Vitae Memorandum

30-Wishful Dreaming

Ehryinae's magic classes began bright and early the next morning. The four girls hadn't even found an opportunity to have breakfast yet, though they had been told there were still plans for a breakfast break.

Mhyl hadn't been fond of delaying breakfast. Taking a breakfast break, when considered in English at least, seemed a bit ironic. In either Celesi language, breakfast didn't include the word 'break', so the irony was lost. However, there was something more to the current situation that she didn't like. Mhyl watched a fish skip around in the nearby river. Something about demonstrating fire into water being safer than most alternatives. Mhyl was even imagining how a steam burst from fire hitting water could cause plenty of problems. Falling in was still a concern for her.

Looking at their arrangements, there was yet another concern for Mhyl. Lwyn however had also noticed the problem. "Ehryinae, just a question. Do you know Elaethyx? Because if we're just going to start with only the five of us, that might make it pretty hard for Mhyl." Lwyn knew Mhyl had been making good progress with Izhaethyx, but not enough for learning about magic at the same time. Ehryinae paused, realizing in her planning that she had forgotten all about language barriers. The citadel handled all of its tasks in Izhaethyx, absolutely everyone there knew it. Considering how Lwyn might be taking over the place one day, the days of being single language might not last forever.

Catching the impression of Ehryinae's pause, Lwyn filled in the blanks. "I guess this time I will have to be the translator. Please go slow enough so that I can translate while trying to learn for myself." This time Lwyn would have to be the one doing translations, Yuxzn or anyone else wouldn't be available to step in for her. As Lwyn informed Mhyl, Mhyl became further determined to learn Izhaethyx even faster.

Ehryinae thus began their first lesson. "In a way, the gift itself can be thought of like another feature of your body, like another hand or leg. Much like how your mind expresses messages for your body to act upon, your mind also imprints expectations of your gift for it to enact. However, while your hand might only have a small selection of distinct commands it can be given, the gift can support a large variety of distinct requests. Thus, the hardest part about using the gift is the mental focus required. Even slight alterations can impact the result. A candlelight could become a fireball." Ehryinae demonstrated with one hand lighting as a candlelight and the other resolving as a fireball.

"The closest thing to compare this to is, for example, drawing. A slightly different request for motion in your hand can shift exactly what kind of picture is drawn. Similar to that same process, it's important to envision what sort of result you are attempting to produce. If it is a candlelight you seek, envision the candlelight, wish for it to appear exactly how you want it to be formed. Much of this is important because the gift itself resides within your blood. Imparting strong impressions will get your blood rushing, which will help develop the intended result. If you aren't focused enough, and are instead too relaxed, your blood won't be able to circulate fast enough to produce a result." Ehryinae's demonstration of this resulted in both flames flickering out together, and disappearing.

"To keep a clear focus of what you intend, you need a clear focus of an origin for your gift. You can focus on a point in the distance, but that can be harder. Having a tool handy with which to use to focus your gift makes creating a focus of origin much easier. Such a tool doesn't need to be complicated at all, it just needs to be an object you have on hand. The easier it is to focus on the finer details of the object you are holding, the easier it is to apply your gift to that focus of origin." Ehryinae pulled out the staff she had used before, and conjured a flame to sit on top of it. Even moving the staff around kept the flame where it was on the staff.

"While your own hands can work as a focus, that can also be dangerous. I assure you, not even I am eager to demonstrate the idea of lighting my hand on fire. Having a separate focus reduces a lot of the strain on yourself. Keep in mind that, since the gift is itself within your blood, using the gift will thin your own blood. Much like other forms of exercise, using your gift can tire you out eventually. The more of the gift you need, the faster you will be exhausted. More so, your blood also shapes your gift as a whole, and defines what it can and can not do. Everyone with the gift has their own unique capacity of the gift, it takes its own unique shape. This is why you will need lessons from those of your bloodline, as what you can do with your own gift will not be the same as the other three girls around you. It is entirely possible that the fireball I created might not be within the possibility of any of your gifts, but instead you will be able to do other things." Ehryinae held out a hand as if to conjure something, but didn't, as if the lack of anything was demonstration enough.