The tall fifteen year old was bright-eyed that morning when he was led into the arena. Honestly he'd been awake for ages already and besides, since he'd just had breakfast and all, he was perky. He was also trying to play it cool though, trying to keep that eagerness and perkiness to himself. Because you know, he had a reputation to uphold and whatnot. He looked around, eyes sharp, not knowing what to expect but... okay. Okay. Manageable. And kind of good that they couldn't see the people watching, no distractions right?

Okay West couldn't deny that he was excited for this, and determined, and he had plenty of reason to want to do well -to need to- especially after his talk with Professor Botros. He hadn't known what to expect either, just that it was something like the Triwizard Tournament but for brains? Something like that, quick thinking, spell work, anything that applied from having learned it in lessons and whatever... and that they were representing particular subjects or whatever.

He wondered if each of the representatives from other schools only were representing one, or if they had more than one to deal with. This thought was only brief though, because soon enough he and Alec were being led into the arena for the very first task of the first round. Alec was repping for Divination right? West was interested to see how that was going to pan out, how they might overlap, and what exactly they were expected to do that put their subject areas together.

Shooting a glance at Alec, West went up to start examining the wall, eyes already picking out possible runes here and there. It was clear they couldn't just get out, and as for finding the right runes.... West started tracing a few on the wall with fingertip as he spotted them. Dagaz... Raidho.... Wunjo... Eihwaz... they sort of jumped out to him really. Raidho was near the top right corner... Dagaz a little to the left, and down from those like the bottom point of a triangle was what looked like an Eihwaz. Then the Wunjo about half way up, across toward the left side of the wall. He kept scanning just in case there were others, wanting to double check.

"Its four runes... but it might not be a four-letter word." He said outloud sort of absently, to Alec.....

"Wunjo, Eihwaz, Raidho, Dagaz?" Weird? Could it be that? That WOULD be weird since it wasn't like that came across as a clue at all. Wunjo could also be a V though... West figured looking a little longer wouldn't hurt. Yeah. There may be other possibilities after all.

To say that he was nervous was probably an understatement. His hair had been ruffled out of control and his face was slightly paler than usual. This... was a lot worse than the bought of nerves that attacked him before a Quidditch match. Because while, generally, Hufflepuffs would be cheering him and his team on, now it was the whole school. The whole school was watching and relying on him and West to make them proud for this first task.

... He... wasn't going to throw up. Nope. Those sausages and bacon he had been forced to eat had for breakfast were staying DOWN.

Alec followed West into the arena and scanned it, slightly surprised and taken-aback. Truth be told, he had been expecting something along the lines of a fierce trivia competition where they got buzzers and had to answer questions as fast as possible. The the points would be tallied up at the end and the winner... was the team who had the most points. This thought had made him feel better last night when he had finished frantically searching through his Divination book. But this... this was different. A lot different. And the boy couldn't help but wonder if they were secretly meant to be facing some sort of dragon. It did look like it since... well... they were in an ARENA. What that had to do with academics and Ancient Runes and Divination, though, he didn't know.

Speaking of Ancient Runes and Divination, it seemed as though West was already on the ball! Man! Okay, Summers, try not to look dumb. This was a Triwizard Tournament for academics. The brightest students had been selected for this... or something. Brightest. And he was representing the Divination side. This called for more hair ruffles.

Deciding to let West carry on with examining the wall, Alec headed over towards the plaque and examined that instead. There was... nothing on it. Just a crack down the middle. He reached out a hand to touch it... and then paused. Five, nearly six, years of being part of the magical world had taught him that touching something new were likely to go two ways: he'd either just feel the surface of the plaque or, you know, something was about to blow up. Maybe them. FROWN.

Stepping away from it, the seventeen year old turned around when he heard the sound of West's voice. Runes? He headed over and looked at the wall himself. Everything... looked weird. Like a child had just scribbled all over the wall and they had to decipher what the child was trying to say. This was essentially it, right? "Yeah..." he said slowly, "Maybe it's a four letter word when it's been translated and written in its phonetic form?" he suggested. Should he clarify? "I mean... do you remember having to write those letters in class once? We had to write the words in their phonetic forms first..."

... Moving on... he nodded at West's suggestion. Dude was the Ancient Runes expert here. "Raidho stands for 'r', I think..." See? He knew something. Maybe.

"Yeah, I remember. Transcription is fun." West said almost absently, scanning other parts of the wall just to make sure that he had the right runes and that there weren't any others. Aside from a stray theta though, there wasn't much that meant anything to his eyes, and those four had entirely jumped out at him.

"Raidho is the rrrrrr sound, Wunjo -that P shaped one there- that one is the w sound or v sound." West traced the Wunjo rune with his fingertip. "Eihwaz is a vowel, like E and I together, and Dagaz is a D. Together they do spell out 'weird'...."

And surely the answer was something to do with runes, and not just random, right?

"Weird." He said out loud, eyeing the four runes. "Weird. Weird. Weird....."

....

.......

Hang on a second. West stopped.

"Weird." He repeated. And then enunciated. "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird." No. If he switched off his thinking and just listened to the sound..... "Wyrd!" It had to be Wyrd!

"I've got it! Its Wyrd. W-Y-R-D." He had to spell it out since it sounded the same. West looked up, knowing he couldn't see past the walls but that people could see in, and held his hand up in a thumbs up. Yesss. They were good. "Its the interconnectedness of all things, and fate,... and its also what some people call the blank rune... which isn't really a thing, but it still gets called that. And the Well of Wyrd is the place what the Tree of Life gets its water." So it made sense as an answer now that he'd stopped looking at it and started listening to it. What did Alec think?

"So now I guess we have to carve it on the plaque in the middle." With their wands and all. Intaglio time. "Wanna do half each? You can do Wunjo and Eihwaz, and I'll do Raidho and Dagaz.... and then I guess we'll see what happens next." And he was eager to get confirmation of being right, and see what else got thrown at them. He was too excited to be nervous now.

"Yeah, it is..." he said, nodding along and looking back at the wall too. It was probably a good thing HE wasn't the one who was meant to be brilliant at Ancient Runes. Because everything looked like a bunch of shapes to him. He DID, however, see the runes that West had been talking about. Especially Wunjo. Hey there Wunjo!

Yeah... yeah, West was right. He smiled a little at the Wunjo rune -- favourite rune and all -- before turning away. "And Eihwaz is slightly longer in pronunciation, isn't it?" ... Yeah. Just like Isa was meant to be the shorter I vowel. It all depended on phonetics.

... BLINK. Was West going mad or...? Because he was saying the word weird out loud quite a few times. ... Alec wasn't going to question this. Instead, he looked back at the wall. Weird. It DID spell out the word weird. Maybe West WASN'T going mad or anything.

...

NOOOO! He had figured it out? ALREADY?! HOW?! Alec turned to look at him, his mouth hanging open slightly. But then West launched into his explanation and all Alec could do was... stare. In awe. Had he even heard of this Wyrd rune before? Probably not. Unless Botros had mentioned it once or twice before... But nothing triggered in his memory box apart from... "The tree... Yggdrasil?" Because he remembered writing homework on this before. See, that's what he ended up remembering. Homework.

Well done on paying attention in class, though, West Odessa. "Maybe the next part has something to do with a well and water, then?" This was complete guesswork but he was secretly hoping for something more along the lines of... oh, major and minor arcana cards? Maybe?

"Yeah!" Nodnod! "I don't like Raidho so... sounds like a great plan! Good thinking!" He gave the boy a grin before heading off towards the plaque. Intaglio... Intaglio... his grey eyes scanned the plaque quickly before he held up his wand. First rune first, right? "Intaglio Wunjo... Wunjo... Wunjo... Wunjo..." he chanted, his eyebrows furrowed and his wand moving in that familiar P shape of the Wunjo rune. Sharp P. No curves in there at all.

Quite some time later, the P shape of the Wunjo rune was carved onto the wood and... Alec grinned. Okay. One down, one more to go, yeah? "Intaglio Eihwaz... Eihwaz... Eihwaz... Eihwaz..." Backwards Z shape. That's what this rune looked like. His brow was furrowed a bit more this time since this rune was, to him, a little harder to carve out than the other one. The Wunjo rune was more of an actual letter that he used everyday, just with sharp points rather than that curve. But this one? This one was backwards and he had to make sure that the middle line was straight. This was a tournament so perfection was kind of required.

When he was done, the boy grinned some more before stepping away and turning to West. "Your turn!"

Yep, it was aaaaaaaall in the pronunciation. Alec got enthusiastic nods.

Yep, that's the tree." West said almost absently, he was now turning his attention to the plaque. A well and water? West considered. Maybe it did. "I guess we'll see soon... if we're right."

.... why didn't Alec like Raidho? West did wonder this, but he didn't voice the question yet. Maybe it'd come up later, right now there were bigger fish to fry. He licked his lips and watched Alec start, his own gaze tracing that almost-P shape and then without being aware of it, giving an approving nod when the Hufflepuff was done. And again with Eihwaz. West watched, and it was almost like his own eyes were doing the carving, since as he looked it was there, straight lines, perfect.

He grinned at Alec when he was done and stepped forward. Okay. Raidho first, and then Dagaz.... and then they'd see if they were right, or if they were done, or if they needed to invoke the runes first or anything like that. Or even if they wanted it in the regular alphabet or something instead.

He pointed his wand at the plaque, right next to where Alec had left off, and began. "Intaglio Raidho Raidho Raidho Raidho..." Four lines, on angles, forming a pointy looking capital R. Well... not really, but alike enough in appearance at least, though West's Raidho was all sharp angles and precise lines.

And now the moment of truth.

Time for Dagaz.

Right next to the Raidho, West began.

"Intaglio Dagaz Dagaz Dagaz Dagaz Dagaz..." He finished the shape, tracing it with his wand, this one closer to a bowtie than any recognizable letter, but wholly Dagaz with the sharp straight lines.

.... There.

He stepped back a bit and alternated looking at Alec, looking around, and eyeing the plaque. It was impossible not to smile in anticipation, so he didn't bother trying.

As soon as the runes are carved on the empty plaque, they sizzle and shift presenting a new puzzle:



Interpret the puzzle correctly, follow the instructions accurately, and your way out of the arena will be guaranteed.

West was right, they really were going to find out soon. Alec smiled at the boy, trying not to show that he was internally freaking out at the prospect of something water related coming up. Because he knew very little about the link between water and Divination. Maybe the ripples in the water could give them an indication about... the future? What was going to happen to them in this arena? Give them some sort of indication as to how to get out of the arena? Because... that was essentially what they had to do, right? Try and get out of this place...

The boy watched as West started carving his own runes in, the smile on his face widening and slowly turning itself into a grin. He wasn't sure whether the difference between the precision in their runes was noticeable or not but he did know that it was obvious as to why West was the Ancient Runes expert here. One of Alec's eyebrows arched itself while his grey-blue eyes followed the motion of the carving, taking in the fact that everything seemed to be so... precise.

When the fifth year was done, Alec grinned some more. "Looks great!" he said cheerfully, looking from the plaque towards the Slytherin. He would have fistbumped the boy or patted him on his bak but... they weren't done, right? It would be like celebrating the victory of the first Quidditch match of the season; there were going to be more games (or tasks, in this case), more surprises and more obstacles to overcome. Celebrating early was just not the way to go, even if the seventeen year old was beyond relieved that hey had managed to do something.

His eyes flew back towards the plaque when things... started happening. He let out a small gasp, his eyes widening as the message started forming. He didn't even try to figure out what it was that the plaque was trying to say until he was sure that the entirety of the message had been carved out, or whatever it was that seemed to be happening. This was it. This was the Divination side. And as excited as he was about this, he couldn't help but feel slightly nervous too.

"Spread your Wyrd on the Heath," he mumbled out loud, "Draw your stones not with greed... outside it shall take you... if you heed..." What? Wyrd, the blank rune. Stones... what stones? How were they meant to draw these stones? And it was going to take them outside? Right... so this was the final clue?

A small frown formed on Alec's lips as he tried to think back to what he had read in the Divination textbook and past papers. Stones... Divination by stones? Could that be it? "Do you think this has anything to do with Lithomancy?" he asked, turning his attention to West, "Divination by stones?" But the first line was quite confusing. Spread your Wyrd.... were those runes the stones they were meant to use for this? And if so, how was this meant to help them get out of the arena?

Oh hey it worked. Yussssssssssssssssssssss! But he did expect it to get even harder that that one, maybe he'd just gotten lucky and stuff. Would the next one be divination related? West grinned and then the smile faded into a look of focus when a new clue appeared. Okay. Yeah. Hmm. He glanced at Alec. Lithomancy? He examined the clue and frowned a bit.

"I don't know....maybe.... but I think it could be a rune spread... There's one named for the Wyrd stuff... like the divining side of runes and all that. Its called The Well of Wyrd and its one what's got six runes in it..." Only thing was... they didn't have any rune stones.... did that mean they had to draw runes? But how did they choose them? And what did the 'not with greed' part mean?

Well, teamwork right?

"What do you suppose the 'not with greed' part means?" No harm in asking Alec what he thought and all that.

West looked around a bit, trying to see if there were any runes anywhere. Maybe they'd just have to summon some? There wasn't anything in here to use to make some either was there? Unless they conjured some wood, cut it up, carved them up, invoked every single one of them... kind of a time consuming thing to do.

A rune spread? Alec's eyebrows furrowed itself as he looked back at the clue again. There was a rune spread named after the Wyrd... OH HEY! This had something to do with that weird chapter in the textbook, right? The one with all the spreads that he hadn't... really... taken a lot of consideration into looking into.

Uh oh.

He DID remember the Ancient Runes OWL and that Diamond spread, though, so if this was anything like that, this might not be too difficult, yeah? The sound of the six runes, though, made the boy slightly confused. Especially since they had only started off with four runes to begin with. "So... depending on where the runes fall and which runes they are, it'll tell us how to get out of here? If... if we take heed..." He broke off as he looked back at the plaque again. Take heed. Pay attention. Pay particularly close attention to the runes and what they're trying to show?

That was a good question. "I think it means... we have to work together. And see, when you're doing these spreads, you have to make sure that the only thing in your mind is the question you want answering. Which, in this case, would be how to get out of here. So maybe... maybe it means that we have to think more about that and getting the task done and less... less about winning this competition." Because if they thought about the winning aspect only, that would count as being greedy, right?

Alec frowned a little as he read through the first line again. Spread your Wyrd on the heath? Which was there in the open space, right? And-- ... Wait. "West... where do we get these stones from?"

Okay, working together. So far so good yeah? Less about winning more about completion? "Well I guess even if we did get out first -and we might already be last, who knows?- then it wouldn't be winning anyway, on account of we're just one part of the group, and its all teamwork stuff anyway. We couldn't win on our own." And honestly West would be having trouble without Alec since it made it easier to think out loud, and bounce ideas around and everything like that too. And the Hufflepuff was a sort of.... stabilizing presence, and he sounded like he had some experience with rune spreads, like the actual execution part, whereas West was all theory with this stuff.

West nodded, frowning a bit in thought. "Well I guess it makes sense that its a spread what could answer the question anyway, since..." West knelt down and made a few marks on the ground, six circles in the almost-mud, three on top, and three underneath, almost reminiscent of face down runes. "This first position in that spread represents the quester, which is all about... well, us I guess, that'd be us, the ones at the heart of the question, its one what is supposed to give insight into current circumstances... and like immediate surroundings and areas of concern." This wasn't particularly his FAVOURITE part of runes, so he was glad Alec was around for this stuff.

"This one here," He tapped the ground in the top middle position, "That one is like... about the difficulty of the path ahead, the things that are obstacles and the qualities that are lacking when it comes to getting where you want to be, and the one next to it is about the road behind, and where the quester came from and all the past things that are crucial for moving forward and stuff." He looked at Alec and worried his lip a little bit then tapped the ground right under the first position. "This one here its the way to the root, it gives insight into the immediate next steps and how the present situation effects the near future. The one in the middle here at the bottom is about calculated steps, it helps identify the mindset needed to move forward, and suggests what needs to be carefully remembered, and what the quester needs to be mindful of." It was a lot of stuff to say, but if Alec wasn't familiar with that particular one, then it might be helpful right?

"And this last one," He tapped the bottom right hand position, "At the Great Well, it indicates the overall outcome and the defining issue." So... he supposed it was relevant to what they were doing at least? Yeah? "I've never ever done it, just read about it." He added, letting just a bit of nerves colour his tone.

But as for where they got the stones from....

....

"When I read about old Triwizard Tournaments and stuff, I read one bit about Harry Potter, and he summoned his broom. Do you suppose it might be a bit like that? I'm not all that great at the summoning charm though... you could try summoning a rune set and I'll look around the arena and see if we missed anything else, any stones or anything. And if summoning doesn't work, and if I can't find anything, I guess we could try making some." Which would be a lot of hard work and take a long time, so West didn't think that was the intended thing to do.

He stood up from his crouched position. "I'll look around a bit." West started to walk around the Arena, working from where they stood, outward in a spiraling pattern, eyes examining the ground, and the walls.

West was smart, did he know? He had to. If Alec was that smart, he'd probably know it too but wouldn't say anything about it. Probably. "Yeah, you're right," he said, "Maybe the plaque is just... trying to remind us of that, then? That we're one part of the bigger picture. And while... while every task counts, we have to remember that we're part of a team." This almost called for fistbumping moments. Almost.

Things were being drawn! Alec bent down, eager to see how this spread would look like. Because the guy was all about diagram and visual aids so if West had gone about explaining this spread without the diagram, it would have taken the frequently-confused Huflepuff a little longer to understand what the boy was talking about. Circles. Runes that fall into circles... very good mix of the two subjects they were meant to be looking at.

He was listening, though. Listening and nodding along. He didn't even say anything, just let West continue with the talking. Because if you're explaining something, the last thing you want to do was have someone interrupt you, right? Especially with pointless questions that the Hufflepuff was bound to ask. Sigh. He did, however, end up saying, "So... we'd have to end up looking at the divinatory meanings -- that little paragraph under the Galdrs-- of each of the runes that falls in each of these circles, right?"

Alec's eyes widened and a small grin spread across his face at the word 'summon'. "And we're allowed a WAND so..." West was a GENIUS! And he was going to do the summoning? Easy peasy lemon squeezy. "Okay, here goes nothing." The boy stood up and looked around the top of the arena to try and see where the castle was. But... the only thing he could see was the sky, thanks to how high up the arena walls were.

The Hufflepuff Boy's Dorm was in the basement, near the kitchens. Meaning that it'd have to go round and come up and THEN fly all the way down towards the arena. But it would come, right? "ACCIO RUNES SET!" he bellowed -- BELLOWED -- with his wand moving in an upside down semi-circular shape. This was necessary. Absolutely.

He DID have a question, though, as usual. "West..." he called out, his eyes still on the sky for some sign of his runes set, "What about the magical protective charms around Hogwarts? What do we do if things can't be summoned because of--" ... Wait... what was THAT?! SQUINT.

No matter how long you wait, nothing floats or fall in the arena. Even if you try summoning again, the only thing that falls is your chance of progressing.

"Maybe yeah." West nodded his agreement. It seemed likely anyways, this being reminded business. And as part of that team they obviously wanted to do the best they possibly could do, so that the next pair to go, after lunch, wouldn't be behind or anything. Everyone had to do their best, but by the same token, if everyone did, then it took a bit of pressure off too. It was okay if your best wasn't enough, looking at the bigger picture, even if on a personal level that kinda sucked. He knew that from personal experience already.

"Yea that's right. The divinatory meanings. That stuff is like... my weak point, I guess. I know all the theory but the practice is harder." On account of West found the idea of some external thing suggesting what his path or journey would be, to be kind off frustrating mostly. He didn't like feeling like he wasn't in control of his own destiny. It was the magic of the runes, and the history, that he liked.

Summoning seemed not to be working, so West kept looking to see if there was anything for them to use. They could have missed something. He kept his eyes on the ground and kept looking. Nothing yet. Oh what? Alec said things?

"Oh. I don't know. Maybe they made it so we can't summon. That means... if we can't find anything in here, we need to conjure wood... like sticks or whatever... like wooden rods with ferula -we wouldn't need the bandages- Orrrrr..... We could carve stuff out of the stone wall if we want to use stone instead." But wait.... "Taking stuff that exists already could be maybe interpreted as greedy.... but creating something new wouldn't be greed would it?"

His mind was reeling a bit. "Or we could make them out of dirt or clay." It was just that if they had to make a rune set... and there wasn't any traditional materials around -he kept scanning the ground- and if they had to invoke them, then it'd take a while for sure. West kept scanning the ground closely as he walked around, trying to spot something useful.

West wasn't great at the divinatory side? Or the interpreting meanings part? Alec smiled a little before saying, "I'm... not exactly the smartest or the best but I don't think I'm that bad at that part. I'll help you. Teamwork!" You know, if the Slytherin was worried about doing that part himself or messing up or anything. They did have to work together for this, after all. And he had actually sort of done something close to these spreads before so this one wasn't going to be too bad, right? All they needed were the runes.

And speaking of runes... SQUINT.

... Nope. He saw nothing.

Frowning slightly, the boy continued looking around, taking a couple of steps here and there to get a better view. But all he could see was the sky and nothing out of the ordinary up there either. This didn't look like a good sign. And if thy did have to create these stones, the plaque was pretty much the main stone they could have used. Unless there were more lying around. Shrugging, the boy started walking around towards the other side of the arena, his eyes searching for good enough material.

Oh? "That seems likely," he said, agreeing with the fifth year. The sound of the use of the ferula spell didn't sound bad to him, not at all, but what made him feel slightly weird about this whole process was the idea that this wasn't simple Transfiguration. They were essentially conjuring something out of thin air and this type of magic seemed quite advanced. He smiled, though, and nodded along to West's suggestion. "Using stone from the plaque would be greedy as well, yeah, but conjuring won't be, I don't think." Even if the plaque did have the most amount of stone there. Apart from the walls.

But his opinion? "I think conjuring would be the best option. I mean... we can't exactly harden mud... dirt and throw that across the runic spread," Mudfight. Sounded messy! "If we do get to use ferula... we can decide on the type of wooden rod to conjure, right? And..." He paused. There were certain types of wood that you could use for this that was likely to link to the well of Wyrd. Or... did it just not matter? He shook his head before continuing, "If we can find clay, it'd be a great idea to use that. If not... wood might be the best choice. It's the most commonly used material for runic magic, right? Meaning... meaning that it'd probably be really good and useful for... for the spread purposes..." He wasn't confusing West, was he?

"Teamwork definitely." West was glad for it. It'd be a lot more intimidating having to do it all on your own after all, and if Alec could swing all that stuff, that interpret-y divinatory stuff, then it would work out just fine.

West returned to the plaque and examined it closely, running his fingers over the words. It just seemed.... something. Something he was missing. It just seemed like a really time consuming solution. He was nodding at everything Alec said though, and then he spoke out loud.

"Spread your wyrd on the heath.." The ground, that was the ground, "draw your stones not with greed..." West examined the circles he'd drawn to show the spread and something twigged in his head. ".... what if, instead of conjuring them... we just draw them in the dirt? All of them? And if we have to select some, we can just... I don't know, close our eyes and pick randomly or something, and then whatever we pick, we could put into the wyrd positions if we need to? Then if that doesn't work, we try making the runes whole?" It'd be faster at least. They could still invoke them too... "We narrowed down the other options: summoning didn't work, and I didn't find anything when I looked around, it makes sense to make sure literally drawing them doesn't work too." And the third line had said to 'take heed' so maybe it was encouraging the literal.

Teamwork. Nodnod. Alec smiled, glad about that 'teamwork' part because he didn't know how long it would have taken him to get to this point if he wasn't working with someone like West. It usually took him a little too long to figure things out thanks to the fact that, upon reading riddles, his brain usually went into overdrive with questions.

While West examined the plaque, Alec headed over towards the circles and sat down. His eyebrows furrowed itself as he looked over each of the circles. What was it that West had said? Question, obstacles, past things... then, at the bottom, immediate next steps, calculated steps and overall outcome. His eyes lingered for a moment on the overall outcome circle. A rune... there was a rune that was going to land on that and get them out of there?

... And then West was speaking, making Alec look up at the boy. Draw them in the dirt? His eyebrows furrowed itself again as the boy looked down at the ground again. Draw them... all twenty four... It did sound like a good plan, he was going to give the boy that. "It sounds easier than conjuring up wooden rods," he started, looking up again and nodding, "And if we do pick randomly... and if our fingers or wands lands in between two runes, both of those runes are selected for that circle?" And it wasn't as if they had to use all twenty four runes, right? This was probably him just trying to make sense of the whole procedure. Probably.

"Yeah, let's do that! It wouldn't hurt to give it a try!" he said, grinning slightly and rolling up his sleeves. He got up from his seat and shuffled backwards a bit so that there was a bit of space between him and the circles. He bent down again and, reaching out a hand, started drawing on the first eight runes of the Elder Futhark. Futhark. F-U-TH-A-R-K. With a G and a W at the end, which made up the first line. He made a small face at Raidho before continuing on with the other three.

When he was done, Alec paused and looked around at the runes, smiling a little. Standing up, the boy stepped back and looked over at West. "You want to do the next line?" Or the line after that. Alec wasn't too fussed.

With Alec taking care of Fehu through Wunjo, West had no problem starting on the next aett, in a line below those that Alec had drawn in the dirt. Hagalaz, Nauthiz, Isa, Jera, Eihwaz, Perthro, Algiz, and Sowilo. He focused on each of them, ensuring that the lines were just so, and each was readable and recognizable.

Having finished that line, he started on the next too, again below so that there were three rows, each containing the eight runes of its respective aett. Tiwaz, Berkano, Ehwaz, Mannaz, Laguz, Ingwaz, Dagaz, and lastly, Othala.

Would they need to invoke them?

"I guess we should try choosing them first, and then if that doesn't work, we can invoke them all and choose again." And this part, the choosing, that was where Alec would do much better than West, who knew the theory but had difficulty with the execution when it came to the divination stuff.

What if they were entirely on the wrong track though? If only there was some way to know...

And as for how to choose with some randomness... "Maybe close your eyes and toss your wand up, and where the point hits closest, that's the rune to choose? And then when you've got six... we can write them here, and see what happens." He tapped the six empty circles that would make up the spread. From there they could figure if they needed to invoke all the runes, or if they needed to interpret it in a particular way, or if they were... back to the drawing board.

So the runes looked good, yeah? All straight and pointy, just like they were meant to look? Awesome. He smiled when West finished off the drawings of the runes in the dirt, taking note of the fact that they were readable. Good. Yeah. Awesome points for you, West Odessa.

Choose and then invoke? Alec nodded along, particularly approving of the closing eyes and tossing his wand up idea. "That'd make it more random, which is better, I guess," And there was the whole Inner Eye part of this where you let your Inner Eye take over and really connect with the runes and the question you want answering. "Maybe you can draw them in the circles as we go along?" So, you know, West wasn't standing there doing nothing. Plus, West did seem to be better at the drawing runes part.

Taking a deep breath, the boy closed his eyes and held out his wand. He took a couple of seconds to clear his mind and try to think of nothing but the question at hand. Usually, this was what the boy found most difficult about Divination; his mind just felt too... full at times and trying to clear it was hard. It was the whole pink elephant thing that they had done in Defence that one time.

He squeezed his eyes shut. Question... question... this had to be linked to the whole 'how to get out of the arena' aspect, yeah? Or how to complete the task. He thought about this, the arena and their problem at hand. Because, essentially, they were stuck in here until they can find a way out. They. Him and West. A team of sorts.

Holding his wand over the runes and, with his eyes still firmly shut, tossed it up in the air. His eyes flew open just as his wand fell to the ground again, right on... "Ehwaz!" he called out, picking up his wand again. Ehwaz... wasn't a great rune, was it? Shrug. He closed his eyes again, trying not to think about the Ehwaz rune. His wand was tossed up in the air and ended up landing on... peek... "Hagalaz!" Wow, what were these runes trying to say? He picked up his wand yet again and repeated the procedure. It spiralled in the air and landed right on, "Isa!" West was making notes of this, yeah?

Three done, three more to go. Eyes shut, wand tossed, rune selected? Yeah! "Jera!" He held onto his wand again and repeated the procedure. Except, this time, when he opened his eyes, it turned out that his wand was pointing down towards his feet. The tip was right near... Teiwaz? Yeah, that was the one. But pointing down? Did that mean... inverted? "Teiwaz! ... Erm... inverted!" Which, funnily enough, would be an arrow pointing downwards. Heh. ... Again! He tossed his wand up in the air and watched as it landed right on... "Lastly, Ingwaz!" That was... a weird selection of runes. He was glad, though, that nothing too bad had come up. Maybe.

Shrugging, Alec picked up his wand again and headed over towards the circles. Now it was time to interpret, right? Or... were the selected runes meant to do something?

Alright, hopefully this was it. Hopefully they were on the way to solving this thing and weren't just wasting time here. That'd suck.

Obligingly West began writing each of the runes down as Alec chose them, hoping that they'd not have to invoke them all too. Maybe just the ones they'd drawn? Eh. They'd find out soon enough.

Ehwaz, Hagalaz, Isa, across the top row, followed by Jera, a merkstave Tiwaz, and finally Ingwaz in the final position for The Well of Wyrd spread, literally drawn on the heath.

".... do you think we need to interpret them?" He eyed the drawn runes. Did Alec remember what he'd said about how the different positions in the spread worked?

He watched them. At least they looked good.

Alec was a bit nervous about this part, to say the least. This was the part in which his side would have to be used, yeah? Which meant that he had to know what he was talking about otherwise they'd end up being in even more of a pickle -- heh, pickles -- than they currently were. Maybe. ... He REALLY didn't want that to happen.

Interpret them? Alec paused. Did they? "Maybe? Do you think they'd give us some sort of literal answer?" Or was it going to be more fluffy and a riddle-type answer where they had to think deeply to uncover the meaning of. ... Since this was Ancient Runes and Divination put together, it sounded a lot like the latter. "It might help us figure something out?" Shrug.

Was he going to try and interpret them? YEAH! "So the first one... that's the questor, right? The two of us?" West had said that, yeah? "Since Ehwaz is there, I guess that could mean... a steady progress. We're making a steady progress? Or communication. Which... I guess is what we're doing right now." Don't try and be funny, Summers.

Next was... Hagalaz, right? "See, that's obstacles, yeah?" he asked, pointing at the middle circle in the top row, "And Hagalaz turning up there means... we must let go of the past. Maybe that's what's stopping us form moving forward. Maybe... maybe that's our obstacle?" What past were they holding onto, exactly? The idea that the summoning charm hadn't worked? Or the idea that... ... yeah, he didn't know.

Moving on... Thinking back to what West had said before, he continued, "That's the past, yeah?" His hand moved over to point at the circle on the furthest right on the top row. "Isa... Isa Isa Isa..." Wasn't that... ice? "That's talking about stopping... and further assessing a situation, which is what we did back at the plaque." The plaque... "Maybe that assessment was crucial? Or what we learnt from it?"

This... was a weird assortment of runes. He frowned a little before looking over at West. Did he understand what they could be talking about?

As soon as the runes are written down on the ground, two small dots far away in the sky become visible, heading towards the arena.

The more the boys discuss the runes, the closer they get!

ooc: The next task is about to begin, but this task will carry on for another 24 hours.

"Steady progress... and communication, yeah. That sounds right, and that gives us insight into our current situation, we're progressing from communicating, just like the rune says." West nodded his agreement, feeling some excitement again. As for Hagalaz and it being obstacles, it tells us what is standing in the way in that position, so I think you're right." Alec's insight helped immensely. He nodded his agreement with the Isa assessment too, and West turned his attention to the bottom row.

"Next one is our immediate next steps... the near future... its Jera so maybe its saying results of earlier efforts are realized, like all our work is paying off? Maybe... that we're earning our success." It sure felt like they were earning it, even if he wasn't sure if it was success yet. West looked up at Alec for confirmation, not being entirely confident with his own assessment there.

And then Teiwaz in the next position... West eyed it. Merkstave. That one was mindsets and courses of action for moving forward, calculated steps and things what needed remembering. "Merkstave Teiwaz is not being able to judge things right and being unable to think clear... and overanalysing and not seeing stuff right? So its saying we should be... careful not to over think things? And we should be careful to think clearly." err... maybe?

And then the last one, Ingwaz. "The outcome and defining issue for us.... uhh... internal growth? And common sense. And... listening to ourselves." Huh. Kinda profound. He looked at Alec, what did he think? That was all six of them in the Well of Wyrd reading.

West noticed something.

... what was that? He squinted.

"Hey, Alec, what do you think.... what are those?" Looked like something coming their way. West pointed up in the air.

The dots grow bigger and bigger until they're dots no more. Two brooms whoosh into the arena and head towards you.

Hop on! They're your way out of here.

Alec nodded along to what West was saying. See, talking about this did help. It meant that the two got to bounce of ideas about the runes and understand them properly, yeah? It also meant that they got to understand their situation properly too. So... he just nodded at West's comment, feeling a little better about these runes than he had done initially.

West's thoughts about the bottom row of runes was good, too! "Exactly! That might be what happens soon? We earn... something? Something that'll make us successful?" Where successful was more about completing this task. See, this didn't sound bad! He nodded some more, though, at the merkstave Teiwaz interpretation. "So... to achieve Jera, we need to be more merkstave Teiwaz?" Rune talk! Botros would be proud, yeah? And, lastly, Ingwaz! Which, as West rightly said, talked about internal growth. "It... sounds like it's saying that we'll learn more than just... Ancient Runes and Divination stuff in here."

Alec smiled as he looked down at the runes again. Not bad, runes, not bad. And they certainly seemed to give off some sort of message that linked more to.. looking at the bigger picture? Was that it? He couldn't help but wonder if there was something else that was meant to be going on. Some sort of sign that what they had done was--

... What? What was what?

The Hufflepuff looked up at West... and then over towards where the guy was pointing at. SQUINT. Yeah... there was something coming! Dots, thats what they looked like. Two dots in the sky. What were they? "I... don't know. I'm hoping they're not anything dangerous, though." If they were, though, he had a plan: protect West, think later. Superman style. Hulk would be proud.

... Yeah, okay, the Slytherin probably didn't need protecting. Alec looked over at West, saying, "Here's a funny idea... what if they're--"

He broke off when his eyes landed on the dots that... well... weren't dots anymore! Brooms! THIS WAS THE SURPRISE EVER! Eyes wide and a big grin spread across his face, Alec turned to West and said with much gusto and enthusiasm, "We get to FLY out of here!" West was a Quidditch player, of course he'd understand the whole excitement behind the flying part... right? Yeah?

Shrug. The Hufflepuff got up and headed over towards the nearest broom. Time to fly!