A Knight's Lilies

“With the founding of the special diplomatic zone and economic zone. We hope that it will work to bridge the gap between our races, and show the world that cooperation is possible. That there are lucrative markets for both groups to participate in. That not just peace is possible, but harmonious coexistence.”

- Primus Councillor Morvein Ingrudoc, 16th Primus Councillor of Arteria, “Sel’Nir Tirin Embassy Inauguration Ceremony”

Exquisite and bizarre. Those were the words Ary wanted to describe the Calnodel household as. She knew they had a reputation for magitech inventions and maintenance of said tech throughout the city. What she didn’t expect were prototypes, certificates, awards, medals, and other little gadets decorated the walls. Some even had little tiny plaques with bits of elven script upon them, denoting the history or achievement of something. She felt that same weight of history here, albeit with a more mechanical overture than the Salmora museum in the city. A few portraits even hung alongside the hallway walls. Depicting various members of the Calnodel family in their prime, though with a slightly exaggerated elven slant if the paintings of Thalnor and Maylesa were anything to go by compared to the real thing. Though they all look extraordinarily beautiful.

Wood and marble blended seamlessly together to form a sturdy yet elegant structure that hid its secrets from any outsiders. Ancient yet polished furniture was arranged neatly everywhere, including the large dining hall and massive table that acted as its centerpiece, the wood likely hundreds of years old. Dozens of other little rooms and doors dotted the household and Ary wondered just how big this household was. Soft like clicks and ticks of clockwork and a gentle chill only added to the strangeness of the mansion.

She wasn’t alone either. Aside from the butler and her escorts, she had already counted another half dozen household guards and double that amount in household staff. Anything from clerks, to butlers and maids. Judging by how nearly spotless everything was, the cleaning regimen here was precise beyond imagining. Though what wasn’t beyond imagining was the conservative yet oddly skin tight uniform of the maids. Something that almost made her chuckle as she tried to picture Sophie in the uniform, bending over to dust something and baring her privates for all to see, immaculating outlined by the uniform. She had to bite her lip to refocus herself from the dirty thoughts, her mind often wandering more and more into things she never quite thought about before. Gah, but she’d look so good!

The butler led her down a set of stairs into the basement. It was dingy and a little dark, though still relatively well maintained and mostly dust free. Around them were a few doors and many crates and barrels of what she assumed were supplies for the manor. The butler walked up to a side door before giving it a light rapt with his knuckles. His knock blending into the mechanical humming that echoed in the background.

“Young master, young mistress. Your guest has arrived.” He announced.

A shuffle and a loud clatter that made the entire party wince was heard from within, followed by a loud, assumedly elven curse word being said out loud. Then there was quiet. A low pitter patter of rushed feet and a click before the door swung open to reveal two curious looking elves within.

“Aryana!”

The siblings echoed.

The butler sighed, “Please stay out of trouble. And remember your guest is your responsibility.”

“Of course.”

“Indeed.”

The butler just turned on his heel and left, the aggressive clack of his shoes highlighting his disdain. Following him, the two guards headed back up the stairs with him leaving Ary with the two siblings. Both of whom stared at her oddly. She frowned and shifted uneasily, wondering what it was they were waiting for when she heard the last of the footsteps disappear up the stairs.

As if given a new lease of life, the two ushered Ary excitedly.

“You’re here!” Maylesa noted.

“I am!” Ary gently chirped.

“A wonderful occasion. Isn’t that right?” Maylesa prodded her brother.

“Indeed. Another helping hand and a learned mind.” Thalnor smiled.

“Oh? What am I helping with today?” Ary asked.

“Ah-ah. First time in a new workshop. I think it’s time for a tour.” Maylesa grinned.

Though Ary had originally come here to both accept their invitation for a social gathering and present her own request. She had a feeling that things were about to get just a little more complicated than she had imagined.

“All our own designs, now produced by a workshop in the city.” Maylesa explained as she noticed Ary’s gaze flicker over to a wall of clocks. All stopped preciscely at noon.

“A commercial workshop, not ours.” Thalnor added.

Ary could see why. The designs themselves were nothing too gaudy or extravagant. But they were unique. A little curve here, some striactions there, a blending of mana tubes and cogs to keep the whole thing functional. Compared to the regular clocks she saw in the Academy or around the Grand Libary, She decided that she liked them.

“They look lovely.” She said.

Maylesa frowned, “Mayhaps. But still subpar in regards to similar timepieces made by them.”

“Them?”

“She means our elder siblings.” Thalnor sighed, “Our designs were judged to be commercial, bordering on artisanal. Not quite enough to be adopted on a grander level.”

“O-oh.” Ary mumbled.

“Tis fine. We have accepted it.” Maylesa grunted.

“Indeed.”

The two led her further into their basement workshop. Tools, tables, mechanical parts littered the place. Her attention was drawn to two odd looking oblong shields, both adorned with blueish mana inserts along the rim. Catching her gaze, Maylesa winked as if to prompt her.

“What are those?” Ary took the hint.

“Ah, those. Prototypes for now.” Maylesa tapped the shields, “The concept is that it would be like a mobile ward, like those inscribed upon templars or high ranking knights.”

“If it worked.” Thalnor snickered.

“If it worked.” Maylesa rolled her eyes, “We still haven’t figured out a way for the mana to properly interact with the shield itself beyond inscribing it.”

“Awh, but what’s so bad about inscribing it?” Ary queried.

Maylesa rubbed her chin, her eyes suddenly becoming a little more lively once more.

“Well, if I want to sell the idea I’ll put it this way. Inscribed arms and armours can only ever perform whatever their prescribed functions are. Say, an enchanted blade that can engulf itself in flames can only ever be a blade that can become a fire blade. Whereas in this case, we’re trying to create something more modular that you can use with different spells depending on the situation.” She explained.

“As my sister says. So in essence, you aren’t restricted to just wards. You could even use the shield as a light source provided you had the correct spell and components for it. At least, if it worked. Right now it simply looks like a decorative shield or coat of arms.” Thalnor added.

Ary nodded sagely, though parts of the explanations simply went over her head. They tried making shields too, I wonder… Trying to give herself more time before being put to work, she pointed at an oddly shaped jar with a tiny crystallized mana stone embedded into the bottom.

“And what’s this?”

“Hmm? Oh, that. It was meant to be a measurement device that used mana to help gauge the health of plants that it’s embedded besides and to water them on its own.”

“Oh!”

“With one major caveat.”

“Oh?”

“It is ridiculously expensive to waste a mana stone like this. The first part works, we’ve tested as much. It measures changes in farm plots and flower pots pretty well. Though the water distribution system still needs some work. So in theory, it is a success.” Thalnor interjected, “How it does what it does is simply not worth it economically.”

“Aww. It sounds like it could be useful. Especially if I was back home.”

“Home… home…” Thalnor drummed his fingers against a table.

“The Frostwind Mountains. Super cold, super snowy.” Ary supplied the answer, her nose wiggling irritatedly at the merely thought the place. Her mouth inadvertently feeling a little chilled.

“Ah! Right. You came from there. I suppose it would be.” He frowned, “If we managed to expand the scope and scale whilst retaining a relatively similar cost of the manastone. In theory it could help with plant cultivation in harsher environments. Though without a greenhouse it isn’t going to do much to move frozen water.”

“As a matter of fact, wouldn’t just creating a self regulating heat lamp be better? Though tuning the mana crystals to resonate with the minute changes in temperatures would certainly be a challenge. But there is a market for it if there are more people living in places where crops are hard to grow.”

“Potentially. We would need to get a better understanding of the environment it would be deployed in. Too much pressure and we might risk the condensed mana affecting the mana of the land around it. Also…”

Ary smiled as the two of them got lost in their own little world. She was only a little jealous, the two clearly had already begun formulating plans and steps forward in but a split second. A demonstration, albeit a casual one, of their innate knowledge and talent. She envied their ability to manufacture such magitech. Sure would’ve made life a lot easier back then. Huh.

Noticing how they were now with the siblings and no one else, Ary gave her shirt pocket a small prod. From within, an annoyed looking faerie with messy hair popped out. Yana looked up at her, a little groggy from her extended nap. Ary couldn’t help smiling a little at the adorable sight. Yanna scowled as only a fae could in return.

“We’re here, sleepyhead.” Ary teased the fae.

Yana huffed and shot out of the pocket, coming to an abrupt stop as she latched onto Ary’s nose and stuck her tongue out in disagreement.

“So you say, come what may.” Yana pouted before looking around, “Another workshop I see, and those two our hosts to be?”

Ary nodded.

Yana remained latched on, much to Ary’s annoyance. But instead took a moment to swivel around and survey the room as Ary had.

“In these objects I can sense the mana, but it is like an enigma. I can feel their essence, even in things where it shouldn’t have a presence.” Yana noted.

“Mhmm, and the two creators over there are coming up with more.” Ary chuckled as she motioned at the siblings.

Somewhat satisfied at the state of the room, Yana seemed poised to act. Perhaps in defiance or vegeance for the less than gentle awakening. The faerie licked the bridge of Ary’s nose as she jumped off to flutter around the room. It stunned Ary a little. But worse than that, her nose now felt strangely itchy.

Wiggling her nose and giving a good scratch, she watched as Yana examined the different magitech on display. The faerie’s presence did not go unnoticed and she heard the discussion between the siblings slowly die down as they now pointed and stared at the fae creature.

“Little Aryana, I call to you as Yana.” The faerie called out.

“Yana.” Ary acknowledged before turning to the siblings, “Don’t mind her too much, she’s just curious.”

“The fae.”

“The fae.”

The siblings nodded to themselves, their discussion now trending towards the powers of fae magic and the feywilds.

“Ask them this question for me. How can this work so I can see?” Yana tapped a strange looking lamp.

“She’s curious about that lamp.” Ary relayed.

Amused by the fae’s curiosity, the siblings crowded a little closer. It was another chance to observe something most often impossible to see by city dwellers. They had their chances on campus but Ary suspected that this was where they truly felt comfortable.

Yana seemed delighted that attention was being heaped on her, though she did shy away from being patted on the head by Maylesa. She aggressively pointed to the lamp and the siblings finally took heed.

Ary watched with awe and jealousy as they effortlessly chanted something under their breath. She could practically feel the air around her shift as mana was harnessed and utilised. It was almost electrifying for a second before the sensation left. A sort of fullness before it was dragged away. The lamp seemed to whirr as pale greenish lights flickered to life with a chunky click.

It wasn’t too spectacular, it was a magic lamp. Or so she thought until she noticed the little streaks cutting into the green light. Yana was practically glued to it, though the faerie did retreat to the edge of the table in a stunning display of bravery when the light turned on.

Maylesa and Thalnor looked proud, turning to assess the fae’s reactions before glancing at Ary. She just cocked her head sideways in confusion at the black streaks that were within the light.

“It’s a faulty creation, still la lot of missteps to be ironed out.” Thalnor explained, “In theory, it is meant to help detect traps and monsters in a scenario where you would also need a lamp. A two-in-one, if you will.”

“But?” Ary asked.

“We tried creating it by having it recognize or resonate with the mana signature of monsters and arcane traps. Since the mechanism itself detects mana fluctuations in general, it needs to be keyed in otherwise well… it’d just be a weirdly coloured lamp.” Maylesa chimed in.

“Ohh, is that why it’s all stripey now? Is it sensing Yana’s presence?” Ary asked, the faerie having fluttered up to perch upon her hair once more.

“Well… yes and no. It still has a long way to go in regards to calibrations. Right now? I’d guess that it’s simply detecting that there is a distortion of the amount of mana around it. Which to be honest, is what’s happening every second of every day. So effectively, telling us nothing.”

“Indeed.” Thalnor nodded, “Our main problem here is that we need it to resonate with specific frequencies.” He paused and frowned, “We don’t have any baselines or comparisons we can make beyond guesswork.”

“Huh? Why’s that?”

The siblings looked at each other before tutting at her, “Because we’re not exactly around monsters and creatures much. Make it just a little difficult to get accurate data.”

“Ah. Fair enough.”

“Well, no helping that. The fae can understand us though, right?” Thalnor asked.

“We’ve already established that she can back in school, brother.” Maylesa chided him.

“I’m just making sure.”

“She does.” Ary snuck in some sass.

“Well there you go, our fine little fae, the detection lamp. That detects everything.” Thalnor dropped an exaggerated bow.

Ary chuckled as Maylesa rolled her eyes. Yana was a little miffed that they still questioned her after so long, tapping her feet in annoyance atop Ary’s head. Gah, it’s itchy! She reached up and tried to give the faerie a little bop only for the fae to snatch her finger and use it as a ladder to crawl down to eye level. Presumably to glare at the two elves a bit better.

“Their mind moves at a speed beyond me, yet the answer is so obvious can they not see?” Yana ranted.

“Eh?”

“Their perception is dulled, for their skills have them lulled. As mana touched as they might be, thus it’s up to thee.” Yana poked her.

“What do you mean?” Ary furrowed her brow.

“Aryana?” Maylesa asked.

“Sorry, Yana’s mad.”

“Yana is? Why? Did we not show her the lamp? Perhaps she’d like a better creation to peruse? I understand if that was a little underwhelming.”

“No! I mean yes! I'd like to see more! But no!” The fae shrieked, “The answer is within our grasp, a way to stop that lantern’s rasp. We hold the solution they seek, so stop acting so damned meek. They require access to the world outside, what if there was a half elf in which they could confide.”

Huh? Ah! Of course! Ary snapped her free finger in agreement, “But the way you started…”

“The rhyme’s not the point!”

“I know, I know.” She chuckled, “Was just teasing.”

“Aryana?” Maylesa called out.

“Huh? Yeah?”

“We already know you can, but when speak with the fae, how fluently can you do it?”

“Huh? Uhhh, pretty fine? I mean we talk normally.”

“Fascinating.” The elf hummed.

“Indeed.” Her brother joined in.

“Ah, that’s beside the point. How many projects that you have which might need more exposure to monsters or creatures beyond the city walls?” Ary hurriedly asked.

“A few? Why… ah… clever.” Thalnor rubbed his chin, an approving look in his eye.

Ary tried not to let her shoulders sag. It felt a little disappointing for her reveal to be so carefully discerned. Yana seemed unaffected, mostly just proud that her suggestion was taken into account. D’aww, I wanted to yell out Sophie’s name.

“But would it even be possible? She is trapped doing essentially civil service, is she not?” Maylesa asked.

“We could try requesting at the guild. Word it as a scientific endeavor.”

“Wouldn’t be incorrect.” The elf mused.

The two clearly looked to be at the beginning of a long form plot before Thalnor suddenly stiffened up, tutting at himself before snapping his fingers to draw Maylesa's attention.

“Ah! Sister!”

“Hmm?”

“We have forgotten our guest.”

“Huh? How so?” Maylesa asked.

Thanlnor mimed holding a cup and Maylesa let out a small gasp before spinning towards Ary.

“Our apologies. We invited you here today and we haven’t even treated you to the slightest bit of hospitality.”

“What? No, no, it’s fine?” Ary squeaked, trying her best to reassure her hosts. Tis an honour just to be here, hah, though I did wonder what elven snacks there might be.

“Please. We might be magitech engineers, but even we’ve been taught to treat out guests well. Besides, we had planned for some light snacks alongside tea. Brewed using our own proprietary arcane kettle of course.”

“Delightful, insightful, surely a sight to behold. Snacks, drinks, a time to be bold.” Yana twirled.

Ary could only do so much to hold back a small grin at the fae’s excited reaction.

“What’s she saying?” Maylesa gestured at the fae.

“Tea and snacks sound nice.” Ary replied without missing a beat. To her side, the fae nodded approvingly.

“Splendid. This way.” Maylesa smiled and shuffled into a different room.

Ary and Yana followed, finding themselves suddenly in what could only be described as just another part of a workshop. The only difference being that this room had a small sink, basin, table and countertop instead of just work tables.

On the countertop, there was an odd looking semi cylindrical glass container, a decent sized kettle, and some plates and cups set up for three. Thalnor pulled out another set of tableware and gave the fae a dip of his head, Yana only growing more smug looking the longer this went on.

Their curiosity only grew as Maylesa fished out what looked to be a singular dried flower, curled upon itself and frozen in time. With a strange expression of delight on her face that Ary only ever saw when the girl was busy tinkering, she gently placed it into the cylinder. Thalnor meanwhile, filled the kettle with water, and with a flick of his finger and some muttered words, a small dash of magic was injected into the kettle as well.

To both Ary and Yana’s amazement, within seconds they could already hear the tell-tale signs of water being heated up. The bubbling, the steam hissing. Neither above nor below seemed to have a heating element and Thalnor only nodded knowingly when Ary pointed at the kettle. Maylesa had gone and returned with a small platter of tiny little frosted cakes and pastries, filling the room with a pleasant scent of baked goods. She carefully distributed them onto the plates much to the duo’s growing delight.

“Cold tray and arcane kettle, both prototypes, of course. Given that they only work if you can properly tune the mana crystals embedded within it properly. Something even we, unfortunately, also struggle with sometimes.” She explained for the duo.

“Unlike the other two.” Thalnor growled.

“Unlike them.” Maylesa also scowled.

It took Ary a few seconds before she realized they were talking about their own siblings, the older twins of the family. Just what is this animosity between them? I wonder if anything happened recently?

“But yes, my sister is correct. These things are still notoriously difficult to calibrate so we’re unlikely to ever push them forward as House Calnodel products. Still, rather useful little utility tools.” Thalnor studied them.

Ary nodded enthusiastically as she tried to study the mechanisms behind it. Yana was too busy eyeing the snacks to really care.

In only about a minute, the kettle had already boiled the water. An incredibly quick process compared to the way they boiled water in the Academy.

“Watch this.” Maylesa ushered Ary closer, Yana naturally following when noticing her humans had moved.

The elf pointed to the cylinder with the dried flower. Thalnor lifted the kettle and began pouring the water into it. As the steaming hot water splashed onto the flower, the dried thing slowly unfurled itself. In front of her eyes, it seemed like the flower was experiencing an accelerated blooming process, the almost dull brownish colour gaining a pinkish green hue as it came back to life. Dozens of little petals flared out as the multi-layered flower deployed itself and filled the inside of the cylinder the greenish yellowish colour of tea. A faint hint of smokiness followed by smooth yet rich relaxing notes filled the air as the water activated the flower in full.

“Oooo.” Both Ary and Yana cooed, staring at the process under the smug oversight of Maylesa.

Seeing this flower revitalized, inspiration struck Ary. I wanted to ask them for ideas about a weapon I could use, or at least keep around me so I’m not so useless. Maybe like a mini crossbow or something. But what if… her gaze took in the tea flower once more, yes, something that blooms or goes pop from a simple source. Like a gadget that is easily hidden, but like that plant, it could use just a smidgen arcane to stun or silence enemies. Or maybe even as locator device like the lantern.

“Hey guys, I have a quick question.” Ary grinned mischievously, “Or well, more of an idea, really.”