County Wycliffe
A metallic clang echoed throughout the chamber when the offending piece of metal rolled along its edge until falling flat, settling on the stone floor.
“Tsk, tsk. And here I thought you were starting to get it, Q.” Elara mocked from where she spun five identical coins as they rotated around her in perfect symmetry.
Q ground his teeth before refocusing on the solitary coin he’d let slip from his mental grasp.
Over the last year, Q’s training with his grandparents had been tough. He’d dealt with failures, forced to work his way to a solution, or to the realization that he may not be ready for that level of magic, yet .
While his grandparents felt comfortable teaching him the basics. Neither of them would ever claim to being experts when it came to magic. Even with Ed having served as on the Council of Mages earlier in life. He was nothing more than a competent mage. Valued more by the Council for his business acumen and people management skills. In recognition of that fact, he chose to abdicate his seat not long after marrying Nadine. Where they could enjoy a more retired life together while they raised Katherine. He wanted to focus on business, and helping the people on his lands thrive, a decision he was proud to have made nearly two decades later.
Training with Elara was a different beast entirely.
Their first week working together, was a lesson in frustration for Q. His explanation of how he tapped into his Mental gift was insufficient, and his initial inability to describe it in more detail than, “I focus on the object I want to control and it does what I need it to do,” only managed to irritate them both.
Elara was forced to take a step back from the hands-on training, and start over with the basic understanding of what mental magic actually was. Something that was not well understood in the first place. The fact that each Gift worked differently only exacerbated the issue.
Through trial and error, they discovered that Q’s method of control fell into what Elara liked to call the extension of self. When he wanted to control something telekinetically, he would visualize the action being performed by a phantom part of himself.
In the case of the spinning coin, Q was envisioning an invisible hand holding the coin up in the air while it spun on an outstretched finger. His will and intention would keep it spinning, and the visualized hand would keep it aloft. It was when his concentration slipped that the coin would either stop spinning or the hand would lose its grip and let it fall.
Her mention of the concept of extension of self was the first time he’d ever heard of someone’s method of control being categorized. When he raised the question of if all were quantifiable, her answer surprised him.
“Most likely, yes. We as people only have so many ways we can interpret and understand the world around us, Q.” She’d looked up at the chamber ceiling and let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping. “The fact I have one, and only one Gift, has made me an expert on all things Mental. I’m sure that I’m not the only mage to become hyper focused on a specific Gift, like Healing for example. But I am confident saying that I know more about my Gift than anyone else alive today. So, yes. I am sure there are a few common control methodologies for each of the Gifts found within Rivenna. I just don’t think anyone else has had the time or inclination to research and compile them like I have. For anyone else, I would even say it was a waste of their time.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Q remembered frowning at the last statement, not understanding how she could disparage her own work like that. “Why would it be a waste to do what you’ve done? Isn’t it better to know as much about your gift as you can?”
She’d nodded and explained. “Sure, to a point. The commonalities between the methods are really only useful at the beginning of a mage’s path. The farther along it you go and the more complex the magic you try to do, the more your process will have to be tailored to your individual talents. Once you reach a certain level of competence in your gift, does it really matter how you personally do it, when your approach wouldn’t work for someone else?” Letting out an unladylike snort, she waved her hand and continued. “In the end, A fireball to the face is still a fireball to the face. Who cares if you need a mental image of the fireball traveling through the air or if it’s a string linking where you want it to go and your attack just follows it to the target? Either way, they’d probably still be dead.”
He didn’t see an issue with her logic, so he’d dropped the subject, returning his attention to what she could teach him about extending his metaphysical self.
“Find your point of focus, Q. Hone in on it until nothing else feels real. Don’t worry about losing track of what’s going on around you. That will come later.” Elara instructed, walking around him in a circle. He stared at the glinting metal where it lay, distracted by the gentle whirring sounds of Elara’s own projectiles spinning around him.
A curse came from the other side of the room. The tinkle of metal followed it, striking stone as Cedric lost control of his own silver coin. It glinted in the overhead crystal light, bouncing across the floor. Rather than make another attempt, he chose to ignore it, and instead turned in Q’s direction. He intentionally walked into one of Elara’s coins on his way over. Knocking it off course before it corrected itself and flying back into formation. She sent a mock glare his way before walking off and pulling a book off of a heavily laden stone table.
Q frowned as the young man collapsed into a pile beside him. Looking up at Q, he said, “Don’t beat yourself up over it. She’s a hardass.”
“I heard that!” Called his mother without looking up from the book in her hand.
Grinning, Cedric waved her comment off. “Seriously, I’ve been doing this same exercise for over a year, and I am only just now getting enough control to do it correctly. She is not who you should be using as a gauge when it comes to how a normal person wields telekinesis.”
That revelation helped a little to soothe Q’s bruised ego. Over the past few weeks, he had come to learn that Cedric was willing to work hard to improve his abilities. When a task was set before him, he worked just as diligently as Q to see it done right. His problem was that his thoroughness did not extend much beyond that. If it did not pertain to his Gifts, Cedric was rather lazy. Preferring to sit back and relax while doing his best to enjoy himself. He was also an honest and a generally nice person that tried to share that joy with those around him. It made him pleasant to spend time with, if you could deal with the occasions his carefree tongue got him into trouble.
In one such instance, Q’s grandfather had called them both into his office for a lesson on what was and was not appropriate to say to a servant after Cedric told one of the maids she was “looking pleasantly plump today.” He hadn’t intended it as an insult, and come to find out, the young woman was actually pregnant, but Ed had taken it as an opportunity to reaffirm how a man of noble birth was expected to deal with the fairer sex, regardless of social class or noble rank.
Elara put them through such a grueling session after she’d learned of the incident, that neither of them would ever forget the debilitating headache they’d been forced to endure. As annoyed as he was by their punishment, Q couldn’t find it within himself to stay angry at the idiot who had quickly wormed his way into the small group of people Q enjoyed to be around. What it did, other than bring them closer together through mutual suffering, was affirm Q’s decision to watch out for Cedric, and do what he could to keep that mouth of his under control.