The sun had moved across the sky, as she always did, gently beginning her descent by the time Keene had finished tending to the sapling. Atziri had told him she would be along before the sun set, which gave him perhaps a bell or two for his own devices. The lonely barrenness of the plateau, save the single mound of now watered earth, did not inspire him to much action. He rose up, dusting off his pants before padding around to investigate his surroundings in a more intimate fashion. When he'd first arrived, the task at hand had taken priority above his own safety, something he realized as he made his way across the flat outcropping of land was a fine mindset in Zeltiva but not so beneficial in Sahova. There didn't appear to be anything too threatening in the trees and rocks below, which he figured made sense as he hadn't been interrupted since he'd arrived. Several of the strange, white birds he'd seen around the island that were not seagulls had perched in a tree a good distance away, but beyond that he was the sole living, mobile creature on the mountain within his range of sight.
Content that there was no immediate danger to his life, Keene returned to his dig site, staring down at the darkened earth with a contemplative frown. He'd never been one for gardening, and though he felt as though the watering had been adequate, there was the chance it wasn't. Still, just like all things, Keene figured too much would be potentially as harmful as too little, so he turned on his heels to face out towards the vista, putting the tree out of his mind for the time being. The golden hues of the sun's rays pushed their way through spots in the cloud cover, falling down to the rolling landscape below like strange, angled pillars leading up to the sky. It was more eerie than majestic, however, and Keene didn't let his eyes linger upon them. Instead, he eased himself down into a seated position. His muscles, having had a taste of rest, were quick to remind him that movement was not something his body was keen upon enacting. More comfortable with his hands and bottom supporting his weight rather than purely his legs, Keene leaned back, gazing into the hazy, spotted sky above him. Finding little of interested in the typically stagnant firmament, Keene let out a tired breath, shifting his weight to stick a hand into his pocket and withdraw several almonds that he tossed into his mouth.
Chewing placidly on the nuts, Keene regretted not bringing his water flask. While it was possible for him to simply transmute water into his mouth, it was something he had long since decided was to be done only if necessary. For the time being, he resigned himself to being uncomfortably thirsty, a state of being he would rectify upon his return to his chambers. Finishing off his small handful of food, Keene eased himself more forward, straightening his back and setting his hands onto his knees. He figured he had time enough to work on creating a shield once more, though the process behind it was still new and confusing to him.
The first time he'd done so had been the day before after an extensive amount pestering from his master. It had ended with the strange sensation of his Djed being projected outside of his body. Having never manipulated his Djed beyond transmuting it into res, Keene found the process of recreating the event to be both frustrating and difficult. With the constant interruption of Atziri's slaps, Keene had been forced to project his Djed rather than res, however in the silence and peace of the plateau's solitude, he found it even more difficult than before. With his mind clear and his breathing uninterrupted, Keene had trouble not producing res. He was able to get to the point just before he released it before stopping and trying again. Each time, the sensation was exactly the same as it was when he used reimancy - a sensation that was entirely wrong for what he was attempting to accomplish.
Deciding on a different tactic, Keene took a pile of dirt and dropped the dusty earth down the back of his shirt. The resulting irritation was enough to make him grimace. With the nearly unbearable sensation of the small clumps of dirt catching against the sodden shirt on his back, Keene attempted once more to produce a shield. His plan was unsuccessful, however, as it only served to make doing anything at all more difficult, rather than induce the proper opening of channels to release his Djed rather than his res. Moving a hand to flap the shirt against his skin in a vain attempt to remove what dirt he could, he set his lips into a determined frown. Keeping his eyes open, Keene attempted to visualize his Djed rising from his hands. It was a tactic he had never thought to employ with res, as the act came easy enough to him that he no longer had to rely on such basic applications of magic. To create a shield, however, was different enough from producing res that Keene thought it might help to imagine what it would look like and attempt to recreate the mental image rather than just attempting to push the Djed out of his body.
Willing his Djed to shift, Keene attempted to release what was stored in his hands into the air in front of him. He sat still and straining for several chimes, sweat tricking down the corner of his face, the itching sensation on his back a constant reminder of the dirt he'd deposited there. There was a short, rushing sensation as a flash of opalescent hue burst in front of his hands for a moment before fading away into the empty air. Startled, Keene blinked several times at his hands in surprise before letting his brows knit. It had been a sudden sort of experience, different than the gentle flow of res, however it was not nearly as different from reimancy as he had first believed. The control over his res had been gained through excessive and repetitive training. He doubted a new reimancer would be able to produce the substance as fluidly as he, and he reasoned creating shields with his Djed was much the same. It had appeared sudden because he had almost no control over it. He couldn't extend the amount of time it existed, as he had little idea how it had gotten there in the first place.
Drawing in another breath, he attempted once more. He kept his breathing natural, but did his best to focus on the feeling of his Djed within his body and his will to change it over anything else. Easing back on the strain he'd first placed on himself, Keene instead attempted to "open up" his Djed to the outside world. He let the weight of gravity on his hands and arms pull against the Djed contained within him, hoping to draw it out through passivity rather than an overactive application of force. It was longer and more drawn out of a process, but after a solid ten chimes of attempting to do so - breaks were taken at approximate intervals of three chimes - the opalescent light reappeared once more. This time, it slowly faded into view before fading away, the colors dancing vivid against the drab background of the landscape below. Letting his arms rest on his knees, Keene stared at the spot where the shield had faded. It was a curious sort of magic, and though it was more similar than he'd first believed to reimancy, there was a strange, passive sense about it that made it feel much more benign than the exciting, dangerous rush of exhilaration that came with reimancy.
There came from behind him the sound of rustling, though faint, it carried over the silence with ease to alight on Keene's attention. Struggling to stand up, Keene quickly stretched out his arms and back in a few, sweeping motions. He figured the intruder to be Atziri, but she had warned him of the dangers of the island in such a way that the prospect of another being aside from the two of them who might be out and about was not out of the question. Having already disregarded his personal safety for the day prior, Keene decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Preparing to release his Djed into the more comfortable form of res, he readied himself for a fight. His time spent with Mella had not given him the most laudable combat abilities, but it had taught him that magic certainly gave those who were prepared an upper hand.
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