Her hopes of a magic heater in her room had been dashed. She had spent all last night looking for anything that resembled the magic circuits that were in the amphitheater, but there was nothing. It could just be she didn't know what to look for though, enchantments weren't exactly her area of interest or expertise.
As such, her room was all the colder this morning. Reese would have said it was about the mid 50s, whatever that might have ment. To Emilie, it meant it was cold. Though, there was a slight hope, a subtle draft of wind from atop her wall brought slightly warmer air today. The central heating system slowly cranked out a tiny extra bit of warmth. It was a small comfort that she wouldn’t freeze, at least not literally.
The dress was finally dry, and much warmer than her outfit yesterday. Although, it was decidedly more difficult to move in. A dress could be pretty, and to be fair, she liked how they looked on her. That said, she already missed the freedom and comfort of her pants.
Breakfast was the same again. It wasn't a week yet and it was already old. Perhaps she could starve herself? Maybe that would convince them to serve something else. Doubtful though. Morgan didn't seem to be around, neither did Younehti for that matter. The black panther Culushus caught her eye and he nodded; she was tempted to try talk to him. However, he had nearly run out as soon as he sat down, managing to almost shove an entire squash cake literally into his mouth. Perhaps that was just one of the advantages of the more animal races? It was likely he was in a rush to get his seat today, which she needed to hurry off to as well, the Defensive Magics class did tend to fill up very quickly.
A cold breeze brushed past her, and chilled her face as she stepped outside. It was colder than yesterday, but it didn’t feel like it thanks to the heavier clothes. Students wandered about, moving briskly between the dorm and the various buildings on campus. A few faculty wandered about as well as they all crossed the various desired paths of the campus.
A whitish glint caught her eye, as one student made their way from a particular space between the faculty dorms and Auxiliary North. There in that corner was the campus’ shrine, a place she had yet to visit. Seeing the white marble glinting off the sunlight felt like a not-so-subtle reminder that she had yet to leave that offering she promised her parents. She could still remember how insistent they were before she left.
A few days ago, back in Wollseeth; The family's shop was hectic that early as they all ran around making sure she had everything she'd need. Things were left unattended, shelves were empty, and two very full bags stood next to the door. Too full to even fall over.
Her siblings were all still asleep at the time, it was just her parents and her running about in the darkened early hours.
"We probably should have bought her heavier clothes." Her father seemed particularly distressed as he considered the bags.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. She runs around in these during winter." Her mother, on the other hand, hadn't worried as much.
From what Emilie could remember, her mother came from somewhere in the south, while her father was more northern born.
"I know, but it's colder up there. I hunted a few times in those same forests… Maybe we could send some up to her?"
"Oh, look who wants to spend some coins now. I don't think we have any for that." It was strange to see her mother worrying about money and her father being generous with it. Usually it was the opposite, and that kind of worried her.
"What if I take my dress? It's warm, I can wear it on colder days." Present Emilie was thankful she had done that, even if it meant carrying an extra bag. It was obvious at the time that her father knew just how cold it could get up here.
Before they left the house, her father had given her one last hug. “Emilie, remember as soon as you arrive safe to make your offering to the gods. Please honey, it’s important.”
“You or mom were always with me, I’m just… what if I do it wrong?”
“You won’t.” The smile on his face, she'd always remember that, as his eyes glinted from the tears he had held back.
“Who should I make the offering too?”
“Well, since it's a long journey why not give something to Elcus?"
"Elcus… He's the god of long travels? I'd have to give him some Hard Tack. Do we have any to take?"
"Emilie, your knowledge always impresses me. I don't think I ever told you that?"
"Reese… had a textbook we read. It had most of the gods in it."
Her father had pulled back a bit at the name, "Are you going to say goodbye to him? He is your friend you know."
"…", The word she was looking for was yes, but it never came out. Only silence.
"But you're right we don't. Maybe you can buy some where you get there? Any preserves will work."
Though, since she arrived at the college, she hadn't had a chance to do that. There were no shops in the college itself, and anything outside of it was beyond her reach. Maybe she could ask someone in the kitchen here if they'd give her something? She didn't need to give an offering to Elcus specifically, maybe there was another god. One in particular flashed through her mind as memories of previous offering to them floated by.
Today, she would do that today. Well, at least before the end of the day. Inside the keep was strangely busy. Being near the end of the week all the students had begun to come out to work on their various assignments and prepare themselves for the practicums that would be coming in the following days.
Emilie held the two books she was carrying close to her chest. Unlike last time, she would have a textbook with her to read, the one Abens had lent her. It was something productive to do, rather than twiddle her fingers for three hours.
Even though she arrived earlier than on Tivisadeg, there were even less seats. It was only by luck that the last one in fact was now hers. Morgan had clearly arrived even earlier and was sleeping a few desks away. Many of the other students from the last class were present as well, strangely, even that boy Jasbin who was kicked out last time. Emilie thought he was kicked out of the college for picking that fight with the mage, perhaps not though?
Quickly she took the seat. The sounds of other students entering echoed in the room, hunkering down she did her best to avoid notice. Taking out the extra text, she quickly buried herself in the book, hoping to escape notice, for the most part it seemed to work.
The text was dense, and though there were plenty of maps and other scrawling that broke the monotony of the text. Almost every section was backed with a source or a message linking back to an artifact somewhere in the world. As fascinating as it all was, it was also quite heavy, and made her eyes feel equally weighted as she tried to understand it all. For the next few hours, she read, and took notes in her own book. At least the time passed quickly.
The day continued on, eventually the time grew close and a few students who had been waiting in back grew ever more nervous and desperate. She kept her head down, engrossed in her book. Still, she must have seemed an easy target for at least one of them.
"Hey, dragon slayer. That's my seat, get up." A taller elf or maybe half elf kicked at her chair. Their face was not a pleasant one.
A loud yawn a few seats away caught Emilie's attention, "She was here before you, bugger off." Morgan looked up from the desk she had been sleeping at.
"I wasn't talking to you shorty."
There was a sudden cold sensation down Emilie’s back, along with the tingling sensation of mana crawling across her skin. She could remember that specific sensation, just like a few days ago it was so distinct.
With a loud thud, the taller bully fell on the ground. His feet are losing traction with the floor. By the sounds of it, he may have broken a tooth.
“Ow, what the fuck!”
“Oh! Now look who’s short.” Around the classroom, laughs rang about, not from everyone but enough. It was similar to what happened to her in the cafeteria on Momadeg. In fact, as she thought about it was exactly the same.
The half elf tried to get up but fell again. His breathing grew faster and Emilie could see his muscles tensing up. The boy was looking for a fight. Like everyone told her, she needed to do something otherwise he'd keep seeing her as a target for his bullying.
“Damn it, when I get up, I’m going to-”
The crackle of fire next to his ear stopped him. Emilie could feel the heat from her own spell as it started to singe her fingers. “You’ll do what, shorty?”
With a thought, the spell faded out. Her fingers stung a bit, but it wasn’t that bad and it got the point across as the boy slowly got up on shaky legs and walked away. Holding the side of his mouth the whole while.
The class of rowdy future mages laughed and joked as the other student completed his walk of shame out of the room.
Curiosity got the better of Emilie as she reached down and touched the ground. It was just stone, not ice, and just as rough as you’d expect of stone. Again, it was just like Momadeg. Morgan had already put her head back down, so Emilie wasn’t able to ask her or accuse her of anything right now. Not that it mattered as mage Tallin entered the class.
After dropping his bag, he glared at the injured student leaving, before turning his attention to the others waiting in back. The hint must have been telepathic, or just that obvious, as they all began to leave.
"I see, you students have been busy." Tallin stared at Emilie and the small splatter of blood on the ground. "I shouldn't have to remind all of you, fighting on the campus grounds is not allowed. If you want to duel, get permission from the archmage and head to the arena outside. If you fight here, you'll be expelled."
His cold gaze turned towards Jasbin, who as the mage spoke huffed a single quite laugh of defiance.
"Is that all you have to say to me?" The rich boy didn't seem to know when to keep his mouth shut.
"Oh, I have lots I could say. I already know it will be lost on you."
The boy didn't seem to like that, "My family-"
Tallin wouldn't let him finish that thought, "Is now paying 5 times the yearly tuition for you to be here. Would you like to try for 10?"
Jasbin's eyes fell downward and he slouched a bit, but it was his silence that confirmed his full submission.
"Now, as I was saying. You are all going to learn powerful spells in this course. Most are defensive, but not all. I've already said this and no doubt so have the other mages, but I'll say it again. You are not allowed to use them on each other outside of the carefully monitored practicums. If we see it, we will deal with it… Not that I saw anything today."
With the chalk in hand, he moved on from the one sided conversation and began sketching out what looked like magic glyphs but these were different somehow. Emilie couldn't quite place how or why, but they didn't 'feel right'.
"After our last class, I spent a little time thinking about it. Most of you are useless, but I noticed a few with natural talent and maybe another one or two with the drive to actually learn this material."
Tallin turned when he was done, and took a moment to survey the class, stopping on Emilie, "You, Human child. What did you notice about this glyph."
She didn't like being called a child, and the way he said 'human' was derogatory. The slight smirk he had made it feel like he knew exactly what he was doing. Forcing her focus away from Morgan and him, she studied the glyph. It was hard to say what it was. On the surface it seemed, normal, but underneath, the way it made the mana inside her move just felt, wrong. It wasn't like the time she first used ice magic, this almost hurt.
"It feels, like it hurts. Like it's pulling at my insides and in different directions."
"Good, and that's the problem. This glyph is a fairly powerful shadow spell, it would drain the mana inside of you and twist it. It's a rough spell, but it would interfere with anyone looking for you. I know you have a large and ordered gate, what you're feeling is your mana begin pulled and twisted around, the more you have the worse it is. It's one of the reason dark spells are so hard, they directly attack and break mana. Light spells do the opposite, they reinforce and create it. Someone who is naturally able to use magic, those with large and ordered gates will have the hardest time casting these spells and need to study the most. Those with smaller gates will tend to have an easier time with light and dark spells, at least in the beginning.” Tallin began to erase part of the board, working on his next point.
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But it made Emilie wonder, what about those with no gate, like Reese? Maybe they’d be able to master these kinds of spells? She asked the question, to the chuckle of a few students.
Tallin looked annoyed at having been interrupted but gave the question a moment's thought. “Strange question, but no, not really. Without a gate they won’t be able to use mana at all, they'd have to figure out how to use the surrounding mana.” He stopped erasing the board and held for another moment as if reconsidering. “There’s not much research in the area though, gateless are rare and most won’t even attempt magic.”
With light thump he pulled a book from his satchel and turned to a particular page, “Now, I want to touch on some more aspects of the dark spells. Particularly the spell I expect you to cast on Setnesdeg…”
As such, the class proceeded much like her previous ones. Tallin would draw a spell on the board and dissect it for the class. Pointing out nuances that might otherwise be missed, and berate all of them for being foolish enough to take his class. He continually reiterated on point though, “Again, dark and light spell are tricky and complicated. This class is not about how to make them, but to cast them. For the safety of the campus, don’t attempt to make your own or alter the ones I’m giving you.”
The rich fool near her laughed slightly, “You think we’re foolish enough to hurt ourselves?”
“You Jasbin? No, I think you’re too stupid to be foolish, and won’t even be able to cast these spells. For everyone else, students have died in the past trying to cast their own dark and light spells. Don’t do it. The one’s I’m providing are carefully selected to be the least likely to backfire and injury you.”
Tallin brushed his hands, shaking a bit of chalk dust off them. “Now then, as I said you all need to know this glyph behind me, copy it and the incantation exactly. Practice it before Setnesdeg. I will be judging your ability to cast it, and how it holds up against attacks. I don’t have anything else for the day so, feel free to leave or stick around and ask me questions for the remaining time.”
The majority of the class quickly got up to leave the classroom, leaving Tallin alone at the front as he smirked and shook his head. In his head, admonishing the students who didn’t take him up on his offer.
Emilie did have one question from her sudden macab curiosity. “Have people really died from casting these spells? At this school I mean.” The lack of many other students meant there were no laughs this time.
Tallin nodded, and stated quite dispassionately, "Yes. These are dangerous spells and fools tend to suffer their own idiocy in this realm. Most of the injuries occur in later courses, where you'll be expected to craft or modify dark and light spells. If you're arrogant or just an idiot about it, you will hurt yourself or someone else. Most people see magic as mundane, a way to make easy daily life or shortcut problems. But they are deeply powerful forces we still don’t fully understand.”
“That said, you pique my curiosity earlier, so let me ask you a question in turn. Truly gateless people are rare, why did you ask about gateless castors?”
“I knew someone from my town that was gateless. It’s just, interesting I guess.”
Talling nodded, seemingly a rare note of agreement, maybe even admiration on the surface? “I wrote my thesis on gateless magic use. If, they could learn to cast at all, they might see some competence in dark and light magics, if they can find a way to gather the right mana." Tallin turned to erase the board. "But they will be very limited by their own lack of mana. Dark and light both need it to function like any other magic, it’s just easier for a smaller gate to cast at first, but larger gates will create bigger spells, eventually. Anyway, we've expanded our extra time. Class is over.” Tallin gathered his supplies and left the classroom, with only a small handful of students behind him.
Morgan walked out of the room before her. Seemingly oblivious to any of the questions and concerns in Emilie's mind.
"Morgan." She called after her friend in the hallway. "That was you on Momadege, wasn't it? With the ice floor spell?"
The halfling stopped but didn't turn around. It was hard to tell, but her head may have tilted downward, just a bit.
"…Yeah. I did it. It's not ice either, it's dark metal." The halfling turned around, not quite able to look at Emilie in the eyes as she rubbed the back of her head.
After a few moments of silence, Morgan spoke again, "You know. I came here, thinking the students here wanted to be mages, that they were better and smarter than the average person. When I tried to show my skills off, they laughed at me. Seeing that I would take it, they made it worse every day. Eventually, they got physical about it. You know with halflings, our size is deceptive. I'm about half the height of a normal human, but I'm stronger than I look for that size. So instead of being ½ as strong I'm, about 3/4 as strong. Still not much of a fight. It took me over a week punching them back and using my spells for them to give up." She let out a pitiful laugh, seemingly more at her self than anyone else."You just sounded so smug about it all, the goblins and dragons. Like I did. I just, wanted to see you knocked down a level, like… they did to me."
It almost looked like there were tears in her eyes when Morgan finally looked at her. “Emilie… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” Her words were cut off as Emilie reached around and gave the halfling a hug.
“You’re one of the few people who’s ever told me they were sorry. Thank you.”
With her own smile, Morgan returned the hug of her younger friend. She was still such a child, she thought to herself.
"But, in exchange, I want to know how to cast that spell."
"Heh, that's fair."
The two had plenty of time before their next classes, and they spent a good portion of that in the cafeteria. Morgan was quick to keep her promise and sketched out the glyph and spell for Emilie, all the while explaining exactly what she did to her bullies. "So I used this spell and my slow fall spell to lay up that loud mouth dwarf. Couldn't get any traction to hit me and I was able to kicked him a dozen times. He ended up begging me to stop."
"What happened after that?"
"Well, he stopped picking on me at least. Once the rest saw I wasn't an easy target, they gave up too, eventually. But one of the mages saw it and gave me a bunch of demerits. It wasn't too bad though. Got rid of them helping out the librarian shelving books."
With lunch finally at its end, Morgan went off to her last class of the day, while Emilie still had two more and an hour before the next. It seemed like a good chance to try the new spell she had just been given. So, she went outside, far away from the other wandering students.
The spell in her notebook wasn't particularly complex, but it was different from what she was used to. Emilie hadn't cast many metal or dark metal spells, and this glyph had a rather interesting sensation to it. Like a cool twisting inside herself. Unlike the dark glyph previously, this one wasn't painful, just tingly.
It took a few attempts but she was sure she got it. Rubbing her hand against the ground it felt slick. Like her hand couldn't grip it. Letting her focus go and the spell disappeared. That was another difference from every other spell she knew; this one required a constant stream of mana to keep active. It wasn't a lot, but it was clearly draining her gate.
Emilie didn't have much time to celebrate her success. The next class was about to start, and as nice as Kraodher, he probably wouldn't appreciate her being late.
Much to Emilie's disappointment, Kraodher didn't quiz them on their assignment. Mere asked if they had done it, and if anyone had anything interesting to share.
Instead of spending much time on that, he jumped right into the topic at hand "We will be finishing our discussion on the three aspects school of magic that was active at the end of the 1st Empire." The mage stood in front of the classroom, in the same robe he seemed to wear on Momadeg and Vobeedeg. Perhaps, he just had a few copies of the same outfit? That seemed to be the trend anyway.
History was history, like a spiral it frequently came close to repeating, but rarely crossed itself. Such the class was, ending with their next assignment.
"Simple homework assignment for next class. The schools you discussed today, I'd like you to try and find a spell if you can find one. See how it feels to try and cast it. I don't expect anything like a successful cast, that's not the point of this class. But do bring back your attempts and observations."
Before she could leave for her last class of the day, Kraodher stopped her with a question a concerned grandfather might give, "So Emilie, did you find a fifth class?"
"Yeah, I'm going to do the Research Methods you mentioned, with mage Geer."
"Fantastic! I'm sure you're going to like it. Geer is distant cousin on my wife's side, she a bright young woman very energetic, just like my wife! You know my wife always used to enjoy coming with me on my research expeditions. Even before we were married, she was always there with me, protecting my back with her sword. I suspect she liked testing herself against the monsters we always seemed to run into, gods help me I can't think of any other reason she'd spend time with the clumsy oaf I was . Ha, and still am for that matter. She was something, still is even in later years, and still just as beautiful."
It was impossible for Emilie not to smile at the stary eyed mage in front of her. Despite the white hair, something in those eyes showed youth, and a young love. It was sweet, almost sickeningly so.
Kraodher shook his head lightly, "Forgive me, I've gone off on a tangent again. Uh, let me know if you find any difficulties in your studies. I'm sure you'll be fine though."
Research Methods was in auxiliary south, on the 1st floor. Room number 1-3, a smaller room, that only looked like it could seat 20, and a bit more than half were full. With Emilie, the total would be 13, a rather lucky number by the world's standards. Some of the students she already knew too, like Kinkluie and Noss from her history class, and the black panther Anthro Culushus was also there. She already had a good feeling about the class.
However, when their teacher arrived, Mage Geer. She was not quite what Emilie was expecting. Unlike most other mages that seemed to wear robes, Geer had on thick brownish hide pants and a dark heavier jacket. She wore a set of spectacles that seemed a bit too thick and were somehow strongly attached to head. Preventing them from flying off as she enthusiastically and animatedly drew across the board the name of the course. Her reddish hair with a white streaks was pulled up in a rather messy bun that seemed to hold, despite the aggressive movements.
In all, she was something a bit different from the other mages, perhaps Abens was the most similar to her at least personality wise. A point that would make sense since they were also related, unbeknownst to Emilie at the time.
There was this energy about her like, "I'm going to be up front with everyone here. I love research! I love getting messy in the field, making mistakes and learning from it all, and by the end of this course…" She paused, waiting for the class to finish her statement.
Which they did, "We will too."
Geer looked to Emilie and her smile seemed to grow even wider, "I see we have a new student on the second day! Tell me young mage, what brought you to my research course?"
"I was looking for a fifth class and Mage Kraodher suggested this one. I don't know how I feel about research, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to get from this college. I do like learning though!"
If her answer was rude or incorrect, Geer didn't show any slight from it. If anything, she seemed to get more excited by it. "Excellent! Honest, truthful, and with a seed of potential. You know what I think Emilie?"
She could only shake her head no.
"I think you're going to love research too! Quick refresher for our fellow researcher. This course will teach you how to record facts and data, to document your findings in a way that others will agree with. You will learn preservation methods for artifacts, and how to write reports and theses. We meet twice a week, there are practicum element to the course where we will go into the field and do some simple data collection! Those weeks we won't meet in class for one of them, I'll let you know ahead of time." She talked with a rapid pace, keeping a tempo that made recording all of it challenging.
“With that, let’s jump into it! Today’s lesson on proper recording of data!” Geer almost shouted the words as she wrote more notes on the board.
The whole class was just a fury of notes, and even physical examples. It hadn’t even occurred to Emilie that a bound notebook shouldn’t be tampered with. Even removing a page could be seen as hiding data. There were lots of little odds and ends things that seemed almost superstitious yet had a important reasons to exist.
Which was culminated at the end of the lecture, “If you lose the trust of your fellow scholars, you won’t be able to get it back easily, if at all. The integrity of your records I paramount! Even if you get things wrong, it is better to have a record of why and how. Your fellow scholars and researchers will tolerate honest mistakes far more, than deception.” Geer put the chalk down with one last smile. “Any questions about the topics today? Remember Momadeg we’ll be in class, but Dunladeg you should prepare for a quick excursion! Dress warmly.”
'Dress warmly' Emilie almost laughed at that comment. She was already wearing her warmest outfit. But, maybe tomorrow that would change? Younehti seemed insistent she could help Emilie with that, somehow. A sudden creeping fear caused her head to go light or maybe that was just because she was hungry.
"You ok child?" Geer's smile remained but twisted to the sides as if showing uncertainty and concern.
In the moments she had spent daydreaming the rest of the class had already left. Which was a shame, she was hoping to talk to a few of them. Maybe they were headed to the cafeteria.
"Sorry, just thinking about next week. Will we be going far?"
"Not next week, we'll just be off to the Great Fern outside the school's walls to collect samples and documents! It will be a chance to get our hands messy in the field and hopefully make some really insightful mistakes! But, at the end of the term, I might have something bigger planned." Geer mused about the last point as if still unsure. In truth though, she hadn't been able to get approval yet.
The walk back to the dorms and cafeteria took her on a path that hid the shrine, but it couldn't hide it from her own thoughts. It's true she was hungry, but if she didn't do this today, it might never happen.
Bypassing the cafeteria, she caught sight of several people she was hoping to spend more time with, and several more she wanted nothing to do with. The temptation to leave her current path was strong. But she would do this!
Another temptation, as Younehti bumped into her on the steps, "Emilie! You going to get dinner?"
"I have-" The growling in her stomach caused the goblin to smile and laugh as her own face grew red. Rather than let her friend pull her towards the perpetual squash that never seemed run out, Emile pulled in the opposite direction and continued. "I would like to get dinner, but I made my parent a promise to leave an offering at the shrine when I got here and… I didn't. I need to do that first."
Younehti let go of her arm, but the goblin's smile remained. "Alright, I never leave offerings myself, but I understand. See you in the cafeteria when you're done?"
With a nod, Emilie took off to her room to sit and do nothing. As she sat there for a minute the ideal offering came to her as she gazed at her desk's surface, it was likely the only offering she had to give at the moment. A bit of paper, and with it a pen and some ink. On the paper she carefully wrote out her message, an apology as part of the offering to what was becoming her patron god.
"I don't know if I should have said goodbye to Reese or not. He was my friend, even if he was insufferable. I'm still mad he didn't apologize to me and I don't think I should have been the one to say they were sorry. Maybe I'm being too proud and stubborn, I think he and I could be alike in that regard. I need to let it go. Eshtar, I apologize for what I didn't do, for moving on without saying goodbye."
It was short, as these offerings usually were. Inside her coin purse she took a single copper coin as well. The two offerings to deer like god.
Her walk back outside was met with a chill as the wind picked up from the setting sun. Approaching the small shrine, she noticed there was no caretaker around, not one to clean or care for it, though it was clearly cared for. A handful of offerings sat atop the pedestal. Maybe they didn’t take care of it through day like they had back in Wollseeth, she wondered. But that didn’t matter, the gods would know she left an offering and that was good enough.
Tightly folding the paper, Emilie carefully placed it on the slate top of the small altar, just next to the scroll and quill that was carved into it. On top of that paper, she left the one copper coin to weigh it down from the light wind that seemed to blow around the corner.
Whispering to that wind, she spoke, "Eshtar, you've always listened to my apologies. Please, help me move on and make amends."
Another cold and soft gust blew past the altar, threatening to take the paper with it. But the coin held it fast and kept it on the slate. A bittersweet smile crossed her lips, as she felt, lighter. It was time to stand on her own here.
"Thank you Eshtar." Emilie whispered into the wind, not expecting it to answer back.
Only the faintest of echo sounded as it crossed her ear. She thought, maybe she heard something in it, "You're welcome". Perhaps that was just her own whimsy.
Turning around, Emilie began the short walk back to the dorms and more specifically, the cafeteria. Behind her, amidst all the other offerings, she didn't notice that the letter and coin were missing.