“So, what is your plan?” Sanae asked Meyriv,
He replied from his bedroll, not even opening his eyes.
“For now, gather information. Once Istan brings us their next instructions we can prepare a response.”
“Why not just let them be someone else’s problem? I’d rather just set sail for my home as soon as possible.”
“You are welcome to do so, but don’t be surprised if they pursue you sooner or later.”
She sighed.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“I have some ideas of how to deal with them, once I have a solid understanding of the scope of their operation.”
“Like what? You’ve only recently stopped looking like a corpse, and now you’re thinking of fighting?”
“I didn’t say anything about fighting, just some ambiguous ideas of ‘dealing with them’”
She looked in his direction for a moment before shaking her head. “Whatever. Not like you explain anything anyway.”
She felt mounting frustration.
I hate being so powerless!
Meyriv muttered “You’re not p—” before stopping himself.
Sanae narrowed her eyes.
“Did you just read my mind?!”
“No, that’s not—”
“You were saying ‘You’re not powerless’! How did you know exactly what I was thinking?!”
He cursed, opening his eyes and throwing his arms above his head.
“Fine! That’s how my curse works: It causes me to feel the pain of those around me. So when you felt frustrated, I felt it too.”
“Oh.” She thought about it for a while, then spoke again,
“Why did you keep that a secret? Why not just tell me?”
“Because it’s an incredible liability. If anyone hostile knew the details, they could drag along a crowd of sick and hurting people and corner me. I’d be incapacitated in no time.”
Her eyes widened,
“I didn’t even consider…I’m sorry, that’s awful.”
“That is why I was hiding.”
“It makes more sense now.” She bit her lip, “So how am I not powerless? My magic isn’t very useful to me since I don’t know how to properly use it.”
“Have you been practicing?”
“No, I don’t want to until I know how to control it better! I almost killed you the first time I tried!”
He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, thinking.
“...I suppose I never ran into that problem.”
“What do you mean? Surely every beginner—”
“No. My natural power is less than one part in a hundred of what you have. When I was learning I didn’t have the strength to destroy things by accident. Or even on purpose.”
“So how should I practice to avoid that?”
He thought for a few moments.
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“First, you should practice regulating the amount of energy you are using. That control is the difference between starting a campfire and incinerating everything in the vicinity.”
“But how do I—”
“Hold on, I’m not finished yet.” He snapped, then got up and started rifling through one of their bags of supplies.
Meyriv continued:
“I’ll need to make a tool to structure your power for you. It won’t be as dynamic as making your own spells, and probably less efficient, but it’ll provide a relatively safe medium for you to practice on without destroying things.”
He held up a large silver coin, inspecting it. “I suppose this’ll have to do.”
He sat back on his bedroll, muttering and concentrating over the coin.
Sanae sat down and waited, watching with interest.
A few minutes later he took a deep breath. “It’s done.” He said, his voice a little shaky.
His face looked more lined and tired than it had just a few moments before. “Are you alright?”
“I will be. Even the most basic magic takes a lot out of me.”
He tossed the coin to her.
“Oh. Thanks.”
He explained it: “Any energy you channel into this will be directed to pull air from behind you and push it away in front of you. It will specifically flow around you so that you don’t knock yourself over or flay your skin with debris.”
She turned it over experimentally, “So all I do is—”
“Wait, try it away from the camp. And the road. And don’t face toward either.”
“You sure are confident in your tool.” She said dryly.
“If a cart falls off a cliff, do you blame the cart or the driver?”
“What if the horse got spooked?”
“That wasn’t part of the metaphor.”
She walked away a few more steps and held the coin out in front of her. She concentrated and carefully pulled a sliver of power and fed it to the coin.
The grass and foliage in front of her seemed to sway, but she couldn’t tell if it was her doing or just the ambient breeze.
She pulled some more power and slipped, getting more than she intended.
A massive gust of wind shrieked in front of her and ripped a few clumps of grass out of the ground. A large branch snapped off of one of the trees and crashed to the ground.
Despite the wind, her hair hadn’t even moved.
“Oops.”
She walked back,
Meyriv spoke
“Good job. Now you need to practice developing fine control.” He showed her a hollow stick that looked burnt. He blew air towards one of the ends and it made a low whistling noise.
“Tie this to one of those trees and make it whistle for as long as you can.”
- - -
Easier said than done, She thought as she adjusted the flow yet again. The window she was aiming for was razor thin. Too much or too little airflow and it wouldn’t make any sound. She occasionally managed it, but holding the balance was infuriatingly difficult.
Meyriv approached,
“That’s enough for now. You’re getting too frustrated to concentrate properly.”
“I’m fine!” She said, glaring at the object of her frustration.
He raised an eyebrow,
“Remember, I can tell.”
“Oh, right.”,
That’s really annoying. Sanae thought
“Also, I thought of something I could add to the coin.”
“What?”
“I can make the powerful gusts more effective for combat.”
That does sound useful.
“Alright.”
She handed him the coin. A few seconds later he handed it back. “Don’t try it now, it might draw unwanted attention. Save it for emergencies.”
“What did you change?”
“It’s hard to explain. Just use it like you would have before, point it towards your target and give it energy.”
“I suppose that sounds easy enough.”