“Now, I don’t know the next person we’re going to see more than in passing,” Nathan told Saul, “so I should probably give you some background on him. He’s a quarter-elf gnome Wizard who might enjoy talking to you, but he’s known to respond to things oddly.”

“Thank you for this,” Saul said, getting a bright smile from his uncle.

Like Artisan, the Wizard Idol had no combinations that included the death icon. It was essentially the non-human equivalent of Sorcerer, but with more variety and less raw power. Saul didn’t know much more than that, and looked forward to learning. While he had been self conscious about not knowing basic details about Artisans, he loved getting to learn something new. He hoped the book he had brought about artifice would elaborate on Artisanal works.

Their destination turned out to be right next to the magistrate, a narrow three-story building with a mortared stone first floor and wooden second and third floors. Nathan knocked lightly, and the door opened within seconds.

“How may I help you?” the plainly dressed woman asked.

“Nathaniel Ficial for Wizard Warlick Darklight, socially,” Nathan replied.

“Right this way, monsieurs,” she led them into a parlor. “I will inform the Wizard of your arrival.”

After they had been sitting for a minute or two, the room lit up slightly. A few seconds later, there was a flash of light and a small man appeared in one of the empty chairs. The door hadn’t moved.

“Nathaniel.” he greeted. His bodily proportions were slightly unusual, legs a bit too short, head a bit too large. His eyes and ears were even larger.

“Wizard,” Nathan replied, then stopped whatever he was about to say as they heard hurried footsteps.

“Would you like refreshments?” the servant who had let them in asked, as she burst through the door with as much speed as professionalism would allow.

“Actually, could I have something to drink?” Toby said, the woman glancing at the rest of them then removing herself. “I haven’t had anything to drink since before we crossed the border hours ago,” he said apologetically.

“And you are?” the gnome asked.

“Toby Ficial, Fighter. I’m just following these two around right now. That’s my cousin, Saul. He studies thaumaturgy.”

“Yes, this is my nephew,” Nathan jumped in. “He’s never left the human kingdom before, and I’ve been taking him to meet people with abilities humans don’t have. He’ll be awakening his own abilities soon with a focus on copying the powers of others, something I understand Wizards can do?”

The gnome looked at Saul.

“I just have a mirror icon right now,” Saul said. “Anyway, was that teleportation? Did you use a fragment from an actual space icon? Or meet someone else who did?”

“Yes, no, no. Tell me, can the mirror icon be used in a fight, even without any abilities?”

“Sure, I used it to blind someone who attacked our carriage. The Mirror cantrip applied to the eyes to make them a reflective surface. I’m working on learning a dwarvish cantrip to create a makeshift dagger, but it’s still early days.”

“Mmm. Good enough.” Warlick decided, “I can tell you about Wizardry a bit. You two can go.”

“Excellent!” Nathan said, pushing himself to his feet, “Saul, you’ll be fine with him for a while. Toby, let's go find something you might enjoy.”

The servant returned with a cup of something steaming and milky. She handed it to Toby, who had just stood up. He sipped it.

“This is good, just give me a moment,” Toby tilted the cup slightly then stepped away from the chair, his movement transitioning into a twirling motion as he pushed off with one foot and balanced on the ball of the other. He spun in place for several seconds, finally stopping and handing the empty cup to the servant.

“Very well done!” Nathan applauded lightly.

“I learned that for a stage fight,” Toby said, “it’s actually practical for me—”

“No, no, no,” Nathan cut him off, taking him by the shoulder, “don’t explain, that ruins the fun. Just do things, then leave before anyone can ask questions!”

He pushed Toby ahead of him out the parlor door, the servant following behind them.

“So, what do you want to know about Wizardry?” the gnome asked after a brief silence.

“Well, I don’t know that many details,” Saul replied, “I know that if you replace the death icon with a knowledge icon in a combination that produces Sorcerer, you get Wizard. Older records mention them being very versatile, but lacking in power. Elven Wizards were observed to favor illusion and construction powers.”

“Interesting. So your goal of awakening a power set revolving around ability copying isn’t inspired by stories about Wizards.”

“No? Human abilities inevitably end up being a pile of physical improvements, weapon creations, and a few attack enhancements. All of those are very practical, but leave little to no room for actually interesting powers you can use in day-to-day life. With a power thief ability set, I can take or copy those practical powers for my duties, then use other more interesting abilities the rest of the time.”

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“Interesting,” the Wizard repeated. “Usually, I hear this sort of thing from teenagers who think they’ve come up with the perfect way to get all the power of a Wizard without any of the limitations.”

“I am aware that there are weaknesses to a power thief. I will face a variety of limitations in how each ability actually steals or copies others. Limited range, limited memory, dependence on nearby targets, elements of randomness, inability to take passive abilities. I intend to mitigate some of that by focusing one icon on artifact operation.”

“…I think you want to be a Wizard. We don’t have most of those downsides. We can only learn abilities from two icons, but as we advance that becomes less limiting than you’d think.”

“What about the reduced ability strength?” Saul asked.

“That’s more an issue with traditional elvish Wizardry. The gnomish Wizard tradition stamps out that weakness, though it slightly narrows our versatility. Dwarves basically don’t have that problem at all, but that’s a matter of ancestral affinity.”

“How does Wizardry work then?”

“The details of my tradition are restricted.” Warlick said, “but I can tell you some generalities. A traditional Wizard only awakens some of the potential of their icons. Their master helps them awaken specific abilities, as few as four in the elven tradition I believe, then they awaken their capstone. The unawakened potential becomes part of their capstone instead of being lost. The Wizard can then record the active abilities of others who share one of their icons in their capstone and use a handful of them at a time.”

Saul considered for a long moment.

“It sounds like you transform your entire powerset into a single strong copying power.”

“That is more or less accurate.”

“You’re right, that does sound like a streamlined version of what I want,” Saul mused, “but it also sounds like even if I could use a Wizard combination, I couldn’t get the instruction I would need to use it. I also have obligations related to the combination I am planning to use.”

“You’re more right than you realize. But you’re technically wrong about the Idol, the mirror icon can produce Wizard when combined with knowledge and an element.”

“But death, mirror, element produces Guardian not Sorcerer?”

“Then the Sorcerer and Wizard combinations don’t perfectly mirror each other do they?” the gnome snarked. “I don’t know why they would, they’re fairly dissimilar beyond a passing glance. What combination are you going to use? Guardian?”

“No. It’s a creature that I will be visiting soon to get help guiding my awakening. I’m thinking now that I may ask for help getting Wizard-like abilities, so any more details would be helpful.”

“What? You’re using a blank icon? Why?”

“Two reasons,” Saul lied, “one, it’s the best choice for developing operator abilities. Two, I can get a creature to help me develop my powers in a particular direction; the Guardian Saint or Wizard Saint wouldn’t do that unless I joined their church.”

The Wizard drummed his fingers on the cloth arm of his chair for a moment.

“You’re not completely wrong about being an operator, though the mirror and knowledge icons can get some abilities in that direction. In terms of getting the abilities you want, I suppose I can see it. There are abilities and spells—that’s what we call abilities we’ve recorded with our capstone—that can guide ability development. The only ones I know of specifically are tailored for Wizard awakening, however.”

“Is there anything else you can tell me about what kind of abilities I should ask for, then? Or even just about the mirror icon. I know it has overlap with the light icon, which I’m guessing you have.”

Uncle Nathan returned an hour or so later, sans Toby. Saul had made another appointment for the following day, the Wizard interested in seeing the dwarvish book on cantrips.

“So, what did you think?” Nathan prompted his nephew as they walked through a shopping district.

“I think I wish I could be a Wizard,” Saul sighed. “But even if I used a Wizard combination, I would need a Wizard instructor. Maybe more, Warlick used the plural once or twice when he mentioned the training.”

“He told you about how Wizards are trained?”

“Vaguely. He was nicer to talk to once I stopped asking about it though.”

“Yeah, a lot of elves and part-elves have a chip on their shoulder about telling humans things,” Nathan commiserated.

“I got a sense that gnomes were private about their Wizard ‘tradition’ as well.”

“Could be. I haven’t talked to many.”

They walked past a street lined with cook shops selling food from open storefronts. Saul’s stomach rumbled, and he drank the rest of the water from the glass bottle he had in his satchel.

“Uncle Nathan,” he said after a while, “I’ve been learning what to look for to tell apart the different fractions of elf. The quarter-elves look completely human, but they always have lighter hair and eyes than the average human.”

“That’s about the only difference, yeah. That’s why you wouldn’t have noticed any before we got here. Humans can easily have the same traits.”

“It didn’t help that that’s what most of our family looks like too.”

“Well, yes,” Nathan replied smoothly, “many noble houses have distinctive features. People from common backgrounds marry outside of their families more often, so they all blend together.”

Saul didn’t notice any change in his uncle’s expression or cadence, but it felt like maybe that answer had been prepared. Or he was looking too hard for nothing.

“Speaking of telling apart elves,” Nathan continued, “I’m sure you’ve wondered if you’ve seen any full elves?”

“Yeah, I have thought about it. I’m not even certain about telling half- and three-quarter-elves apart yet, so my thinking right now is that either some of the maybe-three-quarter-elves I’m seeing are full elves, if they look as much alike as quarter-elves and humans, or I haven’t seen any.”

“You haven’t seen any. The difference is more obvious, which you’ll see soon. We’re going to see one of the three or four full elves in the city. Not only that, they have a mirror icon like you!”

“How far in advance did you plan this?” Saul asked, amused and interested.

“Oh, I’ve wanted to bring you or one of your sisters here for years! I love this city, I want to share it!” Uncle Nathan exclaimed, spreading his arms wide. “Your mother comes with me sometimes, and maybe another cousin or two, but I haven’t been able to get any of you three.”

They had attracted a small amount of attention with Nathan’s dramatic outburst, and most of the people that looked their way smiled when they saw him. Saul also noticed that it was starting to get dark.

“Don’t we have dinner plans?”

“Dinner tends to be much later here, we’ve got time for this last visit.”