Chapter 28:

  The evening before his bout with Kara saw Aria back at the keep. They were in one of the family’s exclusive private workshops. The room smelled faintly of chalk dust, treated leather, and the unmistakable essence of spent magic and mana rich components. Afternoon light slanted through the tall window and spilled across the worktable like translucent gold, warming the side of Eli’s face where the fading light hit him. The days were getting longer.

  It was just Eli and Aria in the workshop. Much like the private arcane study, this room was accessible by invitation only. That went for visitors and staff. Aria, having been invited in, had spent a few minutes eagerly exploring this new room filled with small wonders before her curiosity shifted and her feet brought her over to see what her friend was working on. She leaned in on tiptoe, eyes wide as she looked over the table.

  “What’re you doing?” She asked.

  In front of Eli were pieces of carefully treated and trimmed fabric and coils of enchanting thread and cord arranged in neat order. He glanced up from the strip of leather he was prepping; one hand was stabilizing the leather as the other carefully ran the skiver along the edge, channeling precise amounts of mana into the tool to ensure the beast hide remained stable and didn’t lose potency throughout the process.

  “This is going to be a pouch. A magic pouch. I am working on getting all the pieces ready, so I can start putting the bag together.”

  “That looks really hard,” Aria said, watching as thin strips of leather were slowly skived off layer by layer.

  “Maybe not difficult, but it takes time to learn, and time to do it right.”

  Aria watched Eli silently for a while longer before she spoke again.

  “Can I help?” She asked, her expression was genuine. A mix of earnestness and curiosity that he couldn’t find it in himself to reject outright.

  “Not with this,” he said gently, pausing in his actions to look at her. She was immediately crestfallen, and Eli chuckled. “You have no experience yet, so working on this would be too much for you. No, do not pout. It is not bad. It just means you need to start with something less complicated. Small steps, yes?” He paused to think, and Aria straightened up, her eyes sparkling with an infectious eagerness.

  Eli walked over to a wall with supplies and pulled out a bin. Reaching in he plucked out a square of plain fabric. He also collected a spool of simple thread and a set of mundane needles before he made his way back.

  “Have you been working on your runes?” He asked her.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know how to sew?”

  “I patch everything up at the shop.” She nodded her affirmation. Eli grinned.

  “That is good. Bring that chair closer. Here,” Eli said as she got herself seated. Then he placed the fabric and thread down on the workspace in front of her. “You will practice with this for now. We will work on durability enchantments first. You remember the runes?” Aria nodded, and he had her draw them out a few times before he was satisfied. Then he showed her a simple script using the runes.

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  “Okay, putting script on a flat surface like a wall or a fencepost, or even a simple tool or weapon is very different than enchanting something like clothes, or fabric, or shapes with many curves or sides.” Eli briefly explained three dimensional shapes to Aria and some of the absolute basic theory behind enchanting in 3D before he showed her what he wanted her to practice.

  “The fabric and thread you have now is completely mundane. You remember the two different papers my mother had us enchant in your first lesson?” Eli asked, at Aria’s nod he continued. This fabric is like that plain paper. Maybe with enough effort, you could get the runes to work, but that is not what this is meant for. Use this to practice, okay?”

  Aria sank into the chair beside him; tongue caught between her teeth in concentration as she threaded the needle and carefully began to sew in the patterns she had been shown. Eli worked beside her, leather steady under his hand, but occasionally glancing over to offer her advice or support.

  “Keep the tension even. Do not forget to anchor the stitches. Remember the thread needs to sit so the rune can channel mana…”

  Aria was an eager student, and Eli had to actively supress his giddiness at just how far ahead of her so-called ‘superiors’ she was going to be when she got to the academy. Even most noble houses simply couldn’t afford to train and educate their children on enchanting. Enchanters were expensive tutors, and their time plus the material cost just to get started was often not worth the value. It took years for most enchanters to gain basic competence, and most houses didn’t even have access to the more advanced runes and scripts. Each new enchantment would then cost them significantly to learn it from the guild, from other houses, or from individual enchanters. Otherwise, it was an expensive process of trial and error that often cost more in material and time wasted than it would have to simply buy the information.

  The only reason house Rodrigo had such a wealth of enchantment knowledge and materials was because of his mother. The empire could not afford not to educate Sela. Her rare spatial affinities were incredibly coveted for things like spatial devices, teleportation arrays, and maintenance of the empire’s travel network. Not just the empire, but many houses owed his mother a favour or two and Sela often collected payment in knowledge. So, while most scions and their siblings learned about runes, and rune script, non-guild enchanters and the individuals and private powers willing to invest in creating them were rare.

  The room was warm and quiet as each child worked on their respective task. Then Aria giggled.

  “What is it?” Eli asked.

  “Its kinda funny. All I’m doing it making pretty patterns in clothes. Lots of the ladies at the market do the same thing. Lots of them are better.”

  “It is a little funny,” Eli agreed. “This is just the simplest version of it though. People who do enchantments with only fabric and textiles are called rune-weavers. Some of them are so good they can weave the enchantments directly into fabric.”

  Aria’s eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Really,” Eli said.

  “I guess it’s a little different than the people at the market.” She giggled again as she thought of the intricate patterns and designs she’d seen woven into the more expensive bolts of fabric and, glanced down at her own simple square of practice cloth. “But not too much.”

  ~

  Back in the Lira branch Guild offices, the message Sela had dispatched earlier did not sit unacknowledged long. A second missive had arrived, this time marked with the seal of the capital.

  The secretary carried it into the guild leader’s chamber. “Lady Lane, we have a missive from the central branch of the guild.”

  Inside the office, the guild member who had been dispatched to the Lira rift was standing in front of the desk while the branch leader, Lane Copperscript, sat behind it.

  “Well, go on then.” The woman waved her hand for the secretary to read the missive. The young man looked from his branch leader to the young woman and back to the guild leader who rolled her eyes. “She’s fine. Go on.” At that confirmation the secretary began to report.

  “My lady, it would appear House Rodrigo sent a missive to the main branch of the Enchanter’s Guild. This missive is Central following up on Lady Rodrigo’s report. They want an account of what actions are being taken.”

  At the sound of the Rodrigo house being mentioned, the guild member that had previously been formal, if somewhat relaxed, immediately tensed up.