Serenity knew he didn’t like it either. He tried to listen, but he knew he didn’t always succeed. He probably didn’t even recognize it when people failed, after all; he simply thought they were wrong.
“World Shaman Senkovar Et’Tart, your assistance so long ago is still valued. We may not understand why you wish to use one of the favors you are owed for this, but I repeat Elder Lizven’s pledge: we shall give this man the chance to prove himself. Please find a place to watch outside the central guide; you may offer only advice and guidance.” Elder Omprek sounded like he wanted to be stern, but he almost sounded more like he was asking Senkovar to do what he asked than telling him what to do.
Senkovar nodded and sat on the stone floor to Serenity’s left just outside the tiled area. “It is complicated, but this is a good test for my descendant.”
Serenity thought Elder Omprek paled a little, but the other three elders didn’t seem to notice whatever bothered Elder Omprek. After a moment, the Elder refocused on Serenity. “Please step into the pattern. It will allow us to test you in several ways.”
Serenity moved forward. When he stepped past the line painted on the floor, he could feel one of the ways they were testing him: the runic inscription tried to pull his mana away from him. It was similar to some control devices, but less powerful. Serenity frowned for a moment; he hadn’t prepared for this particular effect.
As weak as it was, he could simply resist it, but that would be tiring. It was better to set up a spell that would fool it. It would have to be a shield variant, of course, but one of the unusual shield variants that acted more as concealment than protection. In this case, he had to conceal his mana, which meant it would draw primarily on his Arcane affinity. The spellform would require an Ascent loop and a fuzzing backbone…
Serenity was well into the spell design when he realized he’d completely missed whatever Elder Omprek was saying. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
:I can replay it for you,: Aide offered.
Serenity knew he should have thought of that. :Good idea, but not right now. Let me know if there are any major differences.:
:Happily.:
Elder Omprek frowned at Serenity before he repeated the question. “Are you ready to begin the test?”
:That’s what he said,: Aide told Serenity. :Highlighted factors indicate mild annoyance but nothing severe.:
Serenity could see that Aide had some of the dryad’s features highlighted but Serenity couldn’t tell anything about them other than the obvious frown. He’d just have to accept that Aide was starting to be better at interpreting expressions than he was. “Not quite, give me a minute please. The mana drain is unpleasant.”
The frown disappeared from Elder Omprek’s face as his eyebrows flew up in surprise. “You can feel it?”
Serenity didn’t think it deserved that much surprise. Yes, he was sensitive to mana; it was an extremely high Affinity and also one of his Vital Affinities. Even so, any halfway decent mage ought to be able to feel when their mana pool was being depleted; it was simply more obvious to Serenity. Maybe he should make a point of that. “Of course I can feel it, wouldn’t you feel it if someone was draining Life from you?”
Serenity tried to split his attention between the four judges and his spell. It would slow things down but it would save him trouble if he didn’t miss anything they said.
“Mana isn’t life,” Elder Inchabe protested.
Serenity tried not to roll his eyes at her. She either wasn’t making the connection or didn’t believe what she’d been told. Or perhaps she hadn’t been told? “I thought Senkovar explained that; my Vital Affinity is magic. That’s why your detection spell failed.”
“That is what we’re here to establish,” Elder Omprek acknowledged. “If you are merely a Death mage but not a necromancer nor undead, we will accept your presence with the supervision of your master.”
Serenity tried not to wince at the word “master.” He knew how Elder Omprek meant it; he meant it in the sense of a master of a trade or skill; the word in Bridge was specific. It was still a word that Serenity tended to modify or use alternatives for because of the implications in English. Elder Omprek had no way to know that Serenity’s native language had that particular overlap, however.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“I understand the concession,” World Shaman Senkovar stated from where he sat, seemingly unruffled. “I believe the test was not how well my student senses mana but how well he can speak to Berinath. These are not the conditions we agreed upon for the contact; mana drain was not included. Indeed, I told you that it should happen in a ley line nexus.”
“It is required for safety,” Elder Ibken stated. “If he cannot speak to Berinath here, well, so be it. All preliminary tests must be performed in a safe location before he is moved to a location where he could endanger a dome.”
“Are there truly no nexuses that are outside a dome?” The World Shaman sounded disbelieving. “I doubt you have that many domes. Berinath isn’t very large, but your Forests take time.”
Elder Ibken didn’t give in that easily. “There are none close to here and I won’t be responsible for taking him through multiple domes, even if he’s not undead. A Death mage isn’t better. I can’t stop this deal but I can make it as harmless as possible.”
“The first tests are not of his ability to speak to a world,” Elder Omprek agreed. “We shall deal with the next step when it is time.”
All of the arguing gave Serenity the time he needed to finish the spell. It would deflect the mana drain around him, so that when it attempted to pull mana from him it would actually be pulling mana from elsewhere in the runescript, just like there was no one in the center at all. His mana was pushed around a bit, and there was the continual drain to keep the concealing shield active, but it was far lower than the drain of the runscript.
Serenity spoke up at the first convenient pause. “I’m ready. Where do we start, if it’s not contacting Berinath?”
He was pretty certain he could reach the planet. Outside a ley line, it would be expensive, but the node he carried did work without a ley line as long as he provided enough mana. His mana just wouldn’t last all that long, and he had to be careful not to allow his mana to drain too far. Blaze was right about that.
“You claim to be a death mage and elemental, not undead.” Elder Ibken, the Challenger, spoke while the other three dryads seemed to relax back into their chairs. “As an elemental of magic, you must be good at controlling mana, are you not?”
“I am,” Serenity agreed. “It’s more from practice than my Vital Affinity, but I am good with mana.” He didn’t think they’d make a living person manipulate Life to prove their Vital Affinity; they’d know better than that. It was always frustrating to see people who didn’t think about things, even when it was in his favor.
Elder Ibken handed a wooden object to Elder Lizven. From where Serenity stood, it looked like a mass of thin branches tangled together. “Advocate, please demonstrate the test.”
Elder Lizven took it from him and frowned. “This is one of the advanced living puzzle spheres. Are you certain it is the right test? What if it’s damaged?”
“If it’s damaged, he fails. If he cannot control his Death magic that much, he should not be allowed on Berinath. That’s why I made this the first test; it’s difficult but he is fresh. That makes it fair. His control is more important than his nature.” Elder Ibken shook his head. “I am too young to remember the war, much less the time before the war, but the Forest remembers. A tool like this was used to show skill and control among the Damned before the war started.”
It sounded like the dryads of Berinath knew more about the war that damaged Tzintkra than anyone left on the planet. Serenity desperately wanted to ask for details; maybe they knew something that would help the damaged planet recover faster. It would be a long time before Tzintkra could recover on her own and Serenity would very much like to help her out.
Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time. Asking would only make things worse; it would reveal his connection to Tzintkra. Serenity didn’t think the dryads would be happy about that, even though Berinath knew and didn’t mind.
Elder Lizven leaned forward and looked at Elder Omprek. “Elder? I accept the reasoning if the puzzle is killed, but damage from inexpert handling is not disqualifying. Do the Watchers accept this alteration?”
Elder Omprek nodded. “We are not testing for the highest ranks of skill. A simpler test puzzle might have been a better choice, but as this is what our Challenger chose, those restrictions are accepted by me.”
“Accepted.” Elder Inchabe sounded sour as she said the least she could.
Elder Ibken frowned, but Aide’s highlights showed that it was at least partly a deliberate mask. Aide didn’t think he was surprised or unhappy by the result. That made Serenity wary; Elder Ibken definitely was out to get him, or at least to kick him off the moon.
“Challenged … Serenity.” Elder Lizven seemed to have trouble deciding how to address him. “Watch. This is what you need to do. Do not damage the puzzle. It is simple once you know what to do; the puzzle is to figure that out.”
She held the ball of bent sticks out on the palm of her left hand. As Serenity watched, it seemed to shift and stretch, with each of the sticks moving only a little at a time. The ball smoothly expanded, going from a tight-packed ball about the size of a tennis ball to a loose framework closer in size to a basketball over the course of about a minute. It rocked a little on Elder Lizven’s hand but never came close to falling off.
“Once you get it to this state, roll it towards me. It should lock in place; if it does not, that means you didn’t complete it properly.” Elder Lizven held her hand out for another minute while the puzzle refolded itself, then leaned down, set the ball on the tile closest to her, and rolled it towards Serenity. It didn’t quite reach him but it was close enough that all he had to do was lean forward when he reached down to pick it up.
Serenity had almost forgotten about the guards as anything other than a potential hazard when he heard the leader of the group speak. “You can’t enter. The Elders are using the isolation room.”
“You have to let me in. They need to know.”
Serenity turned to look at the commotion. There was no door between the room and the tunnel, which made it easy to see that a very short dryad was whispering into the ear of the guard captain.