Aneh gave a nod to her assistant as she stood in front of the glass case holding almost identical stones of materia. Her assistant stood at the ready, already beginning to weave her spell of replenishment. Aneh frowned a bit and held up a hand, halting her assistant as she spied the entry of one of the guards. She motioned the guard forward having him halt at the edge of the safety circle. 'What is it?' Aneh asked, her frown still in place. 'You've been promoted Ma'am,' the guard stated. Aneh raised a brow, tilting her head, 'Oh?' Aneh listened to the report the guard gave on Mason, her frown running deeper. Damn, was all she could think. Damn him, and Damn Vector. When the guard told Aneh she had been promoted to leader, Aneh's only response was a curt, tight lipped nod. Forcing herself to breathe evenly, Aneh brought her thoughts back to the present and she murmured a dismissal to the guard.
Aneh swung her eyes back to the case in front of her. She dismissed her assistant and grabbed a stone firmly in each hand. Before she could even second guess her decision she let her energy burst into the stones. She quickly clapped the stones together forming one continuous loop of energy which she quickly built and built, higher and higher, her entire body heating up.
Aneh's assistant quickly left the safety circle, her eyes wide as she felt the force of the energy flow that Aneh was using. Aneh let all of her anger and frustration build the energy she focused into the stones. Her eyes fluttered closed somewhere in the process and she pried them back open, feeling the glow that radiated from them. She felt every hot breath that escaped her lips and every pulse of energy that flowed into one hand, up her arm, swirling frantically through her body and rush down into her other hand and the stone it held. She tensed as a flutter began in her stomach and she stopped pushing, allowing the frantic flood of magic to continue. She was extremely aware of the heat that built in the stones, linked to the heat that built in her stomach. Her eyes stared into the stones, seeing not their current form, but what was within, the essence they held. Aneh glimpsed the life that had lived. She felt what that soul had felt. She experienced the life of the soul in a few beats of her own heart, and in some way shared her own frustration, pain, and love with the soul. Aneh's assistant felt a waver in the energy and against her dismissal from the circle, she re-entered, uttering words of replenishment. The flow became steady once again.
The heat of the stones grew, and Aneh let out a loud cry, so deep in the sharing of the moment was she that she had not realized the stones were burning the palms of her hands. The fluttering in her stomach made her ill and she hastily dropped the stones, just in time as a brilliant green light filled the immediate area. The stones cracked and split, and Aneh leaned to the side, promptly expelling the entire contents of her stomach on the polished floor. She held her hands upward, their blistered palms pulsing with pain.
Mentally Aneh reprimanded herself. She stood up straight, ignoring the pain in her hands as she looked down upon the stones piled on the silken material and felt a weight of responsibility settle around her shoulders. 'Shall I call for the healer?' her assistant asked, obviously unsure of herself with the way Aneh was acting. Aneh peeled her eyes away from the now four stones and looked over to the lich.
'Thank you for stepping in,' Aneh murmured to her assistant, ignoring the question of the healer. 'One more push and we should be ready to move forward.' Aneh slumped a bit, and curled her burnt and blistered hands into fists. 'There are matters I need to see to. Please see that everything gets closed up.' Without waiting for a response, Aneh marched from the room.
