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When Vanyel is ready for the mad science tour, he shows him the monkeys. "They're monkeys," she feels it necessary to clarify. "I know they look very human at this point, because the whole point of them is that I'm going to move into one if I ever die, but they're not people, and I have forbidden the staff to name them. I could move into one now if I had to but I'd like to get one actually looking like me in particular first, and I want to stick more Gifts into them, I got Fetching out of some Changesquirrels but further work is needed." She shows him the mice, too. "Do you suppose Jisa'd like a winged mouse? What's her favorite color?" She shows him all her microbiology eggs. "That's a flu sample from the recent plague! I remembered to take one. Those there are other flus. The white eggs have more-alive microbes and the brown eggs have less-alive kinds - there's a cold one of the staff mages had a few months ago, there's food poisoning, there's the most common kind from healthy intestines - you could get your Sight this fine, you know, I don't do heavy Healing-Gift use apart from Sight for this work."
It takes the entire rest of the day. Leareth at one point stabilizes the current progress and then suggests they break for dinner. "We can come back and work late to finish it tonight, if you want, I think I have another couple of candlemarks on it."
So they go to the dining hall for dinner, during which bored monkeys with Farsight may or may not be gossiping about them, and then head back for the final steps.
Leareth finishes weaving the energy-link between Belrun and the artifact, tied to her life-force such that her death, by whatever mechanism, will incidentally provide the energy needed to snap her soul into its little pocket and then onward. It's very visible to mage-sight while he's setting it up, but once the link is in place, he - folds and tucks it away, somehow, so there's no way a hostile mage in her presence could just reach in and sever it.
He takes a break to kiss her back for a couple of minutes. "All right, final stage and we will need to go hang out with the monkey for it."
"Of course. Quite a lot of durability has already been added just from the immortality spell itself, and I will add more after that is complete."
"I love you too." Kiss. "It will be a huge weight off my mind when this is finished." He slips his arm around her waist while they walk to the monkey enclosure.
Pretty chipper, apparently unbothered by her modifications, and currently experimenting with its Fetching by Fetching food through the bars of its cage at one of the other monkey cages. They're trying to retaliate but limited to throwing.
Hee! Hopefully this monkey will get to lead a long life, she would rather not need it till its great-great-grandchildren are up.
Leareth grabs a 'loop' of magic from the book-artifact and pulls it, 'stretching' it into a second cord of power. He approaches the monkey.
The monkey does not remember him as well as she remembers Belrun, and backs away.
"- Belrun, a little help? I just need to touch the monkey for a moment, to connect it, then I can reinforce it from over here."
"I have no idea why they like me, I do such awful things to them," she remarks, but she picks up a peanut from the dish of monkey treats and holds it out and makes eye contact with her winged monkey doppelganger.
Her winged monkey doppelganger is successfully tempted by the peanut, and then allows Leareth to take hold of its hand for a moment.
"- And, there. The rest will take about half a candlemark but I can do it from here." He sits down on the nearby stool.
She gives the monkey the peanut. She leans on Leareth and watches him work.
Leareth is very focused, but there's room in his lap for Belrun to sit there if she wants. He lays down repeated layers of magical connection, so that as much as possible of all the information associated with Belrun's soul will make it across in a single leap.
And then he's done the final layer.
"Belrun, you are officially now immortal." Leareth sounds so pleased with himself and smug about it.
"I am rather tired now." He hugs her. "It will be quite hard to damage even now; I think I will do the additional shielding in the morning. And just hold you and it very tightly all night."
"I don't think having a book in bed with us overnight is the best way to make sure it comes out undamaged in the morning. Under a pillow maybe? Or did you mean the monkey."