Thenio sat in an examination room at the Stability Center, going through the new magic control exercises that Ariom had taught him. He was feeling slightly nervous, since he had a rather large audience. Ariom and Bero were both there, as were Grandmaster Sephior and two of his apprentices: Chanea and Lerian. Chanea was a petite young woman with curly brown hair. And Lerian was a tall and muscular young man who looked more like a combat wizard than a healer, though Thenio knew he was actually very gentle and soft-spoken. He had met both apprentices during his previous appointments.

Iggy and Humerus were sitting together on a chair on the side of the room, under Bero's watchful eye. The Center had a waiting area specifically designed for familiars, and the two of them would normally have stayed there during the appointment. But they had both said they wanted to see what Thenio's examinations were like, so Bero had negotiated with the staff to let them in, on the condition that they sit quietly and watch from the side.

"I see...." Grandmaster Sephior nodded thoughtfully as Thenio finished the last exercise. "Yes, I think this approach has some potential." He glanced back at his apprentices, who were standing behind his chair and watching Thenio with slightly puzzled expressions. "Do you two understand what Ariom is trying to accomplish by giving him these exercises? Since you haven't learned to use magesight yet, you might not have been able to see it."

The two apprentices exchanged looks.

"They just looked like regular control exercises to me," Lerian said apologetically. "Though I guess they're pretty advanced for someone his age?"

Chanea nodded. "Yes, those animal shapes looked really good. I don't think I could make shapes that complex just using raw magic power."

The exercises that Thenio had shown them were more advanced versions of the magic orb exercises that all beginning magic users did. But they were a little different from the ones he'd been taught at the academy. There, the focus had been on producing additional magic orbs and juggling groups of them around in complex patterns. Ariom's exercises involved forming a single orb and then distorting it in various ways, like changing the shape or color. Thenio especially enjoyed trying to make different animals and magic beasts, although his creations still looked pathetically blobby and misshapen compared to the ones Ariom could make.

"Advanced, yes." Grandmaster Sephior chuckled a little. "I would normally say they're too advanced for him. Those are beginning sorcery exercises."

Chanea raised her eyebrows a little. "Oh, now that you mention it, they are, aren't they?" Then she frowned. "Is that really going to help anything, at his power level? I mean, I guess every little bit helps, but...."

"Yes, every little bit does help," Ariom said, giving the apprentice an annoyed look. He'd been in a bad mood ever since they'd left the house a couple of hours ago. "It's a common misconception that precise magic control is only useful at high power levels."

"Now, now, Ariom...." Grandmaster Sephior gave him a gentle smile. "I know you're not happy to be here, but please don't take it out on my poor apprentice. She doesn't know your family history, and thaumaturgy isn't exactly a common practice these days. You can't really blame her for not immediately thinking of it."

"Thaumaturgy?" Chanea blinked in confusion. "I've heard the name, but I don't really know what it is." She looked at Lerian. "Do you?"

Lerian frowned. "Isn't it an older style of enchanting? One that fell out of use after the Great War?"

"You're about half right. It does have a lot in common with enchanting. And the war did cause a huge drop in the number of people who could use it. But calling it an old style of enchanting isn't exactly right." Grandmaster Sephior turned back to Ariom. "Well. Maybe we should let the expert explain."

Ariom scowled. "Is this why you brought your apprentices with you? To try and make me give them a lesson on thaumaturgy?"

"Well...yes. You could say that." Grandmaster Sephior gave him a sunny, wrinkled smile. "Don't you want more people to learn about your family traditions? And these two are studying to be magic circuit doctors. It's possible they'll be able to use this knowledge to help people in the future."

"Don't try to guilt-trip me. We don't even know if it's going to help Thenio yet...." Ariom sighed. "But fine. Thaumaturgy is a method of using magic that's based on the same principles as enchanting but uses direct power manipulation rather than depending on a physical medium."

The two apprentices looked at him blankly.

Ariom sighed again. Then he stood up and went over to the chair where the familiars were sitting. "Iggy, can I borrow Obby for a minute? I need him to help me explain this."

"Okay." Iggy sat up on his haunches and held his front paws out. With a shimmer of magic particles, the plush chicken appeared in them. "Obby, Ariom needs you to help him, okay?"

Ariom took the chicken and rubbed Iggy's head. "Thanks." He turned back to the two apprentices and held Obby up for them to see. "This is an enchanted toy. It has a number of different inscriptions on it. When magic is channeled into these inscriptions, they produce various effects. Like changing the color."

The chicken glowed faintly as Ariom infused some of his magic power into it. When the glow faded, Obby's normally black body had turned a bright shade of green.

"An inscription is a physical medium that's used to manipulate magic power. But if you understand how it works, and if your magic control is good enough, you can produce the same effect without needing an inscription. Here, let me see that pen."

"Huh?" Lerian looked down at the pen he'd been using to take notes for Grandmaster Sephior during Thenio's physical exam. It was an ordinary-looking brown fountain pen. "Oh. All right."

He held the pen out to Ariom, who took it.

"Now, this pen doesn't have any enchantments inscribed on it. So all that will happen if you infuse magic power into it is that it will get hot and eventually explode. But if I manipulate the magic correctly...." He held the pen up and touched it with his fingertip. The pen glowed the same way Obby had and turned the same shade of bright green. "I can still create the same color-changing effect."

He touched the pen again and returned it to its original color. Then he handed it back to Lerian, who took it and stared at it, looking half impressed and half perplexed.

"Wow...." Chanea was also staring at the pen. "Can you reproduce any enchantment like that?"

"In theory, yes. But in practice, it's limited by the complexity of the enchantment and the amount of power I can put out. So it's not like it can replace enchanting altogether."

"It still looks really useful, though. Why don't more people use it?"

Ariom shrugged. "Mostly because it's extremely difficult to learn. People generally have to start training when they're very young. It's almost impossible to develop that kind of precise control once your magic power level gets too high. And it can take up to a decade of regular practice before you really start to see results. So it wasn't widespread, even before the war. And since then, magic tools have become much more readily available because of the higher percentage of non-magic users in the population, so most people just rely on those. Thaumaturgy has mainly been preserved by families that have void affinities running in them. The effort involved is more worthwhile for void mages, since we're pretty limited in what we can do without using special techniques like this."

"A decade of training...." Chanea made a face. "Yeah, I can understand why most people would pass on that. Did you learn it because of your family, then?"

"Yes," Ariom said shortly, his expression darkening a little. He turned away from her to give the still-green Obby back to Iggy.

"I still remember Ariom as a little boy, doing magic exercises and practicing archery together with his mother." Grandmaster Sephior smiled fondly. "Such a cute kid. It's rare for us to have children born here in the Center, so we were all quite attached to him."

There was a brief silence.

"His mother...was an in-patient here?" Chanea asked tentatively.

"Yes, that's right." Grandmaster Sephior didn't say any more, but his smile had turned a little sad.

"Oh," Chanea said in a subdued voice. "I see...."

Ariom acted as though he hadn't heard them, but he was spending a little longer than necessary stroking Iggy's head. Bero was watching him with a complicated expression.

Grandmaster Sephior cleared his throat. "Well, getting back to the topic at hand...Thenio is probably starting a bit too late to become a proper thaumaturgist, but Ariom thinks that practicing the techniques might allow him to gain enough control over his magic power to prevent future explosions. His magic stability does seem slightly better when he's doing the new exercises. So I think it's worth pursuing. He needs an alternative to traditional exercises anyway, since they place too much emphasis on increasing magic power levels...which is the last thing he needs right now."

"It's an interesting idea," Lerian said, nodding thoughtfully. "I wouldn't have thought of using shaping exercises with raw magic power in order to train control, just because you always hear that you don't need them until you hit sorcerer level and start doing physical manifestations. Maybe I should stop by the library later and see if I can find any books on thaumaturgy. I'd like to learn more about how it works."

Chanea also nodded.

"Good, good." Grandmaster Sephior looked pleased with that response. "We'll discuss this more after you two have done some studying. Working with Thenio and Ariom is a rare learning opportunity in many ways, so try to make the most of it." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, we're almost done here. There's just one more thing I need to discuss with Thenio. But it's a bit...personal. So you two can go ahead and leave early."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He waited until they had exited the room. Then he turned to Ariom, who had returned to his seat next to Thenio.

"All right, then. Let's move on to the most sensitive subject, shall we? I assume you've been testing Thenio's magic absorption. What have you found out so far?"

Ariom frowned. "So you did know about that. You could have said something."

"We're treating it as classified information. I couldn't discuss it with you before you became Thenio's official guardian, and since then...well, it was hard to get a chance to talk to you privately, with so many people hanging around, trying to find a way to take advantage of the poor boy. Unprincipled scavengers...." For a moment, Grandmaster Sephior's expression grew uncharacteristically harsh. Then he seemed to realize something and looked over at Humerus. "Sorry. No offense intended toward proper scavengers." He sighed. "Well. I knew you and Bero would pick up on it right away, so I didn't put as much effort into informing you as I would have otherwise."

"Um...is it really that important to keep it a secret?" Thenio asked hesitantly. "Is being able to absorb magic such a terrible thing?"

Grandmaster Sephior shook his head. "Not terrible. But potentially quite dangerous for you, if the wrong people find out. Some would want to study and try to duplicate that ability, without caring whether you were hurt in the process or not. And the fact that your magic absorption bears even a passing resemblance to a demon's would be enough to make some people want you dead without any further questions. That played a large part in who we selected as potential caretakers for you—we wanted to be sure you didn't go to someone who was prejudiced against magic eaters." He chuckled a little. "Since Ariom grew up on a spectral beast farm, we were pretty sure that wouldn't be a problem with him."

"I suppose you had a demon expert examine him at some point?" Bero asked.

"Yes, of course." Grandmaster Sephior nodded. "The head of the Demon Poison Center came over and looked at him the first day he was here. He said he thought it was possible that there's some kind of connection between chaos magic and demons, since there are some notable similarities. But he's quite sure that Thenio isn't a demon."

Thenio frowned a little. He could understand that they might not have mentioned the demon expert at the time, since he'd been heavily sedated and probably wouldn't have even understood what it meant. And he also knew that everyone was being careful about what they told him because of his recent bad reactions to upsetting information. Ariom had said as much when he apologized for not letting Thenio know ahead of time that Mideis and Amisi had mental affinities and were testing out his reaction to their magic when they visited the other day. Apparently Ariom and Bero were worried that knowing would make Thenio too nervous and affect the results of the test by stirring up his magic prematurely. And Ariom had already told him that he was planning to find a mental mage to help out with the magic absorption testing, so it wasn't completely unexpected.

But still.... It felt like everyone was keeping secrets from him, and he didn't like it.

He sat quietly while Ariom and Bero told Grandmaster Sephior about their analysis of his magic absorption, looking down and fidgeting a little with the new leather bands he was wearing on his wrists. These were the prototype insulation bands that Ariom had completed just the day before. They didn't filter out very much magic, so he was still wearing his suppression bands as a precaution. But Ariom had said he would work on increasing the filtration rate once he made sure the insulation bands were comfortable for Thenio to wear and didn't aggravate his magic instability.

"So he's more tolerant of life magic and mental magic, is he? Interesting combination...." Grandmaster Sephior leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Right offhand I can't think what the connection might be, but I'll research it a bit and discuss it with some of the other doctors to see if we can come up with anything. We can talk more about it at your next appointment." He looked at Thenio with a gentle smile. "I know it must be frustrating for you, boy. We keep finding more questions than answers. But you're making progress, even if it's slow, so try not to get impatient. We'll sort this out. One day at a time, remember. One day at a time."

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"We got through that a little faster than I thought we would," Ariom said as they left the Stability Center. "We still have some time before your family is expecting us to be there. Do you want to go straight to your house anyway? Or should we stop somewhere else first? We could go by the park to see if your friend Eteon is there, if you want."

"Well...." Thenio hesitated. "I think it's better not to show up too early. My mother is probably in a last-minute cleaning frenzy right now. Interacting with high-ranking wizards always makes her nervous. She'll get really flustered if we come befores she expects us to."

"I see." Ariom nodded. "Well, should we try the park, then?"

"I want to go to the park!" Iggy piped up. "I want to go see Thenio's friend and look at his animal toys again!"

Humerus nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't mind going, either," Bero said. "I've been thinking that I'd like to buy some of Eteon's carvings to take back home for everyone. Sayomi will definitely complain if I spend this much time in the capital and don't bring back any presents for her." He gave a wry chuckle. "Really, that girl. She's all grown up and married, but she still acts like a child sometimes."

"That's because you spoil her too much," Ariom said, rolling his eyes.

Bero raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't want to hear that from a guy who remodeled his entire house and started making a mountain of enchanted toys as soon as he got a baby dragon. If you ever have children of your own, Ariom, I guarantee you'll spoil them a lot more than I've ever spoiled the four of you."

Ariom made a face but didn't argue the point.

"Um...we can't be sure that Eteon will even be there," Thenio said uncertainly. "Some days he's busy with other things."

"That's fine." Bero gave him a reassuring smile. "If he's not there, Iggy and Humerus will still enjoy being able to run around the park for a little while. It's a good way to kill some time, either way."

Since they were all in agreement, Ariom steered the carriage in the direction of the park. When they got out and started walking toward the market area, the familiars attracted even more attention than they had the last time, since it was late enough in the afternoon for children to be out of school. It was a sunny, warm day, and quite a few children were playing in the park. Some of them pointed and called out when they saw Iggy and Humerus, obviously excited to see real, live dragons.

Well...one real, live dragon and one dead dragon being puppeted by a real, live revenant. But they didn't need to know that.

Iggy was as excited to see the children as they were to see him, and he happily swished his tail and waved his paws at all of them. Several of the children, encouraged by this, started trailing after them, and by the time they found the spot where Eteon had his blanket spread out under a tree, they'd formed a small parade.

Bero looked back and gave a weak laugh. "I guess we'd better do something about this...." He turned to Ariom. "Why don't I take these two to go play with the kids for a bit? Pick out some things for your aunt and cousins for me, will you? You should know what they would like."

"Ah...okay." Ariom looked a little hesitant, but he obviously decided that picking out gifts was a better option than dealing with the gaggle of children. He nodded and handed over Iggy's leash.

"Oh." Iggy looked back and forth between Eteon and the children with a conflicted expression. "I want to play...but I want to see Thenio's friend, too...."

"We can do both," Bero reassured him, lifting the little dragon from Ariom's shoulder. "We'll go play for a few minutes and then come see Thenio's friend afterward. All right?"

"Mmm! Okay!" Iggy waved his tail enthusiastically, apparently satisfied by that compromise.

Thenio and Ariom stood for a minute and watched the three of them heading toward the group of children. Ariom had a rather uncomfortable expression.

"Are you not good with kids?" Thenio asked him curiously.

"Well...no. Not especially," Ariom admitted. He glanced sideways at Thenio. "What about you?"

Thenio gave a bitter laugh. "I don't mind them. But they don't like me, remember? My brother Kleyo is pretty much the only little kid who's willing to be around me." His brow furrowed. "Well, my other brother was okay with me when he was really small, but...not so much anymore...."

"That.... Right. I'm sorry. Since none of us feel uncomfortable around you, I wasn't really thinking about.... I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Thenio looked at the ground. "I mean...I guess...it's kind of nice that you can forget like that, so...it's fine."

They both stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Well." Ariom cleared his throat. "We're supposed to be picking out wooden carvings."

Thenio nodded silently and followed Ariom over to where Eteon was waiting for them. He gave them a welcoming smile as they approached.

"It looks like your familiars are quite popular," he said with a chuckle.

Thenio looked back to where Bero was kneeling down in front of the children, who were taking turns petting Iggy and Humerus. He was a little surprised that Humerus was being so cooperative. But then, he had been around while Bero and his wife raised Ariom and his three cousins, so he must have quite a lot of experience dealing with children by now.

"Are you visiting your family today?" Eteon went on.

Thenio nodded. "Yeah. I had a doctor's appointment, and we were planning to go to my house afterward, but we had some extra time, so we decided to stop by for a few minutes."

"I'm glad." Eteon smiled warmly and patted the blanket next to him. "Come sit down and tell me how your first couple of weeks as a magic assistant have been."

"My uncle wants to buy some of your carvings to take home as souvenirs," Ariom said as Thenio went to sit next to Eteon. "But...well, he got a little sidetracked. Is it alright if I look through and pick some things out for him?"

"Of course. I can make something for you, too, if you don't see what you want there."

"Hmm." Ariom thought for a minute, looking over the carvings spread out on the blanket. "My cousin would probably really like a cockatrice. But that's a little complicated, isn't it? And we only have about an hour, so maybe there's not enough time for you to make one of those...."

"It depends." Eteon grinned mischievously. "I can do it if I cheat. But you have to promise not to tell on me."

"Cheat? What...? Oh." Ariom blinked. "I guess that's fine? Like you said before, it's not illegal as long as there isn't any magic left by the time you sell it." He glanced at Thenio. "It'll be a problem for Thenio if you use too much power, though."

"Don't worry. It only takes a tiny amount. It shouldn't be enough to bother him." Eteon set down the half-finished carving he'd been working on and started looking through his basket of wood scraps. "What variety of cockatrice do you want?"

"You can even do different varieties?" Ariom raised his eyebrows, looking impressed. "A female Northern Crested, then."

"Got it. I can do that."

"Does your cousin have a cockatrice familiar?" Thenio asked curiously. Cockatrices weren't common as familiars, since they weren't very intelligent creatures and tended to have bad temperaments. But they were pretty, so he liked drawing them.

"Well...yes and no. Alula isn't technically a cockatrice. She just lives in one."

"Huh?" Thenio was momentarily confused. Then he looked over to where a longsuffering Humerus was dangling precariously from the arms of a small girl. "Oh. A revenant?"

Ariom nodded. "A revenant." He also glanced in Humerus' direction. "Speaking of which, we'd better get her something. She's going to be horribly jealous of Humerus' new puppet otherwise...."

"There are some jointed dolls over there." Eteon pointed to one side of the blanket. "The joints might be a little tight for a marionette, but I can adjust them."

Ariom started looking at the dolls while Eteon selected a large, dark-colored block of wood from his basket and held it up to examine it from different angles.

"This one should do," he said, nodding. He picked up his knife and then paused and turned to Thenio with a gentle smile. "So, tell me what you've been up to these past couple of weeks."