The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

WM [63] Daughter of the Sage

Tanisha left Sigrun’s tent, her mind reeling from the interaction with the First Princess. She was officially a princess of the Kingdom of Yuhia although she would not be able to utilize the title until her return in twenty-five years. Her existence was a secret that would only be known by the most trusted members of Sigrun’s inner circle. Of course there were going to be a heavy dose of rumors and red herrings spread as well.

Signe was her guide back to her tent as she needed to go over the functionality of the communication disk. She seemed to be a little more on edge around Tanisha now that she knew that she was a greater wendigo. The fact that she was also a princess, well the Fourteenth Princess, might have also been part of it as well.

Once inside Tanisha’s tent, Signe wasted no time. With swift precision, she began enchanting the space, ensuring no eavesdropper, magical or otherwise, could overhear them. Tanisha watched in quiet fascination as glowing blue flames danced at Signe’s fingertips, tracing intricate patterns in the air. The fluidity of her movements was mesmerizing, like an artist painting with fire. Tanisha knew little of the Spellcraft Discipline aside from what her friend Mat had taught her in passing at the academy. She didn’t know that someone with enchanting specialization could enchant air.

Tanisha looked at Bjorn, who was equally intrigued, as a thought struck her—something important that Signe, of all people, might be able to help with. Now that she was both a princess and an ally to Sigrun, surely Signe would lend a hand. Signe had just finished her enchantments, and, like Thorfinn before her, removed the veil from her face. She looked older than Tanisha had expected, perhaps in her early two hundreds, yet her features held a regal grace.

Tanisha motioned for them to sit at the table within the tent. “Hand Signe, do you know any wandmakers in the human kingdoms? I remember you mentioned working with dwarves.”

Signe took her seat, considering Tanisha’s request. “Please, while we’re alone, feel free to call me simply Signe. Once your ascension to royalty is formally recognized, you may even do so in public. As for wandmakers, yes, I do have some contacts, both in Mesha and the Force Isles. If it’s urgent, I could arrange for one to be brought here before you leave.”

“That’s a generous offer,” Tanisha replied, “but I don’t want to delay my departure. Are there any wandmakers with your force, perhaps someone Sigrun brought along?”

Signe shook her head. “We do have specialists here, but they’re field repairers, not wandmakers. Their skills are in maintenance—fixing broken tools and stabilizing enchantments when possible.”

Tanisha’s bemused expression drew a smile from Signe, who decided to explain further. “Repairing a magical implement, especially one as complex as a wand or staff, requires knowledge of its physical structure and some understanding of the flow of magic within it. But that’s entirely different from creating one from scratch. A repairman can fix a cracked wand shaft, rebind runes, or stabilize fractures in its core components. But they don’t do the actual 'molding' of magic within the tool. That’s something only a trained wandmaker can do.”

“So it's like knowing how to fix a knife handle without needing to know how to forge the blade,” Tanisha said thoughtfully.

“Exactly,” Signe nodded. “Creating a wand or staff requires years of training and a deep understanding of how magical energies flow and connect. Wandmakers mold the very essence of the object so it can channel magic properly—a bit like shaping the soul of the wand. It’s intricate and personal, which is why so few have the skill to do it. Field repairers, on the other hand, focus on patching up physical damage to keep the tool functional. But if something is broken beyond a certain threshold, even they have to take it to a wandmaker. Only they know how to repair the magical core.”

Tanisha nodded, digesting the information as her gaze drifted to the floating enchantments. It made sense, even Joal, who made her bardiche and repaired her daggers, didn't turn them into wands and staves. He enchanted them to utilize her magic but not act as the median for spells. He told her that she would need to take them to a wandmaker so it’s not just about enchanting.

Tanisha put a hand on her chin. “So a wandmaker isn’t just crafting something—they’re practically breathing life into it.”

“Precisely.” Signe said with a smile. “I’ve dabbled in enchantments for a while now, which is an adjacent field, but I wouldn’t dream of attempting true wandmaking. That’s a discipline of its own. If you would like to speak with one of the field repair personnel I will have one meet you before you leave.”

“You’ve dabbled,” Tanisha giggled at that and looked over to the floating blue fire in the air. “Thank you, yes please do. I found out it wasn’t so easy the hard way.” Tanisha admitted shyly. “I tried to turn my knife into a wand by pushing magic through it.”

“That is a bad idea. If a tool isn’t properly attuned to take in magic it can cause catastrophic failures.” Signe said.

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“Yeah,” Tanisha said with a laugh. “Wish you were there to stop me. It exploded.”

Signe put a hand to her mouth as she tried not to laugh. “An expected reaction from something without a proper channel for the mana.” She straightened herself back up. “I have to ask, what exactly are you? The Princess and Thorfinn have kept me in the dark. I know you are a greater wendigo but you don’t look like the Nature’s Wrath as he was described to me. No crystalline antlers or powerful sorcery radiating from your heart. You look almost elven with your ears and tail.”

Tanisha didn’t want to tell Signe that her transformation was not from the Forest Father which may be the reason she does not look like the Nature’s Wrath. In fact she had no desire to tell anyone of the royal family that fact in fear of how they would respond. Power is everything so once she was powerful enough it wouldn’t matter. She didn’t believe in the Divines of Man or the True of The Wendigo. 

“I wondered about my appearance for a while now.” Tanisha said swiftly and with a smirk on her lips. “I think it was a gift from my True, don’t you? I am a cernunnos, which I assume was a form granted to me for a different purpose than what Founding King Hjalmar had to go through.”

Signe was quiet for a moment as she thought about it. “What is it like? You were a wendigo first. What changes have you experienced?”

“Can we go over that later,” Tanisha responded. “I would like to talk about the communication disk so I can prepare to leave.”

Signe looked almost embarrassed. “Right, yes, my apologies.”

The communication disk appeared in Signe's hand from her inventory and Tanisha followed suit. The magical devices were a mirror image of one another. Signe sent a small pulse of mana which fed into the device. Tanisha felt her own communication disk vibrate softly so following Signe’s lead she pushed a small amount of the mana aspect from her seiðr into the device. There was a moment of silence as if the world stopped momentarily.

“It looks like you are a natural.” Signe’s voice reverberated in Tanisha’s mind.

Tanisha recoiled at the sudden invasion of someone else’s voice in her head. 

“Signe? Is that you?” Tanisha asked.

“Yes, right now we are connected through the communication device.” Signe said calmly. “There are a couple of things to go over. First…”

The communication disk function was quite simple, all she had to do was put a little mana into the device to connect. The further the devices were apart from one another the more mana was required to keep the connection. The maximum range was five hundred miles. Signe recommended putting it in a bag as she would be able to feel it vibrate if someone was trying to contact her.

“...you need to be in a neutral position. Sitting would be preferable when you use the disk.” Signe continued. “It is still a prototype and to maintain the connection it puts the body into a temporary catatonia.”

Tanisha ran her hand across the surface of the disk. “Good to know.”

A voice called from outside. “Tanisha, it’s Adelheid, can I come in?” 

Tanisha glanced over at Signe and gave a subtle nod, prompting her to replace the veil over her face. Signe complied, masking her features again and dispelling the enchantments around them. She nodded once, signaling that everything was secure. Just then, the tent flap rustled, and Adelheid stepped in.

“It didn’t take as long as I thought, but I found someone willing to guide you through the…” Adelheid’s words trailed off as she noticed Signe seated across from Tanisha. Her eyes flicked between the two. “Am I interrupting something?” She focused on Tanisha for confirmation. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, all’s well. Relax,” Tanisha replied, smiling to ease her friend’s concern. “Who did you find?”

“Right.” Adelheid moved aside to allow the new arrival through. “This is Tsukihana Fuyumi. Her first name is Fuyumi, by the way.”

A ghostborn woman slipped into the tent behind Adelheid, her movements almost unnaturally smooth, giving the impression that she was gliding rather than walking. Fuyumi’s attire was pristine, even down to her spotless shoes, which somehow defied the muddy terrain outside. Her skin had a translucent quality, pale with a faint bluish sheen, almost like she’d been carved from ice. She dipped her head in a graceful bow and then stilled, holding herself so rigidly that she seemed like a frozen statue.

“It is an honor to meet you,” Fuyumi said, her voice soft yet haunting. “And it is good to see you again, Hand Jet.”

Signe inclined her head. “It’s good to see you too, Fuyumi. You have a good eye, Adelheid—she was of great help to me during the assault. I can vouch for her combat skills and was hoping to retain her services, if possible.”

“I appreciate your praise of my skills,” Fuyumi replied, though she stumbled slightly with her Valish pronunciation.

Adelheid glanced between them and scratched her head. “She primarily speaks Seiyugo, but also Muaian. Her Valish could use some work.” She looked back at Tanisha. “How are you with the human languages?”

Tanisha nodded thoughtfully. “I know Muaian well enough to get by—speaking it conversationally is fine, but reading it is another story. My friends at the academy helped me learn, and it’s useful since Muaian’s the language of trade, so my family wanted me to know it.”

Signe rose from her seat, preparing to leave. “I’ll leave you to your preparations. I’ll send a field repairer your way shortly. And Tanisha—before you depart, please stop by Sigrun’s tent. She’ll want to see you off.”

After a round of goodbyes, Signe left, and the tent grew quiet. Adelheid gave one last look outside to make sure they were alone, then turned back to Tanisha, her expression shifting from formal to exasperated. She dropped into the now-vacant chair across from Tanisha with a dramatic huff.

“Honestly,” Adelheid muttered, “you’d think preparing for a journey wouldn’t be so intense. What was that about? I thought she was coming to take you away or something? Especially after what you said earlier.” 

“I might have overreacted.” Tanisha shrugged, a faint smile tugging at her lips. “Or maybe it was the right amount of reaction I don’t know. Sigrun seemed like she wanted to help me, which is a good thing.”

Adelheid dropped her head to rest in her arms folded on the table. “Great, because I almost had a fucking heart attack thinking this was an abduction thing. We barely managed to fight that electromancer druid woman. I doubt we could take on a Royal Hand.”

Tanisha blinked. “We?” 

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Adelheid muttered, giving a lazy wave. “You’re practically part of my pack by now. I wouldn’t have just left you to deal with that on your own.”

Tanisha’s smile softened as she glanced at Adelheid, who remained huddled against the table. Fuyumi took the lull in the conversation to finally speak up.

Fuyumi questioned. “Excuse me, but what is the job? I was told you needed guidance through the Chaos Lands.”

Tanisha jumped slightly, momentarily forgetting Fuyumi’s quiet presence. She cleared her throat, glancing at the ghostborn woman.

“Oh, yes, sorry,” Tanisha said quickly. “Would you prefer I speak Valish or Muaian?” Tanisha asked and switched languages when Fuyumi indicated the latter. “I am looking for my adoptive father. I don't know if you saw him at the gate.”

“Yes, the demon, I remember seeing you traveling with him.” Fuyumi agreed in perfect Muaian. “He survived the assault then? Did he flee from the fighting?”

“No he was tainted by the maya after killing one of the druid commanders.” Tanisha said. “It made him unstable and now he is wandering the Chaos Lands. Princess Sigrun has agreed to help me find him and there are people in the Chaos Lands helping track him. I just need someone familiar with the area to help me travers the region.”

Fuyumi looked at Tanisha for a long time without so much as blinking. It was unsettling but different people had different social norms. Tanisha had known a ghostborn in the academy, he was a dullahan and had many of the same traits. They don’t act entirely alive at times and miss many social cues. She had to remind herself of that fact while she waited for a response.

Finally Fuyumi gave a slight bow. “I will help you. I intended to cross these Chaos Lands. Having company will be enjoyable. My request is that while we look for your father you aid me in combat. From your unusual core, I surmise you are a Sage, correct?”

Tanisha's mouth hung open in shock. “Y-yes… but how do you know that?”

“My father is Hokō no Buki-ko no Kenja, the Sage of the Walking Armory,” Fuyumi said in a reverent tone. “I have seen the core of a Sage, it is not like those of normal birth. Yours is still chaotic although some of that chaos has been unraveled.”

“Your father is a Sage?” Tanisha questioned as she stood up.

“Yes, he is the one that taught our people Buki Hengen-ryū and is the creator of the Walking Armory magic which we call Hohei no Buki-ko.” 

“Tanisha?” Adelheid said in a low voice also in Muaian. “Did I hear her say that you are also a sage? One of those mythical magic casters from children’s tales?”

“Yes, but it’s not important. I'll tell you about it later.” Tanisha murmured, dismissing it. “Fuyumi, I don't care how much it costs, I want you as my guide. I will be in your care.”

“Not caring about the cost is not the wisest thing to say to a mercenary.” Fuyumi said with a smile. “But my fees are quite affordable I assure you.”