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The shaper known as Steel is flying down the right side of a road, shoring up the edges of the bluestream that lets her lift herself off the ground as she goes. Sure, she'll be a bit clumsy and weak when she gets to Opri, but she's not planning on doing much more stream-shaping today, so might as well.
She glances at the bluestream (the magical vision blinds her physical vision for a short moment, but not long enough to crash into anything) and determines that this next crossroads is where she needs to turn. She tilts to the right...
...And lands on a patch of orange grass in a forest clearing. This is not the town of Opri. She opens her eyes and ears to the bluestream, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
The bluestream here isn't a nice, orderly, useful pattern like on the roads, or the formless fog that it usually decays to after a while. Instead it's a riot of random patterns swirling around, wispy and confused and obviously not designed to do anything useful.
Steel, deaf and blind for a few seconds thanks to her peek at the bluestream, stands very still and is very confused.
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sturdycoldsteel
sturdycoldsteel
Steel checks something wrapped in paper for tampering, and finding none eats it. She informs the tiny fairy, "Time for me to sleep. I prefer not to be watched while I sleep."
"I've been told to stay here and watch you," the tiny fairy says. "Until I'm relieved by someone who'll have the same order."
sturdycoldsteel
"I will not be watched while I sleep." Steel leaves, at very high speed.
The fairy's order to stay there apparently overrides his order to watch her.
sturdycoldsteel
Steel sleeps in a tree outside that court's territory, returns at sunrise, and resumes working without comment unless someone talks to her.
The fairy in the supervisory perch (a different one) doesn't speak to her.
sturdycoldsteel
And at about lunchtime, Steel is finished with the hill, which is now a pretty waterfall spouting mistily falling water, with the extra displaced dirt forming a shallow bank to help turn the river where it's supposed to go. She tells the watching-fairy, "I'm done," and goes to find Verve or whoever else looks important.
The watching fairy leads her back to the court compound, where Verve can be found.
sturdycoldsteel
"Hello, Verve. I'm done with the waterfall to my satisfaction, but I wanted to let you take a look at it and ask for any small adjustments you want while I'm still here. I floored the right areas with rock, so it should stay the way it is for at least a hundred years, but erosion will still change it eventually."
Verve flies to the waterfall to have a look. "Satisfactory," she pronounces. "You can take the rock whenever you like."
sturdycoldsteel
Steel nods and flies off. She uses sorcery to carve out a large-but-not-ridiculous section of the relevant rock, picks it up with bluestream, and makes her way (more slowly than usual, with such a load) back to Promise's tree.
She says hi to Promise, dropping the small-tree-sized boulder somewhere that it does not immediately threaten any plants.
She says hi to Promise, dropping the small-tree-sized boulder somewhere that it does not immediately threaten any plants.
sturdycoldsteel
"This is the rock I was talking about. I need to transmute the quartz crystals to feldspar, and then it'll be perfect to make a little ten-foot stone circle with. It'll still take a while, though, even after I have the rock done."
imeanforever
"How long? And, uh, if it has to be ten feet I'm not sure it'll fit in my tree unless it can levitate, which means I'll be sitting out in the open. It's not overwhelmingly likely that someone will come by, but..."
sturdycoldsteel
"It has to be outside regardless of how big your tree is, but I can guard you during the thing? I was totally planning on sitting here for five days while you were under, you know. And keep in mind it might not work and hurt really bad for a few minutes instead."
"It'll take a while before it's ready anyway. I have to do the transmutation just right, and carve and place the stones, and then do all the bluestream-shaping into the right patterns which will take longer than the rest of it put together, so you have time to think about it."
"It'll take a while before it's ready anyway. I have to do the transmutation just right, and carve and place the stones, and then do all the bluestream-shaping into the right patterns which will take longer than the rest of it put together, so you have time to think about it."
imeanforever
"If you're guarding me that's all right, but can you go that long without sleep? There isn't a day cycle here so no times are less likely to have traffic than other times."
sturdycoldsteel
"Sorcery can do traps. An alarm is just a sound trap. I'll need to study setting them, but it should be doable. And I can be ready for combat, if necessary, immediately after awakening."
sturdycoldsteel
Over the next few weeks, Steel spends most of her time soliciting sorcery lessons from Promise (the sorcery lessons being payment for making the bluestream-enabling circle) or practicing sorcery, but she also transmutes and carves down the stone and starts working on its harmonic innards, and occasionally runs errands into the mortal world.
Eventually, "I thought of something potentially problematic. You will be alive and conscious during the process, simply disconnected from all sensation. Humans are normally placed in hospitals and forcibly fed. Will you be in an acceptable state after five days of no food or water?"
Eventually, "I thought of something potentially problematic. You will be alive and conscious during the process, simply disconnected from all sensation. Humans are normally placed in hospitals and forcibly fed. Will you be in an acceptable state after five days of no food or water?"
imeanforever
"I'll be alive. I will not be especially comfortable, but I'll probably be able to drink water if there's some ready and then eat something."
sturdycoldsteel
"You should prepare your supplies beforehand, and I will scrupulously not interact with them so there is no chance of them counting as mine."
sturdycoldsteel
And then back to sorcery lessons interspersed with circle-building. The problem is she can only work on the circle so much each day before she turns into a limp noodle, unable to do anything useful thanks to the magic's cost. It takes quite a while to make the circle since it's so complex, but Steel doesn't mind. She fully intends to learn to de-age herself by the time she's 40.
Eventually, "It's almost ready, all that's left is to activate it. I need to go take care of some things in the mortal world so that nothing bad will occur from my week's absence."
She is gone for two days. When she comes back, "Are you ready?"
Eventually, "It's almost ready, all that's left is to activate it. I need to go take care of some things in the mortal world so that nothing bad will occur from my week's absence."
She is gone for two days. When she comes back, "Are you ready?"
sturdycoldsteel
Steel waits near the stone circle. When Promise arrives, "As soon as you enter you will feel a mounting... Pressure, for lack of a better word, on your mind. If it starts burning, leave as soon as possible, that means the infusion is failing. If it works, you will move from mental pressure to sensory deprivation seamlessly. You may wish to lie down as soon as you go in, so you don't fall when it hits you."