Unsouled | Glowfic Constellation

Lindon is three the first time he impresses an adult that isn't his mom or dad.

The First Elder is visiting. Lindon looks out from his room, peeking around the corner. His mom made it sound like he was scary, but he looks friendly. He looks like Lindon's grandfather, except he's even older. He talks to Lindon's mom for practically forever about Soulsmithing. Something about making a new bit of spirit fence for the clan. Lindon can't understand most of it, but he knows he wants to be a Soulsmith when he grows up! Just like his mom! He decides to stop hiding and bounces up to them and says so. His mother looks worried for a second until the First Elder gets down on one knee and ruffles Lindon's hair. Lindon takes this as the perfect opportunity to talk about how cool Soulsmithing is. His mom made him a little white fox! Look, here it is! You can move your hand right through it but it looks so real! It even yawns! It's projected out of the little wooden base! He doesn't know how the script around the base works yet but his mom tells him if he's good she'll teach him! He knows some of the runes, though! This one is the one that lets you stick two other bits together! It's like "and"! Isn't that cool?

Anyway, the fox illusion. Look how sharp it's teeth are! Does the First Elder know snow foxes are very important and you shouldn't hunt them? It's true! They have natural techniques just like the Wei Clan's! He can't wait until he can learn them! He wants to make illusions just like his mom can! Sometimes she makes it look like there are two of her, but the second copy isn't very good.

Can he take the test early? He's sure he'll be a Forger just like his mom! Then he can be a Soulsmith!

The First Elder reassures Lindon that he doesn't have much time to wait, the time will be here before he knows it. Then he looks at Lindon's mom and congratulates her on her bright young son. Even if he could stand to have some better manners. Then, with a sheepish look on his face, he confesses that he'd thought their son was younger than their daughter. He's a little small for a child who's seen five summers, sure, but with a mind like his he's sure he'll contribute mightily to the Wei Clan.

His mother's beams with pride. Oh no, she says. He's not seen five summers- he hasn't yet seen four.

The First Elder's smile goes a bit funny at that, but Lindon doesn't understand why.

She gives it to him. In fact, she had precisely this idea when she was younger. There was a tree near the edge of becoming ancestral high in the foothills of the mountains, but it was decades away.

He could find it again. There's a moderate chance it's advanced by now. Or he could find another. There very easily could be another.

He gets to looking. His mother doesn't remember exactly where, so he'll have to meticulously cover multiple square miles of ground up in the hills, half a day's walk away, examining each and every tree above a certain size.

His first trip out, he wanders through the forest for three days with barely anything eat, almost frantic to find the tree as fast as he can.

He doesn't find anything. He shouldn't be surprised. Multiple square miles of land is, uh. A rather large area.

It's weeks before he gets another chance to head out. The issue is that he needs days clear to search properly.

This time he packs a lot more food, rather than just living off orus fruit. Nuts and dried meat should help supplement his diet. He finds the exact spot he left off searching last time and moves forward from there, meticulously surveying the land.

He's very lucky there isn't anything genuinely dangerous this close to the Wei clan.