I pushed my way through one of the arched, squat gates that served to divide up the library by subject. It took me another fifteen minutes just to find what I was looking for.

I exited back through the gate, winding through another section of shelves, with the tome I needed tucked under my arm. I stopped walking, when a set of brass and clawed fingers wrapped around the edge of the shelf to my right.

A head followed the artificed hand out from behind the bookcase, bearing a face that nearly managed to make me draw my sword the first time that I'd seen it just a few hours ago. When I hadn't been in the library for long, I'd failed to notice that the golem had approached me ever so silently from behind. Mile's telepathic flash of its face peering over my shoulder as I searched for a few books aimlessly had spooked me almost as much as actually turning to see the tall thing standing so close to me.

The librarian, which is what I called the golem in my mind, bore what appeared to be built in spectacles on a mouthless face that was made from metallic and sloping struts of bronze. Its eyes hummed with a deep glow of mana behind its worked glass rims.

"Thank you, it was right where you pointed out," I told the servitor.

The librarian nodded wordlessly and slowly turned its head away from me. The construct walked away in its hunched manner, still without making a sound; its long, concealing grey robe slipped across the stone floors as it moved away.

I watched the golem wind its way out of sight, disappearing between another set of shelves, before I continued on forward.

The book I'd found with the librarian's help joined a large stack of others on the stone table that I'd claimed for my study space.

I flipped the new book open and laid it next to an already opened one. While I flipped through the tomes, looking for what the other book had referenced in the other, I rested my cheek on my hand.

My neck felt heavy, my eyes groggy. I'd been here for hours. [Mending] had helped me to recover from Master Steelvein's rough form of instruction, but it couldn't cure my growing exhaustion headache. I'd also already consumed my potion of rest for the day.

The problem with the books on the main floor of the library was that they were written in vastly different manners. Some of the tomes appeared to be extensive manuals, while others assumed a base or advanced level of familiarity with arcane magic that I just didn't have. Many others were little more than research journals, which mixed failed and successful hypotheses together and only revealed which would become which later on. Along that same line of thinking, I was discovering that many mages had a habit of starting one avenue of research and then switching to another entirely, essentially leading me to waste my time in reading about what they'd merely been writing about maybe exploring later for a few dozen pages of their journals before they abruptly switched topics.

Ultimately, I'd decided to just try to use my time in the library itself to sort what was useful to me apart from what wasn't. I'd collected more books than I could possibly read anytime soon and made two piles. The pile to my right consisted of tomes that I found unpromising; the pile to my left were books that I planned to flip through to commit them to my mental library to mentally read in my mind's eye later. I eventually, given the time if I ever had it, planned to flip through as many books in the library as I could to add them into my mental stockpile, just in case I needed their knowledge. Thus was the benefit of having my [mind of memories] born trait.

"You're up late," a mousy voice said to me.

I glanced up to see a raven-haired girl standing a few feet away. She was, to my surprise, almost as young as I was. If I had to guess, I'd put her at being just a little older than Cedric.

"I'm studying for the exam Master Elrica has for us next week, or trying to," I said.

"I see that. Can I sit?" the girl asked.

"Sure," I said and gestured to the seat next to me.

I wasn't entirely sure I needed the distraction, but my pounding head was mostly happy for it.

The girl slid out the chair across from me and lowered herself into it.

"So, how advanced are you with circlecraft?" The girl asked me. "Oh, I'm Mina by the way."

"I'm Peregrine, but everyone calls me Pery," I said and then rubbed my eyes, trying not to look rude by doing it, "and, honestly, I've never learned anything about it before coming here."

Mina nodded, as if she'd guessed that. "You're a sorcerer, right?"

The look of confusion on my face must have shown because Mina felt the need to explain her statement. "I saw you cast your wind and plant spells in Master Steelvein's class the other day. You didn't use sigils or signs."

"My father trained me to be a druid," I admitted. "I'm not a sorcerer, or at least I didn't used to be. My dad mentioned that they existed a few times, but he never really said anything much about them. Just that they were talented naturally with magic."

"So you had to learn how to use your druid spells through study; it wasn't something you were born with?" she asked me.

"Right. My dad spent years teaching me, since I was little. Since I could remember anything," I replied.

"Druids can use wind spells?" she asked. "You were taught those too?"

"Well, no. My dad practiced wind shamanism, but he didn't teach me that," I said, with a small frown. "I guess you could say I taught myself, but I'm starting to think the way that I did was a bit unconventional."

Mina looked at me skeptically. "You taught yourself your magic? That's definitely strange by itself; I've never heard of anyone but sorcerers doing that. What was odd about how you did it, besides that?"

"Well," I started, wondering if I should reveal the truth, "I copied a wind spirit."

Mina laughed, in a small, quiet way, but then stopped when I didn't laugh with her. "You're telling the truth?"

I felt myself blush a little. "Yeah."

"That's... how?" she inquired.

"She used me as a vessel, and I copied what I felt from that time when she stopped doing it."

Mina leaned back in her chair. "You're odd."

The blush got worse, but I wasn't about to show it through my actual words or demanour. "Is it really that strange?"

"I mean, there's legends of humans learning magic from spirits, but I've never met anyone who told me they'd met a shaman. Druids are rare, but I at least knew they existed for sure before meeting you. Being possessed by spirits is also usually a bad thing," she said, and then her eyes noted my reddened cheeks, or at least I think they did. "I'm sorry if I sound like I'm making fun of you; I'm not really. You just, have a lot of stories for being near the same age as me."

I felt my cheeks cool a little bit. "Being her vessel wasn't a good thing, if I'm honest," I said, and my voice drew on a little. "Does not using sigils for wind magic make me a sorcerer if my druid spells somehow don't?"

"I don't really know," she said. "I think sorcerers are born that way and don't really learn spells, but more so learn to harness their talents. Or at least that's what my mother told me. Normal people have to use signs or sigils to cast. Unless you're an elf, I guess, but I don't know a lot about them at all."

"Your mother is a mage?" I asked her.

Mina nodded, and her eyes drifted a bit. "She was. She taught me more or less everything I know. Probably a lot like your dad did for you with the plant magic."

"I'm sorry."

Mina shook her head. "Don't be. You didn't do anything."

There was an almost awkward pause.

"Maybe I should ask one of the masters. Steelvein called me a sorcerer too," I said and broke the growing silence before I could make it actually awkward.

"You could. It is what you look like when you cast without sigils, signs, or incantations," she said and then looked at my stack of books. "Do you plan to read all of these?"

"No, not right now anyway," I admitted. "I'm trying to figure out which ones will help me understand the foundations of what I need. And to find the other works those books I choose might reference."

"That one is good," Mina pointed to a book I'd put in my useful stack, then she indicated a few others. "That one is outdated, but foundational. I wouldn't bother with that one; it has some good ideas, but a lot of outright wrong theories. Allicus Cawl wrote this one; he's outdated on circle construction theory, but the newer methods build off what he wrote so you could argue it's foundational to really understanding the why behind the more recent research—not that what he lays out won't still work if you used it, it definitely will, and I really like how clear he is."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

I carefully committed what she was telling me to memory. "Thank you. I was getting a little lost in all this. There's so much everything here and it's only the first floor. You really read a lot?"

Mina smiled. "My mother used to run this library. She loved reading. She taught me that too."

My eyes tracked to the librarian golem, who had once again revealed itself as it returned a few books to their proper shelves.

Mina followed my gaze to the librarian. "It wasn't always just Alister doing the work here. Mother made him, and he does his best now that she's... gone."

"I can't imagine how skilled she must have been to create something that can live on after her like that," I said, trying to be kind but also meaning what I said.

"There's a minor spirit of intellect bound to him, but the sigil-work laid into his body took her months to work out and inscribe," Mina said, her sad smile growing to fill her eyes. "The sigils are sustained by the eudaemon, keeping them from ever burning out, and Alister gets to do what he loves in exchange for powering his own body."

"She was a craftsman?" I asked.

"And a summoner," Mina admitted.

"And you are too?" I asked.

"Guilty," she said.

"I'd love to learn more about that sometime," I told her.

"Really?" she asked, seeming almost surprised. "Most people are suspicious of summoning magic, but... I don't think mom would've wanted me to share her secrets. I can answer general stuff."

"I understand," I said and then moved on to ask another question. "Can I ask what a eudaemon is?"

My mind flashed back to the daemon I met on the mountaintop, who'd essentially led to what had taken my father from my family for the foreseeable future.

"The opposite of what you're probably thinking of," she said. "Daemons are cruel spirits; mother never contacted them, and I think you have to try or be in a really bad spot to get their attention. Eudaemons are benevolent or neutral spirits of thought and imagination. Oh, and I suppose some people call them arcane geists."

"They come from imagination?" I ask.

"Perhaps?" she replied. "They don't really talk; they just do the things they like doing. Like Alistair over there."

I glanced back to the golem to note that he had now scaled a tall shelf and acquired a series of books in a second set of coper arms that had appeared from beneath his robes. Another student was waiting below, one which I recognized; I purposefully didn't make eye contact with Cedric. It seemed I wasn't the only one studying for the upcoming examination.

"Do you not like him?" Mina asked me.

"Who?" I asked.

"Cedric," she said.

I paused.

"I don't think he likes me," I said. "He seemed like he was mad that I was younger than him."

"Yeah, I get the feeling that he wouldn't like anyone he considers a threat," she said. "We three are the youngest in this class of initiates. I think there's a lot of pressure on us to look like we belong here, but, honestly, I grew up in the Towers and I'm a little closer to the others' ages than you two," she shrugged. "They seem to tolerate me. So, I don't really feel that out of place," she said and paused. "Most of the time."

From the concealed flicker of the earlier sadness on Mina's face, I had to assume she must have suddenly thought of her mother's absence again.

"I think I just want to try to avoid him," I said. "I'm not going to pick a fight just for the sake of it."

Bastion might've to prove a point, and Mother definitely would have just for the thrill of it, but Cedric hadn't really come close to pushing me that far—not with just one rude conversation.

"Probably for the best as long as he leaves you alone," Mina agreed and then looked back to the books in front of me. "So, do you want some help finding more books and sorting through the ones you have? I'll probably have some recommendations if you tell me a little more about what you're looking for. We can have Alistair get the ones we can't reach."

I smiled again. "I'd love that."

**SCENE BREAK**

Master Elrica's exam was conducted orally and competitively. She allowed no room for mistake, no matter how small.

"What is the formula for barrier thickness when dealing with an earth-affinity spell of the novice tier, assuming you do not integrate any switches into the sigil?" she asked Kara.

The strawberry brunette's brows contracted. A majority of the class had already failed to answer a question or answered one correctly, leading them to be eliminated from the quiz session. Garron had failed, and been eliminated, only a few questions ago and Kara was just barely hanging on; she excelled with questions relating to broad theory or specifically to fire-magic but was clearly floundering with the hard math of magics she didn't personally practice.

"One-eighth of the thickness of the focus?" Kara asked.

"No, miss Flameheart," Master Elrica said. "Try to study a bit more broadly next time, yes? Or perhaps just less specifically."

"Yes, master," Kara said and looked like it was all she could do to not let out a sigh of frustrated relief that she was at least free from the rotating barrage of questions.

"Acolyte Borncrest?" Elrica turned to me.

"Yes, master?" I asked.

"Answer the question, please."

"One-seventh the thickness of the focus," I said, with my mind easily recalling the exact formula the master had told us.

Elrica moved on to another student, only for them to be eliminated.

The questions continued to rotate until there were only two of us students left. And of course the other person remaining had to be Cedric.

"Acolyte Stormwind, when is it necessary to incorporate verbal incantation into the casting of a spell with a sigil?" Elrica asked Cedric.

"Never necessary for spells that don't carry through the words themselves, but it speeds the casting for a spell that is equal to your proficiency with its magic affinity type. It can also allow you to substitute portions of a sigil with the words of power to make quick alterations to it or to conceal its true construction from other mages," Cedric answered.

"Very good," Elrica praised Cedric, then looked back at me. "What is the maximum number of magical switches you can integrate into a novice-tier spell?"

"It varies depending on your magic-control attribute and your proficiency with the magic affinity of the spell you're casting," I said. "But generally, you can quickly implement one additional switch for every tier of affinity you have with that magic type and with your magic-control attribute. You can do more, but it'll slow the spell's casting by a lot," I said, quoting exactly what the master had lectured us on, nearly word for word.

Elrica seemed to study me carefully. "Yes, exactly right. Cedric, what is Tywin's Third Principle?"

"Mana can both be created or destroyed, but never simultaneously."

The questions went on and on, alternating between being answered by both Cedric and me.

I noticed, to my own annoyance, that Cedric appeared to be glaring at me more and more every time I replied to Master Elrica's questions.

Finally, the instructor asked Cedric a question, and he faltered.

"I—" he hesitated. "I do not know, master."

Elrica nodded. "You both did well," she said and looked to me. "Peregrine, it appears you are to be ranked first in my class for the time being, at least in remembering arcane theory."

I thought I caught a note of suspicion and underlying meaning in the master's words, but I wasn't sure that Cedric had; at least going by the way he was glaring at me as soon as the master turned her head. I met his eyes for what felt like minutes before he finally openly scowled and turned away from me.

**Scene Break**

Garron stood across from me. A sigil flashed in front of his hands, and the tip of an earth spike grew out of the magic circle's focus. The projectile launched towards me with a fury of rotation.

I lifted my empty hands and formed the sign for Steelvein's ward. Strictly speaking, the ward was meant to protect against physical objects and not elemental spells, but it could defend against mana tasked to inflict blunt trauma. In this case, the ward would just be less effective than one designed to combat an earth spell specifically.

Blue, semi-translucent light spread from my hands. The illumination seared most strongly in front of my outstretched palms, fading off into a mirage-like barrier. I could feel the mana pouring out from me attempting to become a solid thing but to also retain its flowing nature all the same. Trying to balance the two seemingly conflicting but essential traits of the ward was contributing greatly to the sweat pouring from my brow.

For the twentieth time that day, Garron's earth spike collided with my attempted ward. For the fifth time, I nearly stumbled back from the impact, only to be pelted by fragmented rocks as the spell exploded on contact with my ward. Time and time again, my friend's spell had managed to weaken my ward enough to have the debris of the shattered earth spike pierce through my mana.

I lowered my hands. My head was killing me again.

"You're bleeding. Again," Kara said to me from where she stood to the side, with her arms crossed, of Garron and me. "Maybe you should take more than just a break this time. We could study instead of practicing."

I reached up to touch the scraped skin of my cheek. My mana was nearing empty, but [mending] was still easy enough to cast on a few small cuts. I ran my fingertips over my various scrapes and closed them up.

"Is that what you two want to do?" I asked.

"We have nearly exhausted our mana," Garron said. "If we would like to have minds fit to study, perhaps we should."

"I suggested it," Kara said with a shrug, giving me her answer.

"Alright," I said and wiped my brow. "I'm exhausted."

As we prepared to leave the courtyard beneath the looming tower, a pair approached towards us. One member of which I did not enjoy seeing looking directly at me.

"Cedric," I addressed him as he and Rylan drew close. "Rylan."

"Hello there," Rylan said in his casual, carefree tone.

"How did you memorize everything for the exam?" he asked me bluntly, stopping not too far from me.

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"He wants to know your study method," Rylan gave me more context.

"You're asking for my help?" I said to Cedric, not really convinced.

"I'm asking how you were better than me," Cedric clarified.

Yeah, that made more sense. This was at least partially about his ego.

"I just listened to the lectures and studied in the library," I admitted.

Cedric frowned. "Are you saying I didn't? I was in the library for far longer than you were each night."

"I have a good memory," I said; I wasn't about to tell Cedric what my born trait was; that was information my family had told me people didn't generally share with others that they didn't fully trust. "I'm sorry, I don't have any particular method."

I thought I saw Cedric's eyes darken then. "We will see how long that carries you, Borncrest. Thank you for your time."

And with that, the blonde boy walked off as quickly as he'd come. Rylan stayed behind for a moment, however.

"It took him a lot of effort to put aside his pride to ask you, you know," Rylan told me. "Really just have a good memory?"

I shrugged, realizing I didn't really dislike the wind mage. "I would've told him if I was doing anything special."

"Yeah," Rylan drew out his voice in a sigh. "I believed you; I just wanted to check again."

"Are you two even friends?" Kara asked Rylan from beside me.

"Well, yes, in a way," Rylan replied slowly. "My father is also a bannerman of his, so there's that to consider too. But I'm pretty sure you already knew that, Flameheart."

Kara smirked. "I did, but I still figured I'd let you tell me if you wanted to."

Just in case Rylan didn't know how informed she was of the student politics under the surface of the Towers, I realized.

Rylan appeared unfazed by what she said and took it completely in stride. "He's really not all that bad a kid, but he does really stress this kind of thing."

"Being a mage?" I asked.

"Being the best at anything he does," Rylan admitted. "That does remind me, though. We should compare notes later."

"What do you want to compare notes about?" I asked him.

"Wind magic," he said with a genuine smile. "I like being the best too, but I don't mind helping someone else stand right there beside me if we can teach each other a thing or two."

"Well, I'm pretty new to it," I told him. "I'd be happy to talk about it, but you'd probably teach me a lot more than I could help you with."

"Hmm," Rylan mused. "Well, I've never met a sorcerer before. It'd still probably be worth having a conversation with you. We can talk about it later, but I really don't want to intrude any more than I already have. You lot looked like you were busy."

"I'm not sure I'm a sorcerer," I told him before he could fully excuse himself.

"Honest? Then I've definitely got to know how you're doing what you're doing. I can show you a few things you won't learn from most books if you talk me through how you do what you do without sigils," he offered.

"We can try it," I said.

"I'll look forward to it then," Rylan said casually and lifted a hand over his shoulder as he made to depart. "I suppose I'll see you people about."