[IMG]https://picload.org/image/ddggriwa/nimbus.png[/IMG]
[h3]Zerul City, I’onriyi’s estate[/h3]
Nimbus had to catch herself to avoid physically recoiling in surprise at the displeasure he managed to convey, apparently over the simple use of the word “pastime”. She stared at him with wide-eyed confusion, nervously drumming her fingers on the sides of the cup in her hands. What had she said? From what she knew of the penin, both through her own knowledge and that of Male’dai, they should not be adverse to do things just for their own amusement. Was he somehow judgmental towards alchemy or enchanting? She could not see what she could possibly have done to anger Ion’riyi...
[I]I have no idea,[/I] Male’dai contributed her own insight, or lack of the same. [I]For once I’m just as stumped as you are.[/I]
Her puzzlement was in no way diminished when the little man made to leave and asked – no, ordered – her to follow. Fearing that she may have unwittingly crossed some kind of line and was now being thrown out of his house or otherwise punished, Nimbus quickly crammed as much bread into her mouth as she could fit, desperate to sate her hunger as much as possible before returning to the street. She chewed as she went, bringing her tea with her, and hurriedly followed the master of the estate as cautiously as she could without falling behind.

But rather than head for the exit, Ion’riyi lead her to another room that appeared to serve as a workshop of sorts, presumably for some kind of metalwork if the presence of a forge was any indication. It was clearly a place precious to the penin, though; not only did he take a moment to glance at the contents of the room in appreciation, but the fact that he had used magic to open the door had not escaped her attention, though whether he did so out of convenience – as he had with cooling his tea – or necessity was uncertain. Probably a necessity, given the lack of a handle on the door. A fairly secure room, then, at least to anyone not versed in the arcane.
Apparently the room itself was not his destination, however, as Ion’riyi quickly went to retrieve some kind of artifact mounted on a wall, which he examined before handing it to her, asking whether it was “something made purely as a pastime”, and subsequently urging her to be honest in her appraisal of the item in question.
She accepted the artifact after depositing her beverage on a table, frowning uncertainly as she looked from it to its likely creator, still unsure why he had reacted the way he had and what exactly he was trying to do. Soon enough her attention focused on the item, though, and she let her hands – all three of them, though the penin would only perceive the visible two – roam over it just as her gaze scanned it in search of any comprehension she could possibly gain through it.
The first thing that caught her attention about the artifact was the sensation of magical energy within it, which immediately drew her eyes to the crystals adorning it. Some of the – staff? Scepter? – was composed of magically conductive crystal, but some of those crystals had been further altered into crystal prisons, two of which had been filled. Male’dai silently voiced her wonder at whether he had grown the magical crystals himself or had managed to find them in the right shapes somewhere, and she remarked that making crystal grow so smoothly was rare and extraordinarily difficult. Even more puzzlingly, they noticed that there was a metal core through some of the crystals when Male’dai wondered how durable it was... which probably meant that the crystal would have had to be grown [I]around[/I] the core, since magical crystal typically lost its conductive properties when it was severely damaged.
Nimbus obviously also noticed the arcane runes on the object, which momentarily caused her frown to deepen. “United winds, bind the symbol”? The sentence carved there did not make any sense to her before Male’dai pointed out that they were probably made to be used independently of each other rather than as a sequence, as simple rune magic. So “unity”, “wind”, “restrain” and “seal”... The three first were fairly self-explanatory and had well-known magical properties on their own, but “seal”? Neither of the two beings inhabiting the true deigan’s body knew of any magical effects stemming from that arcane word. Maybe it was supposed to be used in conjunction with the others? That would make sense.

“It’s certainly an unusual piece of craftsmanship,” Nimbus commented after a minute or so, inwardly wondering whether the magical energy trapped in the crystal prisons was loosely enough bound for her to siphon it into her second soul. “It must have taken a lot of work and planning to get this to come together. The crystals alone must have taken a very long time and many attempts to get just right.”
She offered the staff back to its owner, looking at him uncertainly. “It isn’t lacking in quality, but... honestly, I’m not sure what you expect me to say. Was it made as a pastime? Did you have a reason for making it or did you make it for your own enjoyment?” She shook her head hopelessly. “How would I be able to tell? All I can say is that if it [I]is[/I] the product of a pastime, you seem to dedicate a lot of time and resources to those.”