The Matriarch and Thallia split off to their own tasks, and Tristan headed back to the crafting and mercantilism area outside of the Queen's Wood. I'm going to keep the staff with me, he thought. Since I can put it along the back-loop on my armor with the maul and the unstrung bow. Keeping it to my non-dominant side and giving me another stored spell is worth the slight weight increase.

He sighed as he grabbed the staff and placed it on the artifice workbench. I would really like to have a constantly extradimensional storage space like Felicity or the other fairy dragons have. That would be handy. I'll have to ask Obadai what spell type such an effect would fall under.

He flipped open the primer on artifice and turned the pages to the Investiture of Artifice spell, but paused, unsure of what Order to look at – First, Second, or Third. Dragonbane spells are really easy – gesture and phrase. I think I should store a spell with a lengthy phrase, or complicated gesture. Shape Ice uses a lengthy phrase, but how often am I going to come across ice in the world? If I could combine Melt Ice and Shape Ice into a single implement…blending the two?

He grabbed some parchment and an inkwell and began scribbling out phrases in Dragon's Tongue – the phrase for Melt Ice, and the one for Shape Ice. One is First Order; one is Second Order. That means the resulting spell would be Third Order, which I know the proper artifice spell to perform, and have enough essence capacity to cast right now.

Over the next few hours he filled out sheafs of paper – so much that fairy dragons had to go fetch more from a supply cache. Trying various permutations of combining the two spell phrases, and gestures. He had many, many fizzled spells where the essence was wasted as he went back to the drawing board.

Night began to creep onward and he was munching on some roasted starberries when Beatrice came over to the crafting area he had set up in. She walked over to him, "Lord Tristan."

He looked at her with a half-smile, "Hey there. How goes things?"

"Well," she replied as she looked down at the piles of paper, "What is that language?"

"Dragon's Tongue," Tristan replied. He gestured broadly to the papers, "I'm trying to combine two spells. It is…a lot of trial and error." He sighed and cracked his neck in both directions before making to dip his pen nib in the ink well.

Beatrice put a hand on his forearm, "Hold on a moment," she said. "Does it have to be Dragon's Tongue?"

"No," Tristan replied. Then, the realization hit him, and he groaned. You're an idiot, Tristan, he thought. He looked at Beatrice and cracked a wry grin, "I have been going at this all wrong."

"How so?" she asked as she pulled her hand back.

Tristan put all the paper into a single pile and then grabbed a single sheet, placing it before him. "I've been neglecting my heritage. I know Elvish – how to speak it, how to read it…and how to write it. It comes to me. I've been doing this with a language that is not a part of me." He dipped the quill and translated the Dragon's Tongue spells into Elvish. Then, he re-started the process of interweaving the two spell phrases.

Minutes passed, and he didn't notice that Beatrice had left until he was done and let out a shout of, "Aha!" only to find her gone. Slightly saddened at the lack of someone to celebrate the breakthrough with, he turned back to his work space. Now, he thought, Let's see if this works. First, he rapidly cast Frost Flurry, making a small dart of ice that he launched into the dirt. It stuck in place, and he plucked it out, placing it on the workbench.

Here I go. I hope this works. For the spell gesture, he placed both of his hands at his midsection and interlaced the fingers – but instead of palms in or out, he had one facing each direction. Then, he pulled against the slight crooks of his fingertips, tightening his grip and rolling his fingers inward as he whispered the spell phrase – spinning his essence crucible all the while.

"Käsken teitä, pakkanen ja jää edessäni, tottelemaan käskyäni. Tulkaa sellaisiksi kuin kuvittelen mielessäni. Olette täysin oikkujeni alaisia - muotonne, rakenteenne, kovuutenne ja kaikki muutkin seikat" (I order you, frost and ice before me, to obey my command. Become that which I envision in my mind. You are fully subject to my whims - your shape, structure, hardness, and all other aspects).

The icicle on the workbench began to distort ever-so-slightly as the surface shimmered. Now let's see how this works. Okay…ice…transform into a dagger.

The icicle shifted – the mass transitioning from the edge of the spike and flattening out as it formed a blade. An ornate hilt manifested from the moved ice, and a pommel for weight bulged outward. Grabbing it, Tristan felt it slightly crunch under his might. Can you harden at all?

He felt it become more firm under his fingertips. "It worked!" he shouted with glee. He was still fueling the spell with essence, and he could feel it slowly draining away from him as he kept his control over it fully embraced.

A handful of fairy dragons playing nearby looked over, "What worked?" one of them asked.

Tristan walked over and threw the dagger into the ground, "I made a new spell. Watch!" Okay, he thought, ice, I want you to turn into a miniature scale fairy dragon statuette.

The ice shifted shape and the fairy dragons all crowded around, going "Oooh" and "ahhh." One of them looked up, "That's so neat! Can I keep it?"

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"I want to keep it!"

"No, me!"

Tristan willed the ice to melt and it became a slight pool of water that was quickly absorbed into the ground. The fairy dragons went, "aww" as a group, and Tristan frowned. "Sorry. It only lasted while I put essence into it."

"Oooh!" one of them stood up on his hind legs. "We heard that you made starberry jam ice…thingy."

Tristan blinked a few times as he tried to process what they meant, and then he recalled the practice with Frost Flurry a few Seasons prior, and the fairy dragons that planned to shave the icicle he had shot during practice and flavor it with starberry jam. "I can make more ice. Sure." Blading his stance and holding his arm to his side, lining up his fingers, he incanted Frost Flurry. Letting essence build up until the icicle was as big as a horse, he let it fire into the dirt. It embedded deep, and the fairy dragons went over to it.

"Perfect!"

"Quick, get some starberry jam!"

"Oooh! We also need someone to start shaving the ice off!"

Tristan chuckled, went over to the staff he had formed from the Queen's Wood, and performed Investiture of Artifice III. The spell gesture was similar to the Second Order version – except the pinkeys had to be pushed out. The phrase also contained a slight alteration. "Préparer le récipient pour l'infusion de l'essence. Un endroit où le sort peut s'asseoir, prêt à être invoqué. Renforcez ce récipient pour qu'il puisse contenir le sort." (Prepare the vessel for the infusion of essence. A place where the spell can sit, ready to be called upon. Reinforce this vessel to hold the spell).

The staff glowed with a brilliant, silver sheen, and then Tristan re-used his new Control Ice spell. The essence surged down his fingers, to the lattice-structure of his fingers, and then he touched the staff with his palm. The spell surged down into the staff before the glow faded. Gripping the staff, he spun his essence crucible and felt the stored spell flicker to life.

And just like that, he thought, I have a means to fully control ice. He felt a bittersweet joy. Bitter, because there were no further Orders of artifice spells in the primer. Joy, because he had blended two spells together. I need to show this off. If only the spell could freeze water on contact – that would be handy.

He put the staff with the rest of his equipment and glanced up at the Fingers of Night crawling across the sky. If I'm keeping my routine up, it's about time to look at the remaining spell books and do my best to learn and memorize the Second Order spells.

He headed to the small library and plucked the flora book he had been gifted by the village mage he had saved from the Demon Realm Incursion. A fairy dragon had combined the primer with the newer book by glueing the covers together. Heading up to the top boughs, he sat down and cracked open the tome. Huh, he thought. "Matriarch?" he asked of the woman who was standing nearby at the Astrologer's Glass.

"Hmm?" she asked looking back to him.

"Did you cross out the Demon's Tongue and replace it with Elvish?"

"Yes. The villagers you gave refuge on The Sapphire Coast, one of them knew Demon's Tongue. I asked for their assistance in the translation. Flora is much more suited to Elvish. I did it for both books – though the glue part was not my idea. You can blame one of my children for that."

Tristan smiled, gave her a thumbs-up, and then returned to the book's pages.

Tripvine (First)

Spell Phrase: "Hei, sinä istut! Kokeile tuota henkilöä tuolla!" (Hey, you plant! Trip that person over there!)

Spell Gesture: Hold your arm out in front of you at chest height – centered with your chest. Curl in all but your index and middle fingers. Place the middle finger behind the index finger, and apply pressure as if you are trying to cause it to slip under the middle finger. When the spell phrase concludes, let the tension spring forward, flicking out with the middle finger.

Other Notes: Requires existing plant growth. As long as plant growth is present, the effect will manifest – even if this requires the plant to do what it normally could not.

Perfect Harvest (First)

Spell Phrase: "Anna minulle hallussasi oleva palkkio." (Give me the bounty you hold).

Spell Gesture: Pinch the desired plant between your thumb, middle, and pinky fingers, curling the index and ring into the palm. Incant the spell phrase as you pull.

Other Notes: Maximizes the yield of the plant being harvested, while leaving behind enough for the plant to thrive.

Plant Shaping (Second)

Spell Phrase: "Minä olen metsän ääni ja metsän herra. taipukaa tahtooni." (I am the voice of the forest, and the master of the woods. Bend to my will.)

Spell Gesture: Pull your hands to your chest. Place your palms atop your breasts, with the fingers splayed up towards your neck, creating a shape of a tree whose branches are the fingers and base is your palm. Then, once the spell phrase has concluded, as long as you continue to channel the essence, you will be able to shape and mold plants with your hands.

Adaptable Vegetation (Second)

Spell Phrase: "Minä paimenen kasveja, ja annan teille uusia maita, joihin voitte juurtua, minun huolenpitoni ja voimani avulla." (I shepherd plants, and under my care, with my power, I give you new lands to take root in.).

Spell Gesture: Place a seed (or sapling, or equivalent sprout) in your palms. Put both palms facing up toward you, cradling the seeds (or growth) against your abdomen. The plant must be touching the skin, and the essence is pushed into your stomach, then out from there into the plants – not through the hands.

Other Notes: After the seeds, (or sapling, or equivalent sprout) is planted – a final burst of essence is needed to kickstart the growth process. You could follow this up immediately with an Invoke Growth spell if you desired.

Thornfall (Second)

Spell Phrase: "Hyökätkää vihollisteni kimppuun ja auttakaa vartijaanne!" (Assail my foes, and aid your warden!).

Spell Gesture: Raise your hand above your head, to the side, so that it is over your shoulder. Bring it down to the opposite side's hip, with your fingers extended as a raking talon.

Other Notes: This requires existing foliage or vegetation and is excellent for hitting foes from unexpected angles.

A thought jumped through Tristan's mind, what if I was able to combine Perfect Harvest with Plant Shaping? To get the best possible product from, say, an Adamant Wood tree down below – while keeping more of the tree intact? The idea made him giddy with excitement at the possibilities. Plus, he now had an offensive flora spell that he could utilize, which gave him another option aside from fire and ice.

Spell blending and learning how to make his own spells sparked a fire in him. A hunger to pursue, improve, and perfect. If only I had more time, he thought as he began practicing the spells. I could spend years here just perfecting my essence-weaving. I could even take plants from Elemental Realms and plant them here! I know that cinderbloom is a rare alchemical ingredient, and I'd love to get my hands on some for fireblood potions.

But, as that thought hit, the weight of the responsibility he had taken on hit as well. No, there will be time for that. First, I have to get to Bertram and then deliver Obadai. After that? I'll have all the time one could wish for. For now…practice.

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