12

Both Lily and Einaar had fallen to sleep shortly after their talk.  Lily was exhausted from her ordeal, and Einaar was just as tired from carrying her out of the main hall.

As the fire died down, both had settled down, and each lay there thinking.  Lily’s mind was occupied with thoughts of grandiose images of her flying through the sky, and fighting against murky images of monsters.

Einaar was wrapped up thinking about somehow keeping a little girl out of trouble in a very dangerous world.  Being a mage was hard, but teaching a mageling was even more difficult, especially without help.

Both were woken in the early morning by Einaar’s nightmares.  He awoke flailing at nothing, and Lily started screaming, not knowing what was going on.

All the sudden, a wave of force erupted from Lily, throwing their packs, the remnants of the fire, and all the leaves on the tree above them into disarray.  Einaar himself was rolled a good three feet across the ground, and reacted instinctively.

He condensed a quick fireball, and prepared to throw it instantly.  He screamed his rage at the darkness around him, before he realized that it had been Lily.  He slowly released the fireball.

He looked at Lily’s pale face. “I’m sorry, I should have warned you. I tend to have… nightmares every night. I’m so very sorry.”

Her breathing ragged, she said quietly, “That’s ok. I used to have them too.” She looked sad, remembering her life before she ran away.

Einaar went around the campsite, picking up all their gear.  Luckily, it hadn’t gone too far.

He came and sat down in front of Lily.

“Let me teach you how to meditate. It helps me stay calm, and can help you focus.  It’s also one of the first steps to connecting to the weave of the world.” He slowly guided her in breathing, ten seconds in, ten seconds breath out.

Lily slowly fell into a trance, and Einaar slowly gathered his will.  He created a small weave of light, just the glow and no heat, on the tip of his finger.  He made it bounce around in front of him.

“The next step is to try to sense the weave. It’s right in front of you, next to me.  Somewhere, you know this. Somehow, you can feel or see or smell it. Try,” he whispered to her.

Her face scrunched a bit, as she kept up the meditation.

She made it a full five minutes before having to scratch her leg. Opening her eyes, she said “I don’t understand, I can’t feel anything.”

“It might take a while, but this is the first step. Anyway,” he said as he looked up at the sky, “lets try again in the morning.  Sleep for now.” He smiled at her.

“Ok,” she said, yawning.  Einaar grinned, as he used to pass out while meditating for years.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t fall back to sleep.  Lily rolled back over, and Einaar started making fog sculptures again.

His goal was to have as precise control over his will as possible.  It was a very difficult task.  Most mages had enough strength to brute force their way through any problems.  Who cares if your fireball is perfectly round if its large enough to engulf a house.

For mages like Einaar, though, control played a huge part in their effectiveness.  Most weaves had an optimal arrangement of energy, a ‘lowest energy state’.   It took demanding and precise application of will to reach this point though, and most mages never did.

Einaar had focused on control and precision for years now, and he was just now starting to see the dividends of his efforts.   Most of his commonly used weaves were at the point where he could increase their effects by a significant amount.  With the broad number of weaves he had at his disposal, this made him a potent mage in most circumstances.

While Einaar was focused on his fog creations, he didn’t notice that Lily had not, in fact, gone to sleep.  Her eyes were slightly open, and she stared with amazement at the shapes that were forming.   Her imagination had clearly been sparked.

They both spend the next several hours like this, Einaar creating and morphing, and Lily trying desperately to feel the weaves.  She just couldn’t feel anything.

Finally the sun rose above the horizon. Einaar stopped his practicing, and began looking through his pack for something. He pulled out a paper and pencil.

Lily stretched, and pretended to wake up.   Her eyes were baggy, and slightly bloodshot.

Einaar looked at Lily waking up.  “Good morning!” He said cheerfully. “You look like you didn’t get much sleep.  I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” she whispered.

“So, I’m going to go head to the top floor of the building here again. I need to see what’s up there.”

“I’m not sure what you want to do while I’m away.” He frowned slightly. “I don’t really have any books suitable for you here.”

He looked sharply at Lily. “Can you read?”

“No,” she said, looking at the ground.

“That’s ok, you can learn.” He smiled encouragingly. “It’s really fun. What do you want to do today?”

“I’d like to keep trying to be a mage,” Lily whispered, trailing off towards the end. It seemed like a ridiculous request to her.

Einaar had a big grin on his face. “Perfect, I’ve got something here that should help.”  If she was this eager, it would be a joy to be her mentor.

Einaar pulled out a small round object from his pack.  He waved the little sphere. “This is ward block.  Wards are basically weaves that you create, and then they stay in place until their power runs out.  I’m going to cast a little light weave on this one, and it should last you a few hours.”

He pointed to a little button on the side. “Press this when you want to start it. I’d say that you try to meditate for a bit before trying.” He pointed a finger at her nose. “Do not get discouraged. It can take a while to find your will.”

She smiled. “Ok!”

“Good. Here’s some food for your lunch, just in case.  If you need me, if you yell I should hear you.” He pulled a small dagger from his belt. “Take this, just in case.”

Einaar looked at her seriously. “Do not pull it out unless you have to use it.”

Lily replied meekly, “Ok…”

“Good. I’ll see you in a bit, ok?” She nodded at him, and watched as he headed up the steps of the main hall.  She got one good last wave from him, and a grin, as he headed off.

Lily turned her attention to the strange little ball.