A few hours after Dendra made her pitch to the Guildmaster, I found myself in front of a building that looked older than the rest of the settlement. It was unclear if the settlement had been built around this building or if it was just so shoddy and hated by the world that it had been weathered prematurely. I knocked on the door made of gray wood, then stepped back to once again study the equally weathered and decrepit sign which hung above the door, engraved with unfamiliar letters and an image of the suns and moons as well as various floral patterns.

The door creaked open, revealing a short young woman covered in gray, downy feathers and wearing a long, plain brown robe. “Come. Enter already,” she said.

As I stepped in I was assaulted by numerous odors I couldn’t identify, mostly various types of plant matter that was old, but not quite decaying. One wall of the building was covered in shelves, each one occupied by dozens of clear jars filled with dessicated leaves, roots and flowers.

The woman sat at a table that filled the center of the room, and motioned for me to take a chair on the opposite side. “So, what brings an esteemed dryad to my humble establishment today?”

“Ooh, someone who actually knows how to be respectful, how refreshing! I am Dendra, the dryad who will now be serving as the Emissary of the Forest. The snippy Hunter Guild’s master recommended your services for identifying what magic my adorable companion would be most suited to learn. He said you have some talent in the necessary augury skills, which I take it is high praise from one such as him.”

The woman nodded. “My name is Ava. I primarily make medicines, but I also do some augury and divination. I should be able to at least tell you what sort of magic your quiet friend would be most suited to train. Wait here a moment while I fetch the necessary tools.”

Ava disappeared into a storage room in the back while I remained seated. A minute later, she returned while carrying a small wooden box. She opened its polished lid, and began to set a number of implements on the table. “Tell me, do you at least know the basics of how to shape your aura? I can see you know how to keep it contained, but are you able to manipulate it more than that?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Good, that will make this much easier.” She motioned to a crystalline prism that was attached to a copper handle. “Take that handle and feed a bit of your aura into it when I say so. Keep feeding it a steady trickle of it until I ask you to stop. Understand?”

I nodded, then took hold of the contraption. My hands were a bit large for the delicate thing, and the handle barely crossed half of my palm, while my knuckles brushed up against the edge of the crystal.

Ava placed her hands against the prism’s surface, then looked to me. “Go ahead.”

I concentrated and pushed a small tendril of my aura into the handle. I could feel a minute tug on the thread of power, and I allowed it to go with the pull, continuing to feed the power at a steady pace while Ava hummed to herself with a look of concentration on her face.

“Okay, you can stop now.” I withdrew the thread of aura and turned my attention to the feathery woman, who now seemed to have a plume of feathers twitching near either ear. “Your aptitudes are… unorthodox,” she continued. “You have minor affinities with water and lightning magic as well as… purity? I don’t understand that one or recognize it at all, but its there. However, your greatest affinity… well, it appears to be for flesh magic. I wouldn’t even really call it an affinity, actually, as its compatibility with your aura is absolutely perfect. None of the typical abstract schools seem suitable.”

“Is that a problem?” I asked.

“A little bit, though its not entirely unexpected,” Dendra answered. “Flesh magic is basically taboo, as practitioners tend to create vile abominations during their experimentation on other creatures, or they go insane after modifying themselves. I don’t think it will be a problem for you, but I think it means you won’t easily find someone to teach you. What of his minor affinities, lightning and water you said?”

“Erm, yes. I think he will be able to learn some minor spells for those and eventually increase his affinity to be capable of more complex spell-forms. He should be able to purchase some spell-form scrolls to study at the shop across from mine. Ganford should be able to help you pick out some low level spells to study. As for your… primary affinity… well, the Emissary is correct. You will likely have to learn it yourself. There are no reputable teachers of flesh magic outside of a few that are closely controlled by the Kingdom, and certainly nowhere near here. We’re way out on the frontier, after all. Spell-forms for it are considered contraband without direct approval from the King, and would never be found anywhere outside of the capitol.”

“Well, thank you for your augury, dear child. I expected his results to be as much, but he was rather insistent about learning magic, and I just can’t refuse him. I mean, he’s just so adorable! Regardless, I would like to convey my thanks. We lack money, but I think I can do something better for you.” Dendra extended a tendril of vine towards the table, and a purple and silver flower bloomed at its tip, while a bulbous set of roots grew below it before detaching from the vine..

“This! This is-”

“Yep! It’s a token of gratitude, since you were both respectful and useful. If you plant it in your garden, it will bloom perennially. I think it will be of real use to you in the future.”

After several minutes of profuse thanks from the feathery woman for Dendra, I was able to escape from Ava’s shop and head to the store across the street to purchase some spell-forms. According to Ava’s advice, I should be able to barter for the spell-forms I wanted using some troll bone. Dendra had made a pouch for me to use, hanging from my waist. I filled it with troll phalanges and tarsals that I produced after several minutes of concentration. Troll bone seemed to be a valuable trade material, although the thicker bones held less value because they were harder to refine and use. Dendra took care of the bartering, and I was able to purchase a handfulf of spell-forms to study.

However, that only raised a new hurdle. Neither Dendra or I could read the language the spell-forms were written in.