Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Balthazar awoke in his office at the Black Cat headquarters, sitting up with a sudden, shock as if rapidly being pulled out of a dream. He had in on his hands and his face from a letter he was trying to write before falling asleep. He didn't stay at his new house as often as he stayed in the headquarters. While having all the comforts he could reasonably afford, it was not as easy to sleep there as it was to sleep in the office. His glowing eyes blinked a few times to clear his vision and he noticed a box sitting beside his desk that had not been there before.

He let out a low growling noise but not because he was angry, he was just clearing his throat. He shifted his weight in his chair and turned his body to face the gift sitting beside his desk. The mage listened for anything that might have been amiss but even he hadn't figured out how to develop a timer for a bomb yet. He was just being cautious. He carefully took the letter from the top of the box and opened it. Slowly, he unfolded the parchment and soothed his mutations so that he could read without having to get up.

With each word his interest grew more profound. His eyes shifted from the letter to the box after a few lines and he set the letter aside to lift the box. It had a little weight to it but the weight was familiar and his senses were refined enough to feel the subtle shifts of two things moving inside the box as he brought it to his lap. He pulled back the top and an almost disturbing smile spread across his face. He had been battling back and forth with what he wanted to give this arc. He hadn't been sure what he was going to do despite the feelings and intuition being granted to him.

Now he knew.

I don't get it. Fuego's voice chimed into Balthazar's mind, suddenly springing the mage from his thoughts. The small burning rock with stubby arms, legs, no mouth, and two bright orange eyes that burned with Faldrass' fire slowly climbed the corner of the box and fell in beside the two metal ingots. It was an altogether clumsy but successful mission for the diri. After a trill or two to get himself upright, Fuego looked from the metal ingots to Balthazar who was still holding the box as if he was waiting for an explanation.

That's because you can't read. Balthazar thought back to the diri.

Teach me. Fuego thought back to Balthazar.

Maybe once we make the gift. Balthazar replied.

After that he went to work.
Robin came around a short while after the sun passed the peak in the sky to visit Balthazar who had vanished from the office the prior night. Even outside the mage's new home, Robin could hear the familiar hammering of metal. Everything Balthazar owned had been moved to his new home in a series of trips back and forth to the abandoned settlement- including the forge and smithing materials Elisabeth had given him. Rather than set it up at the Black Cats headquarters, he had set it all up in his new home. It seemed to give him a reason to go leave work every once in a while. As soon as Robin reached for the door, it opened and he found Balthazar standing there with a dirtied shirt and two different smithing hammers in his off hand.

"I heard you coming." Balthazar smiled and invited Robin in with a wave. The gift was almost ready and Robin had come at the perfect time to finish it. Balthazar was decent enough with a hammer and his forge but he knew he needed help. The gift needed more than a single skillset. "Come in, come in!" Balthazar said enthusiastically inviting his friend into his home. "I'm glad you are here, come with me, I need your help finishing up a project."

"The others were concerned- Balthazar," Robin stopped in the doorway and forced Balthazar to slow down as well, "What are we doing?"

"We are making a gift." Balthazar said before grabbing Robin's arm and dragging him along to the forge. Once inside, Robin only asked one other question before getting to work,

"Why is it so small?"
Balthazar had the gift assembled and it sat in his office where nothing would disturb it until the time for delivery came. He could get to his office in seconds through any portal of his own making so he felt that it was the best place to store important and precious things. He had something else with him as well. He had brought it from his house because he didn't like keeping it at the headquarters. It was the small but magical cask that he'd been given by one of the immortals who marked him. An unlimited supply of a strong alcohol was best if not left unattended. Robin wouldn't drink but Lyanna and many of the Cats probably would have. Lyanna would have done it just because she knew she wasn't supposed to and it was relatively harmless. All the thrill of theft with none of the life-long consequences.

Regardless, Balthazar had brought the cask from his house to his office and set it beside the gift. While he was not giving the cask away, he wanted to share the content with whoever he'd prepared the actual gift for. What harm was a little drink between strangers? He wasn't dressed exceptionally but he rarely was. As usual he wore simple but dark clothing that wasn't made of heavy fabrics and his enchanted boots.

When the time finally arrived, Balthazar was sitting at his desk working through various reports about dark haired women with blue eyes. He had a constant stream of disappointing and dead ends as far as that investigation was going so the time for presenting his gift was a welcome break. He pushed his chair back and stood with a small stretch before picking up the ever-filled cask with the box containing the gift atop it. The cask wasn't the lightest thing in the world but it wasn't the worst either for Balthazar. Careful to ensure he didn't drop the gift, he opened his office door with a gentle kick and passed through it into the the kaleidoscope castle of stone.

His eyes widened first at the sudden abundance of color and then a trill later his face seemed to purse and his nostrils flared slightly. Balthazar's glowing eyes slammed shut and he focused inwards to soothe the spark affecting his vision. It was all just a little bit too much of a scenery shift for someone with his senses. The glow in his eyes subsided as the etheric cracks running down his cheeks sealed. When he opened his eyes again they were the same gold color they had been before his mutation took hold of him. Balthazar blinked a few times to adjust and then his smiled returned. He pressed forward, balancing the cask and the gift as he looked around to see who else had come.

He didn't notice the spirits immediately until he made an effort to look for Crow and Fuego. Crow, the diri of death, was in the the corner of the room in bird form looking around at the gathering. As soon as Balthazar spotted him, the diri took to the air and flew to another spot. Fuego, like a child with their parent in a new place, clung close to the top of Balthazar's boot- though it still looked as if the diri were attempting to ride atop of the mage's foot. Shortly after focusing his senses to look for spirits, Balthazar noticed an abundance of them around him in addition to his own companions. It was remarkable to say the least and yet Balthazar didn't remark on it- he just looked around with wide eyes, absorbing as much of his surroundings as he could.

Balthazar eventually found himself at a table where he set his cask and the gift down so that he was less encumbered while picking apart the world that surrounded him. It was hard for someone with his gifts to just enjoy something as magical as this. He wanted to know how it worked but in the end a different question always seemed to take the lead.

Who was this gift for?

Wait, was that steak?

Balthazar's attention was stolen again by the familiar scent of the only food Balthazar really liked. He ate plenty of things but he enjoyed steak. Burnt steak and purple whiskey. Maybe it was a mage thing. Maybe he just had strange tastes. It was shortly after noticing the steak on the table that Balthazar noticed Winston at the other end. Winston? The gift is for him? Well... that was not exactly what Balthazar expected given the little hints and ideas that had come to his mind but Winston quickly clarified with an introduction. As Winston spoke, Balthazar lowered himself and carefully set down the cask on the floor before picking up the box with the gift and setting it on the table. "It's great to see you again, Winston." Balthazar said, "I am grateful to you for helping make this happen. It's extraordinary. Truly."

While Fuego climbed atop the cask and looked around at all the fairies enjoying themselves, Balthazar turned his attention outwards to try and find the one he had made a gift for.

It wasn't immediate, but when Balthazar saw Kisaik he felt that he recognized the tunawa from a time long, long ago. A time when he had lived in a very different land and done very different things. Kisaik had been there for his school for the elements. An experiment in defiance and teaching that had gone almost nowhere. It had been arcs since that trial and the only new student he had ever attempted to teach was Elisabeth. Now she was gone. Missing. Not dead. The elements would have told him. If nothing else, if every other ability failed him, he knew that the elements would not. The bond between initiate and initiator was a strong one that could not easily be broken. Even now, Balthazar could still see through the eyes of Isabella- as she could see through his. He could share his ether with Victor- as Victor could share with him. Those facts remained constant. If Elisabeth found danger, he would know. It was the silence that hurt the most.

It suddenly made sense why he'd felt compelled to make all the instruments involved in his gift in a smaller size. It would have done no good to craft such instruments in a size befitting Balthazar's stature. A simple trowel would have become a shovel. A gardening fork would have become a pitch fork. Robin had expressed doubts but Balthazar had a feeling he was crafting the right sized equipment as they built it in the forge. Even if the metals were... less than conventionally functional. He knew more about Kisaik's deeds than he did about the tunawa himself. Elisabeth had always spoken highly of him- as had almost anyone from Haven who had seen him help with the kitten bee situation.

"Mädärä Kisaik Ciuruọrun sọ Kufuata Karo Kashe Däuä, Tìfmi Härumtä sọ anou Faewun Samuwar, ọbavi sọ tẹlẹ, igbaradi sọ anou tabi ọludïbọ, Saoire's chieja kẹmïkälï kukïrï, Kuzïngätïä Kore, Akoko Nọọsi, qy’akot o'Creede, ar Yeztlik'o' Nïtọsï Ẹrẹkẹ- it is a pleasure to formally meet you as well." Balthazar didn't need to search his memory for the many knightly names Kisaik had so it rolled off of his tongue more casually than it could have. "I hope I said that correctly."

Kisaik asked about the cask and Balthazar shifted his attention towards it. "Purple whiskey from Yaralon. An endless supply. It was a gift given to me by Ilaren and I figured I could share it with you while we are here." Balthazar explained before gesturing towards the wrapped box he had set down. "That, however, is for you to keep. I hope it will be useful." Whether or not Kisaik opened the gift on the spot, Balthazar moved forward. Kisaik said that he'd heard a lot about Balthazar and the mage gave a somewhat awkward smile. It was hard to tell whether he had heard good things or bad things but it was best not to assume.

Shinwa provided glasses for the duo and Balthazar wasted little time pouring one full of purple whiskey. He didn't drink it like it was water but he definitely filled the cup as if it were. He raised the glass slightly, toasting Ilaren in his head as he always did when drinking from the cask, and then took a small drink while Kisaik ate the peppers. Fuego sat atop the cask, invisible to those who couldn't see spirits, and he swung his stubby stone legs back and forth while watching the world. Crow, on the other hand, kept moving back and forth between the different ceiling fixtures it could fit on.

Balthazar's drink did not turn him red or cause steam to shoot out his ears so he considered that a comparative success compared to Kisaik's reaction to the peppers. All and all it caused Balthazar to smile and he sent a look Winston's way. The effect was harmless enough but it was always interesting to see the things Winston could achieve with food. Shinwa returned with the knives and Crow flew down to stand beside them. Instruments of death. A diri of death. They should have been the best of friends.

"I am blessed with a very good memory." Balthazar said as if to dismiss the endeavor that it was to recall all of Ksaik's names. The real trouble was guessing which ones were actually part of his name and which things were just thrown on by people telling his story. Balthazar perked up slightly when Kisaik mentioned Vega. He didn't think she would be one to spend so many words on a name but he didn't imagine he knew enough about her to assume. She seemed like a good friend.

"You know I always like to see what you're working on." Balthazar said when Winston mentioned that he was working on something to repel water. It was good that Winston was still making progress on those fronts. Balthazar needed to remember to get the rest of his blood delivered.

Kisaik presented him with the wineskin that had been across his back. Balthazar noticed it but thought it was just something the tunawa carried around for his own drinks. "Oh?" He wasn't expecting anything and so was caught somewhat by surprise. He turned the wineskin over in his hands a few times. Kisaik had made a good suggestion. Potions. He had all the tools but nothing to carry a potion around with in the field- until now. A large smile spread over Balthazar's face and he held up the gift. "Thank you, it's wonderful. I'll put it to good use."

He presented his gift. He had to admit he was nervous about it but not so much that it showed. He'd done far scarier things than gift a gift he made with his hands... so why was he fidgeting as Kisaik was opening it? Probably the Rupturing spark. Standing still was never easy. Kisaik estimated correctly that Balthazar had used alchemy to make the metals stronger. He nodded when it was suggested and said, "It's an old trick with embersteel shavings. It makes the receiving material stronger." He did not suppose he had to explain alchemy to Kisaik. The noble tunawa offered to come by the headquarters and help with gardening which prompted a smirk from Balthazar.

"I've been sitting on books about gardening for a while. Elisabeth was always better with the earth than me- but I'd be happy to try." Balthazar decided. Part of him might have been avoiding gardening because he would think of Elisabeth and miss her. He knew that Kisaik was right though, gardening would be useful for maintaining a good supply of reagents.

After the cups had been retrieved, the drinks had been poured, and Kisaik mentioned a recent trip to Yaralon, Balthazar seemed to light up a little. It had been a long time since he'd been to Yaralon. "Well if you enjoy the drink, you now know someone very willing to share their supply. When did you visit Yaralon? How was it?" The last he had heard, a dragon tore out of the sewers and broke a gate. That was a long while ago now.

Fuego waved back to Kisaik and then hopped off the cask. He jumped off the table and disappeared to track down some fairies. Crow scooted a little closer to Lalia to share the meal.

What's flambalty? Is that like... your spirit disguise? Fuego's voice chimed in Balthazar's head after a few trills when he overheard the fairies talking about Kisaik. Balthazar chose to ignore the comment.