortality."

She squeezed his hand again. "In any case, you make me a better person."

Kaus laughed quietly, though his voice was husky as if he might also be crying. His eyes were shining, anyway.

"But if you want your runes to be a matched set, has Aurin promised not to seek vengeance upon my sister for seeing you with your pants off?" he joked. Kala colored, then she cleared her throat.

"He seems more the sort of man who would like to show off his lovers," she noted, then patted Torin's hand before pulling away so she could stand up and uncork the spellwright's ink, check the nib of her quill. Kaus continued to grin.

Kaus' laugh was almost a boyish giggle. They were all of them quite young for all that they were adults. That they had all accomplished so much in such a short time was probably something that set them apart from others. Kala's smile shared in the joke, albeit gently, and she gently helped him out of half of his shirt so it wouldn't get in the way. She placed her hand over his ribs, getting a sense of skin as well as the bone and blood and sinew underneath. It was a healer's touch, a sister's touch, and nothing untoward. The young elementalist wanted him at his ease, the better to acclimate himself to the new magic that would knit itself to his soul.

Kala took up a calligraphy brush whose bristles were narrowed down to a point. Her method wouldn't break the skin, nor scratch it even as much as a sharp quill would. There remained a memory of pain in Torin's other Rune, as well as a memory of pleasure. She would leave that to his lover, however.

She dipped the brush into her jar of spellwright's ink and carefully laid out the rune upon his ribs. It wasn't the same as hers; it was an intuitive thing, much as when she wrote out mantras on prayer flags for the temple. It was a rune unique to Torin because it embodied how Torin resonated with the elements and Kala herself on an aetheric level. While she could have just copied her own out upon his skin, she knew enough of scrivening and other things to know that this would be better, more personal.

When that was complete, she scrived several pictographs around the rune. These would not affect the rune itself, but would shunt off any wild aether to hopefully prevent threshold sickness. While she aside the ink and brush, Kaus knelt beside Torin's chair.

The lordling touched his thumb to his tongue, to his heart, and then to Torin's waiting rune. A bluish energy trailed along behind his thumb from mouth, to chest, to Torin. "I give you the Water of my body."

They were an educated pair, but they were also of the mountain people with their strange ways.

Kala took a pinch of dirt from a small pouch and pressed it into Torin's rune. "I give you the Earth of my home." It gleamed a greenish-brownish color.

Kaus leaned in and blew warm breath and pale blue-white power over Torin's rune. "I give you the Air of my lungs."

"I give you Fire," Kala said, carefully tracing his rune with her fingertip. It burned.

When Torin looked up wide-eyed at her, Kala smiled serenely; Kaus grinned, then his brows knit with concentration as he and Kala seemed to almost embroider the rune she had painted upon him with threads of the four basic elements. It was careful, exacting work, an attempt to blend the power into his soul more subtly so as to ease his initiation. While the smith began to observe the world around him with a new sense masquerading as his basic five, they began to weave strands of aether into the scrivened glyphs surrounding the rune.

They were protections against the elements lest he overreach and burn himself with Fire or bury himself in Earth. They were also threads of power that he could sense even more clearly now that this specific sort of aetheric arrangement was twined into his aura. They made up an ovoid cage that did not confine him, but would easily catch his attention and let it follow its defined arcs, the better to keep his attention from flying so far afield that he tore himself loose from his soul's moorings to his body.

And finally, they were done. Kala took one of his hands, Kaus the other. While both were masters of this craft and contained all the elements within them, Fire was more prominent through Kala's aura, and Air through Kaus'. It was almost as if the sun had shrunk down to beat within her breast, screened partially from view so as not to burn out his eyes. Kaus' was not so intense, though the Air seemed to want to lift him up even with his wings furled behind him. Their hands were anchors, aura's juxtaposed with his own.

"Look," Kala bade him, "but do not touch. Not yet. It will be enough to learn what can be learned through your rune first, how it mingles with your sembling."

"When it all settles within you," Kaus added, "we can show you how to work with it. I think Fire will choose you as it did Kala... but you still have to get to know it... like this. You will have a headstart, an affinity, but it can still hurt you if you aren't careful."

One of his hands rested lightly upon Torin's shoulder, too. He smiled.

"It is done," Kala agreed quietly, squeezing his hand in both of her own.

When it was done, they did remain on either side of him, wings partly unfurled as if they were keeping a baby chick from falling out of the nest. The conversation was light and easy as they were patient with his wonderment and questions, laughing softly and remembering their own awakenings to the elements around them.

Eventually, a servant brought specially prepared food from the kitchens, setting the tray nearby per Kala's instruction. Torin could see that she had the sembling rune etched into her soul, though her talent was far outstripped by his. In Starfall, runes and magical studies were common, though most people didn't take them very far. The will to power wasn't strong there; the people just wanted to be happy and keep their loved ones safe. He could see how Water was predominant in her aura, and after she left, Kala handed him a small plate from the platter.

"The food you will eat with us might be confusing, but it will balance the elements of your nutrition and hopefully help keep you balanced until any aftereffects of your initiation have passed." She paused, having caught his surface thoughts. "Ondine is a swimmer. Even in the winter, she has been known to leave early in the morning to do polar bear dives in Lake Udori. She was also born under stars that are associated with Water. You aren't wrong that it is likely she would have a predilection toward Water if she became an elementalist, a hydromancer. Or if she became a summoner, water sprites would look upon her most favorable, like some strange, heretofore unknown kin."

They hadn't let him drown in her watery aura, however. She did tell him a story about mischievous water spirits who appeared as beautiful women to lead men to drowning. It may or may not have been more than a fairy tale.

When he grew weary, the pair of them helped him to the bed that would be his while he remained with them. Then Kaus went to take a nap while Kala stayed up late watching over him. Sometime in the wee hours of morning, Kaus came to relieve her.

They took no chances with him. He was their mother's vassal, yes, but he was also their friend.