MAGNUS

The mess hall was full when we arrived. It hadn’t changed much from the keep’s previous incarnation, and the students were talking and eating throughout. The food on offer wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was hearty and filling, which after cooling off from the exercise earlier was more than welcome. Tak and his companions joined us as we found a table and he took up the conversation where we had left off in the earlier class, “So do you think the assignment from earlier, do you have an idea of how to do it?”

I nodded, “I’m fairly certain I know how the image binding would be done. If I’m right it’s similar to the process used to create a unique card.”

Ezekiel asked, “What’s a unique card and how does that help spellbinders?”

I pulled out my Fenris card and placed it on the table with one hand while I used the other to fork some veggies into my mouth as they examined it. Selena said, “I’ve heard of these. Rather than a generic creature image, they actually summon the image of a being that either exists or existed at the time the image was bound?”

Vara answered, “Yeah, it’s not the same as the other one like it I’ve seen, but I know my grandfather has a portrait of my mother in his study that has a binding like this.”

I pointed at her, “Doing it in a portrait is easier to get the smaller bindings done correctly, but heavier on the aether cost since you have to infuse the ink at the same time you're drawing the sigil.”

Selena asked, and I caught the glimmer of Aether Sight as she studied the card, “How does this translate to showing the Talents of a person?”

“When I made this card I used Fenris’s hair to link it to him, that may or may not have an effect. But what if you used something in the ink that is linked intrinsically with the aether of the person? Then you just need to know the shape of the flow and have a method of visualization for the Talents,” I said.

Jessica said, “Blood; the blood of the person who’s image you are binding.”

Ezekiel added his own observations, “And a scrying rune of some sort?”

Richard added the last point, “Something akin to what miners use to identify an ore vein.”

I nodded, “That gives a link to the person and what you're trying to do. It needs to be adjusted to display the Talents on the card somehow, but I think we can figure out the right runes for that. And with an image binding you can make it self rechargeable.”

Tak interjected, “You might have some difficulty putting that many glyphs into a card unless you have a very fine pen, a steady hand, and extremely good artistic skills.”

Mai shook her head at her brother, “Nothing says we have to do it in a card, we could use something like a sheet of parchment, like the dossier’s Captain Sakahi keeps on his crew.”

I looked over to Richard and said, “I’m not sure if we can do it as a straight equipment binding. That always took too much aether for me to experiment with it too much. I think I might be able to combine the bindings into a piece of equipment like my pistol though. I actually want to try that for the larger part of the assignment.”

Selena asked, “Why not the image binding?”

Vara laughed and answered, “Because he knows who came up with that binding, and it would be too much like copying work for him. Even as a kid you didn’t like doing things the same way your grandfather did.”

I shrugged and grinned a little sheepishly and answered, “If I just copied his work all the time I wouldn’t really get better would I?”

Selena said, “I keep hearing about your grandfather. Just now about image binding, in physical education I overheard the martial arts conversation, and I’m curious who he is.”

Mai, Tak, and Ezekiel also looked interested in the answer so I replied, “My grandfather is Morgan Ward, he’s a grumpy old hermit that lives on Bloodfang Mountain.”

“Bloodfang mountain, isn’t that the home of the Destroyer of Kerovax?” Mai asked?

Vara laughed, “Oh I don’t think he ever liked that name?”

I shook my head, “I don’t think I heard that one before. What’s a Kerovax?”

Tak answered, “Kerovax was a Dragon King. Fifteen years ago he went mad during a monster wave and began to lay waste to the Calburn Empire on the coast near our homeland. It was said that when the army and the best binders in the empire and the islands couldn’t stop him a pair, a middle aged man and a woman with green hair, appeared astride a great grey wolf to take him on. They say the fight lit up the night sky and when it was over the Dragonfall Bay was what remained. Rumor has it that he survived and went back to the mountain he called home, and anyone who came close ran the risk of angering the wolf who is still hungry even after a meal of dragon.”

I groaned and Vara laughed. Jessica looked intrigued while Richard spoke, “I’ve seen Fenris eat, always hungry fits.”

I bent over and banged my head on the table. Just what I needed, I wanted to punch the old man now. He could have warned me about his reputation outside of the scholarly circles. I banged my head a little harder as Selena said, “Isn’t he the one they call the Hermit Sage? The one who invented the art of combat binding with image cards?”

Mai giggled and said, “Based on his reaction I am going to assume yes. That explains how he had the parts of the answer so quickly.”

Selena nodded, “And rather than just give us the answer he showed us a path to the answer but still left enough information out for us to learn it. My tutors used to do that, it made the information stick rather than just me memorizing facts.”

Richard spoke up, “I didn’t realize Morgan was famous. He was always just the old man on the mountain to most of the people in Mountain’s Rest. We knew we could ask him for advice, but he preferred his solitude.”

“He became more of a hermit after his wife passed, according to mother. He will still come down off the mountain if he’s needed, but he doesn’t want to get too close to people he will have to watch pass on,” Vara said.

I nodded and added, “He’s also not the social sort to begin with either.”

“So we have an idea of how to show Talents, but how do we know the pattern for the image?” Ezekiel asked, steering us back on topic.

Richard answered, “I think that’s where the spellbinding portion comes in. Isn’t there a glyph pattern for humanoid? I think I came across it once but never used it myself as creatures were the biggest threat.”

Ezekiel nodded, but it was Selena who answered, “So combine that with the scrying, identification and what the glyphs related to actual aether binding. That should work.”

I replied, “We might have to tinker with the pattern a bit to get it to do what we want. The old man was vague on the concept of Talents when he taught me, so I’m curious to see what we can come up with for this.”

Vara interrupted, “Well we only have a little time left for lunch, shall we meet in the lounge after classes today and work on it some more, assuming our other assignments aren’t too arduous as well.”

“That might be a good idea, if we group up to study it will also help those with other classes,” Tak stated.

“Oh good, because I have the two classes that I’m definitely going to need help with,” I said remembering that I would be taking Intro to Aetherical Creatures and Intro to Spellcraft later today.

We tucked into our meals and I let myself consider the project in the silence of chewing food. The binding we were discussing needed cooperation from the person who’s Talent you were trying to identify. But what about situations that would occur for the operatives after graduation. Or for that matter the school if they wanted to quickly identify a students Talents so they could place them into courses that would benefit them the most. That was two separate projects if I was seeing it correctly, but the components could probably be used interchangeably for aspects of each.

“Oh no, I know that look,” came Richard’s voice.

“Yeah, so do I. It’s the look on his face when he’s coming up with some kind of mischief,” Vara said.

“No, well sometimes yes, but it’s more the look he gets when he needs parchment and ink because he has another crazy idea that he’s going to try and build. Likely complete with explosions,” Richard responded.

I tuned them out, though he was right that I really wanted paper and pen right now. Maybe the Engineering program would have been a good idea, but no I needed the freedom being an Aegis Operative would grant to look for my mother.

“Is this a common occurrence then?” Tak asked.

Richard and Vara answered simultaneously, “Yes!”

Mai interjected, “Oh gods, this is going to get interesting.”

Varis’s telepathic voice poked into my head, “Can you keep it down, or at least control your thoughts enough to not broadcast? You’re interrupting my reading time.”