Tally

"W-Wait now Clovis, I’ll concede you can teach Shikara." Orville now points a definitive finger at me, mimicking Clovis. "But on one condition. She must live in my house, under my watch. Otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it from Roach."

Orville has masterfully executed his role, making it seem like a compromise when really this was the plan all along. 

Clovis doesn’t even seem to register the manoeuvre. Her eyes are still locked on me, gleaming with the thrill of a new, fascinating project. "Of course, yeah whatever you want, Chief!"

"Right then, I am glad we could come to an agreement, I’ll see you at home later then Shikara." He doesn’t offer any other parting words or pleasantries, it seems he really does know Clovis.

As the door shuts behind Orville, Clovis’s manic energy returns in full force "Don’t mind him," she says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "He gets bogged down with the practicalities of life, he can never just let things go.”

Her fervor is relentless, and I have no choice but to embrace it. 

"Let me just quickly finish my work on your ankle, it won’t take me long. Then we’ll get started with your first lesson!" Clovis finishes healing my ankle with a cacophony of words that grace her lips. 

The light seems brighter than yesterday but that could just be because it’s day time. The bruising that found itself well placed on my ankle dissipates into nothing and the skin is once again uniform. 

Before I can utter a word of gratitude Clovis begins her lecture. "Ok let’s start with the bas- Oh wait hold on, what do you know about magic already?"

“Not much at all, I’ve seen people use it a few times before but my parents didn’t teach me anything and I’ve never had the chance to learn till now” I timidly reply, trying to not prompt further questioning.

“Ok great, you really are a blank slate! The most important information for a beginner is knowing the 3 core expressions of magic.” Her hands are alight with passion as she holds up 3 fingers.

"First, there’s Visualisation Magic." she begins, ticking off one finger. 

"This is the most common, and intuitive form of magic. It’s the art of imposing your will directly onto the world by creating an image in your mind."

"That sounds easy enough, why don’t people use it all the time?" I manage to squeeze one question in before Clovis continues her impassioned tirade. 

"That’s a great question! It takes a lot of time and dedication to become even half competent at Visualisation magic. For example a novice will barely be able to conjure a spark as they’ll lack the practice and strength to do so. But a master will be able to control a raging inferno without so much as a thought. A lack of patience and discipline is what deters people away from this expression."

“Oh ok that makes sense.” I reply quickly so that Clovis can continue. I guess in a world like this people don’t have time to spend learning the same spell over and over again in hopes of one day getting good at it.  

Clovis takes a deep breath in anticipation for her next relay of speech.

"Second," she ticks off another finger, her posture straightens, "Written Magic. This is the domain of scholars and craftsmen. It involves inscribing runes, glyphs, and conduit circles onto materials and objects to embed them with magic. You need to use the correct syntax and understand the properties of the object you’re interacting with. One misplaced stroke can completely ruin the intent of a spell, leading to catastrophic consequences. It’s a slow and unforgiving expression of Magic."

The high stakes nature of it sounds daunting, I feel Clovis might be compromised based on the way she talks about it. 

"And third," she says, her smile sparkles with mischief as she ticks off the final finger, "my personal favourite Incantation Magic. It’s the art of using specific words, phrases, and somatic gestures to command your emotions into magic."

Clovis draws closer to me "It’s not just about saying the words correctly, that's a common beginner’s mistake. A person without conviction, will find their incantations falter and die in their mouth. There is an aspect of performance that will allow your incantations to flourish."

I've read 100’s of scripts with emotional resonance, hopefully incantations come naturally to me.

“That sounds really appealing, me and my parents used to put on little plays for the people we’d travel with so I think the performance part might come easy to me!” I reply with real excitement despite the story not being so. 

Clovis’s eyes widen. “Wonderful, hopefully it will come naturally then!”. I think I might have just sucked up to the teacher for the first time in my life.

She beams at me, her chest puffed out with pride, like a mother showing off her favourite child. "Of course, there are also three other Sub-Expressions: Alchemy, Enchantment, and Imbuement. But I think we’ll need to talk about them another time. For now, we need to focus on the core three!"

It’s an avalanche of information, but it’s presented with such infectious zeal that I feel exhilarated rather than overwhelmed. It’s a system with internal logic, and Clovis’s explanations were succinct.

"What happens if you use all 3 expressions at once?" I tilt my head to the side to indicate my genuine intrigue. 

"It is definitely possible and the spell you could cast would indeed be powerful." She taps a finger against her temple and raises her other hand to her chin.

"Think of it like this, your body has a certain amount of stamina and so does your soul. If you use too much magic at once that stamina will deplete fast. Most people learn their limits through trial and error, so don’t push yourself too hard, to start with ok?"

"Ok, got it I’ll try to focus on only one expression at a time! Does this stamina have a name?" I shake my head in agreement but I still want my question answered.

“Sorry I just assumed you would already know what it’s called, yes it’s called Mana and you need to build up an affinity with it in order to cast more complex spells.” Her explanation feels deliberately vague, and I have a dozen more questions I wish I could field. 

But Clovis seems to be already moving on, pushing for details now would be fruitless.