Memory Bonds

Rial led them inside, and past the magic shop on the first floor, towards a staircase in the back corner. Harmoni still looked around as they passed. She could see potions, enchanted robes, wands, and spell books. There was also a table along the right wall, low enough that you could kneel by it. There were bowls set on the table, but nothing in them.

The first floor was interesting, but she didn’t linger. Rial was still going to the stairs, and Harmoni should meet Glow.

Upstairs, there was a locked door between the magic store and living space. Rial quickly let them through.

It was . . . messy. Clothes or plates sat on the surfaces. The apartment had a lot of shelves and drawers, but things still poked out, the doors not closed properly.

Glow was sitting on the kitchen’s island. Her scales were a pale yellow, unlike her siblings. But her eyes were a deep gold, even more so than her sibling’s scales.

‘No need to swoon over her so fast,’ Fleck thought at her. Harmoni was clearly fond of how Glow looked, and it was annoying.

Harmoni just shook her head.

Anyway, Glow was about the size of a bicycle.

And had been for years. Not likely to keep going.

She had wings, but they were folded up.

There was an open bag of chips on the island, some chips almost falling out. Occasionally, Glow’s tongue would zip out and grab one, like a frog.

Sounded good. Fleck jumped up on the island with her. Glow’s tail thumped as he came up, and she let out a low rumble in greeting.

“Get off you two,” Rial said, hand on his hips as he leaned forward. “There’s not enough space for both of you.”

That much was true. Fleck was partly on top of Glow, and her back half was sliding off the island.

They both made sure to give him disappointed looks before jumping off.

Glow trotted up to Harmoni. "Hi there. You're my brother's rider? I'm Glow. Or. That's what the riders call me."

Harmoni nodded. "I'm Harmoni."

Glow stood a little taller, head going towards Harmoni's hand, and Harmoni scratched the top of it.

While they got introduced, Rial sat down at the island himself, hands clasped together. After a moment, he turned to her. “Well come on over. Take a seat. I assume you’ll be here a while.”

“If they’re doing that, we should take the comfy seats,” Glow said.

She led Fleck to a corner of the room with a beanbag chair, pillows, and cushions.

Harmoni dropped onto a stool beside Rial.

Like Suzan, Rial asked a little about what she did, where she lived, if she liked it. He titled his head when she mentioned that she lived with Udo. But he nodded a moment later.

“And what about you?” Harmoni asked. “You fight in the arena and run a shop?”

Rial tugged at his ponytail. “You really shouldn’t put so much weight on the arena. I do it for fun sometimes, and to get out of the building. But it’s not my thing. I make magic. Literally.”

Harmoni nodded. “I noticed. It looks . . . cool.”

Rial tilted his head again. “Would you like to see some of it? I mean, working on magic items. I was going to get out a deck of cards or something. I have a very good poker face.” He grinned, pointy teeth flashing. “But if you’re interested in magic, we can go back downstairs. Those two can join us if they want.”

He jerked at thumb at the dragons. Those two were currently playing tug of war with a rope, like a dog.

They might join the riders some time, but they weren’t done here.

Harmoni laughed a little. “That sounds nice.” She nodded.

Rial led her back downstairs. He shut the blinds and turned on the lights instead.

“The sign says closed. But people try to come in anyway, if they see the owner inside,” he explained.

Harmoni nodded along.

Rial stepped into the center of the room, and clasped his hands together. “Now, what would you like to know about? I’ve got my finished products for sale, but I’ve got some materials in the closet. We could always work on something new.”

“Is that what the table's for?” Harmoni guessed.

“Sort of.” Rial nodded. “I work on projects out there, even when the store is open. People like seeing the process in the same place they buy the product. Sometimes. But sometimes people work on their own projects there too. I provide the supplies. They do the work.”

“OK.” She still had to answer Rial’s question. It seemed so open ended. “Uh. We can make something. Yeah.”

Rial went to the closet and started pulling out jars and bags, while Harmoni dropped by the magic books, and started reading titles. Lots of variety. She saw a spell book, a potions book, and a book on magic theory all in her first glance.

“Ah. I don’t write any of those,” Rial clarified. “Some of them come from Iva. The elves have always had a natural affinity for magic. But, some of them come from Xentorn as well. Those are the steals. Anyone who writes a magic book here usually has a bold, experimental idea.”

Yeah, that tracked with everything else Harmoni knew about Xentron.

It seemed Rial was done, spreading everything out on the table. So she got up and joined him. There was a bit more discussion. They went over what Rial could actually make with the supplies and time they had.

In the end, they agreed to make a waterproof cloak for Harmoni. Harmoni worked with water. And Xentron didn’t really get colder, but it did have a wet season. And maybe she could play a little prank on Cooper. Go out in the rain with him again without telling him about the cloak.

That was the most mischievous Fleck had seen Harmoni act, and he welcomed it.

Rial handed Harmoni some sort of blue crystal. She was supposed to grind it with a motar.

“Can’t you make waterproof clothes without magic?” Harmoni pointed out.

“Well yes, but depending on what supplies you have, one method might be easier than the other. And, have you felt raincoats? I think the magic waterproofing is more comfortable.”

Harmoni nodded along to the logic. She finished crushing the crystals. Rial pushed a small cauldron with a flame underneath it at her, and took the crushed crystals.

“Been a while since I had to use the Bunsen burner,” he commented.

“Sorry,” Glow sang.

She didn’t sound very sorry, and Fleck immediately started teasing her for being lazy, and not doing her work.

Harmoni started stirring the cauldron of what looked like soup, while Rial started putting the crystal powder on the cloak.

“So, can’t you use magic without ingredients? Or even words?” Harmoni asked.

Rial tugged his ponytail again. “Well me personally? I’m, uh, not as good at that. There’s a reason I have a shop of pre-made magic items. All the time in the world to make more. But if you mean in general? Magic is an energy, a power, that flows through the universe. Nonverbal spells really only last as long as you’re focusing on casting that specific spell, crafting the energy into the result. It’s, uh, not always super practical. A spoken spell lasts longer, but if you want something with real sticking power, you use ingredients. I can take the cauldron now.”

Harmoni pushed the cauldron to him, and Rial grabbed the ladle she’d been stirring with, and started pouring the liquid onto the cloak.

“Isn’t that really close to alchemy though?” Harmoni asked.

“Sort of. Uh, sometimes it really helps to be able to feel magic, to make a potion. You can sense which items are most potent. Or which ones you can use to get a specific result. You don't always want the most potent ingredient."

Fleck was pretty sure dragons could do something similar with smell. For example, he could tell some of the necklaces hanging up in the shop had more magic clinging to them than others, based on scent.

"Other times, like right now, you want to combine your ingredients with a spell.” He pressed his hand on a corner of the cloak, and whispered something in a language she didn’t recognize. He wasn’t really that quiet, more like a stage whisper. Maybe you were supposed to whisper for this part? “But, I guess if you don’t need either of those things, you could argue it’s alchemy. The line can be blurry.”

“You don’t mind that?” Harmoni asked.

“Nope.”

"People just like labels," Glow added.

Rial touched two more corners of the cloak, and whispered two more spells. Then he stopped. He pressed his hand against the table, and his breath was a little . . . heavier than before.

“Are you alright?” Harmoni asked.

Rial smiled. “I’m fine.”

“Why did you stop?”

She assumed he had to get the last corner.

“You don’t know much about magic, do you?”

Harmoni shook her head. “Don’t know anything.”

Rial hummed. “Well, magic flows through things. I’ve . . . mentioned this, haven’t I?” She nodded. “Well, it flows through some things and people more than others. If you, uh, want to go with the water metaphor, elves have an advantage. Some elves seem like they’ve got a waterfall of magic flowing through them, and I’ve never met an elf who didn’t have at least one spell under their belt. Colbbers, meanwhile, are more like a drip of water coming out of leaky sink. Magic flows through them, because it flows through everything. But the more magic that’s flowing through you, the more you can pool and use. You could pull more magic to you, but it does take effort.”

So that was why colbbers couldn’t use magic? “That doesn’t seem fair.”

Rial stared at her. She wasn’t entirely sure what that expression was supposed to be. Was he skeptical? Incredulous? It seemed like something along those lines.

“They have a metal exoskeleton. They are part computer and could crush your bones by squeezing. I think it evens out.”

Rial turned back to the cloak, frowned, and kept talking. “Anyway, the point is, my magic isn’t great, admittedly. Not enough magic is flowing through me to continuously fire off powerful spells, so I paused. But hey, that’s why I work in the shop.” He grinned, tilted his head. “I can wait until more magic has pooled to complete my work. I can even figure out some tricks to make the spells or potions better. And I can sense magic just fine. If someone brings in supplies, I know if it’s really magical, or if someone’s lying through their teeth. It comes in handy.”

He pressed his fingers to the cloak’s last corner. He whispered the spell there, and on the hood.

He was talking a bit, about the next step, but Harmoni wasn’t listening. He had answered all the questions she’d asked about magic and then some. She’d learned more about how it worked than she’d expected. But it left one glaring question.

Fleck knew what she was thinking. He didn’t want her to ask it. They were having a good time. He didn’t want her to invite trouble.

The trouble should already be here, and she didn’t want to dance around it every time she saw Rial.

She snapped her head back towards him. “If what you say is true, about sensing magic, why haven’t you said anything about me?"

And she was really going to do this. Great. Lovely.

"Everyone I’ve met who can feel magic says I have some sort of . . . corruption.”