Closed [Gug Andjak]Shine a Light[Annalisa Marin]

[Clyde Sullins]

“Very well, best to get started sooner rather than later. I seemed to have wasted a good deal of time, my apologies.” Clyde smiled at Anna for a moment, and then turned back to the task at hand. He would not argue with her on the point, since after all it had been his own idea to set things in motion, but he also would not be overly critical. Particularly since she had acceded to his suggestion of beginning the work. As he prepared his Auristical sight and neared the pedestal himself, he watched Anna pick out her hammers, and finally approach the item to be enchanted. As Anna brought down the hammer in the first strike, his Auristical vision shifted, focusing in on the item she was striking along with the hammer. As he looked at the two he saw a surge of power, of djed, saw it moving outward from the hammer and being thrust into the gem. In the background he heard the sound echoing, pulsing against him faintly in synch with the rise and fall of the wave of djed rushing into the gem cube. Before the first note could fall, before the first wave of djed could crash, the second strike was made, and then the third. Each new insertion of djed added to the maelstrom, added tot he fusion of djed and item. Imperceptibly the item was being rewritten like a story on a piece of parchment. It was both deepening and expanding, slowly altering. As Anna hesitated, he saw that she wanted him to direct her, and so he did, teaching her by leading her by the hand as a person would lead a blind man through a series of obstacles. Clyde could see the notes of the djed before him, could see how they interacted and what they needed to mesh and build properly. “Alright, next strike, move your hand an inch to the left, bend your wrist a quarter turn to the right, and strike with a downward motion. Reposition... Almost got it... Strike on the right face of the cube as you now stand, near the upper corner where it meets the top face, right in the middle. Strike at it in a upward motion sweeping up.” Clyde would lead Anna threw a few more directed strikes, giving her turn by turn instructions to properly infuse the djed. Once they were done for the moment and had come to a natural lull, Anna asked him another question. “So, Clyde, I spoke to an old friend of mine recently. Her name is Elaine Spade, a friend of yours she seemed to indicate. Have you an interest in ghosts then?” As he thought about how to answer, Clyde headed back to the pedestal, taking from Anna any of the discharged hammers she still held, putting them away, and picking up a new one for himself, one of the tiniest hammers left. Talking in a rather distracted manner, as if he was discussing the weather or a odd pattern of cracking on the wall, Clyde spoke while looking at the gem cube. “Elaine? How do you know her? We met awhile back, and I suppose she has taken to me rather closely. I've been a spiritist for awhile, ever since I was possessed by a Valteric ghost, back when I didn't recall being a mage... Anyways, I suppose after that I became interested in ghosts and in interacting with them. An odd initiation into Spiritism I suppose...” Clyde paused for a moment, holding up the hammer, gazing at the cube, seeing something with his ears that did not quite sit right... “Anyways, she followed me to Sahova, and is haunting me. Or however she puts it, I can't recall what she called what she is doing. But that's the effect more or less. Anyways, whats you interest in ghosts then, and how do you know Elaine?” Clyde had an odd knack for telling the truth, but managing to give just enough information so that the story seemed crazy, or perhaps simply as if it was made up or a lie. In fact it was true, but large portions of it would seem fanciful or confusing. Perhaps this was on purpose, or perhaps it was simply a natural effect of Clyde telling a story. Pausing for a moment, Clyde held his hammer a inch above the cube, and focused on a blaze of light, and then quickly made two strikes, and then after a few moments pause a third. The three notes rose into a single peal, meshing and fusing with the earlier strikes of Anna. The earliest notes of a song formed in Clyde's ears, ringing with a note of rightness. “Mmm... You might want to get some more hammers.”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna was pleased to find Clyde offering her some direction in where to tap the hammer, her strikes moving to mirror where she was directed to place the hammer down. This in turn increased her confidence in her actions, the strikes being much more sure and prepared. She was still painfully new at the process of Magecrafting, but the dark haired woman was making some progress with Clyde’s guidance. She could feel the pulses of Djed as they shaped the new item, teasing at her own Djed. All Wizards possessed a feeling towards magic, able to recognize it to some degree though it was vague.

The sorceress tapped at the stone, the finer points of the process still very much unknown to her without the ability to look upon the Aura of the object she worked upon. Fortunately Clyde was there to lead her by the hand and strangely enough she trusted him enough in this to let him. Not out of a foolish sort of trust, but more a professional sort that two colleagues might share. He knew his arts extremely well as Anna knew herself, if it would help her to better learn this art then she would trust in his knowledge. Each tap was reinforcing how very precise one had to be in Magecraft, it was not something for a sloppy minded person.

“Elaine and I met in Zeltiva. Believe it or not I used to be a professor there. I taught basic Glyphing for a time at the University before I left for here after a former pupil of mine told me of this place. She used to Apprentice here. Anyway, Elaine was working in the Library and I had recently been introduced to Spiritism so she taught me a bit about ghosts and I’ve been dabbling in it on and off ever since.” Anna said, shrugging slightly as she watched Clyde use his own hammer.

“Wait. What do you mean, back when you didn’t recall being a mage? How does one simply forget they can use magic? Seems rather… implausible.” Anna inquired, lifting an eyebrow as Clyde corrected this or that strike.

The sorceress then took the spent hammers and returned to where the set was located, placing the hammers back in their places. Next she gripped one about the size of a forge hammer, hefting it slightly before selecting the smallest one in the row. It was a tiny thing though Anna was beginning to suspect that mattered very little as opposed to the intent in which they were employed with. With that she stepped back over to the pedestal and offered Clyde the larger of the two hammers before moving to the other side of the pedestal with her suitably smaller one. She made no motions towards the crystal, waiting for Clyde to point out the spots where she should strike first.

“As for my own interest in spiritism, again, it’s more a passing fancy than anything else. I would rather like to be able to defend myself in the event of unwanted possession though. Elaine assisted me there, though I’ll admit I still know less than I would like regarding the nature of ghosts.” The tall woman explained more fully, opting not to mention her research involving ghosts and Voiding.

[Clyde Sullins]

At the moment, Anna's Magecrafting was more that of following orders. But with enough time spent in the physical actions, she would likely gain a feel for it, and come to understand the subtle nuances that allowed Clyde to know where and how to strike. Part of this was his skill in Auristics, but part was simply a natural growth of his skill in Magecrafting, of understanding the item and knowing what it needed next. Of course, since he had been a Aurist almost as long as he'd been a Magecrafter, Clyde was not totally certain which aspects of these senses came from his Auristical examination of the items, and which came simply from his innate Magecrafting skills. However he knew that over time in his training of her he would give less and less direction, to the point where he would only correct mistakes, to finally letting her do things on her own. But she was no where near there yet. “Elaine and I met in Zeltiva. Believe it or not I used to be a professor there. I taught basic Glyphing for a time at the University before I left for here after a former pupil of mine told me of this place. She used to Apprentice here. Anyway, Elaine was working in the Library and I had recently been introduced to Spiritism so she taught me a bit about ghosts and I’ve been dabbling in it on and off ever since.” Clyde was interested to hear that Anna had once been a instructor from her. He'd heard it once before from another, but he was fairly certain this was the first time he'd heard it from her. Of course, he had also once been a Glyphing instructor in Zeltiva, and by the words of the head of magic there a far more powerful one than her. But then, he'd known for some time that he was a better Glypher. “Wait. What do you mean, back when you didn’t recall being a mage? How does one simply forget they can use magic? Seems rather… implausible.” This of course was harder to answer, and in response Clyde grinned at Anna, and shook his head. “Mmmm... Its a long story... Suffice to say I've had a interesting past. But at the time I met the Valteric I'd had my belief that magic existed taken away. I didn't get it returned till later. Its not a common occurrence, and not something that easily happens, but you'd be surprised what djed can do when it is set to the task.” As they worked the two took turns, Clyde striking a few times, feeling out with his Aura to see the impulses of djed and sound, to see how it was instilling into the item during the enchanting. When it was Anna's turn he would aid her in small modifications to her strikes, sometimes calling out specific strikes, sometimes slightly altering her plotted course. “As for my own interest in spiritism, again, it’s more a passing fancy than anything else. I would rather like to be able to defend myself in the event of unwanted possession though. Elaine assisted me there, though I’ll admit I still know less than I would like regarding the nature of ghosts.” Clyde nodded. Her reasoning was good enough, and it was in part why he had learned spiritism. For defensive purposes. But then he'd also met some interesting ghosts, and so that played a part. “Alright, so make sure to focus on the intent, on making the effect instilled into the stone stronger. The opalgloam adds glow, the behavioral step enhances that glowing quality added, making it do so brighter. We'll work through today, and on to tomorrow, and then prep it for cooling. It'll be much quicker than the last time.” Feeling out with his Auristical senses, he brushed his mind against the edge of the item, feeling its contours and essence, along with the essence of the opalgloam instilled into it. He could slowly see the deepening of the Aura, of the items soul, as the djed was fed into it and strengthened it. Clyde aimed a strike at the side, tilted his hand and struck more quickly but with the same force on the other side, focusing still on the thought of brightness, of a strong light shining forth from the finished item. Once he was done he'd take the spent hammers, and return with a pair of fresh ones, for the next round. They'd do at least one more round of hammers today.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna arched a single brow at Clyde’s somewhat vague response to the question before shrugging it off. It was possible he simply did not wish to speak of it, or that he himself had no idea exactly what had happened to him. Judging from the brief description though Anna was beginning to suspect that Clyde might have been a victim of hypnotism, the same form that had been inflicted upon her seasons ago. She had gotten her memories tampered with, suppressed to the degree where she had forgotten certain events and times in her life. Even now she occasionally had brief lapses in memory, forgetting small things here and there.

The tall woman shook her head and instead returned her attention towards striking as directed, her taps confident and her focus upon the intent firm. She was starting to see a barely discernable pattern in where she was told to strike, a sort of harmony to a song foreign to her. It was a vague notice, nothing that could allow her to do this on her own. In fact she was quite relieved that she had not followed her desires to try to craft something on her own, likely she would have floundered in the attempt.

It became something of a cycle, she would strike as directed and Clyde would then make his own alterations. It was an easy thing to fall into, her mind becoming absorbed in the process as it normally did in the arts of magic. She wondered what it looked like to Clyde when he looked upon the world with Auristics, what kind of secrets were revealed to his eyes regarding the object. Anna stepped in after Clyde finished his next corrections and tapped once upon the side and again on the opposite side, each one causing the hairs on her neck to stand up as Djed pulsed from the object. She focused upon a bright shining light in the darkness, visualizing it growing brighter in her mind’s eye.

The process was never exactly monotonous but rather it fell into a rhythm, one that they would need to continue through today and then again tomorrow. Fortunately she had no other duties to attend to for those two days, her schedule today and tomorrow allowing for her to participate in the crafting. Anna wondered briefly why Clyde had called her today; likely he could have finished it easily enough on his own with his skill. Did he just put value in having an assistant on hand? Soon enough they had finished with this round of hammers and Clyde placed them aside and returned with a fresh pair.

Anna hefted the larger hammer, getting a feel for its weight and the force necessary behind it to have a good effect. She had a slight smile upon her face, clearly enjoying herself in this endeavor. It was much the same experience she got from Glyphing, creating something with her own two hands. Not just anything either, but something that was normally beyond the realm of possibility.

“Cooling? I’m assuming that is how one finalizes a Magecrafted product then?” Anna inquired briefly as she worked.

As before she’d work from dictation offered from Clyde, stepping back slightly when Clyde himself was making his own alterations. She focused upon the purpose of the Opalgloom, making the stone glow brighter and brighter. A miniature sun, a light to cast away the shadows of any dark room. Her hammer strokes were more confident now that she was working off of guidance, though one or two did naturally fall slightly from their marks. Still, with Clyde there the mistakes were corrected easily enough.

[Clyde Sullins]

As always Clyde could see the notes of sound rippling off of the item being enchanted, could see the waves as they echoed and reverberated, deepening and becoming almost alive in its actions. Eventually they would soak in properly, and fade out, but it was a constant struggle, a constant series of taps and hammering and counteractions. He had to make corrections for the slight deviations Anna made, had to direct and control the flow of djed, while at the same time keeping it all in harmony, flowing to a cohesive song that resonated at a deep level with the item and its need. He could not let the notes clash, nor could he let the song in its total nor the path to completing it be damaged. Clyde made another strike, canting his hand just so, in order to push the flow of djed in a certain pathway. This would counteract the small disharmony Anna had pushed into the system with her last strike. It had been almost right, but it needed a small nudge to become just right, or else eventually the wonkiness of it would have grown and become a problem. Perhaps not on this crafting, as it was only a MC 1 item, but if it had been a stronger enchantment then perhaps then. “Don't forget, the force of the strike is not important, instead the action itself is, the contact and the intent placed upon it. Technically even the lightest of touches could do.” Clyde made this clear by taking a small hammer, and tapping so lightly that it almost appeared as if he had not actually touched the stone. If it wasn't for the high tonal ringing in his mind in response to the contact, he might have thought so. Often though in magic the subtler uses where the stronger ones, not the overly flashy and dramatic. As they worked and Clyde spoke, Anna had another question in response to something he had said. “Cooling? I’m assuming that is how one finalizes a Magecrafted product then?” Clyde let out a sigh, at Anna once more going onward with things he planned to explain later. Part of it was simply his way of teaching, that he would explain the relevant thing when it came up. But Anna always seemed to want to know now, when she had more important things to focus on. Since they would not get to it till tomorrow, it was not really relevant to their current work. But once again he found Anna was not satisfied with his methods, and was once again pushing for more information now. “Yes, just like when you are blacksmithing, how you cool off an item when you are done, with an enchantment you must cool off the item to solidify the enchantment. However in Magecrafting, this is a final action, one not to be taken till all else is done, as no more Magecrafting can be placed upon the item afterward. But you will see that tomorrow, when we get to it.” For now their were no perceivable changes in the stone. They would not appear, assuming it had all gone well, until after the cooling off process was done. For now the stone looked no different from a mundane rock from before they began. At least with mundane eyes. Finally once they had both finished with this series of hammers, Clyde would pause, and walk away from the item. “Alright, that is it for today, now we rest. We will be back to it bright and early in the morning.” Done, Clyde would go over to his things, and take out his bedroll, along with a blanket. Though he had a room to sleep in, he did not want to leave the item be. Instead he would sleep nearby, just outside of the Glyphing wards they had laid, in case anyone or anything attempted to do something to their project. “I will see you early in the morning, before first light.” OOC: End of day, you can either post ending the day also, or if you want you can then time skip to tomorrow to the start of the day.

[Annalisa Marin]

Clyde sighed at her questioning, the sorceress noting that it was rather a running theme for him in the ways of his teaching method. He took a roundabout approach to things, which was effective though Anna herself was more of a direct instructor. In his position she would likely go over the steps of the process at the very beginning and then answered any questions that she had not answered at the beginning. Naturally though, this particular method could result in an overflow of information whereas Clyde’s method kept things flowing and fluid. Anna shrugged off the comparisons and listened to his offered explanation and nodded at the end.

With her next strikes Anna would heed Clyde’s previous advice, making the strikes feather light though still very much confident and focused upon the end goal. All the while she mentally enforced that the force behind the impact was not important, rather it was the contact and intent behind it. However those alone were not enough as the magesmith also needed confidence in their own abilities. They had to believe that they could bring their desired result into existence. The tall woman struck again, keeping it light and was pleased by the pulse of Djed she felt for some reason.

Soon enough the charge hammers were apparently spent and Clyde called for an end for today’s session, the tall woman nodding slowly. She noted Clyde’s bedroll on the floor and smirked ever so, he was certainly devoted to his craft. For her part the sorceress had to wrap up a few things tonight, in fact it was unlikely she’d be sleeping at all. Anna was no Nuit perhaps, but she vastly preferred the waking world to the one of dreams at this point in her life. After giving herself a mental note to return to this place the next day at first light she would depart the room in relatively short order.

___________________________________________________

8th of Spring, 514 AV

The next day Anna moved through the halls of the Gug Andjak, her tired eyes still ringed darkly from lack of sleep. She had in fact actually gone against her better judgment and attempted to get some rest, her dreams plagued by nightmares. This resulted in about three bells of sleep, which was about her average now days sadly enough. Even still she was as ready as she would ever be, dressed in the same tattered rags she had worn yesterday. She looked more like the slaves that worked in Sahova rather than a wizard, though her bearing was far more arrogant than the broken wretches this place held.

As agreed upon she arrived in the lab where Clyde had set up their little project at the desired time, once she spotted him she would smile towards him and offer him a slight nod. The night had offered her much time to ponder over their possible relation, something she could not quite shake off. She had come to the conclusion that it was a good thing, it wasn’t going to cause her to drop her guard naturally but it was a mark in Clyde’s favor. Despite his flaws, she did somewhat like Clyde, he was interesting and the simple fact that he was possibly related to her did make her feel a bit… good.

After the plague had taken her family from her and she had driven Velia away from her, Anna had been alone in the world. She had figured that her family name would end with her, that her blood would be the last of the Marin’s. While Clyde was not a Marin he was the closest thing in this world to one now, which meant she was not alone family wise. Despite this though and their working relationship Anna still was cautious about investing herself in the other mage. Experience was a bitter thing, but it had kept her alive this long.

“Good morning, Clyde. I trust you slept well. Shall we get started again? I suspect we still have some work to do before we have our finished product.” Anna said by way of greeting, moving towards the charging hammers and casting a backwards glace to Clyde.

[Clyde Sullins]

8 Spring 514 After a short rest, it was time for Clyde to rise again and return to work. Before Anna arrived he did his morning ablutions, got a drink, and a bite to eat, so that he would be ready when she arrived early. When she arrived he was wearing his enchanted robes, and had Cha resting in his grip as always. He'd also prepped the hammers, recharging the ones that had been spent in their enchanting, and preparing them for the second day of work. “Good morning, Clyde. I trust you slept well. Shall we get started again? I suspect we still have some work to do before we have our finished product.” Clyde nodded, gesturing back at the pedestal that was still ensconced in warding Glyphs. “Yes, we need to continue the enchantment for awhile, deepening it, and then we will cool it off. Though it shouldn't take the entire day, as your assistance should have quickened the process somewhat.” Heading over to the table holding the hammers, Clyde grabbed one, and passed it to Anna, a medium sized hammer. He grabbed a second one then for himself, a larger one, and headed over to the warding Glyphs, giving them a once over to check for damage or deterioration. Once they appeared complete enough, he passed over the warding and to the pedestal holding the item for enchantment. Clyde took a few moments to walk around it, feeling out through Cha, willing his djed to move up the staff as a part of him, and to flow outward. After a few moments of focusing on the image and intent, his Aura sight activated, emanating outward from Cha's body. Fixing in on the Aura of the item, first Clyde checked its body and pathways, his senses rubbing over the textures of the cubes essence, feeling out for the inner vibrations and flashes of color that denoted the essences sealed inside, and the enchantment laid upon it. As the vibrations seemed in synch it seemed safe to continue, nothing had gone amiss overnight. “Alright, so go ahead, strike here and here, tilting as such and striking here. Avoid this area, its a bit overdeveloped so we need to focus on the rest of its body to even it out.” Clyde and Anna would take turns, and once she was done he'd send her for new hammers and use his own, striking with a series of light taps throughout the network of pathways in the item, focusing on the glowing inner light that would shine out from the gem once this was done. They'd keep this up, trading off, hammering, and continually charging the item with fresh djed.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna was pleased to hear the process would not take the entire day to complete and she was somewhat curious as to how one actually finished making a Magecrafted product. She had seen how one finished a particular step in the crafting; working with Clyde on the magic staff of his had been rather interesting to say the least. The dark haired woman gripped her hammer, hefting it once again to appreciate the weight. She kept in mind yesterday’s lessons on the art of Magecraft, that one did not need to place force behind the hammer. Magecraft was not like forging an item in the conventional sense after all.

The woman nodded to Clyde as he provided his instruction, lining up her hammer fall easily enough and bringing it down on the side indicated to her. The tap was feather light, though as she made it her mind was filled with the image of something glowing brighter and brighter in the darkness. There was a confidence behind her swings, a feeling that she could change the object through her own ability. Each tap created a surge of Djed, pulsing out along her fingers and sending a slight shiver down her spine as she worked.

As she did work some part of her grew somewhat curious regarding the charging hammers, enough that she wondered how they were charged and created. During one of the periods when Clyde took over and added his taps to the design she pondered how best to approach the subject. Judging from what she could see, Clyde was a very practical and logical minded individual. Therefore if she approached the question with a purpose behind it other than just curiosity it seemed more likely she would get a better answer. So when it came time for her to fetch a new set of hammers when their current ones were spent she posed a question to the other mage.

“These hammers we are working with, how are the charged or even made? I believe last time we collaborated on a Magecrafting project you said you might broach the subject. Besides, if its simple and if we collaborate again I could handle that task myself so that you would not need to concern yourself with it.” Anna inquired, keeping her tone friendly enough.

With that question posed she’d hand off one of the hammers to Clyde, wait for his answer, and then once he saw fit to offer a bit more direction she would start tapping away. She was noting as she worked that balance seemed to figure in to the equation a great deal. One part of the enchantment could not gain an advantage over another; they had to achieve some equality or balance. Clyde knew his Magecrafting if nothing else, she had no doubt that if he intended to stay in the Citadel for some time that he would go very far. Likely enough that his Apprenticeship was a mere formality, though that could just be her inexperience with magecraft speaking.

[Clyde Sullins]

The two of them worked, spending bells repeating the same processing, ingraining it deeply in the item, and deepening the djed held within it and its pathways, along with expanding and opening new ones which overlaid or were tangential to the old ones. They paused for a moment, as Anna asked a question of the hammers. “These hammers we are working with, how are the charged or even made? I believe last time we collaborated on a Magecrafting project you said you might broach the subject. Besides, if its simple and if we collaborate again I could handle that task myself so that you would not need to concern yourself with it.” Clyde paused for a moment, examining the item as its reverberations echoed against his staff and into him through his arms and spine. “The charging is simple enough, in principle. The making, well I am less aware of that, it is not something I have done myself. Though I suppose if I set my mind to it I could. Anyways, the charging is done by the fact that the hammer is naturally able to hold and be charged by djed. You strike various elements, various low level reagents and ingredients, and the hammer takes in the djed and holds it for use. You then strike the item being enchanted, and insert the djed into it and its djed pathways, expanding and powering them. That's it more or less.” Continuing on with the hammering for awhile, Clyde continued through a few more hammers, until he felt the threshold of the item being met by the djed within it. Along with that they were out of fresh hammers, and had used up more or less out of ingredients. They were done with the process of inserting djed, now they needed to cool the item off and solidify the enchantment. “Alright, so now to cool off the item. Cooling off the item consists of placing the item in specially charged and prepared water, usually in a tub or basin, which reacts to the item and stabilizes and makes the enchantment concrete. We start by prepping the basin, and then filling it with water. Then we pick up the item and remove it from the pedestal, and placeit in the waters.” Beginning the work, Clyde showed Anna what needed to be done. He took up and moved a empty stone basin which was used for the task, and then took out inscribing paint and some mineral powder,which they had used when making the magic staff. Mixing in a bit of the powder into the paint, he stirred it up, and then began to paint on some vague Glyphs onto the basin. He painted strategically throughout the basin a series of focus glyphs, made out of the paint mixed with mineral powder. Each looked like Clyde's common focus, a tiny circle with a waving lines around it occasionally coming down and touching the edge of the circle. Once he was done he would have Anna help to fill the basin with water. Once the basin was full the glyphs would slowly dissolve away, permeating throughout the water. “Alright, all that's left to do is place the item in the basin. Go ahead and take it from the pedestal, and drop it into the water. It'll probably start to bubble and frothe as if a red hot stone had been dropped into the water. Don't worry, that's normal. Once the bubbling and such stops in a few bells, it will be done and the enchantment will take effect if all went as planned.”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna listened to the tidbit about the charging of hammers, committing the information to memory and noting that it made sense considering the various reagents necessary. The hammers were thus really simply a means of transferring Djed from one thing to another then, nothing major really. Like a magical go between if one were to simplify the process down to its very base. With this process illuminated the sorceress was able to approach the hammers with a bit more understanding. Really, they were ingenious things, simplifying the process of crafting a great deal as otherwise one might need to find a way to apply each reagent by hand.

The continued on for bells after this, the sorceress beginning to seem more reason behind where Clyde was telling her to strike. Not enough that she was confident she could craft such things on her own, but enough that she understood vaguely why she was striking where she was striking. As before her focus was entirely on strengthening the light of the crystal, making it glow brighter and brighter with each infusion of Djed. She was gaining an appreciation for Goron Silverheart to some degree, or at least for the dedication he must have to his craft to be considered the best. Let it never be said that Annalisa Marin did not grant her enemies their due.

Finally after a few more cycles Clyde seemed to think they had come to a sufficient close, which was a good thing as Anna noted that their hammers were spent. The sorceress placed aside the spent hammers and returned to the pedestal, awaiting further instruction. The tall woman’s gaze followed the mage as he walked over to a basin, informing her of the process of charging it. Anna approached and observed his Glyphing process, drumming her fingers across her chin as he worked.

Once the basin was filled he requested that she move the item from the pedestal and into the basin of charged water. Anna swallowed and moved to the table to grip a pair of tongs located there, figuring it rather unwise to grip the item with her hands while it was still unfinished. The tall woman rather liked possessing all of her fingers. Once at the pedestal Anna would very carefully grip the quartz with her tongs, feeling a slight jolt along the gripping tool. She ignored it and moved the item from the pedestal fully, making her way to the basin. Once there she would dip the tongs into the water with the item attached to it, releasing it into the water.

The water in the basin reacted rather quickly, bubbling and hissing rather like Clyde said it would. For now it appeared that all they could do was to wait so Anna leaned back against the table, watching the basin itself. It was rather interesting collaborating with another wizard, in fact this was probably the first time she had genuinely done so without any purpose other than the work itself. It felt foreign, so used to manipulating her fellow wizard she was that working towards a common goal with one was… odd.

“I don’t… normally collaborate with other wizards, Clyde. I’m certain you can understand that for people like you and I especially there is a great deal of distrust to be found. However, it has been a pleasure working with you on this project.” Anna said, the closest thing to a compliment many could get out of her.