The scene blurred, rapid movements in the background and the change in light to dark and back again several times suggesting the passage of time. Amelia wished she could move over to that blurry chair and sit in it. She wasn’t tired of standing because the feeling of fatigue or exhaustion from the body wasn’t a thing that translated well into the game. There did, however, exist the urge to just flop down and kick her legs under her like she did when she and Aidan were watching something on the light screen.

Ellie was a woman now. High cheekbones, longer lustrous hair, the casual makeup that looked great on her that she probably didn’t have to spend all day on. Amelia’s eyes narrowed slightly.

She sat in the same chair at the table, but the books were gone and in their place was a glass of half-finished wine. She sat wildly and animatedly gesticulating with her hand, her eyes widened and narrowing with each gesture. Perfidelia sat on the other side with an emptier looking glass, a look of mild amusement and contentment on her face as she listened to Ellie.

“...and the look on her face! Mmm!” Ellie held up a finger to indicate she wasn’t done and took a quick sip of wine. “Mm. Mimi this is good! The look on her face when the professor evaluating her spellwork finally got a word in edgewise. He told her that specializing in fire was fine, but that she’d better drop out and make a career of it because it seemed to be the only school she wasn’t rubbish in…hahaha.”

“Well, I’m not sure that’s something an educator to say to their pupils,” Perfidelia drawled slowly, stretching it out to indicate she wasn’t necessarily agreeing with what had happened. “But some people, like our Pelly, do need to hit their shins every once in a while and humble themselves on the great wheel of karma.” Then she picked up her own glass and seemed surprised to find that it wasn’t fully. She upended it anyway, having already picked it up, and opened her mouth to receive the last few drops.

“Ah. I’ve missed this.” Ellie got up and went to the workbench in the back, bending over slightly and retrieving an item from underneath. Another bottle of wine.

“You two need to knock the girl party off and start talking about magic.” Amelia said numbly.

“No, no, don’t open that.” Perfidelia shook her head. “You can take it with you if you want but if I have anymore I’ll start spilling secrets and then pop goes the neighbors thatch roof on fire, and it’ll be a big thing. I’ll have to write another one of those sorry I burned your house down notes.

“On second thought, please continue Ellie,” Amelia smiled.

Ellie snickered. “Alright Mimi, but I am taking the bottle.” She set it on the top of the workbench near the corner and made her way back to the table, sitting down once more. “I’m sorry I don’t stop by as often. I have nothing but good memories here…”

“Well, don’t be in a rush. I’m not dying anytime soon so, you know, get your own place.” Perfidelia smiled.

“That’s not what I meant at all,” Ellie laughed.

“I know. I’m just giving you a hard time. I don’t begrudge you living your life. Associate Professor at the Queen Peteria College of Black, and at your age.” Perfidelia reached over and took Ellie’s half-ful glass, setting it in front of her self and then nodding very seriously. “Very impressive for your age.”

“I know the college would put you in front of the whole show in a heartbeat,” Ellie offered, not looking the slightest bit miffed when her glass of wine was stolen.

“Peh. Those geezers. It’s enough to watch you run circles around them. Must drive them mad that you’re smarter, younger, and the better wizard…” Perfidelia’s eyes glazed and she picked up the glass, watching the liquid move side to side as she tilted it. “Still, if there’s anything an old woman can help you with, other than leaving her solitude, you’ve but to ask.”

“Ask a bunch of things.” Amelia said, her face already turning into a grimace because Ellie never asked questions.

“I do have a few questions,” Ellie said slowly. “About something tangential to what we used to talk about.”

“Oh!” Amelia said, her face immediately bursting with joy.

“Oh?” Perfidelia’s hands went still and some of the fire in her eyes returned.

Ellie seemed to be holding the tip of her tongue between her teeth, noting the strange change.

“Yes, I was working with a colleague the other day and we had both been out way too late, and it was getting to be too early, and the topic of proficiency came up. Naturally, he had respectfully suggested that the Order of the White had been resting on it’s laurels for far too long, and equally respectful, asked if I would take a look at one of the spells he had been developing and attempt to counter it.”

“He was showing off,” Perfidelia said abruptly.

Ellie froze for a moment, a red tinge coloring her nose for a moment. “Yes, he was showing off, and I was letting him, and we went to the park as the light was coming through the trees… ahem, and so, I countered this spell and it was, very good.”

“Sounds very good.” Perfidelia started squinting.

“Mimi!” Ellie choked.

“Is there a question somewhere in here?” Perfidelia started to the glass to her lips, one brow raising.

“As I countered his spell, which I didn’t tell him I could tell was a final form of an earth shard spell, I could tell that his boasting wasn’t necessarily out of place.” Ellie paused slightly, eyes narrowing as she gathered her thoughts.

“Yes, that’s why we learn all the spells, so we can identify the base spells and understand them for countering and reflection,” Perfidelia sipped the wine.

“The spell he cast required every ounce of internalized mana I had,” Ellie’s eyes were narrower now. “In fact, an amazing phenomenon happened. There was a pause, like I actually didn’t have enough mana.”

“But the spell was countered.” Perfidelia finished.

“Yes,” Ellie said, mouth opening a few times and closing.

“Profoundly?” Perfidelia asked.

“Well, yes. It was a basic earth spell, and if I’m being impolite, the phrase he used to start the spell was too long for me to repeat all that rubbish.” Ellie’s face pinched.

“Ahh, a long activation name.” Perfidelia nodded slowly, and then seemingly caught in thought, nodded again.

“Mimi?”

“Yes?”

“Can you?”

“Can I what?” Perfidelia asked in confusion.

“Can you counter a spell far beyond your mana pool?” Ellie asked.

“The question you’re asking is, ‘did you counter a spell far beyond your mana pool’, and based on your story I am inclined to say you did.” Perfidelia smiled.

“That doesn’t--”

“Doesn’t explain the mechanics of it? Doesn’t explain the how?”

Ellie put her hands flat on the table and closed her eyes, the pinched look of aggravation on her face growing. “Okay! I see I get no credit for half-answers or half-questions, so I will ask plainly. Mimi, if hypothetically someone with twice your mana pool cast a spell with all their mana, could you counter it?”

“Of course.” Perfidelia said in surprise as if it were the simplest thing. "Twice were I inclined."

Amelia wasn’t sure what the big deal was. Ellie never came up against spellcraft that wasn’t bigger than her mana pool? Must not be a lot of bosses or other world-ending threats in their area. She probably had a huge mana pool too, being the apprentice to Perfidelia.

Ellie did think it was a big deal though, her mouth dropping open in shock, and the words came like a rush now. “But that is a contradiction of what the Order of the Black says about countering and reflecting spells!”

“Is it?” Amelia frowned sounding doubtful.

“Does it?” Perfidelia sounded teasing.

Ellie shot to her feet and started talking really fast, obviously getting the words out of the way because she was desperate for the answer.

“A spell is cast using internalized mana. For simplification we’ll use a white wizard and a black wizard. A white wizard casts a spell, form and shape dependent on their will and their internalized mana. A black wizard counters or reflects that spell using internalized mana to reappropriate, reshape, redirect, or amplify a spell. If a spell is cast with insufficient internalized mana for activation in the simplest cases it fails, or creates a less ideal effect.”

Perifelia was making a get on with it rolling expression with her wrist.

“Countering or reflection also need a minimum amount of mana or there is a lesser effect or, in some cases, the desired outcome doesn’t get realized at all. The spell that is cast is neither countered, nor reflected.”

“Is there a question in all of this?” Perfidelia asked.

“I countered a spell I didn’t have enough mana to counter and still came out with the desired result. Even though I didn’t have enough mana it countered. If we assume that a minimum threshold of mana is still necessary for a desired result--”

“It’s a law. So assume away.” Perfidelia interjected.

“--then where, in the freaking heck of all time and space and larmaduks of green hollow, did that mana come from?”

BOOM. BANG. BANG BANG BANG BANG.

Ellie jumped, the passion fading from her eyes somewhat as her monologue ended. Ended because Perfidelia was banging the table with her closed fist, shaking it so hard her wine was about to fall over. It was already sloshing dangerously, causing Ellie’s face to change to one of panic as she stepped forward with both hands out, trying to figure how to cross the space and steady the glass without getting her hands smashed against the table.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, FINALLY SOMEONE ASKS THE RIGHT QUESTION.”

Perfidelia continued to laugh and finally calmed down enough to stop hitting the table. Still laughing, she started to wipe the excess of moisture at the corners of her mouth. She looked up at Ellie, practically beaming from ear to ear. “Ellie, go get the young man who cast the simple earth spell.”

Hands still out, Ellie tilted her head looking confused. “Why?”

“Because, you can read a guide or listen to a lecture about hammering a nail into a board, or you can just get a hammer, a nail, and a board. It’s up to you, though.”

“Don’t go anywhere!” Ellie said after a moment. She started to straighten up but then leaned over the table and held a hand with a finger up. “...and stop drinking while I’m gone!”

“Okay dear, be quick, it’s getting quite late…” Perfidelia waved amiably as Ellie ran out of the cottage at break neck speed, very nimbly picking up the glass Ellie had set almost out of her reach. She took a long slurping sip while looking at the closed door, as if she were purposefully making the noise louder than it needed to be.