The Currents of Magic

Chapter Twenty-Two

"And if I did fail on the success axis with a powerful Free Magic spell—could I cause serious damage?"

"Very unlikely, and in any case, you are too inexperienced to pull enough power to cause severe harm," said Adryn. "While even the most wisened sorcerer occasionally encounter Magic Burn, the results are rarely serious. In fact, all documented cases of harmful Magic Burn involve talented sorcerers who somewhat lacked in the sanity department... Though I must say, the two do seem to be a common combination..."

Meyer thought he caught a mischievous flicker in Adryn's eyes, but then her face was a solemn mask of pensive rumination. He drank the last bit of the angel dust mixture, and placed the bowl down on his lap.

Adryn cleared her throat. "If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them," she said. "I venture to guess that Planar Trant has been less than expository in his teaching."

Meyer looked up. He did have many questions; Trant never spoke outside short commands and critiques; and yet the first thought that came to mind had nothing to do with Free Magic. "Do you know anything about enchanted rings?"

Adryn smiled. "One could devote a lifetime of study to enchanted rings and only scratch the surface of their great history. Since the early days of structural magic, rings have been used for near every purpose imaginable—physical wards, magical enhancers, time distorters—the ring is undoubtedly the most varied and enigmatic magical artifact... Why do you ask?"

Meyer hesitated. He could tell Adryn about the vision—the suffocating channel—but maybe he was better off keeping the ring as his own secret. He didn't want to forfeit the it, and telling Adryn about the ring would probably earn him a guaranteed invitation to return it.

"Just curious," he said.

Adryn nodded. "If you'd like to learn more, I can direct you towards several voluminous codices on the topic.

Meyer rose to his feet. "I'll let you know," he said. "And thanks for the angel dust."

"My pleasure," said Adryn. "See you next week."

As Meyer ambled towards the center of the Dale, he was so immersed in contemplating his conversation with Adryn that he didn't notice the figure approaching along the path to his right. He continued through the intersection ahead, even as the approaching figure turned, only a step behind him.

"You're going to walk by a fellow Ajah without saying hello?"

Meyer looked up, startled. He had only slightly turned his head when he saw the speaker was Jaeda. His feelings changed from surprise, to excitement, to embarrassment, to surprise again, all in an instant. Then all the emotions snowballed together, and started doing somersaults that bounced between his stomach and chest.

"Oh, um, sorry," said Meyer, thinking how lucky it was that the speech processing part of his brain part was still functioning when most of his rational mind seemed to have gone on leave to pick dandelions. "I didn't notice you."

Jaeda smiled. "By the way," she said. "I'm Jaeda."

"Nice to meet you," said Meyer. "Though I already knew your name." And then his stomach lurched.

Alas, speech processing had also decided to abandon ship. "It's one of the upsides of Eldrin's Dale," he continued. "You learn everyone's names even before you meet them."

Jaeda smiled, and Meyer felt a pang of hope—he had saved his blundering comment. "Or maybe that's a downside," he said. "I guess it depends which way you look at it."

"We can call it an upside," said Jaeda.

"Are you going to hold me to that in a month from now?"

"Well spoken," she said. "I didn't want to spoil your innocence, but the same faces get old pretty quick. I wouldn't mind if Eldrin's Dale were about five times as big."

Meyer had prepared his response halfway through Jaeda's sentence. "How long have you been here?"

"I got here right when I was thirteen, so four and a half years."

"Which means you're seventeen?"

"Good math," said Jaeda jokingly. "How old are you?"

"I'll be seventeen in September."

Jaeda shook her head and smiled. "Do you always daydream when you walk?"

"I'd like to think not," said Meyer. "But in my defense, I was coming from speaking with Adryn about magic, and I had a lot to think about."

"She does have a unique way of putting your mind into a state of comatose," said Jaeda. "I'll excuse you from not saying hello."

"How do you know Adryn?" said Meyer.

"Everyone knows her. She teaches almost all the introductory disciplines. Besides, after four and and a half years, you get to know just about everything there is to know around here."

"Look at you, bringing out the old-timer wisdom."

"If you're going to make fun," said Jaeda, "You should know half our age group has been here longer than me. It's not uncommon for people to get here when they're eleven and twelve."

"I never realized I was such a late bloomer," said Meyer.

Jaeda raised an eyebrow at him.

"I was talking about magic."

"Didn't stop you from covering more ground in four weeks than a lot of people cover in four years," said Jaeda. "And yes, small place. Your talent isn't exactly a secret."

"Don't exaggerate," said Meyer. "I've accomplished in four weeks what takes most people a year. Maybe a year and a half."

"I hope that's not you trying to be modest."

Meyer put his hands in the air. "Just going for funny."

"I hope so, Mister—what's your last name?"

"Brant."

"I hope so Mister Brant." Jaeda looked at him as if he were a dodgy character.

"Of course, Miss..."

"Rein."

The sequence ended, and Meyer glanced at Jaeda. He caught her eye, and in the split second their gaze held, he felt the emotional snowball, which had settled down in his stomach leap back into his chest. Still, his cognitive capacities were more resilient this time. Looking around, he saw that the Old Path was approaching on the left.

"I need to pick up a book from Scholar's Hall," he lied, starting for the other side of the road. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," said Jaeda. "Hope I'll see more of you around."

Meyer turned down Old Path before an awkward silence could arise. He didn't look back to see where Jaeda went, instead walking briskly towards Scholar's Hall. He felt a strange mixture of excitement and exhaustion. When he reached the ancient building, he paced around on the front step for a few minutes before starting back towards the dormitories. Jaeda Rein. He just might have a chance.