Re: [Couronne] Connections IV (Solo)
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 12:28 pm
City: Amoren
Location: An Inn close to City Center
Time: Evening
50th of Glade, 120 AV
A gentle breeze drifted through the open window, rustling the curtains and the hem of Reima's robes as it passed. The fae lay on the small bed pushed into the corner of the room, her eyes open and staring yet not really seeing the ceiling above. Candlelight flickered and cast dancing shadows all around, the waving red and orange light of fire reflecting off her golden eyes until she closed them with a sigh. The day had been a long one indeed. It was spent either on her knees cleaning the cramped spaces in the Cathedral that rarely saw light, or running from place to place in Amoren to give impromptu sermons to the people there. This was how it had been ever since she had come to Amoren in fact. It was like the Praetor wished for her to be kept as busy as possible, with any time to herself being viewed as pleasure and thus subject to sudden change.
"Honestly," Reima groaned, sitting and rubbing her eyes, "What does he expect of me? It has barely been two weeks and he acts as if I am one of his sisters."
She grumbled when alone, but Reima knew that the only reason she was here was because of the Praetor's goodwill. She had come to the city on the pretense of experiencing other parts of the Omen, but she had a sinking suspicion that the Praetor knew that wasn't the full reason. He likely was trying to get work out of her while she could, and possibly teach her a lesson about responsibility or something. It wasn't like Reima was a child though. He should at least trust her enough to not do anything to shame the Omen or the Pontefix.
"But I guess that isn't how it really works." she mused with a rueful smile.
With another groan as she stretched Reima shifted and slid to sit on the edge of the bed. Tired as she was, there were still things she needed to do this evening. She had already prepared the materials, and as she thought of this she glanced around the room. Once again she was using her figures of the Eye of Ulen. One was set at each end of the room, with the 3rd once more at the center of the room. Today would be a turning point for her she knew, and perhaps because of that, she was slightly more hesitant to begin. How would her magic shape from this point on? Was this really the path she needed to take? What's more, the more that she did learn the more the fae realized that she was lacking in something. She did not know what exactly that thing was, but she knew that she would have to find it eventually if what she envisioned would come to pass.
And what, exactly, is it that you are envisioning? The thought came unbidden as she slid to the ground. Her hands came to rest on her hips, and she looked out the open window at the light street below. Like with her shaping concept, the vision for herself and her magic was as of yet incomplete. She felt it more and more as she went, and it made her uncomfortable.
Shaking her head Reima shrugged off these thoughts and walked to the central figure and knelt. The other two were already shaped, and their anchors formed. They were simple just as last time, each tasked to generate a triangular shield that reflected light toward her. As before the 3rd would become her gateway, but as before she would be doing something slightly different. Closing her eyes Reima felt the chill of her magic fill her, flooding down her arms and spinning a web around the figure between her fingers. As the anchor-shaped, she brought to mind the glass room, the gateway, or simply gate as she had begun to mentally refer to it. It shaped with two windows this time, thick powerful teachers forming just outside the windows. Typically she unconsciously made a decision when crafting this anchor that the tethers could only be connected while the windows to the gateway were open, meaning the connection was fully open between the two anchors. Now, however, she had come to realize that this was a restriction. It means that in order to shift between anchors, such as in the case where she spread parameters between 2 or more anchors, she would have to first disconnect the tether from one and move it to the new anchor before reactivating her shield. As she had seen before this made the process of changing parameter tedious, and the delay would become greater depending on the number of base anchors she used. The solution? Set the connections in place, and as they were intended make them permanent links between gateway and edge anchor. Then all she would have to do is close the flow of aether off from that connection via closing the window to that path and open the connection to another connected anchor. This gave her more control and decreased the time it would take to adapt to a given situation as it required her to move less aether around.
Reima made the necessary adjustments in her mental image of the gateway. At each window, she created a magical latch, that when in place would bar her aether from crossing. Though it would also mean she could not receive any information from that connected anchor. With the image solidified she pushed the final bit of aether and tired it into place, the gateway forming with a low hum of power. Setting the anchor down the fae settled herself cross-legged on the ground before it, resting her hands on her knees as she stretched her back and rolled her head to work out a kink that was beginning to form. A single white petal fell from her hair, and absently she snatched it from the air and pressed it between her thumb and forefinger. The soft texture of the bloom was somewhat grounding to the fae, who relaxed slightly and leaned forward to place a hand over the gateway. She really couldn't forget what this was all about. This was about discovery, finding out who she was and what she could do. She couldn't get wrapped up in the details of every little step. Instead, she just needed to keep pressing forward.
"Eventually I will know what it was for." The words were soft, but with them, the fae's eyes focused with determination.
With a sharp inhale Reima focused, magic flowing through her as she connected with the gateway and fell into her mental construct. With a thought, the connections were opened and the teachers tied to either anchor, snapping into place with relative ease as she had done this several times before. With the connections made Reima moved back to herself and clapping her hands together she sent a command through the open channels to both edge anchors. Cracking blue lighting filled the air over each figurine, shaping and forming into two identical triangular shields that angled the light in her direction. Nodding Reima waved both hands, releasing the petal to let it float gently to the floor. Another command was sent, and both shields resolved and the hum of magic from the edge anchors decreased to a low undertone.
Closing her eyes Reima returned to the gateway, this time closing the connection to the rightmost anchor. Breathing out, a note of anticipation in her motions, she sent another wave of power through the gateway. The flow of aether crashed into the closed connection, rebounding and returning to the flow. The rest did as directed, coursing down the tether to activate the left anchor, over which a shield suddenly materialized. Reima smiled as she looked at this activated shield. It worked. She could close off the connection to one anchor while leaving it open to another. The closed connection would not send the signal, and so the edge anchor connected there would not activate. It meant she could give general commands, one that did not require extreme focus, and get her desired results so long as only the anchors she required had open and active connections.
With a wave of her hand, Reima closed the left connection and noted with a slight surprise that the shield remained in place. Curious she probed the connection and found that it was truly and fully closed. The fae supposed that once activated the anchor would act as any anchor did, remain so until something either disturbed it or she somehow signaled it to shut down. Experimentally she sent a pulse toward the left anchor to tell it to deactivate it, but just as with the right connection if it was closed no command could get through. That would be important she felt, though for what reason she couldn't be sure.
Both connections were then opened and the deactivation command sent. The left shield crackled and disputed once more. Then a thought occurred to Reima. She could create and copy anchors through the network, was it possible to...
The connection to the left anchor was closed once more, and Reima sent her aether down the connection to the right edge anchor. Once there she let her full mental presence settle, and slowly and methodically she began the process of deconstructing the anchor. It was a simple matter. She began first by envisioning the anchor as it currently existed, all of its parameters in place. Then one by one she began to dissolve those visions. Eventually, the aether that formed the anchor itself began to unravel, and with a soundless click the tether was released. Interestingly the aether of the dissolving anchor remained attached to the tether, and as it was pulled back to the Gateway Reima was able to gather that aether and pull it into the gateway itself. Most of the aether was lost, but a small portion funneled into the gateway, recharging it slightly as everything became stable once more.
Opening her eyes once more the fae stared at the anchor before her, her mind spinning as the possibilities started to settle on her. She did need something more. She needed a way to stabilize these connections, maximize their aether usage, and ensure she lost a little magic in the process of creation and destruction of anchors as possible.
