4. Chapter 4 #4
“We both work better alone,” Luccite said, at last descending the steps of her stool.
“Besides, I focus more on maintenance and occasional procreation. People might not get sick here, but they can still get injured. Brax is the inventor, interested in technology over biology—other than you, I suppose. He spent centuries trying to perfect you. Well, you are solely unique. The other constructs didn’t come close. ”
“What were they like?” Levi asked as though he’d often wondered but never had the nerve to ask.
“You know the horses that draw the Emerald carriages?”
“Yes.”
“The horses have more personality. Come on now.” She motioned for them to join her in the back behind a curtain she parted. “We’ll want to keep this private in case anyone else comes in this morning.”
Levi’s awe turned to apprehension, palpably felt through Ashmedai’s maintained grip on his elbow. Ashmedai switched his grip to his other hand so he could smooth the first up and down the small of Levi’s back.
“You have nothing to fear,” he said. “Luccite simply wants a look at you. Perhaps what we discover can explain your… daydreams.” Ashmedai felt Levi sag into his touch. It would have been so easy to loop his arm around Levi’s waist and embrace him properly, but now wasn’t the time.
Behind the curtain was where Luccite treated and examined patients, where the walls were covered in bookshelves with even more tomes, jars, and tools than in the main shop. A table was in the center, padded for comfort and adjusted low to accommodate for Luccite’s short height.
“Sit, please.” She gestured Levi toward it. “I won’t ask you to fully undress, but I do need you to remove your tunic.”
Levi had started to move forward, completely out of Ashmedai’s grasp, but he froze and looked back nervously.
“Would you like me to leave?” Ashmedai asked.
“ No .” Levi’s eyes sprang wider than when Daedlys had mentioned the tunic. “I-I-I….” He let himself trail off and took a long, cleansing breath. “I… would prefer you stayed. I’ve just… never been undressed in front of anyone but Braxton before.”
“It’s an exam,” Luccite assured him, and then smirked in a way only a cat could, “not a courtship.”
Once the tunic was removed, the deep indigo Levi had turned, a common enough sight by now, proved to travel farther down his neck and chest than Ashmedai might have guessed.
Levi placed it and the music box beside him on the table as he sat, his eyes staying fixed on his hands clutched in front of him.
It wasn’t only the blush making Levi indigo, as some of his patches of skin were deeper blue than others, just as some were lighter, proving how he had been made from different parts.
Each piece was affixed to another with stitches, the sizing and shape complementing one another to make a cohesive whole. The stitches weren’t any unsightlier to Ashmedai on Levi’s arms and chest than they were on his face—or had been on his wrists. They were simply part of him.
Levi’s form was slender but well-muscled, and despite the stitches and azure color, he looked very human—or half-elven, Ashmedai supposed, since Levi’s ears had a slight point.
He was hairless and smooth, and Ashmedai had to resist the urge to move forward and touch Levi in a way that definitely wouldn’t be seen as examining over courtship.
Luccite got straight to work, letting Levi know everything she was about to do before she did it, though otherwise not making comments.
For the most part, she checked physical things, like Levi’s breathing, his reflexes, his heart—which caused Levi to squirm, since she listened to it with one of her sharp feline ears pressed to his chest, and the fur must have tickled.
All Levi’s reactions were normal for anyone living.
Eventually Luccite tried several colored powders on Levi’s skin, rubbing streak after streak on the back of his hand, gauging his reactions, but Levi had none.
“You eat and drink normally?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“You have a sense of taste? Of flavors?”
“Yes.”
“Do you sleep?”
“I do, but I don’t dream.”
“Yet you have daydreams?”
“I… I think that’s what they are.”
“Hmm.” Luccite stood back, scrutinizing Levi closely, and raised a hand, which slowly began to form a ball of pure white light above it. “ Finally, I’m going to cast a rune on you to test something special. You won’t feel anything other than slight warmth emanating from where the rune hovers.”
“To test my magical affinity?” Levi asked.
“We already know you have magic. A small amount, but some. This is something a little more complex to… understand your soul.”
That caused Levi to sit up straighter. He had relaxed more and more during the exam, occasionally casting Ashmedai timid yet grateful glances, but for the first time, he seemed visibly excited rather than nervous.
Luccite took the ball of light and used it to draw in the air in front of Levi’s chest a vertical line with two shorter lines branching from its top, and then a circle between the branches.
It glowed brighter at first and seemed about to change color, then suddenly began to rotate through many colors, one after the other, faster and faster, every color of the rainbow.
It even seemed to change shape into different runes, like a circle with a vertical line through it, then a circle with a horizontal line through it, then a jagged line that went down and up and down again.
All of it cycled so quickly, it was like the flicker of a candle, until it suddenly vanished—gone in a blink as though snuffed out.
“Huh,” Luccite commented as her arm dropped .
“What does it mean?” Levi asked.
“It may take further investigating,” Luccite said cryptically. “For now, I think it best if I speak with Ash privately.”
The disappointment was clear on Levi’s face. He wanted answers too, but there must be something very daunting about the rune’s reaction if Luccite wanted to talk to Ashmedai alone.
With a solemn nod, Levi got down from the table and replaced his tunic. After he reclaimed the music box, he went to Ashmedai. “I guess I’m still a mystery.”
“One I think we can solve. As for manning a festival booth”—Ashmedai took on a livelier tone, not wanting to completely neglect the ruse they had begun this on—“I think we can agree you can handle just about anything, but I do have something in mind for you if you’re interested. Do you know about Klarent’s booth?”
Levi answered with a wavering, “Y-yes.”
“Would you be willing to perform?”
“M-m-me?” he stuttered more. “With what?”
“Your illusions. You could tell a story with them, or simply give a light show. The crowd’s attention would mostly be on them, not you. What do you say? Only if you feel up to it. You are allowed to say no to me.”
Levi had come so far with beating his shyness, but beating one’s proclivities wasn’t always the answer. With Levi though, Ashmedai had seen the way he enjoyed entertaining Kenner and being amongst other people. If it was something Levi wanted, he should be able to work toward it.
Those same thoughts appeared to be swirling through Levi’s mind as he considered the request—did his desires outweigh his fears? When he had his answer, he looked at Ashmedai with a confident smile.
“I think I’d like that.”
“Wonderful. Why don’t you check in with Klarent about a time? Perhaps he and Daedlys will even have some suggestions for how you can use your illusions. I’ll see you soon.”
Levi nodded a farewell to Luccite. “Thank you again for the music box,” he said to Ashmedai, dithering a moment before finally lurching forward and pressing a tender kiss to Ashmedai’s cheek.
He hurried away before Ashmedai could properly respond, but where those lips had touched felt warm, and Ashmedai reached up to feel the spot with his fingers.
Luccite wore her usual sly smile when he turned to her.
“Well?” Ashmedai asked .
“One soul— many bodies.”
“We already knew that.” Ashmedai frowned. “Brax used alchemy to create and animate constructs, in this case many pieces to create a better whole. The mystery is why Levi has a soul.”
“You’re not listening.” Luccite shook her head. “He has one soul and many parts, yes—but parts that were all once attached to bodies with souls of their own. The pieces aren’t from replicated constructs, Ash. Levi was made from multiple real people.”