Deilan drifted out of the manor in a mental fog. He kept expecting a call from behind him, followed shortly by a set of manacles and a stay in a cell. How could I have been so stupid to just spew that all out! I just admitted to not only committing a crime, but intent to commit more. He shook his head, hurrying his step on his way out. The guards at the gate appeared to recognize him, as they let him by with a pair of sad smiles as he trudged by. At the sound of whispers, he turned around to see coins exchanging hands between the guards.

The sight fell like a blow on his already frayed nerves. He felt tears begin to form at his eyes, and quickly turned to head towards a side street. It took a few minutes, but he managed to gather himself enough that he felt like he wasn’t going to break.

Stress was supposed to bring out the true nature of a person, and he wasn’t liking what he was discovering about himself. He had always seen himself as clever and brave, with perhaps a streak of absentmindedness that kept him from really achieving anything. He’d always assumed that if he found the right task, he’d be able to focus and do something great. Today had really hammered home how far his self image was from the truth.

He reached his hand in his pocket, feeling the piece of paper he was handed. What was her deal? I don’t understand what she was going for there. He had never felt as completely out of his depth as he had during that conversation. The more he incriminated himself, the calmer she had looked. He had thought she was making up her mind about what to do with him, and he supposed in a way she had. But letting him go? It made no sense. Offering to talk more about restricted runes? He might have assumed it was a trap, but she had already had such a good reason to arrest him that he couldn’t imagine her expecting any more incriminating evidence.

Maybe she thinks like me, that the runes shouldn’t be so restricted. But that idea didn’t quite fit either. If she wanted to spread the runes, and was in charge of guarding them, why wouldn’t they already be out there? Too much of this situation didn’t make sense, and he there was only one way of finding out more.

The paper crinkled slightly under his hands, but he couldn't quite bring himself to take it out and read it. Today had revealed how little he knew, about the nobles, about the rules, and about himself. He needed some time to think, to let his mind chew on what he had learned, before making his decision. He pulled his hand out of his pocket, and began making his way home.

Deilan tensed as he walked through his front door, expecting the stares of his family and questions about his interview. Instead, an empty house greeted him. Of course, Kylie is at the academy, and mother and father are working. He decided that that was probably for the best, as he wasn’t quite ready to talk about his day. Instead, he made his way to his room to change into something more comfortable, and made himself a sandwich with what was in the cold box.

He made sure to activate the focal rune on the door of the cold box when he was done, as he didn’t want to start the conversation with his parents tonight with talk of spoiled food. Very little could set his father on edge like losing an entire box load of food.

After some thought, he decided to go out and see if he could catch Bertral or Flinn for something distracting. Flinn was supposed to be working on one of his father’s fishing vessels, but if he was lucky this was one of his off days. Bertral had managed to get a job landscaping, and was just beginning to make a name for himself. Deilan felt some pride on that front, as he had helped Bertral plan out the rune fractal that he used for it. They had all been friends for years, although they had begun drifting apart slightly now that work was taking the other two away so often.

Deilan decided to head towards Bertral’s first, as he lived closer and was more likely to be home. Bertral had rented a small apartment in a nicer district a couple of months ago, and it only took Deilan about ten minutes to make his way there. He smiled as he approached the door and sawa a familiar pair of muddy boots resting on the doorstep. A quick knock later, and he was invited into the apartment. Unfortunately, the smell that greeted him upon entering was a familiar one. His friend had never been the best at keeping his room tidy, and the move to his own apartment had not done him any favors.

Bertral was a rather small man, a contrast to the stereotype of those who chose earth attunement. His stubborn nature, however, was right in line with what people expected. His youth combined with his small stature tended to make people assume he was younger than he was, and the result led to a rather pugnacious demeanor. Temper aside, he was always quick with a smile and a joke, and ready to help a friend.

“Deilan, how’s it going? I thought we were supposed to hang out yesterday, but I never ended up hearing from you. Get caught up in another project? Set your mattress on fire again?”

Maybe a little too quick with a joke.

“I’ve never set my mattress on fire, thank you very much. I accidentally shredded it that one time, but after that I figured out how to use the beneath rune correctly. Speaking of which, I got that flow rune working. Oh, and I don’t suppose you have the materials to patch a wall?”

Bertral began laughing at that, leaning against him while he tried to catch his breath. “Never change, man, never change. I can probably get that wall fixed, sure, if you can pick up the clay. I’ll even do it without telling your mother, since I’m guessing she doesn’t know yet. What did you do, hang up some drawings there?”

Deilan shifted his shoulders uncomfortably, refusing to meet his friend’s eyes. “It’s a blanket actually. Anyways, did you want to see the new rune? Do you know if Flinn is off today?”

Bertral burst into a fresh peal of laughter, doubling over completely. Definitely too quick with a laugh. Shouldn’t he be growing up a little by now?

Finally, Bertral caught his breath, wiping tears from his eyes. “No, Flinn is off working with his father today. I think he’ll probably be back in a couple hours, but we’ll probably lose daylight by then. Want to head to the usual spot, and you can show me the new trick?”

Deilan smiled, happy feeling a swell of pride to finally be showing off to someone who would appreciate it. For the first time in an hour, he felt a weight begin lifting from his shoulders.

“Sure, let’s head over. I have a feeling you’re going to love this.”

The old quarry had been a favorite of theirs since the moment they had discovered it. At first, they had been worried that it was only temporarily out of commission, perhaps from a change of ownership or some kind of seasonal quarry rotation. With a little bit of asking around, they had discovered that the type of stone had fallen out of favor when inscribed clay had become popular. The more malleable material was easier to work with and inscribe, as well as being easier to patch. The small demand for this kind of stone had mostly been provided by the scraps remaining from new construction projects.

This had left an amazing area for young boys learning to utilize their fractals to experiment and play at mock fights. Bertral in particular had enjoyed the area, as working with the tougher stone and gravel had made it much easier to approach his landscaping business with a variety of approaches. Nowadays, they mostly used it as a place to get together and spend some time together away from the bustle of the city. Life had been getting more complicated, and the chance to slip away to remember simpler times was alluring.

They reached their normal meeting point, standing just on the border of the small lake that had formed as the quarry had emptied. They had joked that it was the meeting point between Flinn and Bertral’s affinities, with Deilan representing the divide. Really, it just let them all show off the new things they were practicing without having to drift too far. Bertral had even made benches years ago at the spot that still stood.

Bertral had been happily chatting away on their way here about his business, and the interesting people he had met. One young woman came up repeatedly, and Deilan had tried hard to hide the knowing grin from his face. Let Bertral have his crush, he wouldn’t mock him. At least not until Flinn was there to appreciate it. As they reached the benches, Bertral slumped across his normal bench and gave him an expectant look.

“Okay, show me this new rune. I’m not saying that I have money riding on it, but Flinn was pretty confident that you’d never make this work.”

He wasn’t too surprised. With his water attunement, Flinn had a pretty set idea on how the flow rune was meant to function. The connectors and modifiers for it were well defined in the academy library, and it was firmly established as a fluid rune. There was some application in air, but the more rigid force and earth attunements were considered a poor fit for the action.

“Okay, you’re really going to enjoy this. I think this setup can be adapted to earth as well, so you’re going to win more than a bit of money from that skeptic.”

Bertral sat up straighter, and it was easy to understand why. Flowing earth would be a huge boon to his business, and would sharply increase demand for his services. Even if he didn’t have Deilan’s imagination, he could still apply new ideas to his own thinking very quickly. It had made it very easy to bounce ideas off of each other since they met.

Okay, I haven’t had a chance to try this one with any kind of distance, but the concept is solid. I’ll angle this towards the water just to be on the safe side. He let his fractal form in his mind, taking the time to solidify the image as much as possible. It wasn’t strictly necessary, but the stronger the image in his mind, the less draining it was to keep the runic pattern active. He let his eyes rest on the ground leading in front of him, tracing the intended physical path with another part of his mind. That part required far less focus, but without the direction the runes were prone to activate in strange ways.

Slowly, he felt his mind fill his force attunement, letting his mind trace along the path to external, following the newly formed branch to flow and following the link established to his existing along rune. A thin, barely discernible sheet of force formed along the ground, traveling a few feet before fading from view. Bertral took a look at it, and his shoulders slumped in disappointment.

“Aww man, you really had me going. It’s just another platform. You’ve shown me these before.”

Deilan waved a hand in his direction, motioning for him to wait. He took a step forward, and hopped onto the platform, holding the pattern in his mind as lightly as possible. He felt the platform slowly carrying him forward, the flowing force creating movement along the plane. He turned to Bertral, and pumped his hand in the air in triumph.

“Hah! I told you it worked, this is…” Unfortunately as he celebrated, his control over the pattern in his mind slipped and the platform suddenly shot him forward at a terrifying speed. He had just a brief moment to see Bertral’s eyes widen before he was flying into the lake.

Deilan found himself shivering on his bench, glaring daggers at Bertral as he tried to suppress chuckles that hadn’t truly ceased since Deilan’s head had breached the water of the lake. I really wish we had put some kind of cushioning on these benches at some point. Or stashed some kind of firewood down here. He made a mental note to do just that, as the weather was beginning to turn. Soon, they’d see snow, and a warm fire here would be wonderful. No, don’t think of snow. Think of warm cider, hot stones, a steaming bath.

“Are you sure you don’t want to head back and change? We don’t have that much sun left, it would probably be faster than trying to dry out in the sun, and a little more pleasant.”

Deilan shook his head, unwilling to head back in just yet. “My mother would kill me if I came into the house soaking wet again. Do you remember the time Flinn tried to show that he could make us all walk on water? We all walked back to my place and you guys hung out in the den while I changed clothes. She was livid about the mud all over her floors, and I ended up having to clean the entire house to make up for it. No, better to be cold for a while.”

Bertral gave him a pensive look, an oddity that caught Deilan’s attention. “Does this have anything to do with what’s been on your mind all day? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so tense. I’m here to listen, if you want to talk about it.”

Deilan looked to the ground, feeling the weight pressing down on his shoulders again. Do I want to talk to Bertal about this? Not everything, some of it seems genuinely dangerous. But at least sharing some of it with a friend has to be helpful. He gathered his thoughts for a moment, sorting what he needed to share with what he couldn’t. Better to just leave the bit at the library out entirely. Mind made up, he turned to Bertral.

“It started this morning when I decided to apply for a position as a noble’s guard…”