Damn woman, she’s cutting me off. Doesn’t she know I need my milk?

“Huritt don’t give me that look. We’ve talked about this, and you’re a big boy now. Only milk at bedtime from now until you’re three. Then you turn into mama’s little man and have to stop drinking milk altogether.” Alsoomose was at wits end. She heard of children being overly found of nursing, but this seemed a bit much.

Talo, or Huritt as he was known to “the locals,” was getting most of his nutrition from solid foods at this point, but really craved the mana in his mother's milk. Maybe I can get more from that wet-nurse. It’s like crack to mama’s cocaine, but I can live with that.

“Oh no you don’t. Get back here young man. You leave poor Eldrith alone. I’ve already told her that she’s only to feed you at night if I am otherwise detained. You, on the other hand, are going to sit and read with me.”

“Yes mom.” If I’m good she’s gives me more…get a grip man, you’re no addict. You have a PhD, you have—

“How about we read ‘Jiniri and the Sad Marid’ again?” And so Talo sat in his mother’s lap once again to study the native language, Axculi. Books were a great distraction for Talo over the last two years.

Most kids’ books in the palace were imbued with magic. If you fed magic into the picture of a lion, it would roar, or into a boat, and it would sail across the lake. This caused Talo endless wonder, and torment to whichever poor soul he tricked into reading the books again and again.

The first time Talo tried to pour mana into a book ended poorly. He was reading a book with his father when he stopped his father from activating a mouse. “Me do it!” he squealed.

His father was hesitant but let him try. The moment Talo’s finger touched the mouse it squeaked with such volume that all the nearby glassware shattered. Luckily his father bore the brunt of his mother's wrath.

“Now HurHur, can you make the Jiniri dance slow to fast?” Alsoomose decided to take things in her own hands. Magic children's books served to teach wealthy children both reading and mana control. One just needed to be smarter about which glyphs one allowed a child to activate.

“Talo can!” Talo hated the nickname HurHur. He could barely stomach his new given name of Huritt. To the great chagrin of his mother, he attempted to supplant his original name as a nickname. The whole household found it foreign and odd.

“Dancing slow!” That’s it. Gently push it into the book. Talo found the direct use of mana similar to using an EEG helmet to control a robot. Very tricky at first, but once you understood how to project your will, you could learn to control it.

Mana had the added benefit of immediate feedback. Talo could feel the edges of his mana, and where mana of others began. He could feel mana in the air, and in some of the objects around him.

Talo’s mana perceptions still held a low acuity, with receptive fields larger than the nerves on his back. He began to taste different flavors of mana as well. At first he associated it all with the taste of his mother’s milk, but then he realized once her mana fused with his own, it had a different flavor.

“Woh, slow down dear. That’s enough.” The Jiniri had started out in a nice slow waltz. She then progressed through a foxtrot straight into a full on rave running man. By the time Alsoomose intervened, the poor spirit looked like meth head getting tasered.

Damn, overshot it again. The momentum of mana is harder to control the more volume that is in play.

“Don’t worry sweetie, that was sooo good. And it did such creative dances, where did you see that? Do you want to dance with mommy?”

“Yay! Throw Talo up!”

“Up goes baby!”

Now, now’s my chance. Top of the windows is about 2m, control the mana to tell time, falling speed....

“Again, mommy!”

Yes...gravity is a lot closer to 11m/s2. This planet must be more massive than earth…

“Higher, higher!”

Now force the mana below me. Hang on to the mana in the air and—

“Huritt! Did you just stop yourself? Can you feel the mana in the air? Are you mama’s little air mage?” Talo had indeed slowed his descent to a crawl. But the panic on his face was clear, what do I do now?

“Don’t worry, mommy’s coming to her little genius.” With that Alsoomose floated up to Talo and took him into her arms.

“Let’s take you over to Powaw for some tests. STEWARD! Oh there you are, go fetch Powaw for us.”

“Milk?” Come on……

“Sorry dear. I want to know what Powaw sees in your mana, and if you feed on some of mine it will be muddled for hours.”

The pair then spent the next thirty minutes floating and dancing above the drawing room. Singing and laughing between each other, Talo slowly improved his ability to grab onto the mana in the air. He realized that he couldn’t just hold on to mana above him, because it would move with the air. Rather it was more like treading water, he had to constantly swirl through the mana in the air to keep still.

“Ahem. Your Grace wanted to see me?” Powaw was eyeing the boy with great interest.

“Well yes, can’t you see! HurHur has been able to slow himself in the air! He has to have an air affinity. I want you to examine him again.”

“Your will, Your Grace. I must say that I still don’t see a specific affinity, but know that such differences don’t tend to show up until around 10 years old. The mana has to naturally accumulate in the child over time, and the greater retention of specific types becomes apparent. If it’s a rarer affinity like lightning, it could take twice as long. Unless, of course, Your Grace plans to keep taking the young marquis to thunderstorms?” Powaw wasn’t one to lecture, but his patience was running thin with the duchess.

Powaw took Talo in his arms, and once again began to examine him. Talo was a puzzle like he had never encountered before. It spurred Powaw to endless research and constant review.

“Hmmmm… Are you familiar with the old ways Your Grace? I’ve been trying to figure out what was so unusual with his mana-well. It lead me to reviewing the old skins...hmm...ᐊᐦᒑᐦᒄᐊᐧᐸᐦᑎᐦᐃᐁᐧᐃᐧᐣᒪᒋᒪᓂᑐ!” Bright white lights beamed from Powaw’s eyes and golden waves rolled from his mouth. The lights started swirling around Talo and turned a dark crimson.

Powaw shook in alarm. “It is of the old ways. He’s been formed in orenda...But still...Now tell me TALO, who are you?”