Tarrin, she's not going to make it! the Goddess said urgently, with a desperation in her voice that he had never heard before. She's going to be Consumed!
"NO!" he shouted in a mighty tone, clamping his paws into fists. He had to do something, anything! He couldn't stop what was happening, but there had to be something that he could do! Jenna was too young, too young to understand, too young to know what to do!
Tarrin, help her! the Goddess implored.
With that plea came an almost unconscious understanding of exactly what he could do to help, what he could do to save his sister's life. He immediately dashed from the ruined lean-to, rushing towards the nearest strand which he could physically touch. It had to be done while in physical contact with the Weave. He reached it, a rather small capillary feeder joining two minor strands together, and then thrust his fist inside it. That contact expanded his awareness of the Weave tenfold, opened himself up completely to its every tiny shift of energy. He reached into that power, joining his consciousness with it, and soon found himself hurtling through the very Weave itself.
He could actually see the power of the magic, actually hear the beating of the communal heart, actually feel the sensation of moving through the strands. Through a network of feeder strands, into a larger base strand. From the base strand to a minor Conduit. From there into the major Conduit back at the Cloud Spire. Down to the core, to the Heart of the Goddess, and then up the largest of all the Conduits, the one that ran through the two Towers, one in Suld, the other in Sharadar. Branch into a minor Conduit, into a base strand, then through a series of secondary strands, hurtling hundreds and hundreds of leagues in the blink of an eye, so fast that he didn't have time to feel awed or amazed at what he was doing. Jenna's life depended on him getting there instantaneously, there was no time to gawk.
And then he was there. He could feel the strand writhe about him as Jenna's power caused havoc in the Weave, as it sought to infuse her with all of its power. He found that he could still enforce his will upon the Weave, could still use his Weavespinner magic even in this strange, disembodied state he was in. He wove together a spell of Fire, Air, and Divine, the flows of Illusion, a simple weave that created an image of himself, then he projected it out from the Weave and pushed his consciousness into it.
The memory of it was still in the Weave. They called it a simulacrum. A projected image of self that could see and hear, but could not touch or taste or smell. As he opened his phantom eyes, he immediately took in the situation, could see into the physical world.
They were in Ungardt, on the side of a bare hill covered in snow, with the morning sun shining above the eastern horizon. Several Ungardt children, holding sleds and tobagans, stood around watching in horror as Jenna, his dear sister, was enshrouded by magical fire, arms wrapped tightly around her belly and screaming at the top of her lungs as the power of the Weave sought to burn her to cinders from within. She was literally on fire, with her hair burning and blazing light emanating from her eyes, her skin blackening as the power destroyed her from inside out.
He suppressed a wild instinctive urge to rush to her aid. He could not touch her, he could not beat out the flames. He could do only one thing to help his sister, to help her survive.
Teach her.
"Jenna, stop fighting it!" he shouted in a magically augmented voice, a voice that carried to her ears, even in her writhing agony. "Don't fight! If you fight, it will destroy you!"
Her screaming lowered in its intensity, and she closed her eyes. He had no idea if she heard him, but then the power flowing into her suddenly increased dramatically. She was doing as he bid! The pain it caused her made her shriek mindlessly, and the memory of his own experience washed through him then, making him shudder and causing his heart nearly to break for his sister. Poor Jenna! The little girl didn't deserve to suffer such pain! She was just a child!
"Surrender to it, Jenna! Let it flow through you! The more you resist, the more it will hurt!"
Her screaming stopped, but she whimpered and gave tiny cries as she pressed her eyes closed, pulled her arms from her belly and reached outwards. He could feel the power flowing into her get stronger and stronger, until she was absolutely filled to the maximum, and he knew that this was the moment of truth. If she could find the Heart of the Goddess, could find her core, she would transcend the limitations of standard Sorcery. If she could not, then she would literally explode, her body eradicated in a Wildstrike of monumental proportions.
"Look into it! Don't be afraid!" he said urgently, powerfully, forcing her to listen to his voice. "Seek it out and join with it! Join with it, Jenna, join with it!"
Her clothes burned away, leaving her standing there in a widening circle of melted snow and blackening grass, the sheathe of Magelight looking like ghostly fire as it danced around her body, joining with the real flames to form an eerie shimmering aura of dancing light. He watched on in terrified anticipation as his dear sister struggled against the power, struggled to do as he told her to do, her body sagging as the fire become stronger around her.
Then the fire stopped.
Tarrin felt it in the Weave, an explosive release of energy as the boundless power within Jenna was suddenly absorbed back into the Weave, but what startled him was that it was more power than she had originally held. He felt a sudden sense of presence within the Weave, and he clearly felt his beloved sister appear within the strand he was occupying, hurtling away from her body and into the core, into the Heart of the Goddess. She went to float in that black void filled with the sense of the Goddess, the core of the Heart, the Heart of the Weave, the one place where mortal and god existed within the boundaries of its nonexistent space in a harmonious union of love. Jenna went to stand before the Goddess and find benediction.
He felt that exact moment inside his soul, and it caused tears to well up in his eyes. The Goddess reached out and enfolded Jenna's soul with her love, and at the very instant, a blazing halo of glorious golden light surrounded his sister's nude form, taking the form of the cancave four-pointed star that lurked within the center of the shaeram . Blackened skin became smooth and pale and unmarred once again, dark hair that had been burned away quickly and immediately grew back, the tortured pain on Jenna's lovely face was replaced with an expression of peaceful serenity.
The simple silver amulet around her neck changed in that moment of transendence, eight small tines growing out from the center star to join with the triangles that surrounded it, transforming itself into the shaeram that graced the neck of the Goddess' Children, the amulet marking his sister as one of the Weavespinners.
The glow faded away softly, leaving the children to stare in awed silence. Jenna's little body began to sag forward, and she very nearly fell, if Tarrin had not caught her in flows of gentle Air, warmed by Fire to keep the deadly cold of Ungardt winters from finding her. He couldn't touch her in his illusory body, but he could still use Sorcery. He picked her up in that flow of warm, soft Air, then cloaked her nude body in an Illusion of simple cloth.
"Sister," he said thickly, emotionally, full of relief and pride and joy and fear for his little sister. She was again his sister, by more than just blood. She was now a sister of the Weave, joined with him by bonds of power and common ability, by their position as the few who had stood in the presence of the Goddess and found her favor.
Well done, my kitten, the Goddess said to him in a voice of profound relief, of towering pride. Very well done. Take her home, Tarrin. She needs to rest now.