Chapter 3: Lumara

Summary: Buckle up Freyja, it's Big Feelings Time

I still own nothing :)

Freyja yawned and stretched as she touched down in the town square. As she consulted her list, she managed a quick smile or a wave to some of the other elves she knew that were at the market. "Miss Freyja! Miss Freyja!" A small voice pipped up, and a small hand tugged on her wing. She turned, finding two young Skywing elves with shy smiles on their faces.

"Hello Emi, Laufey, what can I do for ya?"

"Can you do the wind thing?" The older girl asked, her little sister by her side.

Freyja smiled. "Of course. Aspiro," she blew a small gust of wind into both the girls' faces, blowing back their hair and causing giggles. The two girls ran off back to their mother's stall, the elven woman displaying finely-woven cloaks and scarves.

"Did you hear about Peregrine's boy?" Freyja overheard two women chat with each other in the next market stall.

"Fionn? You mean how he claims to have seen a falling star? My kids have barely been able to talk about anything else since," the mother chuckled. "Practically begging me and my wife to take them out to the west mountains so they can go find it themselves."

The conversation turned to other topics, but the mage's mind was racing. A fallen star…?

Through a combination of desperation and sleep deprivation, the apprentice thought that right then and there was obviously the best moment to go and try and find it.

Ibis watched the rainfall, worrying his lip. It had been hours, but still no sign of Freyja.

"She still hasn't come back yet from the market?"

"She did," The older mage sighed. "With absolutely none of the things she said she'd get. Instead, grabbing something from her room and taking off again."

Callum shook his head, and closing the tome on Ancient Draconic. It's not like he would be able to focus on it anyway. "I noticed, she seems to be acting strangely the past week? Looking tired, and absent-minded about things. Like her brain is just off somewhere else."

The Skywing sat down at the table. "Yes, I've noticed that too. Freyja can be…stubborn, at times. Normally it helps her when things get difficult, like when she spent an entire week translating everything she said into Ancient Draconic to get a better feel for the language," he chuckled. "But other times," his gaze went back towards the window.

The prince looked outside, shrugged off his coat, and decided that he had to do something about this.

Freyja bit out every curse word she knew in elvish and Draconic, her wings beating as she tried to make it home.

The rain was coming down hard and heavy, with lighting splitting the sky every few seconds. Even as a sky mage, Freyja's heart was beating hard and fast on her chest. She was clutching her apron to her chest for dear life, unwilling to risk either of its contents, even as she was pelted with rain. Flying half-blind and already exhausted, the winged elf was futily trying to navigate her way through the storm. That was when she heard something.

"Freyja!"

She turned. Was that—no. No way.

Streaking through the sky towards her was a large, brown feathered, annoying human mage named Callum. Of all the bloody times.

"Freyja, oh man am I glad that I found you."

"What are you bloody doing out here?!" She demanded. Had he used some sort of tracking spell, or was her luck just that lousy?

"What am I—what are you doing out here?!" He demanded as rain and lightning came down around them.

"That's not—" Lightning came down, splintering a tall pine not ten feet from them. The teenagers gasped and startled away.

"We need to get out of here, now!" The prince was not asking.

Freyja scanned the surrounding terrain. "There!" She gestured to a nearby cave, and soon the two young magi were swooping down towards the entrance.

The cave was barely taller than they were, but it was dry, and that would have to do for now. The two soaked teens used some quick applications of Aspiro to dry themselves off. Then the yelling started.

"What were you doing out here?" Callum repeated his earlier question. "You could have been killed!" The crack of lightning seemed to hammer down the seriousness.

Groaning in pain, the mage's gaze was unfocused as she finally looked at him. "Like you care."

"Hey, I almost died flying out here in this weather. You could at least give me an explanation!"

The two stared each other down for a long moment. Freyja blinked first.

"Because," she started, reaching into her apron, "I was trying to repair this." She revealed the cracked primal stone, its presence giving them a bit more light.

Callum gasped. "Is that a—"

"Primal stone? Yes. It contains the power of a meteor storm—ancient elves used to gaze into their future, to use star magic. Now it's little more than a pretty paperweight." She gestured to the crack in its side and sat down on the cave floor, laying the stone on her lap and spreading out her black wings behind her. "I found it while cleaning out Ibis' study, and I thought if I could just get it to work then," she huffed, "then I could finally do something you couldn't." Freyja glared. "You're the freaking wonder-boy, and I'm sick of it!"

The prince's expression changed. "Are you saying that because I'm—"

"It's not because you're a human," Freyja cut off. "It's because you just get it. Nubelis, my favorite spell? It took me two days to trace the rune right, and another week of practice to get a handle on controlling the cloud. It's a tricky spell and I was really, really proud of myself for patiently figuring it out. Then I show it to you once and you get it in one go." Deep breath in, deep breath out, the venom draining out of her, her gaze falling to the floor. "I've been studying sky magic for longer, but you're already better at it than me." The mage curled into herself further.

The prince looked at her, listening and thinking about what she said. "You were frustrated with yourself, that you couldn't do more. I get that." She snorted. "No, really! It took me awhile to find magic, something that I was actually good at. After getting the primal stone, an entire new world opened up in front of me…then I had to break it."

"Had to?" Freyja looked over at him, eyebrow raised.

"Long story, we needed to hatch Zym quickly and apparently sky dragons can only hatch in the eye of a storm. Afterward I felt lost and frustrated like I couldn't do anything anymore. I almost died trying to connect myself to the sky arcanum..." He looked to the mouth of the cave, just in time to see another flash of lightning among the dark clouds. "But this isn't about me. You were frustrated and desperate…but you shouldn't risk your life."

He looked back at her. "So why, specifically did you fly out into the storm."

"To get this." Reaching again into her apron, she pulled out a shiny ore.

"That's a…real nice rock you got there." Callum tried.

"It's not just a rock, it's a meteorite. A fallen star. I'd hoped," she sighed. "I don't know what I was thinking, but I thought it would help. Maybe absorb the power or something but," She clinked the meteorite and the primal stone together. "Yeah, nothing."

The prince thought about this…maybe Freyja was on the right track. "Hey, could I see the primal stone?"

"Uh, sure?"

She gently handed it over. Callum then pulled something out of his pack. Some kind of…handheld cube? Inscribed with the symbols of the six primal sources, the star sign began to glow when he held it up to the primal stone.

"Uh, what is that? And why is it glowing?"

"It's uh…key thing? My dad left it for me, it apparently belonged to an elven archmage a long time ago." He shrugged. "It can sense the presence of magic, and the fact that it's glowing means that this stone still has primal magic inside of it, the crack just means that you can't get it out for whatever reason."

"Archmage Andromeda figured it was something like that."

"Ah, who?"

"She was Ibis' teacher—and the one who discovered the primal stone in the first place." That was when an idea struck her. "Hey, let me see that cube-thing." Callum handed it over.

With a smile, she watched as the star sigil began to shine "Well, it seems this hasn't been a waste after all…"

Not long after the storm cleared Ibis's students returned. The Skywing mage was relieved to see them safe, but barely had time to tell them that before the teenagers were rushing upstairs to the workshop saying they had to work on something.

That had been a few hours ago. Now, they were up in Freyja's room discussing something. He caught snippets of the conversation as he passed by their door.

"Wouldn't star magic be the best choice?"

"Theoretically, yes. Unfortunately, we basically know jack about star magic, other than it's used to like, see into the future and whatever."

"Okay, what about the other primal sources? Though I guess moon magic is out right away."

"Yeah, moon magic is basically just illusions so it would just look fixed, not actually repaired."

"Earth magic?"

Okay, that's it. "What are you two working on?" He asked, opening up the door. The first thing he registered was the somewhat startled look on their faces at him just barging in. Then the familiar broken primal stone on the table told him all he needed to know.

"Callum, Freyja," Ibis sighed. "My master dedicated years of her life to trying and failing to repair that stone. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you don't want to waste your time on a pointless endeavor."

"Yes, but did your master have this?" Callum questioned, pointing to something on the table.

"…that's a rock."

"No—well, technically yes—but even more technically it's a meteorite." The younger elf explained, smiling.

"A meteorite that radiates with star magic," Callum elaborated. Rubbing his chin, the older mage considered…could it really be that simple?

"I believe that if this meteorite ore is melted down and fused with the remains of the primal stone, maybe it'll finally work again."

Ibis considered for a long moment. "...in terms of magical theory, it's solid. It's the details of primal stones that bother me. The process of making them has largely been lost, and with how little we know about the star arcanum…you're really in unexplored territory."

"We also have nothing to lose if we're wrong."

"I doubt it's as simple as running down to the nearest blacksmith's forge. We're working with ancient and delicate magic here."

The prince nodded. "Exactly…and aren't some of the best enchanters in Xadia working at the Sunforge?"

The ones that are still alive, yes. "Well, yes, but—"

He continued, undeterred. "And I don't think the magic they use would be incompatible because isn't the sun basically just another type of star?"

"Again, yes," Freyja acknowledged. "But, it isn't that simple. You don't just go to the Sunforge and ask someone to do something. You have to know people, very important people."

"Well lucky for us, I know someone who would probably at least hear us out." He smiled.

She crossed her arms. "And who would that be?"

"Janai, the new Sunfire queen."

Freyja chortled, turning to her master to share in the laughter, only to see the look on his face. "Oh, you're not joking."

From there, everything happened quickly. First, Callum sent a letter to Lux Aurea, and the next thing Freyja knew, they were flying to the city of the sun elves and standing before the throne.

Callum did the introductions, and then the two of them took turns speaking; showcasing the meteorite and the broken primal stone, explaining their theory, what they wanted to do, and why such a project would be beneficial.

"…and with how rare primal stones are, it is undoubtedly beneficial to repair the ones we do still have. It could even, perhaps, help us re-discover the process of forging such objects." Freyja did her best not to stammer under the intense gaze of the Sunfire Queen and was (mostly) successful. Callum was completely unperturbed, the lucky prince.

Janai considered, gazing at the two teenagers. Her face soon shifted into a soft smile. "It is a worthy project, and success or failure, it should not take our metalworkers long to complete. You have my blessing and my permission."

They bowed.

"Oh and, Prince Callum?"

He turned back. "Yes, your Majesty?"

"…do send my regards to General Amaya."

Callum smiled, and assured her that he would. Freyja couldn't help but feel she was missing something, but it probably didn't matter. By royal decree, the pair were to have free access to the Sunforge. Less than a day later, the pair watched, enraptured, as artisans fired up their crucibles and began their work.

When all was done, the metal had filled in the cracks of the primal stone like kintsugi, the ancient storm whole once more. The blacksmith had practically smacked the apprentices' hands away from it as the metal cooled.

Now, here they were, the moment of truth.

Callum gave a 'go ahead' gesture, and Freyja wasn't about to be told twice. The Skywing mage smiled as she picked up the fallen star, feeling the power in the palm of her hand.

"Now then, let's see if we can't do a bit of star magic, aye?"

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Gripping the primal stone in her left hand, Freyja traced out a rune with her right. It was purple and shaped like a lantern.

"Lumara."

A ball of light appeared, floating above her open palm. Freyja stared, then laughed out of disbelief and joy. The pair's excitement only grew as they found that the ball followed the direction of one's hand. It was so simple, really just a basic light spell—a basic starlight spell.

"Let me try! Let me try!"

"Okay!" Freyja closed her hand, dismissing the light, and passed the primal stone to Callum. Giddy, he traced out the lantern rune, and cast Lumara for himself.

"We know star magic."

"We know star magic!"

The two mages giggled, going back and forth summoning and un-summoning their small light sources. That was how Rayla and Janai found them ten minutes later, still summoning lights and talking about star magic.

"Am I interrupting something?" The dragonguard asked with a fond smile.

"Yeah! We figured out how to repair a primal stone!" Callum geeked out. "A primal stone. Not that I'm not happy to see you, because I am and—" he laughed. "What are you doing here?"

"Officially, I'm here to debrief Her Majesty about the developments at the Storm Spire. Unofficially, I heard you were in the city," The pair kissed.

Freyja blinked, glancing over to the queen, a question in her eyes. Janai nodded. Okay then, well, that was a thing.

"But a primal stone, that's really impressive. What can't you do, Callum?"

Freyja's gaze fell, looking to the meteor storm in her hands. Deep breath in, deep breath out. "You deserve this, Callum. Really."

The prince stared at her for a long moment before his expression softened. "I can't take this."

Freyja blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"You're the one who did all of the research, flew out into the storm to go after the meteorite—"

"She wha' now?"

"—And figured out that it was connected to the star arcanum. I just helped get us into the Sunforge. As far as I'm concerned, the primal stone is yours." He smiled, pressing the stone back to her. Freyja well and truly didn't know what to say, cradling the primal stone close to her chest.

"Although, I wouldn't say no to maybe stopping by some time and getting a few star magic lessons…" he teased.

Freyja smiled. "Okay, have some patience, friend. But sure, someday."

Alright then! We've reached the end of this particular story. I've had fun writing it, and have had plenty of lovely responses from you wonderful people! As always, if you like what you've read here, comment below and let me know!

(And don't worry, this isn't the last we've seen of Freyja)