It took almost an hour to get to the aqueduct where Maril had left off a few days before. The main highway started out relatively smooth but got progressively rougher as the carriage traveled farther from the city.
Maril fell asleep for part of the trip, even with Bert excitedly looking out first one window and then the other window. She slept for all or part of the majority of her long carriage rides.
She woke up as the carriage bounced off the bumpy road onto an even rougher path. Looking out the window she could see the aqueduct across a field of swaying heads of grain.
“There it is,” she said to Bert who was looking out the other window. “That’s the East Farming District aqueduct.”
Burt scuttled across the bench to look out the window with her, “It has been following along beside the highway for quite some time while you were sleeping. It’s so tall.”
She nodded, “Yeah. And it is really old. The Council Assignment Officers talk about the old aqueduct as if the upkeep of the runes is the only reason it is still standing. Not all the city’s aqueducts are so old.”
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes while Owen guided the carriage down the path towards the aqueduct. The grain was tall enough around the narrow path that she could have reached out the window and grabbed a head of it.
Then they turned, bouncing along beside the aqueduct. Bert was squinting out the window, “So you are refreshing the magic on the base of the pillars, right? How do you know which one to work on? They all look the same.”
“Can you see magic? Each one has a number rune on it to label it,” she blinked her mage sight on as they were passing a pillar. “That one is pillar number 1,430. Do you see the number? It’s at the top of the group of runes”
Bert squinted harder, “I saw the runes, but they are so faded. How did you read them from here?” Bert righted himself after the carriage jostled over a particularly rough bump, “Especially with it being so bumpy.”
She shrugged, “Practice maybe, I don’t know.” She shuffled through the pillows to find her backpack and pulled her assignment paper out of a folder. The single sheet of gnome sized paper had a very clear list of the pillars she was to work on with checkboxes beside them, “It looks like I did numbers 1,475 through 1,465 last time. Today I need to finish 1,464 through 1,457. The numbers are smaller closer to the city.”
Bert held out his hand questioningly and she passed over the paper. He read it, the paragraph of instructions, the list of nineteen pillars with eleven of them checked off. “You’re late,” he said pointing to the listed due date.
She wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement, but she nodded, “Yes, the last time I went in for assignments they gave me three. I got the first two done before the due date, but haven’t gotten this one done yet.”
“Does it matter that you are late?” he asked scrunching his eyebrows.
She nodded, “They dock a percentage of my payment for the job for each day it is late. It’s not a huge deal, the percentage is only 2 or 3% for the projects I work on. The penalty is described in the fine print at the bottom,” she pointed at the paper Bert still held. “But they also keep a record of how competent and reliable the mages are. Since I often turn in projects overdue I have not been promoted to work on more important and better-paying projects.”
She frowned at him suddenly and bent to pick up a pair of pillows that had bounced off the bench, “Do you not have a similar system at your workshop?”
“No,” he started but then paused, “Well maybe. We build things based on orders. Most of the orders are from shop owners that want a batch of something to sell in their store. A few orders are from individuals wanting something very specific. But I think,” he paused looking at her project paper and tapping on the symbol of the Tellas Mage Council, “I think some of the orders have this symbol, so they probably come from the mage council.”
She nodded, “That would make sense.” They both sat in silence for a while. Maril wondered just how much the Tellas family depended on the mages of the city. No mage was without work, even if they weren’t the best suited for any given job. Then Maril started and slid over to the window. “I forgot to watch the pillars to see if we are there yet.”
The carriage slowed and stopped beside the next pillar. Maril pointed out the window, “That’s it, number 1,464. Look, Owen must have tied that tan strip of cloth on it when we were here last time so he would know which one was next.”
The carriage tilted as Owen stepped off. Maril took the project paper from Bert and slid it into the folder before stuffing the folder in her bag. Owen opened the door and said, “We are here, miss.”
“Thank you, Owen,” she replied and climbed out of the carriage. She began carefully wading through the tall grain. It looked ripe, she was surprised that she couldn’t see anyone harvesting anywhere.
“Wait up!” Bert called. Maril could hear him clamoring down the carriage steps.
There was a shriek and Maril spun around to see what was wrong. She couldn’t see Bert but there was a patch of violently agitated grain between herself and the carriage. Owen was already stepping through the grain and reaching down.
“Do be careful Mister Hubert,” he said as he pulled the gnome back to his feet, “the ground is quite unlevel.”
“Yes, yes,” Bert replied with a bright red face. “I think I tripped over that rock there.”
Maril shook her head and turned to continued towards pillar number 1,464. When she got to the base of the pillar she blinked on her magic vision and looked up at the runes. It was unfortunate that the runes were placed well above her head, more in line with easy viewing for someone much taller. But it was not that inconvenient. She reached up with her oval mage permit and tapped first below, then above, the cluster of runes. The shimmering shield lifted from over the runes with the permit.
Dropping the metal oval to hang from its ribbon, she braced her hands against the smooth stone block. Slowly she began pouring her mana into the runes one at a time. After each one brightened to full capacity she moved on to the next one. The strands of magic tied to the runes also lit up when the runes refreshed. The ones that went to the pillar she refreshed earlier were brighter than the ones heading towards the next pillar.
Part way through she noticed that Bert had made it to the pillar. Luckily he was polite enough to not start asking questions immediately, she wasn’t very good at using her mana and talking at the same time.
When the last rune was done she paused and studied the runes and the connecting strands of magic to ensure everything was refreshed and working. Then she tapped her permit above and below to seal it off.
“This one is done,” she said turning towards Bert. “What do you think?”
“It’s awesome. You just brighten them up. No carving runes, no painting. Just dumping out mana.” He reached up towards the shield and paused to look at her, “Can I touch it?” he asked.
She nodded, “Yes, the barrier prevents anyone from accessing the runes.” She rubbed her hand over the barrier, “It even prevents you from feeling the magic. You know how you can normally feel the buzzing when you touch runes?”
He nodded while gently touching the shield with a single finger, “Yeah, I can’t feel anything. It’s like it isn’t even there. Just stone.”
Maril looked again up the pillar, double-checking the strands of magic stretching up to the top of the aqueduct. Then she blinked off her mage sight and turned towards the carriage. “And that’s it. Ready to head to pillar 1,463?”