Envoy's eyes blink open slowly from her rest 'mode'. The funny thing is, she actually feels groggy … not to mention something even odder, she has hazy memories of dreams, yet she can't quite remember them. Icarus is still sleeping next to her, his head in her lap. Violette the Eeee has latched onto the poor hybrid and practically enveloped him in her wings. Her chin currently rests on her neck and she even makes these cute 'happy chirring noises'.

"She holds on really tightly," Icarus complains quietly. So, okay, maybe he isn't quite asleep. "I can't get the grip of her feet off my legs… "

Envoy thinks for a moment, and then reaches with her own feathery wing and tries to lightly tickle the sleeping girl with it so she'll let go of Icarus.

The sleeping girl giggles and squeezes tighter! Icarus lets out a squeak of his own. "Hey, hey!" he complains loudly and thrashes for a moment. "Mprh?" goes the bat and her eyes creak open.

"Icarus isn't a rafter, you don't have to clutch onto him so tightly," Envoy tells the waking Apprentice.

The insides of Violette's ears turn bright red and she releases Icarus pretty quickly. She pushes herself into a sitting position and yawns before muttering, "I wasn't dreaming of rafters."

"Was it pancakes then?" Envoy asks, and leans over to see if Walter is stirring yet.

"No, there's this cute Savanite who delivers to the College now and then," Violette notes and then seems very interested in smoothing out the wrinkles in her robe. Icarus stretches out his forearms and arches his back, then stretches out his legs and yawns fangily.

Walter is still fast asleep. He even has his hat over his face. There's the quiet sound of snoring coming from under it.

After arching an eyebrow at Violette's comment, Envoy reaches with her wing again to try and wake Thorndike. "Walter?" she calls. "We have a guest."

"Mmtghs!" goes Thorndike as he jerks upright. "I swear it was the sausage!" he claims through his hat. There's a pause, then he adds, "It's dark in here."

"Here," Envoy says, and flips the hat away with her wingtip. "Better?"

"Oh yes, much!" Thorndike says and proceeds to smooth out his mustache. The human blinks a few times and then asks, "When did we get a purple bat … thing?"

"He's like that. I think even for a human he's a little weird," Icarus comments to Violette. The Eeee just giggles.

"She snuck in last night to see if I was a monster," Envoy explains. "She's a student Mage, of the Sphere of Chaos. The purple… is from an old wound."

"Oh wow, pigmentation dispersal, then? That's caused in some creatures by being exposed to a massive photo-electrical field," Thorndike notes as he scoots over on his butt and picks up Violette's mostly purple arm. He pokes it, then asks, "Do you feel this?"

"Er, yes?" Violette says. She gives Envoy a questioning look.

"He's an Exile," Envoy explains with a smile. "With a time machine!"

Thorndike turns her hand this way and that. "So, was it a flash effect?" he asks the Eeee.

"No, I had most of my skin torn off," Violette tells the human, "A group of priestesses and mages helped fix it."

Thorndike stiffens for a second then lets her hand go. "Please forgive me, M'lady," he says and half-bows while sitting. "I tend to forget my manners when in the presence of some amazing scientific phenomena. I am sorry you had to go through that."

"She was caught at the edge of a dimensional disruption," Envoy explains, from what she knows of Boomers. "A bomb called a Boomer that … swap bits of reality with other bits. It caused the Pit of Himaar here on Abaddon, as that land was originally part of Sinai… "

"Oh, I'm used to it now," Violette claims, though her tone suggests suppression of a rather painful memory. Her attention turns to Envoy and she asks, "A time machine?"

"Oh, a quantum state replication engine with bidirectional capability? Such has been theorized as possible of course. Simultaneous duplication of quantum states acting in effect as a bidirectional teleportation mechanism. I imagine it would have generated quite a massive section of vacuum in the surrounding atmosphere. The in-rush of air to fill the void would likely cause a massive audible boom," Thorndike babbles. "How big is the pit you speak of? I want to calculate the net energy requirement for such an effect."

"Well, sort of," Envoy says. "It only works within cyclical universes, really, but… it sounds more impressive than calling it a dimensional perambulator. I also thought that made it sound a bit like a very large baby carriage… err. Anyway! We can visit the pit and get measurements once the Gravy Boat is finished, Walter!"

Thorndike looks disappointed. "But that will take forever," he complains, "Science does not wait for the slow!"

"Are you sure he isn't a chaos mage too?" Violette asks Envoy. "He sounds like Professor Bumblegrump."

"What do you mean forever?" Envoy asks, looking over at the mostly-completed outside of the gravity sled. "I just have to make the engines for it. I can do that in a day if I don't do anything else." To Violette she says, "No, he's just a bit chaotic. But I wouldn't want him around Dean Fyiara; she'd drive him crazy."

"It still needs the frame skin completed, chairs installed, and final tweaks on the control system," Thorndike notes, "I wouldn't call that mostly-completed. It takes forever to hold-weld those plates in place."

"What if I held all the skin in place all at once and you just go around and weld it all?" Icarus offers.

"That … why… hm," Walter says and twirls his mustache in thought.

Envoy twitches at that suggestion, and glances at Violette to see if the girl asks how Icarus would do that.

"How would he do that?" Violette asks on cue as she looks at the mess of metal framing.

"There are big… magnets… somewhere around here," Envoy mutters.

"Oh," Violette says, sounding disappointed it wasn't something more interesting. "Well, I suppose I should head back to town and leave all of you to your work. Sorry for intruding. You aren't really much of a monster after all."

"How much time do you have before you need get back to the camp, Violette?" Envoy asks, out of curiosity.

Violette digs in a robe pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. "One days," she says after checking the date on it and counting to herself quickly. "They will get worried if I am gone any longer than that without word."

Thorndike pats Icarus on the shoulder and tells him, "Well, let's get the plates at least tack-welded before breakfast. You're certain you can hold them all?"

Envoy blinks. "Oh, that isn't much time at all," she says. "I was tempted to ask if you could stay and help me with some enchantments, but I don't think you'll have the time… and I don't want to get in trouble for delaying you."

Icarus rubs his shoulder and says, "Pretty sure."

Violette hms. "Do you have any way to communicate quickly with town?" she asks Envoy.

"We have a daily mail pickup," Envoy notes. "Well, mostly daily." To Icarus, she says, "If you're going to try that, use the battery. It will be good practice."

"I can send a note to my Master that I've been delayed due to an interesting trace of magic flux," Violette offers, "And need to perform some divination experiments on it before getting back. I think that will give me a few more days, so long as I do have something interesting to report when I get back."

"Field research!" Violette adds with a chirpy grin.

"And … when do magnets need a magical battery?" Violette now asks Envoy and then looks towards Icarus. Okay, so the Eeee isn't a total fool.

"Earth Magic magnets," Envoy says.

Violette gives Envoy a suspicious look. "Okay… " she reluctantly agrees.

"And… well, if you think a letter will work, that's fine," Envoy notes. "Just don't say where you're doing your divination. I can't handle a bunch of curious mages showing up, and Latania would be very upset."

"You and Mistress Latania don't get along, then? Not that many people do get along with her," Violette notes.

Icarus grabs the Mobius strip and slips it over his wrist. "C'mon, let's get this done," the hybrid tells Walter, "I just hope we'll be in time and Envoy doesn't experiment with our breakfast… "

"We… uh… don't get along, no," Envoy admits, then blinks. "Pancakes! I'm going to make pancakes! It's just water and mix and heat!"

"What kind of mix?" Thorndike asks as he gets to his feet.

"Pancake mix," Envoy claims. "Instant, it's called! Pretty amazing, isn't it?"

"Neither does Professor Bumblegrump. He was helping her with a new spell for curing sinus issues. It went wrong and she ended up with a green nose for a week. She was not happy," Violette explains, "But she's never really happy."

"Happiness can be a slippery thing, Violette," Envoy says. "Now, do you want to help me make pancakes?"

"Do you have syrup?" Walter now asks.

"I was going to watch the boys work," Violette admits, "And write my letter. But if I have time before mail pickup, I can help."

"I'll get you some paper and a quill," Envoy says, heading for the lab. "I can make the pancakes myself I guess. They can't possibly explode twice after all – I know what I did wrong last time!"

"Explode?" Violette squeaks. She hurries after Envoy. This she has to see.

Icarus and Walter look at each other and both of them shrug simultaneously.

It turns out to be good that Envoy's pancake making kept Violette's attention. She didn't notice the almost ballet-style dance of metal plates back in the hanger when Icarus powered up his own implants and guided all of the remaining skin plates into place on the sled for Walter to tack-weld on. Envoy didn't see it, either, but she could certainly feel it at work; crazy-complex bastardizations of the gravity-spell she had demonstrated for Icarus earlier. By the time the pancakes are done, all the skin has been welded in place and the two males have come into the lab to join them.

"You do have some powerful magnets here, but are you sure they're earth magic magnets?" Violette is asking Envoy. "The flow didn't feel like earth magic… "

"What did it feel like to you, Violette?" the Aeolun asks as she serves the pancakes, hot off the home-made, magic-powered stone griddle. "And do you like jam, syrup or honey? Don't ask what sort of bee Abaddonian honey comes from though: I don't know."

Violette has to think about that. "It didn't feel like any of the spheres, exactly. Almost like a combination of all of them. Primal magic?" the girl offers, though in a hesitant voice. "Which outside of general theory I don't think has ever been proven to exist. And I prefer jam."

"Syrup for me," Walter declares.

"Plain for me," Icarus adds, "I don't like having to lick my whiskers out afterward."

Envoy fixes the various orders, and then her own – which has jam, honey AND syrup. "Could that have been a side effect of using the battery? You said it felt… undirected."

"I don't think so?" Violette offers, "I mean, once you use it for a particular purpose it should have direction."

"It may just be me," Icarus tells the Eeee. "Being an Exile and all, maybe I just mess up how it feels?"

"When I work my enchantments, I'll be curious to hear what you feel about them," Envoy says. "I'm very efficient now, and wonder if that means my magic will have a less Earthy feeling to it."

"I'm just an apprentice, though," Violette reminds Envoy, "I might just be missing parts of what you're doing. So … don't take everything I tell you as being one hundred percent correct?"

Icarus sits down besides Violette. "Are there any Silent … er, Savanite Mages at your school? he asks the Eeee.

Violette giggles. "Oh goodness no!" she says, "Savanites can't do magic. Well, at least proper magic. They only have unlicensed hedge-wizards."

"That isn't true," Envoy corrects the girl. "The Savanites had magic before or at the same time as Olympia, and used it to create an empire. It's a very different form of symbolism though, using movement and dance to set up the necessary resonances instead of sound."

"It isn't sanctioned magic," Violette reminds Envoy. "Dance is not considered a proper mechanism."

"It works, and many of the Savanites who practice magic actually predate the existence of the Guild altogether," Envoy notes. "The Guild really lacks the authority to say what is and isn't sanctioned magic anymore. They can claim the authority, but cannot enforce it – even among their own Mages, much less non-Guild practitioners. I believe they should ignore hedge mages unless they cause trouble – and the ones being troubled hire a Guild mage to take care of it."

"Well, I see one of the many reasons you were expelled, at least," Violette notes as she takes a bite of pancake. "You argue against College doctrine."

Both Icarus and Walter seem very interested in their pancakes right about now.

"Caroban's existence is a testament to the failure of the old College doctrine," Envoy points out. "The wars decimated our numbers, after all. Caroban is our fortress, more than anything else. And the Watch has shown itself to be ineffectual and worse, corrupt, during the Seven Sisters incident. And Ra managed to anger half the planet it seems, doing more damage to the Guild's reputation than I ever had. A new age is coming, and the Guild has to adapt if it is to survive."

"With you as its new leader?" Violette asks, her purple-smeared brow arching slightly in question. "What would you see us become?"

"I'm not a leader, and I have other priorities to deal with," Envoy claims. "And the Guild… Caroban… needs to be a bit more humble and realistic. It can't afford to make claims that it can't back up, or pretend to be infallible or above reproach. I was expelled for claiming that it should come clean and apologize for the actions of the corrupt few that operated within it."

"So you still believe it is true that the College took part in the whole Sisters Ritual and the Boomer which … " There Violette trails off as her left hand moves to silently rub along the back of her right arm.

"I saw it, Violette," Envoy says softly. "I have the Boomer memories myself. I saw the hidden agents at work while I was possessed by Inala. And it had been going on for years. Even on the High Council, there was someone who belonged to the High Princess' scheme."

"Why?" Violette asks. "What did they hope to gain by abusing my people?"

"Power, wealth, immortality," Envoy says, and shrugs. "I don't understand it myself. But I know enough to realize that there will always be those who seek power over others, even if it means recruiting or conscripting those with power to carry out their ends." This last remark seems slightly directed at Icarus, a reminder of why his power needs to be kept secret.

Icarus is still heads-down, seemingly fascinated by his breakfast,

"So the rumors that you were all part of the rituals too, and desired to be … Inala's host were all fake?" Violette asks. "Rumors are the watch reports claimed you were looking for new ways to help the old Goddesses."

"At the time, I thought that completing the challenges that each of the Sisters gave was a way to free them from the control of the overall ritual," Envoy says. "I was mistaken. Becoming a champion did not strengthen a goddess in the way I thought it would. The real solution was to destroy them."

"And you did not … wish this as the rumors claimed?" Violette asks.

"No," Envoy says. "I nearly killed myself to be rid of Inala. I lost my ability to use magic even."

"Oh," Violette says, "Well, you seem better now. You have ability with magic I will never have."

"Don't underestimate yourself," Envoy suggests. "But likewise do not push yourself. Understanding is the most important thing, not ability."

"Well, Icarus and I should get back to working on the sled," Thorndike now speaks up, having finished his breakfast and having the look of someone who doesn't really want to be part of the current uncomfortable conversation.

"I'll start working on the engines," Envoy promises, as she starts cleaning up the dishes. "Do you still want to help me, Violette?"

"Sure? Why wouldn't I?" Violette asks.

Icarus collects his, then Walter's plate and carries them to a bin for later cleaning. Thorndike and Icarus then exit the room, leaving the two mages alone.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to risk it, seeing how much of a renegade I am," Envoy notes, albeit with a grin. "Plus, what I'm doing has never been done before. It's entirely new."

"And I'm half-purple, a chaos mage, and a bit of an outcast in the college because of being an Eeee," Violette retorts and even manages a grin, "We all have problems. And between you and me … I agree with you on the college."

"That's nice to hear! Go ahead and write your letter while I go get some sand to work with," Envoy says happily.

"And you have neat friends. I like that Exile, Icarus. I can't quite explain it, but being around him makes me feel all tingly, like I've been bathing in the sun," Violette admits as she clears a spot on the table so she can write her 'excuse' for being a bit later than expected…

Hmmm, Envoy thinks, Icarus may be giving off his own enhanced Lesser Interface even when he's not using any power. Something to check later, certainly. For now, the Aeolun picks up some buckets and heads for the main hangar door.

An hour later, Violette's letter has been posted and Envoy and the Eeee have returned to the Aeolun's lab to work on the engines to avoid bothering the two guys while they 'work'. Never mind some of their work ends up being swatting each other with towels trading insults. So far Thorndike has been called Handlebar-head, and Icarus Puss-In-Boots. Though the later connotation is lost on everyone but Envoy and Thorndike.

Envoy prepares her raw materials, and starts with a gravity ritual to render the ritual area (and the sand) weightless so it can be more easily shaped by the following rituals. She also watches Violette, to see how she reacts to the activity of the 'ritual crystals' that take the place of a standard ritual circle for her.

Poor Violette is wide-eyed as she watches the crystal circle instead of the more traditional drawn circle. There are several times the bat looks like she wants to say something, but seems either too afraid, or too stupefied, to do so. Once the shock of it all seems to pass, though, the young mage seems to focus more on the crystals themselves, her brow slightly furrowed.

The crystals change again as Envoy moves smoothly into the second phase of the enchantment: the Reshape spell. Here she has to get the sand to fuse into a crystalline ceramic, with the runes for the enchantment formed at the same time along the surfaces (and even embedded within the bodies) of the two-pieced artifact. The central form is a simple cylinder, although it has openings on either end for mounting purposes, while the second part is a thick sleeve that is only half as long as the central piece, and also has mounting points on it.

"What are you making?" Violette finally asks when there is a break in the work and the parts have been shaped and fused. "I recognize some of the markings from work done at the College when they're moving heavy objects around, but never in such an unusual way. Are you sure it is right? The … resonance of the piece is off a bit from standard application. I know I'm just an apprentice but … your way somehow seems 'better' because it feels more aligned." The Eeee is babbling.

"Once the enchantment is activated, it will generate two gravity fields, one from each segment," Envoy explains. "In the center, neutral position, the two waveforms will cancel out. But if the sleeve is slid forward or back, the waves will interfere and gradually magnify the further the slide distance. It should provide up to one-half of a gravity of acceleration in either direction, depending on the amount of power it can draw on."

Violette blinks a few times, then grins. "That's either quite insane, or quite brilliant!" she declares, "How did you come up with the idea of using two focused gravity rituals in a way that their fields work together safely?"

"And … wouldn't the ritual be a bit more efficient if you purified the cylinders of the non-quartz compounds first to make them more like a pure crystal?" the bat asks as she leans in and peers. "Contaminants will effect your efficiency.""

"I… hmm," Envoy says, leaning in as well. "I thought I'd avoided those, let me try something." She starts a new ritual, which she more or less makes up on the spot as she tries to directly access the ritual crystals. Since she knows matter transmutation is possible, as in the Stone Strength ritual, she tries to see if she can permanently transform the contaminants into the purer material without having to extract them.

"Organic contents contained within target contents identified," the crystals around Envoy chime in Aelfin. This causes Violette to squeak and jump!

"Convert carbon structures into quad-arrangement lattice?" the crystals ask.

"Affirmative," Envoy sings, while trying to sense the changes.

Envoy certainly feels it. It's almost like a telekinetic spell working on a minute level as the small bits of organic material in the spheres are slowly converted to diamond, effectively.

"Wow," goes Violette, "If we could do that on Sinai … how are you doing that? How did you make those crystals listen to you?"

"Well, that's complicated," Envoy says. "You'd have to keep it a secret, because… nobody would ever believe you anyway."

"It's not like anyone listens to chaos mages, much less a purple one," Violette points out. Nodding, Envoy looks right and left in a secretive manner, and then pulls back on of her sleeves to reveal… well, Knack, who she has to move out of the way first… but then the crystal scales are clear. "I'm sort of part Sifran," she whispers and winks. "Just enough that the crystals respond to me sometimes."

Violette almost screams, but she stops herself by clamping her hands over her mouth. "Oh my Gods, you implanted stuff in yourself," she says muffledly. "Didn't that hurt? How do your hands even still work?"

"Actually, the crystals did it themselves," Envoy admits. "It's… complicated, and has to do with things that I can't tell you about, at least not until I tell the High Council first."

"Is that … all of it?" Violette asks. She even reaches out and quickly pokes one of the crystal scales.

"Well, there's some in my horn too, but it's hard to see unless you look for it," Envoy notes. "And… yes, it hurt a lot when it entered my arms. Are you thinking I'm a monster again?"

"I don't know," Violette admits, "How can anyone live with that stuff embedded in them and not be called a monster?"

"Well, the Sifras had it… probably… and they're First Ones," Envoy points out.

"And they could be monsters!" Violette points out. She looks back in the direction of the hangar. "The other two aren't infected, are they?"

"No, they aren't," Envoy says, giving Violette a rather disappointed look. "The crystals enhance me, they don't change who I am, Violette."

"Are you sure?" Violette asks as she returns to peering at Envoy.

"Trust me, I know when my mind is being messed with," Envoy replies. "I had Inala in there once, after all."

"That doesn't help your case," Violette points out. The young mage is, however, suppressing a small grin now. "Okay … so you're not a monster. You just have a weird skin condition."

"Well, I guess that makes us pretty much the same then, right?" Envoy asks, grinning. "My scales aren't quite purple, but they do have purple highlights at times. Now, ready to test the enchantment?"

"Well, at least yours didn't make you ugly," Violette notes, "And sure. How did you wish to test the enchantment? Did you just want me to examine it?"

"Yes, examine it while I apply some power to it," Envoy says. "Watch for any variances that would indicate an unbalanced field"

Violette sits down on the floor and crosses her legs. Her long toes wiggle, then the Eeee nods. "Apply power," she instructs as she closes her eyes.

Envoy starts singing again; a simple charging spell. This way, she can apply power directly before testing with the battery.

Violette remains silent for a time, but her ears actually twitch about as Envoy works. "There is a variance in the left front sidewall of the outer shell," the Eeee murmurs, "It isn't taking power in quite the same way as the rest of the shell. The inner cylinder also has a small fluctuation in its charging. It seems biased about one inch towards the rear."

The Aeolun stops the power, and works to repair the glitches as directed. When she thinks she has them ironed it, she tries applying power again.

"Power seems to be collecting now more on the skin of the shell than throughout the shell itself. Is that what you intended?" the Eeee asks. "The central shaft seems balanced. Well, best I can tell, anyway."

"We'll have to test if the surface power interferes with the wave balance," Envoy says, and does so by reaching into the gravity field and grabbing one end of the cylinder and one end of the sleeve with either hand, and pushing her hands towards one another to slide the sleeve.

Violette squeaks and ducks! The whole assembly jerks out of Envoy's hand and slams into the far wall. It actually leaves a noticeable dent in the metal/concrete mix. There it seems to stick, pressing against the seemingly immovable surface.

"Okay… uh… slight miscalculation on the power curve," Envoy admits, and goes over to try and pull the sleeve back to the neutral position.

Sliding the sleeve back is at least easy and soon enough Envoy can pull the whole assembly away from the wall.

"Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Violette asks from where she lays prone on the floor.

"Well, I'll… " Envoy starts to say, then just smiles and shrugs. "Well, it's never been done before. I'm sure that the acceleration will be milder when the engine is mounted to a heavy frame. I'm going to say this one is a success. Just two more to go!" she says cheerfully.