The Quest for Normania #1: The Door of Andrios

13. Of Bonds and Khams

The eura nodded as he ate, his frown deepening as he grasped everything they said. At last, when they were done, he nodded slowly, as if weighing something on his mind.

"So, you say it's foolish to try and deceive the Door of Andrios?" he enquired.

"Well, Yela Rumin thought it'd be wise not to do it," answered Norin, "in case it refused to work or us again. In which case, we'll be useless."

The older man nodded. "Instead, you propose to keep a communication channel with my daughter until the next Blue Moon?"

The mages nodded as one.

"I see. Well, it'd serve to benefit us all. And my dear daughter will also know she's being missed and I love her." He sniffed and the others were sure he was on the verge of breaking down. "Oh Ayesha, why did you leave us and go?"

Norin and Mithra just exchanged glances wordlessly, as they resumed their meal.

Afterwards, Norin gathered all the youngsters in the library once more.

"Right! So, from this moment on, we abandon the search for disguising the Moon and instead, search for a way to create a communication channel that will allow us to talk to anybody we want in another world. Remember that the channels we have now won't do that – Mithra and I already tried it after our talk with Yela Rumin. We need to build one of our own.

"I have the knowledge of how to build one, too, but I've never done it before. I have some books in mind to look into. Eurin Cassandra, I need –"

She raised her hand. "Sorry. Please call me Cassandra. We're practically partners now."

He nodded with a smile. "As you wish. Cassandra, I want you to work with Mithra to find some spell-books on portals. The older the better. Teresa, you and I will work on pronouncing the spells correctly, so we get the hang of them when the time comes. Got it?"

"Aye sir!" they all replied, eager to start the work for the evening.

"And also, Cassandra, would you consider yourself a good fighter?" asked Norin.

Cassandra was surprised, but she nodded anyway. "Yes, I suppose I would."

"Good. You and Mithra can take breaks now and then to go up to practice your fighting. I'm sure I'm no use to her." He gave a sheepish grin. "Seeing as how she easily overpowers me."

Mithra grinned at him. "It'd do well for you if you could get your grip together! You always either lose your footing or your fist!"

Everybody laughed aloud at this, before they subsided and began their work.

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A few days passed and Norin's team was making progress, though slowly.

They found a few spells to open communication, which Norin and Teresa took out time and space to try out. Most of them couldn't get a grip of anywhere outside Ahala; one or two were so localised, they couldn't reach out beyond the walls of the palace. Only one spell could reach out to another planet, Earth, but to a very specific spot. They didn't find Eurin Ayesha Sinhala in there, so they had to abandon it.

Norin and Teresa took breaks to build a communication channel. By the end of the month, it was almost ready. Communication channels were actually pretty easy to build, but new mages or mages who were new building them took their time. One wrong element and the entire contraption could go up in flames, something Norin wisely didn't risk.