Soul Bound

1              Soul Bound

1.1            Finding her Feet

1.1.5          An Inscrutable Mastermind

1.1.5.11       Seeing beauty

Flavio carried out an experiment, taking a bit of coke, and giving a small grain of it to each mage, getting them to sense the connection, then burning the coke and moving different parts of the result into two different chambers, and getting the mages to try to point out which chamber he’d moved the carbon dioxide to. After a couple of tries with different reactions, most of the mages got the hang of it. Kafana tried it too, once she’d finished the buff, and managed to level up her mage sight to include optionally showing links of similarity, links of contagion, and links of correspondence. It shouldn’t have been that easy. She shrugged, guessing that the skill level effects from Harlequin’s ring, Columbina’s food and her musical buff were applying to the learning buff she’d targeted herself with too.

She retreated off to one side, brought out a variety of cooked foods and ingredients of differing qualities, and started to train herself to perceive traits directly, adding a third circle to each eye of linked fire and order runes. Fat content was easy to master. She just took a piece of pure fat and checked for similarity to meals that contained different amounts of fat. She then did the same with sugar. She’d have to try later, to see if she could refine it further to distinguish between fats by saturation, and between glucose, fructose and sucrose. The problem would be finding pure samples of each. How much water and air the food contained, also turned out to be simple. She was just starting on acidity and recognising the difference between different herbs when the reminder to check on Alderney went off. Hmm, this learning buff wasn’t without side effects - a bit of a tendency to hyperfocus perhaps. Have to watch out for that.

She shook her head, forcing herself to stop analysing and thinking, and actually get up and move!

Back to Alderney, more mana regen on the way.

[Skill “Mana regen meditation” now level: 3]

Standing on a bench were not one but two gelato churns. They were beautiful things, toughened glass, polished mahogany and burnished red brass. On the side was a large crank wheel that gave the illusion of dolphins playing a game jumping out of a sea chasing each other. Inlaid runes in intricate patterns optimised by Wellington using custom software on his home system flowed across the surface. Switching on her mage sight, Kafana saw energy pulsing along them, emanating from some sort of storage stone from a cartridge slotted in below.

“Other than the volleyball, is there anything else important left to make?” she asked. “If not, once that’s done, let’s pack up and go over to the Speckled Dove for lunch. My treat. We’ll install this for Columbina and head off to bash monsters.”

Alderney calmly checked through her list.

“I’ve made a couple of throwing grenades for liquid nitrogen, to see if Wellington can rune them into something that shatters armour. I’ve put off the plans for the Greekish Fire bombs until another time. Too much risk of splash back damage on the party.”

“I’ve done clothing for Nicolo and Antonio. Clothing for the rest of them will have to wait until I have their measurements.”

“Weapons are all done, except for the ones for Bungo’s monks. He’s still not decided whether to go with swords or spears, and either can be made using tools I have in my storage. I don’t need to be in a workshop. I’ve picked out appropriate pieces of wood and stored them.”

“I’ve made hooded cloaks, hair decorations and various other things for Vessels. I’ve made a few things for us to go with our new armour.”

“I’ve made moulds for casting footballs and volleyballs. We just need the neoprene.”

“So pretty much the only bit left is stuff to auction, and Wellington and Bulgaria are still trying to figure out what would be popular, possible to make and wouldn’t upset society or the developers.”

Kafana: “Amazing job. How about we go over and watch the mages do their test run? It might be spectacular. I’m sure Bungo would appreciate an audience, and we can discuss in chat things that might sell, on the way.”

Alderney smiled brightly, looking a bit more like her usual self: “I bet you it blows up!”

Alderney: {Tomsk, how’s it going? Keeping Bungo more or less attached to sanity?}

Bungo: {Hey!}

Tomsk: {As much as usual. He’s quite impressive, actually, when he’s doing stuff he really knows about. I think they’re nearly ready.}

They all trooped over, and Kafana took the opportunity to sing the maintenance on all the buffs while they moved at a steady walk.

They stood back, well out of the way of the mages. This was Flavio’s show, though Bungo was looking on proudly. Kafana wondered what to do. She was the portal through which the audience would see this. But would they really be excited by the creation of a bunch of gloop? Bouncy balls. Kids would love it. If only everyone could experience it through child-like perception. Hmm, maybe she could use a song to alter her own emotions? Recapture that childhood wonder, the feeling that anything was possible, and coloured firework explosions were the greatest thing ever? Sounded possible. Perhaps do it in stages, with several songs, getting simpler and more emotional each time? She set her visualisations, checked her mana, asked System not to interrupt her mindset or bring her out of it until the display was finished, turned on mage sight, and took a deep breath.

“Guys, stop talking and just watch for a while. I’m going to try something new, try to share a vision and a viewpoint with you.” She imagined them viewing it together as friends, picking up each other’s thoughts and the wonder building, sparking off each other. As softly as a child placing her hand in her mother's while watching the night sky together, she sang "When You Wish Upon A Star".

She opened herself up to her mage sight, trying to sense it with her whole body, like bathing in sunlight, like standing under a refreshing shower, like the tastes and smells and sights of a birthday cake when you are 5 years old.

She felt Alderney’s appreciation of the beauty, Tomsk’s appreciation of Flavio’s skill at leading, Bulgaria’s appreciation of the effort being put in and the bonds of trust between the teams, and Bungo’s appreciation of the science, the dancing molecules, the fascinating underlying magic of reality that was so much more than the overt light display. She melded the feelings into one, and shared it back out again, re-amplified.

At the climax, as the first drops of rubber started to drip into the prepared container, she concentrated on Flavio and his absolute mastery of the situation, the exultation transforming his burnt face, so you could see what he was like before; the deep personality driving him; his hair, his lack of height, all superficialities become irrelevant. She viewed him with the accepting eyes of a child that’s used to an individual, not judging by groups or categories. Just Flavio is Flavio. He was undeniably a person, worthy of respect as much as any human. And that was the impression left etched into Minion’s recording of the event.

After that, once things were down to a routine, Alderney took the first sample back to the forges, and showed her crafting groupies how to add the vulcanization agent, fill a mold and set it at the correct heat near the forge. She gave them the mock football she’d stitched together, along with the template for the pieces and asked them to deliver 4 volleyballs and 30 footballs to the Sanctum. They readily agreed. In their eyes, she could do no wrong.

Flavio waved them off. He arranged to meet Wellington the following day, and promised a fitting gift for Kafana in return for her music. Bungo he offered a Journeymanship to, as soon as Bungo reached level 25. Had her singing touched the mages too?