The Great Hall was as impressive as ever. Midmorning found him, accompanied by an evidently recovered Geyrt, standing before the gilded doors. The guardsmen at the door, now familiar fellows in suffering, wordlessly opened the doors at the sight of the two of them. Leaving the crisp air to enter into the comfortable interior was, as he had become accustomed to as of late, another small miracle of magic.
The barriers placed upon the fortress city locked the air temperature into one that would be ever so slightly chill for the unclothed. These same barriers also prevented the apparent gaps in trellised wood windows or woven branch walls from permitting air through them at any noticeable speed lending the place a fresh, almost outdoorsy, atmosphere, without the draft. Yet another trick he was going to have to reverse engineer for his home in the glade.
At the dais, in his customary not quite slouch, sat Bald'rt in his King's chair. To the sides in their highbacked miniature thrones sat the Ladies. Wordlessly, Ulric approached to stand in the presentation area. Idra was a few steps off to the side and nodded his greetings. Various other guards stood their positions. Probably more for the safety of any fools who got lost and stumbled inside than for any of those who sat in the positions of honor.
"Well met Ulric! I am glad you could come early, we will have time for a Midsunsrise meal, if you should like, after we discuss matters of state." The Elf King boomed warmly.
Ulric responded in kind, "And to you Bald'rt, and your Ladies as well. It is good to find everyone in high spirits, even as Winter's grip tightens. I, for one, enjoy the bitter cold, but I know not all are as fond."
Bald'rt smiled then, "Not all of us, or any but you, as it happens, wear a [Winter Wolf] across our face, Glade Chief. But I do agree, the weather has been mild for this season and this is why I have summoned you." Lord Iriel declared, joking, of course, about the beard Ulric wore, and which none of the Aes'r but old Gother did.
"We had agreed to escort you back to the glade to give you the opportunity to set your home in order for a more extended stay and now, with the snows growing thick in the mountains and across the lowlands, I feel it is a good time to come through on this aspect of our agreement. You have had time to settle into Irielhos and to adjust to our customs, quite well, I might add, there has only been one killing, and that one who should have been culled years ago." The man chuckled.
"The Iriel'en have seen your commitment to making good on your status and my wives speak well of your progress, doubters though they may have been when I first vouched for you." The Elf King turned a smug glace to his wives, who greeted him with a collective eye roll before he returned to the discussion.
"Now, with travel within Orlethrem growing sparse, I can spare the men to guide you back to the [Forest of the Forgotten] and your home in this Ancient Glade." Intoned Bald'rt.
There was a lot to unpack in that; as usual, the Elven King put many balls in the air at once, probably on purpose. He did seem to enjoy a fast pace of discussion. Ulric was glad to know that his suffering over the past few days was, at the least, acknowledged as his giving it the old college try.
"Thank you Iriel Chief, and also thanks to your wives and your gift of Idra'se's time. I have learned more in these few days than I would have in months, if not years, of puzzling things out on my own. I hope I have not pulled them away from important matters, in trying times." Ulric said earnestly.
No exaggeration there, he had been given a radical jump start to his mage craft and a foundation on which to learn how to fight, something which he had been, to an extent he had not truly known, truly lacking. It was a gift to be able to watch truly competent artisans work their trade. You didn't necessarily prevent all the mistakes you were going to make watching a master machinist ply his tools, but if you paid attention, you saw a hundred ways to save time, to build efficiency into your own experience. So it was with his training here, he had had his eyes opened to many aspects of spell work and combat that drastically increased the pace of his improvement. There really were no shortcuts on the road to betterment, but it made a great big damn difference if somebody cleared the path in front of you.
A wave of his hand discarded the thought of troubling his wives, Bald'rt having made monopoly on that business.
"Of course not, of course not. Believe me, they would have only put that time to finding more ways to inject trouble into my…erm..." Bald'rt's boisterous voice trailed off with a nervous glance towards the women seated to his left, who had not so much as twitched. He coughed once, lightly into his hand before continuing.
"My apologies Vedyr, I meant to say that it has given my ladies a fine…distraction…from other more tedious matters." Finished the Lord of the Deep Wood, who, Ulric could swear, was bleeding freely from a nearly invisible slit in the side of his robe.
Shor casually loaned her fellow Wife a cloth with which to wipe her knife, in advance, the woman herself having used hers, for the same purpose as now, and given it up for cleaning earlier that day.
Lady Vedyr Iriel, let the blade Ulric hadn't seen her draw slide back into its sheath with a loud snap of guard to scabbard, and spoke without heat, her intended "correction" of her husband coming more from habit than from true anger.
"Apology accepted husband, I do wish you would practice better diligence; it would save the laundresses a goodly amount of time. So too the tailors. Back to our discussion, Ulric's improvements have been acceptable. We have some concern about the unaspected nature of his core and the surety of his need to, at some point in the near future, awaken it."
Shor interjected then, with more urgency than her marital comrade, "It must not be put off too long. The Timeless Gaze may have provided a substantial boon in the formation of your core, Glade Chief, but that does not mean the nature of it is far different from any other. You stand upon the precipice of crisis, closer now than ever for our efforts; either you attempt the awakening, cripple your core's growth to achieve stasis, or risk runaway mana reaction and explosive resonance."
Bathe chimed in calmly, offering Ulric some good news to offset Shor's worrying statement.
"It is well in hand, we are laying the groundwork for a successful awakening Glade Chief. You improve in your mana manipulations with Sister Vedyr, your Way is growing more firm as Sister Shor instructs, and I have seen to providing you some ability at infusing mana, you have most all of the tools to advance, Ulric, so long as you do not wait too long."
Geyrt's expression remained impassive but Ulric couldn't help but wonder if she was on team explode. He couldn't fault her for that if she was. Doubtful he'd ever really know though. Not important, he decided, he was no mind reader and he wouldn't think less of anybody for what they might feel about his untimely demise. Gods knew that was an exercise in paranoid neuropathy.
"I'm glad that you're confident, but, just for my peace of mind, would you mind explaining exactly what sort of process the awakening requires? It'll give me some perspective for the trajectory of my training if I have concrete objectives." Ulric requested, just a tad nervously.
Overprepared was minimally successful, in his experience. His engineer's training had made redundancy and overbuilding keystones to plans not collapsing at their first real stress test. Especially when it was his very own priceless keister on the line.
Shor indulged him.
"The resonant reaction of unaspected mana exponentially rises with the density of that mana. To aspect your core is to evolve it to become capable of automatically resonating with mana as it is refined from the free mana of the world. In a way, it has similarities to casting in that you must intentionally tune the mana inside yourself to a specific form, what form is mostly irrelevant. Cultural and pragmatic reasons push most Elves towards aspecting their cores towards the Lunar, Sylvan, Caelum, Helios, and other elements most prevalently found within the territories of Orlethrem. This is also due to the difference between Elves and Humans." Began the fiery-haired Elf.
"An Elf has a core that is more intimately tied to the land than a Human's. It synchronizes not only with the mana surrounding the body but with the ley lines that flow deep within Varda, and the webs of energy that make up the entire world around the Elf. When inside the region where the core is tuned an Elf has nearly triple the mana regeneration of even the most enduring of Human or Beastkin magi, a thing we call our Homebond. Effectively, Elves on their home territory are immune to mana exhaustion. Outside of this region though the dissonance of strange mana currents and energy flows to which the Elven core is not adapted hinders its ability to extract mana from the surroundings, cutting the regeneration to a fraction of its normal potential. This is one reason we do not often travel far outside our familiar territories, it takes weeks or a very intensive ritual to reconfigure our homebond. Interestingly, Elves born…" Shor continued on with her lecture until Vedyr coughed loudly into her hand.
Realizing she had gone long into a tangent, the tips of her ears reddened in the first serious display of a loss of composure he'd seen from the woman. Looking sidelong at the darker woman to her left in thanks she nevertheless returned to her original point.
"Anyway, I have digressed. To evolve your core first you must actively tune the mana inside it to the element you intend to aspect. This requires the utmost precision, all of the mana must be in harmony or fluctuations can arise that create cascading waves inside your core, resulting in its destruction. While this is happening you must also be cycling the aspected mana throughout your body's mana channels and infusing it into your flesh, to better force any unaspected mana to resonate with only the element intended and none of the surrounding energies. Lastly, you must then build a web or shell of pure aspected mana around yourself, isolating your entire body from the world around you, to cut off contaminating influences. Once you have achieved this you must maintain it for an extended period, minutes to an hour, to force your core to become harmonized to this one and only mana form. To fail at any of these tasks is to perish." Shor finished, grimly.
Ulric didn't like the sound of that very much. It sounded like juggling while standing on a unicycle and jumping through flaming hoops. He wasn't too worried about tuning mana, he had a pretty good feel for that from all of his practice in the glade and his recent experiences in Irielhos had contributed greatly to a finer sense of elemental energies. The cycling was also not a big problem, but infusion was certainly not something he was ready to do and do anything else. He'd only just barely started picking it up and only after Bathe had, metaphysically, held his hand. The shell thing sounded kind of like an Overcharge, a holding of a spell form while you empowered it with mana. If he hadn't been doing that since the beginning he very much doubted he would be able to just add the process into the rest. The real issue was that it all had to be done in concert. Any one thing? Sure, he was confident he could pull it off. Everything at once? That's a yikes.
No sir, this whole thing sounded finicky to him. Worse, it was probably going to get harder to do the closer to crisis he got. If his own internal mana was beginning to react randomly it would put strain on his core, he probably would have to invest some of his limited attention to just keep things under control, adding another layer to the mental gymnastics required doing during the awakening process.
Frowning, Ulric was about to open a line of inquiry to dig out exactly the mechanics of each of those processes until Bald'rt interjected.
"There is a better method Glade Chief. My Shor is a purist Ulric, she believes everything must be done the hard way. It is easier than this if you cheat." Spoke the Elf Lord, ignoring the daggered stare that stabbed at him from his side. Also metaphorically. For now.
"When you go to awaken your core, simply do so in a place that is already concentrated, saturated with the intended element. Lunar Elves tend to wait until a full moon and find a high place. The Sylvans climb a particularly old Heartwood tree deep in the forests. Many who would atune Caelum use Winter's Herald, stand in the open to let the whipping wind saturate themselves. If you can arrange it, this will hasten the process, make it easier to isolate and resonate with a pure elemental form. Most Elves who awaken do it this way." He continued glancing wryly at his Crimson-haired partner.
"Not all are as gifted in the arcane as you dearest wife. Glade Chief you have done well, if you don't mind me saying, for one of your kind and your relative experience, but most would have spent years preparing in advance of their core reaching its saturation limit. It would seem the fates are rushing you down your path at a perilous rate, I would suggest you sway the odds in your favor however you may." Advised Bald'rt seriously.
This was advice Ulric was going to take to heart. Stacking the deck in his favor was well worth some consideration. It would seem that he needed to make choices about which elemental form with which to synchronize his core and begin thinking how to make arrangement on Bald'rt's suggested exposure therapy.
Shor did not look exactly pleased with her husband's "alternative methods".
"Glade Chief, there are ways to do things and then there are correct ways to do things. My husband is not wrong, immersion in the mana you attune does facilitate the awakening, but what he has forgotten is that it also makes it harder to resist being consumed by the essence of the mana and become an elemental." A sidelong glance at her husband accompanied the statement.
"He would not consider that a possibility because his head is harder than the rock that anchors mountains, but many find their wills shaken during the awakening." Shor spoke, her sister wives tilting their heads in agreement as she continued.
"Indeed, the transformation of your core is the first step to being an elemental but mages maintain their identity and condense the mana inside themselves, drawing it through their body and expelling it into the shell which isolates. This is done to protect yourself from excess elemental energy to prevent it from becoming overwhelming. If you do not learn the proper way and go into it thinking you do not have to execute the awakening with dedication, you will not survive." Concluded the Crimson Sphinx.
Bald'rt didn't seem to mind being called stubborn. It was probably akin to someone announcing that the sky was blue. He said nothing though content to have given Ulric a slight edge on surviving the event.
Ulric, in the meantime, was quietly chewing his lip while he tried to absorb this information. He wasn't sure how much time he had to mature his technical skills in manipulation of mana, especially the complex multitasking. He remembered the feverish experience of his first days, before he'd learned to harness mana, when his body had been unable to properly handle being saturated by the heavily mana laden environment of the [Plateau of Ancients]. The major difference being that all he'd had to do then was actually utilize his core to expel mana, driven to it through desperation, terror, and the instinctual desire to live of the [Forest Lord] attack. This awakening would require actual skill, concentration, and full cognizance of what he was doing. Stupid magical wonder, with its stupid magical booby traps. He should have known there'd be a catch.
Ulric remembered then that when he'd scanned Brighteyes, the elf had an aspected core, Lunar to be exact. Didn't that mean that Brighteyes had done this already? Surely something a boy could do Ulric could do. When he said as much the attendant Elves sighed loudly. Uh oh.
It was his Shadow that saw fit to enlighten him with a quiet whisper in his ear.
"Ulric Glade Chief, Lumyt'seit is, how we say, born to his magical nature. My brother attuned his core while watching a full moon when he was ten, a few weeks after having first tempered his core. None had even explained what awakening was, there had been no point, it would have been decades away. He did it on instinct, naturally. It would not be wise to expect that you will do so as easily, almost none are so gifted." Geyrt explained in hushed voice.
Ah. A genius. He might have suspected as much, given the boy's parentage. Now Ulric was looking he didn't see the kid anywhere. Probably studying. His birth mother, Bathe, had put him on house arrest until he'd finished his combat and spellcraft training, in a fit of motherly overprotectiveness.
Well damn, looks like it was going to be the hard-hoed row for Ulric.
"I see, that is good to know Geyrt." He said to the form hovering over his shoulder.
Turning back to the dais he continued in a forced cheerfulness "Never mind then. Thank you for the advice, my hosts, it is more clear now what must be done to prepare for this eventuality. If it helps I don't notice any particular strain on my core yet, nothing out of the ordinary, so we probably have some time."
Bald'rt clapped his hands and said, with actual cheer, "Indeed, this is so! Let us return to the matter at hand then. You have need to return to your glade and make ready for the months that Winter will sit upon the land. I have detached four warriors from Irielhos and a royal guardsman, a young Elf of promise who requested the duty, Kryr'st. These will accompany you through the deep wood and on past the [Ancient's Gate] to your home. They are also going to be scouting the lands above, I have heard tell from the birds of odd movements that I wish made better known. These are ready for travel even now. I advise you begin your journey today Glade Chief, after we have lunched, the snows will deepen swiftly and the blizzards are not to be chanced later."
A sound plan, if announced without as much heads up as Ulric preferred. He couldn't think of any good reason to delay though, the Winter wasn't going to be going anywhere for awhile and it had already been longer than he'd originally planned before returning. He was going to miss the baths, so, so much.
"An assessment I agree with Bald'rt, and thanks again. Let's enjoy lunch then, if you have no other matters of import. It will be a good week before I return to your hospitality, two days going, two days coming, and a day or three, depending on what needs tending to in the glade." Ulric said graciously.
The royal family descended the dais and they all took seats at the table, chatting amicably of this or that once the plates were clear. Over a weak and deliciously spiced wine Bald'rt told tales of the history of the Orlethrem and of his marriages to his wives, political arrangements all, though not entirely. His wives were upfront with Ulric about their initial doubts but that the love of the Lord for his people and his winsome charm were enough to sway them, alongside the advantage of tying their clans to a warrior who had proven himself to be one of the greatest fighters in an age. That they had then created a consortium capable of leading the entire Elven confederation hadn't occurred to any of them until recently and they were determined to preserve their kin through the upheavals to come. Vedyr told stories of the rather lengthy, and semi-murderous, courtship she ran her husband to be through before accepting his proposal. Bathe spoke of a previous husband and son, both lost in wars several centuries past, long before her relatively recent marriage to the Lord of the Deep Wood. Ulric nearly gawped when Shor spoke of her eight daughters and he swore Bald'rt's eyebrows tried to waggle off of his head until Bathe lightly drove a finger onto the stab wound Vedyr had left earlier. All told, it was a pleasant way to spend the morning. Eventually though the meal and talk ran their course and it was time for Ulric to depart Irielhos for the glade.
Ulric was terrible at goodbyes, so he wished them the best and headed off to make ready for travel. The old armor, quaint now that he'd seen more professional stuff, was nevertheless effective in its workmanship. He moved more easily in it now, courtesy of his conditioning with the guardsmen. Geyrt had his bow now so he traveled only with a light pack, his spear, and his bone knife. The woman herself had returned to her usual Hunter's attire, out from the heavy layered robes of her casual wear. The thigh-high boots were still best, in his eyes.
The two of them joined up with the assigned soldiers at the bottom floor of the fortress city. Greetings and well wishes from the busy craftsmen and warriors had followed him the entire way down, making him feel awkwardly welcome in a way he'd never really known. After a brief greeting with his travel companions and some casually exchanged insults with Christ they set off to return to the glade. Ulric found himself slightly down at leaving, in a major surprise to himself, for how much he'd looked forwards to going home.
He was going to miss these odd folk, they had grown on him.
The Great Hall was as impressive as ever. Midmorning found him, accompanied by an evidently recovered Geyrt, standing before the gilded doors. The guardsmen at the door, now familiar fellows in suffering, wordlessly opened the doors at the sight of the two of them. Leaving the crisp air to enter into the comfortable interior was, as he had become accustomed to as of late, another small miracle of magic.
The barriers placed upon the fortress city locked the air temperature into one that would be ever so slightly chill for the unclothed. These same barriers also prevented the apparent gaps in trellised wood windows or woven branch walls from permitting air through them at any noticeable speed lending the place a fresh, almost outdoorsy, atmosphere, without the draft. Yet another trick he was going to have to reverse engineer for his home in the glade.
At the dais, in his customary not quite slouch, sat Bald'rt in his King's chair. To the sides in their highbacked miniature thrones sat the Ladies. Wordlessly, Ulric approached to stand in the presentation area. Idra was a few steps off to the side and nodded his greetings. Various other guards stood their positions. Probably more for the safety of any fools who got lost and stumbled inside than for any of those who sat in the positions of honor.
"Well met Ulric! I am glad you could come early, we will have time for a Midsunsrise meal, if you should like, after we discuss matters of state." The Elf King boomed warmly.
Ulric responded in kind, "And to you Bald'rt, and your Ladies as well. It is good to find everyone in high spirits, even as Winter's grip tightens. I, for one, enjoy the bitter cold, but I know not all are as fond."
Bald'rt smiled then, "Not all of us, or any but you, as it happens, wear a [Winter Wolf] across our face, Glade Chief. But I do agree, the weather has been mild for this season and this is why I have summoned you." Lord Iriel declared, joking, of course, about the beard Ulric wore, and which none of the Aes'r but old Gother did.
"We had agreed to escort you back to the glade to give you the opportunity to set your home in order for a more extended stay and now, with the snows growing thick in the mountains and across the lowlands, I feel it is a good time to come through on this aspect of our agreement. You have had time to settle into Irielhos and to adjust to our customs, quite well, I might add, there has only been one killing, and that one who should have been culled years ago." The man chuckled.
"The Iriel'en have seen your commitment to making good on your status and my wives speak well of your progress, doubters though they may have been when I first vouched for you." The Elf King turned a smug glace to his wives, who greeted him with a collective eye roll before he returned to the discussion.
"Now, with travel within Orlethrem growing sparse, I can spare the men to guide you back to the [Forest of the Forgotten] and your home in this Ancient Glade." Intoned Bald'rt.
There was a lot to unpack in that; as usual, the Elven King put many balls in the air at once, probably on purpose. He did seem to enjoy a fast pace of discussion. Ulric was glad to know that his suffering over the past few days was, at the least, acknowledged as his giving it the old college try.
"Thank you Iriel Chief, and also thanks to your wives and your gift of Idra'se's time. I have learned more in these few days than I would have in months, if not years, of puzzling things out on my own. I hope I have not pulled them away from important matters, in trying times." Ulric said earnestly.
No exaggeration there, he had been given a radical jump start to his mage craft and a foundation on which to learn how to fight, something which he had been, to an extent he had not truly known, truly lacking. It was a gift to be able to watch truly competent artisans work their trade. You didn't necessarily prevent all the mistakes you were going to make watching a master machinist ply his tools, but if you paid attention, you saw a hundred ways to save time, to build efficiency into your own experience. So it was with his training here, he had had his eyes opened to many aspects of spell work and combat that drastically increased the pace of his improvement. There really were no shortcuts on the road to betterment, but it made a great big damn difference if somebody cleared the path in front of you.
A wave of his hand discarded the thought of troubling his wives, Bald'rt having made monopoly on that business.
"Of course not, of course not. Believe me, they would have only put that time to finding more ways to inject trouble into my…erm..." Bald'rt's boisterous voice trailed off with a nervous glance towards the women seated to his left, who had not so much as twitched. He coughed once, lightly into his hand before continuing.
"My apologies Vedyr, I meant to say that it has given my ladies a fine…distraction…from other more tedious matters." Finished the Lord of the Deep Wood, who, Ulric could swear, was bleeding freely from a nearly invisible slit in the side of his robe.
Shor casually loaned her fellow Wife a cloth with which to wipe her knife, in advance, the woman herself having used hers, for the same purpose as now, and given it up for cleaning earlier that day.
Lady Vedyr Iriel, let the blade Ulric hadn't seen her draw slide back into its sheath with a loud snap of guard to scabbard, and spoke without heat, her intended "correction" of her husband coming more from habit than from true anger.
"Apology accepted husband, I do wish you would practice better diligence; it would save the laundresses a goodly amount of time. So too the tailors. Back to our discussion, Ulric's improvements have been acceptable. We have some concern about the unaspected nature of his core and the surety of his need to, at some point in the near future, awaken it."
Shor interjected then, with more urgency than her marital comrade, "It must not be put off too long. The Timeless Gaze may have provided a substantial boon in the formation of your core, Glade Chief, but that does not mean the nature of it is far different from any other. You stand upon the precipice of crisis, closer now than ever for our efforts; either you attempt the awakening, cripple your core's growth to achieve stasis, or risk runaway mana reaction and explosive resonance."
Bathe chimed in calmly, offering Ulric some good news to offset Shor's worrying statement.
"It is well in hand, we are laying the groundwork for a successful awakening Glade Chief. You improve in your mana manipulations with Sister Vedyr, your Way is growing more firm as Sister Shor instructs, and I have seen to providing you some ability at infusing mana, you have most all of the tools to advance, Ulric, so long as you do not wait too long."
Geyrt's expression remained impassive but Ulric couldn't help but wonder if she was on team explode. He couldn't fault her for that if she was. Doubtful he'd ever really know though. Not important, he decided, he was no mind reader and he wouldn't think less of anybody for what they might feel about his untimely demise. Gods knew that was an exercise in paranoid neuropathy.
"I'm glad that you're confident, but, just for my peace of mind, would you mind explaining exactly what sort of process the awakening requires? It'll give me some perspective for the trajectory of my training if I have concrete objectives." Ulric requested, just a tad nervously.
Overprepared was minimally successful, in his experience. His engineer's training had made redundancy and overbuilding keystones to plans not collapsing at their first real stress test. Especially when it was his very own priceless keister on the line.
Shor indulged him.
"The resonant reaction of unaspected mana exponentially rises with the density of that mana. To aspect your core is to evolve it to become capable of automatically resonating with mana as it is refined from the free mana of the world. In a way, it has similarities to casting in that you must intentionally tune the mana inside yourself to a specific form, what form is mostly irrelevant. Cultural and pragmatic reasons push most Elves towards aspecting their cores towards the Lunar, Sylvan, Caelum, Helios, and other elements most prevalently found within the territories of Orlethrem. This is also due to the difference between Elves and Humans." Began the fiery-haired Elf.
"An Elf has a core that is more intimately tied to the land than a Human's. It synchronizes not only with the mana surrounding the body but with the ley lines that flow deep within Varda, and the webs of energy that make up the entire world around the Elf. When inside the region where the core is tuned an Elf has nearly triple the mana regeneration of even the most enduring of Human or Beastkin magi, a thing we call our Homebond. Effectively, Elves on their home territory are immune to mana exhaustion. Outside of this region though the dissonance of strange mana currents and energy flows to which the Elven core is not adapted hinders its ability to extract mana from the surroundings, cutting the regeneration to a fraction of its normal potential. This is one reason we do not often travel far outside our familiar territories, it takes weeks or a very intensive ritual to reconfigure our homebond. Interestingly, Elves born…" Shor continued on with her lecture until Vedyr coughed loudly into her hand.
Realizing she had gone long into a tangent, the tips of her ears reddened in the first serious display of a loss of composure he'd seen from the woman. Looking sidelong at the darker woman to her left in thanks she nevertheless returned to her original point.
"Anyway, I have digressed. To evolve your core first you must actively tune the mana inside it to the element you intend to aspect. This requires the utmost precision, all of the mana must be in harmony or fluctuations can arise that create cascading waves inside your core, resulting in its destruction. While this is happening you must also be cycling the aspected mana throughout your body's mana channels and infusing it into your flesh, to better force any unaspected mana to resonate with only the element intended and none of the surrounding energies. Lastly, you must then build a web or shell of pure aspected mana around yourself, isolating your entire body from the world around you, to cut off contaminating influences. Once you have achieved this you must maintain it for an extended period, minutes to an hour, to force your core to become harmonized to this one and only mana form. To fail at any of these tasks is to perish." Shor finished, grimly.
Ulric didn't like the sound of that very much. It sounded like juggling while standing on a unicycle and jumping through flaming hoops. He wasn't too worried about tuning mana, he had a pretty good feel for that from all of his practice in the glade and his recent experiences in Irielhos had contributed greatly to a finer sense of elemental energies. The cycling was also not a big problem, but infusion was certainly not something he was ready to do and do anything else. He'd only just barely started picking it up and only after Bathe had, metaphysically, held his hand. The shell thing sounded kind of like an Overcharge, a holding of a spell form while you empowered it with mana. If he hadn't been doing that since the beginning he very much doubted he would be able to just add the process into the rest. The real issue was that it all had to be done in concert. Any one thing? Sure, he was confident he could pull it off. Everything at once? That's a yikes.
No sir, this whole thing sounded finicky to him. Worse, it was probably going to get harder to do the closer to crisis he got. If his own internal mana was beginning to react randomly it would put strain on his core, he probably would have to invest some of his limited attention to just keep things under control, adding another layer to the mental gymnastics required doing during the awakening process.
Frowning, Ulric was about to open a line of inquiry to dig out exactly the mechanics of each of those processes until Bald'rt interjected.
"There is a better method Glade Chief. My Shor is a purist Ulric, she believes everything must be done the hard way. It is easier than this if you cheat." Spoke the Elf Lord, ignoring the daggered stare that stabbed at him from his side. Also metaphorically. For now.
"When you go to awaken your core, simply do so in a place that is already concentrated, saturated with the intended element. Lunar Elves tend to wait until a full moon and find a high place. The Sylvans climb a particularly old Heartwood tree deep in the forests. Many who would atune Caelum use Winter's Herald, stand in the open to let the whipping wind saturate themselves. If you can arrange it, this will hasten the process, make it easier to isolate and resonate with a pure elemental form. Most Elves who awaken do it this way." He continued glancing wryly at his Crimson-haired partner.
"Not all are as gifted in the arcane as you dearest wife. Glade Chief you have done well, if you don't mind me saying, for one of your kind and your relative experience, but most would have spent years preparing in advance of their core reaching its saturation limit. It would seem the fates are rushing you down your path at a perilous rate, I would suggest you sway the odds in your favor however you may." Advised Bald'rt seriously.
This was advice Ulric was going to take to heart. Stacking the deck in his favor was well worth some consideration. It would seem that he needed to make choices about which elemental form with which to synchronize his core and begin thinking how to make arrangement on Bald'rt's suggested exposure therapy.
Shor did not look exactly pleased with her husband's "alternative methods".
"Glade Chief, there are ways to do things and then there are correct ways to do things. My husband is not wrong, immersion in the mana you attune does facilitate the awakening, but what he has forgotten is that it also makes it harder to resist being consumed by the essence of the mana and become an elemental." A sidelong glance at her husband accompanied the statement.
"He would not consider that a possibility because his head is harder than the rock that anchors mountains, but many find their wills shaken during the awakening." Shor spoke, her sister wives tilting their heads in agreement as she continued.
"Indeed, the transformation of your core is the first step to being an elemental but mages maintain their identity and condense the mana inside themselves, drawing it through their body and expelling it into the shell which isolates. This is done to protect yourself from excess elemental energy to prevent it from becoming overwhelming. If you do not learn the proper way and go into it thinking you do not have to execute the awakening with dedication, you will not survive." Concluded the Crimson Sphinx.
Bald'rt didn't seem to mind being called stubborn. It was probably akin to someone announcing that the sky was blue. He said nothing though content to have given Ulric a slight edge on surviving the event.
Ulric, in the meantime, was quietly chewing his lip while he tried to absorb this information. He wasn't sure how much time he had to mature his technical skills in manipulation of mana, especially the complex multitasking. He remembered the feverish experience of his first days, before he'd learned to harness mana, when his body had been unable to properly handle being saturated by the heavily mana laden environment of the [Plateau of Ancients]. The major difference being that all he'd had to do then was actually utilize his core to expel mana, driven to it through desperation, terror, and the instinctual desire to live of the [Forest Lord] attack. This awakening would require actual skill, concentration, and full cognizance of what he was doing. Stupid magical wonder, with its stupid magical booby traps. He should have known there'd be a catch.
Ulric remembered then that when he'd scanned Brighteyes, the elf had an aspected core, Lunar to be exact. Didn't that mean that Brighteyes had done this already? Surely something a boy could do Ulric could do. When he said as much the attendant Elves sighed loudly. Uh oh.
It was his Shadow that saw fit to enlighten him with a quiet whisper in his ear.
"Ulric Glade Chief, Lumyt'seit is, how we say, born to his magical nature. My brother attuned his core while watching a full moon when he was ten, a few weeks after having first tempered his core. None had even explained what awakening was, there had been no point, it would have been decades away. He did it on instinct, naturally. It would not be wise to expect that you will do so as easily, almost none are so gifted." Geyrt explained in hushed voice.
Ah. A genius. He might have suspected as much, given the boy's parentage. Now Ulric was looking he didn't see the kid anywhere. Probably studying. His birth mother, Bathe, had put him on house arrest until he'd finished his combat and spellcraft training, in a fit of motherly overprotectiveness.
Well damn, looks like it was going to be the hard-hoed row for Ulric.
"I see, that is good to know Geyrt." He said to the form hovering over his shoulder.
Turning back to the dais he continued in a forced cheerfulness "Never mind then. Thank you for the advice, my hosts, it is more clear now what must be done to prepare for this eventuality. If it helps I don't notice any particular strain on my core yet, nothing out of the ordinary, so we probably have some time."
Bald'rt clapped his hands and said, with actual cheer, "Indeed, this is so! Let us return to the matter at hand then. You have need to return to your glade and make ready for the months that Winter will sit upon the land. I have detached four warriors from Irielhos and a royal guardsman, a young Elf of promise who requested the duty, Kryr'st. These will accompany you through the deep wood and on past the [Ancient's Gate] to your home. They are also going to be scouting the lands above, I have heard tell from the birds of odd movements that I wish made better known. These are ready for travel even now. I advise you begin your journey today Glade Chief, after we have lunched, the snows will deepen swiftly and the blizzards are not to be chanced later."
A sound plan, if announced without as much heads up as Ulric preferred. He couldn't think of any good reason to delay though, the Winter wasn't going to be going anywhere for awhile and it had already been longer than he'd originally planned before returning. He was going to miss the baths, so, so much.
"An assessment I agree with Bald'rt, and thanks again. Let's enjoy lunch then, if you have no other matters of import. It will be a good week before I return to your hospitality, two days going, two days coming, and a day or three, depending on what needs tending to in the glade." Ulric said graciously.
The royal family descended the dais and they all took seats at the table, chatting amicably of this or that once the plates were clear. Over a weak and deliciously spiced wine Bald'rt told tales of the history of the Orlethrem and of his marriages to his wives, political arrangements all, though not entirely. His wives were upfront with Ulric about their initial doubts but that the love of the Lord for his people and his winsome charm were enough to sway them, alongside the advantage of tying their clans to a warrior who had proven himself to be one of the greatest fighters in an age. That they had then created a consortium capable of leading the entire Elven confederation hadn't occurred to any of them until recently and they were determined to preserve their kin through the upheavals to come. Vedyr told stories of the rather lengthy, and semi-murderous, courtship she ran her husband to be through before accepting his proposal. Bathe spoke of a previous husband and son, both lost in wars several centuries past, long before her relatively recent marriage to the Lord of the Deep Wood. Ulric nearly gawped when Shor spoke of her eight daughters and he swore Bald'rt's eyebrows tried to waggle off of his head until Bathe lightly drove a finger onto the stab wound Vedyr had left earlier. All told, it was a pleasant way to spend the morning. Eventually though the meal and talk ran their course and it was time for Ulric to depart Irielhos for the glade.
Ulric was terrible at goodbyes, so he wished them the best and headed off to make ready for travel. The old armor, quaint now that he'd seen more professional stuff, was nevertheless effective in its workmanship. He moved more easily in it now, courtesy of his conditioning with the guardsmen. Geyrt had his bow now so he traveled only with a light pack, his spear, and his bone knife. The woman herself had returned to her usual Hunter's attire, out from the heavy layered robes of her casual wear. The thigh-high boots were still best, in his eyes.
The two of them joined up with the assigned soldiers at the bottom floor of the fortress city. Greetings and well wishes from the busy craftsmen and warriors had followed him the entire way down, making him feel awkwardly welcome in a way he'd never really known. After a brief greeting with his travel companions and some casually exchanged insults with Christ they set off to return to the glade. Ulric found himself slightly down at leaving, in a major surprise to himself, for how much he'd looked forwards to going home.
He was going to miss these odd folk, they had grown on him.
