Tala and Holly sat in the workroom; a table set up between them with tea. Holly had provided the beverage, and Tala was quite enjoying hers.

Terry had declined a cup when offered

After only a couple of sips, Holly set her cup to one side. “Now, I don’t have all day, and you have much to do as well, I assume.”

“I do.” Tala smiled around another sip of tea.

“So?”

She set hers down as well. “First, let’s get some easy things out of the way. Is my mage-sight becoming more sensitive?”

“Of course. The longer you have your inscriptions, the more potent they will become. That includes your mage-sight.”

That makes sense and is what I expected, but it’s good to confirm. “Should I be able to see magic in the light coming off empowered fixtures?”

Holly hesitated. “That is a bit more sensitive than I’d expected until you finished fusing, but yes. That is within expectations.” She smiled. “If you pay enough attention, you will be able to see fluctuations in the magic levels given off by various lights. The greater the fluctuations in inscribed lights, the closer they are to the end of their life, and the sooner they need to be reinscribed. Greater fluctuations in artifact style lights are simply the result of quality of construction and empowerment.” She looked up, considering. “When you reach a deeper level of perception, you will be able to interpret a city’s power status, simply by glancing at any artifact style item hooked to the grid.” She laughed. “Or, I suppose, the enchantments in the air within the city.”

Fascinating. I’ll have to start paying more attention to the subtleties I can now see. What should she ask next?

She glanced to Terry, feigning sleep on her shoulder. “Terry seems to store many of his vitals in extra dimensional spaces. Is something like that possible for me? It would let me have much greater reserves and be less vulnerable.”

Terry perked up, clearly curious as to the answer.

Holly frowned, then shook her head. “I see. That would explain how he is able to get smaller so easily, and with seemingly no ill effects. Even so, no. It works for Terry, there, because he does it to change size. If he were subjected to anything interfering with his magic, he would simply grow in size, to whatever his natural state is. His organs would have places to be, and there would be no issue. If that were to happen to you, with what you propose? Your ‘extra stores’ would splay out everywhere, and depending on how it was done, you’d burst, and not in a fun, ‘That was a bad idea that I can learn and grow from’, sort of way.”

“Ahh… I hadn’t really considered that. What about just hiding away critical organs?”

“I see you weren’t listening closely. My bet is that Terry shrinks and places the excess into what amounts to dimensional storage, yes?”

“That’s what I understood.”

“Good. That means, when he grows, he pulls out as much of the organ as is needed to fill the space.”

“Right.”

“So, you aren’t changing size. You’d just be creating a vacuum within your body. In the best case, your body would fill it without injury, but that would leave you with no room for your critical organs to return to at need. At worst, you’d implode. It wouldn’t be extreme, but it would be unpleasant.”

Tala grimaced. “Fine. That idea’s out, then.”

“Quite.”

What next, what next… Ah, yes. “I need an area of effect option.”

Holly shrugged. “Delve back into alchemy.”

“Alchemy?” Tala frowned. “What?”

“That, or you can change your understanding of gravity. That would give you area of effect options.”

Tala sighed. “I’m not going to fundamentally reshape my understanding of my own magic.”

“Then, I suggest Alchemy.” She hesitated. “Or do you have a good grasp and concept over another branch of magic?”

Tala shook her head to both ideas. “I don’t have time to practice another skill, mundane or magical.”

Holly looked at her with genuine confusion. Then, she seemed to realize something. “Oh, I see. No. Don’t do alchemy. Go to an alchemist and get a solution. Bottled fire, compressed lighting, that sort of thing. Or, you get a magic tool that does what you want.”

It was Tala’s turn to consider. “Huh. Alright. I’ll think on it.” She frowned. “I’d have thought you would propose an inscription based solution.”

“I already did. Your active gravity manipulation should have allowed for area effects, but you don’t seem to be able to make it work that way. That says your fundamental understanding is not compatible with such at this time.”

“Alright then.”

Holly started nodding. “Speaking of your current inscriptions.” She pulled out a stone tablet. “What the rust did you do to your crush and restrain inscriptions? Not only are you out of rings, but the base spell-forms are utterly fried.”

“Oh… I crosslinked them to stop one Leshkin juggernaut and crush another when I was out of standard uses.”

Holly wrinkled her nose, sighed, then gave a small smile. “That is a disappointingly reasonable explanation.”

“Disappointing?”

“I was a bit excited to lecture you on foolishness, but those things are…not worth messing around with. If you had two to face at once, and you were out of rings, I can understand some desperate action.”

“Huh.” Tala found a bit of warmth stirring in her chest. Was that a compliment?

“In that vein, though, you have been abusing your inscriptions extensively.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you are so full of stimulants that only the inscription on your neck, which enforces your ability to sleep, and remain conscious otherwise, is allowing you to function. Every detoxifying organ in your body has burned through six months of inscriptions in barely more than two. How much coffee have you been drinking?”

“Detoxifying organs?”

“Mistress Tala, I am no healer. Don’t dodge the question.”

“A...” Tala took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “A lot.”

“So it would seem. And you’ve been sparring, I can tell by how often your body has had to heal from minor impacts and bruising. You’ve been working out almost as much as you’ve been drinking coffee. The scripts have almost completely rebuilt your musculature. You somehow lost your right arm entirely. That ironically allowed for a much more complete, robust reconstruction of everything there.” She hesitated, then looked up at Tala. “Don’t take off other parts just to get the same minor boost. You’re nearly there anyways, with these scripts.”

“With these scripts?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. The physiological enhancement scripts are a series of inscriptions all focused on increasing the body’s capacities over time. Each approach it slightly differently, but close enough to prevent resonance issues. They are intended to build on each other. These, the ones you currently have, are almost done with their work, and their magic is almost set, which means that when I reinscribe you, we can do the next series.” She hesitated. “I’m not describing it well.” Holly bit her lip briefly. “Oh! That’s it. Normally, the human body counts to three. We wanted more from your body, hence the inscriptions. So far, we’ve been having your inscriptions count to five over and over, reinforcing that sequence. Now, with your body acclimatized to its new pattern, we make the inscriptions count to eight.”

“I understand the metaphor, but not how it applies.”

“I’ll get you the technical breakdown to study on your own time.”

“Alright.”

“Now, your gravity manipulation, I don’t think you need the hand positioning for regular targeting. You should have a pretty good mental model for that, now.”

Tala thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah. That’s true enough.”

“So, the question remains. What do we do with your right breast?”

Tala snorted a laugh. “That’s quite the question.”

Holly shrugged. “What do you want?”

“Well, when I use my crush mental model with my new scripts, I get the same effect, but it really stresses the inscriptions.”

She nodded. “I was wondering what had caused that. Go on.”

“Is there any way we can incorporate the ring style stress-sink from crush and restrain into my active gravity manipulation?”

“You mean as a fallback?” Holly looked up and away, considering. “To bear the extra strain if you do those heavy-requirement workings.” She started nodding. “I should be able to make that work.”

“Great! And can you cover my whole body with those rings? I never want to run out again.”

Holly laughed. “That, I can’t do.”

Tala frowned. “Why not?”

“Because the strain can only be mostly redirected. I will already have to beef up the entirety of that inscription set to handle pulses of higher throughput. Best I do is…” Holly paused, seeming to do mental calculations. “We should split them up so you don’t lose all your castings with a hand, again. And we should give you a backup.”

“Why put it on my hand at all?”

“So, you can easily tell how many you have left? I’d hate for you to think you had more than you actually did, mid-fight.”

“That… that is a fair point.”

“So, fifteen per hand, and a back-up of five on your left breast?”

“Just five more than before?”

“But better distributed.”

Tala sighed. “If that’s the best we can do.”

“It is, until you integrate the spell-workings more fully. Your iron defense is helping with that, by the way. Your natural magics seem to be acclimatizing about twice as fast as usual, even taking your high magical density into account.”

“So, what should we do with the space now available in my right breast?”

Holly began moving things around on her tablet. “You know, with the expanded functionality, I’d prefer to not try to cram the entirety of your mental monitoring and consciousness maintaining scripts at the back of your neck. The dimensionality now available would allow me to make it much more efficient, gold wise, as well as increase performance.”

Tala thought for a long moment, then sighed and nodded. “Alright, but we need a better name for it.”

“Your imaginary friend?”

“Rust, I hope it doesn’t manifest in that way.”

Holly chuckled. “True enough. The name is important and will likely influence the functionality, over time.”

“How about Nima? Neurological imaginary magical assistant.”

Holly shook her head. “No, no. This needs more thought than we can give now. I don’t need to incorporate the name into the schema. Take your time. Maybe use the spell-working for a bit to figure out what you think would work best.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Holly pushed back and stood up. “Now, I do have a lot to do, and not just in working through the minutia of how we’re going to alter your inscriptions.” She thought for a long moment. “You’re a Mage protector now, right? You get half your inscriptions paid for?”

“Yes. Why?” Tala didn’t like where this was going.

“Earmark forty gold for the inscribing.”

“FORTY! That’s insane?”

“Is it? I need to reinforce and improve virtually every spell-form in your body and add entirely new workings. Plus the redesign isn’t free.”

Tala grimaced. There’s not really any better option…is there. “Fine.”

Holly smiled. “Good. Now, shoo.” She playfully flicked her hands towards Tala. “I’ve work to do.”

Tala growled but nodded. “Fine…Thank you, Mistress Holly.”

Holly gave her a long look. “We’ll get you sorted. Say hi to Master Boma for me, if you see him again at the Constructionists’. He said you are loads of fun to work with.” Her eyes were glinting mischievously.

Tala, a bit hesitant, agreed as she departed. “Will do.”

* * *

Tala paused as soon as she walked in through the wide-open doorway and into the well-appointed entry hall.

While the magics of the scan that identified her as a human Archon were nearly identical to what she’d come to expect, the ding of this branch of Bandfast’s Constructionists’ Guild was a bit different in tone than the one Tala had gotten used to in Makinaven. Huh. Didn’t notice that before.

Boma himself came out, stopping as he saw her. “Mistress Tala. You’re back.”

“I am, Master Boma.” She gave a shallow bow. “Mistress Holly sends her greetings.”

He grunted, then gave her a wary look. “You aren’t here to harass my people about a coffee incorporator again, are you?”

She chuckled, waving his concern aside. “No, no.” She hesitated. “Wait. Harass? Again? I never harassed anyone.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “What do you call showing up randomly, at all hours, and questioning, in detail, as many of our assistants as you could pin down?”

Tala grimaced. “Well, fine, if you put it that way.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “I apologize for acting in that way. Even though it wasn’t my intention, I can see how it might have been perceived.”

Boma rocked back slightly, blinking. “I…uh…apology accepted.”

“Thank you.”

There was a moment of silence, before Boma cleared his throat and smiled. “So, what brings you here today, if not the quest of a coffee incorporator?”

“Dealing with a simple soul-bonding, then incorporating a large number of things into the soul-bound item.”

Boma sighed, his countenance falling. “Alright. What broke?”

She frowned. “What…broke?”

“Yes, broke. What happened that you didn’t expect? What inconvenient magics manifested with the soul-bond?”

“Nothing broke. I want to soul-bond these.” She patted the elk-leathers. “And then incorporate a variety of magical and mundane items into them.”

He cocked his head. “And you’re coming to us before the bond has taken place?”

“Of course, I thought that the wisest course. Was I wrong?”

A smile broke across his features. “No! No, that’s amazing. Most Archons bond whatever they feel like, then come to us for help patching the cracks and smoothing out the unwanted aspects.” He wrinkled his nose slightly at the thought before his grin returned in full force. “This is way better. So, a clothing item. You found some armor to combine with it, I’d guess?”

Tala nodded. “Leshkin Juggernaut.”

Boma whistled. “Not bad. That’s a fantastic base for building up the defensive abilities of soul-bound clothing.”

“Really? Why? I’d hoped to get some utility out of them, but it sounds like you’re suggesting that they’re especially good?”

“Well, yeah. So long as they were harvested less than a week ago.”

“They were.”

“Perfect. So, Leshkin arms and armor aren’t made in the mundane sense, nor are they grown in the animal sense. Their magic enters into matter, in this case plant matter, and changes it to match the form and function desired. The lower tiers of Leshkin often use all their power simply to create the shape required, but knights and juggernauts? They have magic to spare that reinforces and expands the capabilities of what they mold to their will. That magic should still be within the armor. Thus, we can draw it out and make almost any article of clothing function as a base for the armor magic.”

“Wow.” She hadn’t considered that. “So, are Leshkin unique in this?”

“Hmm? Oh, no. Greater elementals, elder fae, and quite a few other creatures do similar things. A good rule, which mostly holds true, is if the creature possesses material to create its body, it has this effect on the results.”

“Good to know.” She made a mental note to keep an eye out for such creatures. Not that they are that common in the human wilds. As usual, none of the creatures mentioned were new to her, but most were simply stories, things of myth and legend.

Boma broke through her meandering thoughts with a question, “I assume you have a few sets? I’ve heard some stories about your latest venture.”

“I’ve a few, yeah.” Rane had given her all the Leshkin Juggernaut harvests, save those he needed for his own weapon’s improvement. She would repay him for what she used of his half of the spoils, if necessary.

“Wonderful. Let’s go to a merging room and lay it all out.”

“Don’t I need to bond these first?” She patted her side.

“No, not at all. If we can get the merging set up, then when you perform the bond, it will incorporate everything set up at a much more efficient and deeper level.” He hesitated. “You won’t have as much conscious control over the outcome, but that’s the point of the spell-form. This one will be complicated. I’d not do it at all without our merging rooms.” He grinned. “Oh, it is so wonderful to build a bound set from components instead of just patching them up.”

Tala smiled in return. “Glad to have made the right call.”

“Come on. Let’s get to it.”

* * *

Tala stood near the entrance, focusing within her finger, building up a bloodstar for the binding. Easier than cracking open a piece of tungsten.

Boma was happily humming to himself as he checked, triple checked, and rechecked all the lines both on the surface and weaving through the floor.

Terry was tucked in a nearby corner, guarding Kit, and Tala was wearing a borrowed arming robe.

“Alright, Mistress Tala. To verify, these are all the items you wish to incorporate, and you use a version of directional flow to empower your external workings capable of supporting up to eight paths?”

Tala nodded absently, pulling out a mundane knife. The star is strong enough.

After a flex of will temporarily disabled the defensive inscriptions in her finger, she used a quick motion to open her skin. A pull removed the bloodstar and brought it to rest in front of her chest.

“Archon star is ready. It’s not a full powered one, but that should work, correct?”

Boma examined her from where he stood. “Yeah, I assume this is what you’d used on your knife, before the merging when we first met?”

“This is actually a bit stronger than that.”

“Then it should be perfect.”

Tala smiled, looking in at their work from the last hour.

The room before her was fascinating. The elk-leathers lay at the center, her simple, elegant, sturdy black belt atop them and her shoes beside. Her other outfits from the seamstress, Merilin, were arranged around the three articles of clothing. Around that were six sets of Leshkin juggernaut armor, spaced with thunder bull leather.

The Leskin armor was of wide-ranging styles. On one extreme was wood closely mimicking a suit of full plate, but instead of padding or chainmail to protect the joints, there were only smaller, more articulated plates. The other extreme was simply heavy wooden rings woven into ring mail, with progressively smaller rings in tighter patterns behind. The others were mixes or types that landed somewhere between those two.

They had selected these specific sets for their resonance with each other, the elk-leathers, thunder leather, and Tala, herself.

Most of the armor sets had had a strong counter-resonance with Tala, herself, and her magics. That was likely because of the Leshkin hatred of those using ending berry power. The others had been a bit tricky to harmonize with. Even so, Boma was very pleased and had no doubts that they’d get a good result. Apparently, the spell-forms acted to counter any imbalances, and he’d needed very little of that functionality in this merging and bonding.

Copper spell-forms, as delicate as spiderwebs, covered the floor, obviously dipping below the surface as well. Around each item or set was a clear circle for it to rest within.

Additionally, around the elk-leathers, Boma had left eight circles for Tala to dump power into, via her void-channels.

Boma had asked her innumerable questions as he worked. How did she want the items to integrate, what features did she want in each form, and so on.

They had grabbed onto the same ability that Flow had manifested from her bloodstar, the ability to change shape.

While shape-changing bound items weren’t terribly uncommon, it was almost always a feature that had to be merged in from an outside source and was therefore never as core to the item as Tala’s could be.

They were ready.