《LEUR: The Unsung Tales》Chapter 51: Making a Little Magic
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Hope steps out from behind the screen, changed into a white tunic and black trousers. "Tyrion." She pipes up, the halfling looking up as he begins to walk past to get his turn in the bath.
"I just wanted to apologize. I don't know if I struck a nerve with you, but you had an unusual reaction to the mention of Lorelei-" Tyrion holds up a hand to silence her.
"Red, there are some stories you're better off not learning. Let's just say I know some good people in Lorelei and leave it at that, alright?" He pats her hand and moves behind the screen.
Hope sighs and sits down on a spare bed. Amadeo sets down the silver chain with a circle of gold set with topaz, plucking a raven's feather from his pocket and laying it on the pendant. "Ok, here we go." Holding his hands over the raven feather, he reads from the spellbook. A field of hazy but wavy energy forms around the pendant from his hands. Beads of sweat drip from his face, sucked in toward the feather and crystallizing upon it before turning to dust. The energy field takes a more solid form, appearing as a wavy net of crystal that begins to stabilize. "It's working. Just gotta stay focused."
Hope watches curiously, as does Anna, the energy field turning inward and the net's individual strands focusing to a single point right on the feather. The feather lights ablaze, burning to ashes that are then sucked into the topaz, which begins to shine for a moment as the net gradually fades away. Amadeo sits back, taking a deep breath and gingerly lifting the still glowing pendant up. "For a few days of work, that's not half bad. Now to see if it works." He holds it out to Anna, who takes the pendant and slides it over her neck to rest. After a few seconds, she tilts her head. "I don't feel any different."
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"Maybe try sticking your head out the window?" Amadeo suggests, and Anna looks outside. The bright sun pierces through the clouds, shining right in her eyes, and she covers her face. "It's uhh...It's..." She lowers her hand, looking back out unhindered. Her eyes open fully, and a small smile breaks onto her face. "It works. Amadeo, it works!" She jumps giddily and grins at him, throwing herself in a hug that topples the poor wizard to the floor. "...Oops. Sorry."
"It's alright. As long as it actually works." Amadeo smiles and stands with her help.
"That was pretty quick. I thought it took more time to enchant something." Hope stands, looking the pendant over curiously and poking at it, making Anna giggle.
"It takes novices anywhere from five days to a week. Day one was getting that spellbook and copying down the spell. Normally, you have an item you want to transmit the spell onto, but I didn't have anything at the time, so I was just focusing the energy in the back of my mind. Most people don't do it cause it's a waste of magical energy; what if you focus for days or weeks and never find an item to transmit to?"
"But I figured we could find something in the city easily enough. We just got so busy. I started focusing the energy the day I copied the spell down. As long as I didn't use too much energy in one day, I could keep it in reserve. Day two through four was us finding the bandit job and getting the paperwork and rentals together for the 'wedding', which we still need to get dissolved. Sorry Hope, I know how much you loved that dress."
Hope sticks her tongue out. "Much prefer pants, thank you. I could barely move in that frippery."
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Amadeo chuckles. "Then there was the actual job itself."
"Don't remind me. I still feel queasy thinking about the melty trio." Anna shudders, looking outside to test her newly unimpaired vision.
"Which brings us to today. Thankfully, I had enough energy stored up and was able to make some minor modifications to the formula to get it done a day early."
"So next time, we need to have gear on hand so you don't have to hold it in." Hope suggests, nodding in understanding.
"Like a fart." Anna giggles, the rest of the party erupting in a fit of laughter.
Amadeo clears his throat when he finally stops laughing, taking a deep breath. "Anyway, yeah, next time we need to have items on hand..."
He stretches and looks over to the other side of the room where the screen sits. "Little man, are you out of there yet, or do I need to come in and collect you?"
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Just doing some hard thinking." Tyrion replies, coming out in his gear.
"Thinking about what?" Anna asks, opening the window to let in some fresh air.
"I want to help clean up the streets. Today was...Honestly, I've seen some bad stuff, but I've never seen anything like that. Those people didn't deserve that, no one does. So I want to help."
"It's not something I think you ever get used to if you're sane." Hope responds, patting Tyrion on the shoulder. "So we're in agreement that first things first, we'll help do whatever's necessary to put these people to rest."
Amadeo nods in silence as he goes to take his bath.
Anna holds her thumb up.
Tyrion tightens his belt.
Hope sighs. "It's gonna be a long few days. Everyone be prepared for some nasty stuff."
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