[Flashback] The Professor's Daughter (Azilis)

[Hadrian]

1st Summer, 507 A.V. When the time came for Hadrian to take his leave of Professor Theroulde's office, he had finally managed to call up the heightened visual spectrum of auristics with some degree of regularity. At eighteen, he had decided that magic was the course for him, whether his parents liked it or not. Fortunately for his sake, they believed he was taking summer courses in economics and Arumenic in order that he might prove useful to the family trade of mercantilism. Surely there would be a confrontation at some point, but so long as he was in Zeltiva and his family were back in Syliras, all was well. The challenge now was to maintain his new vision longer than he had before, but learning his limits so as not to drain himself to the point where his head exploded. He thought he might make it all the way to his cottage in a nearby neighborhood, but he was brought up short when he saw a girl, or a young lady -- he had difficulty sometimes in figuring out anything to do with the opposite sex. The coruscating rainbow he saw around her was overwhelming. Professor Theroulde had apparently helped him reach a new level of sensitivity, too. He could only hope that soon he would be able to accept it with greater ease. "You're beautiful colors," he said with astonishment, a long moment passing before a rational, detached part of his mind started screaming at him and he realized what he had said, probably sounding like some dusk eater from the slums of Ahnatep, and staring like one too. "I mean, uh..." He blinked rapidly until the beautiful vision shattered and fell away, leaving a more ordinary vision of a pretty girl in its stead. "Sorry, I'm, um, working on... My auristics..."

[Azilis Theroulde]

Today, reflected Azilis, as she picked at her dirty nails with a pocketknife she'd found on her father's desk, is going to be beastly. It wasn't just the heat that made her say so, although that was bad enough: the ground shimmered in the glare of the midday heat outside her father's office and made her squint unattractively (a lady, Papa would have said in his distant voice that tolled deep like a clock bell, would do no such thing). And it wasn't that her insufferable brother Sylvair, four years her senior, had just finished his first year of university and spent most of his newly-free time teasing her, although she didn't enjoy that either. (She had to admit, though, she deserved it: at fourteen, her skinny arms and legs stuck out gawkily from her body, and constellations of small red pimples dotted her face.) No, it was the fact that even though she had begged and pleaded and promised not to distract any of his students, her father hadn't let her watch his Auristics class. It's just a summer class, she thought, her mind still buzzing with irritation. She had tried to distract herself by staring at a rock for the past hour, trying to use her Sight to figure out where the pebble had originally come from, but her own anger didn't do much for her powers of concentration. It's not like it even matters. Well, not that much, anyway. And I could've helped him, if he'd let me. Been his assistant or something. But no, he just made me carry his equipment here and then said I could wait outside. She sighed theatrically, halfway aware that she was acting spoiled and selfish. With a groan, she heaved herself to her feet – the summer heat really was making her sluggish – and began to amble towards her father's office as a distant bell tower announced the end of the hour. The door opened as several students burst forth, books under their arms. She watched them leave, waiting until they had cleared the doorway for her to enter. But one of them, a handsome boy who must have been at least a foot and then some taller than she, with bright eyes set in a pale face, didn't move. A wash of discomfort flooded her as she realized that he was staring at her. “Ionu got your tongue?” she said, self-consciously picking at her sleeves. Talking with boys was not a forte of hers. He muttered something about beautiful colors, and she goggled at him. “Er...do I...know you?” “Sorry, I'm, um, working on...my Auristics...” the boy mumbled. “Oh.” Well, that made a little more sense. “You were looking at my aura? And you saw...beautiful colors?” She giggled. “You must not be very good yet if that's what you saw.” Not sure exactly what the proper etiquette was in such circumstances, but knowing her father would want her to be polite to his students no matter how strange their behavior, she extended her hand. “I'm Azilis. Azilis Theroulde. The professor's daughter.”

[Hadrian]

Of course it would be the professor's daughter with whom he made a fool of himself to add insult to injury. He glanced over his shoulder quickly to see if the man was there to witness it, but apparently he had other things to do, leaving Hadrian with a smaller audience, which was to his liking. He blinked, his eyes still a little wonky from his experiment in auristics, but when the three versions of her hands settled into one, he felt confident in reaching out to shake her hand. She was younger than he was by a few years, he supposed, but lucky enough to grow up here with the University rather than in Syliras with a merchant family. He nodded glumly, though, to her assumption. "I took a class with Professor Oslie, but I was abysmal. I'm taking the summer session with your father and finally making progress. I just had to break myself of the habit of thinking I can learn everything from a book rather than working with a teacher. But, as they say, when the student is ready, the teacher arrives. Or something like that. I can't remember where I read that." He babbled a bit, which betrayed his nerves. It was only at times like this that his memory failed him, eidetic no longer. "Anyway, I just wasn't expecting to come face to face with one like yours walking out the door... I was following what I think were lines of djed and then... boom, a full on aura. It's so much information to sort and none of it makes sense. I mean, I know what colors are supposed to mean, but sometimes they're in odd shades or in weird patterns and..." He realized he was still shaking her hand and let go of it. "I'm Hadrian. Hadrian Aelius. Would-be magus."

[Azilis Theroulde]

“Professor Oslie?” Azilis snorted. “No wonder you didn't learn much, that man's so boring that he's the only one awake in his own classes.” She realized she had giggled again and raised her free hand to her mouth. The boy, Hadrian, was still shaking her other hand, although she supposed that perhaps it was some sort of secret university handshake or something along those lines? “Anyhow, I'm the same way. I spend all my time reading, nicking books from my dad's collection and whatnot.” She grinned. “He's a pretty good teacher, if I do say so myself. He used to be a priest of Eyris, you know. Back when we lived in Nyka. Though that was a long time ago.” Hadrian at last let go of her hand, and Azilis sank back against a stone bench, patting the space next to her. “Here. Sit down. You must still be feeling a little woozy if you just saw a full-on aura.” She smiled at him reassuringly. “It happens like that sometimes, you know, if you've been using your Sight for such a long period of time. And an hour's worth of class experimenting is pretty long.” Azilis paused. “I mean, I hardly see full ones even when I try, and my father's been teaching me for years.” Which made her curious: what would she sense from Hadrian, if she tried? Tentatively, she closed her eyes and concentrated. When she felt that infinitesimal shift in her consciousness that her father had taught her to recognize, she opened them and glanced at Hadrian. It was like looking through a clouded-glass window: a nebulous haze surrounded his body, and although not a full aura, it flickered with several different shades of color. Use all your senses, her father had told her. If you don't, you'll miss something important. As she stared at him she heard the pages of a book flipping as if propelled by the wind. “You sound like a book,” she blurted, then flushed red and looked away. “Damn. I mean, I – well, you know. Your aura does.”

[Hadrian]

"Your father is very good," he admitted readily. "I mean, he got me to see the things. I don't really have much natural talent for magic, for the personal magics, but I need to know the basics, you know, to help me master the world magics. I think I'm going to go into magecrafting, even though it'll be expensive to get a practice going..." He took the proffered seat next to her on the bench. When she stopped talking, he opened his mouth to respond, but then she got a strange, concentrating look on her face and he blinked, eyes shifting furtively, assuming that she was peering at him with her father's skill. If he ever did master auristics, he would be able to know so much just by looking at a thing, or a person. He didn't like to think that a person could look into him and read him like a book. And then she called him a book. He smiled, but his shoulders hitched up uncomfortably. "Yeah, I'm going to have to learn how to hide things better, I guess. It's creepy, thinking someone can know so much about you just by looking..."

[Azilis Theroulde]

Azilis bit her lip, realizing that she'd made Hadrian uncomfortable. Well, that was stupid, you git, she chided herself. You can't just go picking into people's minds like that. “Sorry, sorry. If it comforts you at all, I know hardly enough to see past what's right on the surface of your thoughts.” She smiled weakly. “And, you know, if you saw a full aura like that, you probably do have more magical aptitude than you think. I mean, you must have some innate magical abilities if you want to become a magecrafter. That's difficult stuff, there.” She whistled. “There are ways to raise shields against Auristics-wielders; Papa taught me how to do it, although I'm not so good at shielding my emotions.” Azilis grabbed his hand impulsively. “What do you say I teach you how, if you're worried about not being able to protect your thoughts? After all, I owe it to you now, since I so rudely did...what I did...” she trailed off lamely, embarrassed. This is turning out to be a far more interesting afternoon than I thought it would be, she pondered to herself. If, that is, he accepts. Maybe I've scared him away. Stupid petching Azilis, that's me.

[Hadrian]

OOCSorry! I just moved into a new apartment and am borrowing someone's wireless. There shouldn't be any more such delays. Game on! "No, no, it's all right," he said, still attempting to internalize his smile. "That sort of thing will make me work harder so I can control it better." And then she was holding his hand and offering to tutor him and it didn't really matter that she seemed to be a few years younger than him and, therefore, still a child. He blushed. In some places he might be considered a man, but his reaction didn't do much to further that premise. "I, um, that... that would be good. Do you really want to, though? You don't have to if you don't want to. This is my second class on the subject and I'm just now starting to get it."

[Azilis Theroulde]

“Well...” Azilis hesitated. “Not if you don't want me to. I mean, I'm not trying to push myself on you or anything.” She let go of his hand when he made a flustered expression, and she wondered if she had made him uncomfortable - again. Or maybe he thought she was trying to hit on him, or something. I mean, he's not bad-looking, she thought, but that definitely wasn't my intention...Gods, she had smiled at him and grabbed his hand and offered to tutor him? What if he thought she meant...tutor him in something else? “I'm probably holding you back, aren't I?" she said, growing agitated. "You've probably got somewhere to be, and I've delayed you and you're going to be late...” Her hands flailed in the air as she spoke, as if trying to paint a picture of the ideas she was attempting to express. “Anyway, I just felt bad because I thought I'd offended you. I can teach you, or not. Your choice. Although I won't be near as good as my father. In fact...I'm probably not very much better than you, since this is your second class, as you reminded me.” She smiled wanly. "But, um. I hope you don't think I'm being a pest.

Secret :

It's alright, Hadrian! Real life always comes first. Hope you got settled into your new apartment okay ^.^

[Hadrian]

"No, I do!" he said quickly. "Want you to tutor me, I mean. It'll be so important later, I think, to be able to see what I'm doing in the laboratory when I'm trying to enchant something. I can use any help I can get, so if you want to, please do. You're not holding me up. I was only going to go home and rest if I managed to keep up the Sight until then, or read if I didn't... Actually I'd probably read regardless. Even if my mind was exhausted, I'm sure I would still have trouble sleeping." He paused. "Is that what you're going to study too?" he asked, assuming a professor's daughter would eventually enroll herself. "Magic, I mean. Auristics in particular or some other discipline or even in general...?

[Azilis Theroulde]

Azilis considered his words. “A good question, that. I'm going to be studying at the University, that much is clear. Or at least as clear as something four years in the future can be. I suppose...” Her voice trailed off as she lapsed into thought. “I feel obligated to study Auristics. Father thinks I'm good at it, and I guess I am, but I can't really judge my own abilities, you know?” She eyed him, a strange look set in her face, as if picking her next words carefully. “When I was little...well, littler than I am now, I mean, I'm still pretty small...my family got lost deep in the Wildlands woods. My mother, my sister, my brother, and I...we had run into the forest to...escape. My brother and I kept us all alive by using magic. And then my father found us two days later, just by sensing our auras deep in the woods. We would all have been dead, if it weren't for him. Him and the things he knew.” She drew her knees up to her chest. “I want to know that much. Maybe someday it'll mean something. And I'll be ready for whatever happens to me, because I'll know what to do. Auristics lets me...get that extra edge on people, I guess you'd call it. Which isn't necessarily fair, is it?” She snorted. “But now I've made the conversation far too serious. In answer to what you actually asked, yeah, I'm sure I'll study Auristics. I'd love to also study glyphing and morphing, though, if I've the time for it. “Anyway, enough of me. Since you do want me to tutor you, let's begin, shall we? I can show you the technique for keeping other people around your skill level out of your mind, and then we can progress on to other things, if you have the stamina for it.”