HP: Spirit Talker

POV Afiri

The girl examined the huge artifact with undisguised interest. Yes, an artifact, at least she was sure that this was the most appropriate definition, since spell chambers, ritual halls, and so on all had a single original function, but there were many "subtasks" that such rooms could perform.

But this room, as Sora explained, had one function, it was designed to perform only one function, and that was enough. In a way, even this single function was enough to keep the secret of the Artifact Room's existence a closely guarded secret. Afiri understood this as well as anyone, and so she supported her lord in his decision to keep this secret even from the household... until a certain time, or maybe even longer — depending on how things turned out.

The girl shifted her gaze to her future husband (the thought never left the girl's mind, she was proud of herself, deservedly so), who stood inside the control loop, and in front of him several translucent illusions floated, showing all the information about the current project.

Why Sora was so attached to the volumetric illusions that he used them whenever possible, the girl never quite understood. After much deliberation, she even turned to the source of the question, but he replied with a poorly understood, "Well, they're holograms! Cool!", so the questions remained. Still, she couldn't help but be proud of what her master had created, there were no rumors of such a thing, only occasional dreams of such a thing, but each time it ended in general laughter.

Afiri had never thought that she would be able to watch the creation and then the work of such a unique invention, and so she was proud of the man and glad that she was destined to take a place near this man.

The work went on for more than two hours, and all the time Sora carefully studied each hieroglyph (here the girl once again seriously thought about learning the native language of the Lord, but somehow before there was not much free time, now it will be possible to attract to the new idea and station, and in this field even closer, to become friends), made notes in the work journal, to which he often returned, something corrected, something added. In general, he worked seriously, it seems that he even forgot that he was not alone in the room. But Afiri would never have believed it — the gentleman's memory was strong, and his eyes were bright and keen on everything that belonged to him.

The boy made another mark, frowned thoughtfully, turned his eyes to the side, moved his fingers in the air and another "window" appeared in front of him — that's what the master called it, and the girl realized that the name was appropriate (Afiri was not familiar with the Muggle world, so she had never heard of the latest inventions and breakthroughs in the field of electronics), perfectly fitting in its meaning. For several minutes, the new window filled rapidly with rows of hieroglyphs, completely incomprehensible symbols, some graphs and diagrams.

For a few more minutes, the guy watched with visible tension as some calculations took place, and the girl barely managed to notice, his lips moved subtly, as if he was reading in his voice or talking to someone invisible. It somehow affected the process, as several times the graphs changed dramatically, the columns (of which there were more than a dozen) were hectic, some even disappeared completely. Despite the fact that the girl did not quite understand what was going on, she was fascinated by the process, so Afiri did not feel tired or bored, she even blinked very rarely — just so as not to miss this moment. And she didn't miss it.

For a moment, Sora froze, blinking often, somehow even confused, his eyebrows raised. But he frowned again and began to check the information, obviously comparing something, but the more time passed, the more a genuine surprise appeared on his face. The girl even smiled involuntarily — at that moment, her master looked exactly his age, not as usual as if he were ten years older. If not even more.

— It can't be... — Sora murmured softly, but there was almost no other sound in the room, except for the faint but not too loud humming coming from the surrounding columns, which created rays of light, and in the center of their crosshairs floated the artifact.

— Master? — Afiri already understood everything, but as she had been taught, men liked to show off and to be praised, and that was true despite all excuses and pretenses. And the girl knew exactly what to do to make a man feel like a man, the head of the family, the house, the clan, and so on.

— Strange as it may sound, but it seems that everything is ready... — The man said without taking his eyes off the windows, and his voice was not even surprised, but rather shocked.

— But isn't it normal for work to come to its logical conclusion?

— Yes, — the guy nodded and flicked his fingers in the air, creating several new arrays, graphs that quickly froze with a result similar to the final one (Afiri couldn't read Japanese characters and their older version, so she couldn't tell if the result was exactly the same or not).

— But I didn't expect to finish so quickly, — the boy rubbed his face with his palms, trying to cheer himself up. The girl knew that her master had spent the whole night making some strange parts on his 'Universal Workbench', teaching Kiriko how to work with it, and in the early morning, when the girl came to him, they had come down here together. — It was a non-trivial matter, you know, and I managed to solve it in a couple of days. — Sora shook his head. — That's hard to believe.

— It only proves how bright your mind is, sir, — the girl bowed slightly, nodding rather, her whole voice expressing sincere respect. — Only a truly brilliant man is able to solve a problem he could only dream of, and even then only as a joke. You, sir, have just proved how superior you are to all those who are destined to look down upon you and who dream of reaching only your shadow...

The girl was expecting a reaction. She knew that any man would be pleased by such words, and when a gentleman is pleased, he becomes kind and generous. For the next few minutes, no one in the room spoke a word, but then the boy's soft voice was heard.

— I'm glad to hear you say that, Aphiri, you have only 'slightly' embellished reality. I am pleased with your attitude towards me, honestly, but I ask you to stop trying to inflate my ego to astonishing proportions, — the girl knew how to keep a straight face, so that her cautious misgivings didn't show in any way, but it was an old reflex, developed in the Dead Clan.

Here, she had noticed some time ago that her master did not need to look into the eyes of the person he was talking to to sense his attitude and feelings towards the topic under discussion. The girl suspected (but said nothing to anyone, of course) that the master had some special gift of mind magic or something that allowed him, if not to read thoughts, then to read the hearts of others.

So she was not surprised when Sora started to talk like that, without looking at the person he was talking to, but she clearly knew how the person felt about his words. It should be added that, according to the girl's observations, her lord is quite cautious and disguises his gift, hiding it so that many people would not even suspect something like that. Sora continued.

— Pride is good, but pride is not good for you — remember that. — A short, questioning look over his shoulder cut her off, and Afiri bowed her head deeply. — You've shown yourself to be someone I can trust, someone I can count on, and I would hate to see you be the cause of a rift in our family one day.

The girl's eyes widened, she felt frightened and hurt: she had never thought of betraying the man who had given her a new life, new opportunities, and most importantly, as much freedom as was possible for a woman of the Pureblood line. Afiri even wanted to cry, but she had been taught in the Dead Clan not to cry — the Lord did not like tears, so a wise woman shed them only in very rare cases, when it was allowed, otherwise it would cause a wave of irritation, even punishment.

The girl was not sure that there were enough skilled mages in this cold and damp land to remove the traces of punishment, and scars on a woman's skin never attracted understandable male interest. The girl didn't want to be overlooked by her future husband, so she had to be very careful not to be punished.

— I see you don't know what I mean, — the boy turned to her and looked into her eyes. — I don't know what it was like in your homeland, and I don't really care, but I've seen what unreasonable pride, fostered in clan members from the time they were in diapers, can do. You've seen it too. — The girl nodded briefly under the questioning gaze. — I don't want my sons and daughters to decide one day that they are "gods", that they are perfect and infallible and can therefore do whatever they want. That human morality was not for them because they were "above". — Afiri disagreed — she had never aspired to such a thing and had never even thought of it. The boy seemed to realize that as well.

— You don't understand. Pride should be grounded, best if it's based on personal achievements, but a clan base is good too. A man should strive to better himself, he can be helped, yes, but in no case should his ego be diminished by the fact that he is exceptional only by birthright — it is still necessary to prove whether he is worthy of the high right to be called part of something greater or not. — The girl frowned, drawing parallels from her past.

— Remember what I just told you and think about it. — The boy smiled wearily. — But later. Right now, get some rest — we're in, — the guy looked at the watch on his arm. — Five hours to the Malfoys, and I'll need you strong and fresh.

— And you, Master? — The girl inquired quietly, concerned for the boy's own rest.

— I'm going to take a nap too, I'll finish up here and go, — the boy yawned infectiously. -Come on, go ahead.

— Yes, sir. — The girl bowed and left the room.

Yes, she had a lot to think about....