Page 89 of To Trap a Soul

“An entire room to last us however long we are on Earth.” Karlann raised her dark brows. “There are no deceased dragons here for us to grind the bones of. This is all we have, and it’s our best conduit. It’s the one item we cannot be wasteful of. We also don’t know when the Elvish will be gracious enough to give us another portal to resupply, if ever.”

“I’m sorry,” Lindi said with a sympathetic wince. “My mind has been elsewhere of late. I think I’ve been studying too much.”

“If you’re sick, take rest. The humans will get their medicines when they get them. We can only do so much with only a few dozen of us here.”

Lindi offered an apologetic smile. “I’m fine. This is part of my learning.”

Karlann huffed in annoyance and scrunched her nose. “I don’t see why you insist on the teachings of concoctions and poultices to be one of your firsts. There is little mana on Earth, so what you learn in this room won’t be useful. You won’t have the right ingredients in your future travels.”

“But there are many that will work,” Lindi argued, pushing her out of the way with a hip bump. Then she gave a dark laugh. “Back home, the people there would call me a witch if they ever saw me standing over a bubbling cauldron.”

Karlann snorted. “This pot is hardly big enough to be considered a cauldron.” She waved a hand in front of her nose, fanning away the waft of smelly steam. “You’d stink of one, though. You should work with the other teachers. Your magic might be better suited for it. Try Elis, he is proficient in earth-based growing magics.”

“It hasn’t rained in a few weeks.” Lindi checked the poultice, making sure it had survived her blunder before adding in medicinal weeds that could be found all over the world. “Elis believes my growth magic is best with all the right components. Dirt, seeds, and rain.”

“You’re the only person I know who needs rain to grow their plants. We need sunlight.”

Lindi quietly sighed and ignored her teacher as she brought the pot back over the fire. “I think it has something to do with the origins of my magic. It’s like it runs from the light.”

Her magic was strongest when there were shadows. She wondered if that said anything about Weldir.

Karlann picked up her mortar to shake the crystal dust into a jar, and the sound of chinking ceramic echoed behind her voice. “No matter what Seraphina believes, I don’t think it’s our holy being that has blessed you. Yes, she works best in darkness, but it’s the light she loves. She blessed us in the sun, in the beauty of colour, and we are merely her vessels.”

It’s why they all mainly wore white to act as colourless conduits for her addition of mana hues. Their leader, their robes black as night with purple emblems written along their seams, was the overseer of her whims. And, when colours splashed upon them, it seemed even more vibrant with the contrast.

They believed there was beauty in darkness, just as much as light. In death as much as life. In decay as much as the bloom of a newly sprouted flower.

I think Weldir and Uxos would get along well.

“Speaking of the Elvish,” Lindi muttered as she tucked a curl behind her ear coyly. “No one has told me yet why the Anzúli are going out of their way to help them by protecting Earth.”

Karlann’s eyes, all three of them, narrowed on Lindi. “You’re evading the problem.”

Lindi grinned. “So?”

The woman tsked at her before giving a weary sigh. “You could consider it a transaction of trade. When the Elves first introduced themselves to our realm via a portal, we traded knowledge and minerals. They were interested in our magical conduits and alchemy, and we their magic and mana stones.”Then Karlann turned to her mortar, now devoid of the ground-up dust, and put the pestle back in it in order to move it all away, only to pause. She merely stared into the mortar’s bowl. “We need their stones. It’s now a way of our life, as we use them to power our cities. When the Daekura came and they were forced to shut down their portal to protect us from being infected, we lost that valuable trade. When one of their gods recently opened up a portal and offered us mana stones in exchange for coming to Earth, it was difficult to refuse.”

Both Karlann’s expression and dreary tone sunk into Lindi’s heart. “You were forced to come here?” she asked, her voice sympathetic, part of her wishing she could hug the woman.

“Huh?” Karlann’s head shot up, and she darted her face to Lindi. “Not at all. I couldn’t think of anything better than leaving Anzúla and coming here. Everyone who came to Earth was a willing volunteer, and there were many of us who were interested in the humans and their culture. I came here because I had no ties to Anzúla, unlike many others.” She then offered a bright grin. “Don’t worry. We’re here because we want to be, however long that may be.”

“I’m sorry,” Lindi grumbled, turning away when her cheeks warmed in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to assume the worst.”

“It’s fine. I understand why you might think otherwise. Most considered it insane to willingly run towards the dangers of the Daekura, but I guess that’s what makes us brave.” Karlann then smacked the mortar on the table to grab Lindi’s attention, which she graciously gave. The woman placed her hands on her waist and cocked a hip. “Now, no more avoiding your terrible skills in my poor alchemy laboratory. Why don’t you work with Furir? Her primary skill could be within your reach.”

Lindi almost groaned out loud that Karlann had brought them back to this discussion – when it was so obvious she’d been avoiding it.

I don’t even know Furir or what their primary ability is.

Primary abilities. Every Anzúli had proficiency in just one skill. Karlann was best with medicine and poisons, Elis in earth magic, and there was a sage who could make fire with nothing more than a snap of his fingers. The last had stolen much of Lindi’s time, overly curious about her black flames and their cruel and destructive prowess.

She’d been the centre of unwanted attention from many, and had been poked and prodded one too many times than she cared for.

“I have not met Furir,” Lindi admitted. She inserted her hands underneath her apron skirt so she could safely lift away her pot from the hearth. “I didn’t even know there was someone here by that name.”

“You haven’t?” Karlann lifted a hand, and with a curled finger, she tapped at her pursed lips. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. She often hides from the rest of us, as if we’re an eye or ear sore. She seems to be more beast than anything these days.”

Lindi cocked a brow and gave her a judgemental head tilt. “Is that nice to say of another person?”

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