THE WAIT IS OVER: I am back and my giant project is completed. Here is your new chapter, courtesy of a caffeine-fueled frenzy.
'Dichroite, also known by its other identifying names as iolite and cordierite, is a magnesium iron aluminium cyclosilicate and is often found in regions where metamorphic rocks in fine-grain sedimentary deposits are typical. In its mineral form, it is commercially used in various mechanical parts for conductivity insulation. In its gem form, it is used in arcane sciences as a point of energy focus for spell casters…'
Kyoko read through the rather bland and clinical description with little interest and scanned through the rest of the paragraph until she came to the section titled 'Capability Enhancements.' It talked about dual bonds with one stone and outlined some of what Kuon had already shown her. She continued to read quietly, sitting at the desk in the lab she once shared with him in the Main Edifice. The Grand Archweaver begrudgingly allowed both her and Kanae to return to campus with the caveat that they were not to leave the building. Her best friend opted to help out on the Provisionals floor for the day, which Kyoko avoided as she knew she would be too distracted with worry to focus.
She skimmed through the remainder of the section as it explained the purported science behind the transference of energy between two bonded stone users. While it was a more interesting read than the first part, she felt she needed additional books to help interpret some of the more unfamiliar terminology. Carefully turning the page, she came to the next section. It outlined the various cultural symbolism in existence regarding the stone. It started out inanely enough explaining how some cultures saw the duality of the colors found in the stone represented both the light and darkness found within oneself. When she came to the next paragraph, her eyes widened.
'Referred to in some cultures as the Stone of Courtship or the Betrothal Gem, gifting a piece of dichroite from one that has already formed a single bond is often a symbolic representation of a suitor's intent to court the object of their affection. As the dual bond properties of this stone are strengthened when the individuals bonded to are romantically involved, it is believed that the stone is meant to be a prelude to intended nuptials.
Kyoko reached up to rub at her eyes, as if not believing the context of what she just read. Had she technically been given the equivalent of an engagement ring? That was impossible, they were but mere children at the time. Furthermore, the book never actually named the countries in which this custom was prevalent anyway. She fought to push the notion from her head and kept reading.
'The practice of this custom has declined in recent years as excessive mining depleted the once-ready deposits of dichroite, in addition to the rise in popularity of other engagement rituals due to globalization.'
Releasing a breath that she was not aware had been held, she sighed. There was a slight reassurance that she may have been overanalyzing things. However, when she recalled how uneasy Kuon was talking about certain aspects of their bond with the stones, she wondered if this was the cause. She knew the best option was to ask him directly about it when she saw him again, if she saw him again. The feeling of dread faintly floated around the edges of her consciousness as she thought about the decision he made to protect his family, to protect her. With another sigh, she put the book down and looked towards the window. Worrying was not going to do any good. Besides, the last time he contacted her, he seemed relatively fine— if a bit nervous, but that was to be expected.
Her gaze wandered idly through the room and landed on the bookshelf where she decided then to bide her time gathering further information about how energy transference through the stone is used. She hoped Head Scribe Yashiro was in his office and willing to help with her search. Picking up a piece of paper, she jotted a short note describing the type of texts she wanted and a polite request for his assistance in gathering them. Marking the paper with the symbol matching the one on the bookshelf, she sent the page on its way to the intended recipient.
It was anyone's guess as to how long it would take for him to respond, so she continued to read the book in front of her when what felt like an icy grip wrapping around her lungs rather abruptly stole her ability to breathe. The book she held in her hand plummeted to the floor with flapping pages and ended in a soft thump. Her whole body shook as a violent sensation rocked her from head to toe and she gripped the edges of the desk with white knuckles. Just as swiftly as it came, it was gone and she struggled to catch her breath, leaning forward on the desk and panting heavily.
Kyoko squeezed her eyes shut, her hand was still shaking as she reached up to wrap it tightly around her amulet. Tears burned at her eyes and she fought to keep them at bay, her teeth bared in a tight grimace. A low moan growled from her throat and she pulled herself upright. She took another shuddering breath before bringing the amulet forward and unclenching her fist, her stomach bottoming out before she could even look at the stone. A milky grey-yellow color met her eyes and she choked back a sob.
In the next instant, she out of the laboratory and running through the hallway towards the Grand Archweaver's office. Onlookers stood puzzled as they watched her barreling down the hallway, her cloak fluttering behind her.
"Is it really alright for you to be here?" Lory asked his guest, who sat before him devouring a rather large sandwich.
"No one saw me come here, if that's what you're worried about," they replied between bites.
"I didn't mean that," the Grand Archweaver waved a dismissive hand. "What I meant was whether or not you should be leaving your dear wife alone like this."
"Oh, she was actually the one who told me to come here," his words were slightly muffled by the mouthful of food he was chewing. "She wants to know what's going on."
"You already know what's going on," Lory deflected.
"Those Defenders never tell you more than they think you should know. What they told us was generic at most so I came here hoping my friend would tell me the rest of it."
Lory sighed heavily and opened his mouth to explain when they were interrupted by the sudden opening and closing of the door to his office. His guest froze in his seat and stared straight ahead instead of turning around to see who had entered. It was a good instinctual move as the last thing he needed was for someone to recognize him.
"I am sorry, Grand Archweaver, your assistant did not inform me that you were with a guest but I would not have come here if it was not important," Kyoko gestured with a bow.
"It is alright, Kyoko, my assistant did not know I had a visitor," he noticed her worried expression and the hint of tears in her eyes. "Is everything alright?"
"I can come back if need be," her voice was shaky and she repeatedly wrung her hands. "Or, if you have a moment to talk in private, I can tell you. It's regarding R— Archweaver Tsuruga, sir."
The man sitting across from him fidgeted in his chair and Lory clearly saw the question in his eyes. He gave the man a brief nod and he immediately turned around to face the woman who stood in the middle of the room. Her eyes widened in recognition when she saw him and she inhaled sharply. With the deepest bow she could muster, she gestured reverently to the man who now regarded her with questioning green eyes and the hint of a frown.
"M-m-my deepest apologies, Your Excellency. I did not know it was you," she stammered while cursing herself for being awestruck when there were more important things to address.
"No need for the formalities, Weaver. I am retired, after all," he said nonchalantly.
"Kuu Hizuri, please allow me to introduce you to Class 1 Weaver, Kyoko Mogami," Lory said with a nod and gestured for her to sit beside the man. "Now, what is the purpose of your rather urgent visit?"
"I have reason to believe that Archweaver Tsuruga may have… run into some difficulties," she hesitated as to how to voice her concern.
"And what has led you to believe this?"
"You could say… it's a feeling, sir," she reached into her cloak and brought out her amulet to show him.
"Where did you get that?" Kuu asked with a strained voice staring intently at the stone.
"That is a rather long and circuitous story, Your—sir," she replied meekly.
"And not important at the moment," Lory interjected sternly. "Was there anything else? Did he contact you or did you just notice the stone had changed?"
"He did contact me. It was very… intense," the Grand Archweaver motioned for her to continue and she swallowed the lump that had lodged itself in her throat. "I felt pain, fear, fatigue and surprise and then it was gone."
Kyoko shifted uneasily in her chair as both men stared at her. This was not something she was prepared to reveal in front of someone other than Lory. Not to mention that the other person just happened to be the father of the man in question. She felt the stinging behind her eyes again and gritted her teeth together. Tears were not productive at this moment.
"Kyoko, please go tell my assistant to get me in touch with Commander Shingai immediately," Lory instructed. "Tell them it is an emergency."
She got up without another word and rushed to the door. Having watched her departure, Kuu turned back to the man on the other side of the desk, his mouth agape and eyes filled with worry. He closed it quickly and blinked before he spoke.
"Is she his—" he broke off when the other man shook his head.
"No, well, not yet anyway, and that will be up to him to tell her, not you," he tried to explain in a hurry, knowing she would be back at any moment. "Like she said, it's a long story. One they can both tell you later."
"So, she knows who I am to him?" Kuu whispered in disbelief.
"Yes, but she knows better than to make any assumptions about addressing you as such, especially since no one else here is supposed to know that" Lory whispered back. "She's a very smart young woman."
She returned at that moment and both men went silent when she re-entered the room. Shyly returning to her seat beside the retired former leader, she looked expectantly at the Grand Archweaver. However, it was Kuu who spoke first.
"So, how are you planning to get my son back?" he asked bluntly, not missing Kyoko's slight flinch at his words.
"I will have to confer with the Defenders on how best to approach this as there has not been any indication that they have detained him," Lory replied calmly. "I will look to their expertise as to how we use this information. You know as well as I do that the Council will not allow the launching of a full-scale assault for the life of one Spellweaver."
"Do they know who he is yet?"
"If they were only speculating before when they made the initial threat, they most likely know now. Especially if he is in that kind of shape," he pointed towards Kyoko's amulet. "I doubt his camouflage would have held up."
Kyoko watched the man clench and unclench his fists as he sat in thought, "What am I gonna tell Julie?"
"Tell her what you want," Lory sighed. "Tell her whatever you must but we won't have any more details until I can meet with the Defenders, which should hopefully be soon."
"Then I will go talk with her and return," he rose from his seat and walked purposefully towards the office door in long strides.
"Wait," Kyoko called out rather abruptly. "Don't you want to leave through a less public exit?"
"You think that kid of mine is the only one who knows how to connect doors for instant travel?" he scoffed. "Please, I'm the one who taught him that. I'll be back in an hour."
Kuon's eyelids fluttered open, still feeling quite heavy. Wherever he was, it was dimly lit; a small mercy considering the blinding effect a bright light would have on the headache he presently had. He was sitting in a chair, he realized, and his arms were bound to the rear two legs while his feet were bound to the front. The chair itself was not uncomfortable, but the position in which he was restrained made it considerably more so. He shifted slightly and a soft groan escaped his lips.
"Ah, I was wondering when you would wake," a smooth voice carried from somewhere to his right. "It seems you do, indeed, recover quickly."
His head lolled in the direction of the voice and he wondered if he should try to speak or if the other person in the room with him would answer his questions without him asking.
"I apologize if the restraints are uncomfortable," the voice continued in a patronizing tone. "You see, it's very hard to ask an unconscious person if they are too tight.
Kuon grunted in response to this and closed his eyes. Looks like his erstwhile companion would be doing all the talking. As such, he was better off keeping his mouth shut and his options open. He had very few available to him at the moment, considering how exhausted he was.
"You have been drained of your energy to keep you… complacent," the voice was getting closer now. "We can't have you using that amulet around your neck to spoil our plans now, can we?"
The source of the disembodied voice finally got close enough for him to peek open an eye and get a look at them. The pale face, white hair and violet eyes, it was just as she had described him. It was a lucky thing that he was restrained and incapacitated or else he would have wrought his vengeance upon the man for going after Kyoko; well, lucky for them anyway.
"You may call me Reino, but I'm sure that lovely lady of yours would have told you as much," the man chuckled condescendingly.
"I believe the words she used to describe you were 'Altrian dog'," he could not resist hurling the verbal barb at the man hovering over him. "But, hey, whatever you want to call yourself today is fine."
"You talk a good game for someone completely at my mercy," Reino sneered. "A lesser man would have hit you for that, but you are too important to us for me to lower myself to your level."
"Can we just get to the part where you tell me your plan, because I'd like to get back to sleep, if you don't mind."
"Who would have guessed that Kuon Hizuri was such a rude guest," he paused for effect, but when he did not get one from his captive, he resumed. "Yes, the camouflage was quite convincing until you no longer had the energy to maintain it. Now that we can confirm your identity, you will be a pivotal piece in our negotiations with both Grismeir and Cretia."
"Good luck with that," he coughed when he tried to laugh. "I'm no better than a traitor to both; I abandoned one and am living in the other under an assumed name."
"You give yourself far too little credit," Reino drawled. "Once your esteemed father finds out, I'm sure he'd move the heavens themselves just to get you back."
"If you say so," Kuon tried to be noncommital about it, but the tightening sensation in his gut told him the other man was most likely correct.
"Well, isn't this nostalgic," Kyoko's head whipped towards the lab door as it swung open, letting Kuu Hizuri inside. "I haven't seen my old lab in quite some time."
"Wha—how?" all propriety went out the window as she tried in vain to comprehend how the main got in through a spell-locked door.
She was instructed to wait elsewhere until it was time to meet with the Defenders. As a result, she took her leave of the Grand Archweaver's office and returned to the laboratory where she could worry herself into a frenzy in the privacy of a locked room. And worry she did until a certain former Superior Grand Archweaver somehow bypassed the lock and unceremoniously let himself into the room.
"Lory told me you were here," he ignored her poorly articulated question regarding his means of entry. "He's still waiting on everyone to get here so he sent me away. I figured I'd come see what that boy's been up to since he's been here."
Not knowing what to say, she simply nodded and watched him rove a curious eye over the drafts she left hanging on the walls. He smoothed an idle hand over them as he walked past them. When he reached the bookshelf, he picked random volumes off and scanned through them with disinterest before putting them back.
"Does he remember to eat?" he asked without turning to face her.
"Barely," she admitted quietly. "I've had to force him on occasion."
"Hm, no surprise there," he came upon a sheet sitting on the work table. Kyoko realized it was the layering camouflage draft they created and wondered, pointlessly, if that was something he should be allowed to see.
"This is not his handwriting," he mused, tracing over the lines with his finger.
"Ah, no, sir," she hesitated. "That is mostly mine."
Finally turning to look at her, his eyebrow arched; he looked almost impressed. Kyoko felt awkward as he continued to look at her and wished she knew what to do with her hands as they were currently pulling at each other in a rather useless fashion. He frowned and walked towards her.
"How much do you know about that stone you have hanging from your neck?"
"Sadly, not much. There was not enough time to cover everything before he—," she trailed off, unwilling to finish the thought. "Anyway, I'm trying to research what I can about it in the interim."
"So what was he able to show you?"
She told him briefly about the few things Kuon had explained to her. He nodded slightly as she explained the locating and communicating abilities she learned, "I'm still not clear on the whole energy transference part but I doubt it would be helpful right now."
He tilted his head in question,"Oh?"
"They seem to be continuously draining his energy so he cannot fight back," she reasoned. "It would be a waste for him to try using mine."
"Very clever," he mused. "Lory was right about you."
"I just wish there was more I could do to help," she sighed hopelessly.
A book appeared on the shelf at that moment. Curiosity getting the better of him, Kuu walked over and picked it up, carefully examining the title. He smirked when he recognized it and quickly flipped through the pages until he found the place in it he sought. Turning it around in his hands, he held it out for her to take with an encouraging nod. She approached him and slowly took the book from his hands, looking curiously at the pages. When she looked back up, she noticed he was on his way to the laboratory door.
"I'll tell Lory to call on you once we have a plan of action in mind," he called lightly over his shoulder. "Until then, you would do well to spend your time reading that."
"Yes, sir," she replied obediently.
"Kyoko," he paused in his stride, this time he was looking at the ceiling. "Do you have any feelings for him?"
"I'm… not prepared or comfortable enough to answer that honestly," she stumbled over her words.
"Well, you might want to take some time to figure that out," his voice went deep and serious. "Because it may end up being the only thing that can save him."
OH HOW I MISSED YOU ALL: I was exhausted after all was said and done but I had to make time to get a new chapter out because I hate to disappoint everyone. Thanks to all of you who have stuck with me and for all the great reviews. You all help keep me going when I wonder why I'm writing a chapter at 2am because it needs to get out of my head. I'm happy to hear from you as always.
AUTHOR OUT!