Legend of Ransera

Over the summer, things had gotten complicated. Nevertheless, Sivan persisted. Given the amount of money Kilvin's Forge made—and he still thought of it thus though his name had been added to the sign—they were able to keep in steady communication with Timon, who, while technically an apprentice, basically managed the financial side of things, as well as Kala, as factor to Lady Akshara, and Aurin, as the man who owned Torin despite slavery being illegal.

For the autumnal season, at least, Sivan could travel back and forth between their shop in Kalzasi and his master's workshop in Silfanore. More money was spent paying for portal travel to the border and, once across, extra to go directly to Kalzasi. Indric had offered to send him back to the border; he had traveled with Kala to Silfanore, and while he hadn't a permanent key to open directly to Silfanore, he could speed Sivan along and would not hear of charging him.

Of course, Sivan was just going to eat the extra cost, not pass it along to his clients. Timon could yell at him all he wanted, but Sivan could be stubborn when he wanted to be, even in the face of teenaged withering glares.

And so he was present when the Vastian ladies arrived; meeting with him was generally based on appointments or Timon's lunch breaks, anyway.

When they were shown into a small, private showroom, Sivan was completely oblivious to their presence. A small golem lay upon the table, surrounded by a complex summoning circle. Next to it was a collection of bottles of personally hand blown glass. Next to those, a blue ceramic pot too large for the deep burgundy flower with rich golden stamens that grew from it.

Timon cleared his throat. Still nothing. The lad cast the ladies a long-suffering, apologetic glance, then hurried over to grab Sivan by the arm.

"Your appointment is here."

Blue eyes looked curiously at Timon for a moment, then lit up and he turned to smile bashfully at the ladies.

"S-salve, good morning to you as well." He offered a foreign bow; he had been in Sol'Valen long enough for old habits to reassert themselves. "Thank you, Timon."

The lad seemed disinclined to leave, wondering if Sivan would somehow manage to give them everything for free and the deed to the forge as well, but he bowed to them and quit the private room.

"It is a pleasure to see you again."

Once Timon had quit the space, he was rather overwhelmed with whether he ought to give them presents or receive presents, but he wasn't about to shush them so instead he took the clever pot and looked it over with knowledgeable, appreciative eyes.

"Ah..." came his appreciative noise. With some effort, he put it down near the flower that had been awaiting them. "I shan't speak to it now, lest I prove rude to my guests and clientele." He smiled ruefully and took up the burgundy flower, lifting it out the blue ceramic pot to reveal a simple, yet beautiful wooden pot. Closer examination would show it was sung wood from Sol'Valen, where wood elementalists made art by sculpting wood with magic. The flower itself was, "It's a sort of mountain peony you can't find in the wild outside of Sol'Valen. I have a little spirit keeping the air and soil around it just so, and it will work long enough for you to set something up however you have things set up at home... And both pots are for you. I just wasn't sure which would fit your home or garden best, and didn't want you to feel compelled to re-pot it too soon. It'll want to get accustomed to its new home for a while."

He tapped the diverse bottles, pointing out those that she had ordered as well as mead from his garden, and alchemical fertilizer, and plant-safe pest deterrents.

"And for you, mistress," he said to Athalia, "a body to house a fire spirit." He moved over to show off the clever body he had constructed. The true genius of its systems were hidden behind the elegant lines of its "skin," mostly wood treated alchemically to resist heat.

It was humanoid, like a puppet without strings. Its eyes were dark holes, however, and there was a metal grill where its mouth ought to be, and a larger one on its belly.

"I have been working with a fire spirit of a similar... hm... phyle as Khalcifer. The contract bound him to me at first, but I have been retooling the agreement so that he... though sexless, some spirits do have gender... so that he is somewhat bound to the body I have built for him. And should this all be to your liking, I will help the two of you bind yourselves together. Not like a true aidolon, but then, this isn't a true golem. Something a bit more unique. Not that golems aren't unique... but... ah... would you like to meet Kalor?"

Sivan smiled at the thanks, nodding graciously.

In most cases, he would rather let Timon handle customers and clients, but this was all right, too. But, of course, he would have to be mindful he didn't talk about Sol'Valen and his Hytori roots, as they were anathema to Solunarium. Neither could he dwell upon his Dratori roots, as they were considered mongrels.

"Phyle, ah..." He considered. "It comes from a word that meant tribe or clan far back beyond memory, but family is close enough. Perhaps similar to the Vastian gens?"

Noting that they were both ready to watch his presentation, he straightened his shoulders and began. His hands did some gymnastics, weaving symbols out of the aether that began to align with or connect to the summoning circle in which the inert golem lay, as well as pictographs marked upon it with a wax pencil. Energy gathered, both what they could sense with their Runes, as well as energies that tickled at senses that had never quite developed fully in them. All their races were, after all, evolving, even as they evolved as individuals.

"Ni yalë tye, Kalor. Úr-ruinë. Urwa ruimen. Kalor, á tule."

The lines drawn and the lines picked out in the air seemed to catch fire, to flow like lava, though the only some little heat was exuded from the spellwork. It was flashier than it needed to be, but he thought they would appreciate the show. That fire in the air coalesced into what they could recognize as a spirit, drawn entirely through from the Plane of Fire. Now, he had to secure it.

Thankfully, he had already worked with Kalor, and it took little time to cajole him into the golem body. Spiritual essence suffused the thing, and a faint glow began to emanate from its belly and its eyes, a sure sign that the golem was indwelt.

Ḥ̴̡͉̜͊͌͑̈͌̊̄́͗͆̃̒̀̕͘͝͝į̷̡͈͉͓̥͖̱̞̦͙̫̒̈́͜ͅ.̵̡̱̞͈̠͚̀̓̄̅͗̉͛͆̄̽͂͘̕ ̷̛̙̌̀̃Ĥ̸̲̩̬̓̅̓̿̈́͛̎́͊̚͝͝͝e̸̙̽͌̅̋̀̎͑͋̀́̉̓͐̓͑̌l̴̰̗̦̫̝͖̇̔́̊̑̑͊̇̽̓͒̂l̸̙̹̤͙̓͑̾͗̋͛̒͘̕ợ̵͂͋̓̓̔.̸͕̳̙̱́ ̷̡̛̳̫̳̗̥͔̣͇̄̑̋̀͂̑̽̑̈́̆͆̾̚ͅK̶̘̰̤͌̈́̽̒͝a̶̬̭̮̰̜͚̽͑̅̎́̕͠l̸̢͈͈͉̺̣͍̗̲̀o̶̢̧̡͍̱͚̯̠̳͕͔͕̰̣̼̍̄͗̈͛̀͊̊̌̕̕r̶̨̨͉̞̬̰̈͛͆̑̉̿͌̋͋̈́̏͘̚̚͝, it coughed. It stood on wobbly legs, almost knock-kneed. It coughed.

"New-spark. Greeting. Kalor." It looked up at Hilana. "A-tha-li-a?"

Sivan coughed, pointed at Athalia.

"Hi. Hello. Kalor greets Siv Hearth-tender." It followed Sivan's indication, making a little pointing gesture with its own minuscule hand without realizing, then looking at Athalia. "Hi. Hello. Kalor greets Athalia. New-friend. Sparks joy." It managed an adorable little bow.

"The golem chassis provides the contract between you. As long as you keep aether in its reserves, it will keep Kalor on this plane and he will work with you. I stress with you rather than for you. The contract allows him to dissent, although not for, hm, frivolous reasons. The chassis also provides means for him to speak to you, so, when he quits it for any amount of time, communication might be more difficult until you learn a common idiom. If you need to make changes to the contract, I can help. Or another sufficiently well-versed summoner, though Kalor and I know each other ow so it would be easier for me to do it. Or, if you ever become a summoner yourself, I can help you understand the contract, which is more complicated than most competent summoners would make the time for. I don't mean either of you to be tethered to me, although I am, of course, happy to continue to help."

The little fire-indwelt golem reached out its hand to touch Athalia's palm, its own no larger than a newborn babe's. The spellsung wooden fingers were articulated by steel joints that had been treated alchemically to prevent friction, wear, and noise. There were even artistic details like 'fingernails' made of a single layer of mica. The wood against her skin was already warmed by the palarae, life-warm, though if the golem over truly became hot to the touch, it would be a sign that Kalor was working hard for a long period of time.

If her senses were acute enough, she might notice how he began to pulse aetherically in gentle time with her heartbeat.

"Kalor help A-tha-li-a-new-spark-friend. Warm and build and burn." The light in him flickered and he made a little sound that might have been delighted laughter. Then he let his hand fall and walked around in a circle, clearly getting used to being embodied once more. "One-two-three-four, one-two-three-four. Siv old-friend explain all-the-things to new-friend. You listen. Nice HELF. Wise-like-ember. Fun-like-flint-sparks."

Sivan's cheeks colored slightly, shoulders hitching up a bit even as he looked fondly at the little creature who seemed for all the world like a small child playing dress up in his father's robes and his mother's shoes, not quite certain yet of his movements.

"I love you too, Kalor," he said. And, gently, "Elf, not helf."

"HELF-two-three-four, ALF-two-three-four." And then he marched over to put his hands on a silver tea kettle and concentrated until steam began to waft out from its elegant spout. Sivan sighed with long-suffering affection, lifting the top and dropping a satchet of tea that he had prepared earlier.

"He is a... hm, most summoning tomes call his classification a palarae. I don't know if Soluniarian summoners have a different lexicon. Kalor is relatively strong, but also quite young. So, as you can see, quite child-like. Speech is a work in progress, but he does learn quickly so I am sure within a few seasons, he will be speaking Vastian with some fluency."

And, "Yes, he has free rein to come and go from the golem's body. It supports the contract, though, and will keep him in good health so long as its aether reserves are kept up. He seems to enjoy the novelty of it still, though, and as it will make it easier for him to interact with you and with other people, and he might just grow to be more comfortable in it than out of it. But sometimes being disembodied will be useful."

He began to serve the tea as Hilana broached the subject of education.

"Oh!" His blue eyes opened wide, then dropped as he poured them tea into bone-porcelain cups. Then, making eye contact again as he passed saucers and cups around—fixings were within easy reach on the silver tea service—he nodded. "I believe we could come to an arrangement. We would need a contract, however, which would be good practice as a great deal of the art of summoning is the art of contracts. You would need to be here for a fortnight for initiation and a fairly intensive period to learn the basics before I would feel comfortable sending you off to ah... somewhere I can't follow."

Strangely, he seemed apologetic about the fact that her people would incarcerate, execute, or force him into a Re'hyaean mold.

"I do not think you would go off half-trained and cause problems, but you will be my responsibility until you achieve a certain level of mastery. So, we would also need to have seasonal training sessions, and you would have, ah, tasks while you are in Solunarium. I can, ah, offer you room and board while you are here to defray the costs..."

"He likes to help," Sivan said with an affectionate smile. "I taught him to help with tea because I figured it would be immediately helpful. While the contract is largely a work-for-aether arrangement, he and his ilk are helpful in nature. If you make it seem like play, they will enjoy it all the more. I am told children and pets are like that...?"

His hands spread wide. Nobody had expressed an interest in making him a father, and he had plenty of animals he lived in symbiosis with, but he didn't really think of them as pets.

As for arrangements, "Before you leave, I can give you my tentative schedule. I will be spending some time out of Kalzasi, likely for a few seasons, and I can always send an elemental to Solunarium with newer information." And if he thought camping in his garden was odd, he gave nary a hint of it. After all, he was known to nap out there with some frequency. "I don't allow the garden to get as cold as a true Kalzasern winter, but between your elemental magic and all the elementals who owe me favors, we will keep you comfortable. Those who have been with me since I first settled here have learned to take hospitality seriously."

He paused. "Although I cannot think of a better incentive to come to a deal with a fire elemental than wanting to keep your feet warm in Karnor..." He considered, turning inward and murmuring, "A reading list until then. Will have to research Solunarian law. Hm..."

Sivan sipped his tea.

Then he blinked and looked down to where Kalor had his little golem hands on Sivan's boot. The armored spirit looked up.

Warm feet. Feet warm. Siv-no-trouble.

"Thank you, Kalor." He paused. "Gratias, Kalor."

Grah-tee-ahs, Siv-friend.

Sivan smiled, then looked up at the sisters, flushing both for the little display and because he had almost forgotten to answer Athalia's question.

"Oh, yes. Pyrolyth will be the easiest for him to digest, so to speak. Frostylyth the most difficult. He can, but it will be a less efficient transfer of power. And I don't imagine it's inexpensive in a desert city, anyway. Avoid abnijurium, of course, though most of the dangerous dragonshards are also too expensive to consider as fuel, I should think. When he is more fully integrated with his carapace and with you, I can show you how he might respond to other shards, though. But Hilana could also pour pure aetheric Fire into the receptacle and he can digest it. Or a lodestone. Or... well, he could cannibalize other spirits and it's not unknown in the wild. Elementals are wild spirits, after all, but while it might just be my own morality... I try to teach them to avoid that unless it's a matter of life and death."