Crimsoncrest (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 10), page 32
Theo started by hammering more mass materials, sharpening his skills. Senka's cache had included a new hammer, which was powerful but didn't feel right in his hands yet. After he'd pounded out several more mass spheres, he decided that he might be ready.
Picking up the armorstone, Theo placed it on the mass anvil carefully. There seemed to be a limit to how much he could change any given material, after which it began to warp and degrade. Each strike on Krikree's armorstone would have to be perfect, infusing it with mass in addition to protection.
Did he have time to do this so painstakingly? Theo realized that it was noon, which meant exactly half a month until the time of the crest infusion. He would have to hope that was enough, if he spent every available hour working on it.
Except before he could begin, Krikree woke up beside him. Her antennae shot upright and she skittered near, grabbing his knee. "Bricks?" she asked.
"Alright," Theo said with a chuckle. "Bricks first."
Chapter 33
After so many years traveling in dangerous territory, Guchiro used his stealth technique reflexively, even when among allies. He knew that some considered this rude and did not particularly care: it was useful to be able to appear only where and when he wished. Constant presence was for relatives and long term companions only.
Still, when he returned to Outpost #127, he found himself considering when he should drop the technique. Certainly not in the surrounding area, as his presence caused far too much trouble. The Blacksilver organizations seemed effective enough, but they were as excitable as most.
Within the outpost that his ward and her companions had taken for themselves, however... perhaps it would be more polite to appear. Ward Fiyu might have made some unusual choices, but she had chosen her allies carefully. Associate Theo had proved himself a worthy ally, different from the other outsiders, and Associate Nauda had - against all odds - been a consistent and faithful partner to his ward. The others were not closer companion material, but his ward seemed to have a clear head about such things.
So when he stepped into the building, Guchiro had fully intended to drop his stealth.
In one corner of the room, Ward Fiyu was holding her eternaldark and yelling, while Associate Senka hovered around her head. "Louder!" she called. "More passionately!"
Just beside them, Associate Theo sat soulcrafting, which was ordinary enough, except that Associate Krikree was crawling on his shoulders even while soulcrafting. The entire time she worked she was chirping "Brick sisters! Brick sisters!"
In the other corner of the room, Associate Nauda appeared to be attempting to meditate, but Associate Tythes stood behind her, rubbing the sides of her head and intoning, "Infuuuse. Infuuuuuse."
Guchiro regarded the room for several seconds, then turned around and left.
Chapter 34
Arms trembling, Theo lifted his hammer one more time.
Brought it down on the stone, imparting a little more mass. Not enough.
He raised his arm again and his spirit ached. Worse than that was the headache from pushing himself so hard, day after day. When he'd committed to building three free-standing rooms he'd adopted a schedule of nearly constant work, finishing all his bricks as well as actually assembling the chambers. That was done, along with so many other tasks, but he had so little left.
One more time. One more hammer blow, because it had to be enough.
How much time was left? Now he was counting in hours, not days, if he could just think.
If he recalled correctly, tonight was the crestflower ceremony. Three months since they'd planted the seeds, then the whole of the Asplundat Movement would do some sort of celebration. He remembered because he'd needed to factor it into his plans: an hour or two would probably be lost on whatever that was.
Another hammer blow. He had to finish everything.
His hand slipped and the hammer smashed the anvil instead. Theo wiped away sweat and tried again.
The crestflower ceremony would be the final cantae added to the crest, the culmination of centuries of work. After that the marble slab needed some hours to spiritually cool, then it would finally be possible to infuse it. So everything would end at some point tomorrow, for better or for worse.
Theo finally finished the sphere of mass. The hammer tumbled from numb fingers and he struggled to carry the sphere up to his fifth floor. In theory every sublime material here was part of his soul, and he should have been able to levitate them all easily, yet his spirit was so exhausted...
On his fifth floor he had an unusual structure: three chambers diagonally across his blueprint. That included the mass and anti-mass corners - now that he had added the most recent mass sphere, both of those were filled. Or were they? As he stared over the gravitational materials he had to wonder whether this was even the right path or if he should have searched for more powerful ones.
Along the way he had an enormous number of discarded materials, failed experiments, and transitional states. He should sort them all, maybe throw them into his singularity. Too tired for any of that, Theo simply pushed them aside and made sure both rooms were cleaned up enough to use.
He'd used the geminipaths to connect the two corner rooms, forming a circuit that didn't connect in physical space. The power would rotate around the central chamber, more and more intensely, in theory super-charging his singularity. In his current state he hadn't really had the time or presence of mind to test it properly, much less try a full singularity.
Theo wandered into his central Stronghold room. At some point he would need to collapse sublime materials here, to create a second singularity that would power his host-class floors. That would have to wait. Right now its only purpose was to serve as a channel: when he looked down through the hatch, he could see all the way to the bottom, including his first singularity.
Well, there was one other purpose. Theo gently placed the Stronghold-tier felinesolar in the central chamber, where he could use it at will. On its own it didn't do much good, but in theory it should link everyone... he stumbled back down to his basement to get back to work.
When Theo picked up the Ruler-tier felinesolar, it filled his hands with comforting warmth. But that very warmth made him want to lie down, and it forced him to realize the truth: he couldn't do this. In his current state it would be disastrous trying to work with the felinesolar or the armorstone. Raw willpower could push through an ascension, but this sort of soulcrafting was the exact opposite, requiring focus and precision.
For a long time he just stared at his tools, not really thinking. What now?
"Theo?"
He'd expected Nauda or Fiyu to pull him away, or maybe Krikree to ask for advice, or Senka just to annoy him. When Theo blinked weary eyes, he was surprised to see that it was Homez walking into the room instead. The Asplundat soulcrafter looked almost hesitant, but smiled when he met his gaze.
"I know you're focused on your work," Homez said, "but I hoped I could pry you away for one last night. It's time for the crestflower celebration."
"Isn't that... later?" Theo blearily looked out the window and discovered that it was later than he thought, but still not night.
"The ceremony giving the petals, yes, but there's more to it than that. I was going to invite all of you home to spend a little time with my family. Maybe not good for the soulhome, but good for the soul, I think."
After blinking several times, Theo decided that he might as well. Continuing like this he was only going to commit an error, not gain the edge he needed. If stopping led to failure, well, at least he would spend this night together with the people he cared about.
When he ventured outside, he discovered that the others had already gathered. They were all wearing their Asplundat tunics, though not quite as before: Fiyu wore some of her other robes underneath, while Nauda had a second layer that he didn't recognize. Even Krikree was wearing a hat with holes cut out for her antennae. In his usual armament coat he felt like he hadn't adapted, but they smiled and welcomed him and so he let that thought go.
Though Homez took them across the Asplundat Movement with his weirkey, that was the last time they were relevant as soulcrafters. They came out above a small village that was some distance from the mountain and the crestflower fields, just a small collection of a few buildings. Here Theo could see the benefits of Asplundat architecture: not fancy, but warm and sturdy.
"This is where I grew up," Homez told them as they landed. "My grandmother always said there's room for more at the table, and we've tested that many times. Admittedly, this is a bit stranger than usual, but you're truly welcome."
As soon as they walked closer, they were swarmed by Asplundat Fithans. They seemed pleased by Nauda, had apparently been coached to give Fiyu space, and stared at Krikree in awe. For his part, Theo stuck close to the middle of the people he knew, not even trying to keep up with the flood of new names.
Thankfully, they didn't socialize long before they were all called to eat... and Theo was actually impressed by the massive tables set up in the largest building. They seemed to have been formed directly out of stone, creating unbroken lengths that could host even the massive family. Nauda handled the seating, putting Fiyu securely between them, while Homez sat on his other side. Senka had to sit with the children, glowering the entire time.
"They aren't sublime delicacies," he said, "but I'd be honored if you took any of this into your soulhome. You'll be seeing some old family recipes."
The food was simple but hearty, and they did include a high quantity of sublime materials. Not particularly powerful ones, so Theo was trying to figure out how they could fit into his Nine Worlds Feast. He already had quite a bit of Fithan food, yet this was distinct from what he'd eaten in Norro Yorthin. The table in his soulhome was filling up, so he needed to be selective.
His problem was solved when they began passing out baskets of bread, which was both stronger than average and truly delicious. Whatever the baking process was, the result was more than the sum of its parts. Theo placed a loaf in his soulhome and just relaxed enjoying the rest.
"Uh, we have a bit of a problem," Homez whispered into his ear.
And in an instant all the stress and weariness was back. Of course he couldn't get even a single night to relax. Theo prepared himself for an early battle or some other disaster... only to see that Homez was surreptitiously gesturing across the table.
Krikree was absolutely demolishing all the bread that came her way, grabbing from four baskets at once and shoving the loaves into her mouth. All the Fithans around her looked uncomfortable, but seemed to be too polite to mention anything, so she was generating a complete blockage in their efforts to pass food around the table.
[Hey, Krikree,] he emitted.
[Bread good!] she emitted back, without slowing down for a second.
[I agree, but maybe you should scout your environment a bit?]
She froze, some arms still at her mouth, others mid-grab for other bread. Her eyes and antennae flickered around the table, then she emitted more quietly, [Share food with Asplundat beetles?]
Theo nodded and Krikree calmed down. After observing the methods of passing the baskets around the table, she began helping, apparently taking it upon herself to make sure that the baskets kept moving at all times. The Fithans began to smile and Homez gave Theo a pleased nod.
As he sat back and enjoyed the food, Theo realized that this was exactly what he needed. Rest would do his soulcrafting good, but for a time he truly forgot about that.
~ ~ ~
A Tatian meal would have lasted much longer, with more conversation and maybe dancing, but the Fithans wanted to move on to their ceremony. Nauda shepherded Fiyu and Theo as they headed out, since Fiyu was still apprehensive about the crowds and Theo was oddly mellow. It seemed that they were leaving the village to enter the crestflower fields around it.
These were small and less well-formed flowers, some with barely any cantae at all. That didn't matter to the people of the Asplundat Movement, who began the ceremony with great joy. Other than a few words from the eldest, there weren't many rituals, it was just an evening of human connection.
All of the villagers went out and found the flowers they had planted, now blossoming into plants with three broad leaves that looked remarkably like spiked House crests. Homez repeated his explanations, but it was obvious just from watching the movements of the people. One leaf for family, one for friends, one for lovers.
She saw many family members exchanging the deep red leaves, with elders often ending up with mounds of them from their descendants. Adolescents blushingly thrust the pinker leaves at their objects of attraction, while spouses quietly exchanged them. Most of the people went further afield to exchange the orange leaves that represented friendship, so the celebration began to disperse.
"Your leaves are much closer to the mountain," Homez told them as he began to float into the air. "I told you these aren't overwhelming, but I wanted you to make the strongest sublime materials that you could."
As they flew toward the hill where they had planted the leaves, months ago, Nauda looked down over the darkening fields. There were Asplundat citizens spreading out as well, carrying candles or lanterns to light the way. A few were soulcrafters, but a surprising number seemed to be ordinary people.
She realized that many weren't heading closer to the mountain, but instead going off alone. It puzzled her until she saw one of them bend down near a headstone with a name written on it and bury one of the petals. Nauda found the sight strangely affecting and closed her eyes... in the dark, her life sense picked up all the people spreading out from the community like motes of light, exchanging love or connection or grief.
"There they are." Homez could apparently make out the differences easily, because he guided them down to a specific hill. As soon as she got close, Nauda recognized that these were definitely the flowers they had planted.
One of them was a much darker red than the others, with black veins through the crests - unquestionably Fiyu. Theo's flower rippled almost as if it had its own wind, though she assumed it was gravity. And Nauda's... it didn't look so different aside from being a bit larger than the others, but she felt an immediate sense of connection to it.
"What you do with the three crests is up to you," Homez said, "but I'd be honored if you participated in the custom."
So Nauda plucked her crestflower and stared at the three petals. She saw Fiyu fidgeting not far away with her own, so she smiled and tugged off the pink petal. Fiyu happily extended hers and they exchanged them, hands brushing.
How long would this slow dance last? Nauda wondered if they would need to exchange romantic rituals across all Nine Worlds... and somehow that didn't sound so bad.
Fiyu didn't seem to want to linger, however, instead focused on performing the ritual. That left Nauda with her friendship and family petals, which she rubbed between her fingers briefly. She saw that Theo had separated from the group, staring not at the hills, but the mountain and the Asplundatcrest atop it.
"Thinking about tomorrow?" she asked quietly as she came to stand beside him.
"Tonight was the only time I stopped, for a little while." Theo didn't turn to look at her, but it felt good to be standing side by side. If it did come to battle, they would be fighting together from very different positions.
"Like it or not, you're getting this." Nauda handed him the orange petal and Theo looked down at it, briefly disoriented. "I'm glad to be your friend, Theo."
"And I'm glad to be yours, Nauda." Theo's smile was warm for a moment, then slid into something a little more sly. "But if you think you're getting my friendship petal, you're wrong."
She pretended to be offended. "What, are you going to split it in half?"
"Bah, this is just a cultural tradition. I've been analyzing the crestflowers and there's nothing special about each petal, they just built a tradition around the colors. They don't mean anything unless the custom actually means something to you."
"And you're too cynical for that?"
"I can do better for you two." Theo seemed to look inward, toward his own soulhome, then shook his head. "I need to do some work yet, but first one thing. What happened to the seed I had you plant inside your soulhome?"
"You know, I haven't checked."
Nauda stepped into her spiritual garden and found that the crestflower had blossomed there as well. Except this one, instead of the traditional colors, had leaves of black, white, and gray. Not only that, she realized that they strained toward the three towers of her soulhome. She hadn't intended anything like that, but it seemed to have grown naturally.
"Better than I expected." Theo's spirit appeared beside her in her soulhome and she realized that when he had touched her arm, it felt so natural she didn't even notice. "It was really just an experiment, but lucky that it worked out so well for you."
"This is stronger than the others," Nauda said as she plucked the crestflower. "Extremely aligned with my soulhome... but do I try to keep it hovering between all three towers?"
"It could probably fit anywhere. But consider that your first present from me."
After that it seemed like Theo was about to slip away, but Nauda gripped his arm before he could. "Wait. It might be too mushy for you, but... I've been thinking about the family petal. I don't have any living relatives, and unlike you, I do feel like I should give it to someone."
Theo cocked his head to one side, considering for a moment. "Nanjuma?"
"I wouldn't call him family, not really." She cradled the remaining petal in one hand, staring down at its veins, feeling oddly adrift.
"In that case, why do you have to give it to anyone?"
"I just told you, I want to take the ritual seriously and-"
"I mean take it yourself." Theo couldn't touch her here, but his spirit moved as if to fold her hand over the petal. "Some of us aren't blessed with families, or we lose those we had. In that case, you can make your own family. Ignore the custom here... take the last petal and decide what family means to you."
