Alexander was able to work through the night etching the runes on all but twenty plates with the help of Verila. It seemed to him that she had some experience but he couldn't tell how much with an Elf. Most of his knowledge about elves came from history books. Mostly things about their solitary nature and affinity for magic but even more about their lifespan. Humans could extend their lives when they aquired greater levels of magic, some soverign mages had reached 500 years old.
Elves lived to 500 years even without magic. So to Alexander she was a ball of mystery already then add on the mysterious fact she works for his family. She doesn't talk either so getting her to explain wouldn't work.
Alexander felt even after a night of work he still knew nothing about her.
"Thanks for your help, I probably wouldn't have finished for a couple days without you. Let's get some sleep and we can continue in the afternoon." Alexander moves to his bed. It was large enough to feet three or four people and was off against the wall. His room had mainly became his study but he didn't shy away from the comfort of a nice bed. As he pulled back his sheets he noticed she was still right beside him.
He looks at her confused. "Do you not have a room somewhere in this house?" She doesn't respond and slowly gets into bed.
"Excuse me. I get it you are an elf, but I am still a man." Before he could continue his sentence he could faintly hear a small laugh behind her mask. "Did you just laugh? I'm not joking."
Alexander looks down at her still covered in shadow and mist. He sighs as she gets more and more comfortable in his bed. She then looks at him and pulls out a dagger and clasps it over her chest. Alexander decides to give up. "Fine. Just stay over there."
Alexander slowly takes off his clothes, until he was just down to his underwear. His body was comprised of lean muscle. When he was not doing research he spent most of his time practicing the sword or other weapons. His training gave him the body of a warrior and fit his large frame. Nothing about him screamed recluse. Verila couldn't take her eyes off of him.
He didn't know why she was staring so intently but it made his heart race. This elf. I don't even know how old she is. This is driving me crazy. I swear she gets a kick out of teasing me. Alexander didn't know how right he was, but under that mask her smile grew wider.
She was enjoying this job more and more.
They went to sleep with the rising sun and wound up awake for lunch right around 1 pm. After eating came the first experiments. Alexander quickly explained the aparatus he invented and saw almost no reaction. Alexander couldn't help but grow irritated with her silence and teasing. The more she didn't react the more he wanted to do something to make her react.
"Let me show you how to use it." He stands behind her and grabs her hands pushing her forward gently. He softly speaks into her long pointed ear as he guides her hand to the crystal. "When you inject your mana into this crystal, it will flow through these long tubes and come out through here." He puts one of his hands on her thin toned waist and gently pushes her forward to the front of the apartus. "Right here we will see exactly what each rune means and mastery over magic. Then.. Then." He stops there and pulls away from her.
He was getting so enraptured in trying to tease her, he almost let her know that he was trying to form his first circle, and he needed to know what the letters mean to form his elemental rune. She turns to look at him. Her black piercing eyes slowly look him up and down. She takes one of her daggers and puts it gently under his chin and squints through her eyes. Alexander looks down at her not even remotely afraid.
"Hmmph," Verila quickly pulls her knife away and sits next to the crystal.
That was different, Alexander thinks to himself and smiles. He can't help but laugh a little but she quickly stares him down.. and he stops.
"Let's start with the first one." He says trying to ignore their interaction.
She gently inputs her shadow mana into the crystal and the first rune disk glows. It had changed one rune that laid just to the left. The shadow poured from the disk as it should have except quickly dispersed.
Alexander wrote down it's properties for the missing rune. Something akin to stabilization.
They repeated this process three more times comparing it to a normal rune plate he had also rigged. Alexander analyzed expression, potency and levels of mana required. Each rune plate was expressed three times and after four it was clear even Verila was getting tired. His apparatus although useful in this alchemical proccess was not made to be mana efficient. Verila's appeareance began to falter and parts of her shadowy clothes began to fade into her grey skin.
"I think it's best if we take a break. You already sleep with me. I don't know how I will handle seeing you naked too." Alexander slyly says. She shoots daggers through her eyes and a light blush could be seen through her fading mask. Alexander sits down respectfully looking away. He had notes to go over.
Although he had only devised 10 runes out of nearly a hundred it meant that he could start to look at linguistic patterns. Linguists had tried to decipher runes in the past but without advance alchemical proccess like this it had only been speculation. He pulls out a book that detailed some theories written a few hundred years ago.
Verila tried to ragain some of her mana but it took time. She slowly creeped behind him looking over his shoulder silently. The shadow that covered her body was an advanced spell that made shadow traversal easy and efficient. She had not expected this to take so much out of her. The shadow started to melt off her large grey chest and down into her cleavage. Her mask began slowly fading until her soft dark grey lips poked through completely. She looked like she was in her mid to late twenties, but it was clear she was at least centuries old.
Alexander didn't notice her standing behind him slowly losing every piece of darkness that covered her. In his excitement he called back, "Wow they actually got some of these runes right? You'll have to look at this V."
No one had called her that in so long. It had been only two days but this kid was slowly getting to her. She had thought he was interesting and she was so bored teasing him felt like a fun passed time, but he was different from his father. Different from his passed generations. Something about him. He had this cold look in his eyes sometimes, but this unending fire. His father was all show in her eyes but Alexander believed it. He lived it. It's not that his ancestors didn't work hard or weren't talented.
It's that they didn't believe it. They didn't have that unending fire and arrogance. Rough charisma if she could label it. Elves lived long lives so years meant little to them, but for a human and especially Alexander she had never seen someone with such fervor. Speaking to anything but nature was against elven customs. However he compelled her in ways she didn't quite understand.
Verila's long slender fingers, the same Alexander felt go up his leg, graze against his neck. He couldn't see a sliver of shadow cover it as it began passing his neck. "Verila? What are you—" She forces his head forward with her other hand. Alexander stays focused forward. Her grey fingers wrap around his pen and write words in the centuries old textbook.
'It was an elf.'
He almost wanted to turn back but he could tell by her arms that she was naked behind him. He could almost feel her against the back of his head. Her breast just lightly touching his silver hair.
"An elf? Is the language the same." Verila shakes his head with her hand. He feels her long grey fingers in through his silver hair. A shiver runs down his neck." No. They compounded more knowledge than us. Or maybe they have records older than the empire. Records of the language runes are based on." She shakes his head again up and down.
Curiosity bubbles inside of him and he pushes himself up, overpowering her hands, he doesn't look at her body. Although the strips of shadows hug ever curve of her, hiding her most vulnerable areas, her grey skin is alluring even with the scars that decorate her. Alexander was focused into her black eyes and quickly asks his questions.
"Do you know where these runes come from? What they mean?" He grabs her hands into his. They feel small in his large callused hands, but he can feel the roughness of her palms. He knew that she had trained longer than he had. Verila could feel the anticipation in his eyes and hid her embarrasement.
No one had seen her face and right now even Alexander wasn't really seeing her. She shakes her head no. Only the oldest of them might know and the priviledge of meeting the ancients was something she lost long ago.
"Damn. I'm sorry V." Alexander turns away, catching glimpses of her and then sits back down." I didn't mean to.. well look. I promise It's wiped from my mind, make sure you rest. You can sleep in my bed in the mean time, i'll be dechipering more of this."
For a moment Verila missed the warmth of their night before, but she was exhausted. She hadn't felt her mana drain like this for centuries and it was clear Alexander wouldn't do anything to her. Not when he was focused on this.