Their lunch and planning finished, the four agreed to meet again in three days’ time, giving each the chance to organise where they would stay and sort out the mundane details that had to be seen to when they were not travelling in the Fae realms. Unlike the others, Martin already had his accommodation sorted and felt no need to look for anything else. Instead he decided to use the time to see what he could learn about Runes and their usage for effects beyond enhancing the basic properties of an item.

He made his way to the Academy’s library. Hee knew he should go through his own set of books, most of which he had not examined properly yet, wanting to master them one at a time. It was the tack he took when learning a new forging technique, concentrating on it until he had it perfected and would then try something new. Now he saw the flaw in his methodology. In not paying attention to the other books he had missed out on the potential of his new abilities not even knowing what there was to learn. But he was already in the Academy, it made sense to check the library here first rather than making multiple trips and wasting time doing so.

With his recent use of the library, the staff there was used to seeing him coming in. Normally he made his way to the history and anthropology sections, clearly interested in learning about the realms and the races living within them. They were quite surprised when he came towards them, stopping at the desk.

Giselle stepped forward. As one of the few Awakened librarians, even though of only a lesser power, one of Finding, she was most often there to help visitors find exactly what they were looking.

“Good afternoon. How can I help you today?” She greeted Martin as he arrived, smiling as she did so. As an aspect of her affinity she could feel the question hovering, waiting to be voiced so she could reach out and find what was needed. In face of such a need it felt like a drive, a need to find what was sought. Here in the library it was manageable, but in the wider world it could be painful. So many people, so much need. And with her having so little power, deadly if she ever ventured into the Fae realm and got driven by the needs there, especially when faced with incursions of the Dark!

“I need books on Runes.” He thought a bit more, elaborating on what he wanted when seeing the look on Giselle’s face at the broadness of the request. “Specifically, I want to learn about embedding runes in items to manifest effects outside of their basic attributes. I know about enhancing basic attributes like sharpness, weight, and durability. What I want is information about embedding affinities like fire to manifest such effects or to protect against them.”

Giselle nodded; the request now specific enough that instead of feeling a thousand pulls from different areas of the library there were only three, all coming from one area. Stepping out from behind the desk, she indicated for Martin to follow her. As useful as her power was, it could only guide her to where the sought item was, giving no information of what was sought, just a pull to where it could be found.

The first book was marginally useful, a primer on runes, its pages filled with runes and a simple note as to what they were used for. Useful, but it had no explanations or usage notes. A good resource to know what runes existed, but not how to use them. The next book was small, written in a cramped hand. It was filled with margin notes, abbreviations and words forced in between lines. All looked to be in the same hand, so it would seem that the author had written it in this manner. The title showed it should be useful, Enhancing the Intrinsic Properties of Materials Through Embedded Runes but Martin shook his head, it seemed too obtuse and would need time to study it seriously, perhaps even rewrite it into a readable format. The third book was non-specific but seemed to touch onto the subject with a more practical focus “A Handbook of Embedded Runes with Affinities”. Paging through it, he could see it focussed on the identifying of properties n items and then discussing the methods of enhancing and bringing them out, or of combining them with other materials to take advantage of the affinities of both. It seemd to discuss both the advantages and the disadvantages of both paths. It did not discuss specific runes, but combined with the first book it looked like he had found what he needed.

Taking the two books, he made his way to a table, taking a quill, ink and parchment with him, Giselle handing them to him from the stack behind the desk. As a graduate of the Academy, this was just part of the resources he had access to. A great boon as ink in particular was not always available in the marketplace and making his own would take time and it was not something he was very skilled at.

He spent the rest of the afternoon reading the text on runes and their affinities. With a basic understanding he paged through the Manual of Illustrated Runes, trying to identify those he would need. He was disturbed in his study by one of the apprentice librarians tapping him on the shoulder. Looking up he noticed there was no light from outside, the sun had set and the library emptied out. Sighing he put the books to one side.

“Can you please keep these out for me? I will return tomorrow.”

The apprentice nodded, picking the books up as he escorted Martin out of the deserted library. At the door, before Martin left, he placed the books into a cubby giving Martin a tag. “Just use the tag tomorrow and the books will be brought to you.” The apprentice smiled and bowed as Martin left. A feeling of relief swept through the apprentice. It was always a pain when patrons refused to leave. At least this one was pleasant about it and left when asked.

The next day Martin returned, arriving at the library early enough that he had to wait for it to open. When the librarians and their apprentices did finally arrive, he still had to wait. There arrival did not signify that it was open. His impatience grew as he saw the sun rising higher in the sky, but the doors opened as he heard the second bell after sunrise. He almost ran in as the doors opened, retrieving his books of the day before and continuing his studies. By midday he had a plan. First he had to identify the properties of the metals in his forge. It seemed that either the metal itself needed an affinity to the element he wished to manipulate or it had to be infused with it through a process called “melding”: combining the base metal with something with an elemental affinity. Only metal with an affinity could use the associated rune.

He returned the books to the desk to be put away and made his way out of the library towards the Academie's store. His forge only contained basic materials and no elemental affinity items. He was hoping to find some basic items with elemental affinities, and that they would not be too costly.

The store took up the entire basement of the academy. As he entered, an assistant was called to help guide him to what he needed. The one called this day was an elderly man, dressed in the blue livery common to those serving in the Academy. He gave Martin a small bow, “What can I do for you today, Sir?”

“I am looking for items with elemental affinity to be used in Smithing.”

The assistant grimaced. It would be someone looking for smithing supplies. They were away in a corner. Only a few requested them and so they were put aside in the depths. Hopefully he inquired, ”You looking for ores or affinity materials?” Inside he prayed it was affinity materials, those were used by many mages as components in rituals as well as by alchemists in concocting their potions. If he was lucky it would be a short trip, not the march into the depths.

Martin started, surprised that they had ores, but he decided to look at those another time. He had already decided to experiment with affinity materials. “Affinity materials, though I will be coming back to look at the ores soon.”

Smiling in relief, the old man led him to a nearby desk, a set of thick books on it. Each was marked with a separate glyph representing one of the elements. Many more existed than Martin had heard of. The table seemed to carry the most common ones: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Nature, Light, Darkness, Metal and Time, but a shelf behind carried even more. Once again Martin was tempted to browse, but knowing that he only had a day and half left before he met with the others to return to the Fae realm he decided to postpone looking into what other elemental types existed. He pulled the book for fire elements toward him.

In the limited time he had, he decided to try and create a defensive item- a ring with a fire affinity that would provide some protection to its wearer. He knew that total immunity to an element was beyond his capabilities. At best, he would have to work with a relatively weak material so as to not over-extend his mana resources. HIs epectation, his hope, was for a small amount of resistance against fire, but he was more interested in proving he could do imbue the affinity, and would be happy with any result aside from a failure.

He paged through the book, seeing items and materials he had never heard of, including natural derivatives from creatures of the dark, and even some from the races he had met. Seeing his frown, the attendant quickly moved to assuage any suspicion.

“All materials from intelligent creatures in our realms are only harvested from corpses. And then only with permission of the family, or from the Crown when no family is known. We do not accept materials from any other source.”

Martin nodded, continuing his paging. He stopped on a page, seeing an item that looked like it would be both easy to work with and powerful enough for what he wanted to do but not powerful enough to threaten mana overload. He pointed at the item, the man nodding.

“Very good sir. How much of the fire essence ash will you need?”

Martin thought, knowing that while he needed a minimal amount, this being the first time he was working with such materials, he might need to retry the process a few times before he got it right.

“Three ounces.” A large amount. Enough for close to ten attempts, but it did not age or lose its potency with age, so he did not mind having extra as it could always be used later. The man nodded, leaving to go fetch the material as Martin walked to the exit. It was a common and cheap material, no one would be asking for payment on this one. Now, though, he understood the requisition forms that the Academy had given him with the forge. Some of the materials were expensive enough to bankrupt a country! He had no doubt the same would apply when he looked at the rare magical ores.

His material in hand, he made his way back to the forge. He spent only enough time going to his room to don some sturdier clothes before going down to the forge. He lowered the upper walls as he fed the furnace, building the fire up to the heat he needed to work, replacing wood with charcoal, and noting to himself to speak to Pamby, that the fire should be charcoal fed once alight, far better for forging than just wood. While waiting for the furnace to get to the heat he needed he moved to the alchemical table. He poured some of the fire essence ash into a mortar and pestle, looking at the large granules, resembling that of sea salt. He knew the finer it was, the better it would absorb. So he started, grinding it down into a fine powder, trying to get form the thick granules to as fine a powderas he could achieve. Once done, he continued his preparations, making a wax mould into which he would pour his liquid metal.

He worked the fire, making it far hotter than he normally would, knowing that this day he would not just be forging the metal but melting it. The heat radiated off it, heating up the leather vest he had donned to protect himself. He sweated, feeling the heat. From the corner of his eye he saw Bram enter the forge.

Still pumping the bellows, he turned and shouted, “You are welcome to stay, but no further than the second anvil. It is dangerous in here!” Bram nodded, taking a seat on the edge of the anvil. Kicking his feet back into it.

Martin grabbed some of the iron, throwing it into a clay crucible. Using long tongs, he picked it up, depositing it into the middle of the furnace. Leaving it to heat up and melt he stepped back. He looked at Bram, smiling.

“You want to become a Smith?”

“I dunno.” He looked at Martin’s sweat covered body. “Looks like lots of work.”

Martin laughed. “Yes, it is. But satisfying. In the meantime, you are welcome to stay but then you need to make yourself useful. For now, just fill that waterskin and bring it back here. I could do with a drink.”

Bran grabbed the waterskin, quickly bolting out, not wanting to miss watching. The buildings in the area shared a water pump and he quickly moved to stand in line, which was thankfully short. He returned, to find Martin still watching the forge. Martin took the waterskin from him, drinking deeply. He returned it to the boy nodding. “Back to the anvil. I am going to be removing molten metal from the furnace.”

He moved carefully, placing the finely ground fire essence ash in easy reach of the metal worktable, a metal pole for stirring next to it. Donning thick leather gloves, he grabbed the tongs again, thrusting them into the fire and pulling out the crucible. He placed it on the worktable, quickly adding in the fire essence ash and stirring until the ash was gone. Then, knowing time was racing against him, he quickly poured the metal into the wax mould and sealed it. All he could do now was wait for it to cool and form.

He settled down at a table away from the furnace. Trying to cool himself down, drinking more of the water. He watched as Bram wandered around the forge, making sure he went nowhere near the hot forge or played with any tools that he could hurt himself with. He wondered what it would be like to have an apprentice, then immediately gave up on the notion. He would not be here often enough to teach properly nor was the boy old enough. Passing on the notion for now, he waited patiently for the mould to cool.

The ring that came out was perfectly round aside from the pojnt in the mould where the metal had been poured, simple enough tot cut off and smooth fine, making him immensely pleased with the outcome. The iron had a strange reddish cast to it, not one he had seen before. He examined it, deciding it must be the influence of the fire essence ash. He moved over to the Jeweller’s workstation, clamping the ring down in a mini vice, examining it through the magnifying glass placed atop of it. Working as carefully as he could, he took hold of the engraving tools and etched the rune he needed into the ring. Then he carefully carved it in deeper, filling the resulting image with more of the finely powdered fire essence ash.

He took a deep breathe, preparing for the final phase. Infusing mana into the ring. He closed his eyes, quieting himself, bringing his rapidly beating heart under control. Opening his eyes, he concentrated on the ring. He placed one finger on the top, the other below and started to push his mana. As he did so, he could feel the mana flow from him into, and through the ring, coming through to his finger on the other side. The book had talked about forming a circuit with the item as part of the flow, and he could feel it, a circling of mana, through him and the item. Each circuit a bit of the mana being bled off, staying in the ring, some of the embedded fire essence ash igniting. He could feel Bram watching, and then exclaiming.

“By the titan’s balls, its glowing!”

Martin did not loose his concentration, even while hearing the coarse language of the streets from the boy, but he could understand the boys surprise. The rune glowed, the fire essence ash burning a bright red. He continued circling the mana, feeling it being siphoned off even quicker each cycle. Eventually it just circled, nothing more draining, and the glow faded from the rune.

Martin picked up the ring, examining it carefully as he brought it before his eyes. The red cast in the iron more pronounced. The rune was flush with the iron, but was a bright red, standing out and, in Martin’s opinion, giving the ring a sombre look.

He placed the ring on his finger, finding it fitted first time. Not too surprising as he had used his finger in the making of the mould. Wearing it he approached the furnace which still burned fiercely, but he found that it felt no different to sitting away from it, he simply did not feel its heat. He could see its heat, knew how it burned from the colour of its flames. He grinned, then let out a yell of triumph. It had worked! He had created his first item with an elemental affinity!