Completed Three Winds to the Sheet

[Kuvarakh]

Fall 30th, 512

The cart stopped outside the shop. It had bundles of what looked like cloth stacked on the bed. Kuvarakh sighed, imagining days of conditioning cloth to sparkle or change colors or smell like flowers, despite the problems with bees. Or to possess the durability of hardened leather for robed combatants in battle.

"What's a six-letter word for 'what is done with a dozen 50 lb. bundles of sailcloth stacked on a cart'?" Wanda called cheerily from her desk, nipping absentmindedly at the end of her pencil as she pondered the half finished word puzzle before her.

Kuvarakh sighed a second time, broken only by a slight chuckle, "U-N-L-O-A-D" he responded, heading to the door to hook it open and begin bringing the bundles into Alchemmia Alchae, where he worked. 'Sailcloth?' he thought to himself, 'this could be interesting after all.' By the time he was done, Wanda had already sliced the twine on the first bundle and had unfurled the long, narrow sheets to lay them flat, full length on the floor. She was studying them as Kuvarakh came back into the room.

"Yes...long narrow strips of canvas. You look like you were expecting it to be something else. I don't imagine sails are ever all one big sheet." he looked over at Wanda, who looked off into the distance. He recognized that look. She was trying to anticipate what complications would arise before they did. He waited a few more moments. "What are you thinking? Materials? Cost estimate? Lead time?"

Wanda swung her hand up to silence him. She paused a few moments more and made a face. "No...to be honest, I'm thinking 'process'. This material may all end up just being for testing." Then she smiled as Kuvarakh's jaw dropped.

"Process? Testing? You mean we get to do something you've never done before?" Now he was getting eager. So little of what they did was truly original. He looked at her directly, eyebrows raised, hands gesturing slightly to coax more information without asking.

"We are going to do something YOU mentioned when you first interviewed for your job." She eyed him shrewdly as she waited to see if HE could remember. He ran through his vague recall of all the rhetoric and pep talk optimism about irreplaceable uses for alchemy in a city of illusion that he had spouted to bolster Wanda's spirits last spring. Though the exact example didn't come immediately to mind, he was still greatly warmed to see Wanda's steadily growing enthusiasm for her work.

Then suddenly it hit him. "Sails that fill themselves with wind in a calm! Is that what we're going to make?" his excitement soared at the thought. This would require combinations of magic to achieve!

"I can do the glyphing, but do you think you can find an air reimancer among your order?"

[Kuvarakh]

Having learned how easily a ghost could possess him when engaged in his 'awareness-separation' meditation, he concentrated on sensing every part of his body when the ghost popped up in front of him and tried to sink inside him. Throwing himself in the water made it easy to be aware of his entire body, but the hollow laughter that followed him made it feel less like a victory and more like a prank. But it was all forgotten by the time he reached The Order's HQ building.

He slipped through the reception area quickly, before anyone accosted him with requests or demands, and hurried past the 'World' labs to get to the multi-purpose areas. These were non-specialized areas where a variety of disciplines were pursued. The Mage-crafting and Alchemy labs were not conducive to other fields, except perhaps Malediction. The larger, multi-purpose zone was not outfitted with any particular equipment. It was for hypnotism, reimancy, shielding and other studies not requiring specialized gear, mostly personal magics.

He found who he was looking for, two of the new reimancing recruits that possessed air control. There were other reimancers, of course, but these two used air, AND in a secondary capacity. Kuvarakh had figured it a more beneficial task to help new recruits develop their weaker elements. He hoped the sooner they strengthened these skills, the sooner they could discover the 'para-elements' that came from modifying the elements they controlled. He figured the sooner they got their secondary skills near primary level, the sooner they would learn to blend them.

He stepped in front of the ruddy-skinned, mop-haired half-Chaktawe, Eadfrid, and pulled him aside as he waved to the Kelvic woman, Alea. He tried not to let his eyes roam from the lean, angular face, framed by feathery black hair, to the lithe, leather clad body as she walked over.

When they were both before him, he outlined his offer. One to two weeks, depending on the rate of success, assisting him at his shop. They would be applying air reimancy effects to the chargers he and his boss would be using in a new alchemy application. He would pay them assistant rates, 3gm per day, for each day they contributed to the effort, with a guarantee of 30gm minimum.

"I managed to relegate practice area scheduling out of my - well - Eridanus' office, so I don't know if you have time available. But if you do, we can start first thing in the morning. What do you think? Are you guys free?"

[Alea Campbello]

Alea had been messing about when she was called over. She stood and listened to what Kuvarakh had to say and then stood still for a minute pondering. "Fine, I'm in, but I will be leaving in 20 or 30 days so I can't stay longer than that" she said, running her hand through her hair. She then turned to the man beside him. There was something different about him, but she couldn't tell. She had seen him around and Kuvarakh had mentioned him in her interview. She turned back Kuvarakh. "Now that you mention it, I have been practicing Air Reimancy, wanna see" she said.

But before he could even answer, she began expelling Res from her body and then coated it over both of her hands. She then proceeded to do a handstand, perfectly balancing because of her bird-like qualities. Then, she jumped up, at the same time turning the res into air. She went shooting up into the air and then began to dive bomb back down to the earth. She saw many scared faces and laughed. Then, at the last moment, she turned into a bird and swooped up and perched the shoulder of Kuvarakh. She jumped off his shoulder and turned back into a human. "Bit of a show off, aren't I"

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh would have probably been fighting a grin while trying to deliver a stern reminder about in-house safety, but upon mention of her departure, he had only been halfway paying attention. "What? oh, yes, very acrobatic...You're leaving?...Is something wrong?"

He had been worried that he might be stifling creativity somewhat in his interim boss capacity. He didn't want to make an allowance that might have some backlash and earn him Eridanus' disapproval. But lately he was thinking that his stalling and overly self-conscious determination to see that every facet of protocol was observed to the letter, may have strangled the very exploratory nature The Order was trying to encourage.

"I hope you're not dissatisfied with the facilities or...my...um...the level of safety I've been imposing on everyone." he stammered, not giving her a chance to answer his original question.

It occurred to him that it was the fact of being in charge that was making him so cautious. At the shop, where he took orders from Wanda, and she set the boundaries, he was always wanting to try new things, always willing to dare repercussions in exchange for discovery. Here, he was responsible for everything and everyone, and it was impossible to monitor it all, so he had been "generous" with safety lectures and reminders.

"Oh...uh...no, it shouldn't take that long. I'm afraid it won't be anything terribly adventurous. We'll just need you to switch off maintaining an air current on one or two items while they are worked alchemically. OR, it may be that we'll have both of you performing simultaneously. I expect Wanda will have some means of providing wind so you can use "elemental attraction" rather than pure reimancy. You should be able to maintain it longer that way. We'll probably do two sessions a day."

[Eadfrid]

Eadfrid couldn't help but laugh a little at the Kelvic's entertaining little display. It was certainly a little bit of fun in this meeting. Having heard that this Kelvic was a Reimancer as well, that intrigued him a little more. But it was the potential job that interested him more. A chance to expand his skills AND get that all-important job he was looking for. "I'm in too." he said, brushing a little bit of hair out of his dark eyes. "You have no idea how thankful I am to you for this job, Kuvarakh."

[Alea Campbello]

Alea was shocked at the Nuits response. "No!" she exclaimed quickly "I just want to see the world, I won't be far away, and as it is coming close to winter, I need to fly soon" She said, hoping he wouldn't be offended "I will be close, so if you need me just send a letter"

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh was relieved. Not just because Alea was not leaving due to some mismanagement on his part, but also because both she AND Eadfrid were available. That would greatly increase the likelihood and degree of success.

Results would probably be "acceptable" with only one, since they'd only be having to "attract" the element, rather than generating it. But it would still tire them out before a truly thorough level of acceleration could be achieved. He would be embarrassed to provide Wanda with less than the utmost support from The Order. It would be better to have her think them too busy with their own agendas than to imply a shrug and a token gesture.

"No need to thank me. Rather, I thank you. Anything new I can accomplish at the shop is new knowledge for The Order." He was about to state that the opposite was also true, but, in truth, it wasn't. Any new ground he personally broke, he would consider sharing with her. But he didn't feel entitled to do that with others' discoveries. It was primarily the fact that she had asked him to involve The Order that made the difference.

He turned his relieved expression to Alea, "I'm glad to hear it. Of course, if you learn any new paths of djed-craft, by all means, bring them back with you...I...uh...assume you mean to return sometime?" He considered the possibility that the question may put her on the spot. He didn't want to be pushy, so he left it off as a rhetorical question and turned to include them both in his gaze. "So can you arrive at Alchemmia Alchae first thing tomorrow?"

[Eadfrid]

"As long as I get up early to do so." Eadfrid said. "The journey would be much quicker if I could turn into a bird. But alas, the Kelvics' secrets elude me. I envy you sometimes." he added to Alea. The few times he had met a Kelvic, he had been entranced by their shape-changing power. It was a truly unique gift that he wished to know more about. Perhaps some time living among Kelvics would accomplish that. That was another thought, for another time.

[Kuvarakh]

"Excellent!" Kuvarakh beamed, clapping his hands once and rubbing his palms together in anticipation. "I will see you tomorrow morning then. I guess whichever one of you gets there first will be the first to begin. I'm not sure if it will be immediately though, I can't honestly say what preparations Wanda will be making. There may even be some initial transmutation to do first."

He did not doubt that there would be several stages of transmutation to perform. It would be up to Wanda to plan the order. She would naturally encourage his input, but she would decide what patterns of properties to overlay in what order, which natures to compound with which. She had clearly anticipated some trial and error, given her remark about the whole shipment 'may all end up just being for testing'.

He looked forward to morning now like rarely before. This was what it was all about. To create an effect for the first time. he supposed this may have been done by someone else, someplace else. But it was the first time for him and he had no precedent to fall back on. It was completely original as far as he was concerned. He ran through, in his mind, how HE would expect to accomplish it. He could not deny his curiosity as to how close his approach would be to Wanda's. Only morning would tell.

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh arrived earlier than expected, his trip in somehow eluding ghosts almost entirely. He hadn't even been trying! He entertained himself with the thought that his eagerness to arrive, his enthusiasm, was driving them away from him. He knew intellectually that it was preposterous, but it fit his mood.

His high-spirited mood sagged somewhat when he saw Wanda. She scowled and paced around the ring. it was already set with 2 pairs of simple, identical constructs. Each a plain wooden frame, 18 inches square. The two frames in the charger founts enclosed cut squares of sailcloth, glued and nailed into place. The two in the filter founts were empty, though they too had glue spread within, and nails pounded through.

"Hmmm...I would have thought three on one would work." he puzzled, referring to the ratio of charging to filtering items. "I've seen many transmutations where the filtering item was much smaller than the charger, but still fully eliminated the undesired property."

"I tried it already." she said sourly, tossing him a square of canvas that was as stiff as wood, cold as metal and smelled like glue. She sighed, "It should have occurred to me. It isn't the size of the charging or filtering item, it's the reinforcement of the properties through redundant founts."

He had heard of that theory. Charger to filter equalization disregarded size. But doubling up the djed nature of a transmutation by filling two founts with the same properties doubled its potency and necessitated doubling up the filter as well. "So you did this activation just to test that out?"

"Certainly. I want you doing the first round activations anyway. I don't think you're quite ready for three chargers. But I have confidence you can handle two. Even though three on one has the same number of total founts as two on two, the imbalance makes it tough. You are very quick with your transmutations, which should help your friends maintain the airflow for the duration...." she looked past him, towards the front door, her brow furrowing. "By the way, where are they?"

"They'll be here, don't worry." He allowed a measure of teasing sarcasm in his voice. "Not everyone considers the workday to start two bells before they go to sleep at night."

Wanda returned the sarcasm with an imperious air. "The workday starts when I arrive. Besides, they ARE friends of yours. So the likelihood of their being reliable is a longshot at best, anyway. If they show up at all, they'll undoubtedly be a credit to your social circles."