“What’s going on now?” Nisha asked, her voice sounding slightly panicked. At the same time, Fey was walking to one of the walls, towards what I knew to be a hidden door, one seamlessly blending into the wall, invisible to the naked eye. Without some way to remotely access the controls, something I doubted Technica had shared, Fey would simply walk into the wall, something that would have amused me somewhat. Not that Technica would let that happen, my sensors picked up the low-powered signal, right before Fey reached the door, making the effect quite imposing, the seemingly solid wall fading out of the way, just as she walked up.

“At a guess, it is a lesson for me, likely with some real-world implications, possibly with a test baked in, with additional complications for both of us.” I replied with a shrug. Trying to guess what further ideas the two Council-Woman had was likely pointless, as I had a feeling that their plans would simply adapt to the situation. However, I doubted that their intent was malicious, at least on Technica’s part and I had learned to trust her.

“So you’re going to do something, in exchange for that charm for me?” Nisha paused, unsure of herself. Before she could think too deeply about it and the implications such a transaction had, I simply took her hand, pulling her along, following Fey.

“Yes, though I think it is more that you, and your situation, are seen as an opportunity for a lesson, possibly also to let me forge a connection with Fey. We have met in the past, and worked together, but knowing Technica, she plans to have us deepen that connection. It helps that I have done similar trades with Fey’s disciple.” I explained, stopping myself before I could give out more information than might be appropriate. There had been quite a few references to the work the respective Teachers of Fey and Technica had done together, the most impressive of which was the Solar Tap, as I had started to call the massive fusion-reactor deeper in Technica’s lair. Guild-secrets were not to be shared with outsiders, even talking about Mordred might be going too far.

“That’s part of it, yes.” Fey called out from further ahead, having waited for us in the hallway. “Another part is that working together is what the Guild does. Remember, it’s all in the name, cooperation, not only between Mundanes and Powered but also between Powered internally. The more cooperation, the less conflict, at least that was the hope, way back in the day.” she added, her voice filled with conflicting emotions. Confidence mixed with bitterness, what a curious combination.

“Anyway, what matters is that creating the Foci for Fey is reasonable, if you have the right tools. Similarly, I am assuming that the creation of a Charm, as she calls it, is unproblematic for her, at the end of the day, she is supposed to be the strongest Magician on the planet.” I mostly managed to keep my scorn out of my voice when using the term Magician, even if there was a part of me that rebelled at the idea of magic. At least as a reference to some miraculous, unexplainable force, it was a Power, just like Anath’s strength and Technica’s casual disregard for the law of conservation of energy. They just made their tricks sparkle.

“Mordred told me about your opinion, amusing as it might be.” Fey needled me, obviously amused.

“I am glad to provide amusement.” I replied, the sarcasm in my voice thick enough to cut and serve on toast, “However, I would prefer if you could explain what the creation of your charm involved, preferably without exaggerated theatrics.” I tried bringing her back to topic, only for her soft laughter to echo in the underground tunnel.

“But those are the best theatrics.” she pouted, making me roll my eyes, before adding, “Fine, as you asked so nicely.” in a mocking voice, forcing me to clamp down on my irritation.

“The charm itself is relatively simple, as it focuses her Empathy, bringing it down to touch-range but also increasing the sensitivity. I could try to explain the mechanisms, but given that both of you have about as much magical ability as the average sea-sponge, you’d only get a headache.”

“For that, I have to perform a small ritual, mostly to bind the charm to her soul, allowing it to actually work. She’ll have to donate a bit of bio-matter, nothing she’d actually miss, not once I’m done with her anyway, but as I said, it won’t hurt a bit.” when her voice turned teasing again, I cleared my throat, giving her a glare.

“Oh, let me have my fun, you have no idea how rare it is to be able to joke about making deals for someone’s first-born, or asking them to hand over their virgin-blood. What good is it to be the baddest Witch on the planet, if you can’t have fun with it?” compared to our previous meeting, she was a lot more playful, though given that we had met in the middle of a natural disaster, that might be natural. It did not, however, stop her behaviour from giving me a headache. When I looked over to Nisha, I could easily see the look of wide-eyed confusion on her face, making it obvious that she had no real idea what was going on.

“You do you.” I accepted with a sigh, deciding that Fey was an adult and I had no business trying to teach her manners. There were easier tasks to consider, solving world-hunger came to mind, or maybe colonising Mars.

“Yes, I quite like doing myself, thank you very much.” I let out a groan at her joke, but she simply ignored it and continued, “For you muggles, it’s simple, I need a bit of blood, some hairs and saliva from Nisha, then she needs to stand in a circle for a couple minutes and then we are done. Simple as, if you know what you are doing and are a Master Mage.” she explained, her voice finally serious.

We quickly reached one of the normally empty rooms, mostly used for impromptu conferences or sometimes storage and Fey told us to wait, as she got busy, drawing some weird symbols on the floor with chalk. In different circumstances, I would be certain that we were getting pranked but Fey was a Guild-Councilor, though apparently one that considered herself funny. As she worked, I made sure that my automated fabricators had received the plans Techncia had sent me earlier and were starting on the work. Luckily, the Foci Fey needed were made from the same material as the Foci I had prepared for Mordred previously, though I doubted it was coincidence. The process would take some time, precisely removing matter on a nanoscopic scale was not a fast process, but they should be done by the next day.

Once that was done, I took a look at Nisha and realised that she was slowly pulling herself together. There was still a look of concern on her face, one that I wanted to assuage.

“If you are worried about my part of the bargain, you do not need to. What I do, is help a friend, I consider my part in this a gift to you, given freely. I seek no recompense from you, not in this.” I assured her, getting a grateful smile in return.

“I know.” she nodded, letting out a sigh, “It’s just that before, I could often feel the greed of people approaching me, trying to gain access to my father by befriending me. Now, I’m profiting from my relationship to you, as I doubt that there are many who can have a personal charm made by a Guild-Councilor, let alone without paying anything back.” she explained, sounding conflicted.

“Believe it or not, I can empathise. Maybe I will be able to tell you about it all, one day. But today, just know that I am glad to give you a gift in your time of need.” I gave her hand another squeeze, when Fey called out.

“Okay, I’m done. Now, you just need to give me a few strands of hair and spit in here.” she told Nisha, holding out a small, wooden bowl. While the bowl itself was unproblematic, the silver knife in her other hand looked a little ominous.

“Good, now, I need your hand and this’ll prick just a second.” Fey continued, after Nisha had complied.

“Is that sanitized?” I interrupted, staring at the gleaming knife.

“Your concern is admirable and yes, I took precautions.” Fey assured me, before taking Nisha’s offered hand. For a brief second, I could see those weird, non-lights again, this time reflecting on the silver knife, before Fey ran it along Nisha’s arm, drawing blood but when I looked again, the arm was whole, only the Blood running up the knife, ignoring such pesky laws like gravity, hinting at what had happened.

“Excellent.” Fey grinned, gesturing for Nisha to stand in the middle of the circle. “Take care not to smudge the lines. I wouldn’t want to accidentally turn you into a house-plant, that would be bad.” she laughed, again a weird cackle echoing in the room.

When Fey started to intone some weird chant, I tried to record, both auditory data and visual data, as the strange non-lights started to flicker again, bathing the chalk-circle in rainbow light. Maybe I would be able to figure something out about that so-called magic.