The Fox, Red

065 - Paying off the Debt

My days shift slightly. Madam Odette's lessons by day, keeping up my promise to Anne, then I spend the late evenings researching barriers until I finally get the knowledge I needed. With permission, I take down a decently sized tree. Not one of the large ones but it's pretty good-sized. I divide the trunk into three-eight foot sections to bury two feet of it in a hole in the ground. I can't let the rest go to waste. It gets cut up into firewood. There's still a need for it. The weather has not been too kind lately. It feels like it's getting colder.

The logs are planted into the ground and they are sturdy. They don't tower over me but they are a few inches taller than me. I stand at about 5'10" on a good day so about a 6" difference. I push on them as hard as I can making sure that they aren't going to budge. They are sturdy. Time to finally try this barrier I've been reading up on.

This was one of the most confusing subjects that I've come across. There are so many different kinds of barriers for so many different kinds of situations that have different kinds of effects. The broad idea is that you want to imbue an area with elements or forces opposite of what you are expecting to be bombarding what you are protecting. In my case, I would want a focus on water and cooling along with sharpness and deflection as I will be using fire and blunt forces against it. Deflection is probably one of the hardest ones to create too. It's reactive instead of stationary. It takes the hit and redirects the energy out and around. It's also possible to redirect the energy directly back to where it came from.

The part I am going to struggle with is combining both magical and physical resistance. I'm going to need both. Do I layer them? But then will one break because it's not fit for one of the forces pushing against it? I'm just going to have to go for broke. I wrap one of the logs with the barrier in hope that it holds. I can see the shine from the magic before it fades. I can tell it's there. You can kind of feel it in the air. I push on it with my palm open. I feel the resistance, not the wood underneath.

I rotate my body forward with force this time. My open palm hits the barrier and I can feel it push back. "Ow." It felt like I was hitting a wall. At least the physical portion works. I focus some heat on my paw and throw another open palm at it. The fire bursts in the air around my paw before I make contact. The warm air is shoved back into my face. But the barrier holds.

A closed fist this time. One quick strike! Another burst of flame! And the barrier shatters... I was worried about that. It can handle both at the same time but it can't handle much. Barriers can't just be amplified like I've been doing with my magic. They are much more intricate. They need to be woven together instead of just thrown out. It also has to be "glued" to an area or object to work. That was a whole chapter of reading within itself. Different materials require different compositions. I'm just lucky that wood is one of the easiest because it's fibrous.

I'm not too broken up about this. It's a learning process. I'll get it sooner than I think. I just need to keep my focus on the end goal here. I need to get stronger. I need to make sure that Madam Odette is safe. I reapply the barrier with a bit extra to try and reinforce it. It shatters like before with the same punch. I'll need to revisit this.

There's no sense in continuing this today. I'll just end up burning myself. Creating a barrier using an alchemic reaction is rather difficult. I'm sticking to the old method of using focal points to produce the result I want. It requires a strange focus on the outer skin.

My other obligations are calling. Anne and I are in the kitchen once again with Penny showing her another baking technique. She's been getting into some rather complex-sounding treats. So far, Anne has been doing a wonderful job doing things with Penny's direction. The three enjoy the little extra meal before Anne is sent away so the two can clean up.