Dear Diary,

Y'know, there are some real disadvantages to my whole 'carving Mana Shapes with an arc welder' Shaping routine. Like not being able to pass notes in class.

So we got up early again. Same reason, Isnomi in her cradle needing a change. Not hugely early, just enough that Marie didn't wake us on her first round. I got the door with freshly changed Isnomi in one hand while Saffron got dressed for the day. After collecting our fresh laundry and tossing it over my shoulder, I leaned in and gave her a quick squeeze. She returned the gesture, leaning her forehead down to bonk gently against Isnomi's, all while purring low enough I felt it rather than hearing it. Isnomi giggled and reached up to grab her face, and Marie surprised me by gently mirroring her. That got Isnomi giggling and saying, "Ma! Ma! Mama! Ma!"

She purred a little louder and replied, "Ba. Ba. Baba." Then she gently disentangled herself and left to go about her busy day of Marie things.

Saffron, now fully dressed, walked over and claimed Isnomi so I could go get dressed myself. She watched me dressing while she fed Isnomi. "Wouldn't that be easier before you got dressed?"

She looked up at me, a wry smile on her face, "Yeah. Yeah, it really would. I've got to stop waking up while I'm dressing on autopilot."

That got a laugh out of me, and I wound up needing way more 'Saffron makes it right' time than normal. While I stood there playing airplane with Isnomi, she said, "You know, before Equinox I would have been terrified of letting any Maenad hold Isnomi. But just now? I didn't so much as twitch; I didn't even really notice and think about it until I was watching you dress. I mean, trying to dress. How do you manage to get your jacket tucked into the back of your pants and leave your shirt completely untucked?"

I just laughed at that, gently tossing Isnomi up a few inches into the air and catching her while she let out little baby squees and spread her arms and legs out as she 'flew'.

We dropped her off with Grandma then headed for breakfast. Still no spicy eggs today; kind of a bummer, especially when I saw the Barbie Brigade getting their soft-boiled eggs like normal. Don't get me wrong, we still got plenty of scrapple, sausage, and bread. Plenty of calories, plenty of protein. We even got more apples and some kind of weird mush Saffron called 'mashed pumpkin'. I suppose it tasted a little like pumpkin pie, only without the spices. So not great, but a little variety at least.

When we got to Intermediate Heroic Skills, Doc DeLeon surprised me by being the one sitting in the instructor's seat.

Saffron and I grabbed up the front two seats in the front far left. Saffron put up a Mana Ward, because some of the students still gave us looks when I Shaped. While she did that, I said, "Hey, Doctor DeLeon, what are you doing here today?"

He smiled and said, "Apparently the rest think I'm the best instructor for the Direct Message Spell. So here I am. I'll also be teaching you all Heal Injury after you've gotten Message as a Skill."

"Huh. I'd have thought we'd get Sister Siobhan back for that."

He smiled wryly at me, "I am, as I think I've mentioned a time or two before, a qualified Healer. Just because I cannot bring the dead back to life doesn't mean I can't heal the living."

I nodded my understanding, then thought of a question while the rest of the class trickled into the room. "Hey Doc?"

He winced a little, but said, "Yes, Cadet Diaz?"

Stolen novel; please report.

"I get that some healing spells just boost someone's own healing, but I remember Sister Siobhan saying something about spells that straight up fix what's wrong with the injured person. Did I catch that right?"

He nodded, "Yes, that's correct. Heal Injury is one of those. While it is far less Mana efficient than other healing, and draws all of its Mana from the caster, it works almost immediately. Marshall duBois insists that our Heroes know this, because there are times you can neither wait for an injured person to heal, even at an accelerated rate, nor can you viably carry them back to safety."

I nodded back. "Yeah, that kinda tracks. Follow on question?"

Doc DeLeon scanned the room and said, "Certainly, but make it brief; now that the rest of the class is here I'd like to get started."

"No worries. Can that kind of heal spell work on a dead body?"

He shot me an astonished, 'what the fuck, Diaz' look before the answer leaked out of him. "Yes. Yes, I suppose it could, although..." He trailed off, then shook himself, then turning to face the center of the room. "Good Morning, class. Welcome to Intermediate Heroic Skills. Today we'll begin studying the Direct Message Spell. Before we begin with the Shape itself, a few notes about the spell. While the spell itself carries spoken information directly to the target's ear, it does not in any way enhance the subjects comprehension. In addition, by default the target will hear you as if your mouth were where the spell delivers your message. This, of course, can cause problems if you speak at a normal volume when you've left the spell at its normal distance."

Saffron raised her hand, and when Doc DeLeon called on her, she asked, "Are there ways to alter the distance or volume of the spell?"

"Excellent question, and while that is possible, I'd like you all to get full understanding of the basic Spell before we go into how to adjust those variables." He turned back to the class at large. "Now, is everyone watching?" When we all nodded or said 'yes', he held out one hand and made a few passes with it. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't place where I'd seen it before. When he spoke again, he whispered. "Once the spell is created, it will continue to draw Mana for as long as you allow it to. Be aware, because given how you set the variables, the Mana drain can get fairly hefty. Does anyone need me to demonstrate again?" I could barely hear him, but I shook my head when Saffron shook hers. After another two repetitions, once everybody shook their heads or told him 'no' about needing more demonstrations, he said, "Excellent. Now, the version I just showed you was obviously targeted at all of you. I'm going to show you the individual version now, targeting it at Cadet Garrison." I watched him wave his hands around. Whatever he'd done that reminded me of something didn't go in this version. "Can you hear me, Cadet Garrison?"

A skinny guy in the back row replied, "Yeah!"

"Excellent. Now, did everyone see that?" Everybody nodded, and he continued, "I'd like you to pair up and practice sending Direct Messages to one another. Remember, in order to practice the Spell to the point where it is a Skill, you'll need to recast it as often as possible, rather than just leaving it up. I'll come around and assist anyone who needs it."

I turned to Saffron, and she said, "You need me to show you?"

I smiled at her and said, "Does this mean you're gonna be my own private Heroic Skills teacher?"

She smiled back, "I suppose it might, although I think of it more like tutoring you."

"Yeah, but nobody ever made a song called 'Hot for tutor'." She wove the Shape of Direct Message for me, but this time I could see the Shape as a glowing line as she formed it. "How'd you do that?"

"Doctor Roberts taught me when I told them I signed you up for Intermediate Heroics," she whispered in my ear.

I imitated the pattern she'd used, then whispered back "Why?"

She grinned at me, "Because I'm going to be teaching you the Skills from Basic Heroics two and three in our free time?"

I blinked, "Wait, you mean I'm not supposed to be in Intermediate Heroics? I just skipped two classes?" She nodded, so I asked, "Why?"

"Because I did finish all the Skills from Basic Heroics two and three during my Independent Study, so I had to be in this class to keep learning, and I shudder to think of what would happen to you in a class with Lancaster and his lackeys without me there to referee."

That caught me, and I glanced around the room. I didn't recognize a single face, and I'd been so focused on Doc DeLeon and Saffron that I hadn't noticed as they all came in.

I wound up humming 'Hot for Teacher' for the rest of the class. Both halves, morning and afternoon.

Eventually, after dinner, before we picked up Isnomi, she insisted I sing her the lyrics.

Grandma got a little snarky when we showed up late to pick up Isnomi, but really? Totally worth.