Chapter 12

Elara studied herself in the mirror set above the wooden cabinet in Finn’s bedroom. She studied her face and hair, choosing not to focus on the rest of her upper body displayed in the reflection.

Goddess, hear my prayer, she thought.

Her hair would be the easiest thing to change. Thinking of each individual strand changing from silver to black, she concentrated. If Lunar Transformation was at all like Weaving Moonbeams, she needed to hold the image of what she wanted firmly in her mind before seeking her goddess to empower the spell.

Over the weeks of study in Finn’s world, she had felt the connection to her goddess grow stronger. It was like learning the movements of the daily devotions. At first, they were difficult and imprecise, but over time her muscles had developed, and her practice had smoothed until she could easily flow from one form to the next. She hoped her practice each day would yield similar results.

Goddess, hear my prayer, she thought while holding her image with black hair firmly in her mind’s eye.

A wave of fatigue passed through her. The reflection shimmered, blurring for a moment, then settling to reflect her with deep black hair shimmering in the late morning light from the window.

Elara smiled, and shook her head, seeing her hair was uniformly black. She stood, moving closer to the mirror and inspecting her hair down to the roots. A smile of contentment filled her face. She had done it.

Goddess, thank you for your gift, she prayed.

She returned to her seated pose on the bed and looked at her reflection once more. With a determined expression, Elara closed her eyes and focused intently on the intricate weaving of lunar energy that flowed through her body. The wave of fatigue from her earlier transformation lingered, but she refused to let it deter her as she reached out with her mind, her fingers splaying in the ethereal strands of silver light that represented her hair.

The effort required to undo the previous spell was immense, and Elara could feel the strain on her magical reserves and the tenuous connection to her goddess. Each mental gesture was accompanied by a subtle shift in energy as she carefully untangled the intricate web of lunar magic that bound her locks, the once black tresses transforming back into their silvery glow.

As the last tendrils of lunar magic dissipated, Elara could feel the remaining reserves of her magical energy beginning to wane. With a sigh of relief, she opened her eyes and ran her fingers through her restored silver locks, grateful for the return of her familiar appearance but aware that the price of such transformations would not come without consequence.

Goddess, thank you for your gift, she prayed once more.

A warm feeling, almost an embrace, flowed over her.

“How does weaving moonbeams allow the making of actual clothing?” Finn asked as they washed up the dishes from their evening meal.

Elara looked at him. “Weaving moonbeams is the spell, not an actual weaving of light. I envision the garments and call them forth through my connection to the goddess. She is who provides the materials tailored to match my vision.”

Finn considered for a moment and shook his head. “So how does your goddess create the garments?”

Elara smirked. “You ask a novice’s question. How do you decide to draw a breath? You don’t think, ‘I need to breathe, so I need to expand this muscle and contract that one’. You just breathe. My goddess knows I’m devoted to her and doing her good works. I requested them through her gifts to me, and she provides. The ‘how’ is meaningless, and beyond our knowing.”

“I can’t accept that,” Finn said. “I live in a rational world where science leads us to find the answers of the how. I know how my invention creates a quantum coupling between devices that is undetectable by most people, but it’s not magic.”

Elara laughed softly. “It is magic,” she said.

“But the energy required to assemble the molecules in such a specific pattern and making them materialize around you is incomprehensible.” Finn shook his head. “Unless it is something different. Maybe it is shifting something from a universe in a different quantum state to appear in this world.” He paused, trying to wrap his brain around such a concept.

After a moment, he sighed. “Perhaps it is magic,” he admitted.

“Or possibly, we can’t comprehend the instructions our gods write the universe in,” Elara responded. “Maybe it’s like the code you were explaining earlier. My spell is the instructions for the universe, while the image I hold in my mind are the parameters needed.”

Finn smiled. “But I want to know those instructions, so I can re-write them,” he said.

Elara smiled, as if his wish were impossible, then caught herself and frowned. “What if that power is what my tormentor wants as well? I’ve heard mages outside the temples have to learn spells by rote, performing them with exactitude each time to get the same outcomes. The slightest deviation in word, motion, or thought can cause a spell to fail or result in catastrophic errors.”

“Do you know any such spells?” Finn asked.

Elara shook her head. “We’re told the mage’s way is different. For us, devotion to our goddess is the first step. Learning what our parameters can be is second, and the spell itself is third. We learn simple manifestations first, like lighting a candle.”

“Wait,” Finn said. “Lighting a candle is the same as creating clothing from nothing? Show me!” he added as he opened a cabinet and pulled out a stubby white candle with its base melted to a chipped gray saucer.

Elara looked at the candle as he placed it on the table, concentrated for a moment, and the smiled as a flame took light on the charred wick.

Finn stared, then waved his hand over the flame. “It’s real! I feel the heat from it.”

“As real as the clothing I create,” Elara said with a smile.

“And you learn this as a novice?” Finn asked.

She nodded. “It’s one of the first tasks we learn to do.”

“How can I learn it?” Finn asked.

Elara frowned. “I’m not sure if you can. Novices are committed to the goddess at a very young age. We grow up knowing her embrace before we ever start to learn the spells. I think you would have to unlearn too much to master our spells.”

Finn considered her for a moment, looking at her, but not really seeing her as his mind wandered.

“Can you teach me? Can you at least try?” he asked.

Elara considered his request. Her geas was quiet for once. “I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “I don’t think I could do it here. If we were to visit the Celestial Realm, or even the Enchanted Forests, maybe. I just don’t know how I can get you to feel my goddess’ embrace.”

“Tell me what you would need,” he pleaded.

“Nature would help,” she said, warming to the idea. “Your city is too sterile of the natural world. Nighttime, with a full moon would aid us as well, but even then, I think it would be a difficult task with little chance of success.”

Finn frowned. “That might be tough. No way can we get you on a flight. To get away from the city, we’d need to risk you being seen on a train.”

“Couldn’t I borrow a pair of your fancy glasses?” Elara asked. She was not ready yet to share her ability to transform her appearance. Once she had mastered more than changing her hair, she knew she would tell him, but for now, it remained her secret.

“Possibly. Can you explain any more of the mechanics of magic to me? Give me something we could try here?” His voice had a hint of pleading in it.

Elara thought about it. “There’s an exercise we do with novices who are just learning,” she said as she reached out a hand. “Come sit with me.”

Finn took her delicate hand in his, marveling at the soft touch of her skin, and followed as she led to the open wooden floor before his exercise rack flanked by two tall windows. She motioned him to sit, then took her place before him, comfortably settling into a crossed-leg pose. Finn mimicked her.

She sat up straight and held her hands before her, palms facing him. “Touch your fingers to mine,” she instructed.

Finn did.

“Now, close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing.”

She watched the rise and fall of his chest, matching his breath with her own, and concentrated on the light touch of their fingers. After a few minutes, she closed her own eyes and let her goddess-given senses reach out to him.

His aura was strange, vibrating more quickly than she expected. “Calm your mind, and think only about your breathing,” she said softly.

His breath slowed. She probed him once more, sending her senses from her fingertips to his, then up his arms. He was strong, she sensed. His muscles were honed from years of exercise, and she could feel that strength in the harmonics of his aura. She followed the nerves commanding his arms and fingers to remain as motionless as possible. Of course, the small impulses and currents sending those commands were alive to her senses.

She probed higher, through his shoulders, into his spinal column, and then into the motor control centers of his brain. She could not affect his nervous system but could feel it. His mind was a fiery maelstrom of activity.

“Focus only on your breath,” she said softly once more.

His thoughts were chaotic, but slowly calmed, as much as she thought they would. She reached out with her senses once more, engulfing them in her presence. She tried to make her own mental energies match his.

Goddess, aid me, I beg, she thought gently.

Another presence joined her briefly. It was only for an instant, but an instant that encompassed an eternity as well. The rhythm of their thoughts merged perfectly, and time stopped. For that moment, she understood how he viewed the world. His intuitive grasp of quantum activity was astounding. Finn’s intellect was impressive. His passion and determination were a beacon, defining his view of the world in a way that was difficult to understand. His sense of honor was a bulwark to his psyche. She was happy to feel that, though she had suspected his word was more than a bond to her.

She knew this exchange was more than her own probing. That was the point of the lesson and method. Her sense of the arcane would reach him with this interaction, for she had not matched him alone. He was mirroring her own mental and emotional state. Perhaps it would be enough. She hoped he would sense what her goddess had allowed.

Their eyes opened together, and the synchronicity ended, though a new feeling of closeness remained.

“What was that?” Finn asked in a whisper.

“My goddess. She helped us meld for a moment. What did you feel?” Elara asked.

“I felt you,” Finn said with a blush. “I felt your passion and desire to fight back against your attacker. I felt your need to find ... something.”

“What else?”

“I felt the layers of infinity,” he said after a moment. “It was as if I could sense the quantum interactions around us. It was incredible.”

Elara nodded. Still touching his fingertips with one hand, she lowered the other and formed a small ball of light in its palm.

“Can you feel that?” she asked.

Finn stared at her palm, then lowered his hand, cupping it over the ball before turning it back up. The ball followed, as if he had snatched it from her.

“So, this is magic,” he said as his eyes sought her gaze.

Elara listened to Finn performing his morning workout in the main room and tried to center herself once more. Morning devotions had been effortless today, but her mind refused to settle into the calm she normally felt upon completing her ritual morning movements.

Her stomach rumbled.

She knew her practice of new skills was draining her mind and body. She would need to provide more sustenance to fuel her efforts. Lunar Transformation was an incredible power but came at a high cost in terms of her energy. Even Finn had commented on her increased appetite.

Thankfully, she was making progress. She concentrated on her alternate appearance, holding the image of black hair, green eyes, and broader cheeks in her mind.

Finn had commented that this world’s facial recognition used common measure points like cheekbones and eye spacing to identify an individual. It made her realize that changing her hair alone would not be sufficient to evade detection. After much practice, she was able to shift her features, and even her height by a small amount. Today, she needed to transform and then weave moonbeams to provide new clothes that would give her a complete disguise.

Goddess, hear my prayer, she thought once the image of herself was firmly in her mind.

The wave of fatigue washed over her. Without opening her eyes, she thought of the secondhand clothes Finn had provided. Another ripple of power caressed her skin. She opened her eyes and looked down to see a near identical copy of the jeans and shirt hanging in the closet now covering her.

Her stomach rumbled again.

“Finn,” she called out as she stood.

“Yes?” Came from the living room.

“Don’t be surprised,” she said as she walked into the hallway and then stepped into view.

“Elara?” His mouth hung open as he looked at her. It was strange looking up at him from her shorter perspective. She nodded.

“I think I finally have a handle on the basics of lunar transformation,” she said. “I’m not ready to try the full changes I’ve seen other priestesses perform, taking the form of a wild animal, but I can at least make a more credible disguise.”

Finn stepped closer and reached out hesitantly. His fingers touched her cheek, then brushed her hair over one ear.

“Amazing.”

She smiled.

“But it takes a lot out of me to transform. I need something to eat.”

“Of course. Let me get some porridge heated up.”

He busied himself at the counter and stove while Elara moved to set the small table and get them both some hot tea to start the day. A feeling of contentment settled over Elara as she sat and waited for him. She knew she had the tools she needed now to begin searching out the person that would complete her quests. Knowing she was making progress eased the nagging pressure that the geas had been building within her. She watched Finn, who kept glancing over at her.

“What?” She finally asked.

He smiled. “I can’t get over your changed appearance. I was just getting a little more comfortable with your magic, thinking I was getting a grasp on how it related to the quantum effects I was familiar with, and you do something that destroys my framework for understanding.”

“What do you mean?”

Since their brief melding, she felt more of a grasp for his mind and the phrases he used, but she was still not clear when he began talking about quantum effects or trying to interpret magic. For her, it was as natural as consciously taking a deep breath. She simply concentrated on her intent, held a clear vision within her mind, and asked her goddess to make reality match that vision and intent. It was mentally strenuous, but not mysterious.