OOM: Lifestone
The day after Christmas finds Teja in the magical library, reading scrolls on how to play a lyre -- in classical Greek. The purple godling had been able to provide them, easily: - he just smiled, said 'Inter-dimensional inter-library loan' as if reciting a magic formula, and produced them.
Now, Teja is reading those scrolls, albeit without the lyre that Eirene had gifted him with, for the midwinter holiday -- neither would the purple godling permit music being played in the library, nor would he permit anything come in from his special sources to leave the library.
So, as his fingers wish to touch the strings as he reads, he finds himself turning the arm-ring that Charlie had given him, this way and that, in his hands.
"That looks like an Ihlini lifestone," the purple godling says, leaning on the table Teja is sitting at. He looks unusually intospective, even wistful -- not a thing Teja would expect to see on Asar-Suti's face.
"I know not what a Lifestone is, or an Ihlini," Teja says. "In my world, we had neither."
"No, because they were in my world -- the Ihlini were my people whose god I used to be!" the purple godling says. "The Lifestones were a central element of their magic. Some shred of my magical life-force, bound up in a crystal, so they wouldn't age or die, unless slain by violence."
"But you still lost them," Teja says.
"Because the mountain was brought down on me by that traitor Ginevra," Asar-Suti says, "and then, the remaining Ihlini turned away from me. Your cuff almost makes me homesick! Where did you get it?"
"It is not one of yours; you must be able to feel that, certainly!" Teja says, handing the arm-ring over, as proof. "The one that gave it to me saw it made by a friend of his, with his own eyes."
Asar-Suti turns the cuff in his hands, this way and that. "Made by hand, lovingly and unique, and given to you by somebody that loves you very much: - you're a lucky man, Goth! I think I've seen you together. He's a sweet young fellow, with dark curls and a playful smile? He'll cheer you up!"
The Ihlini god steps away, to look at the amethyst in the bright winter sunlight by the window, where it is reflected from all the generous snow outside. "It is flawless and strong," he says. "It could easily hold magic. If I made it into a Lifestone, you could be alive again as long you wear it, or keep it close by. Want me to?"
"No!" Teja says, almost reflexively. It feels too much like being tempted; he doesn't like accepting the offers of gods and such-like beings.
"Your sweet young lover is alive," Asar-Suti points out. "Wouldn't you just hate it if you went to his world for a few days, and just as you're lounging in his bed and enjoying just how lovely he is, you fade away, he can't touch you any longer, where it counts, or at all -- and then you're back here, and only of you're lucky will you have got your clothes back?"
The purple godling chuckles, obviously finding the idea funny -- and Teja contradicts with not a word. These things are personal, and it's nobody's business what he does or indeed does not do with Charlie Monroe.
"I have never stayed away so long that I would have faded, or know how this magic works," Teja says, instead. "The one time I left for longer, the magic of Lucas of Amber kept me alive for all out quest. I know not how he did it, or what he did."
"Then let me at least give you that, as a Christmas present," Asar-Suti says. "As you'd accept it from an Amberite! Whenever you go somewhere else, and the life-force you have in you from here starts ticking down, it'll be augmented by my magic energy I'll put in the stone so you last about twice as long, and it will warn you when it's running out so you can leave under your own steam and get here in a dignified manner?"
Teja would accept the warning magic, without the gift of additional life-force, just as gladly: - that is truly useful, and does not feel like a thing that would unduly bind him to the purple one! But he would not haggle, as if mistrusting each and every offer from him. He nods.
It does not take Asar-Suti long, drawing his Ihlini runes over the stone, to effect the magic he had in mind; and when the last purple glitter in the air, the last whiff of sulphur, has dispersed, he hands the cuff back to Teja.
"It does that, and nothing more," he says, as if to allay any doubts.
Teja puts it back on. It does not feel different from before. But he would trust Asar-Suti that far: - if it would just warn him to return, be it from Charlie's world, or from Tuscany, or maybe from the Italy of Tonio's time (if Tonio ever returns), that would be good enough.
"Thank you," he says.
The purple godling smiles, and returns to his own book.-
Now, Teja is reading those scrolls, albeit without the lyre that Eirene had gifted him with, for the midwinter holiday -- neither would the purple godling permit music being played in the library, nor would he permit anything come in from his special sources to leave the library.
So, as his fingers wish to touch the strings as he reads, he finds himself turning the arm-ring that Charlie had given him, this way and that, in his hands.
"That looks like an Ihlini lifestone," the purple godling says, leaning on the table Teja is sitting at. He looks unusually intospective, even wistful -- not a thing Teja would expect to see on Asar-Suti's face.
"I know not what a Lifestone is, or an Ihlini," Teja says. "In my world, we had neither."
"No, because they were in my world -- the Ihlini were my people whose god I used to be!" the purple godling says. "The Lifestones were a central element of their magic. Some shred of my magical life-force, bound up in a crystal, so they wouldn't age or die, unless slain by violence."
"But you still lost them," Teja says.
"Because the mountain was brought down on me by that traitor Ginevra," Asar-Suti says, "and then, the remaining Ihlini turned away from me. Your cuff almost makes me homesick! Where did you get it?"
"It is not one of yours; you must be able to feel that, certainly!" Teja says, handing the arm-ring over, as proof. "The one that gave it to me saw it made by a friend of his, with his own eyes."
Asar-Suti turns the cuff in his hands, this way and that. "Made by hand, lovingly and unique, and given to you by somebody that loves you very much: - you're a lucky man, Goth! I think I've seen you together. He's a sweet young fellow, with dark curls and a playful smile? He'll cheer you up!"
The Ihlini god steps away, to look at the amethyst in the bright winter sunlight by the window, where it is reflected from all the generous snow outside. "It is flawless and strong," he says. "It could easily hold magic. If I made it into a Lifestone, you could be alive again as long you wear it, or keep it close by. Want me to?"
"No!" Teja says, almost reflexively. It feels too much like being tempted; he doesn't like accepting the offers of gods and such-like beings.
"Your sweet young lover is alive," Asar-Suti points out. "Wouldn't you just hate it if you went to his world for a few days, and just as you're lounging in his bed and enjoying just how lovely he is, you fade away, he can't touch you any longer, where it counts, or at all -- and then you're back here, and only of you're lucky will you have got your clothes back?"
The purple godling chuckles, obviously finding the idea funny -- and Teja contradicts with not a word. These things are personal, and it's nobody's business what he does or indeed does not do with Charlie Monroe.
"I have never stayed away so long that I would have faded, or know how this magic works," Teja says, instead. "The one time I left for longer, the magic of Lucas of Amber kept me alive for all out quest. I know not how he did it, or what he did."
"Then let me at least give you that, as a Christmas present," Asar-Suti says. "As you'd accept it from an Amberite! Whenever you go somewhere else, and the life-force you have in you from here starts ticking down, it'll be augmented by my magic energy I'll put in the stone so you last about twice as long, and it will warn you when it's running out so you can leave under your own steam and get here in a dignified manner?"
Teja would accept the warning magic, without the gift of additional life-force, just as gladly: - that is truly useful, and does not feel like a thing that would unduly bind him to the purple one! But he would not haggle, as if mistrusting each and every offer from him. He nods.
It does not take Asar-Suti long, drawing his Ihlini runes over the stone, to effect the magic he had in mind; and when the last purple glitter in the air, the last whiff of sulphur, has dispersed, he hands the cuff back to Teja.
"It does that, and nothing more," he says, as if to allay any doubts.
Teja puts it back on. It does not feel different from before. But he would trust Asar-Suti that far: - if it would just warn him to return, be it from Charlie's world, or from Tuscany, or maybe from the Italy of Tonio's time (if Tonio ever returns), that would be good enough.
"Thank you," he says.
The purple godling smiles, and returns to his own book.-