Heir of Dust and Wind

Chapter 14 - Knowledge is Power

Scientia potentia est - knowledge is power; a phrase dating back to philosophers such as Sir Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes

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"We need to talk."

Ava had rehearsed the sentence several times during their evening routine.

She would shower first, he second, before they ate the food Frode provided them with. Mostly they remained silent. Apparently, small talk was neither of their fortes.

Still, even after repeating the sentence to herself in the mirror, hearing it come out of her mouth made her feel anxious. As much as she dreaded this conversation, with the Council meeting less than a month away, there was no way she could push it any longer.

She had tried though. If it hadn't been for Orla's encouragement, which had soon turned into persistent nagging and ultimately into her taking the book away, which Ava had been reading. 

With her uncanny determination, the Goblin had shooed her out of the newfound sanctuary the library was to Ava and told her not to return before she had finally talked to Trygve. Otherwise, she would simply shut the door in her face.

Knowing that Orla wasn't one for idle threats, Ava was now looking at the Dracaeni who sat across from her on the narrow and too small cot that he slept in every night. He had refused her repeated offers to swap beds and after a while she had given up, accepting his choice.

"Lady," he said simply, once again offering nothing on his own.

Ava sighed. This was going to be as pleasant as a dentist's appointment. But for her to possibly succeed at the  m eeting and then fulfilling her part of the bargain she had struck with the little Goblin librarian, she desperately needed to explore the mental connection which they seemed to share.

"Knowledge is power," Orla had claimed. "Darling, if you don't use your only source of information about this very specific ability of yours, you'll remain powerless."

Apparently, neither the scholarly librarian nor any of her books had anything to offer when it came to the sharing of memories and emotions that she had experienced with Trygve.

So far, they had focused on history and the politics of the Council as well as the casting spells connected to universal magic and her healing ability.

Now, she knew how to use spells that provided protective magical shields both for herself and also for a complete territory - should she ever have one. 

Creating a safe space for herself and hers had been high on Orla's list of lessons and Ava hadn't minded in the slightest. Now she felt al little less lost, knowing that she had some means of defense at her disposal should she be faced with Frode's aggressions again. Even though the shield was magical, Orla had assured her it would be just as effective with something so ordinary as whiskey tumblers. 

Also, she had familiarised herself with the opening of portals and how to prepare and contain spells in those small orbs Trygve had carried with him when he had first encountered her in the bookshop.

Ava's healing magic had been the hardest to figure out. According to Orla, this was a very rare ability that had never belonged to any sorcerer before. They had merely found ancient Fae manuscripts that hinted at healers with similar abilities. 

The Fae, however, had not survived the annihilation of the magical beings that had followed the war. Even the Goblin didn't believe that there were any of them left, which left them with noone to ask for advice of clarificationen as they brooded over the narrow, spidery handwriting of the manuscripts. As a consequence, it had been a lot of trial and error - with Orla being her lab rat - until she had finally been able to reliably control the amount of healing magic she wielded.