A Magical Trade (Clyde)

by **L'orlei** on April 17th, 2013, 8:44 pm

"Yes, a glass vial, or a jar, or anything that you can use to keep it dry. The specific type of container isn't all that important. It's just ash."

As they continued on the stream broke off into two directions. L'orlei simply followed along the bank they were already one, figuring that Clyde would not want to cross the stream itself. It was not particularly deep or dangerous, but most humans preferred not to get wet. L'orlei herself wouldn't have minded a dip, but she wasn't the only one present.

"Lakes would be ideal. Ponds and swamps too.. they are actually more likely to be found near still water than a river or stream like this one. We got lucky, but a lake would probably have plenty around them. You've probably seen them before and thought nothing of it."

As they continued to follow the stream L'orlei noticed that the water was beginning to slow down. That meant that they were probably coming up on some kind of obstruction, or possibly a pond. Such a place would be ideal to find one of the trees they were looking for, and if they were lucky, there would actually be one there.

"Yes, my gnosis could do all of that. But I'm not always around, am I? And you've seen my glyphs. It's probably better just to sell them natural remedies than my magic, at this point. Besides, Rak'keli expects her healers to learn all forms of healing, that way we can teach others to care for themselves. Isn't there a human saying.. something about teaching a man to fish? It's like that."

As L'orlei suspected, the slowing water was a sign of something. They came upon a small pond, surrounded by trees. There were plenty of the cattails growing along the edge of the pond as well, and L'orlei even saw a few fish swimming in the waters. But what was probably the most noticeable of all, especially considering they were on the lookout for it, was the beautiful vian tree growing on the far side of the pond. A smile spread across the konti's face when she saw it, and she motioned for Clyde to follow her.

"Come on, let's go see if there are any branches big enough for you!"

by **Clyde Sullins** on April 17th, 2013, 9:08 pm

Clyde nodded, as she explained that the container did not really matter. Though he disagreed, you could not just put it in anything. She had just said so herself. For instance, a sack, or a basket, would not work. But he decided not to disagree with her, even though she had just conflicted with her own words. Or perhaps he was taking her words to literally...

At this point, he was so wet, he doubted he could get any wetter should he throw himself down in the stream by them, and roll around in it. If only it would stop raining, and then he could get his head properly dry for a minute...

It was also interesting, to hear he might have seen just such a plant, and never noticed it. Were there cattails on lake Ravok's shore, and he had never paid attention? Come to think of it... He could not recall. But perhaps, she was right.

Clyde nodded, at her words, explaining why she did not just use her gnosis. Part of it was her Glyphing... But also... It was not always convenient, to need a healer to do the healing, all of the time. You could not carry one around in your pocket.

"That my dear, is similar to what I say to do with my magic, with my Reimancy. Just because you can do something with magic, does not mean you should. Why do you think I still learn how to mundanely start fires, or dig in dirt, or gather water to drink. Just because you can do something with magic, does not mean you should. And especially with personal magic, such as Reimancy, you do not want to do so, unless it is the only way."

"Reimancy is costly. It is not free, not the way gnosis magic works. It costs you dearly, every time you do it. If you are lucky, you will only feel exhausted, like you just went through a strenuous work out. If not, you will truly face the real consequences of doing to much magic. So you should only do things with Reimancy, and magic, that you cannot do mundanely, and when the need is great enough. Glyphing is different, it costs nothing. But then, it is not a personal magic, but a world magic, which comes from the world and its workings. But personal magic, pulls the magic and djed right from yourself."

But soon enough it seemed, the konti had found a tree, a Vian Tree. Clyde nodded. "Lead the way."

by **L'orlei** on April 25th, 2013, 9:49 pm

"I know there is risk in magic. And gnosis isn't free. Perhaps it is not the same as personal magic, but it is not free."

Her mind drifted back to her mother briefly, recalling the nightmares she would always have. Her mother was gifted with the gnosis of divination, but for reasons L'orlei could not understand, her mother only seemed to see terrible things. The morning she left on her calling was after one such horrible vision.

"Even we healers can hurt ourselves if we do too much."

L'orlei personally had never healed to the point that she'd hurt herself, and perhaps her gnosis wasn't powerful enough to do that. But she had heard of powerful healers taking on sickness and injuries themselves to save the gravely wounded and ill. No, it wasn't at all the same as personal magic, but there was a price for everything.

"Anyway... let's get you your branches."

They had reached the tree, and already L'orlei could see there were some potential candidates. Of course Clyde would need to measure them to see if they met his needs, but there were a few large branches scattered around from the storm. There were several smaller branches scattered around as well, and after a moment of thought, L'orlei went about collecting those and putting them into her bag.

"I'm sure I can find something to use these for," she comment as she stuffed in a handful, "Maybe I can figure out what makes them so good for magic."

Unfortunately, there was really only one branch lying on the ground that would actually meet the specifications Clyde was looking for. The rest were either too short, or broken in multiple places. It was perhaps a bit disappointing, but after a while L'orlei's eyes were drawn to a branch still up in the tree.. a very long one, that was sagging a bit lower than it should. The young konti frowned and stood on the tips of her toes to get a better look. It looked like the branch was partially broken.

The konti had a strict policy of not taking anything directly from the trees, save for their fruits. They didn't chop off branches, and they only used trees that fell down themselves for building purposes. At least with Vianwood, that is. It was Caiyha who decided when a branch should be broken, not the Konti.. but this one was almost broken. The question was.. should she break it the rest of the way, or leave it to chance that they would stumble upon another tree with a branch large enough.

"Clyde, come give me a boost. I think there may be a branch up there that would be perfect, but I need to get a closer look."

by **Clyde Sullins** on April 26th, 2013, 5:21 pm

Clyde was a bit surprised at her words. Gnosis was not free? That seemed a bit odd to him. After all, while you did have to worship a God, and earn their favor, to get a gnosis, it did not directly cost you each time you used it.

He knew enough about magic, to know that gnosis magic worked on a different principle to personal and even world magic. He had only recently noticed the connection between all the world magics, how they seemed to follow some set of rules, and worked on some intrinsic nature of the world, which manifested as each magic. They did as they did, for the same reason objects fell to the ground when you loosed them from your hand, it was just a principle of the world, some rule being followed.

He also knew circles were important in them, as a repeating occurrence, though he was unsure of why in that regard. Something about the shape maybe?

As for personal magics, they were simple enough, working upon ones internal djed, to make some magic effect. They were much more straightforward, than world magic with its rituals and common pathways.

Divine magic, gnosis though, came from the Gods as its source, which made it intrinsically different than the other two. It had taken him many years to discover all this, to put it together, but he knew it to be true. Which made her words seem to ring false to him. But why would she lie?

He was genuinely surprised to here that healers could be effected by the ailments they tried to heal. He had never heard of that before, and found it quite interesting.

"Really? A gnosis, healing, harshly affecting the person using it? I have never heard of such a thing..."

As he tucked the knowledge away, to think about more in depth at a later time, he focused back on the task at hand.

Lor'lei went about picking through branches, which Clyde noticed were much to small for his needs. Preferably, he would find a branch as big as he was tall, which would give more room to cut it down at a later date. But these were to tiny, or shattered.

Clyde saw the konti and traced her eyes, to see a long branch up in the tree, which sagged and was damaged, but had not fallen yet. She even reached on her tip toes, but came no were close. Of course, Clyde was taller than her, and he could not reach it, he doubted her going on her toes would help.

He nodded at her request, and cupped his hands at hip level, bending his knees a bit to lower himself, for the konti to step into. Once she was standing there, he could then unbend his knees bringing her higher, and if still needed, he would push his hands higher and try and get her as high as he could.

Luckily she was so much smaller and lighter than him, or else it would have caused some issues in the attempt. Clyde after all, was not an overly physical mage.

by **L'orlei** on May 1st, 2013, 8:58 pm

"Yes.. some of the greatest healers are at risk of infecting themselves with the very diseases they are curing. ..but it is not common. Not like normal magic. And I am not an expert on gnosis other than my own. Only that which we see here on Mura. Healing, and Divination. Both can be costly, if we aren't careful."

L'orlei stepped into Clyde's hand, allowing him to boost her up. She as in fact very light, weighing in only just over a hundred pounds, and she was probably heavier than some konti. L'orlei reached out to the branch above her, steadying herself against the tree with her other hand. Once she had hold of the limb she pulled up, easing some of the weight off Clyde, though not all of it. She wanted to inspect the branch first, and she hoped that Clyde could hold her long enough to do that.

It was almost entirely severed, and being as high up as it was, if she broke it the rest of the way the tree would hopefully not be subject to infestation by insects. It would break her heart to learn the beautiful tree had died because of her. But the tree was exposed anyway, and taking the branch would not harm it any more than it already was.

"Caiyha, thank you for this gift," L'orlei whispered as she reached down with her free hand and withdrew the dagger from her belt. "I will come back to tend to your tree as soon as I am done with this man."

L'orlei started to cut at the remaining connected parts of the branch, but her dagger was no saw, and it was mostly ineffectual. She started to yank and pull on the branch, causing Clyde to have to stumble about just to hold her up. On one shove she pushed so hard that it caused the mage to lose his grip, and suddenly L'orlei was swinging loose by the branch. She wasn't high enough up that a fall would hurt her, but she didn't want to let go either.

"Um...."

CrrrrrrrACK!

The branch broke, and down she tumbled, leaves, Vian wood, and all. Quite possibly she landed right on top of Clyde, and if not, there was a good chance the branch was going to make a go at him as well. But.. the branch was down, and after a moment to collect herself and rub her now sore bottom, L'orlei cracked a smile and hopped to her feet.

"Well, that's one of them. There's another branch over here on the ground that is probably big enough too. Looks like we got what we came for, then!"

by **Clyde Sullins** on May 2nd, 2013, 12:34 am

Clyde listened, genuinely interested in her words on the two gnosis so common amongst the Konti. It was odd really to think of gnosis in that way. But he supposed in one way or another, a God had to put limits on what a gnosis could do. What with the nature of what those two did, it made sense that instead of a hard limit, there would simply be downsides... Similar to how personal magic worked... Or at least somewhat similar.

He easily boosted the Konti up, and did not have to much trouble keeping her up there, as long as she held more or less still. He doubted he could hold her as such for bells, but a few chimes would not overly strain his arms or muscles. He was not that out of shape.

Clyde did his best to wait patiently, as she inspected the branch. For what, Clyde was not sure. He had expected her to just go up there and either pull it down, or to not. But though the wait confused him a bit, he did not say anything, as he assumed it would be clear in time.

He could not quite hear what L'orlei next said, as she whispered to the tree. Which puzzled him even more, was she talking to a tree? He hoped she was not expecting it to respond, as they would either be waiting a very long time, or it would show she was crazy. And he certainly would not be showing magic to a woman who was crazy. He did have standards to uphold, and did not want another crazy mage making all magic users look bad.

As she sawed at the branch with a dagger she had produced, Clyde just sighed, and did his best to keep ahold. Which was actually pretty tricky, and forced him to do a little dance of sorts to keep from making her fall. Until the branch broke, and she fell on top of him, knocking him flat.

Somehow she managed to end up smack on top of him, landing heavily on her rear right on his chest, knocking the air from his lungs.

As she hopped back to his feet, Clyde rubbed his sore stomach. She was not to heavy, but when a entire person fell on your chest, it was going to hurt regardless of their size and weight.

Clyde slowly got to his feet, trying to return his breathing to its normal pace, which would take a few chimes.

"Great... Just next time, try and give a person some warning, before you fall out of a tree and use them as a human cushion."

He moved over to the branch, and held it up next to him, long ways up.

"Is it long enough? It does not have to be to terribly long, but I would prefer the actual thick portion of the branch, the part that can hold some weight and will be in the final portion of the actual staff, to be about as tall as me. Not counting the little weak bit at the end that will easily snap off or be cut off."

by **L'orlei** on May 3rd, 2013, 8:05 pm

"I'm not sure," L'orlei commented, eyeing the branch. It certainly seemed large enough to her, but she didn't know how much of it he was going to have to shave down.

"It looks big enough to me.. but I don't know anything about making staffs." She paused, her expression growing more serious. "I do know that if you try to cut down an entire tree just for a staff, my sisters probably wont let you leave the island with it. That's why I'm trying to help you find a good branch."

L'orlei looked over at the tree. There were other branches, even larger than the one she had taken down for Clyde, but none of them were damaged. Breaking branches off of trees exposed them to the elements, and to insects, and it was bad for the tree. It was one thing if a branch broke off during a storm or on it's own, that was nature. But when people started tearing the trees apart for their own purposes, that was bad. And L'orlei did know of any Konti who grew Vianwood for the sole purpose of crafting. To her knowledge, they only existed in the wild, and she was not going to upset Caiyha by suggesting Clyde just take down an entire tree.

A part of her wished her gnosis worked on plants. She had never actually tried it before, but to her knowledge it didn't. When she returned she would check to see if the tree was healing up nicely. If not, she would wrap it to protect it from insects and the elements. But that was after she was done with Clyde, she thought, as her attentions shifted back to the skeptical mage.

"If you don't think these branches are good enough, we can look for more. There are always other trees to be found."

by **Clyde Sullins** on May 3rd, 2013, 9:56 pm

"Hmmm... Me either... But I have used one for a long time..." Clyde said, in response to L'orlei informing him she was unsure on the length needed for the staff, or if the branches were long enough for it.

"But as I said, we can always trim it down. And the second one will likely not be for me, and so will likely need to be shorter. I mean, I am pretty tall, but such a staff on another person... As long as the final product is say... A bit over four feet tall... Then it should be fine. But if possible, a longer one would be good. And I would need one a few inches more than that..."

Clyde compared the branch they had gotten down, along with the other branch the Konti had found on the ground, and held them up side by side to compare them.

"And bring an entire tree home? Even if I wanted to, how would I get it back to Ravok with me? I will have enough trouble getting the branches back."

Clyde was looking off into the distance, as he thought about the wood, comparing the branches, looking at thickness... Not even realizing he had let slip the place he called home, and to were he was heading when leaving Mura.

"Yes, I think these will do... Most of the branches are pretty thick, and I can sort of use it already to support my weight when I put the thick end on the ground like this... Which means the bottom portion is good and sound. And I can place my hands pretty high up on it, without it bending, while I use it to hold me up. I think these will do. I guess we should head back now. Lead the way."

by **L'orlei** on May 29th, 2013, 4:55 pm

Clyde's slip up of where he lived went unnoticed by the konti. She was not an expert in geography, and simply assumed "ravok" was just some word in the common tongue she was not familiar with. Probably some slang or something. But she didn't even give it that much thought as to label it as such anyway.

As Clyde tested the branches she nodded in agreement. They both looked fine to her, and they both appeared long enough. She wasn't an expert on branches, but she thought they had done well in finding those two. And it seemed Clyde was ready to head back. L'orlei was ready too, she realized as her stomach started to grumble. All that walking must have made her hungry.

"Okay, follow me."

Getting back to the city only took slightly less time than it had taken to find the tree, as L'orlei knew exactly where they were going and they weren't wasting time aimlessly wandering about. Not that Clyde had to know they were aimlessly wandering about, but they were for a lot of it. By the time they reached the city it had finally stopped raining and Syna decided to show herself, though there weren't many bells left in the day for the sun to dry anything out. L'orlei stopped and turned back to Clyde, not entirely sure what to say or do.

"Well... we're back. So.. I guess, enjoy your branches."

by **Clyde Sullins** on June 1st, 2013, 3:05 pm

It did not take as long to return to the city. Clyde simply followed the konti, branches in hand, following the steps she took. Soon enough, he was greeted by civilization.

Or at least, it felt like it had taken less time. Perhaps it was simply that they now walked with more purpose, more directly, and even the weather seemed to be agreeing to their journey, by letting off on the rain. Though it did not do so completely, more or less, till they were almost back to the city.

As the konti faced Clyde, and told him to enjoy his branches... He was a bit puzzled... She had been to convicted, that she wanted to learn Reimancy, for him to initiate her... And now, not even a last request? Perhaps she assumed she had done all she could.

But while he had not decided for sure if he would teach her, or so he told himself, he still had a few other things in mind.

"And what of the plants we dug up? Those... Uhm... Cat tails. Yes, that was there name. I thought you said you would show me how to prepare them. I don't know how to do so, and have a hunk of unusable plant taking up my pack. I need it in a more transferable container and size. And I doubt it would keep forever without rotting in its plant state. So aren't you going to show me your home so I can dry off a bit, and to prepare these plants for use?"

"And have you given up on your quest to learn Reimancy so easily? I am shocked due to your earlier conviction in wanting to learn it, that you would give up so easily."