Of Fallen Stars
Having completed his other business, Tolben rends space once again, rendering himself to Sothis to examine the body left behind by Stars Falling. The body itself is still maintaining its odd effect on local gravity and atmosphere, and has a large uninhabited zone around it now, the locals having learned by experience where the edges of safety lie.
Tolben manages to cut off a sample of the body, and finds the properties extend to severed pieces, in proportion to the sample's size. Some further examination finds that it's in effect shunting air inward, pulling it into the "flesh." It appears as though the air is removed at this point, sent elsewhere by some means or completely unmade. The whole effect is mediated by gravitational pull that keeps the air, like everything else, moving inwards towards the body.
After a bit of trial and error and some minor setbacks that destroy what's left of a house, he works out a way to modify this gravitational aura, based around the life bubble spell. It's a simple fix to implement, and results in air being kept around the sample in a gravity field, but not being pulled in enough to actually disappear. The implementation is relatively straightforward and quick; it doesn't require that much skill, either, though obviously figuring it out in the first place would have been a good deal harder.