With these questions still floating around in her head, Amelia continued to walk down the pathway. Her eyes were constantly darting from the trees to the ground as she tried to find a perfect branch for her to use. She also didn't really want to trip over something and faceplant... that was another reason for her to be constantly looking at her feet.


Maybe a tree would call to her and there would be fallen branches at its feet. Maybe she could just find a pretty looking tree and investigate if there were fallen branches. Or maybe -- and this was the most appealing option -- she would just take the first branch over three feet that she could find.

As it was, all of the ones she passed by were too short. Amelia really wished that she could just cut one down herself, but she knew that she'd get in trouble if she tried and was caught. Or maybe it wouldn't be as effective. Who knew with these things.

Bloody hell, where were the good branches?

Alyssa checked the runes that she had already made before turning back to her textbook and referring to the next Runic alphabet in the Elder Futhark which was Raidho, the rune representing travel, change and cosmic order. The Rune for Raidho looked like an alphabet R, so picking up the gouging tool, Alyssa picked p one of the pieces of wood and proceeded to gouge out the lines forming the rune. As she gouged, she concentrated on what the rune represented and chanted silently in her mind,'RAIDHO...RAIDHO'. When she was done, she brushed off the wood splinters before placing the finished rune next to the others.

Next came the Rune Kenaz. According to her book, Kenaz represented fire, spiritual understanding and the restoration of self confidence. From the design representing Kenaz, the rune looked like a sideways V. Selecting another piece of wood, and picking up her gouging tool, Alyssa was able to finish this rune faster than the rest. But she still made sure that when she was making it that she was concentrating on it's representation and repeated 'KENAZ, KENAZ' silently in her mind as she made it. She laid aside her finished rune, stretcher her back and neck for awhile as they were starting to ache.

Alyssa looked at her textbook and counted the number of runes she still had to make.18 more?? Alyssa knew that if she continued to use the gouging tool, it would take her hours to finish making all of them, so she decided that she would use her wand instead. She was confident that she would be able to use the Intaglio spell to make the others because she had already done it twice before today and both times the rune she carved out worked. So laying aside the gouging tool, Alyssa unholstered her wand.

She reviewed her textbook and saw that Gebo was the next rune she had to make. Gebo represented gifts and sacrifice. She was glad that is rune was simple to make especially for her first attempt using her wand. The Rune for Gebo looked like an X. So picking up her wand, Alyssa said ,"INTAGLIO", pointed it at the piece of wood and carved out an X on it, while saying "GEBO...GEBO" along with the spell.

Now that she was moving along, she made the next three runes in succession, Wunjo which represented joy and pleasure and looked like a letter P, Hagalaz which represented the wrath of nature and balance of power and looked like the letter H and Nauthiz which looked like a short small t and represented success, endurance, survival and determination. Picking up her wand, and pointing at the piece of wood she selected, Alyssa said "INTAGLIO" and carved the rune Wunjo onto it while saying "WUNJO...WUNJO...WUNJO". She then placed her completed rune aside and pointing her wand at another blank piece of wood, she said, "INTAGLIO" carving the rune Hagalaz, while chanting it's name as she was carving out the lines. Now for Nauthiz. Alyssa selected another piece of blank wood and pointing her wand at it, said "INTAGLIO" again and began to carve out the rune with her wand while chanting,"NAUTHIZ...NAUTHIZ". Once she was done, Alyssa decided to rest for a moment, as making runes required a lot of concentration and she needed to rest her mind and just sit back and enjoy the fresh air and the sun while she still was able to.

Nerida walked down the dirt pathway looking at the trees and their fallen branches. She looked around seeing ash, pine, and oak branches.
She saw a honeysuckle branch picking it up but it wasnt long enough...Thats when she saw it, a Firethorn branch...Perfect size! She picked it up and flipped it around in her hand. She walked towards the workbenches and set her firethorn down and set the honeysuckle branch down just in case she needed it. She picked up her wand and peformed the severing charm, Diffindo. She still had some wood left, just in case she messed up she continued to cut some more. When she finished she had 28 blank wodden runes. She said Ventus and watched as the left over dust and small bits of wood flew off her workspace. Smiling she set the runes out on her desk and then plucked her textbook from her bag and began to look for the runes...

After Jory had set down his bag, he prepared his work station. He decided to use tools. Just in case he did something totally disastrous.

Placing his Willow branch in front of him, Jory took out a pencil and drew twenty three little lines equally apart so that he would have twenty four disks. He had a bit of branch left over. "In case something goes wrong,'' he thought. Then he got to work with the cutting. He was doing ok with the cutting until he neared the end. Then was when he began to tire out but Jory knew he couldn't wast time.

Finally, he was done with the twenty four disks. Consulting his text book, Jory found the pages with the rune information. He set the book down next to him, grabbed a disk and got ready to carve the first rune.

Feeling he'd done enough manual labor, the Puff decided to use magic to do the carvings. He decided to start with Othala which meant inherited possessions. Pointing his wand at the first disk. "Intaglio!'' he said and traced out a diamond and a half like shape while saying the name of the rune, "Othala, Othala...''. He had the habit of talking out aloud when working on his own.

Kurumi didn't lift her gaze to look around at Vickers, or any of the other students for that matter, in fear of getting queasy again at the sight of blood. Yep. This lesson had pretty much solidified what she already suspected - she had no future career in doing any real work with runes. Sure, maybe translation of old text was a possibility, but actually making runes and doing it properly...wasn't really going to happen.

Removing the paint from her pocket, Kurumi set it to the side of her station and picked up one of her circular pieces of wood. Referring to her textbook, Kurumi began with the First Aett and traced over Fehu with her finger several times as she tried to engrave it in her mind before picking up her wand again and pointing it at the soon-to-be rune. "Intaglio Fehu Fehu Fehu Fehu Fehu," she murmured quietly, not wanting to disturb others while they worked. Once the F-shaped rune was complete, Kurumi banished the sawdust away and set it to the side, grabbing the next one to continue the process.

Uruz didn't provide many problems while carving, seeing as the shape was very simple, but Thurisaz was a little tricky in making the 'P' close without the extra line going too far. Kenaz was probably the easiest and reminded her of the 'ku' hiragana character used to write her name. Smiling slightly, Kurumi continued to carve into the circular runes. "Intaglio Wunjo Wunjo Wunjo Wunjo Wunjo."

Ella wasn't exactly a pro with a saw...nor was she one with a wand which posed quite a problem for this assignment. She pulled her willow branch towards her, running her hand gently along the length of it with her eyes closed. Please don't let me mess this up. Opening her eyes, she glanced over at the saw. It was now or never.

Reaching for the saw, Ella brought it over so that it rested next to her piece of wood. She was about to begin sawing when she realized it might be best to mark the wood before hand, right where she would need to cut. That way, she'd have some kind of guide as to where she was going with the saw. The first year dug around inside her bag for a minute, searching for something to write with, when her hand found a marker. "Brilliant." The young badger began to mark the wood, trying to create the 24 parts she would need. Getting them to be 2 inches was proving quite difficult but in the end, each piece was pretty much even.

Picking the saw up once more, Ella held it gingerly for a moment before bringing it down on the wood. She worked slowly, trying to make the 24 2-inch discs as perfect as possible. Half way through, she had to take a break. The first year was stressing herself out and she stood, stretching her arms into the air. Just that tiny movement helped to free her of some of the nerves she was feeling. She sat once again, eying the wood, and finished the last half of the discs. When she was done, she couldn't help but be pleased with her work. Not bad for a first year. Not bad at all.

Still looking for a branch to use for her Rune set, Amelia had a feeling that she was starting to fall behind. Time wasn't the most important thing here, but she also didn't want to be the last one finished this final.

"Where are you, stupid branch?!"

Kicking a pile of leaves in frustration, Amelia saw a branch uncovered. Bending to pick it up, she noted that it was over three feet. It also seemed to be Holly... a guess that was proven to be correct judging by the fact that she was standing in front of a Holly tree.

It was perfect! Amelia might not be a walking encyclopedia full of tree knowledge, but she did know a bit about what Celtics thought of the Holly tree. Since this tree continues to stay green and grow fruit even in the winter, it is a representation of the need to persist and let life triumph even in times of darkness. Holly is also said to give protection and blah blah blah... but that was not the really important part in Amelia's mind.

The bit about carrying on even in dark times had meaning to her, because she had faced dark times in her life and often wanted to give up. Something always kept her going though, and she honestly wasn't sure how she managed to do it half the time.

After resting for a little while, Alyssa was ready to continue making the rest of the runes. She turned to her textbook to see which was the next rune alphabet she would be carving. It was ISA which symbolized Ice and was good for dealing with conflict. The rune was an easy one to make as it looked like the capital letter I. One straight line down. Picking up her wand, Alyssa said, “INTAGLIO…ISA…ISA” as quietly as she could, as she started carving the rune. Once she was done, she brushed off the wood dust and added the rune to the pile of runes that she had finished making.

Looking at the next Rune in the Elder Futhark, Alyssa studied the symbol for the rune Jera. It looked like two sideways Vs one facing the other. Before picking up her wand, Alyssa read what Jera represented. Jera was the rune of a good harvest and it was the symbol representing a time of peace and happiness. ‘Yes this is a very good rune indeed.’ Alyssa thought to herself. Picking up her wand, Alyssa picked up another disc of wood and pointing her wand at it, whispered, “INTAGLIO…JERA…JERA” as she started carving the lines into the rune. She concentrated on the meaning of the rune and what it represented as she burned the lines into the rune. Once she was done, she blew off the wood dust, cleared the splinters and placed the completed rune aside.

The Rune Eihwaz was the next one she needed to make. Studying the design of the rune, Alyssa saw that the rune looked like a long Z only it was facing the other way. According to her textbook, Eihwaz represented strength, reliability, dependability and trustworthiness. Alyssa first studied the design before picking up her wand again and a blank wooden disc, she said, ”INTAGLIO…EIHWAZ…EIHWAZ” drawing the lines into the wood in front of her, while concentrating on what the rune represented. Once she was done, she brushed off the dust, made sure that the design was exactly what the book showed it to be, before adding it to her completed pile of runes.

Alyssa sat back for awhile rolled her shoulders and wrists as they were beginning to ache again. Then she turned back to her textbook and saw that Perthro was the next rune in the Elder Futhark alphabet that she needed to make. This time the design was a little complicated. It involved one straight line down which was the easy part, but the other two lines were a little more complicated. Alyssa studied it carefully before realizing that it looked like two small v’s one facing the regular way and the other one facing upside down. Perthro was the rune for time and change. It ruled over secrets and things hidden. Concentrating on what the rune represented, Alyssa picked up her wand, pointed it at the blank piece of wood *and said,”INTAGLIO…PERTHRO…PERTHRO” as she slowly carved out the symbol. Once the last line was drawn, she blew off the wood dust, made sure that the rune was correct before adding it to the others.

Now that she had completed the 4th rune of the Heimdall’s Aett, which was the second set in the Elder Futhark Alphabet, Alyssa knew that she had two more runes to complete to finish off that set. Looking at her textbook she turned the page to see what the next rune was. It was Algiz the rune of protection. The design of Algiz was simple enough. It looked the capital letter Y with a middle stroke in the middle of the V. Alyssa searched through her remaining blank pieces of wood until she found the one she wanted to carve Algiz on. She picked up her wand and pointing it at the wood disc, she said, “INTAGLIO…ALGIZ..ALGIZ..ALGIZ” as she concentrated what Algiz represented. Once the last stroke was carved into the piece of wood, Alyssa blew off the dust, looked at the Rune before adding it to the completed carvings.

Sowilo was the last rune of the second set. Alyssa figured that she would finish carving this one before taking another break. Sowilo was the rune for the Sun. It represented success, honor and goals achieved. Alyssa was glad that the symbol was an easy one to make. It was basically like the letter S. She picked out a blank wooden disc and placed it in front of her. Picking up her wand, she said, “INTAGLIO” and while carving out the lines, said,”SOWILO…SOWILO” while concentrating on what the rune represented. She took her time completing the last rune and once she was finished, brushed off the dust and wood grains from the wood before placing it next to the others.

Now it was time for her to take another break. Alyssa stretched her arms and stood up to stretch her legs. She didn’t know that making runes took a lot of energy and concentration.

Brandishing her branch in front of her like a sword or lightsabre as Zayden would say, Amelia started making her way back down the path towards where the work station was. She hummed as she went and made sure not to accidentally hit anyone would or stick or trip over anything on the ground. Just what she would need to happen. :/ And if her branch broke, she would probably not be able to find another one just like it.

I will not cut down a tree branch if anything happens... I will not cut down a tree branch...

See, Amelia was a good girl and good girls didn't go against instructions. Instead they were cautious and made sure to look down at their feet as they walked through pathways in the woods.

Eventually she found her way back to the starting point. Had I really wandered that far off? It was kind of astonishing really. She had been so focused on finding her branch that she had lost track of things. And there were people already working on carving their Runes! Hopefully she wasn't too far behind.

Sighing, she approached the station and set her branch down. She pulled her wand out of its holster and performed a precise severing charm on both ends of the wood so that they would be even and smooth.

After taking her break, Alyssa decided that it was time for her to continue making the rest of the runes in the Elder Futhark alphabet. She turned back to her textbook and referred to the next group of runes in Tyr’s Aett set. The first rune was Tiwaz. Tiwaz symbolized the Sky God and it represented honor, justice, leadership and the willingness to self-sacrifice. The design for the symbol was an arrow pointing up. Alyssa selected another piece of wood, and picking up her wand, she pointed it at the round wooden disc and said, “INTAGLIO…TIWAZ…TIWAZ” as she started carving arrow into the piece of wood, all the time concentrating on what the rune represented, Once she was done, she brushed off the wood dust, made sure that the arrow was perfect before adding the completed rune to the pile of runes that she had finished making.

Looking at the textbook, Alyssa read that the rune Berkano symbolized Birchita, the birch-goddess. *Berkano looked like the letter B and it represented birth, healing, good health and fertility. Alyssa studied the rune before picking up her wand, and another disc of wood and pointing her wand at it, whispered, “INTAGLIO…BERKANO…BERKANO” as she started carving the lines into the rune. She concentrated on the meaning of the rune and what it represented as she drew the lines of the rune into the piece of wood. Once she was done, she blew off the wood dust, cleared the splinters and placed the completed rune aside.

Alyssa turned the page of her textbook to see what the next letter in the third Aett was and smiled when she saw what it was. It was the all too familiar, Ehwaz. The Rune that they had carved to transport themselves through the portal. Ehwaz symbolized a horse or two horses. Alyssa knew that Ehwaz representation transportation, as well as the gathering of bonds of friendship and the protection of friends. Since she was already familiar with making the rune, Alyssa picked up her wand and said, ”INTAGLIO…EHWAZ…EHWAZ…” and started drawing the lines that looked like the letter M into the wood in front of her, while concentrating on what the rune represented. Once she was done, she brushed off the dust, made sure that the design was exactly what the book showed it to be, before adding it to her completed pile of runes.

Mannaz was the next rune she needed to make. Selecting another piece of wood, Alyssa placed it in front of her before turning to her textbook and reading what Mannaz symbolized and represented. Mannaz symbolized man or mankind and it represented friends and enemies and was often used in meditations. Alyssa carefully studied the design of the rune very carefully because it looked complicated. It looks like a capital M but it also looked like it was an X between two vertical parallel lines. She decided that the latter option would be the easier to do. Picking up her wand, she pointed it at the piece of wood and said, ”INTAGLIO…MANNAZ…MANNAZ” and started carving the rune, while concentrating on what the rune symbolized and represented. She first carved out the two vertical lines parallel to each other. Then she carved a small X in the middle connecting the lines at the top. Once the rune was completed, she matched it with the drawing in her textbook and was glad that she had done it correctly.

Alyssa was glad that she was almost done making the runes. She had only 4 more runes to make. They were Laguz, Ingwaz, Dagaz and Othala.

Now that Amelia had the ends of her branch even, the next step was for her to cut out the 24 different Runes that she would carve into. So she was going to need to use the severing charm quite a few more times here.

Measuring as close to two inches from one end as possible, she said, "Diffindo!" while holding her wand as straight as possible. Now she had one of her Runes done, and 23 more to do. This shouldn't be too bad.

Repeating this process over and over again while working as carefully and patiently as possible, Amelia soon had all 24 Runes. They looked pretty darn good in her opinion. She just needed to carve into the wood and then use her blood on them.

She banished the dust and dirt that was on the work surface, and then thought of what Rune she wanted to do first... Maybe it would be best for her to look at the textbook and do all of them in order. :/

Alyssa was glad that she was almost done making the runes. She didn’t think that making 24 different runes were going to be hard and brain draining. But she was almost done. She only had 4 more runes to make.

Turning the pages of her textbook to where the last four runes of the Elder Futhark were described. Laguz was the next one that she had to carve. Alyssa read that the rune Laguz symbolized water or a leek, and of transitions between states in one’s life. It was also the rune of intuition and imagination. The design of the rune Laguz looked like a straight vertical line with a little slanted straight line angling off from it. Alyssa studied the symbol, before picking out one of the remaining blank pieces of wood, and placing it in front of her. Picking up her wand, Alyssa said, “INTAGLIO…LAGUZ…LAGUZ” as she started carving the rune and as she carved she concentrated on what the rune represented. Once she was done, she brushed off the wood dust and added the rune to the pile of runes that she had finished making.

Alyssa picked up another blank piece of wood and then turned to her textbook to see what would be the next rune she would be making. It was going to be Ingwaz. Alyssa studied the symbol for the rune Ingwaz. It looked like a diamond. Before making her rune, Alyssa read what Ingwaz represented. Ingwaz symbolized the earth god and represented family love, caring and fertility. It could be used as a rune to help strengthen hypnosis and meditation. Now that she knew what the rune represented, Alyssa picked up her wand, and pointing it at the piece of wood, whispered, “INTAGLIO…INGWAZ…INGWAZ” as she started carving the lines into the rune to form a diamond, all the while concentrating on the meaning of the rune and what it represented as she drew the lines into the rune. Once she was done, she brushed off the wood dust, cleared the splinters and placed the completed rune aside.

Looking at her textbook, Alyssa read that the next rune she was supposed to make was Dagaz. Studying the design of the rune, Alyssa saw that the rune looked like 2 diamonds facing each other sideways. According to her textbook, Dagaz symbolized day or dawn and represented good luck and can be used by one who wants to embark on a on new enterprise. Alyssa studied the design again before selecting another piece of wood and placing it in front of her. Picking up her wand she said,
”INTAGLIO…DAGAZ…DAGAZ” drawing the lines into the wood in front of her, while concentrating on what the rune represented. When she had finished carving out the last line, Alyssa brushed off the dust from the piece of wood, made sure that the design was exactly what the book showed it to be, before adding it to her completed pile of runes.

Alyssa looked at the last two pieces of blank wood that she had in front of her. She counted the runes that she had completed. She had already completed 23. But she had two remaining. Then Alyssa remembered that she had cut of an extra blank piece of wood just in case she made a mistake making one of them. Giving a sigh of relief, Alyssa looked at the book and looked at the last rune in the Elder Futhark alphabet. It was Othala which symbolized Ancestral property. Othala was the rune for merchants but also for people who owned property. Alyssa studied the design of the rune. It looked like a diamond with an inverted v a the bottom of it. “Why did the last one have to be a hard one to make?”Alyssa said to herself. She carefully studied the design before selecting the nicest of the two pieces of blank wood left and placing it in front of her. Alyssa then picked up her wand, pointed it at the blank piece of wood and said,”INTAGLIO…OTHALA…OTHALA” as she slowly carved out the symbol. She slowly carved out the symbol with her wand and once the last line was drawn, she blew off the wood dust, and then laid it in front of her. She then gathered all the runes that she had carved out and placed them in a pile in front of her.

Amelia brought eight of the wood pieces closer to her and moved the other ones off to the side for the moment. She was going to focus on carving the First Aett now, and then she would work on the other two after. And she was definitely going to do this with her wand as she still had bad memories of trying to carve out 24 Runes using a wood tool.

Sometimes Magic really was the way to go.

Bending over, Amelia reached into her bag and pulled out her textbook. After working on the Rune set, she had a better idea of all the Runes and what they looked like... but she still wanted to make sure that everything was correct.

After opening the textbook to the right page, she spent a bit of time studying the First Aett; none of it seemed too hard though some would be more challenging than others. And Fehu would be the one to start with. It kind of reminded her of half a tree.

Pointing her wand at the first wood piece, she called out, "Intaglio Fehu!" She said the name of the Rune a few times, and was pleased when she ended up with it cared perfectly into the wood. One down, a lot more to go.

Amelia picked her Rune up and blew the dust off of it before carefully setting it down to the side so that Uruz could be carved. Fortunately it didn't prove to be hard at all since the shape as pretty basic. Thurisaz was harder, and she thought of a weird looking P as she studied it. "Intaglio Thurisaz," she called out as the image of the weird P shape was in her head. That Rune winded up being perfect too! She was getting this dome amazingly so far, and she had three out of the eight pieces finished. :33

Ansuz looked like a weird F and Raidho looked like an R. She could see how these were used as letters, as there were occasional similarities between them and the letters of the alphabet they used. "Intaglio Ansuz! Ansuz! Ansuz!" she said before picking up her perfect Rune and dusting it off so it could join the others. Same with Raidho.

Kenaz was the easiest of the bunch, and Gebo looked like an X. Wunjo looked even more like a P than Thurisaz. She had an easy time with each of these Runes, and soon she was done the first section. She banished all the dust away before starting on the Second Aett.

Now that she had all 24 runes in front of her, Alyssa took out a small bowl from her backpack. She preferred to use her own blood then the red ochre paint. Mainly because she wanted the runes to really work especially after all the hard word she had done making them. But 24 runes were a lot of runes to smear blood on, and Alyssa knew that she would have to prick all her fingers just to get enough blood for all of them. So she decided to collect as much blood as she could into her bowl and hopefully she would be able to have enough to smear on all the runes.

Taking out a small pen knife, Alyssa pressed the blade against her index finger slit a small cut. She squeezed her finger to let the blood drip into the bowl. Once her finger stopped bleeding, Alyssa picked up the first rune Fehu and dipping her finger in the bowl smearing it with blood, she smeared the blood over the lines of the rune while saying,”FEHU...FEHU…FEHU and concentrating on what Fehu meant. Making sure that the rune was fully smeared with blood, Alyssa put it aside and picked up the next one. Uruz. She dipped her finger into the bowl again and smearing it with blood, she traced the lines of the rune Uruz while chanting the words,”URUZ..URUZ…URUZ” and concentrating on it’s meaning as she smeared the blood over it. Placing it aside, she picked up the rune Thurisaz and smearing it with blood, she chanted, “THURISAZ…THURISAZ”.

Seeing that there was probably enough blood to smear one more rune, Alyssa picked up the rune Ansuz and dipping her finger into the remaining blood in the bowl, she smeared her blood covered finger over the lines of the rune Ansuz, while chanting it’s name, “ANSUZ…ANSUZ,” and concentrating on what Ansuz represented.

Now that she had run out of blood again, Alyssa picked up her pen knife again and this time pressed her blade against the ring finger of her left hand making a small incision. She winced at the pain but quickly squeezed her finger to get as much blood as she could out of that finger and into the bowl before the cut began to clot. Alyssa laughed. At the rate she was going, all her fingers were going to be covered with band aids by the time the blood smearing ritual was over. But the band aids could wait, she needed to concentrate right now on the task at hand.

Picking up the rune representing Raidho, Alyssa dipped her finger into the bowl of blood and leaned over the piece of wood and smeared her blood over the lines of the rune that represented Raidho. As she smeared the blood, she said,"RAIDHO...RAIDHO...RAIDHO" while concentrating on what the rune represented. Making sure that the rune was entirely covered with her blood, she laid it aside and picked up the rune Kenaz. She dipped her finger into the blood again and traced the lines of the < with her blood while chanting,"KENAZ...KENAZ...KENAZ" and concentrating on the meaning of the rune. Once she was done smearing the blood on the rune, she added it to the ones that she had already smeared and picked up the next rune in the line which was Gebo.

The lines of rune Gebo formed and X and so dipping her finger into the bowl of blood again, Alyssa first smeared the blood over one line before dipping her finger into the bowl again and smearing the other line with blood too, all the while chanting "GEBO...GEBO" and concentrating on what Gebo represented as a rune. Alyssa looked at the rune Wunjo and then looked into the bowl and decided that she had enough blood in it to complete the blood smearing ritual on it

So picking up the piece of wood with the rune Wunjo carved on it, Alyssa dipped her finger into the bowl of blood and first smeared the vertical line with her blood while saying "WUNJO...WUNJO"...and then dipping her finger back into the bowl, smeared blood over the remaining portion of the rune, while continuining to concentrate on what the rune represented and chanting the words,"WUNJO...WUNJO."

Alyssa looked at the remaining runes that still needed to be stained and counted 16. She looked at the fingers on her hands. She contemplated using the red ochre paint but then after a minute of thinking about it, decided that she was going to finish what she had started. Picking up her pen knife again, she pressed the blade against the middle finger of her left hand and made a deeper incision. Blood immediately dripped out faster from that cut. Alyssa let her hand hang down over the bowl to allow the blood to flow faster. As she let the blood flow, she reached into her backpack with her other hand and grabbed her bandaid because she knew that this cut was a deep one and would require a bandaid for the bleeding to stop. After a couple of seconds, she raised her hand up and applied pressure to her finger to stop the bleeding and then applied the bandaid around it.

Alyssa sat down and rested for a moment, before picking up the next rune Hagalaz which looked like an H. Dipping her finger into the bowl, she covered it with blood before placing it over the rune and tracing out the lines of the rune with blood. As she traced the lines, she said,"HAGALAZ, HAGALAZ, HAGALAZ" while at the same time concentrating on what the lines on the rune represented. Once the last line of the rune was smeared with blood, Alyssa laid it aside next to the others and picked up the next rune, Nauthiz.

Nauthiz just needed two strokes of her finger to complete the smearing of blood process. Trying to complete the process as fast as possible, Alyssa dipped two fingers into the bowl of blood before taking them out and while concentrating on what the rune represented, first with one finger, smeared one line with blood while chanting,"NAUTHIZ" and then with the other finger smeared the other line with blood while continuing to chant,"NAUTHIZ".

She placed the rune aside and picked up the piece of wood that she had carved Isa on. This was rune only needed one smearing of blood traced on it, so Alyssa dipped her finger into her blood, and as she traced the single line with her blood, chanted, "ISA...ISA" while concentrating on the spell that she was casting.

Alyssa then picked up the other runes, one by one and repeated the blood smearing process, dipping her finger into the bowl of blood, and then tracing the blood onto the lines of each of the runes, while chanting the name of the rune as she picked it up and smeared blood on it.

First was Jera "JERA...JERA", then was Eihwaz, "EIHWAZ....EIHWAZ", then Perthro, "PERTHRO...PERTHRO" then Algiz, "ALGIZ...ALGIZ". Then came Sowilo,"SOWILO...SOWILO", then Tiwaz, "TIWAZ...TIWAZ", followed by Berkano, "BERKANO...BERKANO"and then Ehwaz."EHWAZ...EHWAZ".

Manaz came next."MANNAZ...MANNAZ", followed by Laguz."LAGUZ...LAGUZ" and then Ingwaz, "INGWAZ...INGWAZ", then the rune Dagaz, "DAGAZ...DAGAZ"and finally the last one, Othalla, "OTHALA...OTHALA" All the time while she was smearing her blood of each of the runes and chanting their names, she remembered to concentrate on what each rune meant and represented.

Alyssa leaned back and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that she had completed the assignment that Professor Jenkins had assigned them. She decided to sit back and watch as the others completed their task because frankly after completing the task, she didn't know what they were supposed to do next.

Vickers carried the hazel branch towards the work benches, carefully tucking his hand into his pocket as he crept by Kurumi. No more scaring the Gryffindor Prefect, because goodness knows he didnt want that kind of effect on her.

At his work area he held the branch aloft. The hazel branch he got was rather long, and decided to half it so its easier to work with. Bringing out his wand he uttered the slicing spell, cutting the branch neatly in the middle. He lay one half of the branch on the bench and lifted the other examining it closely. The bark was peeling off in a lot of places, and he can imagine what trouble they would during runes casting if they kept flaking off. Again with his wand he began peeling the bark off, then moved to the other half of the branch to work on that.

When that was completed Vickers walked around the place for a bit, looking for a nice stone with a smooth enough surface. He found one not far from where he worked and returned to his station. Running the stone against the bare branches several times, he was hoping this was enough to take out any potentially troublesome splinters and to smoothen the wood even further.

After the blank runes were in front of her and she had read about the runes they didnt talk about she took out her wand and thought about how to do the runes, should she do them in order or should she start in any order, if she started in any order she probablly would create some duplicates, and not all 24 of the required runes to make a rune set and that would be bad...
She decided she would do them in order, starting with the first aett, which were Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz, Gebo, and Wunjo.
Before starting she made sure she had everything, the eight little wooden blocks and the textbook with the images so she made sure they turned out right, and her wand...Wait where was her wand...She sighed and stood up where was that thing...It was never a good sign to lose your wand. She looked under the table, no sign of her wand. She moved all her blank runes around and still didnt see it...Why did she have to lose her wand?? She backtracked to where she found the branch, no luck. She walked over to the honeysuckle branch area, still no sign of it! Thats when she saw it, it looked like any other branch but, the gold engraving on it, showed that it was her wand. She picked up her wand and said Thought you could escape from me, eh? Well were stuck together for life! With this she started walking back towards her section of the work benches, wand in hand.

After finishing with the Othala rune- which had been carved as planned- Jory moved on to the second rune, Dagaz which meant awareness. This one was shaped like an X with two vertical lines at each side. “Intaglio!” he said casting the spell again to carve the shape into the branch and repeating the rune name twice. Again, this rune came out just right. He placed the second rune beside the first and placed another disk in front of him.

Jory consulted his text again. “Ingwaz means having positive traits, like love,’’ he said to himself. “Shaped like a diamond.’’ Positioning his wand over the third disk, the Puff cast the spell. “Intaglio!” Then he repeated the rune name. “Ingwaz. Ingwaz.’’ Another perfect rune, and he placed this next to the other two.

With another disk in front of him, the third year pointed his wand to carve the Laguz rune. “Means life energy but has negative traits like obsession and perversity. Shaped like…half of an arrow,’’ he said after looking at his book. “Intaglio!” Jory said to carve the rune and then saying the rune name a few times. Moments later there was half of an arrow shaped rune on the disk. He placed this aside.

Jory looked around at the other students. Some had just arrived with their branches and others had also just started their carving. He looked back at his runes and sighed. Only twenty more to go.

The next rune was Mannaz. “The self, individual or the human race,’’ Jory read. “Shaped like an X with longer vertical lines than the Dagaz rune.’’ He pointed his wand at the next disk in front of him. “Intaglio “Mannaz... Mannaz...” he said . No problem with this carving.

“Ehwaz relates to transportation,'' Jory thought, getting quite bored with talking to himself.“This shape is easy. It’s like a capital M.’’Again, he pointed his wand at another disk. “Intaglio!” he exclaimed and repeated the rune name. With another good carving, Jory decided to take a break from the carvings. He’d continue in a few seconds.

Taking a short break to wipe her brow, all this spellcasting was making her tired...not to mention the two times she had had to severely concentrate to transport herself through the portals to get to two locations - one that she had never even been to before. Could this just be her OWL? Please? Honestly, if THIS was any indication as to how difficult her OWL was going to be, Kurumi felt like sticking a fork into herself and calling her done. Cookies out of the oven! Time to go home!

Banishing some more sawdust and bits of bark, Kurumi picked up her wand again and began to work on the Second Aett. As she cast Intalgio to carve the rune into her cut piece of oak, Kurumi couldn't help but be reminded that Hagalaz's shape always reminded her as more of a 'N' shape than a 'H' and she was always getting herself confused and wanting to say that it was the rune for Nautiz. She best remember NOT to do so on her OWL. Merlin help her.

Isa was by far the easier to carve using the spell, and Kurumi found herself making quick work of the rest of them. "Intalgio Sowilo...Sowilo...Sowilo...Sowilo..." And with one last zig to the zag, Kurumi had finished carving the next grouping.

She slumped down in her seat and rested her elbows on the table before glancing over at Vickers who had put his hand in his pocket. Hopefully that didn't make his task more difficult...she would really hate to be an inconvenience to him. Her eyes wandered a bit more...and notice Alyssa was cutting into her finger. W-W-Weren't they just supposed to prick their fingers?! Kurumi isntantly became queasy...especially when the Hufflepuff began squeezing her finger over a bowl and dripped blood into it.

That did it. Kurumi's head banged down hard on her station and her eyes shut tight.

Not going to faint...not going to faint...not going to faint...

Now that Ella had all her pieces cut, she was ready to start making her runes. She glanced over at her text, noting the runes in the Freyr Aett. First one up, Fehu. Ella knew this rune because she had done a homework assignment on it. The symbol looked quite like two branches coming off of a tree. It also could be the horns of a cow. Thinking about it, that made sense considering Fehu meant cattle. Pulling the gouge tool and one of her discs towards her, Ella sat to work. The first year started by gouging a straight line down the center of the disc. Then she gouged two lines coming off of the straigh line and up towards the top right of the disc. The first of these two lines was a little shorter than the second. With that, her first rune was carved. Only 23 to go...

The badger placed her Fehu rune to the side and pulled the next disc towards her, glancing over at her text to figure out what came next. Uruz, this was the rune that represented power, in the physical scense. The rune's symbol kind of looked like a lowercase N, though it was more jagged than the letter. Picking up the gouge tool once more, Ella began to carefully carve into her disc. She carved a line going up the disc, then a slant going doward, and a smaller line connecting to that.

The next rune that was listed in the text was Thurisaz. Ella remembered this rune because the idea of frost giants had frightened her. She could picture them quite clearly in her mind. She also recognized the symbol because it looked like a thorn coming off of a vine. Pulling the next disc towards her, Ella set out to make just that visual. The first year began gouging into the wood, starting with a line down the center of the disc. Then, she made a traingle in the middle of the line, its point facing the right of the disc. This rune wasn't as cleanly marked as the first two but that was only because the small triangle had proved difficult to make with the tool. It would have to do, though.

Ansuz was the next rune to carve and Ella looked into her book to read up on the rune. Oh yeah, Ansuz is the rune of Odin and he was a big deal! He was the most powerful god and the god of wisdom. The symbol itself looked a lot like the letter F, only distorted. Pulling yet another disc forward, Ella began to carve into the willow. The first year started again with a line down the center of the disc, then she made to slanted lines coming off the first, going in the bottom right direction. When she was done, she put down the gouge tool and clenched and unclenched her hand. It was already getting sore and she hadn't even gotten through the first Aett!

Once the hazel branch has been smoothed down enough, Vickers started to slice it into narrow discs, relieved that he didnt have to worry about the diameter since hazel branches arent that thick to begin with. Perfect Runes sizes as it were. Once he had enough discs he ran the stone against each of them again. He was about start carving the first disc when he thought he heard a peculiar sounding thud....




"Kurumi!" the Ravenclaw called out when he saw the Gryffindor Prefect seemingly lose consciousness. He rushed over to her side and reached out to her, placing his good hand on her shoulder. "Kurumi.... are you ok? You want me to get the Healer?"

Yes bandage hand still safely tucked in his pocket, although really he was ready to rip it off if he needed to carry her back to the school.

After giving herself a short break, Ella pulled four more blank discs in front of her so that she could complete the first Aett of runes. Next in line, Raidho, which represented the life-path of a person. This rune looked a lot like the letter R except a little pointier. Using the gouge tool, Ella worked to recreate the symbol, wiping the sweat from her brow occassionally. Then came Kenaz, the rune about inspiration and creation. Something about the rune being associated with fire made Ella even hotter than she was at the moment. She associated this symbol with the less-than symbol she had learned about in muggle math. She smiled at the similarity as she carved into her next disc. Next on the list was Gebo, meaning giving. This rune looked just like an X which was great since it was quite easy to carve into the willow disc. To complete the first Aett, all that was left was Wunjo. Wunjo represents success and achievement, something Ella looked forward to feeling when she was finished carving runes. The symbol itself looked much like a flag on a flag pole and Ella used that as a guide while carving the final rune from the first set onto the next disc.

The next Aett started with Hagalaz, the rune indicating that one must let go of their past. This particular rune looked a lot like a capital N and Ella picked up the gouge tool, carving into another blank disc. She stopped once more when she was finished, clenching and unclenching her aching hand. Then came Nauthiz, the rune that represented wanting something one does not have. That didn't seem like a nice rune to get. Pulling another blank disc over, Ella gouged in the symbol that looked like an odd cross of some kind. Next came Isa, the rune associated with ice. This rune represented rest before some kind of action. Rest would be quite nice now. Pulling another blank disc forward, Ella carved the straight line quickly into the willow, appreciating the simplicity of the symbol. Before taking a break, Ella decided to do one more carving. This one would be for Jera, the rune representing a positive change. Ella took her time gouging this rune into the wood as it proved to be a little trickier to do. When she was finished, she frowned at her work. This disc wasn't her best but it would have to do.

A few seconds of nothingness.

That was all August could really understand for the time it took to come through the Portal. He assumed it took longer this time because of the great distance they travelled rather than the last time which was just from the Castle to Mr. Murdoch's Hut. The Gryffindor appeared on the cool grass and immediately tripped and fell to his hands and knees.

This time he did feel a tad nautious like some of the other students before, but nothing too serious. He stayed in his crouching position for a minute longer until his breathing returned to normal, then he stood.

"So this is Buckinghamshire?" he said aloud to no one in particular. After dusting off his pants, the fourth year decided it was time he went ahead and found the right tree to start working from.

Even though Amelia really should have started on the next eight Runes, she couldn't help but spend a few minutes admiring the ones that she had already carved. It might seem silly, but she was proud of herself and what she had done so far, especially when she wasn't the best at this subject. Sure she could do this making Runes stuff okay, but the other aspects not so much. Besides, she was sure that even her Rune making skills weren't that great compared to other people.

Still, she was proud.

Finally after a few minutes she turned her gaze from her Runes and went back to studying the textbook. Hagalaz looked a lot like an H or a N, but in her opinion it was more of an N. Seemed simple enough for her.

Placing another eight pieces of wood in front of her, she pointed her wand at one of them. "Intalgio Hagalaz... Hagalaz... Hagalaz," and the shape was carved into the wood. She carefully placed that Rune among the other ones she had made making sure to leave a bit of space so that it could be seen that this was the Second Aett.

Next was Nauthiz, which she thought looked like a demented cross. Isa proved to be the easiest Rune to carve, and Jera was a little harder. " Intalgio Jera... Jera."

Eihwaz looked like a crude S, and she couldn't help but notice the similarity between it and Sowilo; they were both their own version of a crude S.

For some reason, Perthro wasn't that easy for her to carve either, and she really wasn't that satisfied with it. It was with a sigh that one was added to the collection of finished Runes. Algiz was easier, and reminded her of a stick figure without a head or legs. It was impossible for her to not have these weird connections floating around in her head.

Only one more to go now. "Intalgio Sowilo... Sowilo.. Sowilo," and Amelia was finished the Second Aett. Casually she banished any dust away from her work area.

Now that Ella had completed the Jera rune, she looked in her text and the one that came next would be Eihwaz. Eihwaz means that some kind of big change is coming in a person's life. This rune looks kind of like the letter z, something the first year could think about while carving. She pulled another blank disc forward and carefully used the gouge tool to create the rune. Satisfied, she pushed this rune aside and glanced over at her text once more. Next came Perthro. Perthro represents something that can be filled, like a cup. It also means fertility and things that are hidden. Looking at the picture of the rune, Ella couldn't really think of anything looking quite like that. With each new line she made with her gouge tool, she double checked the picture in the text to make sure she was on the right track. Algiz came next, this rune having to do with protection and defense. Ella smiled, thinknig this was the rune she had given to Professor Jenkins as thanks for that 'skrewt incident' on the pathways. She carefully carved Algiz into her willow and then set it aside, ready for the last rune in the second Aett. Sowilo is the sun rune. Ella remembered that because sun and Sowilo both start with s. The picture of the rune also kind of reminded her of a lightning bolt. Pulling another blank disc towards her, Ella carved that very shape into the willow. Now she had finished her second Aett!

After a quick break, Ella was ready to move on to the final rune Aett, starting with Tiwaz. This rune represents victory in battle or a success during competition. Kind of like the Hufflepuff's success in Quidditch! Thinking on that, the first year carved another blank disc with the rune, thinking it looked quite like an arrow. Next came Berkano, that could mean a pregnancy or new start. This rune looked like a pointy B and Ella carved it into her next blank disc. Reading about the next rune, Ella learned that Ehwaz meant "forward energy and movement." This seemed significant at the moment since Ella was making a lot of ground on finishing her rune set. She carved the M-looking rune into her next willow disc and set her gouge tool down, ready for another quick break.

Daichi knew he had to hurry up for when he looked around he noticed that some of the students were already busy making their runes. The Slytherin pursed his lips together as he continued to walk through the forest, never leaving the group too far behind.

Staying on the path, Daichi could only find broken twigs or branches that were too small. He turned around and scratched his head. Should he leave the path and look for his special branch a little further? He didn't think it would be any harm so he went to the left and off the pathway going through the forest.

The fourteen year old was fascinated by the huge trees that were hovering above him and at the same time it made him feel small. Just like how one would look at the night sky and to the stars they would say they feel small... well.. it was the same with trees.
"Oh!" Daichi said as he heard a loud snap from under his shoes. Looking down he saw he had stepped on a branch that could have been good for the rune set. Sighing heavily because he had just snapped a good branch in half, Daichi continued to search but this time held his head low to stare at the ground.

It was hard finding that special piece of wood. Whatever he found just didn't feel right....was he even supposed to feel something? The others were already busy and he was still looking around! Maybe he should just pick a random branch and get it over wi--

Something had caught his attention as he peered through the forest. A branch was lying on the ground a few steps away from him and it looked to be windfallen. With big steps, Daichi rushed over to the branch before anyone else had seen it and picked it up. It looked like a willow branch and the Slytherin liked it. '

Holding it in his hand with a smile , Daichi turned around and.....eeeh... which way was going back? O_o