It was nice to hear Zarena say something about the long term. Typically she spoke as if she was planning to go to sleep again soon. For her to be worried about the long term such as what she was going to read was nice though Nathan wasn't going to mention it. He didn't want to risk her reverting to her previous way of talking. “You don't need to worry about that too much. After all I'm currently working on duplicating his technique. Right now it's more a matter of selecting what books I believe you'd enjoy rather then working on the magic.”

“Does that mean I should finish this as quickly as I can?”

“No.” By now Nathan had made it onto the tip of Zarena's finger and began to walk towards the center of her palm. “What kind of information did you brother leave you? I imagine that he left you a fair bit of soul food given what you were doing.” It surprised Nathan whenever he heard a slight whistle from Zarena as she looked back towards the book in her hand.

“If that was his goal then he chose to be honest rather then change his behavior and seem false. I suppose that might have been his way of insuring that it's nurturing. I didn't really notice in the beginning as I was reading so slowly but it seems like he was trying to pass on some information he believed I might find useful. He talks a lot about events, changes, structures they're working on. Things that I would see while awake but may not think to ask about. He doesn't talk much about the people. Well I guess you know that given that I lent you the book for a while.”

“Actually I was more studying the technique that went into making it rather then the content.” Nathan felt himself lifted into the air and new that he was moving towards Zarena's chest without look. In the beginning whenever she'd set him on her prone body she would lay him on her shoulder or on her stomach. These days she had switched to setting him atop one of her breasts or placing him between them. He didn't know which it was be until she had actually set him down. This time it appeared to be her breast though as he was looking down at her face whenever she began to tilt her hand. “Why don't you tell me about some of the happenings he considered important.”

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It had been a week since Maria had started taking sessions within the glyph. At the moment she was taking them on a daily basis for a bit less then an hour. After an hour Maria's hunger reached a point where she was truly becoming stressed according to Flora and she would call it off. There had been progress though as Joseph looked at his notes. “The time she can remain within the glyph has increased since the first four times she was within it. The first increase shows up on the fifth session but it's a really small increase. I don't believe I could safely call it progress as it may just be a change in her perspective and her tolerance.”

Joseph had told her that it would be some time before Maria showed progress. So Flora wasn't surprised by his findings though part of her was a bit disappointed. She could see her daughter's suffering and she wanted something more concrete to say that it was worthwhile. Such things were out of Joseph's hands though especially with an experimental technique. “I'm happy to hear that there have been some changes that can at least act as evidence of progress. When will you begin to test to see if she's actually directing additional energies into her body though?”

“I won't be able to truly test that until she shows more progress in resisting the glyph's influence. I've been trying to do so though by monitoring her eating habits excluding how she eats after we're done with the testing for the day. Have you noticed any signs of degradation as far as Maria's well being goes?”

“Not on a physical level. She's recovering nicely from each session. Mentally is another issue. I believe knowing each day is going to involve the same pain is tiring her. That isn't something you need to worry about though. Right now she is hoping for a quick end to the experimentation on some level. Once that hope has been resolved and the realization of how long this may take has truly sunk in she'll steady herself. She showed similar behavior whenever she realized how painful learning from Vera is going to be.”

“I noticed that. I'm just glad that she isn't having to continue her lessons with Vera and endure this. How is that being handled anyway?”

While he was speaking Flora had walked over to Joseph and looked down at the paper's upon his desk. “Are these your notes about the experimentation?”

“Yes. There isn't much to write right now but I try to notice every little detail. I've been sharing them with the other brothers whenever they ask for more information.”

“I see. Vera hasn't agreed to take on any additional students and insist that two teachers will be fine. Apparently she has no desire to start over with a new student while continuing with two others. Especially whenever she isn't certain of when Maria may be returning. Where is my daughter by the way? I fully expected her to be here.”

“She said they were some things she wanted to take care of after she finished eating. I hope that she isn't doing anything too tiresome considering she hasn't had her session today.”

“No. I'm not doing anything tiring.” A sigh escaped Maria as she walked into what she had come to call the glyph room. She could already see the mystic construct laid out on the floor apparently waiting for her. “I just wanted to go speak with a few sisters. I made a quick dash to the beech as well to bring some news to and get some information from Kersara. The additional orcs have arrived and the community seems to rapidly moving toward self sufficiency. There have been some issues with fishing though.”

Flora, “Really? What's the problem?”

“The orcs have made fishing trips to the shores before but they've never tried to set up a permanent settlement there. Put simply. Their boats are great for short term use and terrible for long term. The salt water just takes a different toll on them then the river water. So they're experimenting with different materials and building techniques. They also made some comment about the spirits of the ocean being no where near as cooperative as the river spirits. That and it was mentioned the spirits of the ocean seem more intent on killing them then the river spirits.”

Flora, “That isn't good news at all! Did they perhaps say why the spirits of the ocean would seek their lives?”

“I didn't think to ask. So how much longer until you're ready for my lesson?”

Joseph, “We still need Ridon here to act as a second magic user and a third set of eyes. He should be here pretty soon.” As he spoke Joseph was certain Ridon was already on his way. He would have been informed of Maria's arrival and was probably receiving some aid in traveling there quickly. Fortunately this could be easily explained as scheduling and the result of the citadel reducing the usefulness of the sister's senses. “Maria any chance you stopped and looked in on Mina while you were coming here?”

“I didn't have time to. I had to get myself cleaned up after the run to the beach. Unfortunately being experimented on didn't absolve me of all my responsibilities. Then again I'm pretty much the only person that can make the trip regularly except for Zarena. Hey mom have you spent any time on the path that Zarena has been using? I don't believe the forest is going to be able to reclaim that without some serious aid. She's pounded that bit of road down solid.”

“I've been on it a few times and we're having serious debates about the issue especially with the possibility that we could be growing even larger. We're trying to settle on the notion as to whether or not it's better to try to have the forest heal from the damage we cause and continue to spread out or if most sisters should be required to use predetermined paths. I have to say if there is any chance we will all be as big as matrons one day I'm supporting predetermined paths with a few sisters given special permission to patrol regions that are far from the paths.”

“I can see where that would be a good idea. What about upsetting the plant and animal life though? By creating these paths we might end up creating a path for a plant or animal to spread to a part of the forest it couldn't otherwise reach. We might even be the ones that spread it when it comes to seeds.”

“There was talk about this as well. I don't believe we have to worry about the animals making use of the paths too much. They should quickly realize that we travel these paths regularly and do their best to avoid them. Some don't have any choice but to cross of course and we must avoid putting undo pressure upon them or we run the same risk of upsetting the balance of our home. One thing that caught a lot of our interest was brought up. In the days of the Luvarians we were all matron sized or many of us were yet we patrolled the forest. They must have had planned patrol paths designed so that it wouldn't harm the forest.”

“Those could have shifted a lot though! Even with what we've done to maintain the forest thing have changed.” By now Maria had made her way to the outer edge of the glyph though she didn't dare step within it. She knew that Joseph would have to awaken the glyph for it to harm her but she didn't want to be within its bounds any longer then she had to. She'd  began disliking the glyph's shape on the third day of her lessons.

“Yes but they could still be useful to us. Things become even more complex when we talk about growing even larger then the matrons of course. Zarena's path is rather set but in the future we plan on making use of the natural flow of the forest to find the best possible path. Fortunately we're on good terms with the orcs now as well. I'm not sure if we're the best prepared to feel the natural flow of the forest given the generations of more binding it to our desires.”

“I'm here! Sorry it took me so long.” As Ridon stepped into the room he moved at a hurried pace. From the way the protectors had been talking it sounded like the others were waiting for him. To see them comfortably setting around the glyph talking casually though made him feel as if he had been miss lead.

Flora, “It's no problem Ridon. You seem to be right on time to me though.”

“Ah well. I really should be a bit early for these sort of things so I can help Joseph prepare. It's not right for the researcher to arrive after the person being used as the test subject.” As he spoke Ridon had to be mindful of his words. In truth Alaina had been the one that told him of Maria's arrival. From the way she's talked though he believed that he was late. Now he found himself wondering if that had just been his mistake or if she had been trying to miss lead him. Part of him hoped that she had been intentionally miss leading him as while such things could have negative implications there were positive ones as well. “Joseph do you want me to help awaken the glyph again?”

“Yes. It's simply easier to start the glyph off strong rather then to have to put energy into it later. Maria would you please move to the center of the glyph?”

It took all of Maria's willpower not to groan as she stood up and walked to the center of the glyph. She also had to resist the urge to simply drop herself on the marking in hopes of damaging it. She had to be professional about this and no pouting would be allowed. The fact that her mother was in the room and keeping an eye on her helped keep the pouting down. Even if Flora often spoke in her defense Maria had no doubt her mother wouldn't tolerate a poor attitude. “So Ridon how has life in the citadel been?”

“Interesting to say the least. There has been a lot of talk about the meals that we've been finding in our rooms. I've caught a few giving me angry looks. There has been some talk that perhaps the meals are determined by the rooms. After all. Why would I receive some of the nicer dishes but testing that theory has only proven that it's based on the person. I changed rooms with Cullen to see if the meals continued to go to the room.”

Flora, “Oh? How is Cullen being fed?”

“Well while I receive two drinks typically for breakfast he only receives one and honestly I think his serving of meat is a bit on the small side. He doesn't seem to mind though. He wasn't even one of the ones complaining about the food. I once even heard him accuse the others of becoming so lazy they can't even bother to hang a peace of meat above an open flame. That got quite a response and comments about their work.”

“I don't imagine that did much to Cullen.”

“He just reminded them of the fact that he's doing the same work and still cooks at times. He then went on to suggest that perhaps if they shut up and stopped complaining they'd get better food. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it directly though.” A sigh escaped Ridon as he shook his head. “It seems like the protectors determine who gets what based on what type of work they're doing. There is speculation that they consider this work more important then the others. The meals might be delivered in order to encourage progress or so that the mage doesn't have to spend time cooking their own meals. One thing that is for certain. Our official rank has nothing to do with it.”

Maria, “I wonder if they've brought Mina any food. You'd think she'd mention it if they had. Then there is also Dan. Hey what have they been bringing Julia?”

“I have no idea. When we've asked we've been told to mind our own business unless we have an actual study to show her. She's been keeping very strange hours due to her training as well. There is also her studies into the spirit hunters. Well I've never asked her but I've been told that when she was asked she refused to answer.”

“Perhaps she'd answer you. You are her student after all.”

“I wouldn't hope for that one. Being her student pretty much means she's harder on me then she is others whenever I make a mistake. Sure she has extra time for me as well but at times I feared that extra time. Are you ready Joseph?” Currently Ridon was standing over the glyph with his hands at the ready. Joseph would require more direct contact then him due to not having the same training in projecting his energy.

“Yeah. Begin whenever you're ready and I'll follow along.”

It seemed to take an eternity for Joseph and Ridon to actually begin casting. It would have been easy for Maria to simply jump from the circle and dash out of the room. She stayed still despite her body telling her she should move as she felt the influence of the glyph. Instead of running she told her body to settle down and that this was good for it. “So is the glyph working now?”

“Yes you should feel the influence in a few moments.” As he was speaking Joseph stood up and walked back to his seat and desk. Ridon was a short distance behind and both of them prepared to begin taking notes. “Now you were able to stay within the glyph one minute and seventeen seconds longer before Flora decided it was time to remove you. Hopefully this time you can remain in an additional five minutes.” Part of Joseph wanted to ask Flora if she was certain Maria was being reduced to the same safe point each time. Asking such a question could easily been offensive though and he trusted Flora's judgment in such things.

One of the more difficult aspects of the testing was simply the waiting. Flora knew that Maria was meant to focus on resisting the glyph's influence but one could only thing about such things so much. Constantly telling her to resist was pointless and they'd already given her several examples of what she might try imagining. Flora was quite certain her daughter was making the best of that as she could. She could see the slight ripples in Maria's muscles and the changes in her breathing as she tried to work her body as if she was pushing against some great force at times. Other times she seemed to be trying to rapidly toss out some handfuls of water. She needed some kind of mental release. “Joseph whenever you were learning alchemy surely there was more then quiet focus.”

“That's true. Even mages don't simply focus on what they're doing none stop. Often teachers will offer feed back.”

Upon hearing Joseph comment about mages Ridon couldn't help but speak up. “There is no often to it. Every minute I was with Julia she had something to say about my progress of the lack of progress. At times she would talk about other things though especially if she believed it helped me to do better. I just wish we had a better feel for what was happening with you.” As he spoke Ridon clearly directed the final comment towards Maria who gave him a grin.

“I'm pretty sure you all do. So do I.” A sigh escaped Maria as she shifted. “So that means we can talk while I'm setting here? So long as I keep trying to resist.”

Joseph, “Ridon this is your call. What she's doing is more mage training then alchemy training.”

“I sure don't see why we can't. If you had a fireball held in your hands just a split second lapse in focus away from exploding or being released early I'd think differently but this seems fine.”

To this Flora gave a nod. “Good now I've been wanting to ask. Joseph would it be possible to make your glyph larger so that Maria could move about some?” 

“What kind of movement are you talking about?”

“Well it's just troubling that she can't move much. I was thinking it might help her fight against the drain if she could move as if she was fighting against something.”

“Flora there is no way I could make the parchment strong enough to endure those kinds of movements! Especially whenever I consider Maria's speed. If she was to just dig her claws into the cloth and shift slightly she could end up disrupting the spell and causing the glyph to fail.”

For a moment Flora was silent as she looked at the parchment the glyph was on. She had felt of it before and thought it was strong for a parchment. That was the problem though. It was simply a parchment. “Could you make the glyph on stronger material? Perhaps we could carve it into the very stone.”

“Unfortunately the material a glyph is on influences its function. In order for the glyph to have enough power to influence a sister it really has to be on the most suitable material possible. That or I would have to design an even more powerful glyph and honestly the one we're using now really stretched the limit of my abilities.” As he spoke Joseph couldn't help but shiver in fear at the thought of making a more powerful glyph. He had actually relied quite heavily upon knowledge that he'd gained from the ancient Luvarians and only felt confident in its use because he had Naidra to inspect them. Was he even capable of designing a more powerful glyph at his current level?

“That's unfortunate but I see your point. I wonder then. Could Maria take something into the parchment that doesn't influence magic?”

“Such as?”

“I was thinking a book or perhaps an instrument. Maria have you ever showed Joseph the way your speed allows you to play the drums?”

“Of course he's heard me play! It would be a fun way to use this time though. I have to admit that the setting is actually rather tiring itself. Joseph would it hurt the learning process if I got my heart rate up?”

“I. I'm not sure Maria. I mean playing music takes a lot of focus and part of this is focus. So it might help. I've never met a mage that combined music with their lessons though.”

Ridon, “You mean you don't have spell singers?”

“Spell singers?”

Giving his head a quick nod Ridon didn't risk taking his eyes off Maria for fear of missing something important though he was speaking to Joseph. “The Luvarians had some of them and made mention of others. They're magic users that don't just cast one spell at a time. Rather they chain their spells into songs allowing the residual energy and power to carry over into the next casting. Supposedly by doing this they could build up spells of truly terrifying power. Plus it became increasingly difficult to determine what the final result was going to be the longer the song continued.”

“That is.” Joseph actually felt a bit alarmed as his body froze up while a familiar sound reached his ears. A soft low but very long hiss was coming from behind him. The fact that the first thing he thought of was stories of how young sister's got away from their mothers and went in search of scents only added to his alarm. The fact that the citadel would have been tracking him very difficult if not outright impossible for such a young sister didn't set in. Neither did the fact that the protectors wouldn't let him come to harm. This made him a little slow in turning around as he didn't want to risk provoking Dremera. He was actually a bit relieved to see her cradled in her mother's arms.

It hadn't been clear where her mother was taking her at first. They had moved back to the quiet place with the soft scents. So Dremera hadn't realized Joseph was in the room until her mother had carried her into it. The moment she saw him Dremera responded instinctively and gave a hiss. She didn't bother struggling in her mother's grasp as she had learned that was useless in this situation. She still wanted to make it clear that she was upset with him and gave another hiss followed by another as he turned around to look at her. She knew that others were in the room as well but at the moment hissing at Joseph seemed more important then seeing who they were.

Mina couldn't help but chuckle as she noted her daughter's response to Joseph. She knew that it was bad for a sister to be hostile towards a brother but Dremera was still very young. That was the only reason she was letting such behavior slide and even found it funny. “I really believed that she would be over her hostility towards you by now.” Even as she finished speaking Mina heard Dremera give another hiss while she continued to focus on Joseph. “Come now Dremera you smelt Joseph on your daddy as well. Surely you know that he's not a bad person.”

The fact that Dremera responded with another hiss made it impossible for Flora to keep from giggling. “I've never seen a sister that hostile before! Sure I've heard plenty of hissing from Maria and Mira as well as other infants but never over such a prolonged period. Joseph have you tried giving her some food.”

“Yes and she's still hissing at me. She wouldn't even eat the food.”

“Wouldn't eat the food! Now that I haven't seen before. Mina your little girl really holds one heck of a grudge. I don't even believe your mother held a grudge like that.”

After giving her head a nod Mina looked towards Maria. “I brought her over thinking we could cheer you on for a bit. After all you're sacrificing so that this little one won't have to in the future in part but it seems like she's more interested in hissing at Joseph.” Dremera seemed to confirm Mina's words as she once again hissed at Joseph. Mina could feel Dremera trying to raise up if not to escape from her grasp to bring herself closer to Joseph. She really wanted to show Joseph that she was angry with him.

“Come on Dremera. I brought you that nice bit of cloth to play with. Can't you let the past go.” The answer seemed to be no as Joseph noted yet another hiss from the young sister. “You sisters develop your movement and hunting skills very early. When do you begin talking?”

“That takes a little while longer. Are you hoping that you can reason with Dremera once she can understand what you're saying?”

“That might be my only hope at this point. She seems to be quite hostile towards me and I don't think she plans on changing. Ouch!” Joseph gave a slight jump as he felt a sudden stinging on his back. The fact that it was followed up by two more rapid blows sent him away from the table.

Immediately Mina was made to recoil and try to grab her daughter's tail. Unfortunately Dremera was swifter then she expected and holding onto her had a good bit of Mina's attention. The extremely sharp his that had come with the sudden attack had surprised even her. “Sorry! I'm sorry about that! I didn't realize we'd moved that close to you.” By now Joseph had retreated to safety while Dremera continued to lash out at him with her tail.

Now a safe distance away Joseph actually found himself grinning. “Wow! Ouch that stung. She's good at using that tail of hers isn't she?”

“She's better then I expected her to be. Dremera that was bad!” As she looked at her daughter Mina worried about what she was going to have to do now. If she didn't punish Dremera for attacking Joseph she might think it's alright to do so in the future. At the same time she found herself a bit amused by her daughter's antics. The fact that she heard laughter coming from the others including Joseph actually surprised her. “Joseph?”

By now Joseph had reached behind his back and felt of his wounds. In truth he doubted that they would even leave a bruise. “Okay Dremera you got me. Now do you think we can call it even now?” As he spoke Joseph kept his tone friendly and began to move back towards the young girl. The fact that her tail suddenly lashed out at him again and was followed up by a sharp hiss told him otherwise. “It looks like a little miss hasn't learned the concept of equivalent payback. Come on Dremera surely those smacks were enough to even the scales between us.”

There had been a release whenever Dremera had smacked Joseph with her tail. The first one had just been luck as she realized her tail was free while the ones that followed was an attempt to make it count. The one that had missed let her know that Joseph was now out of her reach. She still gave him a sharp hiss whenever he began to talk to her. There wasn't quite the same rage there though as she felt herself settling down after giving him his smacks. Each smack seemed to have taken a bit of her anger with it.

“Well maybe if I show you that you manage to get me good.” As he spoke Joseph turned around and reached behind himself. As he did he began to pull up his shirt in order to showing Dremera the red marks that had formed on his back. “See? Now isn't that enough to make us even for me startling you?”

Mina was a bit worried whenever Dremera gave another hiss but this one wasn't as sharp as the others. It was followed up by two rapid but far lighter hisses as the girl seemed to be settling down. Using her left arm to continue to hold onto her daughter Mina reached forward with her right and touched it to Joseph's back. “See honey? This is where you smacked him with your tail. You got him pretty good didn't you? Brothers aren't as sturdy as us though and you shouldn't do that Dremera. It isn't nice.”

The whole time Maria had to keep herself from laughing. While she typically would have been quite upset that someone other then herself had hurt Joseph she could give Dremera a pass for now. As she listened to Mina and noted Joseph settling down she had actually forgotten the drain the glyph was putting on her body and found herself smiling quite widely. “Just make sure she doesn't try that whenever she's older or I'm going to have to do something about it. Turn around Joseph I want to see how good she got you.”

Nodding his head Joseph turned his back to Maria as well. “I'm guessing that the use of your tails is something you're more born with then anything else.” 

“Well I'm not sure about that. We should start using it early and our muscles develop so much faster then a brother's we learn to use them quite early. From the way she was whipping you with it though I believe she's become a bit experienced with her tail already.”

It was impossible for Mina not to feel a little pride in her daughter. She already knew how Dremera had learned to use her tail so early. “I believe she learned to use her tell during the night. Often I have her sleeping on one side of me and Dan on the other. She typically uses her tail to find Dan's wrist and wrap around it. It's actually been a problem in the morning at times as she typically doesn't want to let go. Fortunately her grip is still a bit limited and Dan can typically slip free even without my help. I just didn't realize she'd gotten to the point she could use her tail as a weapon.” The fact that Dremera was still hissing from time to time reminded Mina of the situation. “I don't know what I'm going to do about this. Flora could I get some kind of suggestion?”

It was hard for Flora to answer not because she lacked a suggestion but simply because she was struggling to contain her laughter. Had Joseph been truly harmed she would have taken the situation far more seriously but a few red marks was hardly something to throw a fit over. At least if the brothers were going to stop being seen as fragile to the point of needing constant care. “Well. If she has a favorite food you could give her something she likes less for the next day or two. I'm not sure if she would relate not getting what she likes to eat with whipping Joseph with her tail though. Another option would be not allowing her to play with her toys for a bit. She doesn't seem too concerned with your scolding.”

“I noticed that to. I suppose my scoldings are going to have to start carrying some kind of punishment as well. Oh Dremera. If only you could understand us this would be so much simpler. You can't use violence like that especially against your brothers. I wonder if Dan might have some idea as to how the situation could be resolved.”

“Has Dremera ever seen Joseph with Dan? I imagine if she learned her father was friends with Joseph she might be more willing to forgive him. That or she might think that Joseph is trying to take her father from her and become even more hostile. Come to think of it has Dremera seen Dan with another sister?” As she spoke Flora was tempted to go over to Dremera and tickle her feet for a little bit. She was repressing this desire as she didn't want to reward the child's poor behavior with play. She was cute though as she gave another hiss.

“I don't believe she has actually. What am I going to do if she started attacking people just because she smelt their scent on Dan?”

“That could require you to be rather strict with her.” As Flora spoke she was still keeping an eye on Maria. The lightening of the mood and giving her something else to think about seemed to be helping. Yet she could see it in Maria's body that she was still working to resist the influence of the glyph. Hopefully this would produce some noteworthy results. If it did Dremera's visit would serve as evidence that mental relief would aid Maria in her development. “I believe the best thing you could do for now is make Dremera lay down for a while. If you wait until later after the event she'll have trouble making the connection at this early stage of development.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Okay then I'll see everyone later. Dremera because you're being all cranky I'm going to have to take you back to our room for an early nap.”

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At times mages were considered mostly mental fighters and in many ways they were. The body changed due to the mystic energies constantly flowing through it and became better at directing those energies but that was more of a side affect. As a spirit hunter Julia had been actively conditioning her body through both physical training and active use of magic. It often involved intense training first in order to prepare the muscles to change. Then during the healing process the spirit hunter would circulate an intense amount of mystic energies through their body. This allowed for a level of change that wouldn't happen otherwise. The fact that this change was assisted with alchemy was also beneficial. As Julia looked at herself in the mirror the affects were obvious and it didn't simply relate to her muscle tone.

It was strange to see a human female in the nude. Sure Dan was used to seeing the sister's walk around without a stitch of clothing but after living amongst them for so many years that had become normal. Perhaps that made seeing Julia even stranger. She had some clothing on but it didn't cover much. Her state of undress wasn't the only thing he noticed. Her skin had become much lighter then the last time he had looked upon her. “So I take it you're ready for your examination?” It wasn't surprising to Dan that he had been asked to examine Julia. He had spent some time living outside the forest. It was were he had first been trained as an alchemist after all. He was better versed with studying mystic poisoning then most of the brothers due to the more limited systems in the outside world.

“Dan since I began training my muscle tone has improved but the pigment in my skin has changed considerably. I've spoken with some of the sisters and they tell me that my heart sounds off as well. It has slowed down but the force of each beat has become more powerful.” As she was speaking Julia walked over to the examination table and lay down. “In my studies I read that there would be changed but I'm not certain if these are the right changes.”

“I remember that. Didn't the book say that the changes depended on the person? I wonder if this could be because you are primarily a necromancer.”

“I don't know. Well I'm ready to begin if you are.”

Nodding his head Dan moved to stand next to Julia and began setting his tools next to her. “Now you've been taking regular blood samples and testing them haven't you?”

“Blood and skin. The amount of energy within my blood has shown a notable increasing since the training began. I've found it more difficult to cast certain spells recently as well while it's become easier to cast others. My control has improved but the power I can put into the spells at any given moment seems to have diminished!” Julia was made to arch her pack and raise up as Dan placed an alchemical gel on her stomach. Cold was the first thing that popped into her mind as she looked down at it. “What is that?”

“Sorry about that I should have warned you. It's just a nice little mixture that draws mystic energies out of someone. It sort of soaks up heat as well. I'm looking for two things here. How quickly the gel changes color and what color it changes to. Well unless it doesn't respond at all.”

“What would that mean?”

“Well normally it means the persons too weak to even supply that much energy. It could also mean that the person is too well guarded against energy draining influences for the gel to respond.” As he looked at the gel Dan wasn't surprised to see that it was changing color rapidly. This meant that Julia was giving off a great deal of energy. “Well that's pretty much what I expected.”

A sigh escaped Julia as she looked at her stomach. “What does it tell you?”

“Well it pretty much tells me that the mystic energies aren't trying to pull your body apart. If the gel turns a pasty white that means the magic is unstable and it's causing the gel and well the person's body to break down. It's just the gel doesn't heal itself. Now as for your heart beating less often. Don't you believe that's because it's grown stronger and doesn't need to beat as often to keep the blood flowing?”

To this Julia gave a nod. “Yes. As far as I can tell that's what happened but it has my sister upset. She's used to hearing what she considers a healthy human heart beat from me. To suddenly have it become so slow has her very concerned. As does the changes in my skin. My increased body temperature is most likely a resolve of the additional energies going through it and the changes in my physical make up. I've been observing my own life energies and they haven't weakened.”

“So in other words you're just having me do this to put your sister's mind at wrest?”

“That and a few of the brothers. They commented that since I'm the one undergoing the study my judgment is impaired. I considered insisting that I've been completely objective about this study and my training but realized that would be pointless. In these cases it is natural to assume that the person's judgment has been impaired and I admit some concern. My recovery time has improved but the increase difficulty in spell casting worries me. I assume that this is because my muscles have began using some of that energy for themselves.”

“I'm thinking I should just set down and let you diagnose yourself then agree with you.”

A slight chuckle escaped Julia as she looked at Dan. “You know if you did that and others heard of it we could both be in trouble for using such flawed methods. Okay what do you want to see next?”

“Well from what I read they found in your skin sample I was reminded of a potion that's meant to increase a person's resistant to magic attacks. It's just where a normal person has to drink an alchemical potion to obtain such affects and they expire in a few hours yours is well. Being produced naturally at this point and I believe the change in your complexion is due to the constant presences of those compounds. Now Julia have you found your eating habits changing lately?”

“Dan.”

Immediately Dan felt like an idiot and took a moment to cover his face. “Part of the training involves drinking alchemical potions and eating certain reagents on a regular basis. I already knew that. Well okay. That explains where these new compounds have been coming from. It's strange though. The presences of such compounds in your skin should hinder the flow of energy outside of your body as well. Yet you're still radiating a good deal of energy. So what is the energy using as an escape path?”

“My eyes and tongue have been feeling warmer lately. Oh for goodness sakes. That's why my body temperature has become elevated. All that energy is having to find a new path to escape and what are you. Cold!” Julia managed to keep from setting up this time as Dan dropped a good blob of the gel atop her forehead.

Julia's theory wasn't hard to test though this wouldn't tell Dan exactly how much more energy was radiating from her eyes it would show if it was different from the skin. It only took a few moments for this to be confirmed. “It's a shame I don't know how much energy you were giving off before you began training. If it had decreased sense then I would be very comfortable with these results. You're right though. The energy seems to be radiating from your eyes. I wonder if this is why some spirit hunters went blind during their training. Too much energy and unprepared eyes eventually resulting in blindness. Now your entire body including your eyes was conditioned thanks to your mage training but have you noticed any vision loss?”

“No. Now please remove that gel from my forehead it is freezing.” As she spoke Julia was surprised by how different the temperature felt from when the gel was on her stomach. “Blast. This means I'm just as vulnerable to attacks that make use of my eyes as I ever was. That is naturally though. Strengthening the eyes is extremely difficult given that they're meant to function as information receivers. If you make a mistake you could permanently reduce their effectiveness. I wonder if this redirection of energy is done in part to prepare the eyes for future alterations. Sort of. One of the easiest ways to make sure something can't swim upstream is to narrow the river and have the water moving that much faster.”

“The additional energy going through your eyes should provide you with more protection from illusions that's true. This really is the type of thing I wish they had included in their notes of how to create a spirit hunter though. I wouldn't have even thought of such a tactic. The whole may cause blindness is another issue. Whenever I was reading about the original spirit hunters I noticed that part but they made it sound very unlikely. Now I'm a bit worried that it's more likely then we realized.”

“We don't have to use the exact same methods. Perhaps we could slow down the rate of build up so that the eyes have more time to adapt. It's strange with all these changes happening especially the ones in my head I should be suffering headaches fairly often right now. I wonder if there is anything reducing the pain mixed in with the other potions I've been drinking. I know what they each do individually but I'm less certain of how they influence me all at once.” By now Dan was finally removing the gel from her forehead and Julia was glad to have it gone. “With the increased difficulty of directing spells through my body I'm going to have to rely on my voice to carry the magic more or my eyes.”

“The heat you mentioned before Julia. Did it tend to increase whenever you were spell casting?”

“Yes.”

“You do realize this means that until your eyes have adapted any spell casting you do runs an increased chance of causing vision loss. I recommend that you keep your spell casting down for a while.”

“Well that should be enough to convince the others that you evaluated my condition and made a recommendation. Hopefully they will be less likely to question my judgment now.”

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 “So you're saying that she's going to be alright?” Even though the glyph had been finished and Maria was currently undergoing testing it wasn't her only responsibility and it didn't take all day. He had spent the first few days trying to work on improvements to the glyph by using what they'd learned during testing but that was proving difficult. Developing a better way of judging Maria's progress was also proving extremely difficult.

“Her health is what we expected of someone undergoing the training to become a spirit hunter. We're eager to see how effective the training is going to be with the alterations you've made though in the name of safety. I and many of the protectors believe that the results won't be conclusive though. Apprentice Julia was already a reasonably powerful necromancer before she began training as a spirit hunter. That imparts certain advantages to her that most spirit hunters would have lacked. To truly see if your new methods are as effective as the old is going to require someone less accomplished.” Even as she was speaking Naidra was busy observing the activity within the citadel. One of the protectors had just turned Dremera around and sent her back towards her crib. The young sister hadn't began to hiss at them yet but it was fairly clear she didn't like the interference. Unlike Joseph though they showed no signs of pain whenever she gave them a tail lashing.

“You don't sound fond of the changes to the system used to train spirit hunters. In all the time that you've been here though surely you've thought of a few things that needed changing.” As he spoke Joseph found himself considering his options. He could continue to work on ways to better the glyph but he still didn't have much information on the glyph's performance. He knew that it wasn't capable of sustaining itself with the energy that it drained from a sister but required regular charges or a very big charge at the beginning. As Maria's resistance to the glyph went up that meant it would lose its effectiveness as a training tool. How resistance did she need to become before she no longer needed the glyph though? The only goal was to teach her how to direct additional energy into her body.

This took a moment for Naidra. Her first instinct was to say that the old ways were refined over centuries by some of the best mages to ever live. Yet the fact that all the people one might consider a classically trained Luvarian was now dead pretty much stopped that argument. Instinct, a desire to protect the memory of her creators and training had to be silenced so that she could speak honestly. “Yes they are some practices and regulations that we now find staggeringly faulty and have even chosen not to abide by. The spirit hunter training method isn't one of the things we believed was in need of changing but perhaps we are mistaken about that. Even if it wasn't in need of changing if your new method is more effective then such changes should be made.”

“Naidra that actually sounded painful for you to say.”

Naidra actually had to call upon the will of her fellow protectors to keep herself from groaning. She still needed to respond. “Part of us and me wants to return to the way things were. We're not moving towards that direction but to somewhere different from where we are now. This is a cause of excitement but at the same time fear.”

The protectors could feel fear. It almost seemed impossible given how powerful they were. Did they fear that their new situation would be worse then their current one? It was tempting to ask but there was something else to wonder about. “I can see where that would be troubling. Naidra a bit on a different subject but what do you think of Maria's progress?”

“The psychological relief was good for her. A depressed system is hardly the most effective. If you're wondering about her progress I'm surprised that you and Ridon can't make some kind of determination by the amount of energy you have to use to awaken the glyph. Perhaps you should use a means of awaken that allows you to accurately measure how much energy you've put into the glyph. You seem to already have a very good idea of when the glyph has reached it's half point.”

Instead of telling him what he needed to do she tells him what he could have done to find the information on his own. It reminded Joseph of some of his training as an alchemist and brought back old feelings. It also made him wonder how many times the protectors had given the early sisters such answers.  “Naidra I've been wanting to ask. You said that you couldn't answer the questions of the faelom whenever they pushed you for them. You've answered quite a few questions for me.”

“That's because by achieving your rank you proved you could handle this level of information they weren't prepared for it. You're wondering why we didn't try to prepare them why we didn't teach them. Joseph all the knowledge they required to reach your current level and even go beyond it is available in the apprentice library. The citadel itself will guide you to the book you desire if you ask it and at times may grant you access to books that wouldn't normally be allowed to an apprentice if the person and question are correct. We also have trouble coming up with long term lessons that don't end horribly.”

“Could you have used one of the lesson plans as it were that one of the Luvarians used on their students?” As Joseph spoke he hoped that he wasn't moving into the area that had caused the protectors to go silent to begin with. Naidra had answered his questions several times and even provided materials for him to use. It was becoming difficult for him not to think of her as a teacher even if she was far from the best teacher he'd ever had.

How was she going to explain this to someone who had learned magic? The protectors knew magic as part of their being. They didn't have to learn spells but already knew them whenever they woke up. They had known them whenever the first woke up and instead of studying them would gain new ones as the citadel learned. “We could tell you how to do something but it's very hard for us to make you understand why it works that way and for what they wanted to know they needed that. To begin them on the right path we would show them what books they needed to read and understand. They wanted a more direct path though and when we try to lead someone else on a direct path it ends poorly.”

As Naidra was speaking Joseph looked towards the glyph she had helped him to develop. She hadn't told him how to make it exactly but had given small details. Then told him whenever he was putting it together the wrong way. “So you wouldn't have ever shown me the way to make that glyph? Like when you were talking to me about the inks. Instead of telling me the right ink to use at each region but you told me the right ink to use a few times.”

“That was because you had figured out and understood the why. The reason you chose the wrong ink was simply you didn't know about it. You chose the best ink that you could develop with your knowledge. I have access to a vast listing of alchemical inks that I can draw upon immediately though. Going back to your original question of why don't we simulate the lesson of one of the Luvarians. By showing the apprentices the correct books to read and the correct order that is what we were attempting to do. They asked for the knowledge. We provided the source of that knowledge to them. Often it was overwhelming and we would ask them to focus on what knowledge they wanted to gain at the moment. At that points the situation would begin to rapidly break down.”

“They just wanted the energy source back and didn't care about the why.”

“Yes which does not work. The original focus for the energy system was broken. The supports were saturated with mystic energy and warped beyond repair. It took us fifty years after the destruction of the original just to replace the supports as we have no access to the forging hall.”

“Huh? What?” As Joseph spoke he couldn't hide his surprise. Had Naidra just volunteered information or just made a mistake? When she showed no sign of surprise he doubted it was a mistake. She wouldn't accidentally give information.

“The forest is the alchemical hall of the Luvarians meant for growing, developing and refining living constructs. The forging hall was a facility that was developed for none living constructs. I'm sure you noticed that the forest is a bit lacking for mineral resources other then what the plant life calls for. The forging hall was as much for working metals and stone as the forest is for gathering plants and animals. It's unfortunate but without knowing the why the original energy system can never be repaired as its a dynamic process to repair it with what you need to do changing every moment. It is also unfortunate that we protectors can not repair it.”

“Why not?”

For a moment Naidra found herself considering Joseph's question. He was beginning to push into areas that were beyond him. If he kept pushing he could even become a frustration. Would he stop asking questions if she answered this last one? Should she warn him to quit asking in this general direction? “The magic it would require of us is beyond us despite our knowledge. Joseph we have very little magic of our own. Hopefully this can make you understand. We can use magic that was meant for a humanoid body but our bodies aren't built like a humanoids. This actually weakens our magic considerably. A human trained to cast the same healing spells as me could achieve far more impressive results then I could. Before you ask we have been developing magic that was meant to use for our body types but it's hard and slow and almost entirely lacking in joy.”

Once again Joseph found himself wondering if he was pushing too far into things he shouldn't ask about. The temptation was there to keep pushing but instead he gave a sigh. “Thanks Naidra that makes sense. Now is there anything that you can tell me about Maria? I know you gave me a good suggestion on how to measure her progress by measuring the energy I use to awaken the glyph more carefully but could you just tell me directly?”

There was no real reason not to tell Joseph how much progress Maria had made so long as he didn't plan to start using the protectors as a measuring device. “Her ability to retain her mystic energies have improved since you began the training progress. You should ask her how it feels and to try to define it in terms that another sister would understand. Such information while fresh on her mind could be crucial to begin training other faelom. I recommend that you instruct her to try using the techniques she's been using to resist mystic draining affects outside of the glyph. While there should be some benefit should your plan work even while she's being passive actively trying to resist even while outside of the glyph would be good practice.”

“Naidra I believe that would be a bit too much of a distraction.”

“I didn't mean all the time. Just have her spend a few minutes outside of the glyph at a time of her choosing trying to resist the influence of the glyph. It may yield better results then you expect or it might not. Her resistance has improved but it is rather on the light side still. It's fortunate that you explained to them that this procedure may take months to show results.”

“I'm glad I did that as well. I wish they'd proven me wrong though. Naidra are you holding out any information that might help me in Maria's development?” Joseph wasn't too surprised to see Naidra's smile going from normal to down right toothy as she looked at him.

“No.” Naidra immediately had to redirect her thoughts to several other protectors as Joseph nearly fell over. The expression on his face was one of utter and complete shock and she was still having trouble keeping from bursting out in laughter. “At least not to my knowledge. I told you in the beginning that no one had tried such an experiment with the faelom. They were tested to see how resistant they were to having their energies drained but this is the first time someone as designed a glyph such as the one you made for the task and had them willingly remain within it for an extended time period.”

“Wait. What do you mean not to your knowledge?”

“We don't know everything Joseph even everything that has happened within the citadel though we sure know most of it. Some of the rooms are a bit like well your internal organs though. You really can't see what's going on inside of them without using magic or well doing something unpleasant to your body. In either case it takes active effort. Very much unlike your organs though these rooms were never suppose to contain anything essential to the Luvarians function.”

“What were they used for?”

“I explained before that some of the Luvarian's master work golems couldn't be duplicated due to a lack of knowledge or resources. Typically these rooms were used by the master craftsmen of the Luvarians who refused to openly share all their secrets. I've long sense suspected that the notion the citadel doesn't know what happened within those rooms is false but I've never been able to find the information. It may be impossible for me to ever find it with the connection I have to the citadel.”

“Would you like me to try to look for it?” Joseph wasn't surprised whenever Naidra gave a sharp jerk and even a slight snicker before she was able to repress it. He knew quite well that the odds of him finding this information were none existent given his rank. There was still regions he wasn't allowed into and knowledge he wasn't given freely. He didn't even understand all the information they were willing to share with him.

“Very funny. Ask me that again whenever the citadel recognizes you as its master and then we might be able to make some progress.”

“Do you really believe that's possible?”

“You've got a lot to learn and you're far too weak to be considered the citadel master's at this point. If you can become the master all depends on how far you're willing to go, willing to learn and willing to live. The faelom society already has life extending treatments to help the apprentices remain with their mates longer. It is possible that with enough of these treatments you could achieve such a goal. Admittedly most humans either break after three hundred years or lose their motivation to strive forward. Well most humans I've seen lose their motivation to progress in less then seventy years even if their body is renewed using magic.”

***********************************************************************************

As she set within the glyph Maria found herself concentrating quite hard on Joseph's question. It was a simple question. Now that she'd been undergoing the treatment for a while now what did resisting the influence of the glyph feel like? Three weeks and a few days of setting within the glyph and she was still struggling to define how it felt. It seemed like a simple and even silly question but it could also help the others when it was their turn. At the very least she was grateful that she could explain it to her mother instead. “Mom you know that feeling you get whenever you just eaten something that felt like a lot but is really devoid of useful nutrients?”

Immediately Flora shook her head. “OH yes I know that feeling! It's as if our bodies believe we were trying to trick them and decide to punish us. You can feel your stomach and organs working on the material but you still feel so empty. When I think about it that seems fitting. After all you still have food within your but due to the drain you're not being allowed to benefit from it. It's a hollow feeling as if there was a bubble inside of you that offered nothing.” As she spoke Flora didn't try to hide the energy in her voice. With Maria finally being able to note a difference between setting within the glyph and becoming hungry she was showing progress.

“Yeah. Instead of trying to push like Joseph and Ridon were telling me to do I'm trying to pop that bubble or force it to fill with something. Well that or at the very least keep the bubble from growing. I believe that it's working given that I've been able to consistently stay within the glyph ten minutes longer then I could in the beginning. I will go ahead and admit that I don't really focus on the bubble whenever I'm playing though it sure seems to help. At least until fatigue begins to set in due to the drain.” As she spoke Maria found herself turning her attention between Joseph and Flora. Both of them seemed to be happy with what she was telling them as she listened to their heart rates and noted their smiles. “

“That's wonderful Maria! Now Joseph do you have any good news for my daughter?”

While he was happy to see Maria's progress and the fact that she had shown improvement Joseph was less pleased by Flora's question. There was hope though. “The change has been very subtle Maria but I have observed a change in your eating habits. It was foolish of me to not ask you to document how much and what you ate in the beginning. Starting it over a week late really cost us a lot of good information but I was able to make some good guesses as to how much you were eating before hand after living with you for so long. The evidence I have so far is that you're eating less then you did in the beginning and aren't showing any ill affects.”

Flora, “Really! My little girl is growing less dependent on external energy? How much!”

Both Maria and Joseph were actually surprised by Flora's outburst. Joseph even more so whenever he noted Flora's tail pointing strait up in the air while a massive smile was on her face. It probably wasn't best to wait to give her an answer. “Well the change wasn't exactly substantial but Maria has effectively cut the equivalent of one apple out of her diet.”

“That's wonderful Maria! Now are you sure that you're not just denying yourself? I know it would be easy to skip part of your breakfast if you really want this project to succeed.”

“I'm sure mom. Believe me if I realized I was passing up food that I'm allowed to eat I would have went back.” A slight chuckle escaped Maria as she considered what Joseph had told her. When had she began skipping that apple? That didn't really matter to her after a moment as she began to wonder if she should start eating that apple again. She was still hungry. “Um Joseph in terms of a mage about how much energy would you say I saved?”

“Ridon would you mind taking this one?”

“It's no trouble. Maria the energy from eating a loan apple well it isn't exactly a great deal. I'm afraid you could basically cast a small candle spell with it and sustain it for one to two hours.”

For a moment Maria felt disappointed. She had hoped that she had made some real progress. Any reduction in what she needed to eat was progress of course but she still felt hungry. She simply felt as hungry as she typically did and thus had kept herself there. There was one bit of hope that she had left for some true progress though. “How big of an apple are we talking about here?”

“Pretty small.”

“Darn it! Well does this mean that I can start eating an extra apple?”

“Absolutely not young lady!” Flora had actually been surprised by her daughter's comment and the surprise was in her voice as well. “Maria until you become a keeper you are not to grow another centimeter. That or until you're no longer dependent on Joseph to supplement your diet. You're already surviving with the food of another and I'm not going to see my daughter become more dependent.”

There was a desire to complain. To argue with her mother. After all Joseph was her mate. As Maria listened to the tone in her mother's voice these thoughts were pushed from her mind. Instinct took over and she gave her head a slight nod. “Yes mommy.”

“Good. I'm glad you understand. Now Joseph I've been wondering for a while if it may be time for another sister to join Maria in the testing. She had began to show progress after all and from what we've seen your procedure is safe.”

“I suppose it might be a good idea to begin testing with someone else. Who do you have in mind Flora?”

“Myself naturally. I've been observing Maria the entire time so I have the best idea of how to duplicate her results. I've also been wanting to get a true feel for exactly what my daughter is going through. Determining when she's allowed to stop has not been pleasant with me having no idea of what she's been put through. Depending on how that turns out I might have to have a word with you about complaining too much or an apology for what you've been through.” As she spoke Flora clearly directed her last comment towards Maria as she smiled at her daughter.

“I want a different testing partner!” Maria intentionally forced more alarm into her voice then she truly felt. It wasn't hard to get energy into it though as she was having to keep herself from laughing the entire time. The look of shock on Joseph, Ridon's and Flora's face was threatening to make her face split in half as she fought back her smile and held in her chuckles.

***********************************************************************************

“Both test subjects have showed progress since the procedure begin with subject two progressing more rapidly then one initially. This was to be expected due to the data gained from subject one and subjects two own observation of the procedure.” Two weeks had passed since Flora had began the same treatment procedures as Maria. Both sisters had been showing progress but not the kind of results that he was hoping for in the long run. Currently he was setting in the citadel with several of the brothers. A few reports had already been given and now it was his turn. He was glad that he had something to report.

Once he was certain that Joseph had finished Nathan simply had to speak up. “This is wonderful news. Have you found anything to hint at just how much this should reduce Maria's dependance on eating? What about new methods of training other sisters?”

“Unfortunately no. I will say that Maria's rate of improvement has been consistent. This actually surprised me to be honest. I expected rapid progress from Maria once she began on the right path until she hit a barrier we'd have to find a way for her to overcome. It doesn't help that I can't use normal training procedures with Maria. I did test to see if the amount of energy Maria's body gives off after being well fed has increased and there was indeed a slight increase.” As he spoke Joseph found himself thinking about Maria's rate of progress. How much would she have to develop before the benefits would truly be substantial? He feared it would take fifty years or longer to obtain truly note worthy affects.

“I see. At least steady improvement means she hasn't hit a wall. Now Joseph in your opinion do you believe that this method is worth using on the other sisters?”

“Not at the moment. We can gather a lot more information by studying Maria and Flora. Once the technique has been refined a bit more it should be far more marketable and beneficial. Perhaps instead of over a month to show some small results we could have them showing signs of progress after the second week or even sooner. I'm also trying to develop new training methods now that the glyph has Maria on the right track. I was actually hoping for some suggestions.”

Silence filled the room for a moment as they brothers began to look to one another. Typically once a student had learned to direct energy into their body they began learning to shape it. That wouldn't work in this case though as Maria and Flora's bodies were still consuming all that energy before it could be used for such training methods. It was Mirin who spoke up. “Maria has been staying in the glyph for longer and longer time periods. Perhaps that is what we should try to negate. More energy could be supplied to the glyph with a target time of one hour. The additional strain should force her to work harder as well.”

It was several moments before even Nathan felt prepared to speak. He needed a moment to consider that suggestion. “It sounds possible. Just as we learn to cast progressively harder spells she would have to learn to resist progressively more aggressive attacks. Joseph could your glyph handle such methods?”

“For a time yes I believe that it would. As Mirin said all that would be needed is for us to supply the glyph with more energy in the beginning. They are limits though due to the safe guards that I built into the glyph itself.”

Nathan, “Considering what you've learned from the first glyph. Hm I just had an unpleasant thought. In designing this training tool we're also creating a weapon that may be used against our sisters. In suggesting a more powerful glyph to help with their development we're also asking for something far more likely to do them harm. I do not like that idea at all.”

“Yeah. That's something I struggled with whenever I was developing the glyphs.”

“Perhaps we should try taking this problem from a different direction. Instead of having the glyph take more energy from Maria we should have her expend more energy while within the glyph's realm of influence. You mentioned that she's been allowed some instruments to help her pass the time and keep her mind focused.”

“That was suggested early on but there is a complication. The parchment that the glyph is on is relatively delicate. I'm worried that if we do anything that's high energy it would end up being torn.”

“Joseph does she have to be right on top of the glyph? If I'm not mistaken glyphs don't typically require direct physical contact. Otherwise boots would be far more effective protection from their affects then they are.”

Why hadn't Naidra suggested that? As Joseph looked at Nathan he felt more then a little foolish as he considered how simple the solution was. While proximity would influence a glyphs effectiveness a few centimeters of distance shouldn't change the effectiveness enough to be noticed. “You make a good point. I'm surprised I didn't think of that earlier.”

“Well if you could think of everything there wouldn't be much point in these meetings would there! On to other matters. Has anyone gained any new information from Kersara?”

“Her last report stated that they've made progress in determining what materials are best suited to an ocean going boat. They've also been making use of the reference material we sent them from the library and believe they've come up with a good fishing ship design. The sisters helped them to put it together and so far they report success. The oceans are still uncommonly violent whenever they go out onto the water despite efforts to calm the spirits of the region.”

While listening to the brothers talk Joseph had settled down. Had Naidra thought of covering the glyph with some kind of protection or had she chosen not to mention it to him? She had heard all their conversations so she had to know that they wanted to allow Maria a greater range of movement. Had she simply not tried to think of a solution to their problem or perhaps she hadn't even paid it any attention.

“The sisters that were sent with Kersara for conditioning have been sending request to return to the village rather frequently. Apparently they find the life style that Kersara has required of them rather objectionable. Well really that's inaccurate. A few of them find the life style disagreeable.”

“Such issues are for the keepers to decide not us.”

“They find it objectionable enough that they want us to speak with the keepers.”

Joseph took a moment to listen to the conversation going on around him. He truly didn't feel it was his or the brother's place to interfere in such matters. “Wouldn't us interfering on their behalf hurt their standing amongst their sisters?”

“A great deal! The fact that they put this request in could hurt their standing considerably. It's my understanding that Maria is actually the only sister who knows of the request as she's been carrying the messages to and from the beach. I take it that means she hasn't spoken to you about this despite being her mate?”

“No. I wouldn't expect her to share such private messages with me.”

“True it's the polite thing to do. I just know a few sisters who have to share their secrets with one other person though or they act like they'd explode. From the sound of it we're not going to become involved in this.”

After a few moments of listening to no's Nathan chose to speak up. “Okay then not getting involved moving onto the next subject. The energy system we've been using to sustain Zarena has been showing some durability issues. Collecting all that energy and transferring it was bound to have some issues naturally. I believe that we may need to decrease the energy that it's been using to sustain her though and ask Zarena to seek some sustenance from the ocean.”

Mirin, “I wouldn't go that far Nathan. We've been repairing the damage as quickly as it appears and each time the system gets a little stronger actually. Let's just consider this hammering out all the flaws before the trees fully mature. After all. The trees we have aren't yet adults and well if the system is having trouble now can you imagine what it's going to be like once they're fully matured?”

Joseph, “Cracks?”

Mirin, “Yes literally. The channeling elements have been cracking forcing us to rework them. The rate of fracture has been steadily decreasing as we refine the focus. That does remind me though the sisters have been quite vocal about wanting a second grove of live blooms. I've tried explaining that the ones we have now aren't fully mature, we don't have the sun crystals to spare and there is still plenty of room in the current location but they're still pushing for more of them.”

“Mirin those are three really big issues.”

“Indeed but you're not the one that's having to deal with them.” A sigh escaped Mirin as he looked around the room hoping for a solution.

Dan, “Mirin you might just have to tell the sisters no. Until we can make more sun crystals which we can't do right now there is no point in trying to set up a second location. Well unless you want to redirect light from the surface and into the chamber. With the loss due to the transfer we'd need to gather from an area roughly twice the size of what we're trying to sustain even more if we have to transfer it over a long distance.”

“Couldn't we set up something on the waterfront now that we're using it?”

Mirin actually flinched upon hearing the suggestion. “Please don't let the sisters hear you saying things like that. Okay. Do we have the man power to even begin preparing the system? Do any of you have the time to begin preparing the light collection system?” As he spoke Mirin looked around and wasn't surprised to see none of the brothers were saying they did. Everyone was busy. “Let's just finish filling up the garden we have now and let the trees mature a little bit more.”

Nathan, “I have to agree with you on this one.” As Nathan spoke he was glad no one was mentioning putting Zarena back to sleep. Part of him knew that it needed to be address though. “Okay I don't particularly want.”

Mirin, “We don't plan on asking Zarena to go to sleep and we can't make any guarantees that she can stay awake at this time. Most sisters express a desire for her to remain awake for fear of transitioning into the old habits that put us in our current situation. Now onto an important subject. Where is Julia?” As he spoke Mirin found himself looking around the room half expecting an answer. Whenever it was clear no answer was coming he couldn't hold in a sigh.

Dan, “I spoke with Julia a few days ago. Before that I examined her and her condition appears to be fine. Honestly I expected her to be here. Ridon did she tell you anything?”

Ridon, “Nothing comes to mind. I'm pretty sure that she intended to be here in order to give her report personally. Perhaps some of us should go look in on her to see if she's alright. If no one objects I'll go take a look right now and make sure she's alright and perhaps find out what she's doing.”

Mirin, “Go ahead and take a look. We'll hold the meeting until you return.”

“No need for that. Just continue without me and I'll be back soon.”

“Very well.” Mirin waited until Ridon had given a nod and stood up to go look for Julia. As he was walking out of the room he looked to the brothers. “On another subject. How did a bunch of distrusted manage to get their hands on some of the life bloom seeds? I'm pretty sure we were coring them before they left the nursery and were given to the sisters.”

Immediately Joseph remembered what Naidra had said to him and was made to set up. He could hear a great deal of mumbling but no one seemed to be openly offering an answer. “Do you believe it could be due to the sisters being stretched thin?”

“I kind of doubt that one. It doesn't take many sisters to guard the seeds given that there is only one entrance into the nursery and they're not suppose to leave it. The only thing I can guess is they managed to get their hands on a few of the seeds in more private settings. Such as the fruit that is taken to the labs for testing, the trees in the labs or Joseph the tree in your own home. Except. Joseph whatever happened to the tree that was in your home? I thought it. Oh shit!” Immediately Mirin felt his heart rate speeding up as the color seemed to drain from his skin. The distrusted hadn't been allowed into the library with the brothers and many had been in the village while it was burning.

It didn't take long for the implications to set in with the wrest of the brothers as they began to look around towards one another. It was Nathan who stood up first. “I'm going to summon Vera immediately.” Nathan didn't even wait for confirmation but was already walking towards the exit. When was the last time that he'd seen any of the distrusted? They had been so busy with changes and repairs that he hadn't given them much thought. He never really thought much of the distrusted unless they did something they shouldn't have or surprised him by doing something to help the community. Now he found his mind quite occupied with thoughts of them.

When the fires from the kobolds had hit they had lost a great deal. Joseph's home had survived but it wasn't entirely unharmed. Replacing the burnt tree had been easy enough. Now he found himself wondering if the fire damage was even due to the kobolds. “Shouldn't we be informing the other keepers as well? We don't even know where they might have taken the seeds or even worse the tree.”

Mirin, “Not yet. Let's get Vera in here this is the type of thing she deals with. That and maybe the matrons. They aren't too involved with the current projects and can easily move around. Sora? Sora are you in here?” As he spoke Mirin was truly hoping for a positive answer. Whenever there was no response he gave a sigh. “Of all the meetings she chooses not to spy on she chose not to spy on this one.”

Dan, “Unless she realized what we were talking about and already left.”

“I hope that is what happened Dan.”

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“Joseph what happened to Vera earlier?” As she spoke Mira had settled down in front of her sister and mother. Part of her actually envied them as they were both working on becoming more self sufficient. However, training with the glyphs and training with Vera couldn't be done at the same time. At least it wasn't recommended as she could only imagine the strain it would put on one's mind and body. “She told me that she'd be right back during our training but when she came back she told me that training would have to be put on hold and that I should spar with my partner for two additional hours to compensate. Then she warned me that she'd tie me up with my own tail if we slacked off!” A sigh escaped Mira as she shook her head.

“Wow! She does not believe in giving you a break. I'm not sure though. I haven't seen Vera but I noticed a few other sisters have gone missing as well. Now I heard earlier that Nathan summoned her for something. Joseph you were there for that meeting. What do you have Vera up to? Joseph? Hey Joseph!” Maria was a bit surprised that she had to raise her voice to get Joseph to wake up.

“What! Did something go wrong?”

“No. Wow what happened at that meeting? Normally you're watching me like a hawk when I'm in here.” Maria could tell that the question had Joseph worried. She could hear it in his heart and breathing. She could also smell it. She had been smelling his anxiety for a while now and questioning him seemed to only be making it worse. That only made her more concerned as she waited for a response.

“I. Sorry about that Maria I shouldn't be spacing out whenever you're in there. We were talking about the life bloom and its various side projects. There has apparently been a serious issue and it's partly because my own assumptions. Mira that's what Vera and a few of the others are currently working on fixing.”

“Huh? What do you mean your assumption? Are they trying to shift blame off on you? I swear they had better not have messed something up only to try to pin it on you!” It actually surprised Maria how angry she was becoming. She could feel her own heart pounding inside of her chest. She couldn't think of anything that Joseph had messed up badly enough to require Vera's attention.

“No! It's not like that Maria. No one even mentioned my mistake. Everyone's really focused on the actual problem. They want to take care of it before it becomes something truly disastrous.”

“Then what is it that has you so upset? Perhaps we can help. You have two keepers here with you after all.” As she spoke Maria nodded towards her mother and sister. “Ah never mind! Vera is involved which means it's something they don't want us being told about.”

“That's not exactly true.”

Flora had been listening passively at first but now she had to speak up. “What do you mean that isn't true Joseph? The only thing I can think of is that means the brothers aren't certain whether or not the sisters should be involved in mass. So you either fear how we would responded which is unlikely or you fear that we would make the situation even worse then it already is.”

It was tempting to tell Flora exactly what happened. To have Maria go searching for the distrusted. Given her speed she could search a larger area then anyone else. The problem was what would happen when more sisters learned of what had happened? It was one thing for sisters to track humans or animals. What about tracking one another though? Vera had told them she didn't want a bunch of sisters running around disturbing the forest even more then normal and throwing up scents everywhere. What Vera didn't know though was that he had another choice to help them find the distrusted. At least he believed that he had another choice. “Yeah. Vera told us that we should keep what was going on quiet and wait to tell anyone else. Other then the matrons.”

Flora couldn't help but sigh. For the matrons to be involved someone had done something very foolish. “I suppose in this time of change it is unavoidable that not everything would happen smoothly. Just be certain to let us know before the situation reaches a critical point. You are quite worried! Your heart rate just sped up anymore and that look on your face.” Before continuing Flora took a moment to look towards her daughters then back to Joseph. “Well I'm not going to ask you what happened. Like I said I trust Vera and her judgment as well as that of the brothers.”

“Thanks Flora. I don't know if I could resist telling you if you actually asked.”

Now Maria was made to chuckle. “I know that you couldn't. You're just straining at the seams wanting to let the secret out. I am really curious if it was a brother or a sister that has caused the current issue though. What do you think mom? Did some sisters get upset and decide to abandon the forest? Maybe they even took something with them. Then again perhaps the strain of all the changes have gotten to the brothers or perhaps a bunch of them got the idea that they would make it outside the forest.”

“Oh can you imagine! Just think of this. A claimed starts talking to one of the brothers about their magic and the life style that such knowledge could afford them outside of the forest. He convinces them that it would be better then living in the forest under our protection. So during all the activity they make a break for it. Perhaps they even take some noteworthy items from the laboratory or the library.” As Flora spoke she couldn't help the energy that she put into her voice. Speculation was always fun even though she knew the situation was serious.

Mira, “Now that would have the brothers in an uproar alright. I can see the runners telling themselves that they'll keep our secrets so they really aren't harming the community. Then again perhaps they do plan on sell the information about how we're reliant on other species for mates or our low birth rates. Then again with Zarena stomping around I don't know how much our low birth rates matter. I don't expect we'd be losing too many of us. Especially with her already awake, fed and ready for battle.”

Maria, “Well it sure would require a noteworthy force. It seems strange that they would choose now to run though. With the brothers increased independence thanks to Zarena and the conflict with the Amalgam. Then again perhaps some of them got a taste of adventure and decided they wanted more. They might have resolved that they couldn't wait.”

“Yeah I've heard about some brothers having to have their wonder lust repressed. All the fighting might be what finally caused them be overtaken by their desire to explore. That or perhaps the fighting finally gave them the self assurance they needed to make a run for it. Now Vera is out there tracking them down with a few of the others.”

Where they even going to consider the distrusted? It was a strange thought but as Joseph listened to Maira and Flora he could hardly remember a time that they had brought up the distrusted. Clearly it was a subject that they didn't like to talk about. “What makes you so certain that it was a brother that left the forest? At least that seems to be what you're speculating on.”

For a moment Mira, Maria and Flora said anything but rather found themselves looking at Joseph. It was actually a bit surprising that he would ask such a question. Maria resolved that he probably already knew the answer but needed to hear it out loud. As she imagined that Joseph would feel the same about a brother running as they would feel about a sister. “We sisters are a bit more tightly bound to the forest then you brothers. For one thing we can't even begin to pass as human so we can't really blind into society like you can. Even Julia is losing the ability to blind into society have you seen how pale she's become? Anyway that makes it hard for us to find a social system to be part of. Then there is the issue of finding enough food. This forest provides us with a food source that most places just can't match especially with what you've developed Joseph. A brother on the other hand has no such dependency. Sure he might have trouble adapting to a new society but if he had a claimed to help show him the ropes I'm sure he'd be fine though I do believe he'd end up regretting leaving the forest.”

Flora, “What makes you so sure of that Maria? Some of them sure seem to believe they'd enjoy leaving it. Oh! He wouldn't need a claimed Maria. You're forgetting that some of the brothers began their life as claimed. Perhaps he had been waiting this entire time gaining knowledge, valuables  and planning for his return to his original society. We try to insure that whoever becomes a brother is someone that we can trust but there have been mistakes in the past.”

“Oh you're right mom! What brother seems discontent to you though? Ridon is the only one I can think of that would have a really good reason to leave with the loss of his mate. I saw him earlier though and from the way his behaving and his body is indicating he's still quite happy to be here. Then again. I haven't noticed any brother that wasn't happy to be here. Hey! What if they developed a spell to cause their body to simulate happiness? An illusion spell isn't likely to work on us but one that made his body give the right signs might even be able to trick our senses.”

“That is a good one!”

“You know I'm right here! Please don't talk about me escaping like that.” A sigh escaped Ridon as he looked at Flora and Maria. Just because he'd been quiet while they talked didn't mean he was going to ignore being mentioned. Especially whenever that mention involved the potential of him running out on them.

Maria, “Sorry about that Ridon. So could such a spell be made?”

“I'm certain that it could have.” As he spoke Ridon wondered what Flora and Maria would think if he mentioned Julia hadn't been at the meeting. Given that Julia was busy trying to convince the sisters to accept her he knew such a thing would be a bad move but parted of him wanted to make them stress. In truth they had located Julia. They had found her focused on channeling some kind of spell and realized breaking her focus would probably hinder her efforts and most likely seriously piss her off so they had left her to her work.

***********************************************************************************

“I wonder what kind of damage the defective faelom are going to do to the outside world. It is likely that this will refocus attention on the forest as their place of origin and even bring more attacks upon it. This will naturally hinder any effort you make at establishing new relationships with the outside world. Which could have all been prevented if you'd simply let us kill the defective ones.”  As she spoke Naidra was observing Joseph closely for his reaction. She knew that he was upset by the happenings and her words wouldn't bring him any comfort. That was the idea though. She needed to insure he realized his folly in allowing defective models to remain. Especially when those defective models had intentions of harming you.

Joseph didn't want to be the one to order the deaths of others. He didn't want to take that responsibility. He knew that the distrusted weren't welcome and had less then kind views of anyone that wasn't a sister. However, he didn't know all of them and to order the deaths of others with such limited knowledge of the person wasn't something he ever wanted to do. “Naidra if I gave you the order would you go and retrieve the seeds? That is do you know where the seeds are?”

“We know were the tree is and were the seeds are yes. As for if you were to order me to retrieve the seeds. No. I would not. The faelom have already began the pursuit of the seeds and I'm confident in their ability to locate the tree. Even if they fail the concern is moderate enough that I can ignore any order you give to retrieve the seeds. Now if you were to broaden the command a bit and allow us to handle those responsible for the removal of the tree and its seeds we might have to act upon your instructions.” As she spoke Naidra hoped that Joseph would finally give them permission to purge the distrusted. She doubted that he would. His ethics wouldn't allow such actions.

“Naidra I can't just order the death of others! Yes I'm sure that some of the distrusted should be killed but not all of them. Even if it means someone doesn't face justice I can't kill someone if I'm not certain they deserve to die.”

“Face justice?” Naidra made no attempt to hide her smile or her laughter as she noted the expression on Joseph's face. “Who said anything about justice? This isn't about justice this is about removing liabilities. They could be downright murderous and we wouldn't have any issues with them so long as the obeyed the Luvarian's guidelines and performed their function. Well and provided their minds were stable. You always have to worry about stability more if they're already a bit on the murderous side. I realize this is important to you though. So Joseph does your justice allow those not involved to come to harm? As if the defects manage to make use of your work a great many who had nothing to do with this forest might be harmed. Now that they have the potential to grow their own food source I doubt the defects will remain much longer.”

If only he could order Naidra and the others to retrieve the seeds and tree without killing the distrusted. Yet she had made it clear that he couldn't. At least she had said that he couldn't. Joseph was actually rather surprised whenever he noticed that Naidra's grin had grown even larger as if she was reading his mind. “Naidra as a Luvarian I order you to go retrieve the life bloom seeds and trees from the defective faelom without harming them.” As he spoke the last words Joseph actually found himself growing a little cold. Naidra made no aggressive moves towards him but something about uttering those last words reminded him of how large and powerful of a being he was dealing with.

Naidra felt like her face was going to split in two as she tried to fight back her smile. The fact that Joseph had resolved to test whether or not he could command them was amusing and actually a bit encouraging. “No. You lack the rank needed to give us any such commands but that was a nice try. Due to the categorization of weapons we belong to we're considered too powerful for Luvarians of your rank to order. The only reason you could instruct us to remove the defective faelom is we already have procedures in place to do so and we just need someone to grant us permission to implement them. Retrieve my project that I failed to properly contain doesn't work on us though.”

It had seemed worth a try. Naidra may have told him that she wouldn't follow such an order but he had to test it. “I believe one of the reasons they haven't told all the sisters yet is they know that it would draw Zarena's attention. We've been dancing around the issue for a while now. The fact that Zarena would demand the deaths of all the distrusted. If she learns about this she'll know we've been hiding them from her and the event will serve as confirmation for why they should have been killed. It kind of scares me when I think about it. How many people have been killed in the forest because they had the misfortune of encountering a distrusted who was looking for someone to make suffer?”

“Nearly a dozen this year. It doesn't happen as often as you may think. The faelom do a good job of patrolling their borders and the defective ones show little interest in such efforts. Over the centuries it has added up though and the long term cost is noteworthy. Watching it add up but needing permission to resolve the situation has been a constant source of frustration for us. Two of them died since we talked to you about gaining permission to dispose of the defective ones.”

Was she trying to make this more painful then what it already was? The tone and timing of Naidra's words made Joseph feel as if he had been kicked in the stomach. As if the situation was his fault. “Naidra will you please go retrieve the stolen life bloom and its seeds?”

This time Naidra didn't laugh though her smile didn't fade either. “A request. I will admit that makes it a bit more tempting to do what you want. You have been fairly proactive about honoring our request as well.” After a moment of silence Naidra was actually made to sigh. “Yes. Yes you have been proactive about most of the things we asked of you so I hate to decline your request. Retrieval of stolen goods is within our operational ability as well.”

She hadn't said yes yet but Joseph found himself smiling. He hadn't even considered that they had asked him to help bring Mina back to them as well as remain quiet about their secrets. It seemed like they did though and felt they had some kind of debt. “Does that mean you'll retrieve the seeds and life bloom?”

“Is that what you want me to do?”

“Yes!”

After a moments more of consideration Naidra gave a nod. She wasn't considering whether or not to do Joseph's favor but rather what to tell him. “Very well. Naturally the other faelom will still wonder what happened to the seeds and who stole them exactly. By retrieving the seeds before the exact culprits can be found though they will be forced to consider and quite possibly deal with all the defective faelom.” Once again Naidra's smile spread into a very toothy one as she noticed the shock on Joseph's face. “I'll go take care of this personally.”

“No! Hold on Naidra!” Joseph wasn't certain what he was going to say but with the revelation of Naidra's plan he felt he had to do something. He knew what she was saying was true. If the culprits weren't found the sisters would likely just blame all the distrusted. They had used similar methods when dealing with the escaped claimed. If it hadn't been for him all of the claimed that had ran would have suffered even more.

“Now don't worry Joseph I won't lay a hand on the claimed responsible sense you so clearly don't want to pass judgment on others. I won't even leave a trace that they were the ones who had the seeds.” Instead of waiting for Joseph to respond Naidra began to move at a comfortable pace away from him. Just fast enough to insure that the sound waves from his voice could never catch up to her.

Joseph could literally feel it whenever Naidra dashed out of the room. The moment reminded him of similar mistakes he had made with Maria and her running off before he could correct them. In this case though he felt true panic given that Naidra's actions were far more likely to get someone killed then Maria's were. His first instinct was to call for another sister to run her down but he quickly remembered that there was no other sisters around only the protectors. There was one other protector he could call upon though. “Alaina! I need your help!”

“Alaina is currently busy with Ridon. Is your problem something that could be handled by any one of us?”

Joseph did a little leap as a new protector addressed him. The fact that they were many of them and they could all hear him wherever he was within the citadel had slipped his mind. It wasn't just that though. They were all connected. If one of them knew something then they all knew it. “I need you to stop Naidra. Let her know that wasn't what I had intended and I want her to come back please!”

“She is well aware of that. We were all aware before you had told us.”

It felt like Joseph had been smacked as the implications of a connected mind once again settled in. “She knows what I'm talking to you about right now. She ran out like that just to cause me distress so that it would seem like I can't call her back!” As Joseph spoke he actually felt relief. He could tell this protector and Naidra would know what he had told her. She would return and probably make fun of him for becoming so panicked. She might even tell him about the advantages of communications.

“No. You can't.”

“What!” It felt like Joseph's heart had just slammed into his ribcage as the relief he had felt before had been evaporated in an instant.

“By your request you gave approval for this current line of action. These actions were already enforced and sanctioned by standard protocol. In truth we rather like how you chose to resolve the situation. We can finally motivate the production model faelom to do what should have been done long ago. This situation also benefits you as well.”

“If I approved this I should be able to put an end to it though!”

“No. As I mentioned this method fits with Luvarian standard practices. It will better serve to refine an existing product, remove a defective product and serve as an important lesson for you when it comes to what you ask for. A lesson I hope you take to heart. With all those aspects factoring into our decision this is truthfully a very efficient course of action which makes it impossible for you to order us to abort it and we have no intention of obeying a request to do so. After all. This was done in order to repay our debt to you.”

“I just walked through a one way door.”

“Yes! That is a wonderful way of looking at it. You asked if you could go in and the answer was yes. You never asked if you could leave. Oh be very careful about that whenever you get deeper within the citadel well if you ever do.


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“What's so funny?” As Ridon leaned against Alaina he couldn't help but notice her body lightly shaking. After a few moments he realized that she was struggling to keep herself from laughing. Before she had become a protector she had laughed often. At first he had feared that aspect of her being was lost with her body but after a while he had learned some aspects of it still remained. For her to suddenly begin laughing though was very strange these days. Whenever she'd been a sister before she was prone to such outburst but now he knew something must be going on.

“Joseph is receiving a lesson from Naidra and we seem to finally be able to resolve a problem that has been troubling us for quite some time. We won't be directly resolving it but it should work out quite nicely. The timing seems appropriate as well given that we've began to trim away the dead vines.” As she finished speaking Alaina felt the other protectors shift the emotional burden back onto her. Once again she found herself struggling to contain her laughter as she noted Joseph's distress.

As he looked up at Alaina Ridon couldn't help but frown. He had been glad when he learned that Joseph had been allowed into the citadel. At the same time though he'd been somewhat upset. Ridon had been allowed in due to his connection to Alaina. Joseph on the other hand was considered to be a true Luvarian. He knew Joseph had more accomplishments then him but was that why he was the Luvarian? “Alaina what would I have to do to be considered a true Luvarian?”

Immediately Alaina felt herself sober up. This wasn't due to her fellow protectors taking part of the burden but her own response. Ridon's question had her attention such that Joseph no longer seemed like a noteworthy point of interest for her. Immediately she shifted her position so that she was looking down into Ridon's eyes even as he leaned against her. “You must develop a passion for creation or at the very least the refinement of existing life that you currently lack. That would be the very first step at least. Without that desire you will never be considered a true Luvarian.”

“Do you mean I have to make things?” As he spoke Ridon began to straiten up and settle up on his knees bringing himself closer to Alaina's face. He was still far away though even as she continued to set on her rear.

“No. It isn't just the act of creating things Ridon or modifying things. You must carry within you a desire to create even without need. A true Luvarian would have a purpose for their creation but quite often there was no need for them or there was no need for something better. The objective and the creation should be reason enough for you to work towards that goal. As when the need arises it may be too late to begin the process. You and Julia refined a very powerful spell in order to find me but you already had a need to find me. Yet even now I may be hindering you by telling you this. As long as you believe that you're creating so that you may become closer to me you are working towards a need.”

“Joseph has a need though! His motivated by his desire to help our sisters. That's what he needs to do?”

“He may tell himself that. It isn't the truth though. It may have been in the beginning but now he works to refine the faelom because he carries within him a desire to refine them and see them improve. Even if their hunger had been completely satisfied by his life bloom he would continue to work on them. Unfortunately I can't tell you how to develop this desire to create or refine and in truth these desires aren't everything but they are essential.”

As he listened to Alaina Ridon bit down on his lower lip. He had always worked because there was a need that had to be met. Whenever there was nothing to do he tended to relax. Given what Alaina was telling him a true Luvarian would have taken that time to begin working on something on their own initiative. “Is there any way that the apprentices of old were conditioned to take on such an attitude?”

“At first nearly all apprentices were instructed on what they should work on. It was a task for them to achieve or in other words need based. This was necessary as they lacked the knowledge needed to do otherwise they needed guidance. As they learned though apprentices who wished to advance would begin working on projects of their own. Naturally these were needs based projects as they wanted to advance. Then in most cases the need would be forgotten and only the projects would remain. I suggest you begin working on something that would increase your status in your society or you believe would earn you access to more of the citadel.”

Ridon felt like his head was becoming foggy as he tried to imagine what it would be like to earn the title of a Luvarian. The notion of trying to do something that would earn him his way in while knowing that it wouldn't seemed to twist his brain into knots. He had to chase phantoms until the phantoms were forgotten and the only thing that remained was the chase. Was he even capable of such a change of mentality? “So I have to either create a new form of life, unlife or modify some that already exist right?”

“Yes. There is some room for the undead as well but that wasn't the Luvarian's primary interest. Would you like me to assign you a task that fits with your skill set?” Alaina expected Ridon to perk up the moment she made the offer and she was right. Despite knowing what he was going to do in advance she still found herself quite pleased with his response. “Now just so you know this isn't something that I came up with on my own. This is actually a standard bit of work that simply hasn't been undertaken for a very long time. You are to construct yourself a spiritual assistant.”

“Huh?” Ridon actually felt himself sink a little whenever he noticed Alaina frowning. “Sorry I'm just not sure exactly what you mean. Could I get the details?”

“Gather information about spirits such as spirits of fire, earth, water, hope, fear, life and so on then once you have a base think of what kind of spirit would be the most beneficial to your efforts. You are then to contract with one of those base spirits and capture the others. I recommend focusing on weaker spirits especially without any spirit hunters to help you out. In doing so you will shape the spirit of origin into a new existence. Often the Luvarians would allow their partner to feed on their own spiritual energies as well in order to further refine them. Convincing the spirits to merge into one being is also possible and in truth works far better then feeding but the terms can be difficult to negotiate. Especially as it's much safer to work with spirits who haven't fully developed their minds yet.”

“You mean you want me to make another amalgam!” Ridon felt like his heart had leaped into his throat as his body began to tremble.

“Ridon stop being stupid I know that you're a smart person. The amalgam as you call it was an unbalanced mixture of spiritual existences that were never meant to be joined together. The whole point of first researching the spirits you wish to make use of and then making a plan on joining is so that they'll be in proper balance. I also recommend that you think good and hard about the contract you seek to forge. Actually after that outburst of you my confidence in your intelligence has decreased. Run the contract you seek to forge by me first so that I can ensure you haven't made any foolish mistakes.”