“Now, burn it and shape it, use the red mist,” Spring said.

Spring paced around her meditating disciple.

“Form it, shape it. Build it, shape it.”

River began to sweat. Even as a raven, sweat felt very uncomfortable, but it was a side effect of her powers that she didn’t just sweat like the rest of her kind. The convention had also been, just to sweat through your claws like everyone else. But for druids, burning their magic, their red mist, almost always caused the fight or flight response.

Slowly a flaming spear formed in front of the raven. Given life through the red mist, it danced around as if it was being wielded by an invisible warrior.

Spring stomped her feet, watching it move back and forth.

“Good.”

River opened her eyes, losing her concentration for a second, and at that moment she stopped burning her magic.

“Argh!” River said. She took in a deep breath looking to re-ignite her internal flame to re-shape the form of the spear.

“That is good enough for today,” Spring said,”I can see that you’re low on everything and we need to talk about the final steps in your plan.”

River stood up to stretch her wings and legs.

“I’ve thought about it and I think that our best route is to go for the audience favorite. We can get more people engaged if we stack the deck in our favor,” River said.

Spring grabbed something from inside her robe.

“Shall I do a drawing, then?”

A deck of lacquered wooden cards was slowly shuffled as the two druids sat facing each other.

One by one, they laid out cards.

“High house Nithe… good luck for the seeker,” Spring said, “By followed by the fool of swords… doubtful. However the seamstress of grain… gives me hope. The mason of Nithe seals it.”

River looked at the four cards, then back at her mentor.

“What do I need to do?”

“The mason needs to build support through the seamstress. Luck won’t be enough.”

River nodded.