“I know this is a surprise to all four of you, but it was the Principal’s decision to add my class to your curriculum,” the speaker was a petite woman. She used a cane to walk, avoiding putting her weight on her left leg.
She corrected her large, round glasses, and pushed her auburn curls behind her ear. “My name is Sivhe Caarda, you may call me Instructor Caarda. I will be teaching you about how best to utilise your augments, and other crystal tools.”
Their classroom, if it could be called that, was her study. The large, round room’s walls were lined with bookshelves. Boxes of all sizes and books stacked on top of each other formed several small towers on the ground. She had a desk, but it was overrun with papers, old parchments, and several crystals of varying sizes.
After looking at his surroundings for a moment, Midhir concluded that she wasn’t a particularly tidy or organised person.
“Why did the principal add this to our curriculum?” Willow piped up. “Weren’t we supposed to take this class in our fourth year?”
Instructor Caarda nodded. “Indeed, I usually only teach fourth year students from Practical Combat and Strategy, but Principal Aoidh mentioned that one of you is a crystal staff user, and another one of you is having great trouble with ordinary augments.” She pursed her lips, tilting her head to the side. Her auburn curls cascaded, covering half of her face. “Who are those two students?”
Midhir sighed inwardly as he raised his hand. “I’m the latter,” he curtly replied. Having spent the last days constantly reminded of his shortcomings, he had become somewhat more irritable. It was wearing on him, yet the only solution was to overcome it.
Arwen excitedly started on her feet. “I’m using a crystal staff!” She exclaimed, her eyes glimmering with glee.
Instructor Caarda raised her eyebrow. “I see. Then I will have special classes for the both of you. Midhir, was it?” her gaze turned to him. “Come here every dusk. And you,” her sharp gaze turned to Arwen. “Every day, at dawn, I will see you here. Understood?”
Puzzled, they both nodded.
“What about us?” Alistair’s question was met with a chuckle.
“She is trying the impossible and will need all the help she can get, no matter how small or insignificant, while he has a weakness to cover. Unless you fit in either of those categories, you’re better off spending your time honing your weapon mastery, and knowledge of history.” She sharply replied as she stood up and slowly made her way over to her desk.
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After rummaging through the mess of papers, parchments, and crystals, she stashed a few items into her pockets, the returned to the seating area arranged in the middle of the room. After carefully lowering herself onto her seat, she rummaged through her pockets, pulling one of the items she just stashed in there out.
“This is a crystal,” she stated the obvious. It was a fist sized crystal, green in colour. It wasn’t particularly vibrant, cut into a roughly spherical shape. “We use these in, well, every aspect of our lives,” She narrowed her eyes, her gaze shifting to Alistair’s right sleeve, then to Willow’s hand. She turned her head to look at Arwen, and her small pendant, then finally looked at Midhir. Their gazes met as her lips curled upwards slightly.
“The most common use most of the population has with crystals is water,” she explained, “Cities small and large use crystals to supply homes with fresh, clean water. An’Larion and Bareon included, despite being founded near clean water sources.”
An’Larion was built around a lake, which received its water from the nearby mountains via underground water streams. While Midhir didn’t know too much about Bareon, he didn’t doubt her words. Both of these were incredibly old cities, constructed before humanity had learned to harness the power of crystals.
“Another use is something many use daily – storage. It’s much easier to store weapons, tools, and other belongings in holding gems. In fact, I would argue that it is rare to see anyone carrying their weapons the old-fashioned way.” She shot a telling glance at the shortsword hanging from Midhir’s belt. “Does your trouble with augments extend to holding gems as well?”
Midhir shook his head. “No but using any crystal-powered tool requires some degree of focus – something that becomes a luxury in a moment of crisis.”
Instructor Caarda pursed her lips. “I see,” she then rummaged through her pocket again, pulling out another crystal.
This one was crude, with rough edges, muddy surfaces and chunks of rocks still stuck to it. It was a dark blue colour.
“This is also a crystal – a crude, unrefined crystal,” holding each crystal in one hand, she looked at them. “Do you know how they are formed?”
A moment of confused silence was broken by Alistair. “Are they not mined? From what I remember, there are crystal mines below Bareon and An’Larion, as well as the outskirts of Olisar.”
Instructor Caarda’s lips curled up. “Indeed, that isn’t wrong. Did you know that there was also a cavern full of such crystals discovered in the forest north of Lohssa just the other day?”
Something in her voice rang alarm bells in Midhir’s mind. He scowled, his gaze focused on the crude, unrefined crystal resting in her hand. He rubbed his left eye absentmindedly as it felt uncomfortable.
“Really?” Willow piped up, while Alistair seemed more surprised. “That’s quite good for such a small town – it means it will have imperial support to build the required infrastructure. Perhaps that airway station will finally be constructed.” He seemed pleased, almost vindicated.
Instructor Caarda nodded as she listened to him, nodded as her smile widened ever so slightly. “Right,” she said when he fell silent again. “Next time you leave for a field assignment, if it’s to one of these places, I will have Soraya add a visit to these mines to your itinerary.” She glanced out the singular window before continuing with her words. “I want you three,” she pointed at Alistair, Willow, and Arwen, “to read A Simple Guide to Crystal Tools. Dismissed.”
While the other three left, Midhir hesitantly glanced at the door.
“Now then, let’s see if I can help you.”