Broken Lands

Sophia was pretty sure she knew which of the two options she’d narrowed her choices down to that she preferred, but she wasn’t certain which one she’d actually choose. She wanted Mage Sight; it would help her correctly make her spellforms. Right now, making anything she hadn’t made hundreds of times was a little questionable.

At the same time, Aura Armor would help her stay alive. Mage Sight wouldn’t. In the choice between survival and utility, survival was generally the better choice.

She dismissed the screens and settled back to enjoy her time in the water. The heat was relaxing muscles she hadn’t even realized were tense;

Dav seemed to enjoy his soak as well. He took a bit longer to finish looking through his options than Sophia did this time. When he did finish, he pushed himself backwards as if he were trying to push away from the screens he’d just been examining. “I’m waiting until we talk to Vramt, but it’s going to be either the mana specialization or the spellcasting. Neither one really helps what I’ve been doing, but the specialization sounds too good to miss and I don’t want to only have summons for magic. Even if they can cast spells for me.” Dav sounded a little bitter as he said the last line.

Sophia got the impression that it was somehow worse if his summons could cast spells than if they couldn’t, unless Dav was also able to cast spells. “I should be able to teach you spellcasting as well,” she offered. “They’re not really viable during combat, they’re too slow, but it’s still spellcasting. We both would have to pick up Mage Sight to do it, but I’m pretty sure I can.”

It might also require Dav to have a mana specialization; Sophia wasn’t sure. She’d never taught spellcasting before and she’d certainly never taught it to someone without an Affinity. She was trying to figure out how to say that when Dav shook his head.

“If it’s not viable for fighting, I don’t want to take it yet. That fight with the snake was way too close; we need to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.” Dav’s fists clenched and he had to make a clear effort to force himself to relax again.

Sophia knew he didn’t mean it as a rejection of her, but it still hurt a little to have him immediately dismiss her offer. “I, er, it’s just an option. Probably not a good one now, but maybe for the future?”

Dev nodded, almost angrily then looked up at Sophia and stilled. His voice was almost soft when he spoke. “Yeah, maybe for the future. I’ve always wanted to cast spells, I’m just pissed that I ended up in a world with spells and I don’t have any. I shouldn’t take it out on you, you’re trying to help.”

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence. Sophia wasn’t sure what to say and Dav didn’t seem to know what to say either.

“So, you said you could teach how to sense danger with aura manipulation. What does that mean?” Dav probably meant that as an olive branch.

Sophia was happy to take him up on it to get past the awkwardness. “Aura is a lot of things. At its base, it’s the area you control around yourself. Have you ever had the sense someone is watching you, then turned around and there was actually someone there?” She waited for Dav to nod. “That’s aura - theirs extended unconsciously to overlap with yours and you literally felt it. That’s one of the easiest things to sense with aura, because attention carries Intent and Intent is what shapes aura.”

Dav frowned, then nodded slowly. He seemed to have a question but wasn’t sure how to state it.

Maybe it would be answered if Sophia continued. It wasn’t like she could actually teach anything in a few minutes; this was just an overview. “That’s why I said it can be used as a danger sense, but there’s more than that; with practice, aura can sense all sorts of things. There’s also the flip side of the coin: you can express yourself with aura. I’m sure you’ve felt it too, the person who just seems intimidating and you don’t know why? That’s aura. Most people don’t even know they’re doing it, but you literally can exude confidence or friendliness or fear.”

Dav nodded at that, like he knew what she meant. Good; Sophia had never really taught anyone, so it was good to know that this was working.

“Everyone has an aura, it’s part of being alive - and by that, I mean in the broadest sense, elementals also have auras. You feel the world, project yourself, and even protect yourself from other auras with your aura. Most people never really learn to do more than limited aura control, the equivalent of holding your breath, but it’s possible to do a lot more with it. The biggest thing I use aura for personally is spellcasting; it lets you directly manipulate your own mana. So, uh, this is probably something I need to teach you before I even start trying to teach you spellcasting.” She should have thought of that earlier, before she offered. Yes, she probably could teach it with only mana sight, but without good aura control he’d never get beyond the absolute basics and he certainly wouldn’t have his entire aura’s range for most spells.

Dav was grinning now. “I can see why you thought that Ability was awfully limited if you can do all that. How long do you think it will take to learn?”

Sophia bit her lip. She wasn’t sure. “Uh, I’ve been learning my entire life. So probably pretty quickly for the basics? I’m not sure how long pretty quickly is.”

“Only one way to find out then. It’ll be something to do in the evenings, at least. When do you want to start teaching?”

Sophia shrugged. “Why not now? I think the place to start is with sensitivity and awareness, knowing when you’re feeling an aura, where it is, and what it’s doing. I think that’s how I started. I’ll do something with my aura; let me know if you feel something and what you think it is.”

It only took about half an hour before they were both done with the exercise and a little too warm from the hot water. Dav was willing to keep trying, but Sophia could tell that he was getting tired; for a few minutes, he’d actually been able to tell when she extended her aura to poke his, but it was getting more and more erratic. It was best to let him rest and recover and practice more later.

Not long after that, Sophia knocked on the door to Vramt’s study. He didn’t like to talk the way Aymini did, but realistically that meant he was more comfortable to be around for Sophia. He’d think before he spoke and his words meant something.

Vramt ushered the two of them inside his study. It was the first time Sophia had been inside in daylight and she took the chance to look around. It was clear that Vramt had completely redone the room; the walls were covered in colorful stones, as were the shelves. A few glass containers showed Aymini’s influence, but most of the room was covered in stone. There were even piles of stones on the floor. Some of the stones glowed with an inner light that had to mean magic.

A fire flickered in the fireplace, warming the room to a temperature that reminded Sophia of the hot baths. She knew she wouldn’t find the room comfortable for long, but Vramt seemed entirely comfortable.

“Come in, find a seat.” As Vramt ushered them towards the small table in the middle of the room, something plucked at the back of Sophia’s mind. It took her a moment to realize that it was the windows. She was so used to the purple of the warded windows below and the darkness of filled windows that the clear windows of Vramt’s study seemed wrong, even though she knew that he had to have his own wards.

Vramt sat on the stone directly in front of his fireplace. It looked like it ought to be uncomfortable, but then he was a Stone mage, wasn’t he? Maybe it was more comfortable to him than having something between him and the stone.

Sophia picked a spot on one side of the short table, facing Vramt. Dav hovered behind the table for a long moment, then settled down on the other side of it. Sophia could see his head over the table and his folded knees in front of it, but everything else was hidden.

“Revina told me about your trip,” Vramt started. “That was your first fragment, wasn’t it?”

Sophia nodded.

“I’m sure you have questions, but before you ask them, why did you come to me instead of Aymini? I know she’s answered your questions in the past.” Vramt sounded honestly curious.

“She’s not very good at answering them.” Dav spoke up before Sophia could. “She tries, I think, but she expects us to know things we don’t and skips over stuff. I’m also not sure I trust her advice, and we have questions about magic; you’re the mage, not her.”

“I’m not much of a mage,” Vramt protested with a slight headshake. “I’m good with my magic, but it’s all learned through practice rather than study, practice and my Warp. That makes it closer to beast-magic than anything that would be classed as true magic.”

Sophia shook her head. “Specialists are true mages. Everyone has specialties.”

Vramt shook his head. “That’s not the difference. True mages study and learn and practice; they often have knowledge-based Vocations. Beast-magic is innate, Abilities rather than Spells. I have some of each, but even my Spells are based on my Species. I didn’t have to learn it; I can just do it.”

Sophia blinked. Did that mean she had a “knowledge-based Vocation” the way Vramt meant it, only Cliff learned things instead of her? She shook her head to clear it; that was a pointless thought. It wasn’t an important distinction to her, even if it meant something socially here.

“That’s one of the questions we had, actually. I’ve narrowed down my next choice to a mana core specialization or the Species ability Spell Reservoir. That sounds like what you’re talking about; is it worth taking if it’s not true magic?” Dav somehow managed to sound both hopeful and worried at the same time.

Vramt leaned forward. “It is, but does the specialization match your Vocation? Don’t take anything that conflicts with your Vocation. It gives you a little more flexibility but it makes you far weaker; it’s only worthwhile for people with Professions that need multiple specializations.”

Dav shook his head. “It’s Eldritch, and I’m an Eldritch Summoner.”

“I don’t know that element,” Vramt admitted. “But take it anyway. Your Vocation will already limit what Spells you can learn; specializing in exactly what it’s designed for makes everything work better. You got lucky there; most people have to take a related specialization and try to patch the difference with Abilities.”

Sophia didn’t think it was luck.

“It’s my Warp,” Dav admitted. He clearly didn’t think it was luck either. “I suspect it was the only possibility once I picked Eldritch Summoner.”

Vramt nodded, then pointedly looked at Sophia. He didn’t say it, but she was certain he was telling her to ask her first question.

She wasn’t going to ask about her Ability choice, at least not directly. She knew she wanted both Abilities; the question was which to take first. “When we leave here, do we need to immediately be stronger or can it wait a bit? We seem to be doing okay so far.”

“The area that used to be Kestii is weak, as long as you stay out of the center of the city. That’s why we’re here; there aren’t enough Nests, Hollows, Challenges…” Vramt made a rotating gesture with his hand, as if he was indicating that there were a bunch of other possible names for the areas, “to be extremely dangerous without a Nexus. That also means there aren’t the resources for anyone to want the area. It’s perfect for us, but it means you can’t judge elsewhere by what you’ve seen here. If you have the choice between something that will make you stronger now and something that will take time, take the immediate option. You can always drop the Ability later when you don’t need it; you’ll have to Dedicate some Wisps to removing it, but as an early Ability it won’t take many.”