Memory A Home For A Cat

[Velho]

༺༉❁ October 11 year 123 of the third age ❁༉༻
<notes>

What Velho was doing, in actuality, was helping to mend the wounds a rather vain general of the Trnova Legie had suffered; the woman had been healed previously, but the flesh was warped and her healer didn't care to minimize scar tissue whatsoever, as it had been a botched field triage, leaving the woman none too pleased with the result. She was a well-built warrior, but she wasn't a fan of scars– in part for vanity, and in part because scar tissue could actually be rather uncomfortable to live with in large quantities. Velho had to sedate her, excise the scar tissue, and then seal the wounds once more, and given the extent of the damage and how careful he was with his work, this took a while. She was, at least, very pleased with the result.

When Velho arrived to knock at Cælum's door, he had Æhti in tow. The latter would smile and wave, while Velho's greeting was much more somber, if still cordial. As the dragon began to explain his symptoms, he'd nod, and suggest that he perform a proper examination within the room itself as opposed to standing in the doorway. Both he and Æhti would enter, though the Galsterei would find a chair to sit in and wait– he didn't know anything about medicine, and had no Saol reserves; there was nothing he could do to help.

Velho, supporting himself with his cane in the opposite hand, would request that the dragon extend his arm to the side as much as he could, as well as other tests to gauge exactly how poor the limb was doing. The joints seemed unable to bend correctly and his nerves were reacting strangely, with much of the flesh feeling either nothing or the static of a sleeping limb when palpated.

"Looks like a few things got fused together when you Invigorated yourself to close the wound," Velho said. "No matter; it's an easy enough fix."

The chirurgeon needed both hands, though, so he would shift to lean his cane against the wall and then proceed to instruct Cælum to simply stand still as much as possible. On Cælum's end, this would look– and feel– as if Velho was merely massaging the flesh at first. In reality, Velho was weaving Vicissitude, opting to do so silently as the incantations of Blights sounded…bizarre, to most, and certainly not remotely similar to those one would utter when casting Druidic spells. His fingers palpated Cælum's arm with intention, pushing muscle back into the right place, weaving connecting tissue against the joint how it should be, unfusing some of the bones in his elbow that had become glued together and correctly aligning the nerves again in turn. By the time he was finished, Cælum's arm would be better than new– the bones within it would be a bit more durable than before and the joint had subtle, additional padding around the nerves so he wouldn't be inconvenienced by smacking his elbow against anything ever again.

"Try and move your arm normally again; you ought to be able to," he'd say when he was done, moving to pick up his cane again.

 

[Caelum]

"Yes, that's what I figured. I don't know if Aehti went into detail, but the damned felinog shredded the whole area to bits. It was all I could do to stop the bleeding. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more damage in there than expected." To emphasize his point, his face twisted in concentration as he tried to lift his arm. It didnt so much as budge, but he did feel a tingling in his palms. Strangely enough, he did feel like he could channel saol through it.

He'd be happy to follow Velho's instructions, though his arm from his joint down was very much immobile. He stood still while the old aelf worked his magic, canting something especially strange that the dragon couldn't help but comment on. "That's some odd canting... your healing touch is quite effective, mysteriously so. Do you take on any students? I uh, I'm not asking for my own benefit, per say, I'm merely curious." Caelum doubted he would have been interested even if he did know the dark secret that the aelf was hiding. Still, he figured that the aelf was well known enough to have people that wanted to learn from him.

When the healing was done, Caelum moved his arm in every which angle he could think of and made sure his hand was fully functional. He even grew a thin vine from his fingertip to make sure his druidism was functional. "It feels perfect. More than perfect, actually. I think I can actually feel a difference between my two arms now." He chuckled, wondering if that was going to get annoying or if his brain would just become accustomed to the experience. In any case one day hadn't been enough for him to get used to only having one usable arm. He'd tried to move it seemingly every few minutes while pulling the Felinog.

"I suppose I'm good to help with the enclosure now. Aehti went over some of the details yesterday, but I'm not sure if I fully understand your vision. Something about an island? My plan was to grow aetumetal in a square or a circle then grow caettle wreath throughout the area to keep it somewhat happy. Whether that will be enough... I'm not exactly sure though."

He'd pause, then ask, "more importantly, did you pick out a name for it yet?" He didn't want to just keep calling it by 'felinog' or 'it' if it was going to be something that he was going to interact with often. It was Velho's call, ultimately. If Caelum had to pick out a name on his own... he had a handful of choice words to call the beast that nearly killed him.

450

 

[Velho]

<notes>

"Æhti tried to describe what happened, and he did so well enough to help me understand. I see issues like this all the time; many Draoidh can be very haphazard with their Invigorations, hence why physicians and chirurgeons are still common professions even among Æld'Norai, where healing magic is plentiful. I'm used to fixing things like this," Velho explained. Indeed, it was more common for him to see to injuries of this nature as opposed to actual trauma.

To Cælum's curiosity about his spells, he'd just flash the man an odd little smile. "Were I less busy, I might consider taking students– but of late, I haven't the time for such an endeavor," he answered, dodging the point of the question.

When the dragon tested his newly healed arm, Velho nodded. "If you do notice enough of a difference to find it cumbersome, I can alter the other side to match, if you'd like." To mirror the changes would not be much effort.

And then to the questions about precisely what their plan was, "Själasalr, where we stand, is simply a large tree; a hybridized sequoia, ætumetal, and marshlog tree that grows in the center of this lake. There isn't much space for a proper enclosure upon Själasalr itself, so I intend to have Æhti attach a small, myrksteinn island to the roots at the bottom, whereupon you will be able to grow the enclosure. You can grow the ætumetal out of Själasalr itself, as such a thing is naturally a part of the tree. Does that make sense?" Velho would ask, wanting to make sure the other understood.

But the next question, with regards to the beast's name, caused the Ferrier to stop and ponder. Æhti thought that Velho would've just seen the thing as a specimen, a nameless possession, but Velho wasn't a man entirely without softness. And if he was going to keep something for parts like that, why not give it as decent a life as one could? Plus…he thought Felinogs were cute.

"I'll have to see it first, but I might go with 'Cloud,'" Velho answered after thinking for a moment.

Æhti didn't understand this choice, but it wasn't really his place to question it.

 

[Caelum]

"Ah, I see," Caelum said, "no, it feels fine enough like this. It'll serve as a good reminder of what happened and why I ought to be more careful." He was satisfied with keeping his arm like this, thinking that if he 'enhanced' the other arm he might get too used to making modifications like this. He didn't like the aelf's non-answer but he didn't press. They had work to do, anyways.

With regards to the plan, Caelum would nod along and say, "alright, that sounds simple enough. I think. I guess I'll let AEhti here do his thing then get to work."

"Cloud? I suppose it does look like a fluffy cloud, especially since it doesn't have any limbs." he chuckled at the name, thinking it odd but he wasn't one to talk, having a weird name himself.

"Shall we, then?" he continued, not knowing what else to say. He didn't even know if the cat was still in its original position.

616

 

[Velho]

<notes>

Velho simply nodded to Cælum's answer; he knew some people could be a bit uneasy about entering the waters of body modifications. If not for the fact that Velho's Scourge made him inherently entropic, he himself would have made a variety of permanent changes. For him, he just didn't have the time to maintain such things; they'd rot away like any other part of him and have to be redone, in time. Still, with Scourge, Devorare and Apparation, he could do plenty of strange things beyond the scope of a standard body, and that suited him well enough.

The comment about the cat being limbless pulled a breath of a laugh from the Ferrier; that wasn't what he had in mind, but he supposed it was true. And then when Cælum indicated his own readiness, Velho would nod to Æhti. The three of them would make their way outside, their first stop being the edge of the decking that had been woven outside the front door. It would appear that the Felinog was still secured within the little temporary prison Æhti had made.

From there, Æhti would take a sturdy, but meditative stance, finding his focus and then uttering a long string of incantations. Eventually, smooth, beautiful, black marbled stone would begin to rise from the surface of the murky water below– he'd grafted a small, myrksteinn island both into the tree itself and the ground at the lake's bottom to anchor it. It wasn't an extremely snappy process, taking about twenty minutes for him to build up all of that stone. Given the size of the thing, too, about 150 square feet, the process had drained his spell reserves significantly. The young man appeared dazed, a thin patina of sweat having appeared on the surface of his skin.

"There-..." he'd say, almost breathless. "Velho, you might have to make the path down," he continued, not sure it'd be worth it to push himself.

The Ferrier simply nodded, weaving a tiered ramp, something of a staircase, down from where they stood and onto the newly minted little island. These stairs were grown from the sequoia aspect of Själasalr itself; dark, gnarled wood sculpted to provide solid footing for them on the way down. And given their rather organic environs, the aesthetic of these creations fit in just fine with the swamp 'round them.

Velho would then look to Cælum, "...can you work with this? Just build the walls 'round the edges of the island and then grow the cættle wreath Æhti mentioned. I'll worry about further decoration inside the enclosure in time," he'd say.

 

[Caelum]

Caelum watched patiently as the Faelnir worked on creating his island. It was quite large, much bigger than he would have expected it to be. It would probably feel rather restrictive to a cat as large as a felinog but it wasn't like it would be walking around much. It was, perhaps, the first time Caelum had been able to see just what a multi-magic mage was able to do with all the aether they were afforded. It was impressive – certainly more than he would be able to accomplish with just druidism.

His body would hover just off the ground as the steps were created. He had no intention of using them, rather, he wanted to fly. He listened to Velho's words and nodded along, saying, "I can certainly try. I'm sure AEhti here has a lot more energy to work with than I but since I'm merely creating a perimeter, it might be possible. To be honest, I've never tried anything quite this large in scale."

He lifted higher into the air and floated around the perimeter, casually observing the island and getting a feel for just how tall and thick he needed to make the boundary. After several minutes he'd land at the base of the stairs.

"Alright, here I go," he'd say as he knelt down and extended his arms to each side. They were angled slightly downwards, with thin strands of metal that extended out of his palms and worked their way into the ground. Once the metal buried itself into the tree, he felt it much more easier to propagate. Velho hadn't been lying, this tree was hybridized with aetumetal.

There would be a crackling sound that came from below as Caelum seeped more saol into the tree. There hadn't been anything to really see so far. To the other two, it might have appeared that he was simply in deep thought or prayer. In reality, he had already started working on reinforcing the base of the perimeter with aetumetal.

Caelum had no way of knowing how long it took for him to accomplish this task. Something like this warped his perception of time – all he could really do was focus on pushing his magic further and further. Eventually, however, he'd fortified the base and the aetumetal started sprouting from the ground. It was slow at first, but a twisting mesh of metal quickly started to rise from the ground. It was more functional than pretty but the mesh was the best idea he could come up with. The gaps would allow him to save saol while allowing people to see through the barrier and also, hopefully, making it difficult for the cat to claw its way out.

One foot, five feet, six feet… The barrier rose quickly then slowed rapidly as Caelum felt his reserves start to drain as he pushed it higher and higher. He quickly realized that there was no way that he could possibly raise it high enough, not in one sitting anyways. The felinog was easily eight to ten feet tall and a cat was able to jump multiple times its height. No, all he could do for now was angle the mesh in a way that would make it very… unpleasant for the cat to try to escape. The mesh curved inwards a little to discourage simply climbing over. Afterwards, Caelum created spikes along the wall to make jumping atop it a dangerous matter as well. As a finishing touch, he'd snake enough caettle wreath along the walls to ensure that the vine would naturally grow to a suitable quantity by the time the cat could walk again.

When he was 'done' he disconnected himself from the aetumetal and let out a deep sigh. "I think that's the best I can do, for now. I could always reinforce it next time I'm around though… or I could spend another night here if I had to. If there's not enough caettle wreath around to keep it satisfied by the time it can walk, it'd probably be a good idea to cut its limbs off again."

He let out a tired yawn at that point, too tired to know or particularly care if the others thought his work was good enough. All he really wanted to do was yank some teeth out and get back home so he could sleep.

1345

 

[Velho]

<notes>

Both Æhti and Velho watched as Cælum crafted the enclosure, weaving ætumetal into something stable enough to contain a subdued Felinog. It was an interesting process to just sit and watch; satisfying, in a way.

When the dragon's spellweaving concluded and he stated that he could come back later, Velho nodded. "That's up to you, really. Using what you've grown as a base, it'd be easy enough for me to reinforce it myself."

Really, the reason he'd had Cælum do this was because Velho himself didn't know how to weave the sort of mesh he wanted nor did he have anywhere near the Saol reserves an adult dragon did. However, with the lion's share of the enclosure's work done, the Ferrier would be perfectly capable of reinforcing and decorating the space himself.

"Æhti, go fetch Cloud, then, will you?" Velho would say as he moved to open the enclosure's door.

Æhti nodded and went to fetch the nugget of a felinog; at least the strain to his Aether hadn't been severe enough to impair him much physically. And when he returned, the young mage hesitated for a moment as if deciding where exactly he wanted to place the animal, and then decided to just drop him a few feet away from the entrance. As a finishing touch, Æhti uttered one last incantation and the stone beneath their feet would begin to cool rapidly. Using Cryomancy, he'd infused the platform with cold; felinog were used to colder environs than Hespæria's bogs, after all, and he wanted to make sure the beast didn't overheat. Redoing this would likely have to be a daily or alternate daily task, but he wouldn't mind. The boy liked animals, at least.

Recalling that Cælum had requested teeth, Velho would then enter the enclosure after Æhti and approach the creature, still in stasis as it was. He knelt down before the beast's head and then, silently, he'd cast a spell of Vicissitude to force out a few teeth. Effectively what he'd done is cause the gums, nerves, blood vessels and so on to 'release' a few teeth and then regrew new ones in their place. He would then stand and approach Cælum, proffering several of them to the other.

"I trust these will do?" Velho asked.

Once Cloud had been contained, teeth extracted, and both Æhti and Velho left the enclosure, the Ferrier closed the door and then secured it by weaving ætumetal vines of his own to simply bind the door shut rather than bothering with a locking mechanism. He'd easily be able to undo and redo this any time he needed to open the door, and because ætumetal was also a metal, Æhti would also be able to open and close the door this way, too.

 

[Caelum]

Caelum was pleased to hear that his work had been satisfactory. He'd intended to do much more but… it took multiple days to get back to full strength. He found himself leaning against the aetumetal out of exhaustion, mostly physical from the day before.

"Glad to hear it, I feel like I will be visiting often anyways. It seems there's always something interesting going on." He smiled as he wondered what kind of beast AEhti would be sent to fight next. The good news was that the number of things more deadly than a felinog were few in number so it couldn't get that much worse.

While waiting for AEhti, Caelum would ask Velho, "So, do you have any plans to tame it? Cloud, I mean. I get that you wanted it for its blood but… it would surely be a useful tool. I can just imagine AEhti riding atop it on one of his adventures. Had I the guts to bear the sensitivity, I'd even consider imprinting its form… although I think it's a bit too big for me at the moment anyways." It'd only been a season or so since he'd got the implant so it ought to be no surprise that he wasn't ready for something of this caliber.

After the teeth were given to him, Caelum shrugged. "I actually have no idea, but I know a crafter who will do her best to make good use of them. Worst case I imagine the tips could be made into very sharp daggers. Thanks anyways…" He carefully constructed a wooden strap to hold the teeth because he wasn't going to be holding them for the whole flight back home.

"I suppose this is it then?" he said to the aelf. He supposed he might as well get started on his journey, but he figured he'd make sure he was good to go.

1659

 

[Velho]

<notes>

When Cælum said that there was 'always something interesting going on' at Själasalr, Velho chuckled. He supposed it was true enough. He was wont to make use of having so proficient a Galdr enslaved. With so much magic at his fingertips, Æhti was more than capable of accomplishing many an errand that most simply could not– and so, in his eyes, it would be a waste not to utilize him whenever he could.

The next question pulled a somewhat dry chuckle from him, too. "Yes," he nodded.

"I'm not sure how easy it'll be to tame, but with Animism and the cættlewreath, I'm sure I can figure something out…and I'm sure Æhti would appreciate the aid such a beast could provide if tamed." Little could stand in the way of a potent Galsterei and a felinog, surely.

"Feel free to return when you're comfortable enough with your Seeming to take an Imprint, if you'd like," Velho would add– such a thing would be no inconvenience to him.

And the Ferrier would nod when he spoke of the crafter he knew. Perhaps this was the one who'd made Æhti's armor? The boy had mentioned someshing about her and Cælum being connected, but he wasn't quite sure.

"I see. I wonder what she'll come up with– I can imagine many a cruel weapon you could combine teeth with," he said almost musingly. "But yes, if you've no other need of me– or Æhti– you can depart at your leisure."

Having returned by now, Æhti would look to Cælum, "have a safe trip back– and thanks for helping me out," he'd say with an appreciative nod. "Sorry you got hurt, but at least it worked out," his tone somewhat sheepish.

 

[Vicissitude]

꧁══════════• ༺༉ { Reviewed/Canon } ༉༻•══════════꧂​

Velho + Æhti

+21 XP (~2,100 WC)

Cælum

+17 XP (~1,700 WC)

Cloud will be treated like a king once his habitat is more properly set up! uwu​

꧁══════════• ༺༉ ❁ ❀ ❁ ༉༻•══════════꧂​

​

​