The Gauntlet was made of brass, with curved lines leading to gentle spirals etched throughout. Cassia had Issen's hand fastened to his side in the gauntlet on a table and his fingertips exposed.
While he waited for Cassia to choose an invocation from a spellbook, he looked around her practice. It was a relatively quaint one, with all of her apparatus either stored out of sight or kept in an organised manner that made her practice seem bigger than it really is. "And she doesn't age..." he thought.
"Cassia, how old are you now?" The question landed as she had just chosen an invocation. Her face became flushed and after a pause: "You never relent, do you? Don't you know not to ever ask a woman her age?" She firmly shut the spellbook and sighed. "You don't need to know." He already knew that would be her answer. He nodded slowly though, in visible admiration.
High elves are notorious for their expansive knowledge and memory, and are characterised by pale, clear skin, hair of varying shades of green and eyes the colour of their hair, along with sharp-pointed ears. In Cassia's case, she has long, dark green hair and eyes that appear a shade darker. She also wears glasses, but only for the sake of wanting to appear smarter than she already is.
"Okay, try Tonitrus Requiem." Issen was taken aback. "Are you... crazy? If I'm actually awakened this time around, a lot of people could get seriously hurt." Cassia chuckled. "You know this, Issen. You need to develop your aptitude enough yourself for the spell to have the intended impact. Besides, the Gauntlet acts as an inhibitor. Either way, it wouldn't hurt." She winked. "Absolutely devious," he thought.
Even though he hadn't shown any signs of innate aptitude growing up, he still had to learn invocations in school for the contingency that he does awaken. The Loradian Authority even compensates and covers related costs pertaining to improving Vitalis aptitude: "For the sake of our advancement as Loradians."
"Alright, Tonitrus Requiem." Normally, this highly advanced spell would need allies to maintain some distance or apply a protection spell as a precaution, as it invokes lightning on quite a large radius, but Dr. Varr crouched right beside him, carefully observing the Gauntlet for any light that may emanate from the crevices in response to Vitalis.
"Of course I'd need an aptitude to begin with..."
After what felt like more than a minute with nothing out of the ordinary, Cassia lowered her head in disdain, maintaining her firm grip on the Gauntlet. "It's okay, Cassia. Thank you." "Oh... there's that disheartened look on her face again, she still cares that much..," He thought as she rose to her feet and unfastened the Gauntlet. Issen rose from his seat and firmly placed his hands on her shoulders to reassure her. "It's okay, really."
She lifted her face to meet his gaze teary-eyed. "But you're half-elf! Why don't you—" Issen reaffirmed: "Cassia! There's no need to worry, honestly! I need to go now. You have a good day alright?" He deftly lifted his hands, and took his leave.
Cassia sat on the seat beside the Gauntlet once he left, tears running down her face. As she wiped her tears, she took a glance at her bookshelf and muttered: "I hate that there's nothing I can do for him. I'm hit so hard with that fact when he visits every week! Does he not realise what that does to me? The worst part is that he's okay with it. 5 years of helplessness, 261 weeks in and out of stabbings to the heart..."
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