by R N Skye
Gerard was about to retake his chair but the still standing Shane grasped his shoulder, “A moment if you would Monsieur. Ava and I have an announcement.” The conversation at the table ceased and everyone looked from Ava to Shane. Ava remained silent so with a clearing of his throat Shane continued. “I have asked Ava to marry me and she has accepted.”
The room erupted in congratulations and hugs.
“Before you all get too excited,” Shane interrupted the celebration, “Due to all that is going on we have decided on a very small wedding in a magical location that only certain of us will be able to attend and we plan on being married on Dima, a week and three days from now.
Gerard rose up with a loud dismissal, “You both have put this off far too long and if it is to be a small wedding and in ten days so be it.” Soon glasses of a sparkling vintage were distributed among the group.
After the story and details of the proposal had been told and elaborated on by the women Gerard, Ari, Soaris, and Shane left the girls to their wedding planning preparations and they quietly left the kitchen. Settling into large comfortable chairs that furnished a meeting area that was part of Gerard’s spacious office. Ari was the first to speak. Looking at Shane he smiled wryly. “Ok now for the bad news,” he spoke it like a question; looking from Shane to Soaris.
Shane took a breath and began the tale of what had been going on for the last day. He described the details of the activities in Jehhet, the magic they were up against, and finally the full plan of the Elios as he understood it.
Ari looked at Soaris, “anything else?”
Soaris shook his head, “I’m afraid that’s it in a nutshell. I’ve been here holding things together for a long time. I’ve always hoped for the day of the Plans fruition but I never imagined that the Allyant would cause such a disturbance in the Plan and that it would come down to a final conflict with an Allyant presence like we are facing. The Four things that need to occur as soon as possible are: First: Shane needs to physically swear to the Oaths of Light at the Arc. Second He needs to perform the joining of the Star Seeds. Third: He needs to seal the Arc to Eliom; the Lumen contained within it is a gift from the Elios to the Star Seeds that will give them extra protection should the Allyant great ones ever attempt to conquer or destroy this system. Finally: Shane needs to reestablish the Laws of Lumen upon the world and create the three degrees of transition required to complete Eliom’s transformation into a true transition world.”
Shane laughed, “A piece of cake. This givs us plenty of time for Ava and I to get married, stop a war, and destroy the most vile Lumen poisoning you could ever imagine.” They all laughed at the enormity of it all for a few moments then Shane cleared his throat. “Ari, I hate to burden you with this but I need you to see what you can come up with regarding an attack strategy based on what we know about the Allyant possessed king of Jehhet. Ava and I will start producing the wristband nullifying glyphs as fast as we can. You will need to meet with Roger, Shew in the morning and see if based on what they have found out, we can come up with a deployment plan.”
Turning to his father he continued, “If I understand the Plan and its requirements, your involvement is now over and you cannot use any more Elios influence on the preservation of Eliom, but can I count on you to watch over Ava and mother while I’m busy?”
Soaris nodded grimly, “That goes without saying; I will be their shadow until this conflict is finished.”
Shane turned to Gerard. “Gerard, can I turn over the communications aspects with the Luionese government to you? Militarily Roger will be able to handle everything but politically I need someone with your influence and experience to make the government feel that we are not working around them but with them. I have no clue how governments work and why they do the things they do. Neither do I know why so many in positions of power try to exert control over those that they are supposed to be serving. I feel that we need to have an understanding that all of Eliom were once a unified people and eventually we need to become that way again.”
“I’d be happy to,” his soon to be father-in-law replied.
“Thank you, Ari would you mind getting him set up with the latest comm.” Shane closed his eyes trying to think of anything obvious that he was missing.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Ari responded. While Shane paused he added, “I’ll be meeting with Roger and Shew at the Luion Premier’s office tomorrow, I’ll bring Gerard with me and introduce him and let them know that Shew and I are going to be unavailable for a while and that Gerard is our voice until further notice.” Turning to Gerard he added, “I’ll have to bring you up to speed on some our past discussions. You will like Roger he and his lieutenant will fill you in on anything else you need to know. I believe that you already know Jacques, the Premier’s Secretary.”
“Oui we have worked together on a number of occasions,” answered Gerard.
Shane opened his eyes, “tomorrow morning I’m going to go to the Valley of the Arc and meet with the Star Seeds and arrange with them what needs to be done and unless there is a reason I should not go alone I’ll visit the Arc and get the Oaths taken care of.” He looked at Soaris.
Soaris smiled momentarily then cleared his throat. “I admire your determination to get things done but I’m certain that you have a lot of family that will want to attend your Oath Ceremony. I also recommend that you take Ava with you to meet with the gryphon of this world as they have already met; I think she would feel hurt if you didn’t. If you would like my opinion I suggest that you do your introductions tomorrow but do the Oaths as part of your wedding; that way you will have most of your family available for both events; your wedding and the Oaths. Immediately after the wedding you will need to bind the Stars and then Seal the Arc.”
Shane sighed, “Thanks I didn’t mean to sound selfish. I guess I got caught up in making a list. You’re right this needs to be special for Ava.”
Shane stretched and yawned, “Is there anything else we need to cover this evening?” They all looked at each other but no one else had anything to add. “In that case I suggest we bid the women good night and we get some sleep.” Then as an afterthought Shane stood and said, “I just remembered I have something for each of you.”
The men returned to the kitchen and the ladies gathered around the table looked up. Shane said, “If I can interrupt for a moment, I have something for you all. I have done a lot of looking into this and I believe that what I have will benefit you all; even my Elios born parents.” Shane held out his hand and closed his eyes. After a moment seven silver rings appeared on his out stretched hand and he handed one to each of the people in the room. “Please put these on your right hand ring finger.” When they all had done so he closed his eyes again and held his hand out again; this time seven small blue dots appeared on his outstretched hand. He then carefully placed a dot on each of the rings.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Soaris, “You definitely are Jahnon’s grandson.”
“I don’t think that even Ahhan could have matched this,” Laura said proudly.
“I’m sure he could,” Shane responded modestly, “I got the ideas from his work. I just am facing a crazy Allyant so I’m constantly trying to figure out how to avoid getting crushed by that awful red junk he keeps casting around. If Ahhan wasn’t limited by not being able to influence Eliom with too much Elios Lumen I’m sure he would have wiped out the Allyant quite a long time ago.”
Ari cleared his throat, “Ahem, Shane you want to tone it down a little, you’re going have us all seeing spots.”
At Shane’s blank look of lack of understanding, Ava added, “Shane, dear, you’re glowing rather brightly.”
“Sorry,” Shane said embarrassed as he closed his eyes and concentrated. “This happens a lot lately.” After a moment the glowing diminished and the room momentarily seemed darker.
“What does it do?” Louisa held out her hand expertly examining the ring for its jewelry value. I don’t think I have anything that that will go
with the blue dot.” Everyone chuckled.
Shane looked keenly at Ava’s mother, “It keeps the Allyant from sucking the soul out of you, and if for some reason you should get any of the residues of Allyant magic on you it will automatically contain it and starve it; the blue dot will release any Allyant lumen being used against you and it will return to its rightful owner; if the owner is dead then it will dissipate it. Although after what I saw this morning I don’t recommend you going up against something like that. It may give you enough time to escape an attack, though.” Looking at Louisa again he smiled, “I’ll tell you what,” he looked around the group with a mischievous grin, “You are all glyph mages now, or soon to be, let’s see who can be the first one of you to figure out how to put a camouflage capability on it so that it will also accessorize with your wardrobes. Unfortunately it needs to be worn on the right hand ring finger.”
Soaris and Laura bid everyone good night with Soaris promising that they would meet in the morning at the lab. Ari and Leslie said their good byes after Ari explained what had to occur in the morning from what they had discussed in the office. Shane was the last to leave bidding Ava’s parents and Leslie good night. They then excused themselves leaving Ava and Shane alone.
“Do you think we can do it,” asked Shane?
Ava wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up into his eyes. If you can do what you have to do, I can do what I have to do. Just promise me something.”
“Anything Mon Cher, name it.” He replied once again admiring her green eyes.
“Please don’t so something too heroic and make me a widow either before or after we get married. Shane I worry so much about you. You seem so fearless all the time and I’m afraid that if you aren’t careful something will happen. This isn’t warball, this is serious; it isn’t a game. I know this is selfish of me and I know that the world needs what you can do but I don’t know what I’d do if something ever happened to you.”
Shane pulled her closer to him and she leaned her head on his shoulder; both remaining silent in the comfort of their embrace. Shane gently kissed the top of her head. “Mon Cher, I will be careful for I want to spend forever with you. I love you Ava and you need to know that the world may benefit from what I have been positioned to do but I am doing it for you. Always know that.”
Ava looked up with glistening eyes, “I know, but please promise that you will be careful.”
“I will,” he promised; “on one condition. Tomorrow morning you come with me to the Valley of the Arc and introduce me to the Gryphon you met earlier today.”
~~~~~
Kaysee awoke the next morning with the voice of Brenner ever present in her mind. At lease she hadn’t had the nightmares. Attributing it to the ring that Leo had provided she decided that it must allow some protection from the mage whose consciousness she had picked up so she made up her mind to not take the ring off.
“Are you ready to begin learning nature magic?” Brenner asked congenially as she ate her breakfast.
“I suppose if it will get you out of my head faster,” she responded. “What do we need to do?”
“First you need to learn how to acquire natural lumen. The first step is to recognize it. I want you to look at the plant on your kitchen window sill. Look at it and concentrate on seeing the light within; an image of what to look for entered her thoughts.
Kaysee stared hard at the plant and at first all she could see was the plant then she noticed a golden glow that surrounded the plant like a halo. “I can see it, it is a bright golden glow,” She said excitedly.”
“No, no, no,” reprimanded the voice. That is lumen, but it is useless to a non-potent like you; it is Elios lumen. You have no control of that type. Look for a white spark of light at the heart of the plant.”
Kaysee tried again and while it took several minutes she finally spotted the small spark. “I found it,” she said hesitantly not wanting another mental scolding.
“Good,” Cooed Brenner soothingly, “now draw it into you.”
“How,” Kaysee puzzled as she tried to will it to come to her.
“Look into yourself and see that you have the same spark; yours will seem quite a bit brighter” explained the voice. “Imagine a line between the two sparks and then simply will the spark from the plant to follow the line like a pathway to join your own.”
Kaysee did as she was instructed and after a short struggle was able to get past the golden glow of both her and the plant and connect the two sparks. With deliberation she concentrated on moving the spark along the line toward her own. The closer it got the faster it went then suddenly the two merged. Kaysee suddenly felt off-balance and dizzy. Her stomach was suddenly refusing the breakfast that she had just eaten. “I’m going to be sick,” she stammered as she stumbled to the sink and began to lose most of her breakfast.
After a moment the dizziness and nausea diminished. “What was that,” Kaysee spat as she tried to get the pungent and acidic taste out of her mouth.
“That was a very good first effort” complimented Brenner.
“Then why do I feel like I just swallowed cesspool water.” She responded still spitting into the sink.
“It was likely the plant,” lied Brenner. “Sometimes if the plant is poisonous or has toxins it will make the mage that borrows its lumen a little bit ill; but I assure you it’s only temporary and it gets easier with time. After a couple of more tries you will not feel a thing. I’ll prove it to you. In the wall behind you there is a mouse living off the crumbs from your floor. Can you see its spark?”
Kaysee looked at the base of the wall and soon spied the faint golden glow of lumen. Looking past the golden glow she saw a blue glow noting a new difference she continued until she saw the life spark of the mouse. Repeating the process that she had used with the plant she much more quickly drew forth the life lumen from the mouse. Again the dizziness grabbed hold of her but only briefly, and this time while slightly nauseated she did not feel the need to throw up. Looking within she noticed that her own spark was noticeably brighter. “What was that blue glow I saw,” she asked Brenner. “Also I’ve noticed that with both the plant and the mouse that the gold glow and the sparks of both are now missing.”
“You drained them,” commented Brenner unemotionally.
“What!” Kaysee nearly yelled. “Are you saying that I just sucked the life out of them and killed them?”
“No, not at all,” lied the voice smoothly. “They will take a day or two and then will recharge good as new.” Changing the subject Brenner said, “Now to use the lumen that you just acquired. I want you to hold out your hands together in order to form a cup and concentrate on the image of the glass sphere that you found at the overland station back when you first picked up my sphere. Hold that thought and use your own spark and guide a small amount of the light from that spark along a line into the image of a sphere in your hands; as soon as the sphere forms stop sending the lumen from your spark.”
Kaysee followed the instructions and felt nothing other than a slight tingle as she felt a solid weight of a smooth crystal sphere fall into her hands. “Amazing.” she gasped in astonishment. “I just did real magic.”
“Excellent,” purred Brenner. “Now for the next step we will make a copy of you and put it into the sphere.”
Kaysee looked at the clock on the wall and saw how late it was. “I can’t I’m going to be late. We will have to do this later.”
“It won’t take long, I promise,” the voice seemed to almost plead.
Noting the change of tone Kaysee became suspicious. “I don’t know, tell me how it works when we get to the lab and we can try it this evening.”
“I won’t be able to speak with you while you are in the building that you call the lab. Something there inhibits my ability to converse with you,” the voice grumbled.
“Well we have the trolley ride and the walk to discuss it,” replied Kaysee as she rinsed out the sink, then shrugged into her coat and grabbed her satchel a
nd pocketed a piece of fruit for lunch. “I can’t be late or someone will worry and if they worry then I will have to explain why I’m late which could jeopardize your existence if they attempt the extraction and get it wrong.”
Luckily Kaysee was the only one on the trolley so she and Brenner were able to discuss how to change the sphere into what Brenner now called the seed of self. “If you look you will see nearly every color of the rainbow with in the aura of lumen that is with in you. Simply borrow a piece of all of it and then using the line of transition like you used to acquire your lumen you concentrate it into a spark that mirrors your own spark of life and then you will it into the sphere. When it glows red the spell is complete.”
“How do I use the copy,” queried Kaysee. “I don’t want to find myself in your situation.”
“If the time arises then you simply reverse the process or as in our case someone absorbs you and you stay there until, “Brenner hesitated a moment, “until you can find your original body or one of someone who has passed away and no longer needs it.”
“That’s disgusting,” Kaysee shuddered, “I could never wear a corps like old clothes.”
“That is why you need to be a mage to accomplish this so that if your new body is crippled or broken you can repair it before your restored self, rejects the new host and can no longer survive with in it.”
The conversation with the mage Brenner ended as Kaysee walked up to the Lab and entered. For a moment she felt slightly disoriented, she tensed in anticipation of another attack of pain like the previous day but to her relief the dizziness faded and she felt her normal self and no sign of the mage Brenner speaking to her mind.
~~~~~
Shew was instructing Nuekirk on the finer details of expletives while cooking breakfast when Ari and Gerard arrived on the Sloop.
“No, no, you have it wrong. It’s ‘…Same to you and the horse you rode in on...’ Not same to you and your horse. I swear, boy, are you sure you’re an orphan? I’ve heard better cussing at a finishing school tea party,” grumped Shew. Seeing Ari and Gerard walking up the stairs from below into the galley he added hastily, “ahem… and that concludes this morning’s lesson in initial analysis.”
