Verdan checked in on Kai the next morning and ran through some checks on his arm, but everything seemed to be healing well.

Gwen was sitting by the bed, holding Kai’s other hand with a worried look as she watched Verdan work. “How’s it looking?”

“So far, so good,” Verdan said, trying to be as reassuring as he could. “We’ll want to look at how the new bone has grown back at some point. For now, though, I’m happy with what I’m seeing.”

“How long will it take to heal?” Kai asked, staring down at his arm.

“A few weeks, perhaps more, hopefully less. That’s with regular healing as well.”

Kai nodded, closing his eyes for a moment. “I want to come with you all, even if I can’t fight.”

“Kai, we talked about this.” Gwen rose, her eyes narrowing.

“I know, but I will give you my word that I won’t try to get involved without permission from both of you.” Kai held up his good hand to Gwen. “I’m not trying to get an excuse to fight. I just want to be there in case things go wrong. If they do, doing further damage to my arm will be an easy price to pay.”

Verdan had been ready to argue with Kai, to force him to stay behind if needed. Thinking over it again, though, he wondered if that was really the best option.

Kai was the closest thing they had to an expert on Sorcerers, and while the Steel Custodians would help, Verdan trusted Kai more.

He was also powerful in his own right and was well-respected among the guards and Sorcerers of the city. Leaving him behind might send the wrong message.

“If you’re willing to swear to that, then I think that’s the best thing to do,” Verdan said after a few moments of thought.

“And how did you come to that conclusion?” Gwen asked flatly, folding her arms and giving Verdan a hard look.

“Personally, I want Kai’s experience for when we have to deal with the Sects. It may serve us well to have someone who can act as a liaison with them who they will respect. Also, we could continue monitoring his condition.”

Gwen nodded reluctantly. “I was a little worried about who would be here if there was an issue, so that’s something, I suppose.”

“You know why I want to be there,” Kai said, drawing her eyes down to him. “But if it will complicate things, I’ll stay here.”

Gwen sighed and shook her head. “No, I won’t ask that of you. Give me your word that you’ll do as you’ve said, and that will be enough for me.”

“You have it then, my word that I will act only in the most dire of emergencies or if you both give me permission.”

Verdan’s eyes flicked between the two of them, feeling the tension that was building, and quickly cleared his throat. “I’ll leave the two of you alone. I’ll check back in on you tomorrow, Kai.”

Kai nodded absently, his eyes not leaving Gwen, so Verdan swiftly left, giving them the privacy they needed.

It seemed that Kai had finally got past whatever was holding him back from acting on his feelings with Gwen, which was a pleasant surprise.

Consulting his mental list of jobs for the day, Verdan headed down to the rudimentary training area behind the workshop to meet Magnus for some spell practice.

Magnus was already there when Verdan arrived, and was talking with Dirk while Benlen watched on from a distance.

“Stealing my thunder, Dirk?” Verdan asked as he walked over to join them.

“Of course not, Master,” Dirk said with a grin. “Simply passing on what wisdom I’ve gained from your teachings.”

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“Ah ha. Well, Magnus, why don’t we begin with you? How is your Word coming along?”

“Torr,” Magnus said, the Word resonating through the ambient Aether like a stone dropped into calm waters.

“Very good. Now, what I want you to do is face that target over there.” Verdan pointed at one of the archery targets they’d used in the past. “Then envision what a cutting attack would look like for you. Hold that vision in your mind and push it into the Word as you cast the spell. Understood?”

“Yes, Master,” Magnus said confidently, taking up a fighting stance and making a slashing motion with his left hand. “Torr!”

Aether rippled as the spell was cast, but the target was untouched.

“Ensure that you are visualising the effect striking the target,” Verdan said, giving Magnus a moment before striking the base of his staff against the paved stones. “Again.”

Magnus repeated the attempt three more times, with Verdan coaching him between each spell, but nothing was happening.

Dirk was looking increasingly confused by what Magnus was struggling with, but Verdan thought he knew what the problem was.

“Enough, follow me.” Verdan walked up to the target and had Magnus stand within striking range before he flagged down the nearest guard, which happened to be Pawel, and borrowed his dagger. “Use this and do the same thing.”

Magnus looked at the dagger with surprise but took it and did as Verdan said, striking at the target as he cast the spell. The strike was somewhat awkward, but then Magnus had been right-handed until his injury.

The dagger’s edge took on a blue hue mid-swing and carved through the target with ease, making Magnus stumble slightly when he didn’t get the resistance he expected.

“I see,” Verdan said, taking the dagger back and returning it to Pawel. “Some Wizards struggle to evoke spells like Dirk and I can. Instead, they use objects to provide part of the visualisation.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Magnus said, seeming stuck between being worried at Verdan’s words and amazed at what he’d just done.

“To put it simply, you will need time and practice to cast like we do,” Verdan said, softening his tone. “Instead, you’ll do best when casting spells that use an object as part of it. Swords, shields and the like are your friends.”

“Oh, I see.” Magnus’s face fell as what Verdan was saying fully registered.

“Don’t let this deter you. You’ll have the same capability as us, which means only your imagination is your limit. I’ve seen Wizards like you develop powerful augment spells to turn them into walking avatars of destruction, or the opposite and become powerful healers.”

“If you say so,” Magnus said uncertainly, not looking entirely convinced.

“I do. Now, the best way to proceed from here is to test using a variety of weapons with your spells and see what works best or feels best.”

Magnus perked up a little at that and nodded before pausing. “I don’t have that much with me. Do you have any practice weapons I can use?”

Dirk spoke up before Verdan could respond. “I can show him where we keep them, Master. I can help him with his spells as well, if you need to be doing anything else.”

Verdan went to shake his head but paused, considering some projects he needed to finish and the rapidly closing deadline. “Alright, I’ll take you up on that, but if you need anything, come find me in the workshop.”

“Yes, Master,” Dirk said with a nod before clapping Magnus on the shoulder and guiding him to where the guards kept the practice weapons.

Wasting no time, Verdan hurried back to the workshop and upstairs to the Sigil room. He had some time before he was due to help the wounded veterans, so this was the perfect chance to do some more work on the Sigils and see what he could figure out.

Gathering up some materials to practice with, Verdan set about making the minimum number of Sigil carvings into them to at least identify what each did.

The first was easy enough to identify, at least once Verdan figured out what was happening. Adding Aether into the Sigils caused a very slight pulling effect to radiate out from it.

Considering the context of the two Sigils together, Verdan guessed this one would be ‘Gather’ or something equivalent, while the other would be ‘Aether’.

Testing it was a matter of using a shaping spell to smooth over placing some of the gather Sigils onto one of his metal testers and then infusing it with Aether.

The result was a small orb of light forming above the orb, which grew in strength as more Sigils were activated.

Letting it fade away, Verdan added some of the Aether Sigils to it, which he found made the process more efficient in Aether usage.

“Interesting,” Verdan muttered under his breath, adding more of the Aether Sigils to the orb. With each Sigil, the process improved, until eventually it stopped working.

Frowning, Verdan removed that last Sigil and tried again, finding that the orb lit up as expected. Repeating the final Sigil with each of the three variants he knew, just to be sure, but each time the Sigils stopped working.

“Interesting, it must be some sort of limit to how many can be present.” Verdan pulled out the Sigil-covered crystal from the wand he’d taken apart and examined it more closely.

Sure enough, over half of it was covered with Sigils, but there was a small section at the top where it was untouched. While he was examining it, Verdan reached out and checked on its Aether, finding that it was full once more.

The amount was negligible, but it was also a small piece of crystal, so even that small amount was actually quite impressive.

Taking a piece of wood and forming it into the same size and shape as the crystal, Verdan recreated the Aether gathering Sigils onto the wood before pocketing both pieces and heading off to find Ruan.