Eranae stood at the edge of a high cliff on the southern slope of Mount Fanaril. She had removed her tunic and now stood bare-chested, facing the sky with her arms spread open. Her cherry-blonde hair were left open and flowed in the cold wind that Eranae somehow didn't seem to notice.
Pearl was at some distance from her, sitting cross-legged atop a rock outcrop near the cliff. It was cold and the winds were strong. He had been required to do some awkward explaining to do to his mother on why he had to take the foreign girl to the mountain. Apparently, there were more ways to gain lifesong other than eating and resting, or absorbing it from plants. His mother had heard about this and apparently allowed him to go. She had taken quite a liking to Eranae, who wasn't arrogant or insufferable as high born Cerhin were rumored to be.
And Eranae was highborn indeed. He could tell it by simply looking at her. The tall stature, athletic built and the fact that she was not a simple lifesinger. Eranae was a song-master, a lifesinger who was trained to manipulate all of the four primal songs. This alone meant that she was from a family wealthy enough to afford such an education. Being a song-master, she was capable of replenishing her lifesong by attuning and absorbing rhythm of any of the other three songs. Eranae, on their way up to the mountain, had informed him that she would be harvesting skysong to regain enough lifesong for evoking the mind seal.
Pearl wasn't sure about Eranae's affiliation to the wind god. He had heard stories about relics of immense power with gods and demons inside them but to find one was absolutely baffling. Eranae was transporting it somewhere, or at least keeping it away from the Elaia who were interested enough in it to besiege a major trading city. But how did Eranae come across it? Pearl thought. It wasn't a family heirloom because Rel had told him that she had no memory of binding with anyone called Celenor before. That intrigued Pearl, there were things that Eranae hadn't told him and well, he hadn't clearly asked. For now, he looked at her, trying to comprehend what she was doing.
"She is a looker, indeed," Rel's voice whispered in his ear, "If you are into the less-endowed type of girls, I mean."
Less-endowed was a roughly accurate term for Eranae, at least in the feminine construct. She had a body that, due to extensive use of lifesong for physical prowess, was built more like a man's. Her chest was little larger than his own, but lack of feminine endowment was compensated by a ripped physique. Pearl had once considered himself muscular, but that was before he had seen Eranae with her lifesong somewhat restored. She wasn't bulky but had well-defined muscles that were developed with lifesong specifically to allow her combat-efficiency.
"She is alright," Pearl said in his mind so that only Rel could hear, "Who am I to judge anyway?"
"You are the one staring at her with gawking eyes." Rel noted.
"That's because I want to see how she is absorbing skysong!" Pearl justified, "It's not as if I like her or anything. At least not in the way you are implying."
"That makes me happy," Rel told him, "Because that woman is the most discourteous, disrespectful and crass person I have ever had the displeasure of being bound to. I am glad that you binded me, you are kind enough to chat with me."
"It's hard to ignore someone who is right in the back of your head." Pearl joked, "But what is a mind seal?"
"I don't exactly know about it." Rel informed, "It is something that she and my previous binder had used to prevent me from communicating with them."
"I figured that much," Pearl thought back, "But how does it work?"
"It has something to do with lifesong, I think," Rel replied, "Similar to stages of binding."
"And what are those?" Pearl sighed.
"Ah, ignorant kid," Rel sighed back, "The stages of binding allow you to use different abilities that are ingrained into the weapon by me. To reach a stage, you need to have a specific amount of lifesong. You already had enough to reach the second stage directly when you binded me."
"That's interesting," Pearl commented, "What abilities do I gain at this stage?"
"Nothing special," Rel answered, "Your lifesinger abilities with cost less lifesong to work and you will be harder to kill....do you sense it? An increased energy surging inside of you."
"What?" Pearl wasn't pleased to go off-topic but then, he felt it too. A burst of lifesong inside him pulsed his rhythms. It was making him euphoric. He looked at Eranae, who had begun walking back in his direction. She seemed to radiate a strong aura, much stronger than she had before. Then it struck his mind, the idea that her absorption of lifesong increased the amount present in not just her, but in both of them.
"Pearl, my boy!" Rel squeaked in joy, "You have reached the third stage! That was the stage she was on before our merry detour."
Pearl didn't feel that different, but something did tinge inside him, energizing him. Eranae had reached the outcrop he sat on. She had put her tunic back on, but didn't seem to need it anymore.
"Relkanar'idelan," she spoke, looking at Pearl, "I am now going to revoke the mind seal."