[Wright Memorial Library] A Call to Learning (Chembolo)

[Malvora]

Malvora nodded as Chembalo agreed with her. The way some humans dressed, even in the heat of the summer was amusing, except when they expected her to dress. Though her memory of Xy was dim, she knew that she had gone about naked almost all of the time when she was a youth. She had preferred that to the clothing she was wearing currently. It clung uncomfortably. She'd much rather be naked than clothed in such a way.

"That does seem like a good place to start," Malvora agreed as she leaned over to get a better look at the book. Her hair fell into her face and she swept it back with annoyance. Her hair was getting to the point where she was debating just cutting off her waist length hair. However, what little vanity she had kept her from doing just that and so she regarded it with annoyance but couldn't bring herself to cut it, annoying as it was.

"What?" she asked as she examined the page and pulled out a piece of parchment to idly sketch a rune on while she read. The rune wouldn't be very good, but she enjoyed having her hands busy while she read, keeping her eyes on the page. Multitasking was something she was fairly well practiced at. She kept one ear tuned to Chembalo as she read, rudeness was not something that she liked or demonstrated often. She was enjoying the man's company, thrilled that she had found someone as avidly devoted to it as herself.

"I like the idea that it will help with focus. I don't have a problem with it, often, but with some magical assistance, I'm sure that what small skill I do have in the magic will be much more...I don't know how to put it, effective perhaps?" She paused in her reading to glance down at her sketched rune. It was blotchy and the lines weren't as precise as seh would have liked them to be, but it was getting there. Every time she practiced she felt certain she had improved.

[Chembalo]

“The best thing about the focus, in my opinion, is that it is only a one single large rune and nothing more. That is all you need to accomplish something with glyphing. Even if it is by itself only an aid for other kinds of magic. Most of the other components require multiple runes, smaller, harder to draw. And I don’t get what half of them are even supposed to do.”

He leaned back in his chair and continued reading. He was amazed at the effect mere ink on parchment or skin could have. Ink didn’t eat or breathe, how could it do anything? The book said it was because of the djed of the glyphs but what did that even mean? Still, he was glad that this was all he needed to do. Which reminded him...

“I’m just glad there is no real initiation required for glyphing. I’ve heard talk here in the university about those rituals. What I heard almost made me want to run and hide in the mountains.” He paused and looked at Malvora. “Did you have an initiation for your discipline?” he asked with a stiff look on his face.

[Malvora]

"I'm sure we'll learn that with time," Malvora nodded as she continued to sketch her rune. It was sloppy, she decided and she crumpled it into a ball and placed it on the edge of the table, to be disposed of later. Another piece of paper was located and placed before her as she idly sketched. She read some more, her eyes scanning the book. It was good to have an idea of what she was doing, the concepts, the major driving forces.

"Focus runes are nice that way," she added as she thought on it for a moment. She paused in her drawing, she was developing a headache and she decided that the drawing was at fault. She pressed a finger into each temple and took a breath before she returned her focus to the topic at hand. Magic...initiation. She raised an eyebrow. She had never hear of such of thing, not even as a topic of rumors. She thought back to see if she had undergone such a thing.

"What skill I have in Alchemy," she paused before she considered, "would be the result of some ill fated experiments and what little my mother taught me before she died. I have some background knowledge in it from reading, but as far as I know...there was no initiation into it. Perhaps if I went somewhere were the practice of magic was more prevalent, I would encounter such thing, but not here."

[Chembalo]

"From what I can tell, if there had been an initiation you would know it. But then again, what I heard were probably just exaggerated rumors anyway." he said, while thinking "There could not actually be a ritual where all your insides get sucked out, could there? What would be the point anyway? Yes, they most likely were just trying to scare the new students. It will be best if I just forget about it."

Looking over to Malvora he saw how much she had already practiced - while reading! He didn't think he could have done that, even though the result mostly looked like blotchy scribbles. He decided it was time for him to draw some runes as well now. He took several sheets of parchment and writing utensils; while doing that his view fell on his right arm. His regularly looking, definately-not-dark right arm.
His eyes widened. When had the morphing stopped and returned his arm to normal? He couldn't tell. At some point while reading and talking he must have forgotten about it and failed to continuously fuel the magic. He grumbled quietly and ordered himself to do better - he would have to if he wanted to learn and master an entire model.

For now however, he started writing runes and at least tried to make them less sloppy than the contents of the crumpled ball on the desk. While writing he got a nagging feeling he had missed something. It took him a few more minutes before he realized why and said "I'm sorry about your mother. How did she die? In one of the experiments?" Immediately after he had asked he thought it would be quite odd of Malvora if she continued to learn the art that had killed her mother.

[Malvora]

"There could be something that did that," Malvora said after a moment, a grin on her face, baring sharp fangs. It could have been threatening had her eyes not lit up with mischief, "but I can't imagine it's an initiation ritual. After all, who wants a dead apprentice. Hardly very useful to the master." She glanced at Chembalo's arm, noting it's original appearance had returned, perhaps he had been too distracted. Hopefully working on more glyphing would allow whatever powered--djed, she reminded herself--his magic to return.

As he joined her in writing she focused almost entirely on her attempts. Especially considering that now that she had brought up her mother, it was likely that the topic would switch to something far less desirable...like the circumstances of her death. They were highly dramatic, more...sad. The disease that had killed her, the doctors had balked from treating, whispering whore and prostitute under their breaths. It had fallen to her to care for her ailing mother, and she couldn't save her.

"No," Malvora shook her head, her eyes shining, but not wet yet, "it was not an experiment. Those were...mostly a way to pass the time after her death. Perhaps a few before she died, but she was...less than pleased about them. She died from...an illness." A frown creased her forehead as the headache worsened. They had at most an hour or two left before they would have to retire. Thank goodness, considering the level of pressure behind her eyes.

[Chembalo]

From the look Malvora now had on her face, Chembalo realized he must have done or said something foolish. Initially he did not even realise what it was, but then it dawned on him.
A dead apprentice... A dead mother... Life truly has not been very kind to this young woman. Young by human standards anyway. Even though it outwardly did not look like it, Malvora was still many times as old as Chembalo.

It made him think of his own parents, which were, for all he knew, safe and healthy in Syliras. "As healthy as anyone can be in that stinking, overcrowded...", he thought and noticed that his thoughts were trailing off. He had not even responded anything to her - he justs didn't know what to say.
Still, that moment when she was grinning at him... it was odd. "Humans normally don't have teeth like that, do they?"

His glyphing practice had been going fairly good. By now, he had written a decent amount and even got the impression that had become visibly better during this time. So, after a while, he decided that it was enough for one day. He said, "What do you think, is it enough? Do you want to practice some more, or would you rather finish up and go somewhere else?"