* * *
Kai was fascinated by the tattoo machine as it buzzed along the skin of his forearm. It was almost identical to the one that had been used for the framing tattoos a year earlier, looking like a large metal pen with a cage in the middle that trapped a furiously oscillating black bead. He knew that it was magic making the bead move back and forth, but without a connection to that magic, it wasn’t quite real to him. All of that would change when the Binder finished the Seals on his arm.
He watched her forearm as she worked, trying to puzzle out the purpose of the symbols that filled her Skill Seal. Six of the eight triangular slots were filled in. There was one that had a large swirl in it that he presumed allowed her to mix the special ink that was necessary for the Seals. One of the others would power the tattoo machine, and of course there was the half filled in circle that allowed her to vote. He had no idea what the rest were for but didn’t worry about it, he would only be getting the initial links to the Battery at first. The skills would come later, as he was required to interact with the world in new and increasingly complex ways, but two was the starting number. He looked again at his own arm, and she had finished the outlines and linkages, and was nearly done with the first. They would be centered on the inside of his left forearm.
“Almost done with the first one,” she said. “This is going to hurt.”
Kai didn’t answer her. He had tried to talk to her when she had first started working on him, but she had been distant, interested only in her job. He wondered what sort of path would lead to where she was, an official Binder for the Council.
His thoughts were cut short when she completed the first Seal. Up until that point, the pain had been consistent, and his mind had gradually filtered it out, but it came back to him tenfold when she lifted the machine’s needle from his skin. It was like an ember caught under his skin, burning its way along his veins. He was worried that something was wrong, that whatever was snaking its way through him was going to kill him when it reached his heart. But it didn’t. Instead, it sped up, spreading to every corner of his body and reaching into his skull. Had his muscles not seized up, he would have screamed. Then it was over, like cold water being splashed on his face.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked, and Kai couldn’t tell if she was joking.
She reached out to grab his arm by the wrist again. Kai shivered, unable to tell if it was due to the lingering effect of the magic or the cool skin of her hand and exotic smell of the ink. She leaned forward and the buzzing began again, and along with it the dull burning sensation in his arm.
Where the first Seal was a starburst of pink flesh against black ink, the second was the inverse, and he watched as the black star was etched onto his skin. When it was done, he expected to have the same sensation, and braced himself for it. Nothing happened. The binder laughed.
“Why didn’t the second one hurt?” he asked.
“Because the second one isn’t real, its just ink on skin,” she said as she started wrapping his arm with white cloth.
“You mean I’m just a freeloader?” he asked, the question feeling stupid before it was even out. If she were breaking the law for him, risking exile or worse, there must have been a good reason.
“No, I mean you’re lucky.” She pointed to her own arm, to her Seal. “Every second of every day, I feel it drawing from me. Not much, but I can feel it.”
“But then how–”
“Listen, kid, if you want to argue about this, go talk to your father,” she said. “I have work to do.” She was already cleaning her equipment, getting ready for the next Binding.
Kai looked at her arm again, at the mosaic of Seals, and decided that there was no point in trying to get her to finish the Seal. When he got out of the chair, little sparks of light danced in his vision and he almost fell over.
“Go get some sleep, you’ll be better in the morning,” she said.