Amir sat patiently in the waiting room. The chairs were well cushioned, as is only right for the Academium - a lot of sitting involved with all the books. Eventually, the door opened and it was finally his turn. The inside of the office was small but tidy. Ledgers had been carefully placed into their slots around the large table dominating most of the space. Besides the several cabinets, the last defining feature was the safe at the back. And the sole other inhabitant, of course.
“Ah, Amir, here for your stipend?” the treasurer asked. He began to quickly search through his piles of documents.
“Yes, Brok,” Amir nodded, sitting down.
“Let’s see,” Brok found his file quickly, opened it, then frowned. “Ah.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Well, not right now, no, but there will be,” the treasurer looked up at Amir. “It has been noted that your budget is to be halved starting next month.”
“What? Why?” Amir resisted the urge to rise from the chair.
“You are being sponsored for your graduation project, right?” Brok answered with another question.
“Yes,” Amir nodded firmly.
“Did you have any significant results so far?”
“No…” he was much more hesitant to admit.
“Then it might be a not-so-subtle way to tell you that perhaps it would be best to abandon it,” Brok sighed. “Far from the first time I have seen it done this way.”
“That cannot be, I have been arduously working on this spell for over five months!”
“With no results,” Brok pointed out. “Now, I don’t know any specifics but I can see why that might raise some doubts.”
“All of that time, all the resources, I have dedicated fully to my project,” Amir defended. “Do they doubt me now? To cut my funding like this, it nigh implies that I am misusing it!”
“If anyone thought you were cheating the Academium, your funding would have been cut down to zero without a month of warning,” the treasurer shook his head. “This just seems like the Maguses thinking your project is impossible.”
“How could they possibly believe that?!” Amir was on the brink of yelling. “My theory is sound, the separate pieces work. I have presented that much. As long as I can figure out how exactly to put everything together it will work."
“Then perhaps it is possible, merely not for someone with your experience,” Brok compromised. “Don't look at me that way, I am just the messenger. The way this usually goes is that after halving the stipend it will be reduced again… then again, until their meaning gets through to you. Nothing I can do about it, sorry, but I am bound by what the ledgers say. The best advice I can give is looking into a new venture - the Maguses will most likely restore your budget if you show that you listened to their wisdom.”
“I have less time than what I had already spent until graduation. How could I possibly present something worthwhile even if I did dramatically alter course?!”
“It is not the end of the world if you delay your graduation by a year,” Brok smiled, not unkindly. “Given the circumstances, you would have no trouble getting permission.”
“I would be laughed out by all my peers.”
“Are all the young arcanists-to-be children nowadays?” Brok shook his head. “Delaying by a year is actually fairly common before graduation. Sometimes these things just don’t work out, you know. From what I hear you are settled to stay as a post-graduate, right? Maybe even aiming for Magus.”
“That has been my plan, yes,” Amir answered, though tangibly dejected.
“Then there is no need to fear. No one will hold a delay against you if you awe them with results."
“I have poured my heart and soul into this, Brok,” Amir half-muttered. “How can I just abandon it?”
“Well, all I can do is give advice, the choice is ultimately yours,” the treasurer reached over the counter to pat Amir's shoulder. “Though if you think you are truly close to a breakthrough the solution should be simple: Impress the Maguses with your work and they might very well double your stipend instead.”
----------------------------------------
“What has you so down, Amir?” Gramma asked the failing arcanist as he dejectedly nibbled at his bread rolls.
“Life,” he muttered.
“What else?” she rolled her eyes, then took a seat. “Come on, tell me.”
Amir hesitated… but then Rose smiled at him with all the old lady’s comfort she could muster and that was enough to break through. He retold the conversation from earlier in the day and his fears stemming from it. Though he tried, he could not quite express all his complicated emotions around it. Despite that, Rose seemed to understand.
“Couldn’t you talk with whoever is sponsoring you?” she asked afterward, seeming thoughtful. “Figuring things one on one is usually much easier.”
“It’s not that simple,” Amir shook his head. “My project is sponsored by 5 separate Maguses who saw potential in it - basically throwing their names behind the work. I have no good way of knowing which of them, if not all, decided to recommend my funding should be cut. And they are busy people, meetings are not easy to arrange.”
“So, the problem is that you are stuck with your magic despite all the hard work,” she nodded thoughtfully. "Probably a small flaw somewhere you cannot see from so up close."
“Yes, that is ultimately the issue,” Amir nodded.
“Maybe I could help then. Give me a moment,” Rose said, then skipped away before Amir could react. She quickly made way towards one of the other guests - the ever cloaked elven woman who Amir had seen being friendly with Hawthorne. The two argued quietly for a moment before Gramma beckoned for him to approach.
“My friend knows a thing or two about magic, I am told,” Rose said with a smile.
“I appreciate the thought…” Amir started, looking at the woman, the visage not stirring any memory. What he was working on was extremely specialized and advanced. The odds of any arcanist being familiar were rather miniscule. That being said he was not willing to spurn the kindness shown, if likely misguided. Thankfully, he had a perfect excuse. “…However, I am not permitted to share most of what I know outside the walls of the Academium or to non-members."
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“I am obviously a member," the elf frowned with a hint of confusion.
“Then I am… unfamiliar,” Amir double checked her face but indeed saw no resemblance to anyone he knew. Elves were rare enough that he was fairly confident he had never seen the woman on academic soil.
“The glamour,” Rose chided with a grin.
“Ah,” the elven woman frowned. Then her facial features flooded away like a mask of water revealing a completely different person underneath. Advanced magic by any reckoning.
“Grand Magus Holly!?” more importantly, Amir did recognize that face and exclaimed the name and title in surprise.
“Hush,” the elf hissed at the volume. The illusion flowed over her visage again, rippling a couple of times, then settled into the prior fake appearance again. “If people learn I come here, terrible things will transpire.”
“Such as?” Amir had to ask.
“Idiots would come and bother me during my time off,” she said with a perfectly deadpan expression.
“Buildings could fall,” Rose nodded solemnly. “Entire laboratories might explode.”
“I asked you not to talk about 33,” Holly glared at the Gramma.
“There is no laboratory 33,” Amir pointed out hesitantly. The largest number at the Academium was 32, just one below it.
“Yes, precisely,” Rose chuckled.
“You needed help with a spell, I understand?” before Amir could judge or inquire about how serious they were being, the elf redirected.
“Yes. Uhm, here,” Amir scrambled to get the notes from his bag while simultaneously trying to figure out a course of action. Advice from a Grand Magus would be invaluable. Such arcanists were renowned for their knowledge… or infamous. He remembered a few rumors about the one in front of him.
Specifically, those that involved the defenestration of ‘annoying busybodies’, throwing literal lightning - which was far more difficult than lay people assumed - at anyone asking stupid questions until it was agreed upon she didn’t need to hold any lectures as most Maguses did, and that she supposedly possessed an extensive collection of hexes she inflicted on anyone who rubbed her the wrong way.
It was therefore with some hesitant anticipation that he presented his notes. First off, the complete drawings of all the spell layers from his latest attempt. When scrollwork got complex enough, two dimensions were not wholly sufficient. The spell he was trying to create was far more complicated than most.
“Scribbler?” she asked, not even looking up from the drawings
“Yes, Grand Magus,” he decidedly did not scoff at the semi-slang term.
“Drop the title,” she said, continuing to read. “Some kind of… pseudo time magic? Changing states… I thought blood Nera were restricted only to Maguses.”
“It is possible to obtain special dispensation for even regular arcanists and pre-graduates nowadays,” Amir said. And has been for at least two decades, he wisely did not.
“I see it now,” Holly nodded. “You are scrying the past state of a being, feeding the spell that information, then transmuting it into that past state. But rather than making just an extremely convoluted healing spell, you are only changing the target temporarily but in a much more significant way than just stitching wounds.”
“Yes… exactly,” Amir nodded. Coming up with a working initial concept had been the labor of two months and a great many consultations. Despite all the time he had spent working on it, he still was not sure he would be able to read it as fast as the senior arcanist in front of him seeing it for the first time.
“The biggest problem is likely here,” she pointed near the middle, nodding to herself. It was a cluster of connecting lines and Nera placed in a way that looked similar to a half moon. “You copied this section from another spell, didn’t you?”
“It’s supposedly from a spell that causes rapid aging, though I was only allowed to peruse a redacted part,” Amir nodded. “It’s what allows me to direct how far back the divination should look while also empowering it. I tested it multiple times in isolation and there have been no issues.”
“You are using a moon-based symbology for a distinctly positive spell. Never symbolize the moon in any positive spells,” she shook her head. “This worked for an aging spell because that is decidedly a negative effect. The easiest fix is to use mostly the same Nera, just arranged into a sun symbology.”
His eyes widened. Any positive spells? He had never heard symbology could be affected by the spell's target or use case - but that seemed to be exactly the implication. “May I know why?”
“No. Other than that I see few overt flaws... maybe a few sub-perfect lines. Pencil,” Amir quickly handed her his. She marked down several spots. “Double check but I am pretty sure those could be made a few percent more efficient than those you have noted down. What have been your results so far?”
“Rather… catastrophic,” he admitted. “All my samples so far have, ehm, exploded.”
“Strange,” Holly looked back down at the spell with a frown. “What did you use to experiment?”
“Moldy bread,” Amir said.
“Moldy bread?” the Grand Magus paused staring at him. “You have a spell based on reversing the state of a body, containing Nera for blood and flesh, yet you test it on MOLDY BREAD?!”
“I was not able to get permission for any animal subjects from our menagerie before I produce proof the spell as a whole seems workable,” Amir shrunk back defensively against her raised voice.
“That is absolutely idiotic,” the Grand Magus took a long breath to calm herself, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “This is exactly why I hate teaching. You have all these inspired ideas, competent execution, patient research… and then I find out you have been doing something so incredibly stupid I will be cringing about it in 20 years. Just grab some rats off the street or something! There is plenty. If your sponsors want a proof of concept before testing on lab-raised rodents you should figure out how to get what you need instead of bashing your head against the wall because there is a rope to climb it with on the other side.”
“I… apologize,” Amir squirmed.
“Show me the ingredient list,” Holly sighed. “Might as well finish what I started.”
“The prices might be a bit outdated. I last gathered most of my stockpile almost a month ago and buy through my employer for bulk discounts,” Amir warned as he handed it over. Scroll work took materials after all, and those needed to be bought. Thankfully, the Lohart workshop bought a great many such materials, letting him get a slice of those sweet supplier prices.
“Well, obviously replace the moon-adjacent stuff for sun equivalents, if you opt to go for my solution,” she started as she read. “Hmm, the rest of this seems reasonable, nothing I would outright exclude. Are you preparing the Elder Mealworms correctly?”
“Place in a glass sphere inside a chest without any light for 14 hours exactly, then heat up until the glass around it melts. Puncturing the new shell will result in the malleable essence flowing out,” he recited, purposefully not mentioning the first few he had ruined.
“Good. You should also look into the stems of Bleeding Tulips - specifically the leaking crimson liquid that gives them the name. They have properties close to the sirup of the Timelost Maples you use but are usually much cheaper - might even be more fitting for this spell because of the blood association.”
“I have not seen it mentioned in any sources I researched,” Amir admitted. “Thank you.”
“Not the first time I have heard that,” Holly nodded. “I think that whoever wrote the primary source used nowadays forgot it.”
“I truly appreciate the help, Grand Magus,” Amir thanked her, pulling everything back into his bag.
“Think nothing of it,” she shrugged slightly. “Rose seems to like you, that is worth a few minutes of my time. Now hush, I want to finish my meal in silence.”
So Amir did slowly stand up, deciding that the direct dismissal preceded his inclination for spoken goodbyes. He looked to the side where Rose had been standing before, though the baker had left at some point… possibly quite early into the conversation. Either way, Amir did not linger. He did not even remember the bread roll left at his old table as he hurried out, then towards the workshop... no the market first. Bleeding Tulips, was it? He should get a few to test out. That meant also a stop by the libraries. He would take the day off once he made it to the workshop. The Loharts would understand.