Tyrian looked up from his breakfast as Alicia and Neil came into the bar. "Well, look what the cat dragged in. I was wondering when you were finally going to show. There have been some people that are pre...tty worried about you. Hm... I guess since Laticia's not with you, that means she got accepted into the guild." He paused to take another bite of eggs. "As much as I support the idea, I don't envy you explaining that one. They're not going to want to let you out of their sight for months to come."
"I know, and I was ready to deal with that, but on the way back from Vane..." Alicia wondered how she could say this without it sounding like a badly made lie, "...we kind of trespassed somewhere we shouldn't have, and the owner of the place didn't believe it was just out of curiosity, so..."
"We have to go to the Black Dragon Tower and bring back a diamond. And we've only got a week to do it," Neil finished, not looking too thrilled with the idea.
"The Black Dragon Tower? You're supposed to get a diamond out of there? I know the Vane magicians'll pay top silver for any of those I've managed to run across, but going into the tower isn't exactly a cakewalk. The monsters there are pretty heavy hitters; they thrive off of the same energy that makes those diamonds so valuable. Even I would hesitate to go in there alone. It's not a place for the weak or faint of heart. Now, what kind of person would send you two that way?" Tyrian asked.
"He said his name was Chris Terrell..." Alicia started, then stopped when Tyrian began choking. "Are you okay?"
"Fine... Just fine." Tyrian grabbed his drink mug and took a long swallow. "So, Chris sends you out there to get this diamond. Do you happen to know what he wants it for?"
"He said one of his relatives was missing, and he needed the diamond to help him figure out where to look, because he didn't have the resources to go looking for him all by himself," Alicia answered.
"Ah... Well, if you don't mind me tagging along, maybe I'll go with you. My bones may be getting older, but I'm still five steps ahead of those kind of creatures. Maybe, if I'm lucky, we'll find two of those diamonds and I can use one of those as my retirement fund," Tyrian said, smiling widely.
"An extra swordarm would certainly help," Neil said, feeling slightly relieved. Hearing Tyrian's assessment of the nastiness of the creatures inhabiting the tower had made him seriously doubt the feasibility of even getting a diamond at all.
"That's settled, then. As soon as I finish my breakfast, we'll be on our way. Your horse is still here, Neil, and I have a couple of my own, so our travel there should be swift enough, even if we avoid the village," Tyrian explained. "I assume that's what you want to do for now since this guy has you on a close time limit."
"I guess we're going to have to," Alicia said with a sigh. She really hated making her parents and the others of the tribe worry like this, and she had a feeling that, the longer she put the inevitable confrontation off, the worse it was going to be.
Laticia woke early in the morning, hardly even a hint of light filtering through the curtains on her room's window. Her mind was crammed full of all kinds of new ideas and concepts her mentor, Mr. Verdeveile, had expounded on, the very same person the student textbook clerk had spoken of. He didn't seem like that bad of a person, but she could tell that she was going to have to work hard to meet his standards. This wasn't because he was being particularly hard on her, but because he expected a lot from all his students.
She'd also learned that she'd have a lot more difficult time than most people did designing their staff. From what Darulen had said about various elements, Laticia had gathered that any lightning magic she would be doing would be a lot more effective if there was a metal component to her staff. The higher the amount of metal, the more effective a tool it was likely to be. It was also more likely for people to electrocute themselves if they didn't take proper precautions.
One solution was rubber gloves. That sounded like a bad idea to her. They'd be awfully hot, and it would be hard to flex her fingers with them on. Not to mention that it would make it near impossible for her to use her bow.
Sometime during her dreams, with all that information playing itself out, Laticia had hit on another idea. Earth was an insulating force against lightning, so if she could make the outside layer out of stone, not clay because it would crack too easily, then insert a metal core... It sounded like a really good idea, but how was she supposed to accomplish it? Maybe she could get some hints from Mr. Verdeveile or one of the senior students.
It wasn't even breakfast time as far as the guild's cafeteria was concerned, so asking would have to wait a while. Laticia decided to go to the training hall Wein had shown her yesterday. It was really meant for magic practice, but there was no reason she couldn't use her bow there, too.
He'd had a hard time getting to sleep last night, just as he had the night before, but when he finally did, Wein had slept like a rock. He hadn't even been disturbed by Keefe's wyvern during the night, so he was only mildly grouchy when the wyvern made its usual keening cry to be fed just after sunrise. It helped that the worst of the pain from his sunburn had now subsided. Besides, he had his own magical creature to take care of.
Making certain that Keefe was preoccupied with his wyvern and could not be observing him, Wein rummaged under his bed and pulled out... a teddy bear. It was old and the 'fur' was worn; he had carried it around a lot as a child, though he'd never admit it now. He intended to give it to his magical creature to take care of simply because it had belonged to him. He had a feeling she would appreciate it, given that her behavior was somewhere between that of a little girl and an eager puppy.
Wein stuffed the bear inside his robe and left his room, taking a circuitous path towards the part of Vane where he kept her. He varied his route from day to day, he really didn't want anyone catching on to what his project was beforehand, so it was sheer coincidence that, this time, he passed by the training hall. He could hear an occasional, rhythmic thwack coming from within.
"Strange... It's awfully early for anyone to be practicing, and that doesn't sound like the effects of magic at all." Wein edged around to the doorway and slipped in. Once inside, he waited for his eyes to adjust before moving closer. Once he saw Laticia, it made sense.
'Of course, a bow. A long one, at that. She must be pretty strong if she can bend a piece of wood that thick. I don't think anyone else here other than Keefe could,' Wein mused. He watched her take a couple more shots and then turned to go. That's when she noticed him.
"Ah, Wein. Wait!"
He stopped and turned. "I'm sorry to disturb you. I was merely checking in to see what the noise was about. I was just leaving."
"No, I don't mind. I needed to ask you something, anyway," Laticia replied and, seeing the suprised look on his face, quickly added, "Not you specifically, but, at least a more senior student. It's about an idea I had for staff creation..."
Wein listened as she laid out her idea and thought for a moment. Then, he answered, "That's a very creative approach. Difficult to execute, but I think it can be done, assuming you can get your hands on the right amount of metal and a sufficiently long piece of hard stone. Of course, getting those is the easy part, relatively speaking. Stone that hard doesn't usually come in a small enough radius to be anywhere near comfortable enough to grasp, so the outside would require careful chiseling and polishing... And then the inside... That's going to be really tricky. Probably the best way would be to set up some kind of spell on the chisel so it would rotate extremely fast, basically turning the inside to powder. You'll have to stop the spell right before it gets to the end though."
Laticia had followed his logic up to that point, but now she was totally lost, "Why would I want to stop it from going all the way through?"
"The metal will stay in better if it's poured into the stone in its liquid form and allowed to cool. If you let the chisel go all the way through, the metal will just run right out the other end, making a hot, burning mess," Wein explained, making a face. "Once you've got that done, it's just a little more chiseling and polishing."
"Okay, thanks!" Laticia smiled, apparently happy with his response.
"Er... You do realize that it's going to be heavy, don't you? Not that you aren't strong; I saw you draw the bow, but... Weight-wise, that bow is on the order of a twig compared to what your finished staff will be," Wein warned.
"From what you said about how long it was going to take to craft, I'll have plenty of time to strengthen up."
'Enough time even with your classes?' That seemed a bit hard for Wein to believe, but he decided not to voice that particular concern aloud. "Well, I really must be going now. I have some project work to take care of." Wein excused himself and left.
Well. That had been interesting. Wein wouldn't have expected a novice student to have thought of it, regardless of their origins, even with Darulen Verdeveile as a teacher. Ingenuity was as valuable as raw talent and not always as easy to find. As strange as it was that Laticia had come here, he didn't think it would be a waste of her time. He realized he was running out of time if he wanted to be able to eat some breakfast before his first class, so he increased his pace.
Finally, he arrived at the warded line he'd placed over a section of Vane's forested area. It was enough to warn other people away and keep her from wandering off. He didn't want to have to cage her until he actually had to, right before the presentation. Wein took the teddy bear out of his robe and stepped across the line that was invisible through ordinary means. "Shaila... Where are you, sweetie? I've got a little something for you," he called out as he walked.
He heard a giggle, and the trees above him rustled. Wein stepped to one side, and Shaila jumped out, wings fluttering to slow her descent. Though she'd never spoken any words, he could tell she understood them, and that made him think that his theory that her kind and the pixies were related to each other somehow, albeit distantly, had merit. "I used to hold this a lot when I was lonely, so I thought that, since I can't be with you all the time, you might like to have this."
Shaila took the bear from Wein's outstretched arms and inspected it, running her hands over it and holding it up to her face. Then, giving a happy laugh, the little Lady Charme hugged him tightly. Internally, Wein winced at the pressure on his sunburnt skin, but he gave no outward sign that he was in any distress. He didn't want to frighten her after all. "I'm glad you like it," he said, giving her a pat on the head.