I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 234: She wished the guardian goodbye and closed her eyes, opening them again when she lay in her own bed.
She wished the guardian goodbye and closed her eyes, opening them again when she lay in her own bed. Penelope awoke and felt good about talking to the Guardian. It was a confusing conversation but in it’s own way it helped clarify things.
She got up and began getting dressed, annoyed by he cast but relieved there was no pain. The fact that the guardian saw few people adding memories to the whole of the lake made her feel marginally better. ‘I suppose if they are all trained from the time they are children they don’t need the memories.’
The memory chain seemed to be a back up system in case the regular training failed. It did worry her that it seemed people accepted what was instead of looking at what could be. She wondered if that was strategic or laziness. In the past few years a lot must have changed for the magical comminitu. Before they were hidden and thought mostly to be fictional. No one really believed they were magical but then they saved the Emperor and went not only from fiction to reality but became favored and celebrated by those in power.
‘Well some of them,’ Penelope thought. There were a few less enthusiastic about those with magic. Even before Penelope developed magic herself a lot of it sounded like sour grapes. People were upset about those with magic because they didn’t have magic themselves.
She shook off the thought and tried to figure out what would be appropriate to wear to Lenore’s. She didn’t want to dress up too much, but at the same time she expected her jeans and hoodie combo wouldn’t be appreciated.
She went with slacks and a nice blouse and flats. Penelope may have her arm healed but the recent attacks were too fresh for her to contemplate shoes she couldn’t run in if need be.
She dressed and had toast for breakfast. After she settled herself to read while she waited for Lenore to send the car. The morning passed quietly and Penelope found herself enjoying the book on symbols and their creation. She found herself looking forward to making them herself. She also learned that the process of joining multiple symbols in the way the charm Jerome won from Peter had was more difficult than simply etching them on the metal and casting a spell.
The symbols had to be layered. There needed to be an etching and then a layering of spells before another symbol was etched. Some symbols could cancel each other out if placed too close together, others needed some sort of connecting symbol. To create a charm with one symbol was fairly easy. To create a charm with even two symbols was a great deal harder. The effort and time didn’t just double it quadrupled. Thinking of the charm taken by Agent Michaelson she knew a significant amount of time and resources would have been employed.
‘It would have taken over a year,’ Penelope thought. Contemplating charms, she slipped the charm festooned bracelet on her wrist and added the necklace with the luck charm just in case. She wasn’t sure it was fully recharged, but she liked wearing it regardless.
As Penelope heard the car pull up outside and went downstairs, she realized that it couldn’t have been just one person making the charm. ‘There has to be a team.’
She went outside and confirmed that the driver was sent by Lenore. Given the recent difficulties, Lenore sent her a pass phrase so she would know there were no interlopers.
Ten til Midnight 