Impress him? How was she going to do that. What was he even looking for? With her notebook open, she had already begun sketching a few notes but she was lost.

"This class will focus on the Theory of Elemental magic. How to cast the elements to do your bidding, and more importantly, knowing why they move the way they do." The man began pacing slightly on the floor of the amphitheater.

"I assume all of you know how to cast spells. If you can't, why are you at this college?" His voice was boisterous and deep, it filled the outdoor amphitheater as he spoke.

A short round of laughter echoed around the stone seats. Emilie could only manage a bitter smile. The joke just reminded her that Reese would never have been able to make it this far, and further made her worry about her own place behind the cold walls.

"Though, the goal of this class isn't to teach you how to cast a spell, but to understand them, and more importantly how to make new ones." Bragmond paused and looked around. "Sorry, I asked for a board to be brought out, not sure what's taking so long. Let's start with some basic questions to see what I’m working with. How many elements are there?"

A student in front raised their hand. "It's a trick question. There are different schools of thought, and it depends on which one you use."

"I suppose that some might think that true. But no. For the past several hundred years there have only been '6' elements. Anyone else want to guess what they are while we wait…" Again, the mage looked around in growing annoyance.

Emilie debated raising her hand, but the shaking of Morgan's head gave her pause long enough for someone else to pick it up.

"Earth, Fire, Sound, Metal, Air and Water."

“Yes, good, good.” Again he paused and looked around for his fabled board. "I'm sure most of you know of Ice magic, what element is it?"

Surprisingly, no one raised their hand this time.

"Well, that's depressing. Maybe I should just cancel this class."

Ignoring Morgan's advice Emilie raised her hand, ignoring the follow up snickers.

"Ah yes, the child knows. Tell, me what you think."

"Ice magic is just fire magic. Dark Fire magic. It's like the inverse of Fire which is more accurately called light fire. The light and dark aspects might not… nevermind." The smirks and snickers made her stop mid explanation. It wasn't like it was completely her idea anyway.

Bragmond stared at her for a moment, deepening her worry. "That's a very good answer. Light and dark forces can invert the nature of the element. Light Fire makes Fire. Dark Fire makes cold or ice. Other elements do similar things. Light metal makes things harder and solid, Dark Metal makes them softer, more like water. Which leads to an interesting link. That I would love to show if I only had my chalkboard!" Bragmond’s voice boomed in the direction of Auxiliary south.

In the distance came an older looking student pushing a large blackboard on wheels. It reminded Emilie of the board she had seen in the old keep from years ago.

"Took you long enough." Bragmond gave the student a slight push as he stood in front of the board and drew a set of symbols. It quickly became clear that he was drawing the same seal at the entry way to the library, a common enough set of shapes that she had seen before. In the center, a hexagram with empty circles at it's points the symbol for Solistum, it was imbedded inside another larger hexagram, with the six symbols around it's outside points. Flanked on each side by two other symbols, Pure Light and Pure Dark.

"Now, this is the modern grand magic seal or glyph or symbol whatever you wish to call it. I want you to make note of something, this will be your first insight into the deeper world of elemental magic. Notice the outer hexagram makes two triangles with the elements. This upward one, consists of Fire, Earth, and Sound. They have been called the 'active' elements. Leaving my personal opinions to the side, they are known for making things 'do'. In the case of sound, they move, Fire, they burn, Earth… Earth is an odd one, according to current understand it causes things to align."

It was hard keeping up with the information her teacher was giving her. From sketching out the great magic seal to listing his explanations, it was just a lot of information. It was almost enough to miss the mages subtle dismissal of current magic theory. A note was placed at the bottom of the page, she wanted to follow up on that later.

"Now. For the bottom triangle, starting at the bottom you have metal, air, and water. So call 'states'. Metal makes things solid and hard, Air turns things to a gas and light, and water makes them liquid and flow.

Now, if you're interested,’ the history of element magic’ goes over the history of this symbol and how the elements have been linked in the past. As our student in front mentioned, there are other, mostly older schools. In your studies you will undoubtedly come across these older spells and theories, they may have different symbols, even different methods of casting. This class, will only teach you how to cast modern spells and create modern spells, but a historic understanding could be invaluable. We will also only be using the six outer elements. Dark, Light and Solistum will not be covered. Each of them are complicated enough for their own class…"

For the next hour, Bragmond would sketch out simple glyphs and spells on the board. He even cast a few very simple spells, to show the theory. "Now, before we end the class, I want to stress I don't do homework assignments. That's what your Practicum is for on Setnesdeg, which will also be at noon. I do have a suggestion for those who actually took notes today. See if you can find any of these spells I casted in any of your books. Anyone that can bring me one by next class, I will write off eight of your future demerits." Bragmond looked around, as if confused why people were still sitting around. "Well, you're dismissed. Leave."

Everyone began wandering away, either off to their next class or to some other place to study. Of course, Emilie hung around for a bit longer.

Bragmond sighed at the child. Realizing he'd have to answer some questions from her. "Well, what did you want to ask me?"

"I'm sorry, I just, you seemed dismissive of the great seal, and I just wondered why?"

The mage considered her question as his eyes moved about. "I'm not dismissive of it. There are other theories out there. I'm teaching the most relevant one, that every modern mage needs to know. I recommend taking that history course I mentioned, and if you're still interested, there's a more advanced class in the spring that goes over unusual magics and theories as well. It's aimed at 3rd and 4th years, but anyone can take it." He studied the girl for a moment, "You were going to say something about light and dark mana before your fellow students stopped you?"

"Not really. I just had a friend who thought he knew more than everyone else. He thought light and dark mana were completely different from the elements. That light and dark was just, a misunderstanding."

"Hmmm. Interesting, so basically that Pure light and Pure dark have nothing to do with so called the light and dark nature of elements?"

"Yeah, I think."

"Your friend sounds like an interesting person. There are theories like that, but they're not actively pursued."

“Any reason?”

“Well, if I wanted to keep my respect in the mage’s community, I should say they don’t amount to anything and are fools' errands.”

“That sounds like there’s other reasons.”

The mage smiled slightly and gazed at the ground, “Politics. People don’t like being wrong.” His voice was lowered, it was like he was ashamed to admit that.

Looking around, it was obviously getting late, the 2nd afternoon bell would toll soon. Not that she had much to do, she still needed to choose two other classes.

“Have you picked all your classes yet? If not, you seem the type that would be interested in some of the history classes offered. There’s quite a few that go beyond just magic history. Politics is, everywhere and history is a good foundation for understanding it and working through it.” Bragmond rolled his eyes at his own comment as he began erasing the blackboard.

On her walk back to the library, Emilie considered Bragmond’s advice. History was interesting, she always liked the maps that history books tended to have. It wasn’t magic, but maybe it would be good to help round out her studies more.

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The posted bulletin in the library had several course names with the word history in them. 'History of Elemental Magics’ was obviously there, but she had already chosen that one.

‘History of Alchemy’, that wasn’t really her thing, it would be something Reese would have done or maybe Younehti. Besides, that class meets at 10 on Momadeg, she’d have already have missed the first class.

Perhaps she could ask her goblin friend about it next time she saw her. The thought of that word gave her a slight smile, 'friend'. It was too early to call her that, but maybe one day.

‘History of the Yoth Kingdom.’ Maybe, seemed a bit too narrow in focus though.

‘Lost history of the 3rd Empire.’ That one sounded interesting, but it was heavily crossed out, with the word canceled at the end. Shame.

Just below it, another class had been hastily written in.

‘Early History of the 1st Empire. Momadeg at 2PM. Mage Abens.’ The first Empire, that was the so-called human Empire. Emilie had read a few excerpts on it, but in all her books there wasn’t much listed. Many called it a lost age since so little seemed to survive. It certainly sounded interesting. There was one problem, it meets only on Momadeg at 2PM. Given the bells outside, it would already starting.

Why not, she needed another class and it did sound intriguing. It met in one of the keep’s classroom, 1-4. That was probably on the 1st floor she just needed to find it, quickly!

Running though the library was obviously frowned upon, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Much to the glare of that same librarian. Emilie feared her first demerit was going to happen sooner rather than later at this rate.

Reaching the space, she tried to quietly open the door only for the hinges to squeak ever so slightly, “-moving to the history of the 1st Empire.” The younger man up front turned from the board and glared at her though his glasses as she entered. The six other students present did the same. It was clearly a small class, to make matters worse, they all appeared older. She doubted that any of them were 1st or even 2nd years.

“You. Why have you interrupted our class?” The young man’s features were stern and glaring. At first, his gaze reminded her of Fortus. Beyond that, he appeared to be a very primp and stuck up person. His hair was light blond and shoulder length, very neat and shiny like it was well kept. His facial features were softer, and his emerald green eyes seemed to almost sparkle.

Maybe this wasn’t the right class for her, but before she could leave, his face broke into a laugh as the class followed suit.

“Ha ha, I’m just kidding around. Please shut the door and join us!” When he smiled it seemed almost magical, like sparkles and pixies followed him.

Emilie quietly took a seat near the front but not at the front of the classroom. She was still uncertain about this class.

“My, my. I thought you were a halfling with your height, but I dare say you're just a child. How old are you young one?”

“… Nine?”

“Nine?” He looked around as if trying to remember something, “Oh the archmagi told us to watch out for a very young student this semester. I’m surprised to see you in this class. You know it’s an advanced class?”

Now she was really uncertain, maybe she should leave and come back in a year or two or just leave altogether.

Before she could get up though, “No, no, please stay!” The teacher was very emphatic that Emilie stays, going so far as to nearly run up to her and push her back in her seat.

"Sorry. So few students here are interested in pure history, it's great to have someone so young. I know who all my other students are, so tell me, why did you pick this class?"

'It had the word history in it, was starting soon, and she needed another class to fill out her schedule.' All would have been the truth. But she wasn't convinced any were the best answer.

"I… like history?" For a second the mage sat in front of her as if waiting for more. The other students also seemed to gaze at her as if waiting for more as well.

"I suppose, if that's all it's enough."

"I mean. I'm really interested in magic, but when I was younger, I did like to read everything in the house. The only other books that were as interesting to a three year old were the ones with maps and drawings. They tended to be history books. Plus… Bragmond mentioned learning history to understand politics, so I thought-."

"Yes~!" The professor practically screamed and ran back to the front of the room.

"Now you've got him going." The half Anthro wolf next to her smiled and laughed a bit, indicating that probably wasn't a bad thing?

"Politics! The order of the world, the structure of society!" He began writing several sentences on the board.

'The unification of the human language.'

'First countries and kingdoms.'

'Imprinting of early human culture.'

'Galvanizing of the elves towards the 2nd empire.'

'Cementing the order of the Gods (Why Grenda is the greatest!)'

And several other points that seemed less important.

"The first Empire in the world, was the human empire. Around 12,000 years ago. Now, 12,000 years is a very, very long time. It's not as long as the 20,000 years our pre-empire class went back too, but it's still far. Who wants to tell our new arrival the problem we have here? Kinkluie, with your beautiful golden eyes! Want to give it a go?"

The half Anthro wolf next to her smiled and blushed as he began to explain, "The problem is, very little exists from this time. Really any time before the end of the 2nd Empire, the Rass Illthfeash Dall-et. Mostly we find stone monuments and structures, only a very small amount of any text has ever been saved or recovered. So, tracing the history is like building a jigsaw puzzle of missing pieces."

Clap, clap, clap. "Beautiful explanation from our gorgeous wolf! I really like that illustration at the end, jigsaw of missing pieces. Gives me shivers, I'll have to steal it for my next book."

"Oh stop. You'll make me blush more." The white and gray wolf held his hands to his cheeks and rocked his head a bit. The added red implied he was blushing from the complement. There was something else odd about him that Emilie just noticed, he wore a surprising amount of jewelry. In the wrong light you might have taken him for a masculine girl.

Emilie was smiling. It was hard to place where it happened, but she was definitely smiling right now. This class seemed like it was going to be a lot of fun.

"Now, lets get back to it!"

There was a lot of information covered in the two and half hour class. Her hand ached from the dozen pages of notes she took. It felt like it was mostly a review of their prior class, about 'pre-empire history', but it left the connections for this class. They were creating a foundation and though she didn't want to feel like they were doing it for her sake, Abens defiantly made extra effort to expand on the subtleties of his prior class.

One of the more surprising facts she discovered was just how many languages there were before the first two Empires unified everything. Hundreds would probably not an understatement.

As the class came to a close, the smile she had earlier was suddenly weighed down by a very heavy book that she would need to read half of by next Momadeg. Thankfully that was the only real assignment so far, in this class anyway, but still. It was a lot.

"Um, mage Abens."

"You can drop the mage, just call me Abens. How do you like the class?" His broad smile was infectious. He was very handsome and if she were a few years older, she could see herself having a bit of a crush on him, as at least one of the other students seemed to have.

"I think I love it! You're all so much fun, and I'm learning more than I ever thought I would."

"Fantastic! So what's on your mind my young scholar?"

"Well, the assignment seems like a lot. Half a 400 page book by next week. Where would I even pick it up?"

"In the library, there are exactly 6 copies…" Abens paused and his smile grew as he saw a problem, "…and I have my own right here. Which I will lend to you! You can bring it back next Momadeg. You are coming back, right?" His voice turned frantic in what seemed to be a mocked fearful tone that didn't quite match his expression.

It was hard not to giggle, "I will, and I'll bring it back. But won't you need it?"

Abens set the book down on the table and turned to the first page. At the bottom, was 'Abens Recceb, Ast-Astrix 314'.

"I have my original notes, and a couple extra copies at home. I'll make sure one of those extra copy is added to the library by next week."

She walked out of the classroom with the book in hand. Her smile drifted a bit with its weight but held strong. This was supposed to be a one-off class to fill the schedule, she was not expecting this level of work. Yet, for some reason, she was also not dreading it.

Outside the room, several of the students remained seemingly discussing the prior class.

"Oh, come on everyone knows why you took this class, Kinkluie."

"Well, I admit the eye candy is nice. But no, I like this stuff. Knowing our past where we came from. I mean I like people, knowing who we are. Beside, I'm part wolf, we're known for our curiosity."

"Well said!" Their attention turned towards her, "What do you think kid?"

Without noticing or meaning too, it seemed like she joined their circle. "Well, I said it in class, I like history."

"You know, Abens wanted to teach a different class, but they wouldn't let him."

"Yeah, I was looking forward to that."

The class list had a few courses that were crossed out, but only one came to mind "The Lost history of the 3rd Empire?" She asked.

"Yeah, that was it. The College doesn't want people talking about the Technopolis. Abens will figure out some other way to teach it."

"Shhh. You're not supposed to say the name. If someone reported you to Tranlearba's guards you could be fined or thrown in jail."

That was the second time she heard that while here. Maybe, they'd be able to talk more about it? Assuming they weren't scared of the guards. "My friend Younehti told me the same thing. Is it really that bad?"

One of the students eye's lite up. A younger human is probably 15 or so. "Younehti? I know her, cute goblin chick, right?"

"Noss, you and your short stacks."

"You have a crush on our teacher, you're no better Kinkluie."

"Guilty. Anyway, yes it's bad Emilie. I don't know anyone who's been arrested, but there have been fines. Serious fines, I think it starts at 20 silvers. The problem is everyone's still afraid of the calamity even if they don't know why or what it was, and well the Technopolis was always blamed as the cause of it. The gods struck them down for their arrogance and everyone suffered because of it. The gods always ignore us, but for some reason they didn't ignore them. It's scary for people, honestly even for us. I always make it a point to leave an offering when I talk about it, but curiosity is a stronger driver than fear."

The growling in her stomach would end the conversation earlier than she would have liked. It was fun, but she was starving, having missed lunch.

Technically, she still needed one more class, but maybe this was enough for today? Kraodher did mention that students could attend any classes that had opened seats. Maybe her last class could just be an "open" seat thing, where she floated between different classes. It was an idea at least. Perhaps she could ask Kraodher for more advice on Vobeesdeg.

On her walk back to dorms and the cafeteria, she could only hope they didn't have baked squash again or any more of that tasty but way to fibrous soup. Of course, they did, maybe she could wait for the late-night stew instead. Though, that would probably has squash in it too now.