Syl found Stan at the stables in a conversation with Julie. They were brushing grass out of Chucho’s fur and hadn’t noticed her walking towards them yet. The horse sized wolf’s eyes were closed and there was a canine look of content on his large face.
“My guess would be Sul making a move with their army, that would put this whole mess to the north.” Stan said while waving his brush to make his point.
“Keep brushing or this will take all day. And what about your uncle in Kaarth?” Julie said.
“The holy kingdom? If we traveled to Kaarth I would rather we just kept going to Darnsa, nicer people and less zealous. Could you imagine our wolves in Kaarth?”
Stan adopted a silly posture with his arms tucked to the sides and his hands imitating wings. “Why do you not shine Julie?” Stan said with a sing song voice and then he returned to his normal posture. “Because we would be in Kaarth with a bunch of crazies… thats why.”
Julie blew a raspberry at her husband. “It’s your family.” Julie said.
“You’re spoiled with a brother like March, and you didn’t grow up with the sisters temple.” Stan said.
“I hope he is all right.” Julie added.
“Your bother is with Theo and probably Red they are fine, you should worry about us now that they are gone.” Stan said with a smirk. Julie noticed Syl walking towards them and gave her a smile while her husband hadn’t noticed her yet and kept talking.
“Besides, that girl is something special Jules… I really wish you were there this morning. The whole village is talking about it.” Stan said.
Chucho noticed Syl and stretched as he stood up wagging his tail.
~Its a pleasure to greet you Sister.
“Good to see you too Chucho” Syl said as she waved to everyone.
“Just the person we were talking about. The village thinks that your tree is a dogwood, but I told them it wasn’t.” Stan said with a twinkle in his eyes as he waved back.
Julie groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. Stan seemed to expect something from Syl and was waiting. Julie rolled her eyes in an exaggerated way and grinned at Syl.
“Oh wise husband, how do you know when it’s a dogwood?” Julie said.
Stan’s smile went wide. “Because of its bark!” He said very pleased with himself. Syl couldn’t help herself and laughed despite the terrible joke.
“He practiced that half a dozen times” Julie said grabbing a new clump of Chucho’s fur and brushing.
“Well worth the effort, she laughed.” Stan said while pouting and holding his brush to the side.
Julie gave her husband a look and he started brushing again. “Chucho has been enjoying himself in the field.” Julie said as she pried a stick out of the large wolf’s fur.
Syl found a spare brush and helped tidy Chucho. The large wolf closed his eyes as she started brushing.
Julie still brushing turned towards her. “You said something earlier about magic… would you tell us more about it?” She said seemingly considering the words as she spoke them.
“What would you like to know about magic?” Syl asked.
Without hesitation Stan asked,“What is magic?”
“Oh,” Syl said. “That might be a hard question to answer.”
Stolen story; please report.
She thought for a moment about long nights in the basement around the table debating what magic was with her family. Everyone was extremely technical about the differences between magic, science, and divinity and now she was part of that world. It wasn’t an easy topic but as a goddess she was undoubtedly an authority… probably. She decided to keep the explanation simple.
“How would you start a fire?” Syl asked them.
Julie and Stan shared a look and then Stan answered the question. “I would use tinder and a striking stick.” He said
Syl nodded “A skill learned from observation of the world and how it works. Though sometimes the striking stick and tinder don’t behave in a common way because the world is a complex system and predictable outcomes are not absolute.”
They looked at her like she had grown a second head.
“Hmm ok, like some nights the fire is harder to start or sparks fly in unexpected ways but no matter how it performs using tinder or a striking stick leverages the mechanisms of the world predicated on understanding a larger system. Magic is a common term for energy that originates from beyond the measurable mechanisms of the world. It’s an uncommon variable that can leverage existing parts of the world while persistent. If we think of it another way, science is the leveraging of the predictable outcomes within the system. Magic is different because it leverages what’s beyond the system to achieve seemingly impossible results. And since we have this rare moment for me to talk about it, divinity is leveraging the probability factor of the perceived world and what is beyond.” Syl said getting invested.
She smiled, that was pretty good. Magic successfully explained. She looked at Julie and Stan and they both were staring at her with their mouths open. She considered her answer and tried again.
“Everything around us is part of a larger whole. Tinder and a Striking stick use things we understand about the world to accomplish something we want to do. Tinder and a striking stick have behaviors that are learned by observing the way the world works. Magic can mimic behaviors by providing energy unbound by the the typical rules that govern things in the world.” Syl said still very confident in her answers.
Julie and Stan were still staring…
She put her hand out. Fire danced on the tips of her fingers as she continued to talk. “I am part of the Realm of Magic and can draw some of the mist from there to do what I want. It can replace a tool to create fire if I have enough control and ability to bring this power into the world. Though, it is part of that realm and will return when I’m done. Magic is the same energy of the world but without a finite definition.”
The fire dancing on her finger tips disappeared.
You have earned the title “The First Mage”
You have earned the title “Confounder”
Would you like to reactivate skill “Talk Like a Mortal”?
‘NO’
Stan and Julie had unfocused looks and weren’t brushing Chucho anymore. Chucho had one eye closed though his other eye seemed to be considering her. Syl took the moment to check her fingernails.
…
Julie was the first to speak. “Could we learn how to use magic too?”
Syl nodded. “We should talk more about what that means, but yes.”
Chucho huffed a drawn out sigh and looked at the brush in her hand, she had stopped brushing during her explanation. “Oh, sorry Chucho.” Syl said as she went back to brushing the large wolf. The three went back to brushing cleaning the wolf in comfortable silence as Syl imagined Stan and Julie processed the conversation.
Afterwards Julie and Stan took her to the large building by the stables. A thick set of wooden doors let them into a neat and organized building. The doors were large enough for a wagon and a set of doors on the other side of the building allowed wagons to pass through to load or unload goods onto dock with a hand operated pulley and crane. The large building was packed with stored goods and two ready wagons with easy access to the inside wagon lane.
“Stan’s office is over there.” Julie said as she pointed to an area on the other side of the warehouse.
“That’s also where we keep the gear storage and have some exercise stations. The reason we wanted to bring you over here is the omen, maybe our kingdom is one of the ones that ends and maybe it isn’t, you should have skills either way. After you finish working for Terri in the morning we want you to come here and start learning how to handle the wolves and train.” Stan said.
The three walked towards the office to an area that was similar to a locker room with wood furniture. There were a dozen different spots and each one had a wardrobe, mirror, bench and a curtain for privacy. Some of the spots had boards with names on them and the ones near the office had names she recognized. Stan and Julie had spots by the office followed by March and then there was a spot with a fresh cut board with “Syl” on it. There was a mass of gear piled up on the bench in her space.
“Thank you,” she said looking back at them.
“It will take some work to get your gear properly sized and for you to figure out what you prefer. Most of your training will focus on gaining wood lore and how to thrive away from the village.” Stan said as he seemed to study her reactions.
“When would you like magic training?” Syl said quietly.
“Can you teach us magic without explaining how it works again? We probably don’t need to know why a boat floats to learn sailing.” Stan said with a sudden twinkle in his eyes next to an eager Julie.
Syl was reminded of her grandmother using a banking app for the first time. Inspired she decided to ask System.
’Would you be able to help them learn magic in a way that doesn’t freak them out?’
Yes
“I can give you a tool that will help you learn called System. She is kind of like a… helpful… voice that only you will be able to hear from the magical realm. You could ask her questions and she will help you learn about magic and other things too.” Syl said.
There was a moment of quiet that everyone seemed to hold their breath.
“We would like to accept learning magic from System.” This time is was Julie that spoke up.
Syl started to concentrate on giving the system to Julie and Stan. There was a drop in atmospheric pressure outside from a coming storm that stirred the air inside the warehouse. Dust hidden away in the hard to reach places was stirred and flew towards the couple as they happened to be standing where the air pattern in the building converged. Ambient light reflected off the particles in a way that made the air seem to shimmer around the couples feet and it rose up their bodies. Cool air from the coming storm followed a moment later and blew away the dust in a refreshing blast. Stan and Julie stood there in wonder. Tumblers in the lock of Syl’s identity moved and a “click” happened as System grew and connected to Julie and Stan. Syl could feel the system settle on the pair and hoped it wouldn’t traumatize them somehow.
“We should get back before the storm hits.” Stan said looking at the palms of his hands as he spoke.
The three gathered their things and made their way to the door of the warehouse. The walk home was mostly quiet until after an odd look Julie turned Syl’s way and asked. “What is a class? What is a level? And what does it mean to have hit points?”
“Ohhhh, I’m glad I am not the only one curious about that!” Stan added.
‘Ugh’
Syl sighed. It was going to be a long night.