FORTUITOUS CIRCUMSTANCE [ 10470 ] K3 ~ Annora Caestrum Inkers ~ Eloquii Aequoris swaswj ~ Keydis Lysistrata |
| The port city of Concha Litus was bustling on the eve of winter. Travelers and pilgrims all seeking warmer climates from Terminus' wintry chills passed through the tourist city. Caravans of various sizes were beginning their preparations to make the journey south into the heart of Aridus. The city itself was – to many – the perfect vacation; not too hot, not too cold. It was a delightful break from the North, but not so far as to invite the infamous heat of the Western continent. Among the many taverns and inns that dotted Concha Litus, was one that sat quite conveniently just down the street from the local Fraternitas lodge. It was an ideal stay for mercenaries and passing hunters… and two particular travelers. Annora was never much of a morning person, so it was little surprise that she woke slowly and spent much of her morning completing the act. As the sun slowly climbed into the height of the sky, she sat at the small desk she'd commandeered from the tavern for their room. Her books – she'd had to move onto a second journal quickly, after she'd filled the first with notes on her progress with enchanting – were splayed open, and propped against one end was her sword, Vallum. She hadn't drawn the weapon since a fair few nights ago, instead regarding the weapon with a measure of caution usually afforded to wild animals. She still had no recollection of the enchanting arrays she'd placed upon the blade, only the strangers which drove her to create them. She had never studied them, never placed much thought in enchanting the blade so soon after receiving it from Keydis. It almost felt a little insulting to her friend, if she thought about it. Perhaps Keydis' weird mindset was starting to rub off on her? She hoped she was wrong. Pausing in her study, Annora leant back in her chair and ran a webbed hand through her chest-length hair. She'd bind it before she left the tavern, but it was starting to become a problem in its length. She definitely needed a haircut. A small jiggle of the door handle drew her attention to the entrance of the room, and Annora sat up a little straighter, not that it did much in her droopy-sleeved olive shirt and ragged beige pants. Without a knock, Annora's traveling companion walked right into the room. It wasn't overly warm, even inside the inn, but Keydis seemed unbothered, wearing only a pair of black shorts and a sleeveless red shirt. Having grown up in Terminus, where freezing winds regularly blasted down the streets and traveling more than a few kilometers from the sprawling metropolis was almost guaranteed to lead to snow, cold was more a familiar comfort than a complaint. The lack of sleeves showed just how muscular the girl was, no matter how compact her frame, a product of frequent training and blacksmithing. It wasn't those muscles that would draw the eye, though, but the inhuman violet metal coating her skin, spreading from her elbow to a third of the way down her forearm. Its shape was irregular now, and skin looked red and irritated around its edges, making it more and more apparent that it wasn't something she was wearing, but something that was growing on her. Lightning-like scars covered the rest of her forearms, still red but starting to fade, at last. Normally, Keydis would keep her arms covered up in public, but in the inn, she hardly cared, even if other guests might see -- and probably had seen -- the markings that identified her as a vistra, a corrupted being. As Keydis barged in uninvited, she seemed to be arguing with herself. "Haven't you heard any other songs? Are you even playing songs or are you just hitting random notes?" A closer inspection revealed a diminutive being perched on the young woman's shoulder. Pico was properly Annora's companion, but went where it pleased. Seeing Annora already sitting up, Keydis turned to her and grinned. "Ave'! Thought I might need this to wake the dead." A pewter mug of hot coffee was shoved into Annora's hands. The woman dropped into an empty chair not far off, adjusting the sword at her belt. Even though she hadn't properly dressed, Keydis went nowhere without her sword if she could avoid it. Not anymore. Her short brown hair -- with bangs dyed red -- was already spiked up in her usual style, and that alone was a sign of how late the morning had grown. "Late night?" she asked, looking around at the piles of books and papers. Accepting the mug with mumbled thanks, Annora took a long sip of coffee. Visibly relaxing, the spurii reflected on the question as Pico alternated positions between Keydis and her. As the little acorn-shaped sprite balanced on the back of one of her hands, she mused to him aloud, "Perhaps we should buy some music books on our next outing… actually, can you even read sheet music?" Raising a curious eyebrow to the sprite, Pico's only response was an owlish blink of the wide black holes that served as its eyes. It adjusted the small, curled leaf on its head, and bounded away to the nearby window sill. Giving a thoughtful hum, she turned a grateful smile to Keydis. "Suppose I'll have to take him to some concerts at some point," Annora joked, taking another sip of her 'nectar of life'. Smacking her lips, she leant back and grabbed the sheathed Vallum from next to the desk. Tossing it to Keydis, she pointed at it with the now-outstretched hand. "Open, slowly." Her friend's response was to raise a bushy eyebrow, and reveal the first inches of the broadsword. She was rewarded with a sudden snap-hiss! A small flurry of sparks shot from the blade, the auritium blade bathed in a red-hot glow. Keydis could feel the heat from the blade just by gripping the hilt. "That," Annora explained wryly, "was my late night." "Ohohohhh...." Eyes lighting up with intrigue, Keydis pulled the sword further from its scabbard, letting the heat waves blast against her. The hairs on her arms tingled as if about to burst into flames just from the proximity. The laicar stood and drew the sword fully, pausing to carefully look at the opening of the scabbard to see if any embers remained. It was no trick of the sheath, though, but the sword itself that was pulsing with heat. It was familiar. In a strange way, Keydis felt not as if the sword was projecting flames and embers. Instead, she felt as if it had gone back in time, back to those long nights when she had heated the metal to this very temperature, turning it in the forge until its metal was almost molten so that it would bend to her hammer's blows, yield to the weight of the metal and Keydis' own persistence. Even without further testing, though, Keydis could tell that the metal was not weakened by the heat, and it had lost none of the strength she had forged into it. Grinning brightly, Keydis carefully lined up the blazing tip with the sheath and slammed it home, sealing away the scorching brand. "A match for Bellator's own," she remarked sincerely, aware of a thin sheen of sweat left behind. "As hot as any forge I've worked with so far!" A cheeky grin crossed Annora's face, and she quipped, "Maybe we should consider a change of careers. Perhaps the, 'Lysistrata and Caestrum Traveling Smithy'?" Taking steady sips from her coffee, the spurii stood abruptly and peered out the single window of their room. The shutters were thrown wide, and Annora leant bodily on the sill as she peered out over Concha Litus. Humming thoughtfully in time with one of the few melodies Pico played, she called back over her shoulder, "You haven't really been around Concha Litus much, have you? Aside from going out for food, anyways. "We'll be moving on soon, there's some things I need to take care of further south." Annora explained, standing back up and turning back to Keydis. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears, and continued. "Shouldn't take too long, hopefully. A week or two, a month at most. The travel will take the long of it. How about I give you the ten-dahl tour of this place? I used to know it quite well back when I was first travelling." "I actually have to meet with that tail-guy in a little while," Keydis said, "but after that, I'm game. I've explored this place more than you think, though!" After a short pause, she reconsidered. "Then again, never found anything interesting, so maybe not." The brunette grinned, looking at the sword in Annora's hands. "Actually, why don't you come with? This is the lanky idiot we were both trying to capture when we first met. He commissioned this ridiculously large sword with silly decorations, says he's going to enchant it himself. I'm wanting to see if he can even lift the thing without falling over, or swing it without chopping that weird tail off." And if he was going to enchant it himself, Keydis was sure that Annora might get a few laughs out of watching that. A thoughtful hum came from Annora as she looked towards her notes, before shrugging helplessly. "Why not?" Concha Litus was something of a slice of paradise in the desert sands. A coastal city that benefited from the winter cold, but shrugged off the chills by mid-day almost year-round. The pair emerged from the bar, Annora casting a short glance at the spot next to the door for a moment, before quickly catching up to her swifter companion. The conversation was refreshingly light for their recent troubles, as Annora asked a simple question, "So who taught you how to smith, anyway? You're too good to not have gotten some instruction." "Lots of people, actually." Keydis paused to consider the answer. "My uncle's a member of the Terminus guard… nevermind, you met him. Stuffy old featherbrain, but he's good at his job. When I was younger, I wanted to be a guard, too, and one of the things he always said was that any good guardsman has to take care of his own equipment. So I watched him and… I think I was six or seven the first time I tried sharpening the kitchen knives. He didn't like that. Mostly because I kind of ruined the knives. "Since he never approved of me being a guard, though, he wouldn't actually teach me anything. Plus, I figured out even early on that he actually wasn't all that good at it." Keydis grinned at Annora as if sharing some kind of joke. The two young women continued down the road, Keydis keeping up a brisk pace if only to stay ahead of Annora's longer strides. They were heading toward a smithy shop that El had rented out space in. It was closer to the center of town, away from the hustle and bustle closer to the port, but near enough to the action to draw in business for the owner. "Anyway, I lied and told one of the other guardsmen that my uncle asked me to learn from them, and I even 'accidentally' let slip that it was because he didn't know too much. Well, it got me a few lessons, no problem, but then he tried giving old Havital some ribbing about it and so he found out and that was the end of that. There were… four..? No five others after that. One was in the Conexus, handled the armory maintenance. I was like sixteen then, and he knew of my uncle, but didn't know my uncle. I think he's the guy I learned the most from. First person to let me try actual forging. Until then I only did sharpening and polishing and some chainmail assembly -- which is, if you're wondering, incredibly boring. I was always interested before in how to maintain gear, keep it in top condition. This guy, Balkan, asked if I ever thought about making my own, better gear." Keydis paused, realized the story was getting long, and decided to cut to the chase. "I actually spent two years learning from him. Not just smithing, but he taught me how to properly use a spear. I've been training with swords since I was little, learned how to throw a punch when I was a toddler, but I had never really thought about how most guardsmen carry a polearm or a rifle." The pair almost walked past the street they needed. The brunette grabbed her companion's sleeve to get her to turn around. "Probably would've kept studying under him, but Hav and I had… a huge blowout. I left home, decided it was time to make my own way, without Hav in my way. "While I was on my own, I found an interesting place called Fabrica Soiree. Owned by this really awesome demvir, Sanctum Soiree. It's a warehouse full of tiny workstations. Completely bring-your-own materials and tools, but you're allowed free use of the facilities. Great place for people to practice or try to make a living when they can't afford their own workshop. The owner, I don't even know how much he knows, and he won't give straight-up lessons, but I think just about everything I know about working with terra regia, I picked up from him one way or another. Also learned some tricks from other smiths there, a little bit about woodworking." Finally, they arrived at the shop, with a half-hearted pun as a name: Bracer Yourself. It was a modest place, but the sign outside had been beautifully carved with the name of the shop and a man in a full suit of plate armor. There were windows with shining, unblemished armor pieces on display. "Well, mostly just how to tell good wood from bad wood," Keydis corrected herself as she pushed into the building. The owner stood behind a counter, a gray-feathered enlil who was surprisingly thin, save for his heavily muscled arms. He started to shout a cheerful greeting, only to look deflated when he saw it was Keydis. "Oh, you. Why can't you ever bring, oh why hello, miss! How are you today? Welcome to the finest armor-smith in Concha Litus!" The owner's tone went from disappointment to cheerful host in an instant. "Helllllooooo, ladies!" came a devastatingly recognizable, grating voice from behind the two girls. Just as quickly, the shop owner's sails deflated. Realizing that neither of the new faces were a new customer -- at least not for him -- he grumbled sourly and offered a grudging wave. It was a slow season, prompting him to rent out space to the irritating spurii in order to make ends meet, but he was eager to be rid of the fool and Keydis with him. "Were you supposed to meet him here?" Annora asked Keydis, before turning to face the now-recognizable voice of Eloquii Aequoris. Blinking somewhat owlishly, the woman offered a tight-lipped smile as she greeted the corsair. "This makes three times we've stumbled across one another; people might start talking at this rate, you know?" Keydis nodded to the owner and then smirked at El, just shaking her head at the greeting. "Or maybe they already are," Keydis teased. She considered the thought for a moment. El and Annora were both spurii, after all. Both seemed interested in enchanting and big weapons. As long as the lanky young man could curb his less-than-legal tendencies, he was fairly bearable to be around. Yeah, she could see it. Maybe. “I could only hope,” replied El, returning Annora’s smile with one of his own broad, sharp-toothed grins. Nothing about Eloquii Aequoris was subtle, even at the best of times. Today, however, he wore a sleeveless blue long-coat of some light, cotton-linen blend over a loose-collared dress shirt, its sleeves rolled midway up his biceps, exposing his arms and neckline. His arms were covered in wild black feathers from elbow to fingertip, and glittering black scales traced his neck and collarbone. He’d found several new pieces of blue cloth, each tied onto or tucked into his belt, creating a blue kaleidoscope at his waist, and while several of the keys in his collection had been confiscated when he’d been detained in Terminus, he’d clearly obtained a few new ones – at least a half-dozen now hung around his neck at various lengths. El’s tail was visible at his back, shifting lightly this way and that, and Felo – Eloquii’s black-furred, blue-eyed watercat companion – lay sprawled across his shoulders, watching the proceedings with a sleepy, half-lidded gaze. Combined with the spurii’s vibrant gold eyes, the flyaway blue hair peeking out from beneath the brim of his black tricorne and the odd, feather ‘horns’ poking out from the top, everything about Eloquii screamed ‘strange’. Even for a spurii, El was weird. He was also sporting a bruise, high on his right cheek, and a healing cut on his lower lip. “So,” he continued, as he made himself at home in the doorway, “how fare my two favorite bounty huntresses on this fine, sunny day?” Keydis stretched her arms in front of her, twining her fingers together to crack her knuckles. "Swell, actually, and I'll be even better once you've paid up." Jabbing her thumb in Annora's direction, she added, "If you play your cards right, Nora might have a surprise for you, too." She grinned, wondering if Annora would actually show the other spurii her new enchantment, and how El would react if she did. She also dearly hoped Annora never showed El how to do that kind of augmentation, because it seemed that he needed no help setting things ablaze. "It's back this way," she said for Annora's benefit as she walked over into a back room. It was cluttered, but a neat clutter. There were wooden bins filled with scraps of metal, bolts, odd tools, and chains. On either side of the room were long tables, and under those were multiple metal boxes of varying lengths. These each had locks on them, and dates scratched on the sides in white soapstone. The entire back wall was taken up by the forge, an impressive set of equipment for such a small shop. In front of the forge, in the middle of the room, were three anvils of varying sizes, and a foot-spun edge grinder. One table was covered in tools, some grimy with soot or oil, but all in excellent condition besides. The other table had a monstrous slab of iron atop it, vaguely shaped like a sword. It even had a metal rod soldered to one edge to serve as a handle. "You wrote a bunch of dimensions on your little sketch. I got this almost exactly as requested. Go ahead and swing that puppy a few times," Keydis suggested with a smirk. The unsharpened blade was easily two finger-widths thick, and two palms across. From the bottom of the handle to the blunt tip, it was about as long as Keydis was tall. At the sight of the monstrous weapon, Annora cast two looks simultaneously: one at El, in barely-contained concern; and the other at Keydis, in confused amusement. Surely the waifish boy wasn't to wield something so unwieldy? Annora herself would balk at the idea of swinging about such an unbalanced chunk of metal. Voicing as much, she cast her gaze back at El, "Is that supposed to be… for him?" “Hm?” said El, head quirked to one side as he approached the ridiculous slab of metal. “Why wouldn’t it be? I might not look it, but I’m plenty strong.” The spurii flexed one of his feathered arms. It was an overall unimpressive sight. “Here,” he added, prodding Felo into movement. The watercat chirruped sleepily, flicked his tail, and let Eloquii heft him towards Annora. “Hold Felo for a sec – he’s friendly, just,” Felo blinked at Annora and rustled the line of quills running down his spine, “yeah, careful of the quills, they come out sometimes. Watercats, ya know?” He deposited Felo into her arms, willing or unwilling, and turned towards Keydis’s work in progress. He gave it a long look, his own tail swishing back and forth at head-level, then shrugged and wrapped both hands around the blade’s ‘handle’. He heaved. The thick blade did not budge. “…Hm.” El repeated, more thoughtful this time. The self-fashioned pirate flexed his black-feathered hands, adjusting his grip, then tried again. Nothing. “Hmmm.” Something eerie glowed in El’s eyes, then, and something odd slipped across his expression – intent, focused. His knees bent, and this time when he lifted, his entire body strained at it. His muscles trembled. His tail lashed. For a moment, he hefted the blade’s weight, holding it maybe an inch off the table. A strangely dark, satisfied look flared in El’s eyes. Then he eased the blade down. It settled heavily on the table, and El released the handle to brace his hands on his knees. “Hahahhaha! That,” El panted, “is a, very heavy, sword. Ah…” He turned his gaze up towards Keydis, contrite. “…I don’t suppose…you might, ah, slim it down? A bit?” In response, Keydis reached up and belted the beanpole in the back of the head. "Idiot." She grabbed the handle in both hands, took a moment to brace herself, and then with a grunt, she lifted the slab of iron a few inches off the table. Already her muscles were bulging, even visibly quivering. Unleashing her breath in a rush, Keydis inhaled and pulled the blade toward herself. Its tip dragged on the table until it reached the edge. Here, the female blacksmith let it drop to hit the dirt floor with a heavy thud. She finally pushed the slab forward to lean it against the table, its tip several inches deep in the hard-packed floor. "'Plenty strong,'" she mocked, clapping her hands and brushing them off as if it was no sweat. Her arms were still shaking, though, and Keydis seemed to be having trouble catching her breath. Keydis walked over to the longer side of the table and crouched down, grabbing one of the longest of the rectangular boxes. She struggled briefly, but with another grunt, she rose to her feet and slammed the case heavily onto the table. Tools hanging on the wall rattled, threatening to fall free. Keydis produced an iron key and undid the two locks on the box. Flashing a grin at Annora and El, Keydis flipped the lid open. Inside was the real, finished weapon. Ignoring the dimensions that El had written onto his lame sketches, she had instead gone with more realistic proportions. It was still an enormous sword, far larger than practical, but it would at least be possible to wield in combat. Keydis lifted the sword out of the box, both hands on the large, leather-wrapped hilt. It was almost as long as the other sword, long enough to reach from her toes to chin, but only a hand and a half wide. The biggest difference, in terms of dimensions, was that it was an eighth as thick. "Less than a tenth of the weight," Keydis explained, lifting the sword high with one arm. It was still something like four or five times heavier than her own sword. The blade started out widest near the hilt, but tapered down quickly. The edges were a gleaming silver, showing off the bigatium that it had been forged from, but large sections of the blade were coated in a smooth, dark blue enamel. The gem El had requested had been cut down by a professional into two hemispheres, which Keydis had set into both sides of the hilt. With a deft movement, Keydis turned the sword point-downward and held the hilt out toward El. There weren’t words enough to describe the delight on El’s face –or the high-pitched sound of delight he made – as he took the sword from Keydis. His tail had gone completely, perfectly still. A boyish light danced in his eyes, not at all like the expression he’d shown when lifting Key’s first hunk of metal. The sword was as close to his specifications as was within the realm of possibility (considering what some of his specifications had been), clean and bright with the brilliance of a new blade. A bow-tie style crossguard and simple, rounded pommel, both of polished steel, comprised the haft of the sword, and the crossguard’s quillons curved in towards the blade, widening and flattening at the terminals. It was a beautifully-crafted sword. El held the sword up, resting the blade in one hand and gripping the hilt in his other. Still beaming down at the shiny surface, he turned to Annora. “Do you see this?!” he asked, giddy. “This is – This is…” The spurii shook his head. He turned back towards Keydis with an absolutely radiant smile. “This is perfect,” he settled on. “I…I…” His eyes gleamed suspiciously bright for a moment, and El looked up at the ceiling with a blatant sniff. Seeing the reaction on the lanky spurii's face, Keydis couldn't help puffing her chest out with pride. She'd never done a weapon quite so decorative, before, and had stubbornly done everything she could to make it a fully functional weapon, rather than just a show piece. Despite the frustration, she was glad she hadn't just done what she wanted, which was to make a plain greatsword for the idiot and tell him to deal with it. Perfect, Keydis repeated to herself, grinning. Damn right! She turned to the box and lifted out a long leather sheath. The leather had been dyed white -- if El didn't like it, he could buy a new sheath -- and was slit open most of the way down the top side. The sheath itself was attached to a simple baldric that El could throw over one shoulder. "It's mostly open so that you can actually draw the blade." She reached out and took the sword from El, ignoring his protest. She held it against her back, hilt over one shoulder. "Up, then out," Keydis explained, demonstrating the motion slowly. The sword would have to come up at least six inches to free the tip from the sheath before it could swing out and around. Keydis placed the sword back in his hand and laid the leather out on the table. Her smile dimmed and her bushy brows narrowed. "I want to be very clear on something. If you ever commit a crime, you already know I'm coming after you as long as there's profit in it. But, if you ever commit a crime with this sword, if I ever hear about you hurting someone innocent or a guard with this sword, I will personally break the thing into a dozen pieces," she warned gravely, "and shove each piece up your ass, one by one. You got me?" Harmless as he seemed, El had 'accidentally' lit multiple things on fire, but she wasn't about to tolerate her hard work being used to 'accidentally' cut anyone down. El seemed, momentarily, taken aback. He tore his eyes away from his sword, and blinked down at Keydis. Her fierce glare seemed to surprise him all over again. “Oh,” he said. “Uh…y-yeah!” His grin blossomed anew. “I got you! It’s not…like I want to hurt anyone, ya know! I’m not that kinda pirate,” he added, something like pride in his voice. He lifted his new sword and dropped the freshly-sharpened blade into his free hand again, gaze drawn back to the glittering stone that had been set into its hilt. This is mine, he thought, and, again, he felt at a loss for words. Everything – everything – in his life had belonged to someone else. That was the life of a pirate, right? Taking from others. He had never really minded it – it was just life. If you wanted to survive, you had to find a way to do so, no matter the means. If that meant stealing exa to feed himself, snatching clothes off someone’s clothesline to dress himself, and taking others’ hand-me-down weapons to defend himself, that was how it’d be. El wanted to survive. But this. This sword was his. And he liked that. “Now,” he said aloud, just to pull himself out of his head, “I just gotta get an enchantment on it! What do you think…?” he mused. “Fire again? I like the fire, but…it never seems to work out how I want it to…” Annora witnessed the whole procession with a sort of boggled look, remaining silent mostly to attend to the otter-cat dumped rather hastily in her hands. Felo, as it turned out, was quite affectionate albeit spoiled. A small, proud smile decorated the spurii's face as she took in Keydis' newest work. Petting Felo's downy fur, she tried to ignore the dark feeling in the pit of her stomach as her friend threatened El. Still, her eyes flicked to Keydis' elbows, at the violet metal that seemed grafted into her skin. It was impossible to ignore the ever-increasing aggression from her friend, and Annora only wished she would let her help. Pico and Annora could mend the young woman's body, but her mind was out of her grasp. Annora's smile disappeared, replaced with an unreadable expression. Unknowingly, her arm stiffened from underneath Felo, and the otter-cat nipped at the knuckles of her now-stilled petting hand. Her smile returned, less sure than before, and she distracted herself with El's companion as the boy stumbled through his response. Her attention was piqued at the mention of her chosen trade, however. Clearing her throat, Annora's posture straightened and stiffened slightly under the attention. "You're a student of Cantatus then, El?" “Sure am!” Eloquii said. With no small amount of reluctance, he tore his gaze from his new blade and turned to Annora. Felo’s antennae twitched towards him, although the cat seemed content enough remaining in Annora’s arms. “Well,” El quickly amended. “I don’t know if student is quite the word ta use, but I’ve done some enchanting. Mostly, er…ah…What did Hyalus call it…” The spurii frowned, hunting for the word. “…Infusing? Infusion?” He gave Annora a sheepish shrug. “Stickin’ magic to things! You saw one of my enchanted swords, actually! It was, ah, broken at the time. Mostly just the hilt, actually. Then that, er, broke too. Which is why I needed this!” He lifted the newly-crafted sword to eye level, as though anyone in the room needed reminding. “Cap always used to say that anything I enchanted was doomed – never let me ‘chant his stupid poke-sword ‘cause of it.” El’s expression turned thoughtful, then somewhat apprehensive as he looked at the sword still laid across his hands. The tip of his tail jittered slightly. “That isn’t a thing, though, is it? Enchantin’ making weapons more, er…breakable?” Keydis huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "Even if it did, you're using a weapon that I forged, so it won't be breaking anytime soon!" She hummed to herself and looked down at the hilt of Promoveo, then thought about how Vallum had felt when she held it earlier. She couldn't speak for El, but Annora's enchantments had only enhanced the weapons. Moving her hand to scratch underneath Felo's neck, Annora's face broke into a sort of half-grin. There was a lot of herself she could see in the young ruffian. The redirections, avoiding messy details, she even caught a few times where El had turned his legs and hips away from Keydis and herself. His energy was contagious, though, and Annora found herself entertaining a particular idea. Taking a chance, she stepped a little closer to El and interjected before he and Keydis could start into one another again. "I'm a student as well. If it's not too much trouble, would you allow me to watch your methods? I'm sure I could learn a thing or two." It was the truth, to an extent. Annora could always use more knowledge on the finicky subject of enchanting. Her experiences with Promoveo and Vallum had served to bolster her confidence in what she was already using, but her arrays for infusion were bulky and time-consuming. If El knew something more efficient, Annora would personally thank the spurii. On the other hand, it was a certain sense of sympathy that had her ask. The boy was young and, although trained, seemed terribly out-of-sorts with himself. It was a feeling she could relate to, and if she wasn't off her mark, appealing to the pirate's ego would make him more receptive to help with his own work. El tilted his head, studying Annora anew. “Watch?” he repeated, something incredulous in his voice. Then his smile returned, and he straightened a bit. “I mean, yer free to watch if ya want! I dunno if there’s a lot ta be learned from how I do things,” he glanced down at Felo, purring lazily in the spurii woman’s arms, “but I guess it can’t hurt! …Probably.” In all honesty, most of the crew had given Eloquii a wide berth any time he was working magic – enchanting included. El’s magic tended to be…rough. ‘Making up for technique with brute force’, the Cap had commented once or twice. “Besides,” El added in a hurry, “I’ve never had occasion ta chat with another ‘chanter before, aside from Hyalus – the bloke who taught me – and he only gave me the basics.” Meaning a book of basics. Hyalus had gone and died before he had a chance to do much else. El studied the heavy greatsword in his hands, smile fading, momentarily lost to memory. He cleared his throat, and turned his gaze up to Annora. “I ruined more than a few weapons, and enough dahlitium to make the Captain furious when I started …Er, but I can stick a spell just fine, now!” he reassured her. “You two saw my sword-fire – and that was, ah, probably my tenth fire ‘chantment? Flames even burn blue,” he boasted. He grinned at Annora and Keydis in turn, but something about the look in Key’s eyes reminded him of Din, and her little fritter shop – lost to the very flames he’d just bragged about. “But, fire can be a bit…messy,” he admitted. “’S why I was thinkin’ about trying something different this time.” A thoughtful hum was Annora's answer, as her hands busied themselves with Felo. Her mind was already churning with ideas at the odd particularities of El's enchanting. If the process was dangerous in any way, then it could be a number of problems. El could be using an array too weak to handle the magic he was imbuing; or the magic could be incompatible with the glyphs in the array. Enchanting was a terribly finicky art, and even Annora had felt the consequences of her inexperience when she'd enchanted Promoveo. The burns on her hands, a result of using two incorrect glyphs to direct the magic into the sword, had required her to manually do it instead. It may have looked flashier, but etching the magic herself had a cost. Keeping it to herself, she resolved herself to a good deed. Annora's smile loosened at the edges; became messier, less forced, and she continued, "Well I'm sure we could think up something fitting on the way to wherever you've kept your reagents. Why not tell me what you were thinking of, and I'll see if this brain comes up with anything worthwhile?" Taking a page from Keydis' book, she was already walking to the door before El had a chance to answer. Good deed aside, the Art of Cantatus was always a cause for excitement. Keydis snickered to herself as she listened to the pair. Most of what they were saying, she only followed tangentially. Blacksmithy made perfect sense to her, but creating something intangible from things unseen went beyond her. "I'll catch up in just a minute," Keydis suddenly offered, both because she wanted to put the work area back in order before the owner complained and because she was curious what might happen if she let the two enchanters spend a little time by themselves. “Oh, uh – sure!” El spluttered, snatching his new sword’s sheath off the table and throwing the baldric over his shoulder. “Alright!” Sword still in-hand and tail whipping behind him, he trotted off after Annora. Back outside, El took a moment to soak in the sunlight; it was a brilliant day – the sun shone hot, but the heat was tempered by the steady, refreshingly-cool northern breeze rolling off the ocean. El adjusted his hat and took a deep breath; it smelled like the sea. Almost like home. El’s grin broadened as he fell in-step with Annora. “So I was thinking,” without missing a step, El hefted his new sword and sank it home into the white leather sheath on his back, and something glittered bright in his expression, “I don’t really know any of the schools besides ol’ Bell, and I’m still a bit ehhh with him, which limits my options a mite, yeah?” Hands now free, the spurii took his hat off and scratched his fingers through his hair, mussing it even worse. As he reseated the hat and adjusted its angle for maximum rakishness, he continued. “If fire’s out, I was thinkin’ about maybe – how about, when I swing the sword,” El pantomimed the action with enthusiasm, “a bolt shoots out! Then I got range and close-up options!” El grinned, then winced slightly as the expression pulled at his injured face. He prodded the still-healing cut on his lip with his tongue before adding, “Or, I could use, uh, a wind ‘chantment. That’d be good if I had a buncha people on my tail. …Not, not literally, o’ course.” Another thoughtful hum was Annora's initial response, unaware of the verbal tic as she turned over the possibilities in her mind. A few ideas tumbled from her mouth, without any particular direction to them. "With a blade that large, using it for ranged options could be bad. The return on your swing, you see. That wind idea isn't half-bad though. Extending your range while maintaining your center of gravity with a short-range spell? Hmm, you still have to return the swing before you can follow-up though, unless…" The woman lapsed into silence, appraising El for a moment with scrutinizing eyes. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she shrugged more to herself than to him, and continued. "Imbuing spells on a weapon that large tends to be unorthodox, since they operate on a pivot. You either keep it close to you while you swing to make it easier to stop, or you extend your arms and bring them in as you swing for a stronger swing. "I have a way around that for spellcasting, but in your case it might be best to use something a little more direct. Do you know the Repulsor spell?" The strained, blank expression on El's face was a clear indicator that he had little idea what Annora meant with the return and the pivot. His eyes did light up at the mention of Repulsor, so Keydis assumed he at least knew the spell she was talking about. "You don't actually know how to fight with that thing anymore than you know how to enchant, do you?" Keydis accused, shaking her head in consternation. She had met several people at the Fraternitas who were similar, throwing fists or swinging weapons without any semblance of technique, trusting to luck and willpower more than anything. “I do!” objected El. “Well, hehe, I mean–” the lanky spurii drummed his fingertips against his mouth for a second, thinking. “I mean, I don’t know what she’s talkin’ about, per say, but just ‘cause ya don’t know the words for something doesn’t mean you can’t do it, right?” El crossed his arms over his chest, head tilting. “You two keep remindin’ me of the Captain,” he said cheerfully. “He always talked about stuff like methods and techniques, too.” The spurii paused and glanced from Keydis to Annora. His grin turned sheepish. “Anyway, I know…of…the Repulsor spell. It’s the two-hands bam,” El made a pushing gesture with both hands, “one, right? Throws stuff back? I’ve tried to do it once or twice, but...uh… W-well, anyway, wouldn’t pushin’ things back too far be bad? Then I can’t hit ‘em!” Smiling easily, Annora nodded in time with El's words, letting him get all of his thoughts out. Taking a moment of her own to think on how to explain what she was getting at, the woman's eyes strayed, and took note of the street they were on. Her eyes lit up in epiphany, and she exclaimed, "Ah, there's a public park nearby. Perfect! "A demonstration will probably make more sense. Keydis, would you mind helping me show El what I mean?" she asked casually. "Sure, no problem," Keydis replied, although she raised one eyebrow suspiciously. She wasn't sure that anything she had done before had been relevant to the actual enchantment, but if all Annora needed was for her to hold something or sit somewhere, she could do that. She could hold off on demanding payment for the sword until after whatever Annora wanted to show him. "Perfect! This way," Annora exclaimed, veering around a corner where the park was already visible. A rare sight of green in Aridus, Concha Litus satisfied the rare conditions for such a garden to be maintained through rigorous maintenance. Beds of lilac and white camellias framed the small trails that led in and out, imported-lumber fencing keeping the fussier flowers safe from intruding feet. Thankfully, a small clearing was available in the center, which was mostly abandoned in the height of day's business. If Annora wasn't wrong, it would be a few hours or so before the town began to wind down, and the park would truly be bustling with workers and families eager to relax. Turning on her heel, she reached behind her – into the confines of her cloak – and unlatched her greataxe. Trunco's familiar, heavy weight was relieved in a moment, and Annora couldn't help but roll her shoulders as she withdrew the labrys. Presenting it, she offered a simple command to El, "Alright, sword out. It's time to prove Keydis' effort was worth it. You too, Keydis, we're going to show El the basics of disarming an opponent with a faster weapon than your own." Understanding lit up in her friend's eyes, while confusion and a respectable amount of suspicion blossomed in El's. Annora, for her part, simply smiled and unbuckled her cloak from around her shoulders. By the time Keydis had thrown aside her jacket and drawn Promoveo, she was already standing in a ready stance. Trunco was held before her, one hand near the base of the haft and the other roughly halfway along its length. The twin-bladed head of the axe was pointed directly at Keydis, and Annora held the weapon just below her chest, the haft pressing lightly against her ribs. Feeling a demonstration would speak more strongly than a simple explanation, Annora remarked casually to Keydis as her friend rolled forward on her feet, ready to spring forwards. "Nothing fancy Key, I don't feel like bloodying up these clothes today." "Fancy?" Keydis repeated with a scoff. "It's like you don't even know me." The brunette eyed Annora's stance carefully, taking note of the strengths and weaknesses. Even for a friendly exchange, Keydis felt her mind whirling with possible angles of attack and counters. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet. There were some small openings that she could probably press into her advantage, but that wouldn't be a great demonstration for El. She also didn't want to play it too lightly, because an unimpressive example would be forgotten easily. Besides, she didn't want to insult Annora's own skills. Without explanation, Keydis swapped the sword to her left hand, coiling her fingers around the grip. She danced swiftly forward, left then right then left again. Promoveo arced up from the ground in a feint before Keydis lunged forward, instantly aborting the slash for a thrust at Annora's belly. Annora's eyes narrowed as Keydis darted forward, quick as lightning. The schiavona flashed, the auritium blade glinting in the sunlight, but the spurii's eyes were glued to Keydis' wrist. Sliding her right foot back and planting it firmly, Annora's breath came out short, before the muscles in her arms clenched and contracted, pulling her labrys up and back. Pulling back from the haft's base, Annora tilted the flat of the axe-head as it intercepted the thrust, forcing the forceful strike up and away from its intended target. Through it all, she stood firmly, not affording Keydis even an inch of ground. As her friend followed the blow through, a certain sheen flickered in Annora's eyes. The axe was still held against her sternum, but the axe had directed Promoveo in the opposite direction of her dominant right arm. The blade slid forward, and Annora could see the thickly-corded muscles in Keydis' arm flex as she moved to bring the blade around onto the spurii's exposed left side. The sheen behind Annora's eyes lit up, and she felt magic flow from her hands, winding around her and her axe, the weapon more an extension of her arms than a simple tool. A moment later, a loud ping alerted Keydis as two large portals wrote themselves into the air next to Trunco's head. "By Bellator's blade, Repulsor," Annora intoned, her voice serene and airy, before the portals activated, blasting the laicar's weapon and sword arm with a wave of concussive force. “Ooooh!” came a loud cheer from the side as Keydis’s weapon was knocked from her hand and high into the air. El’s face was lit in a smile of earnest delight. He brought his feathered hands together in applause, eyes still on the sky and Key’s sword. He’d seen Annora’s weapon before, in brief both times, but neither situation had invited him to stop and really watch the woman in action. “That was awesome! How did y---uh-oh-” The spurii leaped to one side, a split second before Promoveo buried itself in the ground where he’d been standing. Felo, who had taken his reprieve from Annora’s arms to wriggle around in the lush park grass, rolled right-side up, half-alert, half-curious. El’s tail lashed from side to side in a wide arc as he blinked down at the schiavona. His grin wavered, then returned full-force. “Haha, that was close!” he said. He snatched the blade up and handed it back to Keydis. Amusement and curiosity danced in his bright-gold eyes. “So, what was that?” he asked, turning back to Nora. Pulling a cloth from her belt, Keydis wiped down Promoveo's blade to clean it from any remaining dirt before sliding it away into its sheath. "Were you... were you not paying attention at all? I don't even understand all this arcane nonsense but I'm not deaf, I heard her call out the spell name." Even though they had just been talking about it, Keydis hadn't actually expected the spell. She was anticipating some kind of martial maneuver, and was prepared to allow it to work enough to make Annora's point. Actually having the sword blasted out of her hand, though, felt a little shameful. She'd have to figure out a counter before an actual enemy tried that sort of move on her. “I-” Color blossomed on El’s cheeks and the tips of his long ears, and his tail lashed harder. “I was!” he objected. “I just, what I meant was,” he spluttered, “ya see, I thought you usually can’t cast when ya have a sword in yer hands, ‘cause tracing the circles and all. Right?” he glanced back and forth between Keydis and Annora. “…Right? It’s why I prefer ‘chanting weapons instead of castin’ mid-fight – keeps the magic hands-free.” "It's as I said before," Annora cut in, planting the haft of Trunco into the ground underfoot and leaning lightly against it, "I have a way around that; but, that was why I suggested infusing the blade with Repulsor, El." Walking up to the young man, she tapped lightly on his shoulder. "Sword out, I'm going to show you how to do that, and why you do it." “Hm? Okay, sure!” said El, brightly. “Compared to my old crewmates, you’re probably a great instructor.” The spurii reached over his shoulder and, as Keydis had demonstrated not so long ago, drew the greatsword up and out of its white-leather sheath. He tested the blade’s weight one-handed, then two-handed, then grinned up at Annora. “It’s so cool, isn’t it? Did little K tell you about the little stone, here?” El pointed at the glittering, translucent blue rock set into either side of the sword’s hilt. “I had her use a stone I found ages ago in some underwater caves – same place I met Felo, in fact!” he gushed. “So, now what?” Keydis stared for a moment. Little K? she repeated silently, forehead wrinkling. She stepped calmly forward and reached, then rapped her knuckles against the back of his head. "Not so 'little' that I can't rattle that thick skull," she reminded him. "Now pay attention to the girl!" The rock was pretty curious -- she had never seen one like it, and neither had the gem cutter who had split it and polished it into shape. In the gem cutter's opinion, though, it was likely a semi-precious stone and not a genuine jewel. "It's a lovely weapon, El; but it won't dazzle your enemies if you don't know how to use it," Annora chided lightly. "Now, do you remember how I stood when I received the blade? I want you to mimic it as best you can." Nodding animatedly, the young corsair attempted to replicate the stance, though he noticeably struggled as he held the handle with both hands, holding it parallel to the ground. Giving her own nod – as though she'd just confirmed a suspicion she'd already had – Annora stepped next to El and tapped the flat of the blade with a finger, roughly halfway down the blade's length. Humming to herself, she rummaged in a pocket for a moment before producing a wrapped cloth. Pouring out its contents – a small heap of dahlitium pulveris – she abandoned them to the ground for a moment as she loosely folded the cloth over one half of the blade. "Grab the blade with your off-hand here." “O…kay.” said El, a note of (still cheerful) confusion in his voice. He glanced from his fingers, now curled around the cloth-covered cutting edge of his sword, to Annora’s face. Down to the terra regia she’d dumped out on the grass. Over to Keydis, standing sentinel to one side. He grinned at her, immediately distracted. “I said ‘little K’, not ‘weak K’. Size ain’t got nothin’ to do with whether or not you can kick my ass, does it? Dunno why you’d think it does.” His grin turned rogue-like. “Unless you got an issue with yer height. “Ehehe, sorry, sorry,” he hurriedly tacked on, hopefully before the young woman decided to hit him again. He returned his gaze – and attention – to Annora. “I’m listening! Really!” "You can earn that banter by parrying one of Keydis' blows," Annora answered, stepping away to re-observe El's stance. Nodding, she remarked as she stepped away, "You have good instincts. Your feet are in the right position, and you don't hold the sword too close to your stomach. Now, then. "Large weapons like my axe and your sword can't keep up with smaller ones. We can't trade blows because they'll get two in for every one we deliver." Annora leant her axe against one of the fences in the garden, and crossed her arms as she continued the explanation, "So, it's up to us as practitioners of Barbaris to make every blow count. When you receive a blow, you're not trying to block it; you're using it to put yourself in a better position to strike back." Gesturing with a nod to Keydis, the spurii rolled her shoulders slightly. "All I did was put Keydis' blade in a position where it was over-extended. Even without the magic, I would've been able to deliver a counter-stroke. She wasn't expecting the magic, and that's what makes it potent. Enchanting is all about surprises. The Discipline of Barbaris is about making every swing count. Why settle in two blows what you could do in one? "For now, try to receive her attack. A parrying blow like this can be difficult against foes of greater skill than yourself, but it's good to get a feel for the motions." Keydis almost suggested that Annora should be the one to attack El, but thought better of it. After what Annora had just said, it would come off condescending. It would be pretty hard to slow herself down enough for El to learn anything from the exercise, though. Pausing to consider only briefly, Keydis grabbed the neck of Promoveo's sheath and pulled it out of her belt before slipping her hand inside the guard. The sheath added some uncomfortable weight and threw off the balance. As long as she wasn't making sweeping slashes, though, the friction of the sheath ought to hold it from flying off. With sheathed sword in left hand, Keydis lunged forward, not giving El a warning to get ready. She easily slipped past his lowered guard and jabbed him in the ribs before retreating. "If you didn't understand, when she said 'receive the attack,' she meant with your sword!" “Ow!” El said, laughing. “I wasn’t rea—ow!” Keydis’s second jab came from the opposite side, digging into the soft flesh under his arm. “Okay, okay—! Just let me—owstop—” Sheath or no sheath, Keydis’s sword was unforgiving, and Keydis herself made each poke a pointed statement. Annora may have been a better teacher than the ragtag pirate crew he’d grown up with, but Keydis… Keydis reminded him of the Captain, actually. He, too, had preferred to teach at the tip of his sword, drilling El until he was sprawled out, sweaty and exhausted, on the Momentana’s deck. Only then would he stop to point out where El had gone wrong. Eventually, after Key had jabbed all the chatter and sheepish laughter out of him (his sides could only take so much before they started to bruise), Eloquii turned his thoughts to the task at hand. What had Annora done? Something about the way she angled the blade? But she used an axe— Again came the sheathed schiavona. El shifted, brought the heavy greatsword between his ribcage and Promoveo, and torqued it to the side. Like he’d thought, Keydis’s sheathed blade slid off the edge of his sword, redirected away from the blade – and straight into his stomach. “Ow!” El said, true to his namesake. He dropped the supporting hand from his sword and curled it over his smarting abdomen. “That wasn’t right.” Above him, he heard Keydis heave a sigh. “Are you even trying?” “I am!” El laughed. “I am – I mean, I’ve done this sorta thing before, but not –” the spurii straightened, rubbing idly at the newest ache in his collection, “not while thinking about it. Thinking about it makes it harder. “Also, you’re really fast,” he added in a not-quite-whine. He picked up Annora’s cloth from where it’d fallen in the grass, got his hand back into position on his sword, and said, “Okay. Okay! For real now!” Promoveo jabbed into his side. “Ow!” “Ow – hang on! M-my sides, why--” “Aw, almost—” Annora stood at the side, offering helpful suggestions, correcting his form whenever it slipped, and pointing out when he’d misplaced his feet after recovering from one of Key’s particularly jabby jabs. Still, El’s tail was curled tight and close to his back, still with concentration, and sweat had begun to dampen the hair at his forehead and the back of his neck before he started to get the hang of things. The new greatsword was pretty heavy – his old one had been broken for months, and he’d sort of forgotten the weight of the swords he preferred. It was taking some getting used-to. Now, Key’s sword caught against the flat of his own blade more often than not. Getting it to deflect in any sort of meaningful or helpful way was a different story. In fact, his clumsy parries seemed to put him in a worse position than Keydis. I can do this – I can – I can – Something pressed against the back of his thoughts. The leather strips of his passkey necklaces chafed and itched. Keydis moved, and El held his breath. Let it go. As the swordswoman thrust forward, he pulled his sword up and, as her strike connected, angled the flat of his blade. Key’s sword glanced off his own and up, high into the air – if only for a beat. “Ha-!” Before the grin could finish spreading across El’s face, Keydis torqued her arm, slipped Promoveo under his guard, and smashed the schiavona’s pommel into his sternum, leaving him doubled over and wheezing for breath. “Haaaauughhh---” he finished. "Hopeless," Keydis said, shaking her head. Her arm was starting to get tired. She could keep it up for a while longer, and even swap arms if needed, but it was more a sign to her that maybe El was reaching his limit. "That's all for today, Wheezy." She gave him a rough slap between the shoulder blades and began to secure Promoveo back on her belt. "At the end there, you almost had it. The motions, at least. It's not going to happen as long as you're struggling to lift that thing. Get used to that weight." The smile on her face felt anything but comforting. "I'm going to be pretty peeved if I put in all that work on a paperweight." "That's enough for now," Annora finally cut in, ending the impromptu training session. Stepping forwards, she tutted lightly as she remarked, "I suppose it's my own fault, for not bringing Pico with me. It's been some time since I've done this, so hold still." Drawing near to El as he heaved in great lungfuls of air, Annora laid a single hand against his back. Clearing her throat and closing her eyes, her mind reeled back to years prior. Lessons from her childhood she had forgotten until the strangers of the night had reminded her of them. Of the promises they held, that she had made with them. Her voice was sonorous, singing the words of old choir sessions, "O wondrous light, o bright-lit star; thy call is star-song, thy will be done; hear this plea, mend thy child. Take from him thy punishment, and undo what his passion hath wrought. In Castus' name, Mend." Soothing pulses of green the color of seafoam seemed to wind down the length of Annora's hands, splitting away into thin tendrils that spider-webbed across El's abdomen before disappearing. The healing energy quickly worked into the wounds, soothing the bruises and bringing the abused spurii's breath easier. Annora fell silent, her eyes glazed as she finished her arcane work. The older woman's voice was strangely beautiful, nurturing, but something about the cadence in Annora's prayers made Keydis' skin crawl. She tightened one fist and released it several times to try to get rid of the uneasy sensation. It wasn't that she was particularly areligious. Keydis left offerings for Bellator when she was able, and gave her thanks to Castus on special occasions. Why it so disturbed her, she had no idea. When the healing was done, Keydis relaxed and then graciously offered, "The heal-job and lessons are free, but pretty soon we need to talk about paying for this beast. You owe me eighteen hundred." Before El could quibble over the amount, Keydis pointed a thumb toward Annora. "It's vital traveling money for the woman who's probably going to teach you how not to lose your arms in your next fight." Annora frowned, and interrupted, "Was that the agreed upon amount? I don't need any money for the training." Eighteen hundred? El, who had sheathed his sword and rucked his shirt up to inspect Annora’s handiwork for himself, tilted his head. Blinked. “It wasn’t!” El blurted, shoving his shirt back down. “You said fifteen hundred!” He jabbed a finger at Keydis. “I should know, with how much I repeated it to myself… Only it should be less, since I got you the bigatium you said ya needed. Right?” The spurii paused, then shot a smile at Annora. “Ya didn’t have to go beseechin’ Castus on my account, ya know. I’ve had worse bruises!” he said, almost proudly. His smile turned radiant. “But thanks! I appreciate it!” "How am I supposed to mess with his head if you don't play along?" The brunette laughed and shook her head. Adopting a more serious expression, she nodded, "It's a thousand. You brought some of the metal but you asked for a lot of fiddly details, and I fit 'em all in there. You also left me a lot of the legwork on setting up the forge and the gem cutting." It had been a lot of work, but she was happy with how it came out. It was a little worrisome that she'd be leaving a sword of that caliber in El's hands. He hadn't yet proven that he was all that deserving of such a thing. She hoped it would be used on monsters, defending little old ladies and helpless kids or some such. "What do you say to grabbing a meal -- your treat -- before you two get all mysterious and magical and erotic with the enchanting business?" Keydis suggested, rolling her shoulders side to side and leaning back to relieve her muscles. "We'll talk about your bill later." If she could think up an excuse, Keydis would try ditching the two of them after the meal. Enchanting went way over her head, anyway, but she was also musing on what might happen if she left the two of them alone together. The results could only be cute or hilarious. |
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