Closed | Oh, academia, you can pick me up

[mythalenaste]

WHO: Myr and Pel
WHAT: Braillefire Runes
WHEN: Present
WHERE: The Gallows, elven artifacts laboratory
NOTES: None yet.

"All right." Pel pulls a sheet of paper out of a bag and sets it on the table. "Try them one at a time and tell me what you see."

Nobody with eyes would see anything on the page, but these are not ordinary runes. Only when lit with Veilfire can they be read. Pel has not lit the nearby candle for Myr, knowing he can and will do so himself. And yet Pel is not totally happy with the product. Yes, there is a great deal more that can be communicated through a rune that cannot be communicated through raised text, but it seems like a true solution would be simpler.

The first rune gives a vision of the ocean as seen from high up in the Gallows, nearing sunset. There is also a word that comes to mind, unrelated to the vision for the sake of testing: Teatime.

Comments

[faithlikeaseed]

"Right."

If there's a note of hesitation in Myr's tone, or in the way he reaches out to the candle to set it alight with brilliant Veilfire, it's not for want of hope at their success--only he's trying to keep rational bounds on his own expectations. This won't be perfect, it might not even work at all the first time (though he trusts Pel knows what she's about), and what if the underlying magic only works for those with eyes...

And yet the runes respond when the light from the candle falls on them, the reflected magic bright enough to Myr's arcane senses he can distinguish them one from another by the ripples they make in the Veil. He reaches to touch the first--

--jerks his head up with a wondering oath on his lips, as if staring at the vista suddenly before him. "Andraste's pyre--where is this? That's--the ocean, isn't it?"

Forgive him a minute or two of breathless awe, Pel; it's the first thing he's seen--while still awake--in three years.

[mythalenaste]

The vision only lasts briefly, and isn't especially clear, but it is indeed the ocean. Pel gives a sigh of relief, then covers her face with both hands. It worked. Myr can read what she's written.

The next symbol has no image, but it has another word. Is. The rest are words: at. Five. Please. Attend. And, at long last, because the author is a parent, a frozen image of a white-haired five-month-old in the midst of a laugh.

[faithlikeaseed]

Teatime is at five please attend.

He gives a startled, delighted laugh as he touches the last of the runes and finds the image of Sina Minor. "It works," he manages at last. "It really does work."

Carefully, he runs the pad of one finger over the whole sequence (ocean-message-child) once more, expression wondering. "How long does one of these take?" His voice is quiet, thoughtful, as he turns his face toward her. "--And thank you. I hadn't thought I'd see anything again, outside the Fade."

[mythalenaste]

"A little less time each time I try," Pel vows, giving a breathless laugh. It's happening. She's doing something legitimately good with her research, and the gratification of seeing it is dizzying. After a moment, she leans in to pull him into a hug. Emotionally, she is very reserved, but hugs are given more easily than smiles.

"We'll work on it," she says after a quick squeeze. "I'll teach you everything and we can keep developing it. I learn something new every time I work on this."

[faithlikeaseed]

It's not often Myr gets hugs any longer--not nearly so often as he'd like, were he to make a free and full admission--and between that and gratitude there's a little ferocity in the return squeeze he gives her. It worked. "Practice makes perfect," he replies with a ready grin. "At least that's what the senior Enchanters were always telling us."

He leans back then, resting his hands on the edge of the table and resisting the urge to keep touching those runes. Even if the images are small and blurry, they're images and it's addicting to be able to see again. "I'm looking forward to it," metaphorically. "It's not just images and words they can do, is it?"

Though that by itself is useful...

[mythalenaste]

A deep breath. Hoo boy.

"Well, people who are better at it than I can sometimes transmit the emotions they were feeling when they made the runes. I've read about the most ancient ones showing memories. Sounds, smells, one series I came across had a recipe for a poison, though it was modern. Some have drawings for runes--you get a lot of those in the Dales. Hopefully once we've done it for a while, you'll be able to write and read your own notes, at least."

[faithlikeaseed]

"Hopefully," he echoes, with an expression to suit. "Better than just notes, if they can do all that. I'd been thinking to see if these--" He touches the sending crystal at his neck to indicate the object of his curiosity, "could be given longer memories, but this..."

The words trail off into silence as he gets lost in the branching paths of thought--then shakes his head to knock himself out of it before he can wander off too far. "Do they require anything more than whatever they're written on? I know ordinary runecrafting wants for lyrium." Which would make for very expensive notes.

[mythalenaste]

"This isn't ordinary runecrafting. It's like making a stamp on the Veil so you can peer through. Actually, I have the book--there's a banned book from Tevinter by a magister named Pendictus, he did a great deal of research on the subject and it's as close to a definitive treatise as we'll get. Do you have someone who could read it to you?"

[faithlikeaseed]

"So the images--impressions, whatever it is they're given to hold--that's all stamped into the Fade somehow?" That's a little spooky, actually, if he thinks about it too hard. So he won't, for the moment. "You've got Pendictus? The archivists mentioned him when I was asking after Veilfire but--as you said, banned."

Which might...present a bit of a problem with either person he'd get to read it to him, but, "I can find someone. How long is the book?"

[mythalenaste]

"I had a Tevinter contact, for a while, and he was able to get me the book." She should probably write to Dorian, come to think of it. The man must be languishing in Skyhold, with the perfect weather and the clean tavern.

"I'll tell you what. If the book is too long for your friend to have the patience to read it all to you, I'll do it. Actually, that might be better anyway--it would be a bit like studying together, and catching you up on what else I've learned." Which would be incredible, truth be told. Pel has wanted a playmate study buddy for years.

[faithlikeaseed]

"That's useful. If you run into him again and he's taking requests, can I submit a list?" His tone's joking; he wouldn't take scandalous advantage of Pel's friendship to get his hands on books from the Imperium he'd been wanting to read forever.

...But he'd entertain the idea.

For a moment or two.

His expression takes a turn for the delighted at her offer. "That sounds the best of my options, really. I'd love the opportunity--and I can't guarantee anyone else I'd have read it to me wouldn't fall asleep over the esoteric bits." With...one exception. Who didn't get bored any longer, but certainly wouldn't be put out by Pendictus if he could. Myr's face falls briefly before he rallies and pushes on: "When d'you want to start?"

[mythalenaste]

"Tomorrow evening, same time? As often as you'd like, really, though we'll have to play it by ear a bit. My schedule is dictated by a five-month-old, and her own schedule changes by the week."

She smiles briefly, then remembers he cannot see her, and she grins privately to herself. An evening meeting after her prayers, reading forbidden scholars and comparing notes? Everything in her life ever since Sina was born has really been about the baby, with even the elven artifacts work being done while nursing, rocking, burping, swaddling, wiping, washing, drying. To have an hour in the evening to spend with a friend, on pursuits that have nothing to do with parenthood, is exactly what she needs.

[faithlikeaseed]

"Done. Can't guarantee my schedule's any better than the baby's," punctuated by a rueful grin; it's a thing he warns everyone about, "but whenever we can, I'll be glad of it."

Myr would never say that he's overburdened with work by the Inquisition--that he's not enjoy the research he's doing for them--but it will be good to have a personal project to share with someone else this way. That it may do so much potential good for him--that's icing on the thrill of shared discovery.