Chatoyant College Book 8: From the Earth

Chapter 32: Afternoon Snow

The rest of the class period passed with agonizing slowness. Corrie seemed happy with her role as wind-absorber, and no one criticized Dawn directly, but other than almost everyone asking her if she was okay, they didn't speak to her (except, thankfully, Roe). And she kept turning her head and catching people staring at her, or turning away quickly and whispering to the people next to them. At least they seemed amused by the way the snow was piling up on top of the shield Professor Lal had made.

Dawn felt increasingly guilty and uncomfortable throughout the class. No one else seemed to have trouble with the assignment—at least not the kind of trouble she'd had. Finally, class ended, and Professor Lal shepherded them all out of the shielded area before dismissing the shield. That was fun to watch—all the snow tumbled to the ground at once. It was still snowing steadily, accumulating on the ground. Dawn had to wonder whether afternoon classes would be canceled.

She hung back a little as everyone else scattered, feeling bad still, but wanting to at least ask Professor Lal about what happened. The professor didn't seem surprised to see her the last one around. "Do you wish to walk back to the magic building with me, Dawn?"

"Sure." They walked in silence for a moment, then Dawn took a deep breath. "Do you know... how that happened? I mean, I know my magic got out of control somehow." She was surprised at how smoothly the lie came out, but she had kind of been rehearsing it in her head for a while. "But why did it cause a storm?"

"You brought up a wind that stirred the clouds into action." Professor Lal's voice was cool and precise. "A storm was already predicted for this evening, and your wind brought the clouds closer."

"Isn't there anything you can do to reverse it? It sounds like weather magic is something you're used to seeing..." They stepped inside the magic building, and Dawn breathed a sigh of relief, now that they were out of the wind and blowing snow.

"It is a discipline of its own, yes, but it is a rare one. In the past it was much more commonly used, but now that we understand weather patterns more precisely, I, and most other magicians, recommend against changing them in any way. So to answer your first question, yes, I could reverse it, but there is no reason to bother. You simply sped up a storm system that was already in place. If you had created something where there was no storm previously, that would be cause for concern, but in this case reversing it and possibly causing the storm to change course could cause climate damage. Weather magic is, above all, a very imprecise and difficult-to-predict discipline."

"Oh," said Dawn, unable to think of any other response. "So I guess I shouldn't get too excited about being good at it."

Professor Lal smiled. "Probably not, I'm afraid. However, there are still several other disciplines of magic to try, and I am confident you will excel at one or more of them."

"Really?"

"Indeed." Professor Lal raised her eyebrows, and Dawn had to wonder if she knew more than she was letting on. But if she wouldn't bring it up, Dawn wouldn't either.

"So I didn't screw anything up too badly?"

"I doubt it. If it were rain I might have concerns about the surrounding farms, but there is nothing that needs the moisture at this time of year except the trees around campus, and they will get plenty." Pausing at the door to her office, Professor Lal gave Dawn a nod and a smile. "Now you should go back to your dorm and check your email. I suspect that more than a few classes will be canceled this afternoon."

Dawn smiled back. "I will. Thanks, Professor Lal."

The snow was piling up quickly—more than Dawn would have expected from the light, airy appearance of the flakes that swirled and blew through the air, but they were probably bigger than they looked. She dragged herself through the snow-covered paths back to Gilkey, then took the stairs slowly, pulling herself up often with her arms holding the banister. She was just so tired.

Thankfully, there was no one else in her room when she arrived there. She took off her boots and hung her coat on the back of her desk chair so it could dry a bit. It was warm in the room; someone must have turned up the building's heat. Or maybe the snow was insulating them, keeping the heat inside the building. She smiled at the mental image of the building huddled up in a blanket of snow. Then she sat on her bed, wrapping her own blanket around her. She ought to check her email, see if any teachers had sent out announcements...

She lay down on the bed, telling herself she would just rest for a minute, and was asleep as soon as her head (still wearing her hat) hit the pillow.