Ssin Takes a Holiday (Gul Embassy: JY 30 MT)

[Ssinith DIllil]

"For the love of Molten, I need a holiday!"

His stress threshold had reached its limits these past months as he shouted across the hallway to nobody in particular. He heaved a heavy sigh... the good food at the Black Bridge was sating him as his relaxation during his ventures, but he had not one day truly to himself in months.

Ssinith had been making so many ends meet. Though Lady Vlast had been able to advise him on a more often basis since she now had a room in the Embassy, Ssinith had been stressed to the brink with revenge-seeking elementals, the Trothgard crisis, the Amun Rah volcano, Pax Balthasar and the potential land mine that could become. Not to mention his time training as a priest and trying to learn the surface ways of Alchemy... he really wasn't learning anything new, just different methods of the rudimentary. And on top of all that, he kept dreaming of the day he would become a good husband.

His hair was slightly ruffled as he leaned against the sliding door of his room and sighed, resting his head against his arm. After several attempts at using Alchemy to regrow his hair to its previous full length (a tide which had Lady Vlast laughing her head off at the faulty results the first two attempts), he had gotten his hair to the long and luscious length it was when he had first started at the academy.

His arm was still burned and the jewel still embedded in his hand, though the story to his servants was his tale of "sealing" an elemental away to protect himself and Citadel (as that was the story he gave Thierian). The "sealed artifact" was kept in a precious protective urn among other urns (so that one could not tell which one it was) so that the elemental could 'be in a soothing presence and not be so enraged'. He didn't mention anything about a pact or the creatures name, thus he hoped Xandar wouldn't mind being placed in the safest place he could think of.

His distress likely brought the attention of his servants to which he slowly pulled himself from his leaning position and groggily blinked at them.

"Sorry... I am burned at both ends of the wick... After a nice bath and doing my prayers before the Eternal Flame, I am locking myself away and catching up on my fun studies! I am taking no meetings today and will do my mail at eveningtide. Unless it's a personal arrival of a great dignitary, have them take a message."

Standing to his full self, for the first time in a long time, he was a seventeen year old boy. His ears were drooped foppishly as he yawned and stretched, loving the idea of a day off already. Still, even if he was being more of himself than an Ambassador right now, he remained polite and dignified.

"And... if someone could stop at a library and fetch me some books, I would truly appreciate it. One on mathematics, one on astronomy, one on astrology... aaaaand... I'm going to make something to challenge me in my small lab. I have been making minor bauble potions for quite long enough! Let's make some real magic!"

At that declaration, his spirits were almost immediately lifted as he prepared for his bath and the beginning of his holiday. He was going to do his passion in life, and hopefully not blow anything up in the process. While waiting for his borrowed books to arrive, however, he would start catching up on The Fifth Journey of Meriklar the Wanderer... which he had not even picked up since he had first obtained the precious series. After his bath, he had a bounce in his step as he got his hands on the book and began to read it during his breakfast.

[Meridiuz]

Thieran was the first on the scene after Ssinith's outburst to check on the Ambassador's health. He was shortly followed by Ealiu Sanaidhuni*, a diminutive dark adhiel with a name that was most easily seen in her eyes that were illuminated as if from the aether with vibrant aqua rimmed with darker blue. Where there ought to have been long white locks, Ealiu had dyed them to the darkest shade of raven she could, thus the bright blue eyes that met Ssinith with concern as she raced around the corner were all the more prominent. "Ambassador!" The girl got out breathlessly. "Are you alright?" Genuine concern tinged her voice, the servant girl having just left the mage's room after tidying up in it. Ssinith was quick to wave away any lingering worry with ambivalence, though a small amount of pity remained in those luminous eyes. Poor guy... he just needs a break.

It was replaced as soon as the Gulandurian gave his requests. Thieran, for his part, wandered off as soon as he realized there was no need of him, leaving Ealiu to take the brunt of his needs, though she did so with adoring and attentive attention. "I'll make sure that no-one bothers you," she assured him evenly with a smile that was well maintained but carried perhaps an extra set of those fine, sharp canine teeth giving her fine features a more feline, feral appearance that gave her a different edge from the Lady Vlast whom he'd been spending increasing time with.

"Would you like me to draw you a bath and prepare some oils?" Her lithe fingers intertwined with one another in a knot infront of her midsection, keeping them busy. "A-after I tell someone to get you your books, of course," she swallowed nervously, and if dark adhiel could blush, then her cheeks would've been burning. Instead, she felt the heat rush at her face from her awkward phrasing. Meanwhile, she put on her best disarming smile for the Ambassador without looking too eager.

*Ealiu Sanaidhuni - meaning: forgotten light

[Ssinith DIllil]

Ealiu had always puzzled S'sinith... small, yet she insisted on dying her hair that strange color. It was hard to tell if her eyes were even real either. From her shyness, however, he pondered if it was merely her trying to look fashionable and just... not quite pulling it off. Still, he was glad to have a "fan", and appreciated her even though his heart belonged to his queen.

"Nothing to worry about, Ealiu. This burn on my arm hasn't allowed me much sleep lately..."

Indeed where that red jewel was burned into his hand, the skin around it was not healing well... not to mention the "flare ups" that the "elemental energy which breached his shielding" would cause every now and then, even when writing letters. His left hand and fingers needed a good rub down every now and again. Of course, the true cause of not sleeping well was having that damn connection to a creature wanting to kill some of the most powerful mages of the Empire.

"Actually, the bath first might help... you can get the books around breakfast time after my prayers. Some of those subjects may not be the easiest to find in Adhiel around here. Besides, I have some tomes I need to catch up on."

[Meridiuz]

Ealiu gave Ssinith a slight bow. "I will prepare the bath immediately, Ambassador. And I will make sure the books will be there and no-one will bother you." She looked up into his eyes and gave him a warm, yet slightly anxious smile. She was only a yahren and a half younger than he was and yet she had so much respect for the ambassador, which was clearly visible in the young girl's eyes. He is such a great man, he will help our country regain it's glory.

The bath that Ealiu had prepared for Ssinith had a perfect temperature and the mixture of oils was simply amazing. The aromatic scent that rose from the water was immediately inviting. As Ssinith got into the water it didn't take him longer than a couple of flickers to already feel more relaxed.

If he were to take up the book of the Fifth Journey of Meriklar the Wanderer he would see that Meriklar wrote in two very distinct styles. The bulk of the book was written in an engaging informal manner. It felt like the reader and he were seated at the local pub while Meriklar spun tales of the peoples that lived in the desert sands and all of the adventure and wonder to be found there. It was easy to get lost in this part of the book, especially in a soothing environment as the bath was providing.

Scattered amongst and between those fireside tales were very detailed scholarly descriptions of certain items or rituals. Many were descriptions only with hypothesis as to there Aetherical nature and purpose. A few were fully detailed magickal instructions on how to recreate those rituals. The instructions seemed to leave nothing out. The rituals were designed to summon forth the spirit of an ancestor to ask their advice or seek their aid and then send them quietly back to their rest.

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith slowly became fascinated by the book. He wondered if these rituals were based on faith or by sorcery, but he banked on the first. At the breakfast table he started taking long notes on the rote before him. This was an absolute breakthrough to his studies on the energies of the universe. If spirits could be plucked from the Aether aside from energy, did that mean that there were different elements of energy with sentient beings as there were with natural elements? Netheric energy was sentient, but there had to be a difference between human soul and demonic soul. If so, was there a certain element of energy that made the gods? ... Or were they the final evolutions of energy?

Then something crossed his mind... could a similar ritual have been used in the summoning of the dragon in Trothgard even though it was a magical being?

He wasn't sure if Ealiu was around or getting the other books, but he tapped his quill to the paper he was writing with an enlightened look in his eyes. He slowly bit into a little bit of apple looking around for a servant. He chewed in thought for a few moments, swallowed, then spoke.

"Excuse me, but could you please fetch me my textbook from the Academy. It should be on the second shelf of my bookstand third from the right. I just found something absolutely fascinating."

He needed to see the differences between a summoning circle and a portal and if such rituals would, indeed, be able to transfer a corporeal being if needed. Perhaps with a little tweaking of the rote, he could transform these rituals into a teleportation circle...

... Which could make or break any war, if made large enough.

[Meridiuz]

Ealiu was around indeed and was quick to aid Ssinith in anything he required. With a bright smile and and a sense of urgency readable in her eyes she gave him a slight bow. She recognized the enlightened look in the Ambassador's eyes. He was inspired, she could almost hear his mind work. It wasn't hard to get infected by that kind of enthusiasm. "I will get it for you right away. Ambassador!" She moved quickly and without making a sound. Within flickers she returned with his textbook and she placed it in front of Ssinith on his desk. "Here it is, Sir." Ealiu didn't wait for a thank you or anything, she was sure the man would be too engulfed in his own thoughts. She went back to her duties, watching him work as she casually cleaned the floor with her broom.

One of the first rituals Ssinith came across in the book was a ritual to find and contact an ancestor. Meriklar described how it was performed for Charlesmagne himself, to contact one of his ancestors for advice. Meriklar didn't perform the ritual, but was a witness of it and he described it in full detail. One reading the pages could perform it themselves. Meriklar had never dared to and had only written down his hypotheses on how the ritual worked. It seemed that the actual asking for advice consisted out of two rituals. The first ritual was to find and contact an ancestor in the Aether. Once the contact was made, another ritual could be performed to summon their spirit into the Theter. Now this was where the real fun would begin for Ssinith. Where to begin? Study the hypotheses or go into the rituals themselves?

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Contact and summon... contact and summon..."

He started trying to formulate the rote, switching up the books for various information. This was a very difficult calculation. Though he could take the original ritual and perform it himself, reworking it proved one nether of a challenge.

"Energy connection, then energy summon... what connection would Skaali have in order to summon the beast unless... he was the connection? A magical contract, perhaps? But there was no mention of circles. There had to be a focus of some kind."

He drew a circle on a piece of paper, trying to understand the rote and hypothesis of the ritual. He pointed at a focus above the paper and put his quill back to the paper.

"Like trapping an animal and reeling it in with a net... but is the ancestor always willing?"

He started to write the differences between the portal and a summoning ritual. It was likely how the UoM mages trapped poor Xandar. It would be likely that he would need more mathematics in order to properly figure the power required to make the 'reel' and the 'net' for the teleportation... and if a corporeal being were to step in the net, would their spirits just fly through or would their bodies go with?

Looking to his book about the basics of portal and summoning theory, he pondered for a few moments about this new development and what he could do with it. He looked over to Ealiu with that half-lost look in his eyes as the gears kept turning.

"I will certainly need the mathematics book... if you can not find an Adhiel text over Astronomy and Astrology, do not break yourself trying to find those, but if I can't make this work through mundane spellwork, I may need Alchemical assistance. Right now, I need to further understand the formula, so certainly the mathematics. There are too many variables involved... I might have stumbled across a potential solution to the Trothgard problem."

With that, he took another slice of apple and ate it slowly, as he kept going over his notes. If he needed more power to fuel such a transfer, he could likely find a potion which could help stimulate the energies required. He kept looking over the requirements for the ritual as well as the energies required... particularly whether the ritual was faith-based or sorcery, for if it was based on faith, the temple of Trothgard would have a nice weapon.

[Meridiuz]

The math books were definitely needed as the calculation was complex on several levels. If the ancestor was always willing was quite a good question, what did happen if the ghost wasn't willing? Meriklar had used jail cell bars as an analogy. According to the book sorcery, summoning, and portals were all the same principle, namely breeching the barrier between the Aether and the Tether for some purpose. That barrier would be like the bars of jail cell. It was relatively easy to draw on energy in sorcery because of the abundance of energy around a sorcerer and because the amounts of energy involved are small compared to the available supply. The energy can slip through the bars when called.

Meriklar wrote:

Summoning is essentially the same thing. There is something on the Aether side of the boundary that you want on the Tether side of the boundary. The main difference this time is that the energy has a will with in it. It is intelligent and as we know from the mindcrafters there is a lot of energy to be found in the heart and soul of a being. So, elementals, ghosts, imps, etc are too big to fit through the bars. The barrier must be breeched before they can pass through. This takes a phenomenal amount of energy which is why Summoning is a long slow process often done by groups.

In the meantime Ealiu had already gotten his mathematic and she had found the text on Astronomy and Astrology as well. She had no book on Alchemy with her though. As she put the book on the table she looked at Ssinith with a great interest. "So..this book..contains spells that enable you to talk to your ancestors?" It was unusual for her to ask questions about his work, but she seemed quite interested now.

[Ssinith DIllil]

Ealiu was very helpful, but perhaps he wasn't clear about which book on Alchemy she could get. He had his trusty Unabridged edition in his room, but he could get that later, as that one only had Gulanadur methods of Alchemy. He opened up the book on Mathematics first in order to brush up on his numbers. Smiling as she looked over his shoulder, he was starting to enjoy the attention.

"Yes, but it is the same principal as gates to a degree... I just never realized it. To understand how powerful the man in Trothgard is, to better understand how summoning anything works gives me insight to his resources and I can better assist them. Apparently, their main attacker summoned an entire dragon in a supposed blink of an eye. Usually summoned creatures like spirits do not have a corporeal form... dragons do... that's a lot of energy to shove across the Aether. Meaning... the dragon had to be willing. Or he has an entire army of wizards or priests at his disposal. I am venturing that in his initial attack that he was the only one using supernatural force, the former is true."

S'sinith tapped his quill on his equations going back and forth to see if he could make sense of things. Realizing that he wasn’t speaking to a fellow mage, however, he tried to give a brief explanation of what he was talking about.

“Alright, a basic run down of magic… energy is in all things. The air, you, I, the chair… everything is energy. The Aether is a place tied to the place we are now in the physical, or the Tether. A wizard uses his own will to manipulate energies around him in the Aether to make them manifest into different things in the Tether.”

He started drawing basic pictures in front of her of a tube to represent a portal. He made a boxed cage and a circle to illustrate a summoning, or a one-way rip in the Aether.

"Usually a portal is like a giant hallway, ripping the fabric of the Aether from one side to another. Summoning, however, is like pulling something from out of jail bars. Why summoning takes so long is because the creature being pulled, be it spirit or elemental, has a lot of energy to fit through those bars... now, if the being on the other side of the bars was well aware and willing to use its energy to pass through those bars would not the process be easier? The question of the tide would be, if the dragon was in the Tether or the Aether when it was summoned... if it was the Tether, I may have stumbled on something quite interesting... something which requires less energy than a portal which could transport one being to another..."

He looked over to Ealiu, gazing into her eyes to see if she could follow his explanation. He also quietly shifted his gaze to the Aether, seeing that her eyes also had a magical quality to it.

"Potentially also sending those beasts who attacked Gulanadur back to whence they came if properly situated. Unfortunately, there are a lot of actual numbers involved in calculating the variables instead of magical equation. With magical equation, it is all using measurements of will against mass... something like this requires some physics as well. The Astronomy and Astrology are for learning the surface ways of Alchemy, as I learned that they are important on how energy flows on the surface. Now, as an Alchemist… I take energies of things in the Tether to make new physical objects using my energy manipulation… it would not be hard to make a powerful compound which could act as a ‘crowbar’ if you would, to the bars… the hard part would be to make it strong enough to last the duration of the transport."

He chuckled to himself, thinking that he just went over her head with information. Looking away from her for a moment, he wondered if he still had her interest.

[Meridiuz]

"An entire dragon??" Ealiu blinked. "A willing dragon?" The dark adhiel girl was in way over her head already and Ssinith hadn't even begun to explain the basics of magic yet. When he did, she looked around, as if she could see the air, she looked at him, at herself and at the chair. Energy....She had been told this before, but she still didn't see it. How could all things be of energy? The chair was made out of wood, wasn't it? And they were made out of flesh and blood. And air...well...air was just..air.

She looked at his drawing for a second attempt, hoping the drawing would make things clearer. She knew theoretically what the Aether was, but she had never seen or experienced it consciously. And now Ssinith was adding jail bars to the story? When Ssinith looked into Ealiu's eyes he saw nothing but total and utter confusion. As he shifted his vision, he saw no magical qualities to her eyes or any other part of her body. Apparently her eyes were regular eyes with a very special mixture of colors.

The ambassador continued with his theories, bringing physics, astronomy, astrology and alchemy into the explanation which completely baffled the poor girl. When he was finally done the only thing she could utter was: "So....does that mean...you can...summon one of my ancestors??" She looked at him, her almost magical eyes full of admiration and hope.

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith's head fell to the table as he couldn't help but laugh at her adorable confusion. He kept forgetting that his rambling often times only made sense to himself. After a good few flickers of laughing with his head resting in his arms.

"I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you. When I get started on my rambling, I forget that I don't always make sense."

Getting back on topic he collected himself to try and put things into simpler terms. He folded his hands in front of him and smiled, returning his gaze to his interesting friend.

"Yes, though I would likely have to adapt it for use of Molten's energy instead of the powers of Amun Rah."

He would try to explain the basics of energy again so she could at least sort of follow. He took the stray papers on his desk, and closed his books, putting the books on top of the papers.

"Alright... all things are energy. When you train to be a wizard, you train to look into the Aether and see it all. So even if you never see it..."

He focused himself to see into the Aether again, reaching his finger over his head, grounding himself, and mentally plucking some of the air energy in the room. He twirled his finger to get a small gust of wind above the two of them.

"The energy... is still there. All things that exist have energy. Even emotion is energy, which is why we exist even after death. Nobody's exactly sure where it comes from, but everything and anything is made up of different types of energy meshed together. A wizard is someone who can control energy using his own will... which is also energy."

He stopped twirling his finger and plucking the air around him. Keeping his gaze to the girl, he wondered if she sort of understood.

[Meridiuz]

She hadn't really thought of any way the Ambassador could react, but the fact that he was suddenly laughing out loud was surprising nonetheless. Ealiu giggled as she enjoyed the fact that Ssinith was apparently having a good time, event hough she felt a little ashamed about her silly question.

The girl quickly forgot about it when she noticed the wind picking up around them as Ssinith was working his magic. Her hair danced in the wind and her amazement about the great powers of the Ambassador were clearly visible in her eyes. She looked at him and she seemed to be listening, but the truth was that none of the words made it to her brain.

She casually let herself fall into the chair that stood in front of the desk, putting her elbows on it as she rested her head in her hands. "Wow..that was...just...amazing!" For a flicker or two she just looked at him in awe, thinking of possible ways to jump across the desk and just smooch him right there. Of course she would be making a complete fool out of herself if he didn't respond and he didn't seemed to be that interested in women in general anyway..better not go for the jump and kiss.

Finally, she asked her real question. "So..if you were to summon..say...my dad. Would that be dangerous? I mean...I'm sure he would be willing to talk to me..."

[Ssinith DIllil]

Ssinith was... rather tickled. He never thought a girl would be so impressed by a spell. He thought she was cute, but his own shy nature just sort of blinked sheepishly at her amazement. When the question arose, however, he thought for a moment about the ritual.

"To summon... that's a little chancy. I could summon something else by accident. To make contact with shouldn't be as difficult, though. I'm not certain I have the specific things needed to do that, either. I know it is a feat which can be done by anyone of magical power, but how it is done... I'm not quite sure."

Oh come now, you can communicate with Xandar well enough... Ssinith thought to himself.

"Actually, the Astrology book may have something. I have heard that telling the future and contacting spirits often use similar tools. Perhaps we can match something up with the ritual on how to communicate."

Opening up the books, he found the basic tools recommended for Astrology. After pondering things for a few flickers, he began to realize how precious these skills would be in order to aid him in his political purposes as well. Tapping his fingers, he bit his lip.

"Make a trip to Hadvin's Oddities for me. I will need a Crystal Ball and a Tarot Deck and I would like a price quote. Here... I owe him a coronet as well. I haggled down the price of this book, and I find that it was worth the full price."

He wrote down a list for her so that she wouldn't forget, also making a note to inquire about the other volumes of Merklar the Wanderer, and the Gulanadur magic maven, Elcid a'Dorn. It was unlikely, but he had hoped to get a hold of some of those books from his old library back home, and wondered if any made it to the surface.

"Oh... and mind the big dog he has over there. He's harmless, but he's huge, and might give you a fright. Now that I think about it, you might want to stop at the market before you arrive there and buy some chicken meat for him."

Thus, the list was;

Buy Chicken for Hadvin's dog.
Offer the Coronet to Hadvin, book was worth full price.
Inquire about Crystal Ball and Tarot Cards.
Inquire about more works from Merklar the Wanderer and Elcid a'Dorn.

"In the meantime, I'll do some reading here and see if I need to set anything up in my lab. In the very least, I'll give speaking to him a shot. The circlet is yours to play around with. Ask Thierian to go with you as well... you are carrying coin and your a pretty girl."

With that, he would continue looking between the three books of Merklar, the Astronomy and the Astrology book to see what he could piece together about the part of making contact with the spirits.

[Meridiuz]

It had been a bold move from Ealiu to ask such direct questions to her Ambassador, but she had been unable to resist. Luckily for her, Ssinith was even more of a hero than she had already thought. Her eyes twinkled and a broad smile appeared on her face. "Thank you, Ambassador, thank you!"

She followed his movements, looking at what he needed. Every item he needed, she engraved into her memory. The young adhiel woman was always very accurate with his orders, but this time she would make sure that it was all perfect. "Crystal Ball, Tarot Deck..price quote. Give back the coronet." She was memorizing it item by item when Ssinith started making the note. She was about to say that the note wouldn't be necessary when she realized that she might be so stoked that she could forget something, so a note could be quite handy indeed. Ealiu took the note and as she was about to turn around, she realized what he had said last. He said I was pretty! She immediately started blushing and giggled softly. She quickly turned around before Ssinith could notice the blushing becoming more prominent, her dark raven hair dancing around from the sudden movement.

While Ealiu was out on the errands, Ssinith looked for hints and tips in the books. He found nothing really useful in the Astronomy and Astrology books. Meriklar wrote some interesting things however. He said that the best way to find a spirit was to have the energy of someone close to them present. Using that energy, the spirit could be lured. According to some mages, thinking or talking about the spirit helped.

About two marks later, Ealiu returned. Enthusiastically, she walked up to his desk and plumped down in the chair. "Hadvin sends his gratitude for the humble gesture. And the Tarot Cards are 1 crown, the crystal ball is 3 coronet." She shrugged. "He didn't have any other Merklar or Elcid a'Dorn books at the moment, but he said he would look around for you, since you were one of his finer customers."

With a grin still on her face from the last comment she leaned in, placing her arms on her legs. "So...did you find out what's needed for the communication?"

[Ssinith DIllil]

He liked Ealiu. He read around and found nothing to pin point spiritual contact, but decided that the energies were appropriate. He pondered on getting tools for the communication, but a translation may have been sufficient.

"Well, I will need those tools for later, but I did find that having someone close to the spirit around helped as well as speaking about the spirit in general. The best way to make the contact, though... hmph. I don't want to get possessed by accident either."

He paused for a moment, trying to think of the best way to do this. S'sinith began quilling down some rote, using his book from his school as a guide to get a basic ward down.

"I can connect to the Aether, but getting your father may or may not work. Tell me his name and what god he worshiped. If he was a Moltenite, this will be much easier. If you have anything of his as a memento it will raise our chances significantly. Things he liked in life would also make things better."

He noted her devoted attention and decided to throw in a bit of baloney in there to tease her. He was a horrible liar, but Ealiu was just too adorable not to slightly rib.

"Well... if he does go for something familiar, he may not recognize you since you dyed your hair. Familiar energy can be very complex, and if you never dyed your hair when your father was alive, he may sense something familiar, but not recognize you."

The sneaky sorcerer was expecting her to start panicking about her hair and doing everything in her power to change her hair style, to which he would watch with a mischievous smirk.

[Meridiuz]

OOC: my apologies for the delay, I've been pretty much brain dead last week.

IC:

"Oh yes! He was a Moltenite indeed!" Ealiu responded enthusiastically. "I also have a memento from him." She reached behind her neck and unlocked her necklace. As she placed it onto the desk, Ssinith could see a ring was attached to it, something he hadn't noticed before as the ring was always hidden behind some clothing. The ring was made of gold and was plain, without any inscriptions. There were no scratches on it and it shined as if it was never worn. The girl smiled. "He always wore that and he gave it to me before he passed away." Without her noticing it herself, she had started fiddling with her hands as the memories about her father were starting to surface in her mind. "He...he liked the caves. He loved to take me on walks, showing me the structures." She paused and then looked up to Ssinith with a questioning look. "I think he liked that more than anything...does that help?"

Her eyes grew large when Ssinith mentioned her hair. For a flicker she did not say anything, she didn't move, the fiddling stopped as she was processing the information. "Wait...you mean...I am actually going to be in the aether?" The thought of her hair being dyed and her father not recognizing her was something that could have easily given her a panic attack. But the notion that she was somehow going to be involved in a ritual and was going to be in the Aether...with the spirit of her father...it suddenly became too much. "I..I'm not sure of I want this." She looked straight into Ssiniths eyes, the look on her face now very insecure, bordering on frightened. "Am I going to be ok? Is..is this safe? Tell me the truth, Ssinith." It was the first time Ealiu had mentioned him by his first name, something that she wouldn't have done in any other occasion.

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith laughed slightly, waving his hand. That cute sheepish look of his came across his face as his ears slightly drooped.

"I was jesting about the hair. I really need to work on my sense of humor. I just wanted to see you go crazy about your hair as a joke."

But, she did raise a legitimate concern to him, he continued to write his hypothesis and the chances of something going wrong.

"Well, you wouldn't actually be going into the Aether, but you will be a focus for connection. The only problem I see is if we somehow manage not to contact your father and get someone else on accident. On your end, however, I do not see much danger at all. We will, however, need some sort of device for communication which is why I asked about the cards and ball."

S'sinith paused for a moment... did he really want to open himself up to that sort of thing?

"On my end, if I'm not properly warded, I could end up possessed. I... am not really comfortable with that idea, seeing as I might not get the right spirit contacted. So, let me see... Ah!"

He snapped his fingers in an idea as he looked around his workspace.

"Find me a long stick. The char of wood leaves a blackened film on the burning end to write with. If I can use that as a focus to make a small 'writing area' for him on one of the cave walls, we can make contact that way and it's just a floating pencil on the floor."

[Meridiuz]

Any other moment and Ealiu would have been all over the Ambassador talking about her hair. But now she was far more interested in what he could do, his magical abilities to get her into contact with her father. Now that she was thinking about it...what would she do if it actually worked?? What would she talk about? What did she want to ask her father? As the idea hit her that she actually could be talking to her father within a couple of flickers, she got pretty nervous. But it was exciting as well, she wanted to know if S'sinith could do it and she missed her father, so it would be amazing to talk to him.

She looked at the Ambassador as he thought about the consequences that his actions might have and suddenly she bursted out in laughter. "I'm sorry. It's just...that would be...like..SO weird." Again she laughed, holding her hand in front of her mouth. "You being possessed by my father....WEIRRRD!" She stood up and walked to the door. "I'll be right back with the stick! Oh..and don't worry I'll tell him that he should leave you alone." Ealiu gave him a wink before she walked out of the room.

Not long after she returned, visibly enthousiastic. Her hair danced up and down as she bounced into the room. She put the stick in front of him on his desk. "There you go, Ambassador. Are we all ready now?"

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Yes... that would be."

S'sinith pondered exactly HOW he would make the connection in the Aether, wondering how much it would take to bring this spirit to their attention and for how long.

"It should be. I will use my priestly powers for this since he was a Moltenite. Besides, this is a good exercise."

He stood up, taking the stick with him and tried to find a good flat piece of floor out of the way from anything important. After finding something with enough 'writing space', he put the stick to his fingers, praying slightly to Molten.

"Knowledge is power, and I am about to embark into a new field of my quest to understand the universe. Please grant me a spark to use this stick as a focus for this task and write the proper ward."

Once the end was made into an ember, he would pause for a moment before drawing the basic ward to keep things inside of it from his textbook. He knew he was crossing faith magic with his sorcery on this, but he had no idea if warding was an aspect of Moltanite magic as well. He would take his time on this, seeing if anything needed to be changed to shift it into a priestly ward such as replacing Molten's symbol with another.

[Meridiuz]

Ealiu followed him to the space where S'sinith was about to make the ward. She had no idea what he was about to do and was extremely intrigued by the whole thing. It was actually going to happen, she was going to speak to her father!

The end of the stick quickly turned into an ember. Not knowing if warding was an aspect of Moltanite magic, he turned to the books before actually making the ward. As he looked into Meriklar's writings once more, he saw a basic protection ward for communication with spirits. It was quite similar to the basic ward in his other textbook, although there was no symbol of Molten in there. There was a symbol that represented the Aether, but that one was quite common. Apparently there was no real faith magic used. The sorcerer now had the choice of using that ward, or come up with his own, somehow including Molten's symbol. Would that give the ward extra power? Would it grant him more protection from the spirits? That, he could not know for certain. The choice was up to him.

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Hmmm... I had better go with my mother's rule of thumb. 'When cooking something for the first time, stay strictly with the recipe and you will rarely go wrong'."

He would pray over the power before casting it, as that would be the best way to include Molten without changing much of the spell. Once he learned more about wards in general, then he would fiddle with it to get a more desired response.

"Alright... Ealiu, I'll need either a drop of your blood or perhaps a lock of your hair tied around the top of the stick to give something physical that your father can hold the stick with. After that, I would say this has about a 65 to 70 percent chance of success. I am altering the communication method from the original, so I am unsure how well this will work."

[Meridiuz]

OOC: my apologies for the delay, started at a new customer and the long days have rendered me brain dead for most of the time.

IC:
Ealiu didn't hesitate for a flicker and pulled the small dagger from the sheet. She always wore the dagger on her belt, even though she changed belts regularly to keep up with the latest fashion and to match any of her outfits. Without flinching, she made a small incision into her finger, a drop of red blood quickly forming on her dark skin. Then she grabbed a strand of her dark dyed hair and cut off a lock which would be long enough to tie around the stick. She held the lock between her thumb and the finger that she had cut to rub the blood onto the hair. Once that was done, she wrapped it around the tip of the stick with extreme precision in her knots.

Looking up to S'sinith, the twinkles were showing in her eyes. "There! All ready! Let's do it!" He could see her excitement, she was almost bouncing up and down. The ward was easily made after S'sinith had prayed to Molten and a couple of burns later, everything was in place for the ritual to start. Ealiu waited patiently. "Is there anything else I can do to help you, S'sinith?" She looked quite adorable, holding the finger that she had cut between her lips. "I'm sure it will work, you are the best sorcerer I have ever seen."

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith appreciated the girl's enthusiasm. He laughed slightly... with a slight look of sadness in his eyes. If she only knew about Xandar and how he was unable to do anything about him. Still, something like this shouldn't be a problem.

He raised his hands and started performing on the ritual.

"Concentrate on your father and ask Molten if you may speak with him. His spirit would be in Molten's realms."

He performed the ritual to the letter, hoping the stick in the ward would pick up her father. Or be picked up to be written with. His mind focused in on the task as he performed the ritual in the book, hoping it would bring forth some fruit or at least make him more aware about the spirit world. It was an interesting facet of magic he had never thought of before.

He also realized she never gave her father's name. If it was important in the ritual, he would ask, but assumed that her concentration was enough.

[Meridiuz]

Ealiu sat down and nodded, not wanting to speak anymore, thinking that that might screw up the concentration of the sorcerer. She thought about her father, about the things they had done together, how he always looked, his eyes, his laughter. Meanwhile S'sinith started with the ritual. he did everything according to the book, except for the stick, which he had decided to add to the recipe himself. He shifted to his Aetherial vision and focused on Ealiu as she was thinking about her father.

It took a couple of flickers, but then he saw it. He could see strands of energy forming around Ealiu as she almost emitted her thoughts on her father. The book said that he should focus on those strands. When the person would be focusing strong enough on the thoughts, the strands would lead to the spirit and the sorcerer could use the strands to pull the spirit towards them. Once the spirit was there, he would be able to communicate with it. As S'sinith was watching the energy around the girl he could see them becoming stronger and stronger, the strands pulsating with the energy, growing thicker and longer with each pulse. Not long after the pulses stopped and the strands seemed to have stabilized themselves. It was now time for the next step.

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Alright... step two..."

He focused on pulling the spirit towards the ward, breathing deeply and emitting his thoughts in a warm welcome.

Would you like to speak to your daughter?

S'sinith gently gave a mental tug, trying to pull the spirit of her father in the direction of the ward. He had no idea if this would fully summon the father, or use the smoldering stick to write out his wishes. The stick could have no effect on things what so ever either, and a full summoning could occur. Still, even if the thing wasn't picked up and written with, it boosted the chances of connection very well.

If there was no resistance, he would pull the spirit gently into the ward so that she and her father could make some connection. Thusfar, he saw no problems on his end and thought things would surely go smoothly.