The Black Opal

Lyse was in her graduating year in the studium and had been attending classes since she was 15. Yda and Papalymo had enrolled around the same age and earned their Archon marks. Yda struggled along the way, but she made a great impact on aetherology and got her marks immediately upon graduation. Papalymo was 2nd in his graduating class, beaten out only by the son of Louisoix himself and it was no feeble contest. Louisoix would continue as his mentor upon graduation, inspiring the lalafel to pursue becoming an Archon.

As for where that left Lyse, as a senior student she was to submit a thesis/dissertation as her graduating requirement. As for what that thesis would be...the poor girl didn't have a clue at present. 

Papalymo's past thesis was on the planet's aether currents and conditions affecting their astral and umbral alignment. A fancy way of saying Umbral Calamities.

Yda's own thesis involved aethers channeling points throughout the physical body. Something inspired by her Monk heritage. 

With the knowledge she gained at the studium, Lyse understood their work and was awestruck by the years of thinking it took to bring their thesis' to life.

Lyse began to feel the pressure of living up to their accomplishments but was also happy at the thought of earning her marks like they did. 

Now the problem was she had no thesis of her own. None worthy of the name anyway. In her desperation, she had asked Louisoix's two grandchildren to aid her in her search for a topic to stand out. 

They were also there to help comfort her in stressful times. Lyse had known the twins since they were born and babysat them often forming a bond with them. Alphinaud had just enrolled in the Studium and she wanted to make them feel welcome.

Which brought us to this moment. At her request, she asked the pauper Alphinaud to help go over Aetheric theory and the 11-year-old did not spare a word. 

Not. One. 

Her head spun, as his words teetered on the edge of eternity knowledgable, and growing.

"Whatever the case, perhaps you'd better off with a topic that's based on Aether elemental aspects. Wouldn't you say Alisaie? Alisaie?" Alphinaud called, seeing his sister was not in her seat next to his. 

Taking notice of this, Lyse regained her senses and looked around the dining room for the elezen. Remembering that they weren't the only ones in the house, Lyse dropped the book in her hands and dashed for the living room like a predator.

Ready to unleash her killer mother-coeurl instinct Lyse glared at the couch Bayn sat on to find Alisaie at his side. 

Doing...

"(What were they doing?)" she thought.

Bayn was still channeling aether into an empty cartridge and Alisaie seemed to be doing the same, albeit with a hint of irritation on her face.

Lyse looked back and forth between the pair. Neither had acknowledged her presence so she made herself known.

"Alisaie." Lyse said.

"Hey. Alphinaud finally stopped blathering?" she answered. As Alisaie channeled aether she peaked at Bayn's progress and tried her best to mimic his posture.

"What are you doing?" Lyse asked, calm on the Inside not so much.

"Healing bullet." Alisaie said. 

Lyse went silent, nearly struck dumb by the reply.

She shook herself out of her stupor but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Alphinaud.

"Alisaie what are you up to?" he asked brushing past Lyse.

"Hush, I'm concentrating." she said. Alisaie looked at Bayn's hands once more, squinting at his fingertips.

"What is that?" Alphinaud asked, leaning to inspect the cartridge in Alisaie's hands. She shimmied away in annoyance towards Bayn.

"Aetheric cartridges." Bayn said, answering in her stead.

Alphinaud lit up with interest.

"Oh please do tell!" he said. Annoying Alisaie further. 

"They're made to store aether for a range of effects upon release. It takes more than blindly channeling aether though. It's also about intent." Bayn explained peaking at Alisaie. After he spoke, she eased herself and relaxed her posture. 

"So there's more to it, is there?" Alphinaud questioned, looking instead at Bayn's cartridge. Bayn halted his aether and presented the bullet to Alphinaud.

"Don't waste another one!" Alisaie said. Bayn couldn't help but snicker.

"Another one? On what?" Alphinaud asked., making his sister sneer.

"Nothing, just a demonstration. Making bullets that heal takes me a while to make." Bayn said.

"Not likely. Takes you three hours just to make one!" Alisaie interjected.

"3 hours? That doesn't sound very efficient. You mean to say, you've been here for-uh?" Alphinaud took the bullet for closer inspection and looked to the table to count the cartridges. His jaw went agape seeing the max total was 6.

"I only need 3 healing cartridges, and one's already done." Bayn said.

"How much longer do you think you'll be on that one?" Alphinaud asked.

"2 more hours probably." Bayn said making Alisaie cringe. Alphinaud's jaw went agape.

"If you have time to ask questions Alphinaud, maybe you could spend time helping!" Alisaie snapped.

"Pardon me, but did we not come to aid Lyse in finding her thesis?" Alphinaud replied.

"Thesis?" Bayn asked.

"Lyse needs to come up with a graduate thesis but can't think up squat." Alisaie said bluntly. 

Lyse in turn grunted as she gritted her teeth together. With a shrill, she face-planted into the sofa cushion nearest to her.

"Can you explain more on how these function?" Alphinaud asked.

"Think about when aether is gathered for a spell. The caster takes and changes it to their needs whatever it may be. Except in this case when the aether is set to release it's meant to stay in that uncasted state." Bayn recited the words taught to him by his father.

He could picture it, when he was 11, and showed an interest in his father's gunblade, he was given the basics of aether. His father was no mage, but he was smart. You needed an understanding of aethers workings to become a proper gunbreaker, and his father was a better-than-average warrior, to say the least.

Alisaie reminded him of the days he spent trying to make healing bullets, stubbornly trying to match his father's pace. Originally it took him days to make a functioning healing bullet.

Hopefully, this young girl would have better luck than he did. Sharlayns were supposed to be masters of aether after all.

"Will this suffice?" Alphinaud spoke. Unbeknownst to Bayn the elezen was channeling aether into a cartridge and held it to him.

"It's gonna take much longer than that, brother!" Alisaie said snidely.

Bayn stopped working on his own bullet and took Alphinauds, the feeling from it shocked him. The aether inside was coalescing in a way he had never felt before. Not even his father's healing bullets felt like this.

"I've done a fair bit of dabbling into the healing arts since enrolling in the Studium." Alphinaud bragged.

Alisaie growing ever more irritated, ceased her channeling and put her brother in a headlock. "Don't you ever shush!" she said.

Bayn took the cartridge Alisaie had and was further perplexed. The quality wasn't the same as Alphinauds, but they matched his father's work for sure. What Alisaie did took 20 or so minutes, and Alphinauds took a minute at most.

"What's the studium?" Bayn asked, interrupting the two's quarreling. 

"The studium is Sharlayan's finest institution for learning. Founded by the Archons, founding fathers of aetherology-AGhk!" Alpinaud squelched as Alisaie pulled on his ear.

"Everyone in our family has gone there, though I can't imagine why they accepted you!" Alisaie said as she pinched her brother's nose keeping him in her grip.

"So it's like an academy for mages?" Bayn asked.

"Oh, it's nothing so simple. If you could just see it for yourself, you'd know that the Studium is home to a myriad of subjects." Alphinaud said still in his sister's headlock.

"If I knew where anything was." Bayn said. He saw a fair amount of Sharalayns port, and the surrounding neighborhood, but nothing else. 

When Alisaie heard this, she immediately let go of her twin and stood him up straight.

"Well don't just stand there Alphinaud, show him!" Alisaie demanded.

"Oh!? I suppose we could more avenues over there. What do you think Lyse?" Alphinaud asked.

"(They finally remembered I was here. Little shites...)" Lyse thought sarcastically. "Sure. Why, not?" she said, as she removed herself from the cushion.

As things stood Lyse would make no progress on finding her thesis topic.