Rune mage

Chapter 7: Experiments with water

Water mages are lucky.

"Why is that?" Isa said, still laughing.

I hadn't realized I had spoken aloud. I chuckled and shook excess water off my hands. "When I make a miscalculation, it is usually painful. This is just...wet."

She laughed and then looked at the space around us. "It only looks like it failed where we were standing. The water drained exactly as you said it would otherwise."

I looked at the runes surround us and groaned. It was a simple mistake. But making the same mistake with the fire mage would have been...painful.

I bent down and started to add the needed runes.

"What is this about?" She asked, sitting on a bench.

"Rainy season is coming," I said.

"It is." She sighed. It was a pleasant sound.

"I am wondering if you would hate me for this idea. You probably get a lot of good work for directing flood waters"

She waved her hand back and forth. "I can't accept payment this year."

"I noticed last year that the waste tunnels over flow in the poor area of town, causing Illness and stench. I started working on this idea then, but throwing water from buckets doesn't give me the best environment I need."

"Well damn." Isa sighed without heat. "I always thought you were stuck up and indifferent. But here you are trying to save the world."

I rocked back on my heals. "Why would you think I was indifferent?"

She leaned forward, "because you never said more than two words to anyone. You stand away from us and escape to places unknown any time there is a break. Anyone who didn't go home last week stayed and attended parties."

"I doubt everyone who stayed went to parties. Some of us do have to work."

She nodded, "but I saw most everyone at least once, but not you. This final year is rumored to destroy people. The work is piled high, the demands unyielding, and professors seem to delight in causing pain. We have all been trying to form alliances."

"Even frick and frack?" I asked then chuckled at her expression.

"Evan and Henry, right?" She asked.

"They and their friends have been ambushing me all day. They seem to think it hilarious to cause me pain or humiliation with the hopes that I will punch them. Which would be"

"Against the rules" she said with me.

I wiped the new runes down. "There. We'll try one more time."

Isa stood with me in the center of my design. It was a feather design combined with a snowflake design. The overlapping designs should propel water away, the same way ducks feathers guided water away. The snowflake design served as the foundation, guiding where the water fled to.

This time when Isa collected the water from the fountain and dumped it on us, the water flowed over us and into its designated places. We were no wetter than we had been a moment ago.

"It worked." I breathed out.

"It did. That was amazing."

I smiled.

In the distance a bell was ringing. Time for the next class for some folks. I was free for this period of time, expected to be doing chores around the school. I had time to change.

"Sorry if this means you'll be soaked for your next class."

Isa gestured and our clothes and hair became completely dry. I offered her a large smile. "Water mages are lucky," I repeated.

She laughed and began walking away. Then she turned back. "What next?"

I grimaced. "I need to put this design into place around the waste tunnels."

She stared at me. "Why? No one asked you to. No one is paying you to. Why would you deal with being covered in shit for nothing?"

I smiled. "I could say I was doing it to be altruistic. I am a decent guy after all."

Isa waited.

I raised a brow. "You're going to be late."

"You could just tell me," she said, arms crossed.

I sighed and walked towards her. We walked together for a while in silence as I considered how much I should say.

But then it occurred to me that every final year mage was in the same predicament. If any of us failed we could be killed. "Our magic is tied to our lives, Isa."

She nodded. Everyone knew this.

"If I set up helpful, very useful systems that are appreciated by many, including higher born who would prefer not to have the stench of sewers spoiling their meals..."

I paused, waiting to see if she would follow my line if thinking.

"They wouldn't want you killed," she said with awe evident in her voice. "You're making yourself indispensable."

I shrugged. "Yes, that's the plan. I did recently learn that they could shut off access to power, but keep the mage alive. That almost puts a knot in my plans to be kept alive at any cost."

"They can... they can..." Isa sputtered.

"That was about my response as well. So what I've learned on my first day of the year is I need to be ready to make sure that me, My magic, and my thinking mind are appreciated. Being alive without power would make me insane. That and water mages are very lucky. Let's hope I have time to do some further tests before I meet with Fredric tonight."

Isa stopped. "You're meeting with Fredric?"

"I have this idea..." I started.

She raised her hands to stop me. "Just tell me when and I will be there. Getting soaked with water is one thing. Getting burned alive is another."

"Fire mages don't much like water mages," I said.

She glared at me.

I gave in and told her.

I still had to get to my assigned chores. Thankfully this week's chores were easy enough- washing floors. A water mage could get it done more quickly. Not for the first time I wished I could do more. If I could siphon specific abilities... that would be far beyond anyone had done before.

I looked at the list of rooms to be cleaned and then grabbed the mop and bucket. Two of them I had long ago set up to be almost self cleaning. The others were not set up with runes because that took more time than I currently had.

I started with the two that required manual labor. It gave me time to think. If I could figure out how to get other rune mages keyed into my designs, I could save young Lu a lot of effort. On the other hand, I had a number of not quite within the rules runes- case in point the ones in the ethics classroom. Another rune mage could expose me to risks.

I might go slowly with teaching Lu. Maybe. If he turned out to be trustworthy... his magic felt like it was pure and soft with just a touch of looking for adventure. I wondered if all rune mages had that feeling or if it was just him. I couldn't feel my own magic. The few times I was able to get a read on others, they tended to be similar to others with their mage skills.

I didn't think of myself as soft or pure, but I definitely jumped at adventure.

The last two rooms were easy to clean. I entered the room and closed the door, set the mop over the stone where I knew a rune had been etched underneath, then activated the power in the rune. This had been one of the first rune designs I had created, so it glowed as power brushed against each rune in the design. Now a days I didn't want to see it working and kept the flow to the initial set up. I stayed long enough for the flow to fade and then put the mop in the bucket to get it clean again. The second room went as quickly and soon I was headed to my final class. Then I would meet with a fire mage.