Maria nodded quickly and Totomac removed a piece of slate from under his painting board. On it, someone had hand painted a large series of symbols in some kind of red ink. He pointed at the first symbol that she recognized from Medi and Totomac’s fingers, a harshly pointed arrow with a line through it, “This is Strike. I recommend it for your index fingers on each hand. It allows you to project your affinity outward toward a target. The other five on each hand are nuanced and certain effects require combinations.”
She looked at all the symbols and her mind reeled with all the combinations adding, “It’s a lot to take in.”
He nodded and put his hands on two pots, one black and the other gray, “Are you hoping to use your artes more for defense or offense?”
He took the black pot and set it in front of her, “This base coating will assure that your defensive castings are more potent.”
After he put the gray pot next to it and continued, “This base makes offensive artes more powerful and likewise degrades the potency of protections.”
Maria studied both for several long moments before pointing confidently at the gray pot. Totomac nodded and set the black pot aside without any further questions. He took the black and gestured for her to sit and took one of her hands, “Stay still.”
She nodded as he uncorked the pot and removed its small brush. He continued discussing the various runes on the chart, “I recommend the Inner rune. it allows you to channel your arte into yourself. Combine it with Heal, and it speeds up your healing. On the other hand, combine it with Expel,” he said while pointing to a rune on a chart, “and you can attempt to expel toxins. I recommend all three for basic defensive measures.”
Maria blinked and whispered, “That’s super helpful.”
Totomac nodded but held up a finger in warning, “Your ability to heal wounds is based entirely on your strength and skill in the use of artes. Someone who is a fledgling might be able to heal a minor cut or abrasion a little faster, a true master can regenerate a limb,” he waved a dismissive hand, “or so legends say.”
His tone took on something akin to one of her older professors when he was trying to lay on the ‘teacher’ vibe really thick, “What do you think would happen if you combined Strike and the Heal runes?”
She studied him with narrowed eyes and said, “I suppose you could heal someone else?”
He gave a firm nod and added, “But your ability to heal others is far less potent than for your own body.”
Totomac breathed out sharply and looked at her intently, “The last thing I must teach is about leaching. You should at all times strive to avoid it but if there is no other choice you can pull from an element to power your artes. Pull life from a tree, a patch of grass, or a bush full of flowers and your own reserves of mana will not be touched but you will snuff out life from your subject. You can not use this on living creatures that can resist you, just from the plants that nourish us.” The old grath put a hand on her shoulder and looked intently into her eyes, “That life is gone from Eilyth when you leach it. It is the same for all temperings. A water tempered who pulls from the sea destroys its ability to sustain life. A fire artest pulls heat from Eilyth and cools the very world. The more that is taken through leaching the closer our world comes to death.”
His grip tightened as he continued, “The Slaver, the one the invaders call The Dominus, is our enemy for many reasons but this is chief among them. The people who serve the Dominus willingly are not tempered naturally. It is one reason that we know that our goddesses still resist him. They have to be taught artes and must force them through their bodies. All, those who serve The Dominus must leach to practice their artes. All of them. They destroy our home for their conquest because they fear him.”
Maria nodded soberly. She silently wondered why she seemed to be tempered naturally, as Totomac put it, and resolved that it might be a question to ask Alora should she ever encounter the goddess again.
He went through a series of more runes explaining their uses. It took some time but in the end she made her choices. Strike runes for her index fingers followed by the Inner, Expel, and Heal runes to start. The remaining runes were Build, which allowed the artest to shape earth quickly to a desired form and could be used to make quick cover. Pull, which allowed the pulling earth and stone toward you and its opposite Push. Totomac pointed out that a skilled artest could use both Push and Pull to move at high speed in combat or for travel using the momentum produced by either pushing away or toward the earth in succession. The idea fascinated Maria who resolved to give it a try when there was less chance of colliding with a nearby tree.
The next was Coat, which allowed you to cover something with stone or metal for a short period of time. Totomac pointed out that their hunters who were earth attuned did just that with wooden arrows to avoid the arduous task of flint knapping.
The remaining runes were utilitarian in nature. Mag allowed you to always know where north was by attuning to the natural ‘flow’ of Eilyth. It was a compass. Wide, which did what it said on the tin and changed Strike from a ball of earth to a wave of stones, and Camo which allowed you to blend in with anything as long as you stayed still and were in contact with the unworked earth.
(6:Wide, 5:Mag, 4: Inner, 3:Expel, 2:Heal, 1:Strike) (1:Strike, 2:Build, 3:Pull, 4:Coat, 5:Push, 6:Camo)
As he started to paint the base coat on her fingers he continued his lesson, “You are not from our world and seem to know nothing of artes or the goddesses.”
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Maria nodded and was reminded of when she got her nails done last and the technician Vicky was telling her to dump Bella because she was emotionally abusive. He continued, “The more you use artes the more of your energy is expended. Expending it all is almost as dangerous as being struck down by a foe. At best it will render you unconscious and at worst it may cause permanent damage to your mind.”
He raised a warning finger, “Be mindful of your limits.”
After twenty minutes of meticulous painting he set aside his tools and picked up a knife from the little tray. He dragged it across his palm slowly to make a very shallow cut. He held the hand out to her and raised his eyebrows to her, “Try.”
She extended her index finger and the ring finger on her left land toward the wound. She felt the energy she had used to create the stoneflesh arte well out of her and wash across the space to the wound. She had not noticed the drain from using her power when using the Stoneflesh arte in the temple. This hit her like an anvil landing on her shoulders. Her head ached and she felt cold spread across her neck as her vision swam. She thought she saw the wound close a fraction before she lost concentration and her hands fell limp. She started to fall to the ground but she felt strong hands grab her and keep her up. Looking up she saw a blurred shape that might be Medi.
Another figure swam into her vision and said in a soft female voice that she didn’t recognize, “Here, eat this. It helps.”
A soft and fragrant fruit that smelled of oranges was pressed to her lips. She snapped her teeth onto it and felt the juice burst over her tongue. Her eyes opened wide as the sharp and fizzing juice washed down her throat. She coughed and blinked away stars in her vision as she said, “I think I get the lesson.”
Totomac said, “It will perhaps save your life. Your mind is the source of your arte, and it is a muscle like every other. Use will strengthen you and allow you to do more with the gifts of the goddess.”
The older female grath gave her another of the fizzy yellow fruit slices and she bowed and took it, chewing on it and breathing in sharply. Holy shit it was like pounding an energy drink. She looked down at the slate and said, “How does one conjure the abilities that you do, the vine and tree control and the like?”
Totomac gave her a wan smile and said, “It is an advanced focus of earthen arte. There are a number of paths including the ability to control trees and plants like mine, another that summons earthen guardians to protect you or your loved ones, another that focuses on healing to a much stronger degree. If a time comes that you feel you are strong enough to follow one of those paths then I will gladly teach you.”
Maria surveyed her completed fingernails and muttered, “I don’t think I’ve ever been more happy to get my nails done.” She smiled and said, “Thanks.”
Totomac cocked his head to the side and said, “You are welcome?”
She turned to Medi and said, “Would you mind if I replenished my supplies and arrows here before we leave?”
Medi nodded, “Do as you need. We will be gone for four days.”
Maria spent the next half hour gathering what she could at Medi’s direction. When both of their packs had been filled with the meager supplies they would need, the two of them passed through the darkened tunnel that she had taken to reach the settlement in the first place.
Medi looked over her shoulder and muttered, “We have eight or nine hours of light remaining. We will traverse the low bog and make our way to L’vira first.”
Maria adjusted the straps of her pack and said, “More of your people?”
The warrior just shook her head and then lapsed into silence.
–
Maria studied the towering forest as they went. The place reminded her of her time in the pacific northwest. She had been on a facility survey and loved to spend a lot of her time hiking the nearby forests. Her boyfriend at the time, Brent, had turned her on to the passtime and she had almost immediately fallen in love with the area. She shook her head and considered that there had been at least one good thing about Brent.
Five hours passed as they traversed rough terrain through the forest save the short time they spent skirting the edge of a small lake. She toyed with her runes as they traveled. She activated repeated uses of the Mag rune, despite her relative certainty of the northern bearing at most times. She was careful not to overextend her mana use like she had done with Totomac.
With each casting she got more sense of how much it took out of her. Healing was far and away the most expensive and taxing power. She could throw a stone spike with plenty of force, but the more she extended herself to increase the force and range the more it taxed her. The power seemed to recharge quickly but if she was bottoming out on power it seemed to make its recharge more lethargic.
She saw flocks of the birds she had hunted on her first day winging over the lake. From time to time they would dive down and pull some strange alien aquatic creature up into the air for a meal. Beyond the lake she could see the distinct discoloration of a storm far to the south.
Medi spoke little and Maria used her time to practice all of her newly painted runes. She even had a chance to use Heal and Expel. While cutting through a patch of dense briars and ivy Medi scolded her, “You damned fool! Get out of it!”
Not sure of what had raised the stoic grath’s ire she backed away and only then realized her mistake. A stinging warmth was spreading from the few cuts she had received through her thick armor. A clearly annoyed Medi cursed her and fussed over her wounds before saying, “That was bloodboil vine!”
Her eyes widened and Maria exclaimed, “I don’t like the sound of that!”
Medi gave her an annoyed look and growled, “Not so loud. You are worse than a cub.”
The burning sensation was spreading up her legs. She clutched at them and winced, “Is this shit going to kill me?”
The warrior shook her head at her as she grabbed her hand and yanked it up in front of her eyes, “Yes, if you don’t stop and think like a grown up and use your Expel.”
Maria blinked at the runes on her fingers. She felt herself blush and she raised the proper rune focusing on sending the energy of her tempering flooding into her limbs. A dull ache settled in at the base of her neck and she felt the heat on her legs receding until it vanished.
She gave Medi a sheepish look as the woman pushed down one of the vines with her boot. She speared one of the leaves and said, “Dark green and spearpoint shaped. They have a red fringe at their edge.”
She reached down and helped her up with a sheepish expression, “I am sorry for losing my temper. I forget that you are helpless when it comes to survival in this world.”
Maria muttered, “Not totally helpless…”
