[Bharani Library] Slightly Less Hollow Points (Mauriel)

[Savis Maren]

"Ichor," the Nuit corrected, her features void of expression as she lowered her gaze to find a droplet of the liquid clinging to her fingertip. Lightly, she flicked her digit, the droplet out of sight and out of mind as she considered the exquisite creature she'd unwittingly pulled into an experiment with Animation. Savis Maren was hungry for results. She craved others with talents she didn't or couldn't possess. Her efforts with Animation in Lhavit were limited by her personal exposure, and the more confidence she gained within the city the loftier her ambitions grew. Savis watched Mauriel, her expression and moreover, her reaction to misunderstanding the nuit's explanation. Then, Mauriel showed her hand again. The young Ethaefal's question was, in truth, a fair one. Without being made aware of what Auristics was in its entirety, it might be entirely likely to believe it a world magic. Savis Maren shook her head, then allowed the Ethaefal to ask her follow up question.

"I might," she answered, a chuckle escaping her lips. Clearly, Mauriel was in a great deal of thought about the discipline she'd brought up, a tid bit of knowledge made present to the Ethaefal, like a line cast by a fisherman with juicy bait waiting to be taken by the fish. Hook, line and sinker? she wondered to herself as she continued the process of Animation. Knowledge sifted from one side of the Twin Circles to the other, and with it, vestiges of personality. The nuit replicated the sound of Mauriel's voice, fishing her speech and tones from her memory before at last she felt satisfied with the understanding of vocalization. The Nuit moved her focus over, absorbing the knowledge of language from the young creature before realizing something was distinct. In the annals of memory, Savis Maren caught a glimpse of something else. Knowledge beyond that of the Common tongue and though the Nuit couldn't process it herself, she certainly captured it.

Savis Maren added the knowledge of the languages Mauriel knew into the Destination, compiling the information from the depths of thought. Then, the Nuit created her first directive for the golem she had in mind.

"Before I answer that... allow me to make a point. The knowlege that is bestowed upon a golem is implemented by its directives. In order to implement a function into the process of Animation, that function must be known to the golem in its entirety. Just now, I bestowed the Destination with the capacity for language. Giving it knowledge of Common and Vani takes time, but is useless without providing it a means of speech. Deriving the knowledge of speech from the vocal cords, teaching it how to make sounds... Once all of that is set into place, you can implement a directive. While none of it requires talking to sort out, I'll dictate to you the directives I'm writing so you can know a bit more about how they work," she assured the Ethaefal.

The nuit decided to experiment with the implementation of directives. She'd utilized simple directives with Sil and the Voice Box, using hearing or touch as the primary means of the golem's understanding. Now? She sought to do more. The nuit invoked a sense of touch, deriving it from Mauriel and tying it into the directive as she said,

"Directive Number One: Upon the left corner of a page being touched, the contents of that page will be dictated verbally."

Dictate the contents of the page omitting any shapes, forms or visual representations. Only implement words that are known, with any unknown quantities ignored for the purposes of the process.

The nuit specified what she wanted, making her directives more complicated and nuanced. As she implemented that first directive, the nuit turned her attentions towards bestowing intelligence into the golem. She searched Mauriel's mind for logical understanding, for the ability to reason, aspects inherent to the condition of being sentient, but also searching the Ethaefal's memories in an effort to reinforce it with her existing skillset. Once she began that process, the Nuit ignored Mauriel entirely, closing her eyes in an effort to find the necessary strands of understanding. She crossed her arms, allowing her fingertips to drum along her own forearm. The rhythm set the pace of replication. Several chimes passed in silence before she answered Mauriel's question.

"I intend for it to take on some of your character. The golem will sound like you. It will read things with a nuance born from your tone. The unskilled Animator will make sub-par golems. They'll be simple, weak and stupid, with no capacity to learn language or really move with a great deal of efficacy. The mark of a skilled pracitioner is the complexity of personality, knowledge as well as the scale and strength of a golem. Your dagger..." she mused, curious to learn that the simple bard possessed a blade with such intricate magic woven into it.

"Most likely is an Animated weapon. I could take a look at it, once we're done, if you're interested in learning more about it? Personalities are common to automatons that are capable of speech," she explained. Savis Maren had tasked automatons to speak in Sahova, but this automaton would be her first attempt at doing so independently, with a golem of her own designs. Truly, it was an inspiring moment for the nuit.

[Mauriel]

Oh, the Nuit was a temptress in her own right! I might. The answer hardly said anything, except that she wanted Mauriel interested. "And if you happen to know, would you care to share?" the Ethaefal obliged. She was unsure whether Savis just wanted to be asked, or was her vagueness about not diverting the topic too much while maintaining interest. Either way, she thought asking couldn't hurt, but realized she might be dismissed for now.

She listened to the woman explaining what she's doing. She made it sound so easy. "Oh, I just taught these sewn together pieces of paper how to speak." But she understood that the point was that you first have to impart the knowledge, then tell it what to do with it. It wouldn't make much sense the other way around anyway, although Mauriel wondered how would a product of such a blunder turn out.

Mauriel was a bit surprised when Savis casually mentioned Vani. She didn't know what was she expecting, the Nuit was clearly tapping into her knowledge and memory basin to extract what she needed for the golem, but somehow it all seemed to vague and abstract. Now that she's mentioned something so concrete, the bard started feeling a bit bare. Everything - everything - was right under the dead woman's fingertips. She showed no signs of a strong reaction to anything she was working on, and perhaps she was focused just on the things she needed, but Mauriel couldn't help feeling anxious. At the same time, she was somewhat fascinated. This was much more intimate than even what she envisioned Auristics to be. In a way, she was glad that it was Savis besides the table and not someone else. She had no urge to impress Savis. Maybe it wasn't for the right reasons, but it did allow her to find this sort of acceptable. She still wasn't comfortable with her soul being dug through in this way now that she truly grasped the full scope of it, but it wasn't overwhelmingly bad either.

She listened to the directives being programmed. The first one was interesting. She wondered how does Savis plan to use this notebook once it's made. It could be full of stories and songs one could listen to on a whim, without needing to have a bard around. What a luxury! Perhaps it was good that magic wasn't too popular or accessible. It was decently common in Lhavit, but not common enough for these sorts of items to be usual. Mauriel could very well go out of business with lots of these things around. "Can you use one golem as a source for another, or does it have to be a real soul?" She realized she might have came off as inattentive, as her thought process wasn't obvious to her interlocutor. "Sorry, I'm listening to the directives, my mind just wandered off to how that thing being able to just read or sing out its contents could theoretically put me out of business if magic wasn't as niche as it is." She offered an apologetic chuckle. The woman didn't seem to mind her constant questions and comments too much. Or at least she didn't seem like the type who would keep silent if she did mind.

She nodded in agreement about character. She didn't think of it that was, she thought tools would be more useful without a distinct personality, but the more she thought about it the more she realized how it could assist them, especially a notebook of this kind, as long as proper directives were in place to make them work properly.

"Oh, my dagger isn't here, sorry. I stopped carrying it with me." She wanted to offer an excuse, but she kept coming up with stupid ones. After a brief pause, she added, "He's a bit unbearable. Really bloodthirsty. Just wants to get into fights." It was the true reason she stopped carrying him, just without some of the exposition, so she figured it'll do. "But I suppose I could bring it along, when we see each other so you could tell me about Auristics." She winked at the mage. These free classes were more than worth some embarrassment over meddling through her soul, if that's the kind of thing her teacher was into. After all, it was fun to watch this notebook supposedly learn how to sing with her voice. Still a bit surreal, although she was sure it couldn't compare to actually hearing it at the end of this charade.

[Savis Maren]

First impressions are but a glance through the looking glass, the Nuit realized as those piercing silver eyes looked over the young Ethaefal. When the two first met, there was a bitterness in their discussion. Just bells ago, Mauriel and Savis Maren might have been enemies, warriors taking up a weapon more dangerous than it seemed. Words cut through the heart like daggers, with tone manifesting as the silken sheen of poison that could turn the blade into a weapon capable of dealing a much different sort of death.

Peering deeper, drawing closer. Seeing the full scope and scale of a soul makes it difficult to stay heated. Hatred is an ember that cools under the cascade of understanding. Information was far more difficult to process than an understanding of personality. As Savis Maren peered through the depths of Mauriel's soul, reaping from it memories and understanding, she'd come to know this soul. The daggers the nuit held so high, pikes on the high fences and cold gates of her soul were lowered, and the incessant questions that Mauriel asked even seemed to endear her to them. The tumblers fell one at a time, and eventually, those gates opened wide.

"If I was privy to such knowledge, I could be convinced," she teased the songbird. As the nuit brushed at the ambient djed within the Source, she found her tone grew softer. Her patience waxed, and even if the occasional scathing thought bubbled up at the fore of her thoughts, she expunged the urge to carry it upon her visage. There was plenty that the nuit needed doing, her attentions fixated on feeding the aspects of personality. This soul-construct wouldn't be capable of movement, and so, her directions for it were geared fully towards intellectual advancement. Savis Maren felt the barest signs of life form into the sparks of emotion. Within the Destination, she felt the pulse of a being. The Soulcore within hummed in her thoughts, and the nuit's compilation of personality began to suffuse the Persona. The knowledge funneled into the automaton, and Savis Maren felt the first vestiges of an evolving understanding.

Are the steps a bit more fluid than I imagined them to be? she asked herself. To Mauriel, Savis Maren would explain Animation in the steps she learned it from her first master... but for the nuit's own pursuits, she made the decision to probe into a methodology that suited her instincts.

All magic is mutable, changing. Understanding is fluid, and the mage shapes the governance of their knowledge to best coordinate with their inner nature, she mused.

"If and when we meet again, Mauriel, ask that first question again. Perhaps then, I'll have a more specific answer for you. First..." she trailed off, pointing to the Ethaefal within the Destination and the notebook in the Source,

"There are other matters to attend to. From my understanding, one could theoretically use a golem as a source. However, there are considerations to take when making decisions as to what to use. One could use a beast, but that beast's capacity for knowledge is limited to instinct. A beast could provide movements unique to their kind, but what else does it bring to the table? A sentient soul is by far the greatest gift to the process, and a sentient being with particular skills and knowledge instrumental to what the Animator needs is tantamount," she instructed Mauriel.

Then, Savis Maren continued her efforts, curious to hear that Mauriel possessed a weapon that she didn't carry around with her. In the nuit's experience, it was best to have a weapon around. The world was dark and cruel to those unprepared. The bitter irony was that Savis herself feared carrying a weapon as her undead condition might draw ire from the Shinya if paired with a blade. Then, she explained further, referring to a bloodthirsty nature and wondered what strange Animator might compel a weapon to speak and have thoughts of murder and death on its 'tongue'.

As Savis listened to Mauriel, she swept the information, molding it with the djed that carried the replicant personality. She combined the two within the Destination. A hum poured from the Nuit's lips, rising higher and higher in tone until she released the sound. While Savis Maren did not need to breathe, the gesture of the process brought her peace. She willed a second directive into being, stitching it deep within the budding psyche of the golem's burgeoning mind.

"Directive Number Two: Activation Trigger. The golem's senses will only awaken and heed the aforementioned Directive One if the keyword 'Canoch' is spoken.

Directive Number Three: The golem will utilize its knowledge of song if the text is centered on the page.

Savis Maren spoke the two directives as one, for the knowledge was woven deep into what she'd woven. Personality, judgment, intelligent design. Savis Maren sought to maximize the efficacy of her Directives, making them more specific and complicated.

"You needn't worry about being put out of business," the nuit informed Mauriel. A chuckle escaped her lips before she elaborated, "Making the same automatons over and over again doesn't hold my interest. The unique qualities of each Source embed into the very structure of a golem and doing the same processes over and over would make the individual automata less for the repetition."

[Mauriel]

A less careful listener might have missed it, a less trained ear perhaps wouldn't pick it up, but the tone of Savis' voice shifted slightly. She sounded light-hearted up until now too, but it was forced, it was a role she played. It was just the impression she wanted to leave. But now the hints of bitterness and impatience were gone, and her teasing was really sweet. Mauriel watched the silver eyes tracing something invisible to her, or perhaps nothing at all, while the Nuit performed her craft.

Nodding in agreement to Savis' quest to repeat her question when they meet again, certain that she would not forget this particular inquiry, Mauriel shifted around on the table, growing stiff from sitting right there. She was careful not to exit the circle with any part of her body, though unsure of whether she had to completely be in it. She was growing a bit tired, as spending the night closed down in a Library cut her off from moonlight she needed to rejuvenate. She would have to sleep later to make up for this. Not that any of this was unplanned, she purposefully went to the Library fully expecting to stay whole night, but growing stiff and groggy was still unpleasant.

She listened to Savis' reply about using a golem as a source. Somehow it surprised her that one could use a beast, though she did not know why, for it was in line with all of the knowledge she already possessed. It just didn't occur to her. So you could have a sort of an immortal golem pet of sorts? She thought she might enjoy such a creature's company, for traveling around the world as she planned to one day could get lonely, and a real pet would be difficult to take care of as she travels. Though she did have Ragespike, albeit he could hardly be considered pleasant company.

Further directives made perfect sense. Turning the abilities on and off was not a bad idea, as it enabled one to go through the notebook without every page being read out as it was touched.

"Well, that's a relief," Mauriel said jokingly.

[Savis Maren]

Savis Maren was, in all honesty, quite pleased with her progress. She had no way of accounting for the time in the midst of the Bharani Library, but with the darkness that still fell over Mizahar she knew that her progress was going smoothly. The Soulcore was created, embedded deep within the bound pages of the notebook. It hummed with the presence of life's seeming, pulsing faintly within the Destination as the Persona encircled it. The distinct layers of the soul were bare to Savis' scrutiny, and the Nuit looked between both Source and Destination and immediately caught sight of the similarities between the two.

The soul in the Source was vibrant with life, raw of experiences and new to the world. She held an exuberance about her, a whirling need for adventure and yet, a restraint born from fear. Savis Maren peered deeper still, invoking djed that poured from the depths of her soul. The power of the soul wound within the nuit's eyeballs, silver orbs blaring with life as she examined the progress the Destination made. Within the Destination, like a child within the womb, the entity stirred, unable to act or think as if in an eternal sleep. A simple word, spoken later on in the evening, would awaken the stripling from its slumber. And then, after that, Savis Maren wondered what might come of it.

"Persona. The archive of memories, recollections, and of course: personality. Emotions, to an Animator, are facets to the entire picture. If you ever try to engage in Animation, Mauriel, you won't know how to invoke these feelings. A construct made by the unskilled practitioner, as you previously asked, is fledgling. The barest flickers of thought, a non-existent personality. Simple and weak. Magic does not reveal its secrets easily. One needs to pursue it, they must defy their inhibitions and analyze the possibilities. Having a teacher is certainly a boon," she added, gesturing to herself. However, having a teacher was a means of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge did not translate to prowess when there were other barriers as well.

"But, a teacher cannot instruct you how to breach a soul within the Source. A student begins by using themselves as a Source. They crawl through a mind utterly familiar to them, delving into their own knowledge and their own understanding. In that pursuit, their creations are a mirror of themselves. Growing beyond relying on oneself as a Source, using beasts and mortals like, is a passage of understanding that one must bridge alone."

The nuit allowed her shoulders to sag as she willed the connection between the Twin Circles to cease. The Nuit looked at the circle, finding that the next step in the process required a bit of reinforcement in order to transpire as she hoped. Savis Maren looked to Mauriel, allowing a close-lipped smile to cast upon her visage as she said,

"Feel free to exit the circle for a moment. Stretch your legs, but don't stray too far. There's a modification I need to make to the Circle. A bit of Glyphing, something irrelevant to our basic instruction that delves deeper into the discipline," she cautioned the Ethaefal. Delving too deep, looking too high into the clouds was not in the business of an Animator. Savis remained grounded in her past pursuits, ambitions stretching now that she felt the force of her understanding give way to experimentation.

Using Glyphs is certainly a next step to take. But, what kind? she asked herself. But already, she knew the answer. Within the bound text of 'Source' she'd painted into the circle Mauriel sat within, she created a focus. Savis Maren poured into her djed, ceasing her bridge of connection with the Destination and instead willing her astral body to rise. Her right arm fell limp at her side as she lifted the astral from the physical. She reached out with that limb, catching her paint brush. She began to sear runes into the surface of the Source, now.

"Canoch. Djunn. Yaq. Canoch. Djunn."

Savis Maren inscribed Yaq as her focus, the motions of her astral-propelled brush sweeping and long. She closed each foci with a decidedly curt swing of the brush, dabbing the end into paint every one or two movements with the intent on keeping the ambient djed firmly within the circle. Canoch an Djuun augmented the primary focus of Yaq, all embossed within the Source with the intent of weaving greater quantities of djed with her ambient manipulations, once she started on the process again. The Persona remained incomplete, still requiring further direction before being fully formed. The aspects of personality wove within, the skills and knowledge that Mauriel possessed. Even language, but there was more needed. Merely possessing Mauriel's knowledge wasn't enough. The golem needed to know how to implement it.

[Savis Maren]

Savis Maren forged a barrier, utilizing Daeq. For Savis, the utilization of Daeq was more difficult, for the creation of a barrier required dozens of individual glyphs to combine together. The sigil came together after a full five chimes of effort, her astral limb propelling the brush forth until thick, black lines embedded into the stone table. Giving it another few chimes to dry, the Nuit then motioned over for Mauriel to take her place back inside of the circle. Satisfied with her efforts, she moved on to the line. Savis Maren utilized the practice of a second Daeq chain, slightly smaller than the circle itself, in order to trap the djed that manifested within and use it to her advantage. Once she completed the glyphs she wanted to proceed, Savis Maren willed her astral limb back into place, performing an attachment before turning her attention towards the luminous Mauriel.

"Come, Mauriel. We're nearly done," she told the Ethaefal, whose patience and understanding of the length required for this practice was commendable. Surely, the nuit held respect for the soul she'd tampered with for so long. Once one comes to truly understand someone... it's impossible to do anything but love them. Their motivations become apparent, their fears become obstacles to overcome rather than reasons to despise them. If only every soul could be known so well, understood so intently, the Nuit thought. When Mauriel stepped back into the Circle, Savis Maren poured another droplet of ichor onto the thick black cord of paint that connected the two circles.

Ready to begin, the nuit delved into her understanding of the Twin Circles. An unconscious shiver tore through her form, laughter pooling from her lips as she felt the surge of ambient djed. It gathered within the glyphs, rising from them before she willed djed to act within the confines of its respective circles. Pleasure seeped throughout her being as she began to work the knowledge she'd reaped from the Source, still welled within the Destination, with new information. The nuit chuckled at the irony of being unable to understand the knowledge mustered from the depths of the soul as she had the nature of that soul itself. She simply retrieved those memories, plucking them from the fore and replicated them, allowing djed to carry that knowledge over to the Destination.

This took more time than anything else. The utilization of knowledge, an understanding of tone and how to apply lyric. She reaped it from Mauriel's understanding, and bestowed upon the Destination a rhythm born into an artist's heart. Mauriel's heart. This golem certainly wouldn't be as intelligent or as curious as Mauriel. It wouldn't seek after adventure or lust for more than it had. Nor would it fear the unknown. Instead, it carried a laugh within its heart, void of the rest that burdened it. A simpler being, the golem Savis Maren sought to forge was one that loved song, loved to talk and be listened to. A songbird, she mused, a chuckle escaping her lips before she said,

"The final step in Animation is the creation of the final layer of the soul. The astral body is a necessary thing in order to create movements and allow the automaton a necessary understanding of how to proceed with its inborn knowledge. For this, we come to an understanding of how the throat moved. Vocal cords vibrate on command, working with the tongue to form discernible words. However, this book will not have a tongue of its own. Instead, it bears strings that will vibrate at the rhythm necessary to produce sounds, just like your throat would. Its words will sound like yours, its strings strummed like that of the lute you play," she added, yet another tidbit of knowledge she'd garnered from the woman. Savis Maren couldn't keep any of the understanding she'd derived from Mauriel, but at the very least she knew a great deal more about the Ethaefal. Enough to overcome the inherent hatred for what she was.

Who knew this was how this might end? she thought to herself, heckling her own lack of resolve. A weakness of the heart, born from a compassion that shouldn't exist. Savis Maren, as she spoke, crafted the astral body, a trifle considering the astral forms she'd needed to form in the past. The Nuit formed a 'throat' against the strings of the notebook, bestowing upon it the capacity to speak. Then, Savis invoked within it the capacity to turn its own pages, allowing it an understanding of how to work itself in a way that mortals would. Satisfied with the task at hand, Savis breathed aloud,

"Canoch."

The pages turned of their own accord, the book throwing itself open to its first page, unblemised and unmarked by anything.

"Would you write a song into it, Mauriel? You're more versed in this than I am. I'd very much like to see if the golem adapted its capacities correctly."

[Mauriel]

Mauriel listened about the struggles of putting the theoretical knowledge into practice when it comes to magic, and it intrigued her a lot. It was kind of like learning to play the lute. You could learn music theory all day, think about playing the lute, even study the motorics of doing so, but you'd still be really bad at it until you pick up the petching thing and practice. Not that knowledge would not help you and make it easier, but there was a kind of embodied understanding to it that you could not acquire theoretically. She thought that magic must be the same, except that instead of working your actual body towards understanding, you do it with your mind and soul. Perhaps more akin to mathematics, which Mauriel had some basic understanding of. But she supposed it to be rather more introspective, disciplines like Animation and Auristics at least. To come to understand properties of the soul must require immense self-knowledge. After all, how can you see something in another that you completely fail to understand in yourself? You would not even recognize the construct. "That makes sense," she said to acknowledge what Savis explained.

The Ethaefal was very happy to hear that she could get off the table for a bit, so much so that she only half-listened to the explanation why. By now, the ink forming the circles was all but dry, so she just slid off, paying it no mind, immediately proceeding to stretch her legs a bit. For all the enjoyment Mauriel could derive from a good book, she wasn't a scholar. Hers were the vibrant streets and taverns, the stories told there, and the knowledge organically passed down. That being said, her passion drove her into the library rather often, and she very much appreciated the efforts of her predecessors that allowed her to learn and grow through information she'd never have access to through her day to day life. But nonetheless, it felt somewhat unnatural. Like knowledge was willed from the fabric of time and preserved painfully, for her to acquire in much the same way, going out of her way to reach out for it. For all their flaws, humans learned to resist the ways in which other creatures were subject to this flow. All this made all of the knowledge lost to them quite a bit more tragic, for efforts of generations upon generations in defying this natural process were just wiped out, to be started anew.

While Savis worked, Mauriel went for a walk around the library. She made sure not to stray too far away from the undead, though it was rather tempting to walk out for at least a little while. However, they were near a window, and she was lucky enough for Leth to smile at her through it. She stood there, watching the skies silently, a lull of peace overwhelming her. Moonlight felt like a comfy blanket and a hot beverage after a nice meal in the Winter, it brought satiation, comfort, and joy. She was unsure how much of this was related to her Ethaefal physiology, and how much just her emotional reaction to being connected to Leth through the gentle rays.

It was a rather tiresome night for her. She immediately accepted when Savis told her that the further material was too complex for her, as she was struggling with what the Nuit considered basic as well. It all echoed in her head, djed, magic, personal, world, souls, soulcores, personae, astral bodies, sources, destinations, golems, auras... All the knowledge demanded integration from her, but there was too much to process within minutes she had for herself. Her mind would not grow silent, however, and she could not help reiterating concepts she had learned to herself and wondering of all of the various ways they may be connected in. Savis seemed to have covered most things she thought of, except those she insisted they leave for their next meeting.

Not long after she heard Savis calling out for her from behind a shelf that separated them from the window, and she hesitantly obliged. Leth was already getting meeker in anticipation of His lover's embrace, and just standing there was not of too much use, she'd have to sleep either way. When she went back over to the table, looking at all of the added inscriptions, Mauriel thought it'd be almost impossible not to end up with ink on her dress, and she could not afford such an expense. She had half a mind to just take it off, since the library was half-empty, but she opted for raising it up, and climbing on the chair and then the table, still standing up. The structure was rather heavy and sturdy, and while she wasn't exactly small, she was rather lean and light for her size. Either way, a disaster that would cause Savis to kill her didn't happen, so she kept standing on the table. "Do you mind me being like this? I don't want to ruin the dress," she said.

For sure she ended up being rather uncomfortable because of what she decided to do, but she shifted her weight, patiently waiting for the mage to finish. She might not have been the epitome of patience otherwise, but magic was so surreal and amazing to her that she respected that the process must have been difficult and thorough. On top of that, what she learned today made her certain that Animation was especially so. She did not want to disturb Savis with incessant whining or asking when it would be over, for she was sure the woman was breaking concentration quite enough just to explain what she was doing.

"Is your astral body how you move things without touching them?" While tiresome, it became somewhat satisfying connecting all the dots, and coming to understand more and more of this encounter. Unanswered questions had a way of gnawing at one's mind, like a little child seeking attention.

"Canoch," the Nuit said. And before Mauriel's very eyes, the book turned itself open, awaiting the bard's input. She nodded at the request made of her, stepping off the table the same way she climbed it, while holding the skirt of her dress up. She took her own pen from her bag, but used Savis' ink since it was still on the table.

What to write? She took a few moments while her mind settled on a song.

There once was a lass in a wee purple frock
Who wouldn't have minded a friend

The verve of this lass was rare and fierce
And kids made fun o' her zeal
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
And they made fun o' her zeal

They talked and talked and talked and talked
'Til she became unable to feel

Her blood had boiled, her heart had swerved
For she too had a story to tell

Trenches she dug, bridges burned
And never went out of her cell

Her frock grew yellow then red
Her lips quiet and pale

Her skin thick and rough and hard
Her body stubby and frail

She would have died if she kept at that
For she too had a story to tell

It was something Mauriel was still working on. The song ended quite abruptly, as she was fond of its open ending with optimistic implications, but it nonetheless lacked a proper denouement. She struggled to write it a bit, for she wasn't a calligrapher of any stripe, and struggled to estimate the space for each row in order to keep the song centered so the notebook following a directive would interpret it properly. Her rows wiggled left and right on the page, especially near the beginning of the song, before she developed a bit of a feel for it. As she wrote, she changed a word or two realizing some parts really ruined the rhythm of the piece.

She wondered why she went with this instead of some tried and true tavern song. She never performed this, and didn't really intend to, not for most audiences. It was something close to her heart, and something she felt Savis could maybe appreciate this. Either way, she was offered a piece of paper, and she wrote what her gut told her to, and while there was slight unease in her stomach as she thought of this being heard, she didn't regret it.

She dried the ink, sighing over blotches of it left around certain letters where she was being clumsy. She hurried a bit, admittedly. She found a piece of paper they cleared off the table earlier and set her pen to dry on it, not having anything to clean it with on hand. The Ethaefal thought that it'd be weird having a notebook sing right there in the library, but the place was rather empty, and these thread-based strings couldn't be too loud in her mind either way. She gently pressed her fingers to the left side of the page, activating the directive Savis read out earlier. There was a bit of noise with the threads trying to move under the notebook's weight, so Mauriel lifted it up off the table, taking care not to close it while the ink still wasn't dry, but turning it over so she could see the "strings" moving.

It was a really strange experience. She heard her voice singing out, exactly in the way she intended this song to be sung, with the precise intonation and accents she would use. And yet, it was not her own voice. It didn't sound like what she heard herself as, its vocal range seemed rather wider... It was pretty awkward to listen to. She wanted to interrupt it to ask Savis whether this is what she sounded like to her, but she stayed silent, letting the Animator listen to the song until the end. Obviously very excited, she frowned and goggled at the notebook. It didn't sound bad, that wasn't it. But it was still somehow embarrassing, even although it was a pretty nice "performance" of its own kind. She gave a few moments for the experience to sink in after the song ended, before finally posing her question. "Do I sound like this to you? I don't sound like this to myself." She sung out the first two verses to demonstrate.

[Savis Maren]

Mystique and ignorance are the towering peaks that make the understanding of djed difficult for the masses to navigate. Mages only perpetuate this difficulty by making magic difficult to learn, by separating themselves with an invisible barrier in their ivory towers while the rest of the world recoils in fear.

Savis Maren, at least with those she found useful to her craft or useful as an ally, reacted the same way. Magic was power, and obviously, power was not meant to be handed out so casually. However, to those who deserved an understanding, the Nuit sought to assuage doubt and liberate them from the ignorance that the majority of souls possessed. As the nuit explained more and more, she realized that Mauriel was coming back with less questions, less need for further elaboration as Savis sought to close the gaps. It was truly rewarding to see this Ethaefal come to the nuit in fear, panic from the sight of her and the powers she had... to turn into this.

Now? Mauriel returned to her of her own accord. Now she asked questions of preference and then logical musings rather than a desperate need for further elaboration. Mauriel, while unpracticed, unsure and unaware of the higher potentials of magic, at the very least possessed an understanding. The nuit shook her head as she continued her work, more than happy to allow the Ethaefal her position. After all, Savis could understand the desire to keep a dress in pristine condition. Vanity was the force that propelled the Nuit into a higher understanding, and the force that welled an eternal hunger for more, deep within her chest.

"Is your astral body how you move things without touching them?" Mauriel's understanding drew full circle, from the explanation of personal magic to the understanding of djed and the layers of the soul. Savis Maren allowed laughter to escape her lips, and she raised her head for those silver eyes to catch Mauriel's gaze. The Ethaefal might even see amusement gathered in the close-lipped smile and brightened silvery hue of her eyes.

"The powers available to a practitioner of personal magic vary tremendously, Mauriel. Some can expel the elements from their fingertips. Others can open rifts to an unknown and hostile world. Others still can erect powerful barriers to protect themselves and their loved ones. My own personal magicks provide me with interactions with the soul. Aura," she answered at last, clarifying her position that she'd so playfully eluded.

"Is familiar to me. The auras of others and the inanimate objects of the world. The astral body is a powerful asset, as well. It expands, stretches beyond its physical shell if one is inclined to know how to do so.

Canoch."

When the book opened, Savis recommended for Mauriel to write and certainly, the Ethaefal did. She took her time in her considerations, dipping her pen into the nuit's ink before at last putting pen to paper. The clever girl even remembered the nuit's directives, keeping the text centered on the page with thin lines of unpractised writing. The nuit herself was no calligrapher either, and Mauriel was using paint as ink, which made it somewhat more unwieldy to use. However, her attempts were recognized by the book, and once Mauriel placed her fingers against the left corner of the page, the book immediately began to sing. The muffled strings struggled against the table's surface, and the nuit recognized the need immediately to keep the tome propped against a surface if she wanted to use its abilities.

A podium, perhaps? Or a strip of wood propped against the binding? Turning it upside down might work for now, but it won't provide a satisfactory solution, she mused. It was always a battle of wits to consider how best to apply the directives and what situations might best complement the use of a golem. But, Savis Maren was quite pleased to hear Mauriel's voice ring throughout the library, even when the Ethaefal was stunned into silence by its manifestation. The song wasn't incredibly loud, and carried with it hints of the differing movements involved in its creation. That close-lipped smile of before submitted itself to widening, blackened lips parted in mirth as she listened to the end results of her magic. Then, the book seemed to respond to Mauriel's voice of its own accord, before Savis Maren could answer.

"Hmmm? I sound even better, little miss Dazzling!" it responded with a quick laugh to follow it up. The pages ruffled with its indignance as the tome spoke yet again.

"I have such ugly text on my page, now. Savis, why'd you let her write on my first page?" the tome asked, its tone quite haughty and clearly very offended. Savis was stunned. She'd not yet attempted to imbue so much of a personality into any of her creations, and she doubted that she would any time soon. A mixture of amusement and utter shock cascaded upon her features before she closed the book and it fell limp on the table.

"Uh... it did sound quite a lot like you, Mauriel... It wouldn't sound like anyone else," she answered, quite flustered by the events. Her graying, bloodless cheeks did not show it, but Savis Maren was also very pleased with that she'd created.

[Mauriel]

As she got her answer, Mauriel thought that magic did not sound so bad as she once thought. She tried to look back at what she was actually so afraid of, and there was nothing in particular. It was just one huge unknown, and she was afraid for the unknown may hide anything. While she still felt incompetent and perhaps not sane enough to practice it herself, she also felt excitement about what such a practice would carry with it, as well as a modicum of understanding of the underlying principles. She did not quite grasp the nature of djed, but it was certainly clear enough to demistify a lot of this for her. There was still a lot of adjusting of her outlook that she had to do, for she was afraid that now the pendulum has swung too far the other way and she was being a bit naive and behaving risky, but the fact that everything turned out so well reassured her.

The Ethaefal laughed along with the book, bewildered surprise in her eyes. As it continued to speak, she laughed more and more. Was this really how she could come off? She thought to reassure the tome, but gasping for air to speak a couple of times, she just burst into a new wave of laugher every time.

[Mauriel]

12th of Fall, 518 AV

And as the Ethaefal laughed, Syna's rays finally replaced Leth's fully, and her celestial qualities faded with Him. The pale gold of her hair melted away along with the honey of her horns, and from their light emerged a new face. Hollow cheeks, pine cone colored unruly hair, and a pointy nose. She sunk down on her big seal tail, immediately dragging herself to the side to avoid damaging her shoes that ended up trapped under her weight. She usually takes them off, but she got carried away now and forgot. The rest of her clothes remained intact throughout the transition, as they've been designed to accommodate it. Giant colorful butterfly wings sprouted right through the slit on her dress, which might have appeared decorative and somewhat provocative in her Ethaefal form.

She immediately realized Savis was likely not aware of Akvatari, if she was at all aware of Ethaefal transitioning. Her morning form would probably come as a surprise to the undead even if she knew all that, so Mauriel was immediately interested to see the reaction. There was some enjoyment in shocking people, and it was certainly better than disappointing them. She was happy that her mortal seeming was such an exotic race, because it was otherwise rather bland and would invite disappointment rather than shock or curiosity. At least she saw it that way.