Irwin's Journey 488: More Scintilla

"Ready?" Irwin asked as he looked at Scintilla. 

She was on the bed, cuddled up against him. Her other body was with their children, his mother, and a few healers. 

"I can't wait," she said, her eyes glittering with another meaning.

Irwin smirked before the importance of the next few minutes reasserted itself. He double-checked that the time-dilation between Scour and Eluathar was as close as he could make it, while his otherself told Ambraz they were going to start. Only when he got a ready from the Ganvil did he nod.

"Alright, I'm going to move you into my soulscape."

Scintilla smiled. "It will be okay, don't worry so much!"

Irwin grimaced, wondering if she'd just jinxed it. 

With a slight pull, he moved Scintilla into his soulscape, next to his soullake. The amount of soulforce that drained was far less than with Ambraz, but still far more than what one of the Yuurindi cost. If he had to guess, it was about three times as much.

Scintilla got up from the rocky ground where she'd appeared, while Ambraz and his giantself walked over.

Both watched how she looked around.

"So far it's fine," she said, staring out across his soullake before turning to Irwin. She blinked and looked up at him, eyes widening. "You grew again, didn't you?"

"I will always grow," Irwin said calmly. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, and happy to see some things don't change," Scintilla said, looking around. "Your soulscape is starting to look like a worldshard, you know that?"

"I do," Irwin said, keeping his focus on her. "Luckily, it's not unstable."

As they spoke, the other part of him, back on Eluathar, remained on high alert. When nothing bad happened, it moved into his soulscape, and a moment later, a bluish, slightly transparent form of Irwin appeared beside Scintilla.

"Oh! That's the auraclone you told me about?" Scintilla asked, moving forward and putting a hand on his chest. She seemed surprised that the hand touched something solid instead of going right through.

"It is," Irwin said, looking at her closely. "You are sure you are alright?"

"Come on, hutstuff," she said with a grin. "I would have told you if something was wrong!"

Irwin nodded, though he wondered about that. He shared an odd look with his otherself, before turning his attention to his soulcards.

"I'm going to move to Scour, then pull you through."

His blue shape vanished as he stepped into his body on Scour. Like so many times before, he opened his eyes in his room within the Cardsmiths Guild within Silverleaf City, the first charter he had made. It was still the biggest one of the three, and although he planned to eventually move from Blackglass, for now, he remained here.

The wooden warning sign was still white, showing nothing was wrong, and a quick pulse of his soulforce senses showed that everything seemed calm and clear. With a slight hesitation, he pulled Scintilla onto the bed beside him. 

The beautiful Ignitizian appeared without a sound, immediately looking around curiously.

Irwin was ready for any oddities, perhaps pressure on her soulscape, but so far, none of that was happening.

Perhaps it's because she has an extra mind within her bodies, attached and unmovable? he thought, waiting for another moment.

"So, this is your room in… Silverleaf?" Scintilla asked.

She took a deep breath, then smiled. "I can smell it, we are back on Scour, and the temperature is as fantastic as I remembered."

Irwin smiled back. "Did you expect me to bring you somewhere?"

"No, but it's fun to be able to recognize something as simple as a world's scent," Scintilla said as she leaned back. "How long has it been since I was here? Ten years? Twenty? It's so hard to say with how time keeps messing with us." 

"I don't know," Irwin said with a smile, looking around the room and feeling an excitement grow. He'd been pushing it back, knowing that many things could go wrong, but as the final step closed in, he was starting to sense it. The joy of knowing that perhaps Scintilla would be joining him for the time he would need to spend here.

"So, can you still sense your otherself on Scour?" he asked.

"Otherself?" Scintilla asked, looking at him curiously. "So that's what you call your clone?"

Irwin didn't answer as he saw her close her eyes and cock her head.

"No," she said after a few moments. "But I know what she's doing… what I'm doing. It's really weird. I remember what you told me about how your true body clone worked when you got it, and how you could move your soulclones around. For me, it's… not like that. I know what she's doing, but I can't actively feel her."

Irwin frowned. "What if you move into your soulscape?"

Scintilla hummed, then her body vanished.

"I meant with your mind," Irwin exclaimed, bolting upright in worry. 

He rarely moved with any of his bodies into his soulscape, seeing as he always had two there and could easily make an auraclone. He hadn't really talked about how that worked with Scintilla or the others, because he never thought it important. Now he wished he had.

Time ticked by, but Scintilla didn't reappear.

Irwin was about to panic when his otherself saw her reappear on the bed back on Eluathar.

Irwin moved like a blur, his self on Scour jumping into his soulscape, and into his body on Eluathar almost in a single move.

"Are you alright?" he asked, reaching out for Scintilla, who was frowning.

"Yes… I… that wasn't very fun," she grunted, before shivering. "I focused on my soulscape, felt an intense pull, and the next moment I was inside. The walls were shaking as everything around it blew past, and the next thing I knew, I could feel my clone again. Stepping outside, I was back home."

Irwin examined her, but seeing nothing wrong, he finally felt himself calm down again.

"Why here?" he muttered, looking around. "I would have expected that you would appear beside your other clone."

"Oh, I moved myself here," Scintilla said. "I feel I can step into my soulscape, and—"

She disappeared, then reappeared on the other side of the room.

"-can step back out anywhere within where my other body can reach with its soulforce."

Irwin just stared at her, his mind blank for a moment. It only started moving again when she reappeared beside him on the bed.

"Can't you do that?"

Irwin held back from trying on the spot, knowing he would need two bodies on the same world for that. Still, he felt his curiosity grow massively. He'd never tried, mostly because he nearly always had one of his selves inside his soulscape. Still, his soulforce radiated around a much larger area than Scintilla's, and that was without him using his aura. If he could do that…

I have to start practicing that as soon as I'm away from Scour and heading towards Greldo, he decided.

'Am, did you-"

'Yes,' the Ganvil said. 'I'm positive you should be able to do that.'

"Irwin?"

Irwin snapped out of it, noticing how Scintilla was staring at him.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he said, shaking his head. "And don't ask me that, ask yourself! How are you?"

"Fine, and ready to try again," Scintilla said. "Though I think I'll stay away from my soulscape if you don't mind."

Irwin nodded. "Yes, but you should try to see if you can move only your mind into your soulscape."

"I can't even do that now," Scintilla said, frowning at him. "I can move my body in there, but ever since I got my first soulcard, it's either all of me going in there, or none."

"You can't just move your… But I saw you take things from your soulscape," Irwin said.

"Yes, I can do that," she said, raising her hand. A long knife with a dangerously sharp edge appeared. She twirled it around before making it vanish back from where it had come. "But I don't need to move my mind inside for that. I just… feel where it is and pull it out?"

'Brat, you two should probably discuss this later. It's time to speed up Scour's time-dilation again.'

Irwin knew Ambraz was right, and he focused on Scintilla.

"Alright, I'm moving you across again," he said, getting a simple nod in return.

A moment later, she appeared inside his soulscape, draining another chunk. Irwin quickly took stock of his soulforce. There was enough left to move her into Scour, but if he had to do this again, they would need to wait.

With a quick jump and a second pull, both of them were back on Scour, sitting on the bed.

"So, no doing things with my soulscape," Scintilla said as she looked around the room longingly. 

"I'm going to increase the time dilation," Irwin said. "Tell me if you feel anything is wrong."

Scintilla nodded, and Irwin began weakening the resonance of his soulcards very slowly.

Seconds ticked by, and only when Irwin reached roughly half of what he usually had Scour running on did Scintilla start frowning. Irwin stopped immediately, weakening it a little before watching her.

"What's wrong?"

"It felt like my soulscape was being… pulled in two ways," Scintilla said, looking at the wall with eyes that saw nothing. "It wasn't exactly painful as much as… weird? Also, it's like my other body is gone. It is probably because of the time dilation, but where before I knew what she was doing, now she is just… nothing."

Irwin checked the current time dilation. It wasn't as high as it had been, but even at roughly half of what he usually had it running at, every year was still barely two days on Eluathar.

"How is it now?" he asked.

"It's fine," Scintilla said, looking at him intensely. "Is the time dilation strong enough like this? Is it…"

Irwin saw the worry in her eyes, and he quickly reached out, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine," he said. "Every time we head back to Eluathar, I speed up the time here, meaning a few hours there is over two years here. If I get more Ancestral Copperion, I'll be able to increase the duration I do that, so eventually we could be here for a year, which costs two days on Eluathar, move there, and I can speed up time and have ten years pass here on Scour."

Scintilla jumped forward before he was fully done, hugging him tightly. Irwin put an arm around her, feeling her shiver for a few moments before she pulled back.

"If you ask me if I'm alright, I'm going to hit you," she said, sniffing. "I was worried!"

Irwin stared at her, surprised by the emotion raging in her eyes.

"Why do you look so surprised?" she asked, shaking her head as she got out of bed and began pacing around. Her hand kept moving to her waist, where her soulcarded sword, Leafbrand, usually hung.

"You kept having to remain here, for years and years," she said, frowning at her hand. "Time kept running for you, while for us it was almost frozen. You became stronger and learned things… changed slowly. I was worried you would…"

She didn't continue talking, but Leafbrand appeared in her hand, and she stroked the pommel almost absently.

Irwin got out of bed, walking towards her, looking down into her eyes. 

"No need to be worried now," he said. "Now, how about I show you around?"

Scintilla's eyes glittered, and she jumped forward, kissing him for what felt like a long time. When she finally dropped back down, Irwin was slightly out of breath.

"Now you can," she said, smiling at him. 

--

The next few months passed in a blur of excitement as Nimlarel took Irwin and Scintilla on what could almost be described as a tour of Scour. From Cindergrove to Flamerock and all of the Smithsguild charters, Scintilla was shown many things. The thing that seemed to surprise her the most was how little Cindergrove had really changed, even though thousands of years had passed since the last time she had been there.

After what felt like a year but was far less, they found their way to Blackglass and Irwin's smithy, sitting across from each other, while Scintilla had a handcard. Ambraz was nestled near the ceiling in a small crevice.

"You are sure it's best to do it when we are back?" Scintilla asked as she looked up.

"No doubt in my mind," Ambraz grunted. "You are going to be slotting a card that will change the makeup of this body, and we have no idea what that might do to your soulscape. So, it's best to do it with as little strain on any of those parts."

Scintilla hesitated, then the handcard vanished, turning to Irwin.

"We are heading back tomorrow?"

"We are," Irwin said, leaning back in his chair and smiling over his sturdy metal cup. "Everything here is going fine, so another time jump of a few years should cause no issues, and we need to bring more future Crathans here."

"I still find it hard to believe how that works," Scintilla said, sipping from her own drink. "Each few months, you just disappear and return two years later. For you, it feels like a day or two…"

"You will understand soon enough," Irwin said, smiling at her. "Did I mention how happy I am you are here?"

As he said it, Irwin knew how true it was. He hadn't really realized how he was slowly becoming detached from things as time passed. All he had been doing was practicing cardsmithing and increasing the population of the Crathans.

"You did," Scintilla said with a smile. She rose and moved around the table, sitting down on his lap. "But why don't you show me again?"

--

A busy evening later, Irwin and Scintilla stood in Irwin's chambers in the Silverleaf Smithsguild Charter. Flowrishin stood near the door, a stack of papers below one arm, and seemingly already partially preoccupied with other things.

"Everything is going to be fine," she said, looking at him. "I don't expect any issues, so I'll be seeing you in about two years?"

"Two or three," Irwin said, prodding the increased lake of Ancestral Copperion.

"Alright. Rindiri asked me to tell you that she is going to expand to another city," Flowrishin said, glancing at her papers before looking back up. "So, I guess when you get back, that should be pretty far along."

"I'll be curious to go and see," Irwin said. "For now, make sure to warn me if anything goes wrong."

"I will," Flowrishin said. "Good trip, and see you in a few years."

She turned and walked away, leaving Irwin and Scintilla alone. Ambraz was already in his soulscape, and with a quick flex of soulforce, Irwin pulled Scintilla there too.

He stood in the room, looking around for a moment, before walking to the bed. He knew he should worry about what might happen, if things would go well, but he barely did. Instead, the thing that preoccupied him was what would happen when Scintilla slotted the Crathan card he had made for her.

--

"Are you sure you will be okay?" Zan asked, nestled in Scintilla's arms. The other five children were huddled around her, all in different states of excitement and worry.

"I will be," she said. 

"I wonder if you will get muscles like Dad," Soot pondered, tapping his lip. "That would be fun."

"No, it wouldn't," Ti said, shaking her head, seemingly horrified.

Scintilla heard Irwin hold back a snort from his position beside her other body, which was lying on the bed. 

"Oh, I don't know," she said, smiling thinly. "Soot is right, it might be fun."

She saw Irwin freeze slightly, while Ti rolled her eyes in a way she'd seen Irwin do on occasion. 

"I'm going to start," her clone said, and Scintilla felt a slight worry from it. 

Having two bodies had been very different from what Irwin had experienced. Unlike him, she had gotten a clone with a mind of its own. They shared most memories, as Irwin did with his, but she knew that they were more individual than that. If one were to die, she wondered what it would be like if the clone regrew in her soulscape. Would it be the same, or new? She also couldn't wrap her mind around that she could so easily sense which of her bodies was the original. Irwin said he could barely sense it, but to her it was obvious. The her that was on Eluathar was far more tightly connected to her soulscape, while her clone, the one that went with Irwin, felt almost partially detached.

I hope Ambraz is wrong, she thought, clenching her hands slightly. She wasn't sure how she'd feel if she truly split into two, the other part of her getting its own soulscape.

She watched as her clone raised the Crathan handcard before slowly sliding it into the second slot of her left hand. She almost expected to feel something, but there wasn't even a shiver from her own slots.

Her clone slumped down immediately, exactly as Irwin had said she would. Still, Scintilla felt how Zan froze.

"Don't worry, little ember," she whispered. "It's all still fine."

Zan didn't respond; her eyes locked onto Scintilla's clone.

The first change came almost instantly, as Scintilla saw how her own body, well, the clone of it, began growing longer and more sturdy. Within ten minutes, it had grown a head taller, her body growing more muscular, though not nearly as much as some of the Crathans she had seen. As this change slowed, she saw her hair turn dull, the flowing, flaming locks turning more rigid. It turned a dark red, and she felt a stab at seeing her clone lose the fire that she suddenly realized she associated with herself. Then a soft hiss came, and flames began licking from her scalp across the metallic hairs. The sand in the bed, used to heat, merely sizzled for a moment before settling. Still staring at her hair in wonder and awe, Scintilla almost missed how her skin turned from its yellowish softness into a gleaming gold that looked able to stop a dagger thrust.

Time continued to pass, and she heard a soft and excited muttering between Soot and Ti. She almost ignored it until she heard what they were saying. 

"Of course I would," Soot whispered to Ti. "It looks awesome, and it will make us even stronger!"

"Mental strength is more important," her daughter whispered back.

Scintilla looked at them, then noticed the other three were also with their heads together, Mia, Glow, and Flux clearly discussing what they thought of what was happening.

At least they will have multiple bodies when they get this far, Scintilla thought, pushing away a growing worry about the future.

A loud gasp rang through the room, drawing all their attention as Scintilla's clone shot upright. She looked around, her pupils looked like they were made of molten red metal with flames licking around the edges. As soon as she woke, Scintilla felt their connection stabilize, and she sensed what her clone felt. A slight shock, joy that everything had worked out, and then a deep sense of awe as she raised her arms and moved them around.

"I feel so… solid," she muttered. "It's like I solidified from an ember into an Ignitizian all over again!"

"You are alright?" Irwin asked.

"She is," Scintilla said, feeling a wave of relief. "And we still have one soulscape."

"We do," her clone said, smiling at her. 

Scintilla smiled back, somehow feeling a bond grow between them. She could feel what the other was feeling and thinking, and she knew that went both ways. 

"How strong are you?!" 

Soot's shout caused both Scintillas to turn to her son.

"Good question. Let's find out!"

Scintilla laughed as she saw her clone get up and run towards Soot, who let out a shout before turning and sprinting away, laughing uproariously as he did.

"Slow slow!"

The other children scattered after them, leaving Irwin and Scintilla alone.

"Everything feels alright?" Irwin asked softly.

"Yes," she said, sensing how the other was playing with the children. "She is me, but not… exactly."

Irwin frowned, his eyebrows scrunching up like they always did when he worried, and she smiled.

"Don't worry. Although we aren't the same as you and your otherself, as you call him, we are connected," she said. Irwin looked at her, and she could see he wasn't completely reassured. She hesitated, then smirked as she moved through some of the memories she'd gotten when her clone had returned with Irwin. "For instance, I know what we did in the smithy."

Irwin blinked, then snorted. "Do you now?"

Scintilla's grin turned predatory. "I do! To me, it feels like I was there. Just like the other times… and I relived them all within the first few minutes when you returned. It was exhilarating."

This time, she saw Irwin's eyes begin to gleam from within, and he walked towards her.

"So, you get to feel all of it twice? That's almost unfair," he said, pulling her close.

Scintilla stood on her toes, realized she wasn't tall enough, and pulled herself up by holding his shoulders so she could kiss him.

"I think it's perfectly fair," she said hazily. "Also, my clone just told me she will keep the kids busy, so we have a bit of time."

Before she could react, Irwin pulled her up and into his arms, striding away and towards their own bedroom. 

"Then let's make good use of our time!"

--

Irwin stood with his shoulder against the building, watching both of Scintilla's bodies running around with their children. It still felt odd, looking at the Crathan version of Scintilla. She towered over the other, moved slowly, and was far less agile. However, she had a force that he recognized in himself and others. One who said she wouldn't just be stopped by something that came in her way, but would go through it. 

Seeing both side by side gave him a better appreciation of just what a Crathan was. Stronger and more sturdy, yes, but clearly not meant for speed and precision.

He sensed something approaching through the air, but didn't need to look up to know it was Ambraz.

"So, everything went well?" his bonded Ganvil said, landing on his shoulder.

"As well as you could expect," Ambraz snorted. "Pur'am wasn't too happy when he realized Trimdir would take even less of his crap than Brecka, and with Hou'dor there?"

"Still no idea what to do for a smith to bond him with?"

A wave of weary resignation came through their connection, while Ambraz let out a weary sigh. He almost seemed to deflate a bit.

"No, but Trimdir said they should have enough Growth cards…"

"But?" Irwin asked, sensing his bond's uncertainty.

"We need to find more. Even with those you gave, the number of growth cards we have is small, and it's what we gathered over all our years of traveling. The chance of more in a short time is going to be hard, and we still can't sideways reforge any card into it."

"Or we need to find him a smith to bond with," Irwin said. "At least now that he is here, we won't have as much trouble. Between the time-dilation while we are on Scour, and the even stronger one each time we return to Eluathar, it shouldn't take more than a few months of Eluathar time to finish our plans."

"Twenty or thirty jumps back and forth?" Ambraz asked, humming thoughtfully. "Yeah, that should be enough. If your time-dilation strength keeps increasing by a few years each time, by ten or eleven times, Scour would advance by decades each time we leave. Are you sure that's safe though?"

"It is," Irwin said, grinning as he saw Glow tackle Flux in a heap of arms and legs, followed by Mia jumping atop the two boys. The three of them wrestled for a few moments before disengaging and seemingly deciding to try to take down Scintilla's Ignitizian form. "We have a lot of trustworthy people, and besides that, we have split up the Smithsguild so much that even if one causes trouble, the others will be able to step in."

Besides, he thought to himself. With Brecka running the day-to-day in Blackglass, it's highly unlikely that anything will go wrong.

The rest of the day passed too quickly, and before Irwin knew it, he was loaded with eight new prospective Crathans, three of whom were Galadin smiths, and he and Scintilla's Crathan clone were lying on the bed.

A quick pull and push later, the two of them were back on Scour. The seven Crathans were still in his soulscape, recovering from having slotted the card, and would have to wait for his soulforce to recover in a day.

"Let's go and find Brecka," Scintilla said, smiling as she rolled out of bed. "I can't wait to see what she thinks!"

Irwin grinned as he followed her, sending out his soulforce senses.