Engineered Magic

Ray-Do-So

The humans were eating lunch in the inn. The blue who could speak selkie sipped his beer as Companion looked at the red and said, “I told him, I told him,” over and over.

The red gave So-La-Do a stern look before finally saying something in the newcomer’s monotone language. So-La-Do seemed relieved, although he cast a pleading look at the green that sold the magic books.

The blue speaker said something that seemed especially flat. He was doing something odd with his tongue. The green looked thoughtfully at the blue but took no action. She turned back to her meal. She was eating the food especially slowly, rolling each bit around in her mouth for an inordinate amount of time.

Ray-Do-So was sitting on the top step of the stairs that led up out of the common room, under the highest tier cloaking spell she knew. It was only tier three. She was certain the lesser god saw through it without any effort. Still it kept her hidden from the view of her own people.

When she reached tier three at an age barely beyond halfling, the elders started whispering of her potential. When she reached tier four before any of her daughters bore young, the whispers became shouts. Everyone was certain she would reach tier five, the first selkie to do so in generations.

Her progress just stopped. When she was younger she wanted to blame her stagnation on the arrival of the newcomers. Her birth shore was one of the northern ones that were abandoned. Her tier four status granted her community a new shore, but it wasn’t the same. Older now she recognized that she really should have reached tier five a generation before the newcomers came. Now another generation, or two if she was being honest, had passed and here she was still tier four.

She was old. Not as old as the enchanter, but Enchanter was so old no one remembered her birth name. Ray-Do-So did not understand these newcomers. The others were all greed and aggression, which was so strange coupled with their lack of magic. The elder council, Ray-Do-So sitting among them, decided they must be a new type of animal, like the walking orca’s in the south. They were wrong, and the true god showed its unhappiness with them.

Me-So-Ray, the portal keeper, questioned if this newcomer was really a tier six. Ray-Do-So did not. She felt it when the lesser god touched her crystal. She felt it in her bones. She knew the lesser god came for her home.

When she presented herself for her death, the lesser god talked about magic and trade. Ray-Do-So rubbed the whiskers of her face, as she tried to figure it out. She looked at their magic books. They were real. Me-So-Ray even purchased one, proving they really were for sale. The newcomers used the true god’s exchange to complete the deal. Could they really just want trade?

Me-So-Ray reported that the tier four red went through a door Me-So-Ray could not see and returned not a half measure later with two more tier fours, a blue and a green. There were now as many tier four newcomers in Seagrass shore as there were selkie. Worse, the travel time of half a measure meant they were coming from someplace very close. When the lesser god claimed the true god’s help in avoiding their portal chamber, Me-So-Ray doubted. Seeing the newcomers come and go through a door he could not see, convinced him that this part too was true. He conveyed as much to Ray-Do-So.

Ray-Do-So braced for the next development. The two late arrivals proceeded to tour the shops. At midday the entire group of them, along with So-La-Do, came to the inn and ordered lunch.

She watched So-La-Do interacting with the newcomers. He was so relaxed, even with the lesser god. So-La-Do was average in every way, maybe even a little below average. His failure to return from a salvage run into the orca hunting grounds was a loss, but not surprising. The loss of Fa-Me-Ti on the same run was much more shocking and cut much deeper.

Here was So-La-Do returned, but what happened to Fa-Me-Ti? Ray-Do-So forced herself to rise to her feet and proceed down the stairs. She remembered the cloaking spell at the last moment and dismissed it.

“There are more of you,” she said abruptly to the lesser god. Her abruptness was the result of trying to force herself to speak through her fear.

The lesser god spoke. The blue singer made an odd choking noise that Ray-Do-So did not believe was anything in either of their languages. He waved frantically at So-La-Do, before sticking a flipper into his mouth and prodding his tongue.

“This is Blue,” So-La-Do said, translating for the lesser god, indicating one of the late arrivals. “He is the leader of the Elder’s hunters. And this is Green,” So-La-Do said, indicating the other one. “He holds a shore near the Elder’s and is a master woodworker. If there is to be trade between newcomer and selkie, Green is interested in what selkies produce and what they desire.”

“You understand their words, So-La-Do?” the elder questioned So-La-Do.

“I do,” he replied. “As they understand ours. Only Blue sings our language passably. The newcomers' voices are not suited to our song.” This time when he said Blue, Ray-Do-So realized the tone held a different texture to it than when he named the late arrival Blue. She looked at the singer Blue who was continuing with his odd behavior.

“What is wrong with your newcomer singer?” the Seagrass elder asked.

“Arrowhead root is a poison to him,” So-La-Do responded. If it is a poison, why is he drinking it? Ray-Do-So wondered. She did not ask, she knew how males needed to prove their toughness.

“Have you been among the newcomers all this time?” she asked instead.

“Yes, they found me near death in the orca hunting grounds and healed me,” So-La-Do replied.

“What of Fa-Me-Ti?”

“She was beyond reach before they found her. I have her war hammer for her mother,” So-La-Do answered. “I will bring it tomorrow.”

“Are the human settlements so near?” There was a trace of alarm in the Seagrass elder’s song.

“No,” Companion replied. “They settled far to the north. We are questing out of an association hall in the orca hunting grounds.” This both reassured the elder and troubled her. She shifted around on her flipper-feet and turned to once more face the lesser god.

The tier six politely ignored the conversation between the two selkie and returned to her meal. She was eating the pile of green seaweed with no sign of displeasure. The Seagrass leader would almost say that the lesser god liked it.

“I am interested in the portable table,” the selkie Elder announced. “Is it for sale?” The lesser god made a new expression and turned to the blue singer.

She said something to him that ended in a slightly rising note. Blue mumbled something, coughed and taped the table they were sitting at. This table was a large slab of stone, although they were very sturdy, they were hard to move. The enchanter for all her skill was growing weak with age. Ray-Do-So remembered the Enchanter once possessed a table very close to the newcomers’ table. Ray-Do-So thought the old selkie might like it. This was a good test of the lesser god’s commitment to trade.

The lesser god shook her head in annoyance at Blue and turned to So-La-Do. Ray-Do-So could feel the lesser god’s annoyance in her bones. The tier six spoke to So-La-Do.

“The table,” So-La-Do clarified, pointing out the inn table, “not the chair,” with a wave to the study stones they were sitting on. The tier six now spoke to the Green book seller.

The Green book seller replied, and Ray-Do-So could feel the lesser god’s annoyance grow. Red reached out and set a hand on the lesser god’s sleeve and shared a look with her.

The lesser god sighed. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. The feeling in Ray-Do-So’s bones faded. The lesser god reached across the table and touched the blue singer’s arm. She cast a tier four heal on him. It was so smoothly and quickly done that the Seagrass elder almost missed it. The lesser god did not sing the spell. Instead she just flickered her hands. Now Ray-Do-So could understand why Blue dared to drink poison.

“We did not bring it for sale, but to display the books,” the lesser god responded, So-La-Do continuing to translate for her, as the blue singer recovered from the spike of pain the heal caused. “Blue,” she said, waving a hand to indicate the singer, “has a shop that sells such things. They are difficult to carry through the transportation system. When we are done with our trading perhaps he could be convinced to sell it to you instead of carrying it away.”

“Elder Seagrass, you honor me with your interest in my poor product. May I ask about your interest in the piece? Perhaps if I know the use you have for it we might find a better solution,” Blue sang, finally recovered from his beer and heal. He spoke oddly. Ray-Do-So could understand him perfectly, but his voice was several octaves too low. She wondered if this flashy song was his own invention, or if So-La-Do taught it to him.

“I want it as a gift for the Enchanter,” the Seagrass elder responded. “She is aged and has trouble with her joints. I remember she owned something like it before we moved south.”

“Yellow,” the Blue singer said, still in the selkie tongue, “do you think the selling table would work for an enchanter?” Yellow gave what seemed a very long answer. Ray-Do-So waited impatiently. “Yellow concedes the table would work, but she believes a wider table would be more useful,” Blue reported. “I will sell you it for one silver and thirteen iron coins. If you wait I might be able to obtain better for the enchanter, although the cost would increase. Yellow recommends something that can support larger items. I am uncertain we can bring a wider top through the portal. I will need to investigate it.”

“Why do you ask Yellow what Enchanter needs?” Ray-Do-So asked. One silver and thirteen iron seemed very cheap to her, she wanted to just buy it now.

“Yellow is a fine enchanter,” So-La-Do announced. He stood up and ran a flipper hand across the light metal breastplate he wore. Ray-Do-So recognized it as Orca armor. “She crafted this enchantment,” he said with pride. The Seagrass elder took a closer look at the armor. A very subtle set of ripples revealed the existence of an embedded enchantment.

Now Ray-Do-So was shocked. The newcomers traveled around in the wild with an enchanter? Did they not know how precious such a skill was? Next thing, they would be selling a book on enchanting. Ray-Do-So blinked. They couldn’t be doing that could they? she wondered.

“Do you have a book on enchanting?” Ray-Do-So couldn’t stop herself from squeaking on the last word. Yellow said something. Ray-Do-So could barely make herself wait for the translation.

“We have three,” Blue translated. “They are all only beginner enchantments, enchanting a pack to lighten the weight, a water flask to automatically refill and boots to quiet your steps. The last one might not serve your people, since I have yet to see any of you wear boots.”

Ray-Do-So bought all three. She also put a pledge on the table. She would consider upgrading her purchase to something wider as Yellow suggested if Blue was able to produce it. She followed the pod back out to their market stall to finish the transaction. The market around the newcomer’s was filled with a remarkable number of sellers as everyone in the shore wanted to get a closer look at them. The newcomers settled into their positions as Blue began singing their offer to buy spells.

The Seagrass elder took her book purchases and climbed the stairs to the highest apartment level. She tapped on the door of the Enchanter’s residence. After a long delay, the door swung open.

“Been expecting you,” the old selkie said in greeting. The enchanter was dressed in blessed silk robes in a dark violet. She was the only violet magic user in the shore. She insisted the color of your magic didn’t matter in enchanting, but Ray-Do-So always wondered if that was true, since none of the Enchanter’s apprentices were ever successful. Now Ray-Do-So knew she should never have doubted Enchanter’s wisdom.

The Seagrass elder followed the enchanter through the apartment to the balcony overlooking the shore. This high up she could only hear a faint echo of Blue’s offer, although the too low octave of his voice was clear. Enchanter settled herself down next to the glass baluster where she was obviously watching the activity below.

“They are newcomers,” Ray-Do-So reported.

“I can see that,” Enchanter countered. “They appear civilized. Are they?”

“Yes,” Ray-Do-So confirmed. “So-La-Do travels with them. They found him wounded in the orca hunting grounds and healed him.” She took a deep breath. “There is a tier six among them.”

Enchanter jerked her gaze flying back to her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” the Seagrass elder responded. “She touched the crystal.”

“Did they come for me?” the Enchanter asked.

“No,” Ray-Do-So said. “They have come to trade. They are buying spells and selling books of magic.”