Grasping After Light

Remi had been the one to suggest the three of them get together, and Jigano had stopped by the Guildhall to propose this day for their meeting. With the alchemist's agreement, he had sent the letter to the Manor letting Loren know that they would all be there.

And now the day had come.

The sun was shining but the air was bitter with the whisper of Deepfrost just around the corner. Most of the leaves had fallen, leaving even the magical Glade looking bare and a little forlorn without the softening blanket of white to turn it into a pristine wonderland. Earlier in the day Jigano's vulpine nose had sniffed a heavy wetness to the air that he suspected meant snow before before the next sunrise, and he wistfully remembered the luxere he and Isla had called together.

It had been hard to drag himself out of bed, even though he hadn't really been sleeping. Lethargy filled his limbs and wrapped cotton around his thoughts, making it hard to focus. But Rory had to get up to tend to the goats and horses; there was a fence to mend where a beam had rotted through in the Leafchange rains and Esaia had been full of fire in the brisk morning light, needing attention and a good run to calm her down. Without Rory beside him in the bed to keep him warm Jigano had forced himself up to help, knowing that even if he had no appetite the animals still deserved to eat. Living with a farmer had certainly drilled that through his head, and once he was up and moving it seemed he might as well stay that way.

With the morning chores done he had made his way to the Glade and the Oasis within it, carrying a large, clinking bag that he left carelessly beside him as he settled on a dry rock along the shore and closed his eyes in a half-doze while the sun moved overhead, its light revealing the pallor of his once-golden skin and the lack of shine to his hair. Though he was wrapped snugly in a long cloak of white and grey fur the warmth eluded him. Isuma was perched on his shoulder, her fluffy snow leopard tail curled around his throat like a scarf while she nearly blended into his cloak, and a raven sat beside them on a low branch, keeping watch for others to approach.

The two days came and went in a blur. Loren had barely slept during them. He knew that he should have, but there were still countless things to do and with each moment that past he felt the urgency more and more. Deepfrost was almost upon them, and the summoner, at least, did not feel ready. That wasn’t the only source of his anxiety though: while he and Remi were on better terms now for a variety of reasons, there was still a lingering awkwardness between them and a lingering ache in Loren’s heart while in the alchemist’s presence. However, the Launceleyn was getting better at tolerating it.

He’d fruitlessly searched for Beatrix and Jace, but the children were still ignoring the summoner, no doubt angry over, well, everything. He couldn’t blame them, but he also couldn’t wait. So Loren prepared a small pack with a few items in it—paper and writing implements, chalk, books he’d found on summoning, the LongNight, and the Spark Bird that might prove useful for their endeavors, and a few other odds and ends that might prove useful for the arcane efforts today—strapped a knife to his waist, grabbed his staff (or walking stick, whichever he needed it to be), wrapped his brown cloak snugly around himself, and was off, out to the Oasis.

Though he probably shouldn’t have been pleased about it, the summoner was glad that he’d arrived before Remi. It would give him more time to mentally prepare himself for the other man’s presence. ”Good morning, Jigano. Thank you again for arranging this.” The other man didn’t look great, but that was to be expected, all things considered. The summoner had missed the raven, but despite its best efforts to hide, there was no missing the miniature griffin on the bard’s shoulder. ”Well hello there little one. Aren’t you beautiful?” The summoner's voice came out in almost a croon. As with all the creatures he came across, Loren was immediately entranced; he liked animals more than people, generally, and he couldn’t help but admire the smaller forms of the creatures he occasionally called into being. Glancing around at the clearing, he took a deep breath of the crisp air. ”Shaping up to be a lovely day, don’t you think?” Strange as it might be, the Launceleyn was trying to appreciate the beauty that he'd been to lost to notice before.

Setting his pack down, Loren stretched his shoulders and rolled his neck as they waited for Remi to arrive. Then, he settled onto the chill ground, uncaring and placed his palms flat on his thighs. ”I’m going to meditate for a bit, if that’s alright, but you can interrupt me at any point.” Regardless, Loren would probably notice and stand up when the alchemist finally showed.

Я

Remi's emotional tank was at nearly unprecedented levels of emptiness. Not since Ronin's last death had he felt so mournfully without substance. His husband's tantrums had grown so frequent and violent that eventually the king had stopped coming home. Remi hadn't realized how much he could miss the sound of being screamed at, until he'd been left in an empty vast manor by himself.

And so it was, to hide the lines of exhaustion and heartbreak across his face, that he appeared without one. A man's face, that was. On wings as silent as he could make them, the hawk flit through the trees to the heart of the Oasis where Jigano and Loren had already convened. To a low branch the alchemist glided, gripping onto the bark with far more strength than was necessary. Loren wouldn't be able to read much of the avian's inscrutable features, but Jigano would. Or at least, through their mental tether he could, should he choose to feel through it. Darkness and despair, the likes of which Remi had never known had blanketed his soul in its entirety. Having Ronin die once could not prepare him for this, for that was sudden, whereas this was slow, and violent, and hurtful. It didn't help to tell himself that it isn't really Ronin, because that was really the crux of it all.

It wasn't. really. Ronin.

Ready when you are. Remi thought nearly tonelessly towards the bard, tugging his wings tightly against his body and nodding.

A voice broke across the Glade, broken glass sliding across the bard's raw and weary nerves, but his raven watcher's warning at least kept him from flinching in surprise. He cracked an eye, turning his head to watch Loren's approach, and gave the other man a weary nod. Isuma was more lively in her greeting, perking up to watch the Launceleyn with bright, curious golden eyes. His crooning was met with a happy Reep! of greeting, though she didn't leave her companion's shoulder. Still, the compliment to the gryphlet brought a hint of a smile to the bard's face as well, and he tilted his head up towards the sun as if noticing it for the first time. "Yes... I suppose it is," he agreed, though not with much conviction. Not because Loren was wrong, but because it was hard to find enough energy to care about the weather. It was better than the anger that flared and raced through him more often now, at least, as if the rage took all his energy and burned him out in between episodes of vicious temper and all-encompassing grief.

Oh, what a difference two days could make.

He settled back down as Loren took his meditation pose, the pair waiting in silence only a short while before a hawk landed nearby. For once, Jigano's shielding through the Attuned link was weak, ragged at best. Where Remi had darkness the bard had shadow. Where the alchemist had despair, the lorekeeper had an absence of hope. Remi felt things more strongly, where the white-haired man was a washed out mirror.

He sighed and rubbed at his temple, glancing to the raven with a small nod of distracted thanks, releasing the bird from its duty. It croaked, a subdued sound as if infected with the beastmaster's lethargy, and flapped away to rejoin its brethren as the bard pushed himself slowly to his feet. Remi had called their meeting, and it was the alchemist who should have led it, but that seemed unlikely in his current form. Two days ago it had seemed like an excellent idea to bring the three of them together. Now... Now Jigano sighed and reached up to rub Isuma's head, asking her for strength which the small gryphlet did her best to give.

"Alright, we had some ideas we wanted to try. Loren, you were going to test your ability to summon luxere and work your way up to a Spark Bird, I believe?" He waited to get confirmation before looking to Remi, pale brow arched - but only slightly, as if the effort was too much. "Remi, we were going to see if you could make items to ward off the Long Night monsters. Luxere antlers that don't lose their glow, like Amalia's red ones, or a necklace like the one Aoife wears."

He bent down slowly, feeling twice his age and then some as he untied the bag he had brought and revealing its contents: three small pots, each containing a blighted plant dug up on the Greatwood and transplanted, living, into the Hollowed Grounds without touching the barrier-land soil. "Loren, if you haven't already, I brought a plant for you to try and force infection of something local." A result of their discussion in the Atheneum, though for all the bard knew, the other man had already performed those experiments.

"Remi, if you haven't had a chance to try transmuting a blight-plant to something less corrupted, now's your chance. Two of them, at least." His voice never lost its exhausted tone, and his hands shook fiercely as he leaned back against his rock, looking from man to hawk. "Since the point was to help each of you refine your magic with feedback from each other, we should focus on one task at a time to start. I know we won't be able to test the antlers today... and given what we've learned about the Long Night monsters I'm not sure we'll be able to do so at all before Long Night," he admitted, wincing as he glanced to the alchemist-turned-hawk at the mention of their meeting with the Queen. "But we can see if I - or my blighted blood - reacts to them, maybe." It wasn't quite the same, but it was the best his tired brain could come up with at the moment.

As Jigano started speaking, Loren opened his eyes. At first the summoner was quite, quite confused about what was going on; however, his eyes darted through the oasis until they landed on a familiar looking hawk. ”Good morning, Remi!” It was strange that the other man seemed to want to stay in animal form, but the Launceleyn was hardly in any position to judge.

At the mention of their various experiments, Loren nodded, though idly he was wondering if he would have enough magic to sustain him through multiple summons. Well, if not, he’d just have to rest up and try another day; though he hadn’t experimented much, it was keeping the creatures in the world that significant drained him, though bringing them into the world took a chunk of energy too. Hopefully he could get through two here today, so long as he didn’t try to maintain them for long.

Waiting patiently for the bard to finish, Loren glanced between the white-haired man and the hawk a few times. ”Thanks for setting all this up. Although, I have to ask why you think the blight would respond to the antlers?” Even as he asked, Loren’s hand were scabbling in the dirt, pulling up a flower near his feet; normally he’d have probably used magic instead of his hands, but he was conserving as much of that as possible for the summoning. ”Oh, before I forget, Phoebe, uh the healer from the meeting who had been experimenting on the blight, well, she insisted that it was transmitted when the infection got into an open wound on an otherwise healthy person.” The Launceleyn hesitated, but he knew he should probably communicate the woman’s state of mind. ”However, and I hate to say this, she seemed quite paranoid, though that’s not necessarily a reason not to trust her findings.”

He finished digging up the flower and stood up with it carefully cupped in his hands. Kneeling, he scraped a bit of space in the nearest pot with a blighted plant, and transplanted the flower into it. Other than that, Loren supposed they just had to wait: it was hardly an exact science, but he couldn’t think of any other way to test that the plants of the Hollowed Grounds were resilient for some as yet unknown reason.

That task done, Loren rolled his neck to loosen it. He didn’t know if Jigano had an order in mind, but the Launceleyn knew he should go first. ”I think I should start, as I may need to recover in between spells.” Maybe once upon a time the summoner would’ve been ashamed to admit that, but as it stood they didn’t have time for him to have personal hang-ups.

So, with an effort of will the Launceleyn pictured a deer with glowing horns, exactly as it had been described in all the books and by all the people he’d spoken to; it helped that he’d seen a miniature example of the creature at the meeting Remi had held, though Loren hadn’t known what he was seeing at the time.

Perhaps the gods didn’t completely forsake Loren—or maybe his magic had always just been capable of more than he knew—because right before his eyes a luxere, complete with softly glowing antlers, appeared before him. The Launceleyn made it walk in a circle, just to ensure he could, then held it still so Remi and Jigano could examine it. Once they were done, the summoner would banish it; already he could feel his magic leeching away.

Я

Loren's cheerful greeting would have made the hawk wince, if indeed he was capable of it in this form. With a dull chirp to Isuma, the hawk stepped off of the branch, elegantly transforming into the alchemist in time for him to hit the ground in an easy crouch and rise. To say there were bags beneath Remi's eyes would have been an understatement, though the paleness of his gaze only accented his exhaustion. There was little warmth or joy in his face as their normally was, and his posture was slumped and defeated. Crossing his arms across his chest he looked towards Jigano. Unshifted as they were, the tether between them was still there, the darkness nearly tangible. For all that had happened between the two men, Remi thought he'd never been more like the bard than he was in that moment.

"The blight seems to be entirely dark. Luxere repel the dark." Remi replied in a near toneless voice, with a glance towards Loren. Rubbing at one of his eyes, he sighed. "And no, it cannot be that." Squeezing his eyes shut, he thought of all the times Ronin had bled on him, all the times fluids had been exchanged, and merely shook his head. "I have had blighted blood in my system, and I am still fine." With a tired shrug, the alchemist leaned against the tree. "Phoebe is blighted as well." It was all the energy he had to give to defend his friend.

Looking towards the Sage, Remi pulled in a breath and slowly let it out, his eyes lowering. "I went to see Ianto, about the charm and Arduinna." He said in a voice unusually rough and thickly accented. "The charm is tethered directly to her lifeblood. It is that power that protects Aoife. Much as I would give my own life for hers, I doubt my soul has that sort of strength." Rather than punctuating this with a boyish chuckle, the alchemist merely scowled at the soil. "As for the luxere light..you might as well ask me to create a spark bird feather." This too was said with bitter defeat.

Remi glanced at the luxere, wanting to feel warmed by its presence but not being able to manage it. Other than Auni, the last luxere he'd seen had been the one that guided him to Isla. Well. Isla's body. "It looks good." He murmured with a half-hearted glance towards Loren. Kneeling down towards one of the plants, the alchemist stretched his fingers out. New growth bloomed instantly and for a moment it seemed as though the blighted portions would indeed be transmuted out. Smiling despite himself, suddenly Remi was violently cast backwards, doing a full reverse somersault from the force of something unseen. The plant was now entirely blighted and black, and the alchemist was seeing stars.

Remi answered the first question for him, for which Jigano was grateful, even though the alchemist looked like hell. He’d never seen the younger man so badly off, and for a moment his eyes narrowed as he sought out hands that were half-hidden, tucked against Remi’s chest as they were. He was looking for tell-tale tremors, but seeing none he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, glancing back to Loren at the mention of Phoebe.

Again Remi had an answer, and this time Jigano did raise a brow, nodding slowly. ”My blood has been… changing,” he admitted with a glance to Loren and a faint frown of unhappiness at stating it so baldly. ”So I thought that perhaps it might serve as a vehicle for infection as well. But Remi and Ronin would know better than anyone what the limits are.” He had been paranoid about keeping Rory away from his own blood when he’d hurt himself, the fear of infecting his mate enough to cut through even the blight rage… at least, until recently. It was getting harder and harder to care about such things now, and the rages were getting stronger.

Remi, meanwhile, was growing visibly weaker, and the bard felt a twinge of half-remembered concern for the younger man. ”You underestimate yourself, as always.” The words were tired, nearly rote by now, and accompanied by the shadow of a smile for how instinctive they were. He hadn’t even needed to think them all the way through before he had spoken. ”But even so, we couldn’t expect you to create charms for the whole settlement.” Much less the Fae beyond, whose harm bore the brunt of the biological attack. He fell silent at the defeated tone, unused to it coming from Remi’s throat, and a brow tried to arch even through his exhaustion. ”What went wrong with the first tries at making them?” It was clear that Remi was as tired as he was; perhaps he had missed something in his exhaustion, or given up too soon?

Loren, meanwhile, had been hard at work, and Jigano pushed away from the rock to totter over and peer down at the transplanted flower. He nodded, giving the other man a wry almost-smile, and then stepped back to let the summoner do his work. The luxere appeared with gratifying speed and solidity, and Isuma chirruped excitedly, abandoning her companion to go perch on the summoned deer’s antlers as she helpfully examined it from above. Jigano forced himself to focus and study it closely, watching it move and bending down to check the details on its hooves before rising to touch an antler with his bare skin. Feeling no repulsion or pain, he turned with a wan but genuine smile for the summoner. ”It looks perfect, so that’s another hypothesis of mine that’s fallen through.” And he was glad to be proven wrong, reassured now that he’d be able to sing to the glowing deer again come Deepfrost.

He stepped back as Loren dismissed the creature, turning to see what Remi was up to as Isuma flapped up from her disappearing perch. He saw the alchemist crouched over one of the pots, saw the blackness receding and for a moment hope bloomed even through his own blight-muted emotions—

”Remi!” He found that he could still care, crossing the space in a bound and dropping to kneel beside the stunned alchemist as Isuma dropped to the ground beside the newly-blackened plant, fur and feathers bristled up and hissing furiously at it. The bard placed a shaking hand to Remi’s shoulder, lightly pressing him down in case the younger man should try to rise as he waited for Loren to arrive. ”What happened? Are you hurt?”

Remi did not look good, and Loren gave his maybe friend a concerned look. But Jigano said nothing, so perhaps it would be best for the summoner to stay silent as well. The Launceleyn didn’t know what the relationship between the bard and the alchemist was; whatever it might be, though, Loren would rather pull Remi aside after this to chat than say anything in front of the white-haired man. So the Launceleyn bit his tongue for now.

Seeing as Loren didn’t know anything about the luxere, he’d trust Remi’s judgment that their light could banish the dark. However, the alchemist mentioned that Phoebe was sick, and the summoner looked chagrined. ”Right. Sorry. I should’ve mentioned her condition, but Jigano already knew. Still, guess we’re back to knowing nothing about how it spreads.” At least it meant Loren probably wouldn’t have to do regular animal testing in addition to magical animal testing. When the bard mentioned his blood was changing, the Launceleyn gave him a curious look. ”Uh...if you don’t mind me asking, changing how?” Any little bit of information might prove useful.

As for the explanation of the amulet, Loren followed along as best he could without knowing pretty much any of the actors involved. Still, the Launceleyn thought he understood the gist of it. Seeing as the bard covered most of what the summoner was going to say anyway, Loren just added a short comment of his own. ”While I agree with Jigano that your soul is plenty strong enough, let’s keep the sacrificing to a minimum, just, you know, the absolutely necessary ones maybe?” It was terrible to see both of the others in such dark moods, especially as it meant Loren was the one who had to keep their spirits up. Loren didn’t really do cheerful or fun. ”Well, we’re not asking you, we’re asking me, so stand back and prepare to be amazed.”

Luckily, he was actually able to follow through on that statement, what with the successful summoning and all that. Actually grinning at the interaction between the griffin and the luxere, though the Launceleyn’s smile slipped away at Remi’s less than enthusiastic response. ”Hey, this is good news, right? I can store the spell in one of the amulets, if you have one to spare, and then you can summon it, or the spark bird if it works.” Jigano, on the other hand, was appropriately impressed, and the summoner dismissed the luxere then pointed at the bard while staring at the alchemist. ”See, why can’t you be more like him?” Again, while it was understandable that Jigano and Remi weren’t as excited as Loren was—both at this new development in his magic and at the fact that they had a weapon in the fight against the monsters—it didn’t mean that the alchemist had to be acting as he was.

Then Remi flew the air, and the summoner immediately regretted his comment. Springing to his feet, Loren was right on Jigano’s heels, healing magic roiling in his head and hands, ready to be unleashed. However, despite every instinct calling out to the summoner to fix whatever might be wrong with the alchemist, the Launceleyn somehow found the strength not to cast a spell just then. If they were going to continue testing, he’d need to conserve his strength, and the other man was strong, far stronger than Loren was at the moment. ”Remi, can you talk to me? Tell me where it hurts. I can heal you if you absolutely need it.” Even as he spoke, he knelt down, checking Remi’s breathing and pulse, before trying to see how the alchemist’s eyes looked. It would be hard, given their state, but hopefully the other man would be responsive. If not, however, Loren would heal him, future testing or not.

Я

The alchemist waved away the apology with a sigh. "She...can be paranoid at the best of times, too." He admitted wearily. Falling silent, Remi would let Jigano answer the question about his blood. The alchemist could likely answer it with just as much accuracy, having had Ronin's blighted blood on him recently, but the question hadn't been asked of him, and so as the bard answered, Remi let his eyes slip closed.

"I cannot even create one" Remi growled. "And Arduinna?" His pale eyes opened, flashing towards Jigano rather than Loren. Only the bard knew the extent of the witch's power, after all as well as what she'd done to him. "She..." Sullenly his eyes rolled back, closing. "There is little more that she can do. With the help of the unicorns again she might be able to cure one more person...but she said she hadn't strength enough." Whether that was to be believed, he didn't know. Remi was just pleased he left with his life and all of his other senses.

"I cannot reproduce magical light, much as I have tried. It simply...I do not have the power." No one did, not that it helped. "Repelling the monsters I think I can do, but with no way of testing it, I am reluctant. Safrin helped me make a pendant once to see through illusions. Ludo's, specifically. I wonder if they would help make another to see through other sorts. Not that the monsters are illusions necessarily, but.." He trailed off, blinking softly at Jigano as if imploring the bard to fill in the details. After their conversation with Wessex it shouldn't be terribly hard. The monsters weren't illusions so much as merely half-formed. "I also tried to make a charm to soothe those in the midst of more...violent blight outbursts." Looking properly wounded now and utterly defeated, the alchemist merely shook his head.

"Deimos and Amalia still have one. And I can make more." He replied softly.

At the suggestion he ought to be more like Jigano, Remi could only raise his brows in stunned silence. Loren couldn't know their history, how tense things had been for so many months and how only death had softly knit back together the tears formed between them. Even now, their truce felt unstable, but more honest than their brokered peace had before. Still, the alchemist could only stare at the summoner with blank eyes.

The world spun, stars and black spots dancing before his vision. His back ached from having landed on a rock, knocking the wind from his lungs. Gasping in a breath, he opened his eyes to see Jigano over him. Relaxing a fraction, Remi tried to take stock of his injuries, at least until Loren came over. "Do not." He breathed heavily, a trickle of blood dribbling from beneath a curl and down onto his eyebrow as one of his hands shot out towards the summoner. "Do not dare waste magic on me." Forcing himself to sit, Remi grit his teeth together, willing himself to be fine.

He absolutely wasn't, but what of it.

"It was like...lightning in the plant." Remi mumbled, for lack of a better description.

The mention of Phoebe’s paranoia earned a small snort of agreement from the bard, but he kept his opinions of the midwife behind his teeth, unsure which ones were truly his and which were whispers and taunts from the darkness creeping through his soul like a spreading mold. Loren’s question had him glancing to Remi, but when the alchemist stayed silent Jigano sighed and raised a shaking hand, wondering if showing would be easier than telling.

It was probably a terrible idea, in fact, so he let his hand fall back to his side, grimacing slightly. ”There’s a blackness in it. A visible blackness, like streaks of ink. Or tar. At first it was just a little but…” he slanted another look to Remi, figuring Ronin was a lot further along than he was. ”…it’s been getting worse. More black, less red every day.”

Arduinna was always a touchy topic with Remi, Jigano well knew. He didn’t know how much Loren knew about the Wild Fae or what she had done to the alchemist, but this didn’t seem the time or place to catch up on old wounds. He simply sent a pulse of understanding through the Attuned link, though a little fear slipped in with it at hearing that even the Lady of the Wood had run out of strength. Hearing that Remi’s incredible magic had limits was even more unfortunate, though it shouldn’t have been a surprise. The alchemist had tried to warn him more than once, after all, and it wasn’t his fault that Jigano hadn’t listened. Even so, he picked up the thread that Remi tossed him, giving Loren an apologetic shrug as he spoke. ”We’ve learned a bit more about the Long Night monsters, at least. I don’t know how much of this we’re should be spreading around carelessly,” he cautioned. ”The last thing we need is a panic and another attempt to purge the Ascended with Long Night just around the corner.” He paused to take a breath, wondering if he could get away with just writing down what he knew and sending it to Loren later…

Hell. His handwriting was near-illegible at this point. ”The monsters are ancient Ascended. Or at least, early versions of them, courtesy of the Voice being a terrible parent. They're not completely physical anymore, which is probably why they can’t even stand starlight, but their souls have retained the use of their special abilities, and they’re all mad as the fucking Spire Demon. But when they mimic voices and faces of people it’s not magical illusion so much as… mechanical?” He looked to Remi for confirmation. ”Or whatever it is that drives the Ascended. So we probably need something that can counter that. Which at least you can test if you can find someone willing. Sam might… or even Bastien.”

He nodded at Remi’s other revelation, but though it was rude he slipped a silent, selfish thought across the Attuned bond. Can you make one for Rory? Please?

And then Loren made the magic happen, and the suggestion of storing a spell in an amulet had the bard raising a questioning brow, his curiosity – that most intrinsic trait of his soul – pushing past weariness as he looked between the two men. ”Spell-storing amulet?” he asked mildly. It was a moment of triumph until the Most Unfortunate Comment™ slipped out and Jigano stared at the scholar in open amazement. He slid a shocked glance to Remi, not bothering to use the Attuned link when his expression said quite plainly Did he really just say what I think he said? but then the world was moving on and Remi was moving back entirely against his will and they all had more important things to worry about.

Loren seemed well-versed in healing knowledge, so Jigano sat back on his heels, frowning slightly as Remi insisted on remaining hurt even when he was so clearly not okay. ”You’re bleeding,” he said, voice still deceptively mild. ”May we at least check for a concussion, please? Especially if that little weed just shot you full of lightning.” He looked back over his shoulder eyes narrowed as he studied the plant, which Isuma was faithfully guarding to make sure it didn’t try any more tricks. ”It looks… worse than before. A lot worse. That… that can’t be right. Can it?”

”I didn’t mean to judge her. I can’t even begin to imagine the stress that she’s under. Pausing, Loren added, much more softly, ”The stress any of you are under.” The explanation about the blood just confirmed that the blight was anything but natural. There was obviously history between Arduinna and Remi; not knowing anything about it, however, Loren chose to remain silent. Healing one person didn’t seem worth the cost, nor did the Launceleyn know how they’d decide who to heal. Besides, there was clearly something bothering the alchemist, that much was clear so engaging with him any more than was necessary seemed ill-advised. The librarian had never seen the other man act like this, and Loren had a lot more experience with Remi than the alchemist did with the summoner.

As Remi kept going on and on about what he could not do, Loren felt worry and annoyance build within him. Thankfully, concern won out in the end, and his voice came out gentle and patient. ”Well, these are all contingency plans anyway. Important ones, but they’re supposed to be for emergencies. And there’s a lot we can, and are already doing. We can prepare safe spaces for people to gather. We can see if my summoning can produce magical light, of a sort, and then your creation can give others access to it. There are three of us here, and a whole lot more back at the Hollowed Grounds, and we’re all working together on this. As for illusions, you’re welcome to examine my glasses, see if you can replicate them. The Launceleyn fished them out of his pocket and hung them around his neck. Although he’d mentioned their existence at the meeting, the information everyone retained from it seemed sporadic. There was probably something Loren could do about violence from the blighted, but it would require summoning, and it seemed prudent to save it for LongNight. Still, the people with the blight might be a problem before that. ”And I might be able to summon something that can soothe or calm those with the blight as well. I’d need to think about it, unless you two know of creatures that can do that.” There were a couple the summoner had in mind, but nothing perfect.

The revelation that the LongNight monsters were incomplete Ascended would’ve rocked Loren back on his heels if he’d been standing. As it was, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, though he quickly closed his mouth at least. When his mind finally finished thinking through the implications of that statement, the Launceleyn swallowed. ”Yeah, best not to mention that. However, if they’re basically malfunctioning Ascended can’t we, I don’t know, try to fix them? With healing or, or something else? They might be monsters now, but...weren’t they people once?” At least, if they were precursors to the current Ascended, that seemed quite likely. ”However, obviously we shouldn’t risk our own lives for them. I just...thought it worth mentioning.” Countering mechanical monsters’ abilities was not something the summoner felt particularly qualified to comment on, so he didn’t.

”Remi can make amulets that store any spell thrown at them, basically. But only one spell at a time.” Seeing as the alchemist wasn’t going to explain, it seemed that it fell to the summoner. Then both men gave the Launceleyn frankly shocked looks after he compared their behavior. It was almost comical, in a way, and he'd have pointed it out to them if he hadn't been worried about them losing it over another comment like the one he'd made. However, any hint of amusement he might’ve felt swiftly vanished after Remi was thrown back by the plant.

All Loren was trying to do was help the injured alchemist, and not even with magic (not that it would’ve been a waste if he’d used it). However, at the other man’s harsh words and outstretched hands, the summoner stood up and stepped back. Jigano was speaking, and saying what the Launceleyn would’ve said, so he just let the healing magic fade. At the bard’s comment about the plants, the summoner looked over: the one Remi had experimented on looked almost completely black now. ”I definitely looks worse.” Turning back to the white-haired man, Loren frowned. ”If we think it’s related to The Voice, is it possible there’s some component that reacts violently to, or even feeds upon magic?” That certainly seemed to be what happened here, seeing the results of Remi’s spell.

Я

"It gets thicker, too. Tears, sweat, blood..all of it." Remi added in a low voice once Jigano had finished, the muscles of his jaw tense.

The pulse of understanding made the alchemist smile faintly towards the bard, his head nodding ever so slightly in acknowledgement.

Pressing his palms to his eyes and swallowing hard, the alchemist reined in the urge he suddenly felt to snap at Loren. Rarely had he ever felt such animosity or the need for an outlet, but just now, with all that was happening, Remi had also never had his nerves so frayed. Biting the inside of his lip he tried to breathe through the bright pang of anger.

"Mechanical is a good word for it. There were...non-organic components in the Spire Demon. Or at least there seemed to be before it.." He swallowed and let his hands drop. "—exploded."

At the mention of Sam, Remi couldn't help but flinch. Of all people he knew the bard would never allow harm to come to their common friend, but even so hearing his name in such contexts sent a shiver down Remi's spine. "If the Voice did not like the patch I made for Sam, she certainly will not like something that negates their abilities."

With a solemn glance towards the bard, the alchemist could only shake his head. Tried. It did not work. Or at least...not with Ronin. You are not so far gone, so perhaps...? But there was little confidence in the alchemist's silent voice and even less so in the accompanying mental pulses.

Remi nodded as Loren explained what he could do with the amulets, still mostly shocked at the comparison the Launceleyn had drawn.

"It does not matter." Remi grumbled wearily, smearing at the blood on his forehead which only allowed more to drip down. Rubbing at the back of his head where there was yet another cut, Remi squinted at the plant before glancing up to Loren and Jigano. "No it.." Stars sparkled before his eyes and his fingertips began to tingle. "We tried magic on the blight before...nothing happened." Then again, he'd never tried this particular combination before.

Clutching his stomach as if he might be sick, Remi tried to take a few deep breaths to still the rising nausea and vertigo.

Remi’s addition was a good one, though Jigano grimaced as he nodded at hearing the confirmation of what he had only suspected. It had been happening so gradually that he hadn’t been certain if he was only imagining it, but of course Ronin was further along, and Remi would have taken notes of the changes.

Loren was full of hope and determination, two resources in vanishingly short supply at the Oasis just then. The bard nodded weary thanks as the scholar gave them concrete ideas already underway, but at the mention of summoning something to soothe the blighted he found the energy to raise an intrigued brow. ”I don’t know of any here,” he admitted, ”but I can offer myself as a test subject if you can summon something from your own myths and legends.”

The tale of the lost Ascended wasn’t a pleasant one for any of them. Sam, Rexanna, Bastien… whatever sins their forerunners had committed, many of the ‘modern’ children of the Voice were well-intentioned and would never cause the mayhem the earlier generation was guilty of. Or so Jigano had to believe, placing his ire squarely on the Voice for her recklessness and lack of care in fixing what she had abandoned. ”I’m not sure how physical they are,” Jigano said slowly, thoughtfully. ”If they’re mostly spirit at this point, not even healing magic might have an effect on them. Though… actually…” He blinked and looked to Remi, brow furrowed as he sought his weary memory and came up blank. ”Has anyone tried to Heal an Ascended since we arrived? Does it work on them?” He glanced to Loren with a sober nod. ”Something to add to your list of things to try, if not.”

He caught Remi’s flinch as he looked back, but he wasn’t able to manage a reassuring smile. ”If we can negate their upgrades temporarily, within a certain area, it might offer at least some protection from the Long Night ghouls. Sam’s strength would make it easy to test, though… no, I suspect the Voice will be a bit cranky with us if we do find a way to do it. She could do something to heal or put the ghouls to sleep herself if she didn’t want us meddling, though,” he finished grimly, the shadow of a growl underlying his words as his fingers flexed into fists.

The rage was swifter to rise, but not quite strong enough to break through the shell of weariness that marked his day, and Jigano subsided at the thought of being able to give Rory some protection against him. It was another dead end, though, and all he returned to the alchemist was a pulse of quiet despair. He was not so far gone, no… not yet.

But he was getting worse every day.

The explanation of the amulet was similar enough to something on his world that he nodded thanks to Loren’s explanation, still bemused at someone actually saying that Remi should be more like him. This wasn’t the time or place to dwell on it, alas, not with blighted plants that bit back and sent Remi flying. Loren’s suggestion was a good one, but Remi quickly shot it down. Jigano frowned thoughtfully, opening his mouth to ask a question—

One the alchemist was in no shape to answer. The bard shook his head, looking to Loren with a sigh. ”If the blight is growing stronger you might need to run the tests again, whatever they were,” he suggested. ”I gave Ronin a list of the different schools of magic… I can make another one for you. See how it reacts to life drain versus healing, normal fire versus magical fire, that sort of thing. But if the symptoms I… I was taught to look for,” he corrected himself, stumbling over the name of the lovely medic, ”were right – and they are – a cracked skull and a desire to vomit are nothing to mess with. Remi, will you please let Loren heal you now? At least we know he can summon a luxere, and we’ve learned something new about the blighted plants. Today wasn’t a total waste, and we can just try for a summoned Spark Bird tomorrow.”

Oh, how fleeting such optimism could be.

There didn’t seem to be much else to say on the thickening body fluids, though Loren tucked it away with the other information he had on the blight. None of it made sense, but it painted interesting almost whole pictures in his head. When Jigano offered himself as a test subject, the Launceleyn nodded, mind still going through his lexicon of summons. ”At least trying to heal an Ascended is easy. I’ll let you know how it goes.” If that worked, at least they would know the race could be healed. And if they could be healed, maybe the monsters could be too. Again, seeing as the summoner was totally out of his depth with The Voice and negating Ascended, he stayed quiet, especially given the way both men were acting.

Then of course they went from hovering over Remi to being sent away from the fallen alchemist. ”I don’t know that further magical tests would be advisable, after that reaction. At least let’s wait until we have access to somewhere safe and with medical supplies on hand. I know that’s what you’re suggesting, I’m just saying I wouldn’t necessarily want to participate after that display.” Although Remi’s symptoms sounded bad, there wasn’t much Loren could do about it.  Concern made his tongue perhaps a bit sharper than he intended it to be. ”I’d need to touch him to heal him, and he doesn’t sound particularly open to that. And if I try without permission he’ll probably go manticore or squash me with his magic. Besides, I didn't come all the way out here to stop halfway. So here’s what’s going to happen.” The Launceleyn fixed the fallen alchemist with the summoner's most authoritative stare. Given that he’d picked it up from Zariah, it was pretty good.

”I am going to summon the Spark Bird, just to confirm that I can. Then, with whatever magic I have left, I am going to heal you. Then we are going to go back to the Hollowed Grounds, where you will see an actual healer, where you will not complain as they poke and prod you. No arguments, because I really don’t want Ronin to take my head off for getting you hurt on my watch. If you try to stop me, I will somehow find the power within me to make something big and smelly sit on you.” Turning away from the other two men, Loren unsheathed his belt knife and sliced his left palm. He didn’t know if blood increased the potency of his magic in Caido, the way it had in Northaven, but at this point he could use every ounce of energy he could get.

Squeezing his hand to make the blood pool, he concentrated, drawing upon the magic that was uniquely, totally his. Then, he tossed the blood into the air.

And where it rose, so did the Spark Bird: majestic, huge, and so bright that Loren had to shade his eyes. Its powerful and enormous wings were tipped with fire, and sparks fell from its feathers. Normally, Loren would feel a sense of triumph for summoning such a magnificent creature, especially given what it represented, but at the moment all enjoyment was sapped due to concern for the librarian's stubborn and hurting friend. Making sure to keep the Spark Bird hovering over the actual water—the last thing the summoner wanted at this point was a fire—he turned to Jigano and Remi for confirmation that it's what they were looing for. Assuming it matched their memories of the bird, he’d banish it, already feeling the strain of two powerful summons in such a short period of time. However, if he had even a small pool of magic left, he’d hurry over to Remi, who hopefully wouldn’t lash out again. If the alchemist did, however, it wasn’t like Loren could stop him