MAGNUS

A month of school passed by with few other large discoveries. My scan visor impressed the dead and Professor Stormleaf, who had passed it to a few artificers he knew for construction. While finding ways to link the different bindings was difficult for most people, copying an existing binding wasn’t as bad. Stormleaf had agreed that the visor would be a good piece of equipment for operatives to be issued; and I was ordered in no uncertain terms to bring any other little items of the sort to him for examination.

Professor Siodha had modified her class lectures about spellbinding to include the pattern we had discovered in such a rapid turn around that if we hadn’t known it was new information, we would have believed she knew all along. Granted we were still trying to decipher what each individual component of the pattern did. It seemed that each of the twelve blocks in a spellbinding had a separate purpose, though they all tied together. The center two rows seemed to be the core functions, the bottom row was activation conditions or directions on activation, and the top row was what to do with the core function. So the Firebolt spell was set to gather heat in the bottom row, shape it in the middle, and condense it to launch based on the targeting portion of the spellbinding, what she had originally called the method in class.

It was a weekend and Ezekiel, Selena, and I were in the lounge going over the copies of the rune compendium trying to parse out the specific sections to label, knowing it was a first step to custom crafting spell runes. Apparently the Archmagus of Nilavs, Calburn, and Eisenricht were all going to be visiting the school next week to be updated on this information. Our group had been given the option to skip the rest of the intro course if we spent our time doing the research, and all of us enrolled in the class had jumped at the chance; the others were helping as they could.

Selena spoke up, “How is finding all the spells that work with heat or fire supposed to help?”

I grinned and looked to Ezekiel to answer. He placed a finger where he was reading and replied, “We need to find a point of confluence between the spells. Firebolt is one of the simplest spells there is, and fire in general is used throughout spellcraft for various purposes.”

I interjected, “It isn’t always used the same way though, but if we know what a spell is used for we can make a theory about the section of the pattern.”

She sighed and said, “And then we test the theory by changing out that section of the spell. Yes, you keep going on about the Scientific Method. I understand the concept, but this is a bit ridiculous don’t you think?”

Ezekiel shook his head and said, “Not really; mind numbing maybe, but not ridiculous. Unfortunately going block by block in the pattern is the only way to grasp it better. We know the other method works, and people have experimented with spellbinding for centuries, but with this method and testing each section we can create a comprehensive guide to fashioning spells.”

“Not just that,” I said, “but the same theories should hold true for the other bindings. We already figured out how to alter equipment bindings to store something other than solid matter. Each type of binding has its own pattern, but spellbinding is the easiest one to identify the component pieces.”

“How do you mean?” she asked.

I shrugged and said, “I get the feeling it's like a language. The blocks are each part of the letter that hold their own meaning, knowing what a particular block means will let us create new words for the language.”

Her eyes brightened as she grasped what I was saying, and she blurted out, “So this is effectively an ancient way of saying Firebolt, complete with defining what that is?”

“That’s my theory at least, we have to confirm it still,” I agreed.

Ezekiel pointed out, “And if we can define what the symbols mean we can apply them to other things like Talents.”

I grinned, “So I take it that the experiment was a success?”

He nodded his head so fast I thought it was going to fall off, “I was able to apply the Fire Touched talent to one of Kathrine’s Ash Ravens. It forced an evolution, so now she has an Ash Raven and an Ember Raven. I swear that poor Ash Raven was jealous of her sister.”

We laughed, before I asked, “Are you going to be giving it a Talent too?”

He shook his head, “No, Katherine wants to do it herself. She said that when she can be given the Talent safely she wants it. Apparently she is going into the Military program and wants to be able to give troops she commands specific talents for their role.”

“And the school is okay with that?” Selena asked.

“One of the school’s founding principles is neutrality within the alliance. There is nothing wrong with the idea other than it making her in very high demand as a military commander,” I pointed out.

Ezekiel said with a wolfish grin, “Yeah, and the fact that she isn’t planning on being beholden to any of the nations. She wants to lead an expeditionary force across the ocean and see what is out there. She’s been bugging Tak about how to get a ship from his family.”

That wasn’t a bad idea actually. If she was a skilled leader, with a hand picked crew, and soldiers that had Talent’s geared for an expedition; she could very well pull off a successful voyage. Add in the fact that my little research notes project had provided a way to communicate with home it meant we wouldn’t have to worry about not hearing from them.

I set my book down and said, “Let’s take a break and talk about something else. We need a breather or we will just keep running down the same rabbit holes.”

They set their books down in agreement, Ezekiel asking, “What do we want to talk about? Because honestly there isn’t much going on here except study and training. I’ve heard rumors that some ambitious folks were going to start developing a town nearby.”

Selena said, “I heard the same thing. My father wrote me a letter asking if it was worth investing in. I told him it probably would be a good idea to set up a trade route through here as at the very least the faculty and their families will need supplies.”

“My grandfather told me that large school’s like this usually developed a town around them that catered to the faculty and the students. They would sometimes grow to include retired graduates that would come back to the area, or the families of students,” I said.

“Aggh, that’s still school talk,” Ezekiel said, “New topic.”

I shrugged and said, “What about the winter break. It’s only a couple months away, and we are going to have six weeks of no school.”

He replied, “Well with where the school is located I can’t make it home with enough time to actually relax. It’s a four week trip one way to the heart of Calburn.”

Selena said, “I actually asked about that with Professor Nacht. She said we could take the Hearthstone cards with us if we wanted to visit home over the break. My family is a bit closer, but mother and father usually accompany the winter caravans so their drivers can spend the festival with family. I would have to find them if I wanted to meet up with them.”

“The old man made it clear that I was expected to come home over the break. It’s about ten days to the mountain at a leisurely pace so I don’t see any reason I couldn’t go home. Richard will probably come too since Mountain’s Rest is there too,” I said.

Vara’s voice broke into the conversation, and looking back I saw the other five of our little group, “What are we talking about?”

Selena answered, “Winter break, we needed to pause the research and let our minds rest a bit.”

Jessica said, “It’s no Cancun, but I figure I can find something to do. That’s more a spring break thing though.”

I swear she tossed out as many odd turns of phrase as my grandfather. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had overheard her talking with Professor Nacht about her parents I would suspect she came from the same far off land as the old man.

Takahashi said, “Mai and I aren’t sure if we want to head home or not. What about you Vara?”

“Mom is always really busy during the festival. I think I’m going to go bug a hermit,” Vara answered.

I stared at her. Please tell me she wasn’t serious. She turned a cool glare back at me and said, “What, think I’m too fancy to go rough it on a mountain with you?”

“The cabin is hardly roughing it, and I still remember us sneaking off to make a little hidden camp in the gardens. Dirt won’t bother you,” I said, “What I want to know is why?”

“Because I haven’t seen the old man or the fur ball since I was seven, that and I figure I can torture you a bit by coming along,” she said and stuck her tongue out at me like we were still kids.

“Mind if I come too? I still want to meet this old man,” Jessica asked.

“You should, he’s worth meeting even if only once,” Vara said.

So it seemed my trip home would have guests. I would have to hope I could get a message to warn him past Fenris, but he will likely be amused at the whole concept since he could just hide in the forest.

I picked up the runic compendium and dove into the research while Vara and Jessica made plans with Richard to visit his family too. I was not going to be blamed or give any indication that I wanted them to come along. Though it would be nice to have some friends my own age up there with me.