Plotting Routes

By morning, Nahida’s diagnostic scan is complete: Systems nominal. With no foreign contaminants detected, she registers relief once more, a much more pleasant sensation than many she had been experiencing recently.

She enters Ellen’s chambers and sets to cleaning and organizing, finding Ellen holding Isaac close as they sleep. This was a far more personal proximity than simply holding the revival item to Isaac.

In her world, this would warrant a disciplinary review… but Nahida reminds herself that this is not the world she was made for. She decides that, so long as it does not affect Isaac’s health in a negative capacity… she would overlook these breaches of professional conduct.

She would need Ellen’s assistance with changing out Bixite shards, there was no way for Nahida to be sure that her emergency power could still last long enough to complete the task, especially with her damaged arm. The constant casting and self-diagnostics had left her with a mere two hours of charge left to complete this task. Lecturing Ellen on her conduct with Isaac may reduce her likelihood of cooperation.

As she cleans, Nahida sees a few of Ellen’s notes scribbled into the margins of her books. Her hypotheses were sound, but unverified. She would discuss them further with Ellen once she had awakened.

With the room in well enough of order, Nahida wasted no time in waking Ellen and Isaac. Ellen stumbled her way over to the chemistry equipment and cast her various protections. Nahida watched her move through the motions of brewing a potion, clearly still half-asleep.

As Ellen grinds herbs into a mortar and pestle, she smacks her thumb with the pestle, dropping the mortar clattering onto the table. “Ow!” She waves her hand as if to shake off the pain. It seems the shock woke her up. She sets the pestle and her bruised thumb into the circle on her desk. “Divine Light, Purification, Healing, Protection…” The circle flashed through the different colors of spells.

She looks at her thumb, now looking good as new. “I’m thankful it was only a bruise. I might need a mana potion after that, though…”

Nahida steps next to her. “On the topic of restoring energy reserves, I require assistance with my catalyst.”

“Hm? Oh, absolutely! Here, let me get this brewing and I’ll help right away.” She picks the mortar and pestle back up and continues grinding, this time keeping her thumb clear. She scrapes the contents into one of the many apparatus, then pours some oil into the mortar, stirring it around and grinding it in with the pestle. Satisfied, she sets it down. “Alright, let’s swap out your Bixite.”

Nahida settled in a chair by the bed as Isaac rises, still wiping the sleep from his eyes. He coughs a bit. Ellen joins Nahida. She kneels down to hold Nahida’s catalyst. “It’s mind-boggling that you figured this out…”

Nahida holds one of the two remaining shards out for Ellen. “I had only a select number of options available, the constraints demanded I take an uncertain action, regardless of how slim the probability for success was.”

Ellen takes it. “That was one heck of a gamble… but I’m glad it paid off.” She takes the catalyst in her hands and fiddles with it for a bit until she can get the spent shard free. Nahida receives a critical power interruption alert. “Ten seconds,” she announces. Ellen panics a bit and fumbles the catalyst. She manages to catch it and jams the new shard in its place. Isaac holds his breath for a bit while watching the fumble.

Nahida’s power is restored. She takes inventory. 197% power capacity… an 18% decrease compared to the charge of the prior shard. By her estimates based on the difference in dimensions, it should only vary by approximately 3%.

Her conclusion is that Bixite is not a closed energy medium.

The energy decays over time.

Adjusting her estimates to account for the decay, Nahida predicts that her total remaining power is closer to a week and a half, and under casting load… two days.

Ellen helps Isaac take a dose of potion.

Stockpiling Bixite would not be a suitable solution in the long-term. For maximum efficiency, she would require regular access to a raw source. For now, a week-and-a-half would need to be sufficient to complete her objectives. Spellcasting would have to be for emergencies only.

As Nahida considered these new constraints, Alfred was being debriefed by Ava on her findings. Alfred’s brow was furrowed. “Missing…”

Ava slumps on the table and mumbles quietly. “Mother Connor’s got something to do with it, I can feel it.”

“You might not want to say that out loud.” Alfred was hesitant to consider the possibility. He did find it a bit odd, though, his encounter with her that night in the archives. Had he caught her in the act? No… it couldn’t be. The other volumes weren’t at the desk, and the first volume was intact. If Ava’s suspicions had any merit, that wouldn’t have been the moment. He shook his head. “You’ll need more than a feeling to throw around an accusation like that.”

“She was very quick to make excuses… removing damaged pages… if that were the case, they would have been repaired and replaced.”

“Perhaps those volumes were in the middle of the process.”

Ava gives Alfred some side-eye. “You’re real quick to jump to her defense, Alfred… a little too quick for my liking.”

“Are you suggesting I had something to do with this? Why would I assign you this task and out myself like that?”

She smirks. “I’ve known some people to make even more obvious mistakes in the past.”

Alfred sighed, already exhausted. “You are far too casual about this.”

“And yet it seems I’m the only one who cared enough to notice.”

“Perhaps you’ve been going too long without sleep. Days and nights working, no wonder you’re getting suspicious of everyone.”

“I’m insulted that you think elves have such a weakness.”

“And exactly how long has it been since you last slept?”

“That… is none of your damn business.”

“Too long, clearly…”

“You know what else I’ve gone too long without? Dinner. We agreed on that, Alfred, or have you forgotten?”

He chuckles. “Perhaps you’re more lucid than I thought… very well… we’ll discuss this more later.”

Ava’s fingers tap at the table. “Yes… we will.”