In contrast to last week, something from when Morrigana and Elthanael were still getting to know each other. This takes place not long after Enter the Elf.
***
“I've got an idea for something that should help up.” Elthanael
sounded more than a little excited; I glanced up from my roses as he
approached.
“Do tell.” Autonomous leadership was still new to me; I
encouraged my cousin to share his opinion when it came to our
assassin squad. Father had instilled in me the understanding of using
all resources at hand.
“It's an old sigil the scouts used to keep track of each other.”
The golden elf sank cross-legged to the soil beside me and unrolled
the parchment in his hand. I cocked my head to study the symbol as he
continued speaking. “Location can be shared and gleaned, messages
can be left, and it links up for teleportation.”
“Sounds handy.” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “But
why would we need it when we've got the telepathic channel?” I
wasn't dismissing him out of hand, but was encouraging him to share
his logic. We'd been trained differently when it came to strategy and
reasoning, and I was bringing him around to my way of thinking.
El traced one part of the sigil with a bead of energy. It glowed
fiercely, and I reached for the other half unconsciously. “It makes
a good contingency plan. If the link is down for some reason, or
isn't safe to use, we can communicate to each other via this sigil
with minimal magic use, and impart our information to those outside
the mental link. Map sigils like this have fallen out of use, making
it a good safeword if we need to identify each other.”
I called up power and traced the angular weave. “Sounds useful
indeed.” Father and Aunt Kyra had taught me the basics of sigil
magic, though mostly for warding and trap-making. Elthanael's scroll
made me aware of the plethora of uses, and I was intrigued.
My half of the sigil burst into light the moment I finished the path,
and we gasped at the instant reaction. His side pulsed with gold,
mine with silver, and traces of power linked the two. A hum built
behind my left ear, and I knew it was the communication link he'd
spoken of.
The elf turned back, clasping a hand to the side of his head. “Whoa.
It doesn't normally work so fast.”
Information flooded my thoughts; El's location, health, surroundings,
state of alert. Anything a commander might need to know about her
scout.
“You're not complaining, are you?” My eyes were unfocused as I
locked on to the tangle of power. For one simple sigil, there was a
lot it could be made to do.
“Of course not. This is supposed to need some prep work to link
up.” He grinned, then ran a hand through his hair. “Seems I've
found something very useful.”
“And you shall be rewarded in kind.” I had an intuition we would
be unstoppable.
