Chapter 12 — A Consultation with Researcher Shadwich

“The High Priestess will see you now,” an older priestess informed Renner, and he quickly jumped up from the bench to follow.

He had made the trip as quickly as reasonably possible without risking the horse that the monastery’s head priest had lent him. Truthfully, he would have been satisfied meeting with any of the temple’s elders that could pass along the scroll and the contents of his vision, but for the High Priestess herself to receive him, Renner couldn’t help feeling that eon-shaping forces were in motion.

Upon exiting the stairs into a marble hallway decorated with flowering planters, a familiar pleasant scent tickled his nose and cleared his mind of the tension and nervousness that was clouding his thoughts. The temple using the actual flowers instead of incense infused with the floral essence was both an efficiency and an extravagance, exemplifying the goddess’ teachings to cultivate the health of body and mind naturally through one’s daily living environment.

More scents joined with the floral scent as he approached a sunlit archway and was led out onto a garden terrace filled with a vibrant display of nature’s vitality. Water burbled down from carefully placed waterstones and along marble tiers on its way to a clear pond at the center of the garden, enough evaporating to form a gentle mist softing the sunlight and providing moisture for the plants.

A large lily grew up out of the pond, and the white-robed woman meditating on the floating lily pad was surely the goddess’ high priestess—a woman who had led their religious order for almost a century now and looked to be barely entering her middle years.

He was silently directed to approach and reverently did so. Just being within the high priestess’ sanctuary, he could feel vitality invigorating his cells with every droplet of mist that landed on his skin and couldn’t help wondering how many years of longevity he was gaining from this audience.

“Welcome, Healer Renner,” the revered high priestess greeted as she opened her eyes and rested her gaze upon his commonness, unoffended and as if evaluating a student. “I have reviewed your report, and we have received the scroll. To have found a potential fulcrum of the coming time of trials, you have done the Church of Ellnys a great service. Did you know that the Church of Anasari has been lathering itself into a minor panic of late?”

Even with the calming essence still affecting him, Renner felt his heartrate increase at the sudden question, and he shook his head. “I’m sorry. I must profess to be unaware of events in the capital.”

The high priestess nodded as if his answer was expected and smiled. “The cause of their panic is due to a great many divinations seeking insight into events past a certain point in the future failing. A sure sign of a coming point of great divergence in the possible direction of fate for a great many people… or even the gods themselves.”

Renner swallowed and wet his quickly drying lips. Worry was beginning to bubble up over why he was being told this, but he dared not ask and patiently waited for the high priestess to tell him. He had an idea of the scope of events from the visions granted to him, but it was rapidly becoming clear that he didn’t know the half of it.

“Take heart, Renner. Our goddess surely gifted us with this foreknowledge for a reason. A task that we can undertake to shift events in a direction that our goddess favors.” The high priestess took in a deep breath of the mist and scented air. “For now, I would have you visit the Enchanter’s Hall at the Grand Academy and purchase more of young Ria of Shadewood’s enchantments. We will need some time yet to prepare a meeting, so upon return, you will be further assigned to a team that will monitor her situation.”

“Yes, High Priestess,” Renner confirmed. It was a tremendous opportunity for him to move upward within the faith, but to be caught up in games between the gods… if the feeling in his stomach was any indication, he was going to need every bit of the vitality gained from the terrace garden just to prevent future impacts to his health from stress.

Ria meditated on a platform inscribed to create an energy domain that restricted spirit energy. Ranger sat nearby on a similar platform, looking less bored than she had expected. From what Researcher Shadwich had explained, the restrictive barriers would condense both of their auras and the soul-link, making each more visible and measurable.

“You have quite the strong spirit affinity and should consider working toward a spirit magic license as part of your formal education,” Researcher Shadwich advised her. “I could put in a recommendation with Soulkeeper Renard.”

“He already denied her request for a temporary license,” Hulle pointed out. The nosy Novidus third-year had followed along all the way to Researcher Shadwich’s lab for some reason.

“Oh, I would have thought an exception would be made for a student with such strong affinity.” Shadwich shrugged. “No matter. Once she becomes an Initiate of the First Circle, getting approval will be simple enough.”

“Um… so how is it?” Ria tentatively asked, letting go of her meditative exercise.

“Hmm… I’d say it’s rather permanent at this point,” Shadwich evaluated. “Luventi’s familiar ritual does involve more risk than the standard familiar binding in order to provide the shared energy-sensing and affinities that were often desired in that era. While safe enough for the average non-affinity and non-bloodline mage, this particular ritual was never intended for use by a student with your significant energy reserves and strong spirit affinity.”

Was that good or bad? Ria cocked her head. “Does that mean…?”

“That you’re stuck with your hound there to the end of your dying days?” Researcher Shadwich readily supplied with a disturbingly amused expression. “I’d say so.”

Ria’s chest tightened in worry at the word dying. “I mean, if Ranger dies… from old age or something?”

Researcher Shadwich chuckled and waved away her concern. “No, no need to worry about that. You have plenty of energy reserves, and at the rate your bond is strengthening, he’d be more likely to turn into an elemental beast or a bound undead than pass on in such a way that would sever the bond. Now, a death that resulted in a severing of the bond would have rather severe consequences, so I’d recommend avoiding that if possible.”

Saying it like that! Like she would have any choice in the matter! Or would intentionally put Ranger into that kind of danger!

Whether to be relieved or not… aside from the undead possibility, it was good news? Maybe?

“Any strange side-effects or soul-encroachment?” Hulle asked, his voice neutral—as if she were an academic curiosity.

Ria would’ve been annoyed if not for the question being important and one she should have asked without prompting.

“Hmm, it is the sort of binding that matures over time, so it’s hard to fully predict how it might change, but her aura seems robust enough—surprisingly more than enough, really.” Researcher Shadwich rubbed his chin. “We should probably provide her with a set of soul-strengthening exercises to perform while meditating just to be safe. Soulkeeper Renard should be willing to provide such and give her a limited license if it’s just that much, considering her situation. I’ll send him a note to that effect.”

Her ears perked up at that. Though she was leery to do anything… er, anything further that messed with her soul, getting some licensing and the mentioned practice exercises was surely a step closer to getting her shamanic license back.

“So, she will be fine for further strengthening the bond and developing her familiar’s abilities?” Hulle confirmed.

Shadwich shrugged again and put his monocle away. “For now, it should be okay. But we’ll want to monitor the situation for soul strain. The hound—Ranger, was it?—will likely need some alchemical stabilizers and mutagenics to help facilitate the changes his body needs to cope with the increasing density of energy. There are old stories of children binding a common pet as a means of prolonging its life, but to actually study and assist with the transformation to magic beast is quite the interesting opportunity!”

“Rar-rowr?”

“Oh? Are you interested in becoming more powerful, boy?” Shadwich encouraged after Ranger’s question.

“Woof!”

Ria wasn’t sure she liked the eagerness in either Ranger’s or the researcher’s eyes, and she certainly didn’t care for Hulle’s suddenly calculating expression either, but there was one other question she needed to ask. “Um, Researcher Shadwich, would it be safe for me to add a second familiar?”

“I’d need to monitor how the current soul-link progresses for a while to make a firm conclusion as to the safety, but likely, it should be fine depending on the contract and your continued growth as a mage. Did you have a specific creature in mind?” Shadwich inquired with a raised bushy eyebrow.

“A young wind-element pseudo-dragon currently learning illusion magic.”

Both of Hulle’s eyebrows rose in interest at her answer.

“Oh-hoh! That’s quite the find indeed!” Shadwich laughed. “Dragons are one of the types of familiars that can provide energy to the contractor. So, it would mainly be an issue of soul strength. If we work on strengthening your soul adequately, it would certainly be interesting to compare the differences between the soul-links. Hmm… yes, that would be an interesting research topic to show-up old Renard!”

No, that wasn’t what she was asking… Ria sighed as the researcher took her question in his own direction regardless of her consideration.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Hulle opined, his glasses catching the light of a lightstone. “Having both ground defense and aerial scouting and bombardment capabilities is quite the good combination.”

Shadwich gave a hearty laugh. “Challenging the Grand Games, are we? In that case, we’ll want to have a special diet and training program prepared for Ranger. And considering young Ria’s budget extends to pseudo-dragons, there’s no need to hold back on expense!”

“I agree,” the Novidus schemer smirked and suggested, “Perhaps you could arrange for ingredients from Master Irelyni’s garden?”

“Ah, I see where you’re going.” Shadwich slowly nodded. “If we can source other ingredients from Farenthil Hall’s Magic Gardens, as well, or maybe even the depths of the Reserve. Hmm… I’ll have to contact some acquaintances and see what’s available, but it could work.”

Ria rolled her eyes at both of them, but… if Ranger was to be her lifetime companion, then improving his strength could only benefit her and her goals. Though, if they were serious and not just teasing her, she’d have to push forward her plans of making enchanted paper and stamina scrolls—and make them in large quantity, if she was to have any chance of preparing for the coming expenses...

“Seems like things are well in hand here then,” Hulle decided and turned to leave, pausing briefly at the lab door to leave Ria some advice, “If you still need the disposition of your restricted items and spells resolved, now would be a good opportunity.”

“Oh, you have need of supervised storage?” Shadwich asked looking up from scribbling in a notebook.

Ria nodded. “My license was made more restrictive, so I need my spells certified too.”

“I see. Give me a moment to finish writing these ideas down, and I’ll show you to the student-use labs and supervised storage vaults.”

The student labs were on the floor below and seemed lackluster compared to Researcher Shadwich’s personal laboratory, but the common room did have a nice view of the academy buildings and grounds. Ria wandered over to one of the large windows while Researcher Shadwich was going through her books and scrolls.

She had to limit her gazing out the window in front of her to brief intervals because of vertigo from being so high up but couldn’t help staring in wonder at the cityscape that spread out around the academy and the academy itself—the Crystal Tower, White Owl Tower, the Grand Pheonix Tower, the Mausoleum of Zethym Soulkeeper, the Grand Arena. There were so many magical places that caught her eye, each undoubtedly chock full of history that spanned entire eras.

Even the Reserve, an area of dense forest and impossibly tall trees stretching out toward the horizon, was clearly visible. Of course, the impression of the trees extending to the horizon was a trick of the compressed space that the Reserve occupied within the walls separating it from the rest of the city and from the Grand Academy. Ria had learned in her history tutoring that Luventi was involved in the creation of the Reserve, but whether the spatial magic was the result of a grand work or the domain of a powerful land god was never made clear.

Ria glanced over at Researcher Shadwich as he was quickly working through the last of her scrolls. Thus far, all her items with the exception of her scrolls, the books from Jeni’s inheritance, her notebooks, and her books from Master Rigure were certified as okay under her enchanting license. Fortunately, she had scroll versions of all her self-made spells, so having her scrolls certified would also determine the status of her spells.

“I must say... this is an interesting situation,” Researcher Shadwich finally spoke up. “Your spells are fine to certify for use, but the divination ones make use of restricted glyphs in their construction, which complicates things. I will write you a note of certification for the designs here and you can cast them, but if you use these glyphs in scrolls or in the creation of items, to be approved for general use, you need to obfuscate them somehow—clear ink, extraneous markings, making sure they are not visible in a way that would be apparent during normal use. Is that acceptable?”

Ria nodded. That didn’t crimp her current money-making plans, and being able to continue using her custom-made spells was a huge relief—particularly her divination-targeted healing spell.

“Regarding your books and journals, I’m sorry to say that they all contain shamanic invocations and concepts, true-names for places of power, or obvious spirit magic in the case of the familiar ritual. Since shamanic invocations are at root primitive spirit magic, I’ve marked as many of them as possible with just a restriction for spirit magic so that you’ll get access to them sooner than if I mark them for shamanic magic. And you’re more likely to find someone with a spirit magic certification to supervise you when I’m not available than you would for a shamanic certification.”

That result wasn’t unexpected, as she had already watched him deftly insert a red ribbon with a white stripe through the spines of each as he read through them. The ribbons were tied with a simple knot, but in an academy with divination magic readily available to determine deceptive behavior, there really wasn’t a need for anything more secure.

“Thanks for that, and thanks for looking at them,” Ria mumbled, a bit depressed that even her dictionary of glyphs was marked as restricted. That one gained a ribbon with a rainbow of restrictions. She would have to pick up another at the bookstore later. The real blow was all her notebooks...

“It’s a shame about your journals. Will you be okay for classes without them?” Researcher Shadwich asked with some concern. “I still have some time this evening, if you’d like to copy out the unrestricted material.”

Ugh. She eventually shook her head. “I’m here to learn modern spellcasting, and I have new books.”

Shadwich slowly nodded. “Okay. I can say that I was impressed with your thought processes and problem solving as you worked through the theory and applied it. Though some of your designs were refreshingly naïve, I can see why Masters Rigure and Marlow wrote so highly about your potential as a future master of spellcraft. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing what you’ll accomplish in my class.”

Ria thanked him and collected her scrolls.

The bushy browed man rose from his chair and helped by collecting the ribbon-marked books. “Oh, and regarding places of power, you know that you need to get permission from local governing entities before using those, right?”

Ria nodded. “I do.”

Master Rigure had made her sit through a lengthy disciplinary lecture on that matter the time she had visited him after selling the improved locator scroll to Captain Bastach.

“Right. Then unless there’s anything else, let’s get your restricted items into a proper vault.”

The rental price for a student vault was affordable enough that she paid in advance for a year and soon found herself waiting by the elevator shaft, waiting for the platform to come back down after taking Researcher Shadwich back to his laboratory on the floor above.

After getting on the platform, she pushed enough energy into the glyph for the fifth floor, and the platform descended with a speed that made her stomach lurch. She didn’t even want to think about how high up she was.

Idly, she wondered whether Iselyn’s maid would even be able to operate the moving platform.