Tala stepped into the Constructionist Guild.

It was still odd to her, being inside spaces so vastly composed of wood. It changed the feel of a place, the way sound moved through it, how it was lit. I’ll get used to it just in time to leave…

Her mage-sight picked up the now familiar scan from the Guild’s doorway, and a harsh, blaring noise sounded from deep within the building.

What the rust?

The world seemed to stutter, and there were suddenly three people standing around her, forming an equilateral triangle with her in the dead center. Magic flowed between them in an overlapping, interweaving three-dimensional standing-spell-form.

Tala could see the spell-lines as pure magic power, suspended in the air around her.

Instantly, all light from the room vanished save the Mages’ aura and the spell-form.

Tala felt the magic within her body hitch, even as her iron-salve heated. Her power was mighty and with the screen of iron, the magic was able to keep flowing, if just barely.

Each of the three was indisputably an Archon, each just past true yellow to Tala’s mage-sight. Three Refined?

Their auras lay heavily on the room, clearly the medium for the spell-form enacted around her. Strangely, it seemed that the three auras were each a unique medium, as the sense of the spell-form altered slightly as it transitioned from one to another.

The Archon standing directly in front of Tala was a young-middle-aged male. Even under his cloak, it was obvious that he was heavily built. Something about his build and the richness of the garment caused him to look a bit like a pretentious workman, a carpenter or stone carver wearing his finest to pass for a member of the upper class. His face was just barely visible to her enhanced senses within the cowl, and it was locked in a grimace of concentration.

Tala perceived all of this in less than a heartbeat, as her iron-salve moved from unpleasantly warm to scalding. In a pulse of light and heat, the iron dust within the salve flashed off.

The world’s most incongruous ding sounded from the back room, and the lights came back on.

With the renewed light, Tala saw that Terry had flickered to one of the corners. He opened one eye briefly before closing it again, seeming unconcerned. When did he move?

Every flicker of power within Tala’s body was now held in suspension, unable to move, unable to act. Her senses dulled, her body felt weak beyond imagining, and her thoughts began to slow.

A voice from the back yelled out, accompanied by quick footsteps. “What, by the rusted pile of slag you have for brains, are you doing?”

The man who strode out of a doorway to Tala’s right was shorter than average, but that was far from the most apparent thing about him. His aura was unfurled and a deep blue-green. Paragon, moving towards Reforged?

No, his aura wasn’t unfurled, that wasn’t quite right. It was moving as tightly controlled tendrils. Then, her mage-sight winked out, the last vestiges of power stilling within those spell-forms as well.

The three Refined either hadn’t heard the Paragon or had ignored him. Their focus seemingly locked on Tala.

With quick motions, the Paragon’s aura swept through the standing-spell, disrupting and shattering it, utterly. It was so strongly manifest as to even be visible to Tala’s mundane sight.

Tala could suddenly think clearly again. Is that how I used to be? That was awful.

From what her returned mage-sight picked up, the broken spell-form had blossomed outward with enough power to level half a city. Seemingly unconcerned, the Paragon’s aura had simply absorbed it, draining magic from the air faster than Tala could blink.

Tala gasped in a breath, staggering. The return of her senses’ enhancements hit like a physical blow. Her heart beat, the sensation painful. She hadn’t had even a moment to realize that her biological functions had been arrested, too.

Much longer, and I’d be dead. How long can you survive without a heartbeat? She knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, but she shied away from the information.

It wasn’t long.

The most recent arrival was an Immaterial Guide, and all of his inscriptions were…What? She couldn’t understand them at all, and that was actually a bit terrifying.

Many of those that were visible were lit, clearly active and not perfectly efficient, but she couldn’t see them with her mage-sight. He’s allowing his aura out and hiding the power from his inscription activation? That was the inverse of what she’d seen on skilled Archons before. How? Why?

He was handsome in a simple sort of way. Dark black hair and a slender build were what stood out most prominently from his physical appearance.

Her enhanced vision saw a grain pattern in his skin. Wood?

No, he wasn’t made of wood, but his physical form was clearly influenced by it. He’s some variation of a wood Archon, then?

As she processed further, in the split second before events continued, she felt like the wood-like aspect of his appearance seemed in process of being…overwritten? It wasn’t actively occurring, but she could somehow tell that this man was working to remove it.

He is reforging himself, and what I’m observing is one point of evidence of that. It might even be what was driving him to do the reforging. Grediv did imply that it was a difficult, unpleasant process.

The three Refined swelled with power, turning on the intruder.

Then, they stopped, all power leaving their building spell-forms and inscriptions. Tala saw the bigger man, who was still directly in front of her, blanch as he saw the much smaller Archon approaching.

“I’ll ask once more. What. Are. You. Doing?”

“The alarm triggered. And-” The man in front of Tala responded.

“And you panicked!”

“We reacted to the alarm.”

“And you assaulted the Blood Archon.”

“The what?” That came from Tala’s left. She glanced that way and saw a woman frowning at her.

Another voice answered, from Tala’s right, and Tala looked at the new speaker. The man there sounded a bit mortified. “Oh…rust….She was raised just over two weeks ago. Her title made information on her raising a bit ‘unfriendly’ for dissemination to the Mages, but her picture was in all the Archon lounges for days.”

“Oh…I don’t really…go into those…” The woman sounded a bit…contrite?

Tala was not liking being surrounded by people who she didn’t know and who clearly outclassed her, at least as a group. That in mind, she stepped backwards to beside the door, out of the triangle, and watched as the woman turned to glare at the second male Refined. “You didn’t recognize her, either! This isn’t on me.”

The bigger man sighed. “Mistress Yenna, Master Grent, bicker later.” He bowed towards Tala. “Blood Archon. I apologize for our mistake.”

Yenna muttered under her breath. “You don’t even know her name. You don’t follow new Archons, either.”

Tala quirked an awkward smile. “While I won’t say it was nothing, I will not take it as a hostile assault. I am unharmed…” Her eyes flicked to the Paragon, even as she let her mage-sight sweep through herself, searching for issues. “Right?”

The Paragon bowed in turn. “There should be no lasting damage. Mistress Tala, I sincerely apologize. I am Jevin.” He then motioned to the bulky Refined. “That is Master Bob.”

“Master…Bob?”

Yena grinned. “Yeah, he hates it.”

Bob grimaced. “Must we do this, Mistress Yena?”

“You could change your name.”

“It’s. My. Name.”

Tala felt like she’d stepped into an ancient couple’s house and brought up some taboo subject. “Well… Nice to meet you Master Bob, Master Jevin, Master Grent, Mistress Yenna.”

They gave half bows to Tala, and when they straightened, Grent spoke. “You should join us for afternoon tea. It’s about that time, and it’s the least we can do.”

Tala was going to object, but then she realized that she had a lot of business to do with this Guild, and it wouldn’t hurt to accept some hospitality. “That sounds wonderful, thank you.”

They led her out of the mostly austere front entry room. As they left, Terry flickered back onto Tala’s shoulder, seemingly satisfied that any danger had passed.

Tala leaned her head a bit his way and whispered. “Traitor. You totally could have helped, there.”

He looked straight into her eye and somehow conveyed a depth of … parental fatigue?

I’m reading too much into his looks. “I know I was fine, but it would have been nice-” she trailed off, looking at those walking close by. Yenna was giving her an odd look, and the others seemed to be casting sideways glances at Terry, himself. “We’ll talk about this later.” Tala whispered the last even quieter, in a rush of words.

As they moved down a series of side hallways, Yenna cleared her throat. “He’s not your familiar; is he?”

Jevin sighed. “Mistress Yenna, you know very well that that is an incredibly personal question.”

“And I make a study of familiars. This is my area of expertise, Master Jevin.”

“She doesn’t know that.”

“She does now.” Yenna turned back to Tala, a smile on her face. “So?”

Tala cleared her throat, watching the woman out of her peripheral vision. “He is not. I was advised to not consider such a bond until at least Refined.”

“Fascinating. I can see why that would have been said.”

“Do you not agree?”

“Hmm? Oh, of course. If you are doing a traditional soul-bond, you need to be more powerful than the familiar, in raw strength.”

“Is there another option?”

Bob groaned. “Not now, Mistress Yenna, please? We already basically assaulted the woman; let’s not bore her with your theories.”

“I am actually interested.”

Yenna brightened, and Bob sighed, falling a little bit back. “Well, we’re almost there, so I’ll be brief. Traditionally, a familiar bond is when an arcanous creature chooses to swallow a willingly offered Archon star.”

“Yeah, that’s my understanding.” Terry had perked up and was looking intently at Yenna.

“Well, there’s not really any reason you couldn’t do a spirit binding instead.”

Tala blinked. Like my elk leathers? When I bound the two pieces together? “How would that even work?”

Grent spoke before Yenna could. “It wouldn’t. She’s been trying for…a long time. Never been able to get the bond to grab hold. There has to already be a sense of commonality to fuse two things with that spell-form.”

“But look at him! The power within that bird is vastly more than any other test subject. The commonality factor is only important for power requirements.”

Tala didn’t really like the sound of that. But that’s the second time I’ve gotten reference to the spell-form and fusing. Well, in truth Grediv had been incredibly circumspect, but still. She should probably find out what happened to Yenna’s earlier volunteers. “What’s happened in the past?”

“Well…” Yenna glanced away. “The arcanous beast’s power was quickly consumed to maintain the link, and they died, powerless and in pain…”

Terry let out an unamused trill and lowered his head back into seeming sleep.

“But I’ve only been able to test it with the traditional familiars, young and weak, those who would be easily dominated by their Mage. You, you are clearly ancient and powerful.” She addressed the last to Terry.

Terry lifted his head, looking at the Archon.

Grent leaned back from his lead position. “She’s flattering you. My mage-sight is better than hers, and all I can tell is that you are very power-dense. Anything more is just a guess, meant to make you like her more.”

Yenna glared at him.

“And we’re here!”

Tala walked into a large sitting room with the others. The first thing to grab Tala’s attention about the room was that one wall was almost entirely transparent, though her enhanced eyesight told her there were hints of wood-grain in the clear section of wall.

Through the wooden window, Tala looked north. She couldn’t see the mountains, this room was below the distant treeline, but there was a commanding view of the farmland and orchards on this side of the city. Beautiful.

As the others moved around in the room, Tala pulled her gaze from the scenery. Off to one side, a tea service was already laden with several different pots of steaming tea, along with a dozen varieties of finger food.

“How…how is this already here?” Tala didn’t try to hide her confusion.

Bob sighed. “Master Grent is quite fond of afternoon tea, and he funds this spread, daily. The assistants make it happen, and your timing is good.” He looked her way apologetically. “Well, at least in some regards. I do apologize, once again.”

Tala smiled and nodded his way. “Apology accepted.”

Each of them got some tea and a little plate of food before taking a seat in one of the comfortable chairs, artfully arranged in a loose circle around a low table. Tala had considered loading down her plate, or stuffing some extras into Kit, but decided that that would be in poor taste.

“If you don’t mind my asking, why no coffee?”

Grent shifted forward in his seat. “Well, I see coffee as more of a morning beverage. I’d love to do coffee in the mornings, and tea in the afternoon.” He looked sadly towards the tea service. “But I don’t have quite that much free capital.”

Yenna leaned closer to Tala and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “Master Grent provides afternoon tea to every Constructionist Guild facility in the city, and tea, even good black tea, is much more affordable than coffee.”

Grent moved back, nodding. “Don’t get me wrong, tea is wonderful. But I do wish we could do morning coffee, too. I feel like I was close… Maybe, I should try again? This time…” He seemed to become lost in his own musings.

Yenna took a sip and looked Tala up and down. “Now that we’re a bit more comfortable: What was that, anyways? Why did the alarm go off? Why did you register as a cloaked threat?”

Tala cleared her throat. She’s a bit…odd. “My magical defense is passive. I imagine that…” She trailed off. “Hang on. I have my aura restrained. Most Archons do. How did it detect anything? Why did it expect to be able to?”

Bob grinned. “You are new.”

“That’s been established.” The more relaxed setting of afternoon tea was allowing the last of the tension from their unfortunate encounter to bleed away. Probably partly why they do it. It helps form bonds and smooth ruffles.

Jevin sighed. “I will gladly answer your questions. But first, I feel like we’ve rather stepped in it. How can we make amends?”

Yenna opened her mouth to pursue her inquiry, but silenced herself, so as not to override Jevin.

Tala oriented on him in an instant, and her look was apparently so forceful that the smaller man leaned back, involuntarily. “Coffee. Incorporator.”

He blinked back at her. “What?”

“I want a coffee incorporator.”

Jevin hesitated. After a moment, he glanced at the other three, then sighed. “You’re never going to be a Constructionist, are you?”

“Probably not. How is that relevant?”

“A coffee incorporator. It’s not possible.”

The three Refined looked at him with confusion; Grent was full on frowning. “Wait a minute, now. You told me to see what I could do when I asked about them. I was even considering giving it another attempt.”

Jevin cracked a grin. “And that kept you out of my hair for a decade. Were she a Constructionist acolyte, I’d have told her the same.”

Bob and Yenna suppressed laughs, and Tala heard them each say something about having given up after a year or two.

Tala ignored them. “Why? Why is it impossible?”

“Why? Dear girl, do you know what an incorporator does?”

“It turns power into a material.”

Jevin just stared at her for a long moment, he then rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. “It pains me to say that that is…accurate. I suppose it’s the best I can hope for, from a non-Constructionist Immaterial.”

“Coffee is a material.”

“No, Mistress Tala. Coffee, like virtually any other consumable, is a lot of different materials in a precisely ratioed solution. Coffee has more than one thousand different chemical compounds within it, together making it what we know and love.”

Oh… “Wait, then why hasn’t anyone just told me that!”

Jevin pointed to Grent. “Because the quest for a coffee incorporator is usually a final step before an incorporation journeyman is acknowledged as a master. We use it to analyze a Mage’s ways of thinking, how they function with an impossible task, what avenues they try. Will they ask for help? Will they consult others? What do they do when it seems like they’ve been sent on a fool’s errand?”

Suddenly, all the odd looks she had gotten, when she’d asked after the coffee incorporator, made so much more sense. “Well…that’s disappointing.”

“That is usually the result, yes. We can incorporate many, very complex molecules, so long as the resulting solution is pure. A true master can design an incorporator capable of non-pure results, but the best I’ve heard of have only managed three distinct compounds generated at once, in unequal quantities. Few have been useful enough to come into ready production, but they have been made.” He cracked a smile. “That said, there was a master before my time, who spent a century on the coffee problem. In the end, he actually succeeded, after a fashion.”

Tala perked up. “Oh?” What’s the catch?

“He created a device that contained more than a thousand individual incorporators, each producing one part of the coffee whole. Feed in power, and it was properly parsed out to the incorporators in the right ratios to create the proper mixture.”

“So…?”

“First, would you like to pay more than three hundred gold for the incorporators?”

“Well… no.”

“Then, there’s the magical matrix that is required to run and operate it. That’s more complex than most city defenses.”

“Oh…”

“On top of that, it couldn’t create less than a gallon at a time.”

Well, that’s not a problem.

“The compounds discorporate at varying rates.”

Oh, that’d be odd.

“And it took, at a minimum, ten thousand Mana in a single burst to function.”

“That’s… that’s a lot.”

“So. Any more questions on a coffee incorporator?”

“What was his second prototype like?”

Jevin blinked at her, and Grent laughed out loud. “I like her.”

Jevin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t think he ever made a second version.”

“Quitter.” Tala muttered under her breath.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

He gave her a searching look, then shook his head. “That aside, how can I assist you? I would normally leave you to my assistants, but I’m already displeased with how they…greeted you.” They were all nearly finished with their tea and treats.

“I appreciate the personal service. I do have quite a few items to inquire about. I’m also looking to do an integration of magical weaponry with my soul-bound knife.”

“We can get that sorted, then.” He stood with a smile. “This way, please.”