Elaine of Antwerd

Magical Progress

Juliet's apathy became more obvious in class. Her wire rarely glowed, and she spent her time either lazily surveying the other students or resting her chin on her hand, apparently asleep. The teachers demonstrated differing levels of distress towards this, with similarly differing levels of impact. Teacher Alice was practically beside herself, in her own restrained, stiff way, and frequently stopped by Juliet's desk to watch her pointedly before asking almost sarcastically how she was faring. This, unfortunately, backfired, as Juliet developed the habit of opening her eyes from her nap and meeting Teacher Alice's gaze matter-of-factly, and then responding to the questions with overly polite assurances that she was doing quite well. Teacher Bath took a similar approach, but with a very different attitude. They would frequently pause by Juliet and watch her, but less with passive-aggressive expectancy and more curiosity, and their questions were gentler. Juliet responded by somewhat guiltily pretending to just be struggling with the wire.

Teacher Aaron took a very active role in the instruction in general. He flitted about the desks, chatting with students about the spells they were constructing and their methods, offering insightful commentary. His efforts to aid Juliet's lax casting involved asking specific questions about her spells, which she would answer in the most general way possible with a bored voice until he retreated, somewhat baffled, and moved on to another student. Teacher Chloe took the most interesting approach of all, which was to not approach, but instead to tell Juliet that she was free to ask questions if she wanted to and then spend her time working with the other students.

Elaine's own control over magic expanded noticeably. Her magic constructions became more complex, requiring multiple conditions to make the wire glow, all powered by the desk below her. The spells also became more sturdy, no longer requiring quite as much concentration to maintain. She sometimes asked other students, especially Boar, to test the spell, to make sure it wasn't just her making it work. As her magic grew more interesting, however, Elaine sensed she had hit a kind of ceiling. Her power was incredibly limited, and as her spells included more components, the glow of the wire became dimmer.

Anna continued to ask for help at lunch, and sometimes shifted over to Elaine's desk to ask during class. Boar, however, seemed to hesitate every time Elaine tried to talk to him, and never initiated the conversation, which took a while for Elaine to notice, but became maddening shortly after she first saw it.

The classes evolved in more and more specific ways. Besides practicing, each class introduced theoretical complications. Teacher Alice, teaching Pulling, went into detail about the advantages and disadvantages of various sources of magical energy. The names for various pulls became more specific. Pooling, with Teacher Aaron, focused on best practices for storing magic, along with best locations. Gathering, along with allowing the students to gather magic, also focused on sensations and methods. Teacher Chloe, Elaine realized, was trying to help the students feel magic and where it was going, although her methods for doing so sometimes made no sense, and she frequently noticed the students giving her blank looks and had to sit at her desk while she thought about how to rephrase the lesson in words they would understand. Teacher Bath was not nearly as perceptive, sometimes leaving the class dizzy as they gave examples of magical contraptions, complete with strange diagrams on the slate. They were, however, quite helpful in one-on-one conversations when students had specific questions.

Elaine still made frequent visits to Teacher Aaron's office, where the two would discuss the books Elaine read and what to learn from them. Every time Elaine thought she had parsed out all of the meanings and discoveries in a book, Aaron blew her mind with a new insight into the nature of magic and its implications for her casting. As weird and specific the lessons were getting, the books were ten times as specific and theoretical. They explored obscure properties of various pools, pulls, and casts, and the authors tied these properties to an understanding of the fundamental nature of magic itself, trying to prove, disprove, or adapt this understanding to fit the evidence. While the books themselves were dry and strange, with references to other experiments done that Elaine hadn't read about yet, the material was absolutely fascinating, and Elaine found that her spellcasting style was adjusting almost subconsciously to the information.

Despite Elaine's happy days, her nightmares continued, occasionally introducing aspects of what she was learning to their plots. Sometimes, she was trying to cast while her family looked on, seeming unhappy with her no matter what she did. Sometimes words she didn't quite understand floated around her, describing things she could barely conceptualize. Her teachers joined the ranks of disappointed characters, and the feeling of hopelessness remained constant. No matter what, she couldn't be good enough.

Thankfully, these dreams did little to impact her daily activities. The feelings they evoked vanished in the morning, and eventually, the dreams themselves became less frequent as the homesickness faded. The school felt a bit like home now.

Several days after he started to talk to her again, Boar asked her something that caught her off guard. "How well do you know your uncle?"

She blinked. "Which one?"

"The feral one."

"Sterling? I mean, pretty well. I live with him. Lived with him, I mean. Before I came here."

"You lived with him? What about your parents?"

"Plague took 'em. So I started living with Sterling and his husband."

"Does, um..." Boar seemed uncomfortable. "Does Sterling have feral magic?"

"I mean, I've never seen him use it. I know his family has it."
"His family? Not your family, his?"

Elaine bristled. "Sterling isn't related to me by blood, but he is very much my family, thank you very much."

Somewhat startled, Boar backpedaled. "I didn't mean it like that, I just... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest you were a feral, I..." He looked away. "Sorry."

Elaine went back to looking after Bravery, and Boar fell silent.