When Anna comes back, she finds that I’ve failed. She also finds her dagger and the ground next to it covered in experimental runes as I sit and think. The girl gives me a glare as she doffs her cloak, hanging it up. “I see that my brother is still suffering,” she notes quietly, accompanied by the drip-drop of water sloughing off the fabric.
Slowly, I nod. “Yeah, I’m working on a more permanent solution.”
She scoffs. “Yeah, of course you’d give u- What?”
Her eyes widen as she realizes what I said, and she drops the food for a moment, before realizing and snatching it back out of the air with surprising dexterity. She stares at me for a long moment, then shakes her head. “I must’ve misheard.”
“You didn’t,” I say, scratching another set of runes in the ground, testing them, figuring them out. What I’m trying to do is basically create an artificial attunement loop, letting the boys leaking mana be kept at bay by either a filled core, maybe even his own mana, so that his vessel has time to heal.
“No way,” Anna whispers. “There’s just no way-”
Sighing softly, I turn to look at her. She’s so worried about her brother, it’s almost charming. I help her, of course, because it’s what good people are meant to do. And yet, when I look at the suffering kid, I feel nothing. Same old void inside. I feel almost frustrated, but I let that go, too, with another sigh.
“Anna,” I say, calling her by name. “I keep your brother’s vessel stable with mana. Usually, the needles I leave fuel that loop. If, and this is a big if, I can manage to create runework for it, fuel it with a core, you could use your mana to keep up the spell. No more need for debts. And he might even heal.”
I could, maybe, one day, heal his vessel. I do have [Vessel Construction], after all. But right now, trying to use that skill on someone else would be the same as dooming them to an early grave. No way can I channel it well enough to overcome someone’s natural defenses. It works on my vessel, because the attack comes from the inside - but with someone else? Someone whose body will naturally fight against it?
It’d be like doing a heart transplant and having the organ be rejected. At best, I could take out my makeshift patch, at worst, it tears his body apart. No, that’s a risk I can’t take. Instead, I need to dispel his mana some more, so that he can heal.
The feryran’s older sister swallows drily. “I… Yuki, I can’t afford this.”
“Then steal it from me,” I say with a shrug. “You’re a thief. Steal it.”
She stares at me. Then frowns, looking me over, as if trying to see if I’m hiding something. She even steps closer, as if to pull my hood off me.
“Touch me and I’m leaving,” I say quietly. It’s a whisper, but she stops, instantly. A small shiver creeps through her, and then, for a few seconds, there is only the scraping of my mana-styles against the ground, testing out runic combinations.
“Sorry, Yuki,” she apologizes.
I nod calmly. “All good, no harm done,” I hum. Then I frown. It’s hard to get the runes correct. A looping suppression enchantment that only targets wisps of internal mana… it’s tricky. I need to be delicate, so that his vessel doesn’t crack further. And I need to include proper channels for powering it…
Slowly, I shake my head. “Not today,” I tell her. “But, well. If things get terrible…” I eye the dagger, pick it up by its tip, and place it in her hands. “This is enchanted now.”
Anna looks at the metal, and the runes she saw before have disappeared. She blinks. “What?”
Smiling faintly, I nod. “I hid the runes. Because I’m sneaky. You don’t want to lose that dagger or have it stolen, right? So, I hid the runes. It’ll look like an ordinary piece of metal. Only if you channel mana through it will it have an effect - and it’s a weak one, too. Use it on your brother, if you must. Press the flat of the dagger against his chest, if he’s close to dying. It’ll hopefully keep him stable,” I inform her.
She just stares.
Then, I shuffle over to the sleeping boy, writhing with soft pain, and ask Kuro for help. Black boy, [Obfuscation], [Suppression]. I hide it with everything I have as I cast the healing spell, knitting his body together. I put the suppression loop in place, and press thin needles of solid mana into his skin to fuel the loop for as long as possible.
A few minutes later, the box around me collapses back into a cloak. I smile happily. Kuro is really growing well. I need to feed them again soon. “Go, make sure your brother eats,” I tell Anna as I erase the remnants of the runes in the ground and head for the door.
Just half a breath before I’m out, she looks at me and whispers. “Thanks.”
I open the door and she speaks again.
“Someone will try to stab you outside,” she informs me, helpfully.
“Don’t worry,” I assure her, turning around to give her a small smile. “I know.”
- - -
As soon as I leave, there is a shift in the air. It’s a cold day in Downpour. Rain turns to hail around me, tiny shards of ice impacting my cloak like little needles. I look up into the sky, at the grey clouds, wondering if the water is coming from a higher floor.
Then, it grows colder still. My expression is calm, my heartbeat steady. Slowly, I walk forward, into the darkness of the night. Always at night, because that’s when people don’t wanna be outside. When it’s quiet. Even though the cobblestones are slick with ice, I walk steadily and calmly.
Someone tries to stab me, then finds themselves stumbling, going for a crash, face first into the ice. They don’t even know what happened, but I do. [Suppression] is a wonderfully sneaky skill, when I [Obfuscate] [Selection].
Lazily, I lean down and pick up the knife. “Huh,” I say calmly. “Ordinary steel. What were you hoping to get out of this?” I ask, squatting next to the man as he tries to get up. It works. He’s just as strong as he always was. I don’t keep any debuffs active - hiding my skills is important, after all.
He grimaces when he sees me holding the knife, scrambling to his feet. He takes one step back, then two, then tries to run. With a soft sigh, I trip him again, using a bit of solid mana this time, and he smacks into the road once more.
“Pretty clumsy for an assassin,” I note, identifying him.
[Petty Thief, lv. 22]
A small hum escapes my lips as the man looks at me afraid. I scan his face, and frown. “What, you wanted enchantments? Did Raven put you up to this?”
He stares at me, confused. I repeat the question, signing along. This time, his eyes widen, and he quickly nods.
Now, of course, communicating in sign language about enchantments is uh… an experience. I basically made up the gesture, drawing a generic “rune”-shape on his knife. But, luckily, the Tower seems to have carried my intent through? Well enough, at least. Which is nice!
As he sits there, I nod again, then smile. With a quick motion, I summon my stylus, place the dagger in my lap, and scratch a few letters into it. Then I slide it to the scared man, signing a simple message. “Bring. Knife. Raven.” I mouth the sentence as I sign.
The thief flinches, but the truth is, I don’t care what he does. I wrote a nice little enchantment into the knife, though I’m unsure if Raven will agree. Ah, well. I’ll find out next time I see them. Certainly nothing will go wrong. Surely.
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