Elegy for a Star Ch. 071-081

Gwen underestimated the strength of Evigkin and found that hammer coming her way. She brought her blade back down, parrying at the haft like she did last time. She felt the strain on her blade, and it snapped, allowing the haft to connect with her forehead.

She wasn't sure what happened after that. There was a slam, then a bell, and then a cheering from the crowd. When Gwen came to, her hand was shaking, instinctively searching around for her blade. She found it, bringing it up defensively, but it was only a handle, and judging by the warhammer planted into the ground beside her head, she'd already lost.

Gwendolyn was stunned. Admaris held a hand out to offer her a lift to her feet. Eyes wide, Gwen rolled to the side and got up on her own, looking around as though she just woke up here with no idea what was going on.

"You're really fuckin' good," Admaris said with a laugh, "I think you just came in a little fast. A little too open, you know? With some patience, you would've won for sure. I bet next time we fight, you'll definitely w-..."

"Shut your mouth," Gwendolyn interjected, holding back tears.

Admaris was declared the winner, though Gwendolyn's mind was fuzzy throughout that whole ordeal. It was only when they were good to exit the arena that she really began to think. Admaris turned and began to walk away.

Gwendolyn looked down at the long edges of wood sticking out from where the sword broke. She looked up at Admaris and screamed in absolute rage, plunging the broken blade into his exposed back. Again. Again. Wooden splinters stuck into his skin only to leave more upon the handle.

Admaris let out a yell and collapsed to the dirt, struggling to get Gwendolyn off of him. Gwen was still swinging. Still stabbing. She was yelling something, but she had no idea what it was. Admaris was calling for help.

She was watching herself, standing beside herself; outside her own body, wishing that she would stop. Instead, she watched herself rage at this defenseless man. She watched as soldiers approached her from both sides, as they grabbed her arms and took her to the ground. She watched herself struggle and swing, watched them drag her away. She watched Admaris get up, his back bleeding, watching her like she was insane.

She watched herself realize what she'd done. She watched herself gasp and scream, reaching for Admaris and begging for forgiveness.

Chapter 74 - Vials and Vexings

It'd been a week since Lady Morro's Day. The festival had concluded with Admaris' crowning as the honorary Valkyrie of Lady Morro. Despite his injuries, he still managed to win his next fights. Tess was certain that Joyona would have beaten him, but she missed her second fight entirely, disqualifying her. That one angered Tess. She was angry at Admaris, even if she knew that was unfair. He hadn't done anything wrong, but it was difficult to blame anyone else for Gwen's mental state.

She hadn't seen Gwen since that day. She could only assume that she'd been in holding or under an isolated probation. She hoped that she was still in Kravana, at least. She hoped that fight wasn't the last she saw of her friend. The thought that she might never see Gwendolyn again gave Tess a nauseous feeling.

"Tess."

Tess looked to her side to see Esma leaning over toward her desk. "Want to see the cutest little critter ever?" She asked.

She was waiting for her Sorcery and Ritualism class to begin. The classroom was an odd one to sit in. There was a near-constant tingle on the skin of the anti-sorcery field emanating from the crystal by the teacher's desk. Professor Dorn would turn it on and off with a touch of their hand. Tess liked Professor Dorn well enough. They were kind, soft-spoken and timid, but they were knowledgeable and helpful when a student needed assistance. Even though Tess had struggled with much of the practical aspects of Dorn's lessons, they had been extremely patient.

On that same note, Esma was someone that Tess had begun to get along with. She was an interesting woman, with tan skin and moss-green hair. Small twigs and leaves seemed to sprout from within her hair at a slow pace, and occasionally flowers would blossom around her ears or temple. Her arms and shoulders were no different. Some areas it even looked like her skin turned to bark. The first time Tess saw her, couldn't keep her eyes off of her. She was attractive, yes, but it was mostly because she was so unusual. She wasn't Fey, but she lived in the Summer Court. In fact, Tess didn't know what she was.

She knew what she did, though. Esma belonged to a group known as Thornseers. These sorts of Wyrden drew their power from their blood which, in some ancient time, had been mixed with the blood of the goddess Cenerine; deity of nature. Esma explained how--something about another god cutting her and her blood spilling--but Tess couldn't remember the exact details. She didn't understand all of Esma's capabilities, though, except that she was especially good with animals and knew a lot of sorcery involving natural elements.

"Tess," Esma said again. Tess shook her head a moment. "No? You don't?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was off in my own little world. What did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to see the cutest, most sweetest, most adorablest being you've ever laid your eyes on," Esma squealed quietly.

"Sure," Tess replied with a soft smile.

Esma pushed aside a couple leaves on her arm and revealed a tiny rat, covered in gray fur with a bright pink tail. Its nose wiggled rapidly as it sniffed around Esma's arm. Tess never thought that she would like rats, of all things, but this one was really cute. Tess smiled and whispered, "Hey, little guy."

"She's a she," Esma corrected.

"Hey, little gal," Tess replied with a chuckle, "Where'd you find her?"

"Out in the gardens," Esma replied, "I'm going to bring her down to Hastenburgh and build her a nice little home this Rijen."

"That's two months away," Tess whispered, "What are you going to do until then?

Esma gave the rat a little scratch on the top of the head, "She'll live with me."

Professor Dorn approached the front of the class and collected the attention of the students, "Umm.. hi, class. We're, uh.. Today, we're going to discuss sorcerous aids. If that's okay."

They always seem to check with the class before presenting a lesson. Some of the students respected them less for it, but Tess found it endearing.

"Umm.. Let's start with Star Vials," Dorn started.

A student objected, "Everyone knows about Vials, professor, and most of us are blood Wyrden anyway."

Ugh, Morena. She was a shapeshifter, her blood flowing from the jungle Cadamma, a terribly dangerous place. She was always so rude. It was clear that she finely tuned her body to near perfection. That was, at least, for people that enjoyed fair-skinned, black-haired women with curves in all of the right places. She hardly wore anything, too. Not that Tess minded that part, but it was just of note that Morena knew how pretty she was, and was confident enough to flaunt it.

How Tess would like to wear something skimpier below the waist. She didn't have many options in that regard without letting her secret out, though.

Tess raised her hand in defense of the professor, "Actually, I don't know what Star Vials are." It wasn't entirely true. Tess knew a little bit about them. They house the power of stars, making sorcery a little easier to perform.

Dorn nodded and said to Morena, "We should have, umm.. Everyone should get on the same page before we, uhh.. Before we continue on to the advanced informa-..."

"She's not even a Wyrden!" Morena replied sharply.

That stung. It didn't take long for Esma to lash back, "Shut the fuck up, Morena!"

Morena continued, "I don't even understand why she's in this class!" Morena went on a tirade, throwing her hands into the air. Suddenly, she looked furious and was running her mouth, but not a sound could be heard.

Dorn had cast a silence spell over the classroom. This was their typical go-to whenever something like this broke out.

Tess rolled her eyes at Morena. What was with this twelve-year-old drama queen?

Once everyone seemed to calm down, Dorn dropped the spell and cleared their throat, "We will go over Star Vials." They looked to Morena and added, "Briefly."

They turned to the class, though gave Tess a glance since it was she that likely needed more information than most.

"Um.. well, in their simplest form, Star Vials enhance the performance of star Wyrden. While at the Sea of Stars, only a few days' travel from here, one could find falling stars and well, uh... trap their power within the vial," Dorn continued.

"Umm, opening a vial during a casting effort empowers the spell, both making it easier to perform and with a, um... a stronger effect," Dorn added.

Morena's hand raised urgently.

"Um.. yes, Morena?"

"Aren't they prone to exploding, though?" The Shapeshifter asked with a smirk on her face.

Dorn nodded their head, "Uhh.. well, yes, there is a possibility. Using a Star Vial too often can make it unstable. An, um.. an unstable Star Vial may detonate, releasing its powerful fury into the surrounding environment, uh.. Which is very bad." They explained, "This is why Star Vials are not allowed in certain towns, but, um... Wyrden will typically keep them in a magical holding pocket, uh, well... during a visit to those towns, I suppose.

"Each Wyrden with a Star Vial latched to their soul will see a constellation appear upon the, um... the vial. This will represent your sorcerous gift, uh.. That is, I mean, your magical specialty."

"I bet Tess won't even get one on her vial, it'll just say 'You're Not Even a Wyrden, Dumbass,'" Morena whispered, just loud enough for Tess to hear.

"What a fucking child," Tess thought, rocking her head back with a sigh.

Chapter 75 - The Ledger

After a bit of fun, Scirocca and Almithara--a more sane Yysh than most--sat down to take another look at the ledger found in Madame Pava's dwelling. They'd been poring over this bloodstained book trying to make out Pava's writing. All of her words had been written in some sort of code, but it was in a scribbling that Scirocca couldn't make out. Almithara was able to read it--barely--but she couldn't decipher it. Together, they were slowly teasing out little bits of information at a time.

"Here, what about this part," Scirocca said, "What's this say? Rice?"

"Dache, actually," Almithara replied, scratching a little at the scales that coated her body, all the way up to her chin and cheeks, avoiding her mouth and nose, "It means flower. Flowers, rather. Plural. But it doesn't make sense here."

"No, that helps," Scirocca replied, "She's been referring to her patients by different flower names. She must be referring to all of her patients here. Past, present, future."

They had already discerned that there were at least two other giftless that died under Pava's care. One of them may have been an accident, but the other one was directly due to Pava's experimentation. She was testing the limits of her patient's mind, folding their soul upon itself again, and again, and again. The patient's mind broke, unable to tell who it was. Living five lives at the same time, with five sets of memories. Five minds. They went mad and killed themselves. Scirocca wondered if it was the doing of only one of them, or if it was all five coming to an agreement.

The more they learned, the more Scirocca was glad that Gwendolyn had put the woman down. Perhaps, however, that was staging Gwen onto the slippery slope that led to her mental collapse. She wondered what she could've done differently. "Nothing," Scirocca told herself, "No one but herself could've saved her from that outcome."

"This next bit here," Almithara started, "Translated, it means 'their deep moor blatant under makes poppy lightning.' Nonsense to me, again." She handed the translated version to Scirocca, who compared it to her notes once again.

"Something about... hrm... maybe a leyline? It says 'magic place," Scirocca replied after a thorough scanning.

Almithara nodded, "Verdona. Our literal translation for it is 'magic place.' Silly, huh?"

Scirocca nodded her head, comparing the rest and coming up with, "Subjugation rebellion?" She brought her notes over to Almithara, "Slave-make fight freedom."

Almithara nodded her head, "Sounds right to me. A coup, maybe?"

Scirocca nodded her head, "A century ago, or so, a very young Mage-Empress put the city on lockdown. A lot of people were strung up. Executed. Political opponents, I believe."

"There was a rebellion," Scirocca added, looking back through the notes, "A princess from Krico."

"Who won?" Almithara asked.

Scirocca shook her head, "Oh, you know how it goes. In rebellions there are only losers."

Almithara nodded, looking through some of the next part. "This part just says 'demon' but in common imperial."

"Any idea why?"

Almithara shook her head, "No. Maybe she was in a hurry? But then why didn't she write in Yysh? Maybe that wasn't the more familiar tongue, but it seems unlikely."

Scirocco nodded, "What's next?"

"Seven tossed party deep spider next," Almithara said the random words with a sigh, "Looking forward to seeing what that mess means."

Scirocca put it up against the incomplete cypher that they had, "Something about corruption and... let's see... a cover of red. It reads almas. Does it mean a red sky?"

"Cloak."

"A red cloak," Scirocca nodded, "Corruption." Scirocca sighed, "Maybe some red cloak corrupts the wearer.

"What's that got to do with Tess?" Almithara asked.

"Nothing that I know of," Scirocca sighed. What's the next part?

"I know this one. We saw it earlier. Constellation. Barge power deaf."

"Unseen constellation," Scirocca nodded, "That's interesting. Would have been nice to have Pava alive for this."

"Yeah," Almithara responded, "What about this one? It's circled. 'For lime garb haste target.'"

Scirocca leaned in toward the cypher, reading aloud, "That would be..." The phrase meant "head inhabitant," but Scirocca didn't want Almithara to know that. It was talking about Miri, a topic that Scirocca didn't want to bring up to the Yysh. Scirocca said softly, "Says something about head."

"What are the words you don't have?"

"Gorlati morst sskt," Scirocca's pronunciation was probably terrible.

"Vivisection. She was going to open up Tess' head."

Scirocca nodded, thinking to herself, "Probably in a metaphorical way. She was trying to extract Miri."

Almithara continued with the next line, "This one is... written strangely." The Yysh leaned over to show to show Scirocca, "Look how this is written."

Scirocca examined the ledger and saw one of the phrases written chaotically, as though each letter was scrawled with a heavy hand, scribbled in.

"Probably important then," Scirocca replied, "Why else would she do that?"

"Here: 'To More Halt A Mist Paw Land.'"

Scirocca compared it to the cypher. Her chest ached. She swallowed, certain that she was turning pale. "We don't have that one. Something about a previous patient, but we don't even have the words for the other part."

"Shit," Almithara grunted.

"I think that's all we need to do for today," Scirocca said, taking the ledger, stuffing the cypher into it and closing it up. She rose to her feet, helping Almithara up before she turned to the Yysh and said, "Thank you for your help."

"Want to have a go before I head out?" The Yysh placed one hand on Scirocca's shoulder, the other on her hip.

Scirocca replied bluntly, "No." She added, "I have somewhere to be. Later."

Almithara's shoulders sank and she held her arms out helplessly, "Alright, then. Let me know when you want to do more."

Once Almithara had left, Scirocca thought over the words that she had deciphered and hid from the Yysh, "Patient; Possessed since the arrival of the sky ink."

The Black Sun was viewable from the surface centuries ago. Tess had Miri in her mind since then? Is that what Pava was saying? Tess was human; She couldn't have even been alive back then.

She needed to talk to someone about this, but she didn't know if Tess or Miri knew about it already and was keeping it a secret. She needed to talk to Mairaela. Perhaps Joyona too. Scirocca reminded herself that this wasn't her business; It was only a casual interest of hers. She could just leave the information with Mairaela and ignore the rest. She knew that wouldn't happen, however. Curiosity would get the better of her.

Especially now that there was a suggestion that Tess and Miri have been linked for far longer than either of them know. Who are they?

Chapter 76 - Articulation

"It's, um.. It's not just about remembering the constellations, uh.. Alright?" Dorn explained, drawing out a constellation in the air. Tess carefully watched them, following the movements. The Wanderer. The Wanderer. The Devil. She was surprised to see two of the same constellations in the same spell. "I didn't even know that was allowed," Tess thought to herself. No one else seemed surprised in the classroom, so she hid her reaction as best she could.

Dorn's voice began to sound from all directions and Tess looked around to find copies of the Professor standing on all four sides of the classroom. They moved and spoke in unison, "It's, um... well, it's about articulation of the movements; pliability of the hand. Control, control, control."

The images faded, leading only one, but it wasn't the one that Dorn started at. That seems like a useful spell. Wanderer, wanderer, devil. Wanderer, wanderer, devil.

Of course, Tess could form it differently. Of course it worked so long as her constellations made sense to her; however the constellations were applicable to her. As long as those conditions were met, she could cast it.

Dorn returned where they were originally standing. "Now, um... watch closely," they said. Dorn gestured constellations with their hand. The Archer. The... wait, they didn't do another constellation.

Regardless of that fact, the professor's eyes began to glow. Tess didn't know what that meant, but it was definitely an effect of sorcery. Dorn asked, "Did anyone notice how I did that?"

The class was silent. If anyone knew, they weren't willing to speak up.

Tess leaned forward in her seat. This was important. This is what she wanted to learn about.

Dorn's eyes returned to normal and they said, "I'll do it again. Umm.. very slowly, okay? Just watch my movements."

Once again, they performed the movements. Slowly, this time. The Archer again. One constellation. The professor's eyes began to glow again. "Um.. did anyone see this time?" Dorn asked.

"I saw it," Tess thought, "I saw it! Oh my gods, that was incredible!"

Tess raised her hand.

"Yes, miss?" Dorn asked, pointing a finger to Tess.

"As your arm made the Archer, with your fingers you made the Keepers. With your free hand, you signed the Wanderer," Tess did her best to not gush too much over how amazing she found that to be.

Dorn's eyes sparkled with amusement, the light fading from their eyes, "Absolutely correct, Tess." Dorn looked at the rest of the class, "We always sign with one arm, um.. but what is special about your arm? Uh.. nothing, I think. You just need to make the signs to cast the spell."

It was about control of the body and mind. Articulation of the hand. Pliability of the fingers.

After class, Tess rushed to her room, excited to test her new knowledge. She quickly found that gesturing with her fingers, two or three at once, was extremely difficult. Still, she practiced. She practiced and practiced until she lost track of time and her fingers were cramping. Her hand was sore, and she'd only been working with her dominant, right hand. It would be a nightmare to practice with the left. Gods, how did Dorn do it?