“Mark my words. Perception is reality and how someone perceives you is their reality.”

Chris Murray

I left the sliver I’d stolen attached to my amulet in my chest. The amulet would keep the light alive or it wouldn’t. If it did, fantastic! If it didn’t, there was no reason I couldn’t try my idea again. I would just have to be a little sneaky if I wished to keep my attempts private. Breakfast was once more a little stilted with us avoiding talking about the only thing we were thinking about. I was sure that Cora and Baldric probably thought that something was up, either an argument or a disagreement, but I highly doubted they suspected the reality of the situation.

“Baldric let Des and Sinis know that we will not be having any of the cousins attending our school today or this week. We have some specialized training to complete in the garden for the foreseeable future.” Lady Acacia commanded. Technically they were our butler and maid but she had helped to employ them. Then she had trained them to the appropriate standards of Ponente of which we had no knowledge. Their lessons were as much for them as they were for us. In the end, it meant that they followed her commands as much as they did ours.

Our daily schedules had been reorganized so that we could focus on gaining the skills we would need to confound the archbishop should he arrive and visit us. We would not be attempting to teach our cousins while we tried to gain them. Now that we had introduced Lady Acacia to our less polished tunnels and our secret stairway to the garden that was the way we walked after breakfast. It was a lot quicker although the stairs never seemed to end and it was hard to measure progress with the stairs spiralling around and around.

“Your family’s architectural efforts continue to astound.” She complimented as we made our way up the circular stairway. “So many novel styles and ideas.” It was difficult to say whether she was probing for greater detail and an explanation of their origin or merely commenting on their originality. We had taken our mana mote lanterns and they lit up the inverted tower, well.

“Kai is always drawing one thing or another, he could probably draw as soon as he could speak if not earlier.” Aleera referred to the unusual nature of her younger brother. As much as my rapid progress frustrated her sometimes she was equally proud of my achievements.

“I have a lot of ideas.” I defended. “But actually, I could sing before I could speak.” I quibbled. Singing or at least humming had been a lot easier to pick up than developing my fine motor control or learning another new language. It had been impossible to put words to thoughts or things from within the womb. Whereas a melody and its attached sounds had been far simpler to pick up.

“I’ve never noticed any of your drawings other than what I have asked for?” Lady Acacia questioned where exactly I kept them all. She looked interested in what else I might have imagined.

“I packed them away for safekeeping. You have a lot of lessons for us to learn” Now that I had my own secret tunnels I had my own little hiding places throughout the mountain where I might hide a reading spot or a set of books. Some of which I had been drawing in for years. I had never been a normal baby much like I was not a normal child now. Lady Acacia would find no sketches other than the ones she had requested if she went looking through my room. But I had drawn up various plans for the island. For our furniture, even for the town. Though a fair few of them were conflicting and they would not all work at the same time if attempted.

One aspect of the drawing skill I loved was how it built upon what I already had gradually measuring my improvement and giving me hints or help on how to improve until I was drawing far finer than I ever had before. I had drawn sketches of people and places. I had had designed buildings, canals, and bridges. I had outlined ideas for gliders, bikes and boats. As I worked with my cousins picking up their skills there was no reason I could not inject some of my ideas. Working with Karl on the carpentry I had asked what if we had a blade held at an angle and ran it along the wood to create a smooth level cut. While he had initially felt there was no point to the request as he could do that easily enough with his skills, he had humoured me. A week later he had made a working plane. It was a little thing, not much in the grand scheme of things and arguably he could do just as fine a job with his skills. But he did admit that it helped me and my cousins to produce a finer piece of work. It would be small adjustments like this that would drive our progress. I did not know necessarily how to do or make such things but if I could ask the question or suggest a solution then others would be able to build on those foundations. Taking my ideas further and making them a reality.

“Where do you get your inspiration?” Lady Acacia asked as we continued to climb the spiral staircase. It appeared that she was not yet ready to let go of the architect of the tower we were climbing.

“Nature, animals, dreams. I draw inspiration from everywhere.” I answered cautiously. There were some secrets still I had yet to tell. Where did the idea for circular towers come from? We had carved up through the mountain working upwards from the original cave we had found. Naturally, it had formed a circular tunnel boring straight upwards. The staircase we had ultimately added on later.

“Old soul indeed.” She murmured to herself.

“I’m sure others come up with similar ideas. I mean it is just a tower.” I played down my relative brilliance. I had never been a genius simply wiser than my physical years. Something the Lodestar itself had noticed.

“Yes there are prodigies in music or art, geniuses in mathematics or other academic studies, savants with various weapons, but they tend to develop such a skill in one facet of civilization. You on the other hand are attempting to achieve it for all facets of civilization. Such a lack of focus is spreading you thin but despite this, you do a passable effort at keeping up with any of them who focus on only a single one.” She replied.

We finished the climb in silence, thinking about the past, present or future, mulling over our own thoughts. Finally, we reached the top chose the correct exit and after a short passage to the base of the tree returned to the heart grotto of the Elendil lit by the blue light of the Silversea Lodestar. “It feels a little like home.” She commented as we entered.

“You have your own Lodestar in your tree?” Aleera asked.

“No, I’m not the Elvish Emperor or his vassal Elvish Kings, I’m not royalty. But that is not to say that I have not been able to have access to such sites.” Lady Acacia deflected. There is a balance in all things and while the Lodestar was needed. Its presence will curtail the growth of the Elendil tree as it continues to reestablish itself.”

Focused on the task at hand and the desire to keep my abilities to myself. I asked, “So what’s first?”

“First things first, do not attempt to choose another métier, it will lock out your current option and you will be unable to return to it.” She stated abruptly. Reminding us that while we may have had 12 levels as a child, we had yet to achieve many levels in our new métier.

We nodded in understanding.

“Second while holding it hold one another’s hands and attempt to assess their strengths and weaknesses. In time you should be able to hone your skills to be able to tell their level and approximate stats but first you need to develop a sense of them.” She outlined.

“Yes Lady Acacia,” we replied.

At this point, she revealed a case that she had carried up with her. She opened the case displaying a wide assortment of gemstones. They ranged in colour working through the spectrum: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and finally finished with clear and black stones. “Third the dwarves use this method for training their miners and gem smiths, admittedly they do it the other way around with their students learning the stones first and then testing their knowledge. We will be using it the other way around with you using the light of the Lodestar to learn their names. It is a lot easier to inspect items with a little bit of mana to help light up their existence but no consciousness to defend themselves.” She gave us the next step.

“How does the mana help?” I questioned curiously.

While Aleera asked, “How does a consciousness defend . . . why would that make a difference?”

“The mana gives each item a light of its own. Admittedly nothing like the Light of the Lodestar but think how it is easier to see stars in the night sky. The mana emitted will help you see their tiers and names.” She explained to me.

“Just as we are hoping to develop the skills to obstruct another’s gaze this is all built on a sentient’s natural tendency to protect itself. By looking at a stone something without sentience it will hopefully be easier to achieve the skill. But because of this, you will always find it significantly harder to assess the abilities of an individual stronger than you. Despite your strengths and abilities, this is still likely to be the case for most adults for you. That doesn’t mean it is impossible just significantly harder to achieve. A gemstone has no sentience and therefore no innate ability to defend itself from the light of the Lodestar.” She explained to my sister.

As I listened, I thought this might be easier than I thought. I already have a highly levelled skill mana sense as well as all my other sensory skills and the trait super senses. When I used my combined senses I could already sense differing levels of mana in both the pearls and the sapphires our cousins mined I had just never categorized them or split them into levels. Hopefully, this would come naturally to me. I was hoping that the Lodestar would label what I could already see.

“Well, let’s get started then. The longer you are both holding the Lodestar the better.” She gestured. “I will be in the garden while you make the attempt. Do not be discouraged if you do not succeed straight away. It can take a while to develop.” She said then left us alone in the grotto to see what we could achieve.

“Ready?” I asked Aleera.

“Ready.” She replied confidently.

Holding hands and in unison, we reached forward to touch the shard of Lodestar together.

Welcome, Lord Callen Kai Silversea!

I heard and saw the words once more but this time I was ready and focused. I knew what to expect and concentrated to see if I could hear anything else. I thought maybe I could hear an echo but it was quiet and hard to distinguish possibly more my overactive imagination than reality.

Welcome, Lady Aleera Silversea!

That was all I heard initially. It appeared that we were not to be offered a new métier every time we made contact with the Lodestar. Or perhaps it already deduced our intent. The Lodestar was still new to me and magical. Holding hands and touching the Lodestar meant that we did not have a spare hand to pick up the gemstones that Lady Acacia had left behind, leaving us in a temporary predicament.

“So . . . how are we going to do this then?” Aleera asked looking down at our currently tied-up hands.

“Well, first we need to let go of one another but keep touching the Lodestar as apparently, that is what will help us develop the skill. Then start working our way through the stones.” I shrugged my answer knowing as little as she did.

“Very well. Where shall we start.” She asked.

“Let’s start with the purple ones,” I said letting go of her hand to pick up the stones.

“Purple stone number one,” I said lifting it out of the box. I could see a note underneath the gem but we were supposed to be using the Light of the Lodestar to work out their names not crib the notes from the box. I held it for a moment searching for anything more that I could see on it or from it while touching the Lodestar. Nothing was immediately visible so I passed it to Aleera after holding it for a minute so that she could hold it while I reached down and picked up purple gemstone number two.

Lady Acacia had not been explicit in her instructions and her only caution had been that it could take time. Closing my eyes to remove the distraction of sight I concentrated on using my other senses. Mana sense showed the stone glowing brightly in front of me with its mana. I had always been able to sense the levels of mana held in our pearls or gemstones before. I mainly used it to find them though. I had never really used it to try to grade them before. Purple gemstone two, looked much the same as purple gemstone one, to the eye at least. The difference was in the mana it held. Perhaps they were the same type of stone merely different grades. I focused once more on the stone in my hand then used my mana sense to compare it to my sisters. Yes, there was a clear difference between the two of them. The second stone was far stronger than the first, double its strength. But that was not anything more than I would have normally been able to sense on my own. I had just never tried to differentiate between the two before.

“Anything?” Aleera asked.

“Nothing more than usual,” I replied.

“You can see a difference?” she asked.

“Not visually but to my mana sense there is a difference,” I commented.

“There is?” she asked sounding a little worried.

“Yes, this one is stronger than your stone,” I replied handing it over for her to inspect.

“Once again you can see something I can’t.” She sighed. I wondered what level she had managed to get her mana sense to but it wasn’t particularly polite to ask especially if you were pointing out someone’s weaknesses rather than praising their strengths.

“Don’t give up try holding both. Now close your eyes, which feels stronger.” I suggested.

“The second but now I don’t know if that is just because you have told me that was the case.” She complained.

“Trust in yourself, trust in your abilities,” I tried to reassure her.

“It’s difficult to do sometimes when your younger brother can see more, do more and be more years in advance of yourself.” She sounded chagrined though I knew she had nothing to be ashamed of.

“I’ll always look after you, big sister.” I grinned and gave her a hug trying to comfort her. I would not hold myself back from learning new skills, skills I needed but I would hopefully inspire her to challenge herself rather than crush her belief in herself.

“And I you.” She hugged me back fiercely, perhaps squeezing out some of her frustration. “Let’s get back to it.” She declared optimistically.

. . .

We spent the morning working our way through the different stones. Working through the colours of the rainbow. We soon realized that Lady Acacia had a range of ‘tiers’ in each gem which we labelled as such. We also thought that we should be doing the same with our pearls rather than just selling them as deep-sea pearls there was clearly a qualitative difference between them and we should be selling them as such rather than just selling them wholesale. Aleera lit up at the idea that she might be able to charge Mercurio more based on their quality rather than just their quantity. The revelation also left her determined to master the skill of being able to tell their tiers by touch if not by sight. However, we had yet to see or hear any elusive announcement by the Light of the Lodestar. Lady Acacia returned with a light snack foraged from our garden and prepared for us by her hands which was a first.

“This is lovely,” I said as we ate our repast.

“Yes,” Aleera added.

“Just a little something from my homeland. The Elendil has grown enough to produce some fruit that can be harvested.” She said fondly.

“It’s delicious,” I repeated as I hurriedly swallowed half of the food. Anyone who has ever had siblings or even a partner will recognize the subtle rush to eat half of the food before it is infringed upon. Or maybe that was just my poor manners showing through as was about to be commented on.

“Manners maketh man Kai.” She critiqued pulling me up on my hasty eating habits.

“She is hardly eating any slower,” I complained once my mouth was no longer full of food. Pointing at my sister who clearly felt the same subtle pressure that I did and was inhaling the food as nearly as quickly as I had been.

She paused before answering, “It is not necessarily the speed that is the problem merely the complete lack of using the provided utensils.” Aleera sat there smugly using the aforementioned twin-tined fork. I had assumed they were finger foods and had just started using my fingers.

“Any progress towards gaining the skill?” she asked interested in our response but not expecting success so early on in the day.

“Not yet,” Aleera answered honestly.

“We can see the difference in the strength of the stones,” I answered unwillingly to admit that we had no progress.

“But that is from mana sense more than using the Light of the Lodestar.” Aleera qualified uncomfortable with implying that we were making more progress than we had.

“A good first step. Keep trying I will return home to continue Cora’s and Baldric’s training provided they have not disappeared with either your mother or your father.” She stated referring to the fact that Baldric spent more time on their father’s boat with him than preparing our home for his return.

We nodded goodbye and then returned to standing by the Lodestar. Without the return of Lady Acacia likely to happen any time soon, I raised the stone floor to give us some seating as well as raised the case of gemstones. It was stone so it was not a particularly soft seat but it gave our legs a break for a bit and made it a lot easier to handle the gemstones.

“Shall we start again?” I asked Aleera.

“Yes.” She replied determinedly.

We were going to get there.

. . .

Eventually.

. . .

One day.

. . .

Soon.

. . .

Lady Acacia had yet to return perhaps expecting that it would take a while to achieve any results. Leaving us communing with crystals all day had developed into something of a meditative trance. We would keep our hand on the Lodestar while using our other to touch the stones.

I was holding a sapphire and staring at it when I realized there was more than the visual spectrum of blue to it, which was confusing but there it was. I switched back between mana sense, sight and echolocation until I realized that the extra blue I was sensing was not simply a condition of mana sense merging with my sight after looking at stones for so long with so many different senses. Rather the blue was separate to my sight and layered on top of it. Gradually as if my eyes were coming into focus it began to resolve itself. It grew in clarity and definition until finally, I could say I was seeing the words Sapphire Tier 2gemstone hanging alongside the gemstone. It was either that or I had lost it and was now seeing hallucinations. This notion was quickly dispelled by the . . .

Ding! Inspect (Lv1)

I was immediately tempted to shout out about my success. But then on second thought I passed on the stone to Aleera and continued to pick up the next. There was no harm in delaying my announcement. We were going to continue to look at all the stones for a while yet anyway. I was worried that I was gradually or not so gradually inducing learned helplessness in my sister despite her optimism to continue and achieve results on her own. My speedy results had to hurt even if she claimed otherwise. There was no harm in my waiting a while. Besides, there were a lot of gemstones still to assess. So I continued with our ritual only now I could see in far greater detail the true nature of the gemstones I was touching.

Emerald

Tier 3

Citrine

Tier 1

Fire Opal

Tier 2

Ruby

Tier 1

Morganite

Tier 1

Diamond

Tier 3

Amethyst

Tier 3

In time hopefully, I would be able to do it by sight as much as by touch but for now, I was happy with my progress. I was also wise enough to support my sister with her progress through my silence on my success. We spent the afternoon in comfortable silence passing a fortune back and forth between us. This method of training a new skill could only be afforded by those with silver spoons in their mouths and hands full of gemstones. We knew we were lucky, but would we have enough time to learn the skill, that was the question.