Nineteen || Awakening

"Say it."

"No, no way, I'm not in the mood for this–"

"It's four words! Pulsar. Inferno. Typh–"

"Rod, let me go. I need to bathe."

"You don't need to tell me that, trust me. Just tell me her name."

"Pulse– integer– terror opera."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Like p– in– like your thing actually makes sense."

"Pulsar-inferno Typhoon Omega! It is a beautiful and graceful name and you are mangling it!"

"Mercy, please. My head is throbbing and I'm still waterlogged and I almost got eaten by a big angry magic whale. I just want to go to the inn and stand under some clean water for a while and then lie down until the world stops tilting so much."

"Pulsar–inferno Typhoon Omega."

To emphasize his point, he pressed his hand against the hull of the vehicle and glared meaningfully at Mint. Truth to tell, she could really just turn around and stagger back to town herself, but her faculties were still a bit fuzzy and she really didn't want to deal with him shouting at her or siccing his dog on her or challenging her to an honor duel or whatever else he was possibly considering.

"Pulsar-inferno Typhoon Omega," he repeated.

She closed her eyes and sighed. The words were all sloshing together in her head now. Why did the stupid thing need four words? Or was it three words, one hyphenated? The way he pronounced it kind of sounded like he blended the first two together. P... in... oh... there was a 't' word in there, too.

Heh.

"Pin-to," she said, adding in a fun little jump between syllables. That was actually kind of fun to say.

Rod responded with numb silence.

"What– what did you call her?"

Mint shrugged. "Pinto," she repeated. "You've got too many syllables, just make it short. Elegant. Brevity and wit and all that."

"Elegant? That is an insult!"

"Bah. I'm basically right. Got all the important sounds in there."

"You are a villain, madam."

"Yeah. My first contemptible act is to mispronounce the name of your crazy boat."

She could almost see him quaking.

"Leave," he snarled.

Mint held up her hands and started to back away from him. "All right, all right," she said. "I'm gone."

Which, really, was all she had wanted.

Messing with Rod was a nice bonus, though.

Mint started her walk toward the path out of Rod's little meadow with a passing glance to see where Johnny Wolf had gotten off to and saw that the perfect guard dog was passed out near the fire pit, upside down, one of his forepaws twitching in his sleep. Never had she seen a more imposing sight. Surely this was how Rod kept his camp free of bandits.

That dog was pretty cute, though.

She left the meadow.

She felt better now than she had when she'd left the forest, at least; the food that Mira had packed and the opportunity to just sit down had done wonders, although as soon as she'd left the vehicle she was racked by aches and pains all over again. She would need to talk to Mira about the painkillers they had gotten from the day before; those had worked miracles after the mess in the mines.

As a result, her walk back to town was slower than it should have been, and she wound up getting winded several times on the way. At least the weather was nice; the breeze had a faint coolness to it, especially when she was under the shade of the trees, where the burning sun couldn't hurt her as badly.

She had to admit to being impressed; the fiasco in the forest hadn't taken all that long, and even accounting for the travel there and back it was only afternoon by the time she got back to town. She wondered if she had beaten Rue back to town, and then stopped wondering that because she desperately needed a shower and if he technically 'won' their non-existent race because Mint had prioritized bathing with showing Klaus a couple of magical earrings then she could live with that.

She went straight for the inn, stormed up to her room, and tossed the earrings down on the bed. Then she gathered up a change of clothes and a clean tower and went straight for the inn's shower.

She came back out a fair while later, when she had scrubbed herself clean about three separate times just to make sure all the muck and grime was off of her and out of her hair. Wrapped in clean clothes, hair down to dry, she bundled up her dirty garments and headed out of the shower. Her first thought was to put the dirty clothes in the laundry hamper, but then she wondered if it wouldn't just be kinder to burn them.

"Oh, Mint. Hey."

She stopped and doubled back to the voice. Rue was in his room, sitting in bed, jotting down something in a ragged-looking book. She looked him up and down once, then twice, then blinked.

"Wow," she said. "I thought I had a time of it."

His clothes were dusty and at patches ragged, he looked fairly scraped up, and there were a few fine streaks of coagulated blood in his hair. The last was probably not substantial, but the dark red stood out powerfully against the white.

He tilted his head and gave her a half-smile. "I... had a few problems," he said. "The shower's free?"

"What? Yeah. Go ahead." She grimaced. "Look like you need it. You get whacked in the head, too?"

"Not me," he said, and ran a hand through his hair, genuinely surprised when he skirted over the dirty patches. "Huh. I don't think that's actually mine."

"Not gonna ask," Mint said.

"Thank you."

He placed a ribbon in the book as a makeshift bookmark, shut the book, and lay it down on the bed. Then he got himself up and started to gather up what he needed. Mint stood by for a moment, looking quickly about the room, and asked; "Did you find the thing? Whatever it was your guy made?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure."

"What do you mean, pretty sure?"

"Elroy didn't exactly leave us an answer key," he said. He picked up a small sack from its place on the chair and tossed it lightly onto the bed, spilling some of the contents. Mint couldn't quite make out what it was, but she saw dull metal. "These feel like the spell from the cube, though. And I... I didn't really see anything else that would work."

"Good, good."

"Yourself?"

Mint nodded. "Earrings," she said. "They were inside a magical whale."

Rue stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "I'm not sure which part of that sentence to ask about."

"None of it," Mint said. "Point is, I got the thing. You got the thing. Now we just slap 'em on the Prima Doll and see what happens."

"Right. I'll be back shortly."

He moved past her and into the washroom. Mint continued what she was doing, stowing her clothes into the laundry hamper. Then she turned around and slipped into his room.

First order of business was to check on what he had recovered. She went up to his bed and shook out the contents of the small bag, watching them tumble out onto the bed. A little set of armor accessories – that was surprisingly sensible. She picked one up and turned it over in her hand, examining it, feeling for the magic inside, and after a few seconds was satisfied. It was similar to the cube, and, more importantly, to the earrings she had gathered. She checked the other pieces and found they all possessed a similar magical weave. Excellent.

She picked up the bag, planning to go ahead and toss the earrings she had gathered inside, when she stopped and looked over her shoulder at the little battered book. What was that? A notebook, some kind of diary?

She set the bag back down, reached over, and dragged the book closer. She looked it over: leather-bound, soft from age, but well-kept. Heavy pages. The faint whiff of graphite. She flipped it open to the first page and found herself immediately stymied.

"What the hell?"

She went to another page at random, somewhere from the middle of the book, and stared. She flipped closer to the start; closer to the end; to the last page, which didn't have anything on it; then, to the page that was marked by the faded red ribbon.

She continued to stare, utterly baffled.

Then a thump from behind.

She snapped the book closed and turned around to see Rue standing behind her, still slightly damp, one eyebrow raised.

"You shower quick," she said.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She shoved the book back on the bed. "Just, you know, checking your haul," she said.

He said nothing in reply. He was waiting.

"And checking out your book," she said. "You've, ah, you've been writing in that? Diary sort of deal?"

"Sort of deal, yes," he said.

She felt a little vindicated. "So what's up with that?"

"You're gonna have to be more specific."

Fine. She yanked the book back over, opened it to a random page, and pointed. "That," she said. "These– are these letters? Words? How paranoid are you that you're writing your diary in code?"

"Just paranoid enough, apparently."

Mint laughed. "Fair point."

Rue strode across the room and held out his hand. Mint, still smirking, handed back the book.

"If you're done going through my stuff," he said, "I think it's time we took our findings back to Klaus."

"I wasn't going through it, you just left it there."

He looked at her for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. "Fine," he said. "Fine, I'm... I'm really in no mood to argue." He went over to his small collection of personal effects and stuffed the diary into his travel bag. "Grab the bag, please?"

Mint obliged, shoving the armor back in the bag. When she got off and started out the room, she shoved the bag back at him and he only just managed to avoid dropping them. "Gimme a minute," she said. "I'll grab the earrings. Meet you downstairs."

She just wanted a moment to fix her hair, putting it back up in her twin ponytails, and not two minutes later she looped her belt on, checked her coin purse to make sure the earrings had not decided to vanish – so far, so good – and headed back downstairs, where Rue was standing at the door. He stepped out of her way as she pushed outside, and they headed across to the Adler home.

"By the way," Rue said, "Elena wanted to fix dinner for us."

"She did?" Mint was a little surprised, and then a little confused. "When did you hear this?"

"She mentioned it earlier. Just wanted to thank us."

"And you said yes?"

"Well, yeah. She was really earnest about it. And it sounds... nice."

Mint thought for a moment. "I could do with some nice," she said.

"I thought so, too."

Mint continued to lead the way when they reached the door, first knocking, then waiting, then giving up on waiting and shoving the door open. She stepped inside and called out, "Anybody home?"

The immediate reply was muffled. "Down here!"

They headed into the cellar.

Klaus was there, of course, but he was also accompanied by Elena, who also appeared a bit scuffed and dirty but beaming with excitement. When Mint and Rue appeared, she almost jumped. "There you are!" Her gaze immediately went to Rue. "You can tell him about it better than I can."

Mint looked over her shoulder. "Tell who about what?"

"What happened in the cathedral," she said. "It was amazing! I think. I wasn't really, um, conscious for a lot of it, but..."

Rue abruptly looked much more tired. "Not now, Elena, please," he said.

"That's fine," Klaus said. His voice was a little lower than usual, almost humorless. "But I would like to hear what happened there, Rue. It sounds like I owe you for my daughter's life. And Duke."

Now Mint turned to face him completely. "Wait, what?"

"Not now," he repeated, and Mint immediately shut up.

"Terrifying misadventure notwithstanding," Klaus said, hauling himself up to his feet, "did you both find what you were looking for?"

"Sure enough," Mint said. She reached into the coin-purse and withdrew the earrings, showing them to Klaus. "This was Ginema's contribution." Klaus took the earrings from her hand, and as he did, she added, "I almost got eaten by a whale for these."

Klaus stared between the two of them. "Good lord," he murmured. "I'm... I'm sorry. This little venture is turning out far more dangerous than I'd expected." But still he smiled. "And yet, I can't help but be impressed."

Mint waved it off. "A little mortal danger is nothing, given what we're looking for."

"I still offer my apologies. If either of you were hurt by this..."

"Eh, I'm good," Mint said.

"It's fine, Doctor," Rue added. He stepped forward and handed the bag of items to Klaus.

"And almost a moot point, I suppose," Klaus said. "After this is only a matter of gathering the phantomite and retrieving the tiara." His faint smile spread into a grin. "I– I hadn't really realized how close we are."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Mint asked. "Dress it up!"

All eyes turned to the corner of the room, where the Prima Doll lay.

"Oh!" Elena burst out. "What's this gonna do to Prima?"

"I'm not sure," Klaus said. "Mel's note said that the programming is in the tiara. She didn't really mention what these components are supposed to do." Klaus stepped forward, approaching the Prima Doll, and awkwardly knelt down next to him. "I guess we'll find out."

Rue, Mint, and Elena formed a loose arc around the bed, waiting as Klaus fitted the individual parts onto the Prima Doll, finishing with the gauntlets. When the second glove went on he stood up, Elena helping him to balance, and took a step back.

Then they waited.

Silence stretched for several seconds. Mint became agitated. As they continued to stand by, witnessing a great deal of nothing, she also started to worry.

"Don't tell me we missed something," she said.

Rue grimaced. "We might have. Mel wasn't exactly specific. Maybe there were more accessories?"

"Not on my end, I don't think. I found Ginema's diary. He only mentioned the earrings."

"Shh," Elena said, pressing a finger to her lips. Then, quietly, "I hear something."

They stopped speaking, listened. A high-pitched noise, just barely on the edge of hearing– a mechanical squeal. Then, slowly – dreadfully slowly – one of the Prima Doll's arms moved. They stood enraptured, watching as it slowly, awkwardly, coordinated its limbs and turned itself over onto its back. The mechanical grind became a bit more audible, and its body jolted as its spine tilted and levered upward. Then it settled, sitting upright.

The room was quiet until Elena's voice broke the silence. "He can move!"

Mint, however, was a little less impressed. She leaned in and poked it in the shoulder, tilting it slightly. The Prima Doll leaned over to the side, but as soon as Mint moved away it settled back into position.

"I almost got eaten by a whale for this," Mint said.

"He's still not finished," Rue said. "If most of the programming is in the tiara–"

"Then what was in this stuff?"

"Fundamental magical coda," the Prima Doll said. "Integral groundwork spells for disentangling seal-weave. Basic motor capacity. Power drive restoration."

They all stared.

"He can talk, too," Elena breathed.

"Yes," it responded. It tilted its head slightly, opened its eyes– impossibly golden. Slowly, it turned to look at the small gathering, each in turn. "Even in stasis I am capable of some amount of language cognizance. Although only now am I capable of automated response."

"This is fascinating," Klaus whispered.

Rue tilted his head. "What do you mean, automated?"

The Prima Doll turned to look at him, and Mint couldn't help but notice how it moved. They had all mentioned that it didn't look quite right when it was just lying on the bed, but the full effect of its mechanical nature was striking her then; the neck twisted completely independent of any other part of the body, and though some of its flesh shifted with it by necessity, there was no muscle movement. The effect was eerie, and left her somehow chilled.

"At present, I am functioning with only core necessities," the Prima Doll said. "I have rudimentary ability to process incoming information and execute an appropriate response. The action is purely reflexive and without conscious input. Data is processed, data is returned. Ergo, automation."

"So he has no personality," Mint said. "No actual thoughts."

The Prima Doll inclined its head. "Correct."

Elena looked at him curiously. "Are you always gonna be like that?" she asked.

"I am capable of elementary cognition and functionality in this state, and could theoretically remain this way indefinitely. However, as your collective goal seems to be the resuscitation of my magic systems, there is a high probability that you will retrieve my remaining components and complete me." It paused. "Simplified, there is a very slim chance I will remain this way, unless external events disrupt your intentions."

"Not gonna happen," Mint said.

"Theoretically," Klaus said, "would it be possible for you to unlock the seal in your current state?"

"No. The tiara contains my personality matrix, in addition to the final pieces of information necessary for breaking the seal. Additionally, I do not have sufficient power to do so on my own. A phantomite catalyst is necessary to augment my innate spellwork and combat the protective energy on the seal."

"I was somewhat worried about that," Klaus murmured.

"If I may," Rue said. "When you were... in stasis?" The Prima Doll nodded. "How much awareness did you have? I mean, while you were in the cube. And when we brought you out of it."

"I am aware that you awakened me for the purposes of breaking Valen's seal, although given my intended function there is little other reason you could have for awakening me. I am passingly familiar with your identities, insofar as I believe I have processed names, although I have no means of ascribing them to individuals at this moment in time. I am aware that you have recently gone through certain ordeals in order to retrieve these items. I am–" The Prima Doll hesitated, seeming to stop entirely for a few seconds before it kicked back in. "I am not aware of the passage of time between my creation and my awakening. What has become of Master Elroy?"

That seemed an awkward question. They exchanged a glance, and Klaus finally cleared his throat.

"It's been about five hundred years," he said. "Elroy passed away quite a long time ago."

The Prima Doll was still.

"I– see."

Elena fidgeted with her hands, then stepped forward. "Hey, um... do you... do you think you can walk?"

The Prima Doll took a few seconds to process before responding. "Basic mobility systems are installed. Locomotion is theoretically possible. Allow me to attempt."

Elena stepped forward and offered her hand. The Prima Doll stared at it for a moment before realizing her intention, then reached out with its own and allowed her to help pull it to its feet. It rocked slightly, uncertainly, and Elena helped to keep it steady. When it had stabilized, she let go and took a step back, giving it room. The Prima Doll shifted its weight, bent its knee, and without further ado collapsed face-first onto the floor.

Mint smiled wanly. "That's a nope."

"That," the Prima Doll said, "is a 'nope'."

Rue and Elena hauled it back onto the mattress and got it sitting upright again. Once it was stable, Rue retreated a short distance, back to where Mint and Klaus were. Elena took a few steps back herself, but didn't quite pull away; she stood near the Prima Doll, looking it over curiously. Klaus turned to Rue and Mint.

"This is astounding," he said. "This craft would be impossible to pull off today."

"Not much of a conversationalist, though," Mint said.

"Well, it said its personality is tied in to the tiara," Klaus said. "And we're rapidly nearing the point where that's going to be vital."

"And the phantomite," Rue added. "Did you happen to learn anything about that, sir?"

"Ah, yes, actually." He headed for the desk. "I went to speak to Hobbs – he owns a little curio shop, deals mainly in semi-magical implements. I was hoping he might have picked up phantomite during a trade, but no such luck. He also mentioned that phantomite isn't native to the archipelago. Under normal circumstances, we might need to go as far as East Heaven Kingdom to reliably search for what we need."

"Under normal circumstances," Mint repeated.

"Right. But as it happens, our islands are home to a collector of precious gems and metals, and Hobbs says there's an excellent chance he would have phantomite. The problem, of course, is convincing him to part with it."

Mint laughed. "Man after my own heart. Who's the guy?"

"His name is Wylaf," Klaus said, "and he's not a 'guy'. He's a dragon."

Silence.

Then, very slowly, Rue spoke up. "You said– and Doyle said this, too– you thought a dragon burned down Old Carona. Is Wylaf...?"

"The very same, yes."

He and Mint exchanged a glance.

"I might reconsider melting down the Dual Halos," she said.

Klaus waved her words away. "No, no, there's no need for that. Wylaf is... grossly powerful, yes, that's true. But he's, well, he's something of a town guardian."

"After burning it to the ground once, I can see how you'd think that," Mint muttered.

"That's not entirely fair," Rue said.

"Are you siding with the town-eating dragon?"

"He didn't eat the town. He burned it. Purifying flame, was the phrase."

"Oh, well! As long as he was purifying it, I guess it's okay."

"The point is," Rue said, "that Doyle called him a guardian of the islands, too." He looked back to Klaus. "Have you ever met him?"

"No," Klaus said. "I can at least say that he's never taken action against anyone who has not threatened him first, though."

"And what kind of action did he take against those that threatened him?" Mint asked. "Purifying flame?"

"Yes." Klaus paused. "But I've never heard of him taking action lesser slights. If you exercise respect for him, there should be relatively little danger. Although still danger. Wylaf is one of the world's oldest and most powerful dragons."

Mint frowned. "And somehow I'm not convinced this is a good idea."

Klaus laughed thinly. "I don't blame you for being nervous," he admitted. "And we do have alternatives. There's really no rush; we know where the Relic is, and we have the means of unsealing it within our reach. If I need to go to the mainland and search for phantomite, so be it."

"No," Rue said. "We'll go."

"We?" Mint started. "You are not volunteering me for the dragon mission."

"Then I'll go myself," Rue said. "Where is Wylaf?"

"His den is in the volcano," Klaus said. "It's dormant – the volcano, I mean – so reaching him once you get there really shouldn't be much of a problem. You will need a boat, of course, but other than that-"

"You can't be serious," Mint interjected. "You're gonna go fight a dragon?"

"I'm gonna go talk to a dragon, yes."

"You're nuts."

"Possibly."

"No, not possibly," Mint said. "I want the Relic bad too, but I'm not getting toasted by a big fire-spewing reptile. Limitless power isn't worth it if you're dead, if you follow me. You? Are insane."

"You'd wait for however long it would take to actually find phantomite back on the mainland? If East Heaven is the best bet for finding it, that's months, going there and back."

Mint twitched slightly, but did not budge. "I've waited two years already," she said. "And if the alternative is being roasted alive, I can wait a little longer."

"I'm not going to be roasted."

Mint put her hands up. "Fine, fine," she said. "Dunno why I'm worried, it's you and not me." She paused. "Can I have your stuff when you die?"

"Mint–"

"Enough, enough," Klaus said. "I'm sure you can do it, Rue, and possibly even without third-degree burns. But– exercise all caution, please. If Wylaf refuses, accept it and come back. We'll figure something out."

"Of course," Rue said.

Elena's voice rose up behind them, sounding strangely small in the wake of the heated conversation. "Hey, um... you're not... you're not gonna leave right now, right?"

Rue turned to face her and managed a small smile. "No," he said. "No, not now. I made a promise, right? I can wait until tomorrow." He winced slightly. "I probably should, anyway. I'm not at my best."

Elena smiled, and looked over to Mint. "And you can come too, right? We were gonna have a picnic by the lake tonight."

"Yeah, sure. I'm not gonna turn down free food."

"Treating our guests?" Klaus asked.

Elena nodded, and then looked to her side. "I, um... you don't think I could bring Prima too, do you?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Klaus said. "At least not until we've got him walking on his own power."

"I am content to remain here," Prima Doll added.

"Elena, you'd best start preparing things."

She nodded to Klaus, then half-bowed to Rue and Mint. "It's gonna be great," she said, and then put on a surprisingly serious face. "And that means you gotta get out of the house. No peeking 'til it's time."

"I look forward to it," Rue said, and looked at Mint. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"I'll come get you when we're ready to go," Elena said. "Bye!"

"I'll see you tomorrow," Klaus said. "Get some rest, all right? And have a nice time tonight. You earned it."