WoV, Book 1, Chapter 6: Attunement

"Well, I must say. You've proven yourself quite the mess maker, young lady!" One of the guildmaster's brothers cheerily declared as he entered the room. After her little revelation, she'd been shuffled away into a small side room, "Rarely do I ever see my brother so deeply choleric these days!"

"Sorry about that, didn't realize we'd been talking across each other. Doesn't help Gankma didn't bother telling me what that token meant." Muur grumbled that last bit mutinously.

"Sorry? Why don't be! I'd all but thought being the head of our guild had cleaved away his ability to feel such anger!" His little giggle was in no way ominous or alarming, no siree, "I am glad to see that he's still able to be himself, beyond his position. Truthfully, the only thing this misunderstanding will cause is that he will not have to cash in favors to provide a most wonderful funerary service for your teacher– He might just spend them on having adventurers drag him back here by the tail~!"

"I wish them luck, then. They're going to need it." The lizard chuckled wryly, shaking her head.

"I would wish luck on your mentor more readily. But, enough about this," Taking a seat on the plush seat in front of her, the man's demeanor turned serious, "In regards to your application to the guild, you'll be glad to know that it has been approved. Do try to contain your shock and surprise. Someone with your condition and talent? For– and this is no embellishment, the safety of the realm we cannot allow you to be untaught."

That bad?

"And so, it has come to be that I, Cocobezi will be overseeing some of your training. At least for today," Taking a map out, he gave it to Muur, "Normally, after a potential initiate proves their ability to cast spells in an environment free of distractions, they are asked to go and reduce the population of pests that infest the slums' outskirts. It earns us goodwill within that growing community, while also providing a fair bit of training to our newest members. Other combat oriented guilds such as the gladiators or pugilists engage in the same– though, in their case it is more of a publicity stunt to show off the blood that will soon be shed in the arena. We would have you do the same, but under my express supervision."

"You won't hear me complain, although… this will be after that amulet is made, right? The corrupted crystals out there scrambled my head bad enough I was missing chunks of conversation, I'd really rather not have my condition react like that again." The lizard woman said gingerly as she took the map, tiptoeing around the real root of the problem. "I'm hoping there's some techniques for protecting one's mind floating around here, honestly. I never again want to feel like something stuck a finger in my skull and stirred."

"Well– No?" The lalafell was caught genuinely flatfooted hearing this, "I meant for us to go right away. But if your condition is truly this dire…"

Rubbing at his chin, he trailed off into silence, "A mind potion perhaps? They provide clarity of mind for a time after ingestion… No, too risky. It would risk unbalancing the aether. Wards are the only solution, but they require a proper vessel…"

"Hence the amulet, yes?" Muur asked, head tilted a fraction. Her condition must be rare for there to be nothing premade… well, either that or the stuff made to help neophytes with control problems wasn't anywhere near strong enough for her. Nor could it be layered. "How do wards work, anyways?"

Her fabricated memories had nothing on the topic.

"They're a combination of prayers, esoteric diagrams dating back to the inception of our order and a few aetheric conductive materials," Cocobezi rattled off in a near-lecture, "They are inscribed on a vessel that serves as an anchor for their effects. A fair few of the walls of the ossuary are inscribed with them. But we also use banners and tapestries in the rooms where warding the walls was impossible."

"Well, if anyone was going to have fulu alikes around here, it'd be the house of the Traders." Muur thought out loud, then quietly kicked herself for that slip of tongue before pretending it was all according to plan. "Would a coin or cloth talisman be enough?"

The man opened his mouth, a short "N–," dying on his lips the moment he began to properly examine what the younger mage had said, "Nnno? Hmm… no, no coins would not function. Size is no issue for a proper artisan, but the writing already present would interfere. Same issue as with Cocobuki's commission, metalwork this precise cannot be rushed" He rattled off, more to himself than Muur, "–Not to mention defacing currency… but cloth? Easy to procure and calligraphy is no issue, cannot be made as small, but can be folded down. No– not viable, Aetheric ink would run in the cheap fabrics, ruining the pattern. More expensive fabrics could work, but defeat the purpose of a temporary ward… Vellum? Vellum is cheap, retains ink well and–"

Going silent for a moment, he lifted a hand to his ear, "This is guildmaster Cocobezi. Have five writing sheets, a set of measuring tools and three pots of aetheric ink, along with a quill, be brought to the waiting Antechambers post haste."

His request arrived after only a few minutes of silence. With a quick word of thanks to the gopher, Cocobezi got to work by laying out a sheet of vellum on the floor and grabbing a pot of ink. Flicking his thumb he uncapped it, and Muur's attention was immediately drawn to the liquid as a faint taste of ozone played across her tongue.

As for Cocobezi, he grabbed the metal quill he had been given and dipped it into the liquid. Making sure to swirl it around, the black liquid began to shimmer and glitter as if it was filled with some kind of fine metallic dust.

Once he was satisfied by whatever he had been looking to do, the guildmaster pulled his writing tool out of the well and shook off the excess ink before placing the point against the vellum. The moment that he did, his hand started to move at a breakneck pace. Letters blossomed under rapid, nervous twitches while lines and embellishments appeared in time with wide, wild jerks of his entire arm.

It was enough to make a lizard wonder if people were having inexplicable heart attacks elsewhere in the city.

Despite his speed and the seemingly untamed stroke of his pen, each character that appeared on the page was flawless– as far as Muur could tell at least. The alphabet looked vaguely Latin in how the letters were arranged, but she couldn't quite figure out the words.

Her Eorzean letters were pretty abysma– fuck off, fabricated memories. She didn't ask.

Taking a step back, the mage clicked his tongue, "Yeeees, this should work well enough for our purposes," Putting the sheet to the sides, he replaced it with a different one and grabbed a ruler, "Now for a proper attempt."

"Well, that is one branch of magic I won't excel in. Quadruple measuring things is the worst mix of anxiety and tedium." Muur murmured, careful not to disrupt her teacher.

Whether he was not paying attention to her, or simply chose not to respond, the diminutive mage remained silent as a low hum began to leave his throat as he marked seemingly random spots all over the vellum's surface– checking the distances exactly once before moving on.

By the time he was finished the sound had taken a distinctly rhythmic tone, "Oh noble Twiiiiiins~" Over the next fifteen minutes or so, her would-be examiner showed incredible prowess. Not in his singing, that was honestly just sort of okay. Not terrible, but not great either. Merely serviceable, he was not hitting any sort of bad note, but he wouldn't be winning any singing competition. His artistic skill though?

WIth the exact same sort of manic pen strokes as before, he slowly filled the entire sheet with a dizzying array of lines, letters and symbols. At first they each seemed to be completely random, but as more and more ink was put to the paper the image that formed was a disturbing diagram. No matter how you looked at it, it was unsettlingly organic in its structure. Like some sort of magical organ made two dimensional… Or maybe a tumor, "–This ought to serve its purpose."

Putting down his ink-splattered into the second inkpot, now nearly drained, Cocobezi dipped a finger into ink and quickly drew one more symbol into the air. Literally, as it left a trail of soft blue light along its path.

It was the Twins' oddly shaped symbol. As soon as it was complete, it coalesced into a single dot of light that drifted down into the charm. It was absorbed into the drawing the moment they touched, its ink turning bright blue as the aether flowed through it like blood through veins, before returning to its previous color.

Peeling it off the floor, the mage examined his work before turning it over to Muur with a satisfied hum..

"And that's that, I suppose." The lizard woman said as she took the proffered vellum. She didn't feel any different, but that wasn't entirely unexpected.

"Quite, yes," The tiny man said with a sharp nod, "Imbuing the ink will have dried it and affixed it to the material in a manner not too dissimilar to that of a tattoo– Vellum is refined animal skin, should you not be aware. Meaning that the ink is as much under the surface, as it is on it. By all accounts it makes the whole of it rather resilient, but I would wait until we have left the temple's grounds before folding it if I were you. You can never be too careful after all."

"Especially when it comes to something keeping my mind and magic in order." Muur agreed easily, tilting her head. "Time to go terrorize the wildlife?"

"Indeed! Well, almost," Getting to his feet, he motioned for Muur to follow, one hand offering her the leftover reagents from the ritual, while he called for someone to clean the mess he'd left behind with the other, "You are free to use these to practice your letters should you need it– or do not. We'll write them off as part of the recruitment effort all the same!" He told her with a small cackle, "Now, before we leave for the mildly tamed wilds. Tell me, have you attuned yourself to the city's network?"

"Nope." She replied promptly, the fabricated memories giving her what amounted to a wet fart when she prodded them.

"We shall have to rectify this before departing outside the walls then, living in this city would be ever so infuriating without it," Rather than taking a turn that she knew would bring them closer to the catacombs' exit, he instead waddled forward, "Normally we would not allow an initiate to do this. However, as you will spend quite some time within our ranks. If only due to my brother's bleeding heart, I shall take pity upon your poor soul, and legs, in this instance!"

Well, she was definitely intrigued now.

Silently guiding her to one another of the corners the underground complex hid inside of its deranged layout, they arrived at a large double sided door, "Right this way," pushing the doors open, Muur found herself in a large underground hall. A good two dozen people milled about inside, seemingly not doing anything of note as they moved from the hall and back into the maze they called home. But there was another dozen individuals, who stood at attention along the walls, the nearest four shooting a look towards the door as it opened. These sentinels wore robes only slightly fancier than that of a regular priest, but what got Muur's attention were the armored hands. Some held a book, others a bit of food, something to drink, or some other means to pass the time. But each of these men and women kept one against the hilt of the blade sheathed at their side.

"Do not mind them," The guildmaster told her as he returned the nod of respect they gave him, "They are part of a different militant order of Nald'Thal. The Gatekeepers, they are called."

"That's not–," One of them mumbled with a sigh, his giant bunny ears drooping slightly as he put away the pulling puzzle he'd been messing with. Pulling himself off of the wall, he walked towards the pair, "Hail, Guildmaster Cocobezi. What brings you to the hall?"

"Nothing much. I've come to help this young apprentice attune herself to the aetheryte shard," As he spoke, the crystal fixture that stood in the middle of the room that hadn't seemed to be much beside a curiosity flashed and a pair of people appeared beside it with a pop of displaced air. As soon as they appeared, they moved in the direction of one of the hall's three doors. The guards spared them a nonplussed look, before returning to what they'd been doing as soon as they saw the white robes the two arrivals wore, "She will remain in our care for quite some time."

Of course there were crystals for teleportation too. This world fucking loved them. Was that what she'd seen people clustering around yesterday? Didn't matter a ton so long as her fabricated memories coughed out how the hell one was supposed to do this attuning business.

She didn't get a lot of help on that front beyond a general sense of just shoving as much aether as she could. That may not be the best idea in the world, but she had the basic mechanism at least.

"Now then! Give me your hand apprentice!" He declared, extending his arm. Which only got the Gatekeeper to blink at him when he began to make grabby motion with his hand.

"Sure…?" She replied, not looking much better than the rabbit man as she obliged with her right hand.

"Guildmaster, what are you–?"

"She suffers from acute Mememeno syndrome. Untreated since birth," He said by means of explanation. It must have done the trick, because the bunnyman's eyes widened upon hearing it, "I do not know if you encountered aetherytes in the past. But even if you did, I am certain that whatever method you utilized to do so was lackluster at best, completely wrong at worst. Not for any fault of yours, your condition is known to prevent the finer aetheric control required for attuning. Now. I will guide you through the process of attuning yourself to the shard, apprentice. Or, in other words, I will manipulate your own aether to attune you to it."

"I won't insult you by saying to be careful, then." Muur decided with a nod. She was putting her physical and mental health in their hands, so there wasn't much to think about at the end of the day.

Nothing seemed to happen at first, but as the second ticked by the Au'Ra began to feel a sort of tug inside of her. A ghost of a feeling pulling at the writhing mass of aether in her chest. Almost like it'd felt her noticing it, this phantom became more intense until the vague tug had turned into a hand grasping at the plasma ball of magic bang bang juice.

Being able to sense something rooting inside of her wasn't exactly the most pleasant of feelings. Especially when just being aware of what was happening was making her aether react. Tendrils of lightning lashed at the headmaster's grip, like an unruly nest of snakes being disturbed.

Nodding to himself, the guildmaster raised a hand towards the shard and the tug became a proper pull. Thin wisps of his and the crystal's aether reached for each other as Muur felt hers be pushed into boxes where it was twisted, contained, folded and shaped in odd and unnatural feeling ways. This went beyond uncomfortable and outright painful, like her fingers were being bent and broken until they touched the back of her hand.

The master's grip was ironclad as he forced her aether through this gauntlet. The first few motes of her aether drifted out of his hand and wasted no time in shaking off his influence– only to be caught into the crystal's own aether tendrils.

She felt them creep along her aether. Entwining themselves with it. Part of her thought it should feel wrong, that she should treat it as something invading her– but where they touched, her aether stilled. From a mad beast freshly plucked off of the steppes to a placid animal, trusted and respected by the hunter that broke it in with rigorous training and kindness.

It climbed and climbed, until it reached the parts of her that had not been molested by the lalafell. It touched something in her– no, not in her… on the surface? Like getting your hand stamped at the fair, it left a tiny morsel, barely a mote.

Then it was gone. Retreating the same way it had come, her soothed and calmed aether the only signs that it had even been there.

"I am not looking forward to doing that on my own." Muur muttered, flexing the phantom pain out of her hand.

"I would not worry too much. As talented as I am at manipulating aether, by dint of my station, manipulating another's aether is never pleasant for he who is manipulated," Pulling a small vial of yellow coloured liquid from his robes, Cocobezi began nursing it as he moved back towards the door that had brought him and Muur to the hall, "Using your own will to bend your own aether into the shape you've experienced in this room will alleviate much of the discomfort."

"I can only hope. So, time to turn a bunch of wildlife into smash burgers?" The lizard woman asked, voice hitching up into a hopeful tone towards the end. The last twenty-four hours had been a godawful rollercoaster and she wanted to do arson about it.

"I have no idea what burgers are. But the city's main Aetheryte will lay within our path…" He started, before noticing how the scallie's tail drooped at the idea of delaying further, "...Which means that you shall be able to place what you have learned here into practice during our return!"

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The streets of Ul'dah were surprisingly empty when they exited the temple. In that she could 'only' see some half a hundred or so people at any given time, going about their business. Unfortunately, this was entirely due to the sun. Its rays beating down against the city's streets without any shred of mercy.

Amusingly, the part of the slums the guildmaster wanted her to eradicate pests in was the one the wagon that had taken her into town had rode through yesterday. Meaning that she was back where it all began, so to speak. Rather than pass through though, he'd made a right just as they reached it and took her to the Quicksands. That adventurer inn that her fellow wagon rider was staying at.

For no other reason that it was almost lunch, and he was hungry. Before entering, he'd assured her he'd treat her to lunch as well "His most favored dish". Whatever that meant.

When he opened the doors, Muur saw exactly where all the people had gone: inside where it was cool, shaded and smelled of delicious food. The crowd was absolutely massive, some were here to eat, others to wait out the hottest hours of the day and plenty of them were adventurers, here to conduct business. But what they were here for didn't seem to matter much, it parted around the guildmaster all the same, letting him pass as she watched from a spot near the entrance

"Oh hey," A voice she recognised came from her left, "You're… Muuuur? Right?"

"Hey there, Kofle! I still owe you that drink." The lizard chimed. Her brain may have been a mess at the time, but she'd be damned if she didn't commit a debt to memory.

"Huh, surprised you remember that," The cat told her as she moved closer, "I sure forgot until you reminded me. What brings you here?"

The mage could immediately tell that… the fighter in front of her wasn't doing great. She didn't look horrible, almost great in fact! Her hair wasn't sticking out in weird places, her clothes looked unruffled and clean. But one look at the dark circles under her puffy, red eyes told all there was to tell.

"Bossman decided we were eating here before heading out to turn wildlife into charred hamburger meat." Muur replied, pointing with her tail at the terrifying midget.

"Bossman?" The woman asked as she craned her neck to try and get a look at whoever Muur was pointing towards, "One of the older Thaumaturges?"

"Yeah, I'm basically apprenticing under him for a hot minute. Anyways, how are you holding up? The corrupted crystals still giving you hell, or something else?" The mage asked softly, shifting her weight to her staff.

"Nightmares," Kofle told her as she took a bite of a large piece of meat wrapped in a flatbread, "Slept like shit. Kept thinking that some friends– Nevermind. You don't need to hear that… What's your boss having you do?" She eventually asked after taking a few more bites of her food, "Mine's sending me to clear some pests near the Slums. Something about 'advertising yourself'? Which is kinda dumb, since I barely know how to swing this thing." She said as she patted the weapon at her hips.

"Pretty much same, but for different reasons. Tag along?" Muur shrugged, leaving the decision to the cat woman, "And don't worry, I'm always happy to let someone bleed the poison out. Gives me those warm fuzzies from helping someone and usually there's some morbid curiosity smoothing things along."

"Nah, I'll pass on making you deal with my problems. Lover knows I've had to deal with that far too often, far too long to inflict this evil on anyone else," Taking one last bite of her food, she then shrugged, "As for tagging along that s–" "Sounds like a MOST inspired idea!" "▆▆▇▆▇▊!?"

Before she could say yes or no, Cocobezi manifested beside them out of the ether. His sudden shout making the cat jump a few inches into the air, "How unexpected of someone taught by Gankma!" Dropping a massive shawarma in Muur's hands, he moved towards the exit, "I feared that his boneheaded method of fighting would have bled on you! But I am glad to know that you already know the most important rule of combat for one wielding our art– If you do not desire to be hit, find someone that will be in your stead!"

"Melee is fun, don't get me wrong." Muur said as she steadied Kofle without missing a beat, tail taking care of her staff and food for a moment, "But punting someone away with a point blank fireball so I can turn them into the central attraction of a crater without catching myself or my friends in the collateral kinda matters."

"A work in progress, then! But enough talk! Let us go onwards!" He laughed, taking a massive bite out of his meal as he walked out of the inn.

"Wait hold on–" The poor, poor cat attempted to speak up, "Do I not get a say in this!?"