Closed Res-ilience [Annalisa]

[Tsaba]

Tsaba would have screamed, had there been air in her lungs. She would have thrown up, had her physiology permitted it. But she could do neither, so she probably looked a fair bit less affected than she actually was by the thing... things?... weaving its way inside her, inescapable tendrils eating their way to her center like a vicious chill. It had been a long time since Tsaba had been cold, and she'd never been cold enough to compare to the invasion of res, but it was the closest comparison that she could think of while kneeling on the sand, every muscle rigid, doing everything in her power to remain still.

Once, Tsaba had made the extremely foolhardy mistake of injecting alcohol into her own body in a preservation experiment. It had hurt more than anything in her memory, and she'd expected death as a distinct possibility as the substance snaked through her shoulder and arm like a horrible poison. The tendrils of gas pushing into her now were worse than that; there was something alien about them, something foreign and wrong, and they weren't localised to one shoulder. They were in her nose, in her lungs, in her ichor. Despite her determination to remain still, she collapsed immediately.

What would her aura look like in such a situation? She'd always seen Master Marin's res as an extension, or really more an intentional extrusion, of her aura. Was her aura now overwhelming Tsaba's? Combining with it? Would there be any permanent effects of such a thing? Tsaba began mentally designing experiments on such things, experiments that it would always be beyond her means to run, because she needed to think of something, but such a thing couldn't hold her attention long; it was too close to what was actually happening. She cast about for another train of thought. Sahova. Books. Her new house. Glyphing. She had to write to her foster father when she got home. She had to send him something that wasn't 'your child is dead'. The sand, the sand beneath her, which she could barely feel through the pain. She could just as easily have been floating and she wouldn't notice, with her eyes tight shut, suspended by wires twisting themselves through defunct veins and empty lungs. Something else. Laviku. The temple had nice architecture. A lot of Zeltiva had nice architecture. Like the astronomy tower. She should go back some time. Learn more. Never any harm in learning more. But knowledge often had a cost.

Tsaba felt one of her teeth crack as she clenched her jaw. Sometimes, the cost was high.

x

[Annalisa Marin]

Power. Absolute power. It was an intoxicating thing when presented right before one's face, especially one as arrogant and ambitious as Anna. As her res wormed its way deeper into Tsaba's being she felt thrills of utter pleasure and ecstasy. She was in control and that was what was so gratifying about the whole thing, so much so that the pain in her wrists and skull was almost completely unnoticed. She controlled everything here, her res and by extension the life so fragile within Tsaba.

If she truly desired it the Nuit could be dead with but a single thought, the res in her body turned to malevolent sparks of lightning or searing flames. Anna kept control though, ensuring that the res was stable and not transmuted. Idly she wondered exactly what Tsaba was feeling, how painful was it for her? The wizard pushed it deeper, generating more res where needed for the act of filling Tsaba to the brim with the gas.

She stood tall and powerful above the collapsed Nuit, who appeared to be suffering to a great extreme. Anna herself was fighting a different battle, though this one was with her urges. Reimancy was a pleasing thing to use and at the moment, the pleasure was overriding the pain. That was a dangerous thing, for at the moment she felt the near irresistible urge to crush the dead lungs under the weight of stone. If she was being entirely honest part of her didn't care about the future uses of the Nuit, compared to the immediate pleasure she'd get from the experience it seemed a small price to pay. Besides, what greater treachery could there be in the teacher slaying the eager student?

The rational side of her won out, fortunately for Tsaba, and the initiation was continued. The res was held within her body for a few chimes, expanding to make certain that every inch of her was covered. Anna felt no pity for the Nuit, she had asked for this so it was her suffering to endure. Her grey eyes held only steely concentration as she controlled the res with the same precision a surgeon might handle a knife.

The gas was in the veins of the undead, it was in her skull, her lungs, her heart, every conceivable part of the body was enveloped in the alien substance. Anna wanted to keep it going even after the time frame necessary for the process to be complete arrived, to keep this feeling of utter control. So she allowed her desires to be indulged upon, abruptly moving the res slowly in the undead's body to hopefully elicit at least one scream. She kept the res with Tsaba for a full two chimes longer than was needed, for the sole purpose of torturing the poor woman.

Finally Anna realized that it would best to end it here, before Tsaba ended up too damaged. Slowly but surely the wizard pulled the res from the Nuit's body, sighing in pleasure for a moment before the pain in her skull and wrists cut through the shroud on ecstasy clouding her mind. She drew the res back into her own body as it left Tsaba's, the pain slowly fading as it returned to her reserves of Djed.

Once the res was fully returned to her Anna found that another hacking fit overcame her, her hand quickly moving to cover her mouth as she doubled over. The wizard supposed that was the price she paid for toying with a new plaything over much, needless cruelty had its place. However it had felt so petching good.

Once her little fit subsided she looked to Tsaba, finding her own voice quickly. It still held its same powerful ring but there was something unsteady to it, as though signifying how close she had come to giving up control to her desires.

"Take what time you need to recover, I need to meditate. Once you feel slightly better we can move on to actually getting you started in reimancy." Anna said, moving a little further away and sitting down in the sand cross-legged.

The wizard struggled to return her breathing to its normal rhythm, cycling it a couple of times. She needed to regain her composure, this whole thing was affecting her for the negative. Instability was unaffordable now, she was not going to go down that same path.

[Tsaba]

Tsaba didn't stand immediately after the pain subsided. She didn't trust her own senses. More than that, she didn't trust the pain not to return in full force at the slightest movement. She thought she ould still feel it working through her heart, but that might be her own imagination. Would it have
been worse if she'd still had a full complement of organs? Maybe. It wasn't something she really wanted to think about.

After a couple of chimes, Tsaba opened her eyes, automatically squinting against the light. Ichor had dripped from her wrists and soaked into the sand, although not very much of it; the lack of a circulatory system prevented it from being pumped out of the body and she'd lost only the feeble trickles that gravity had been able to drag down. She braced against the possibility of pain and forced herself to sit up.

No real pain. A little stiffness, like cramping; nothing compared to what she'd just felt. Tsaba crawled over to her pack and began fishingaround until she found a little sewing needle and cotton. Slowly, deliberately, she started tightly stitching the wound on her right wrist. She'd have to salt it properly later, lest rot set in, but she hadn't brought the appropriate materials with her. Stupid, really. She had known that there would be wounds. She neatly shut the wound with a simple blanket stitch, firm enough to hold but simple to reopen if she needed to disinfect the wound properly later, her hands steady not from confidence but from having slow Nuit nerves. Then she moved on to her left wrist.

Her arms were marked with smudged, broken symbols, the remnants of what had been Master Marin's neat script an eternity before. Her face must look a mess of ink. That might actually be difficult to wash off, and she didn't want to walk through town with arcane symbols all over her face. Pity she no longer had her cloak. She'd just have to make do and rely on luck.

Tsaba needed rest. She needed to recover. But she knew, intellectually, that that was a psychological reaction. She'd lost very little ichor, and only a proper torpor would recover that anyway. Rest wouldn't help her, not physically. That was fear and nervousness talking.

So she got dressed, sat on the sand, and watched her teacher.

Tsaba had never really been sure what meditation was for. She knew that if she pulled djed into her sight at that moment, her teacher's aura would signify a slowing, steady pulse and deeper, regular breaths, which probably helped humans calm down, but she didn't understand what it had to do with magic. She did know it required focus, so she didn't interrupt; she merely sat still, watched, and waited.

x

[Annalisa Marin]

That had been far too close for comfort, she'd nearly lost control again and killed someone for it. The wizard struggled to stem the chaotic thoughts flowing in her mind, swimming under the surface of the conscious thoughts. The pain in her wrists and head was actually useful here, it gave her something to focus on as she attempted to calm her thoughts. It was able to cut through every distraction threatening to destabilize the seams holding her mind together, allowing for clear thoughts to take their place. It was not her normal focus but it would have to suffice.

Likely Tsaba was recovering, giving her time to seal away the distractions for the time being. She had regained control, she was strong and powerful once more and possessed utter control over her faculties. Anna knew she controlled her magic, not the other way around. No matter how strong the urge or deep the desire she needed to always maintain control. To do otherwise was to invite disaster of the worst kind.

Cycled breaths came in through her nostrils and out through her mouth, cool and calming order slowly being imposed upon the writhing mass of chaos that was her mind. It was a contradiction but Anna knew that the best form of chaos was the kind that could be directed. As much fun as it would be to act upon a few desires just for the sheer enjoyment factor, that would be a disservice to herself and Rhysol. So the chaotic urges started to slowly but surely subside, becoming contained within the façade once more.

Anna held this state of mind for a good few chimes, her composure as the sure and prideful wizard returning. Her expression was less unhinged and more calm and collected, a mask for any true emotions she might have felt. When her grey eyes finally opened to gaze upon her apprentice the light of chaotic desires was gone, replaced by the usually cordial politeness and cunning. Now that the initiation was over, they could try and start the next step for the Nuit. The first res generation was always the most difficult and the most tiring.

"My apologies, Tsaba, the heat of the moment took me. As I said, initiation is a very personal thing. At the moment I want you to listen very closely to my instructions, they will mean the difference between success and failure." The tall woman said, straightening out her hair idly.

"I want you to close your eyes and focus on the Djed within you, the life energy that sustains you. Feel this energy and start up an incantation or use gestures to make sure your focus is kept. Focus the energy to one point within your body, then push it outwards from yourself. Will it to gather on the outside." The wizard commanded carefully.

"Take your time in doing this, speedy casting can have... unfortunate results. Keep trying even if it doesn't work the first few times, the first time is always the most difficult." Anna advised, tying back her hair into its signature black ponytail.

The wizard stood slowly and started pacing around Tsaba, circling her much like a predator would stalk potential prey. Grey eyes were kept ever alert on the undead, watching in case something went very wrong. The cold sand was stuck between her toes uncomfortably, rubbing the sensitive flesh in an irritating way as she walked. Every stride was still defined and deliberate and her upright posture was composed and steady. The Nuit would succeed eventually, Anna had know doubt but exactly how was the question. The wizard idly wondered what element the undead would initially command.

[Tsaba]

Tsaba had always found Master Marin's magic-related instructions a little difficult to understand. But she had to try. She sat cross-legged on the sand, closed her eyes, and imagined a core of energy, a pool inside her, resting in her body. She pulled the thought forward, put all her focus on it. Chant, Master Marin had said; almost without thinking about it, Tsaba did.

"Djed djas-sutlat, adrat. Djed djas-sutlat, heatlas. Djaspond djed djunnatlas. Djunnat..."

Tsaba didn't bother to pause to refine her chant; there was no point. The intent would show through or it would not, no matter what her grammar was like. She let the syllables flow between tongue and teeth, and willed res to pool in her hands.

To no effect, of course.

Tsaba hadn't expected to succeed the first time, but it occurred to her that this wasn't just a matter of practice; she was doing the wrong thing. She was imagining something and then trying to direct it. That was no way to move something in reality. Master Marin had said 'focus on', not 'imagine'. Except... except that Tsaba had no idea what djed felt like. She could feel air in her lungs. She could feel ichor in her body. But djed...

Tsaba opened her eyes, intending to ask for further instruction, and caught sight of the smudged remains of the sigil on her wrist, marred by use and her own stitching.

Ah. She knew what djed looked like.

How many times had she stared at the aura of energy stretching between her rune sites and infusing her body? She had diagrams of it. She had plans to chart its evolution and adaptation. She had notes on its absence in removed appendages. And she'd seen Master Marin's aura, too; she'd seen her bleed res from an inner layer of aura. She didn't need to physically feel anything, because she knew what she was looking for.

Master Marin had warned her against using Auristics, but she didn't need to; she had memory enough. She focused on the threads of energy moving throughout her body, their curious pattern of moving and pooling. It was a bit like the pooling of magic in a focus glyph, really. She knew it glowed bright at her rune sites, that it moved in threads of swift energy between them, that it sort of infused the rest of her body; like a series of rivers between lakes, dampening the surrounding soil. She knew that the biggest 'lake' was the rune site on her breastbone. That was where her energy pooled, in her otherwise largely pointless torso. She visualised it, the movement, the energy waves, and the chant spilled from her lips once more.

Tsaba had no idea how long she sat on the sand, but she was pretty sure that if anything happened, Master Marin would react. The lack of any interruption suggested failure. If she didn't make headway, she could very well be sitting there until the sun went down; she had the feeling that Master Marin wasn't the type to interrupt a lesson for something so trivial as darkness approaching while they were stranded outside the city in the dangerous wilderness. She'd probably consider the danger that presented an adequate punishment for taking so long.

After some time, Tsaba opened her eyes again. She glanced over at the warped glass on the beach, like a still ocean colliding with the actual, moving ocean. It could be done. She'd seen it done. So why couldn't she do it?

She closed her eyes once more. She was missing something. She'd been brought all the way out of the city and undergone an extremely painful trial, she wasn't going to...

Trial.

Res, invading her body, changing her. Tsaba had noticed that Master Marin seemed to bleed res from an unhealing wound... but humans could heal. Physically. It wasn't the cuts made on her wrists, it wasn't the sigils drawn; those things weren't the point. The point of the initiation had been the res curling in her body, ripping her apart in some undefinable, nonphysical way. Whatever she was trying to do, that was important.

Tsaba took a deep breath, and once more, began to chant.

She pictured her aura as a whole; room temperature, no life signs. Even now, the auras of dead bodies still bothered her a little. But there was movement within, life without life signs, a person's energy bound into the dead shell. And it gathered in her collarbone, swirling, waving, rushing between points. She barely noticed her chanting becoming more firm, more certain; that was what she needed, but she needed to control it, to move it. She needed to focus.

In her mind, she pictured a focus glyph. An imaginary glyph wouldn't work as an actual glyph, of course -- glyphing would be a lot easier if it could -- but it gave her a familiar, if imaginary, framework to work with. Thinking in terms of glyphs made her more calm, more certain, and her chanting became more stable. She let the now-familiar syllables lull her as she imagined the energy in her chest flowing through a glyph. Flowing through her heart, where Master Marin's res had writhed and twisted, flowing through metaphysical wounds, bleeding out in a way that she hadn't felt actual blood do since her Daek-Nuit. Bleeding into her lungs, where it pooled and swirled, and she could properly feel it. It was the opposite feeling to her initiation; nothing was invading, forcing its way into an already crowded place. Something vital was leaving, making her feel just a little bit more hollow. Tsaba stopped chanting so that she could take an extremely deep breath. Then steadily, gently, taking more time than would be safe for somebody who actually used their lungs for anything but speech, she blew the substance in her lungs into her cupped hands.

It wasn't easy to control once it was outside her body. Tsaba felt that if her concentration slipped, it might very well float away like the air of every other breath. But Tsaba hoped that she'd be given further instruction soon, because she had no idea how to control it.

x

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna watched Tsaba as the undead concentrated, her grey eyes hard and searching for any sighs of either weakness or success. The Nuit's progress was painfully slow, but the wizard wasn't about to let a silly thing like time get in the way of her apprentice learning how to properly use res. She had all the time in the world, nights dangers hardly frightened the tall woman. The initiation process had not tired her much, especially not after she had drawn the res back into her own body afterwards. Any threat that came around later could be dispatched easily and near effortlessly.

Summoning res was no easy task just after initiation, it required utmost focus and control as well as reserves of Djed. This was part of the reason Anna had requested that Tsaba did not utilize auristics right after initiation or during, she'd need every bit of Djed within her to cast the smallest spell. Her control was likely to be shaky at best, non existent at worst so some instruction was needed there.

The wizard continued to pace around Tsaba, wishing idly that she had attempted initiate herself into Auristics earlier so as to perhaps view the Nuit's progress. Unfortunately, that was for another time. Voiding was still a new and untested weapon in her arsenal, it required her focus before other disciplines could be observed.

Finally Anna noted a change about air with a slight tingling feeling coursing its way down her spine. Tsaba breathed out res, this was good though it was likely she had no idea how to properly control it. She'd need instruction and guidance in that regard, help in understanding how to manipulate res. Without some semblance of control, Tsaba couldn't transmute res or force attraction upon it.

"Excellent work Tsaba, you've generated res. It will get more easy with practice, trust me." Anna said warmly, kneeling down behind the undead and placing her hands on her shoulders companionably.

"Now, you will need to take control of it in order to transmute it to your first element. Normally I'd suggest attraction for a newer reimancer, but as I don't know what element you control it would be a wasted effort." The wizard instructed.

"The res is a part of you, like your arm or your leg is. Its no more than a piece of you placed outwards from your body. Focus on it and grasp hold of it mentally, remembering always that you control it. Once you have control the next stage gets a little more tricky." Anna said.

"You already know what your starting element is, it lies deep within you and for a number of reimancers it reflects a certain part of their nature. What element do you most closely align to? Resolute earth? The freedom of the flowing winds? The calm and conforming ways of water? The powerful and destructive potential of fire? Feel for your alignment, I cannot tell you what is. I can only guide you on the path to finding it." The wizard said, standing once more to begin her pacing anew.

"Once you form your first element you will officially be deemed a reimancer, and we can discuss... other matters." Anna finished with a slow nod.

Her grey eyes fell upon Tsaba once more, this time more focusing on the res she had placed outside of her body. This was the true trial, controlling res was absolutely necessary for any reimancer of any skill. It was as much about control as it was about displaying destructive power. Finding the balance between the two was the sign of a true reimancer, Tsaba would either discover it in her own time or be consumed by her own power. That was just how it worked.

[Tsaba]

Fortunately, Tsaba had plenty of experience adapting to and controlling new limbs, although they were usually just different arms and legs. Unfortunately, she wasn't really inclined to self-reflection, and had no idea what any of the element talk meant.

Tsaba focused on the res in her hands as if it were a new errant limb she was adapting to. Sometimes there was unseen muscle damage, and it took awhile to assess the range of motion of a new body. She kept it balled in her hands, studying each twitch or movement, familiarising herself with how it worked. Of course, even a normal limb could take weeks to master entirely. She didn't expect immediate total control.

She'd watched Master Marin transform her res into earth and fire before. It wasn't necessarily easy to see exactly what was going on when she did so, but at least Tsaba had seen a little of how it was supposed to work. She balled the res up and transmuted it in layers, the outside independent of the inside; at least, she did when putting it into a glyph. Tsaba wasn't sure why, or if she should try to imitate that. Earth and fire didn't seem... right, anyway. Fire especially was dangerous, destructive, active. It was an element of transformation and action in Tsaba's mind, and neither of those were things that she was really inclined to. Earth... was better. More stable. How had Dr Marin described it... resolute? Maybe. But Tsaba wasn't sure she was inherently resolute, so much as she was inherently patient and passive. It seemed like somebody would really need to know who they were and what they were looking for to be stable and unchanging like earth.

Water... now there was a changeable element. Tsaba viewed water as somewhat of an enemy, since its effects on a Nuit body weren't exactly good. But the ability to flow, to move an adapt, yet to absorb what it touched and make it apart of itself, those were things that water did. And those were things that Tsaba did. Besides, hadn't she always viewed the movement of auras like waves in an ocean? Hadn't she thought of res as basically magic water? Tsaba visualised the res in her hands changing, transforming to inert liquid, but nothing happened. Was she doing it wrong? Maybe. Of maybe she was just wrong. Water was harmful, after all; maybe not so much to pulsers, but to Tsaba and the people she'd spent most of her life with. Tsaba didn't want to harm anyone. Master Marin might call water calm and conforming, but to Tsaba, it was an element of rot and corruption, the contaminating factor that ate away at people until they could no longer move. Tsaba didn't think of herself as a corrupting influence, and she had no desire to be one.

Tsaba was... Tsaba was a scribe, and an investigator. Tsaba wanted to see the world, to trace patterns of it from one place to the next, to share the world with itself and cut away at deceit to bare the truth, like sharp winds carving away cliffs without contaminating them in the way that water did. She focused on the little ball of energy in her hands... her energy. A piece of herself. She focused, she moved it, she pushed it to materially become what it should figuratively be.

She hadn't foreseen the need to brace herself, so when the little ball of res vanished into a sudden, rapidly expanding ball of compressed air, she was knocked backwards against the ground, hoping that the impact hadn't broken any of her teeth.

x

[Annalisa Marin]

The wizard's eyes never left Tsaba, though she had made certain to make her circular pacing a little more wide to avoid potential blowback from spells. This was the Nuit's first time, a number of things could have gone wrong with the transmutation of her first element. Fire could get out of hand, water could splash everywhere, earth could shatter and splinter in all direction, and air could blow one back. Anna kept the dangers away from her apprentice's attention though, this was her first time after all. Until one realized the potential harm the elements they commanded could do to them, a reimancer was simple a child playing with the natural forces of the world.

It turned out her assumptions and precautions were well placed as soon enough, when Tsaba managed the transmutation, a kick of compressed air knocked the Nuit back and blew harshly against Anna's legs. Sand was kicked up and tossed about in a small cloud of grainy earth. The wizard smirked slightly, an aeromancer? That was certainly and interesting prospect, it also helped that Anna commanded the element as well.

She moved to stand over the scribe with a pleased grin on her face, leaning down to look her in the eyes.

"Air, a relatively safe element to start with. Powerful and deadly if used correctly, though that comes with practice. Since it seem you possess access to an element I also command allow me to demonstrate a technique that will save you Djed when you utilize it. Get up and follow me." The wizard said, stepping away from the Nuit and moving a little further down the beach.

The tall woman stopped and spread her legs in a ready stance, prepared for more res usage. She'd utilize a simple gust of wind, not overly powerful or taxing and it would certainly allow for a good demonstration of attraction. If she'd wanted to she could have created a wind storm, but after the drain of that initiation it didn't seem overly wise to push herself today.

Another hacking cough was ripped from her lips, this one not nearly so bad as previous ones and faded quickly enough. She recovered, cycling her breathing and holding her arms out before her. Djed was moved under her flesh and pushed up slowly, gaseous res escaping from her pores and flying upwards into the air. The action of res generation was still hardly effortless but it was rather easy, far more so than it had once been at any rate.

The wizard pulled the res up into the air before her, cutting off the generation after she was certain she had enough in the air. The throbbing in the back of her skull and the pain in her wrists was returning, but Anna brushed it aside as the pleasure came as well. It was but a minor discomfort compared to how good this would feel.

Anna willed the strands of gaseous res to begin to attract the air around them, whipping up the wind around her as it did. Her arms were sent through a cycle of flowing motions, gestures for this particular casting to help her keep focus. A sharp pain flared up from her wrists every time they were moved, again she ignored them. It felt good to exhibit control over the winds themselves, almost as good as handling fire or lightning.

Much like a conductor her arms directed the gathering air and res, flowing it about at increasing speeds. Her cloak flowed about her and her eyes had a glint of that chaotic fury in them, flashing as the winds before her quickly reached their needed amount and peaked out. With a grand sweeping movement with her arms she willed the gale forward.

The large gust of wind carried sand upon it as it traveled away in a furious battering ram of force, snapping a few errant pieces of driftwood along its path. The euphoria was upon her as she made certain to halt the res near the edge of her zone of control, allowing the gust to sputter out on its own before drawing most of it back to her and placing it within her body, the remaining cloud was small and floated a little ways out from her body.

The pain in her aforementioned body parts faded slightly as the res was returned to the wizards body. She sighed and faced Tsaba.

"What I utilized was called attraction, it allows one to essentially magnetize their res to the elements they control. Transmutation requires one spend their res to create the element, thus wasting both Djed and res in equal measure. With attraction the amount of Djed wasted becomes less in the long run, as you are not having to constantly generate more and more res to use up." The wizard explained.

"I don't expect you to be able to use it right away, however my advice for when you do use it is to envision the air itself being pulled towards your res. Also, keep in mind that res outside of your body can be taken back in to restore some of your lost Djed reserves. It won't be a complete return but it will help avoid overgiving." She said, nodding to herself slightly.

"Also, if your skill continues to develop and you gain access to another element, as I expect you to, you will be able to form para-elements. Para-elements are combinations of two elements working together, like fire and earth making lava or air and fire..." The wizard halted the explanation to idly flick her right wrist.

The small cloud of res that she had not absorbed arced out and ignited intensely, sparks crackling malevolently before a small lightning bolt was released and sent shooting out towards a large piece of driftwood a ways down. The driftwood shattered and exploded into a shower of charred and burning splinters a moment later. A loud boom thundered out from the display.

The action had required next to zero effort on her part, such a small display was far beneath her by this point. The desired effect was further intimidation, evoking awe and fear from Tsaba. It helped to be both feared and respected. The flaring discomfort in her wrist was worth the show.

"They create lightning. Naturally these are still beyond you, however as you progress you'll need to familiarize yourself with more and more elements and experiment with them. Always beware though, casting with reimancy evokes feelings of bliss, pleasure, and euphoric amounts of power. Do not let the feeling consume you and do not under any circumstances take too much res from your body. That can very, very easily lead to overgiving which has far more drastic consequences for reimancy than Auristics." She instructed, her voice turning grave for a moment as she gazed hard at the Nuit.

"Do you have any questions? If not we can move on to a more... business related topic." Anna said, wanting to make very certain Tsaba understood the lesson here.

[Tsaba]

Tsaba stared at the piece of driftwood. The display of lightning didn't impress her overmuch, not compared to the lava flow last time. Besides, she'd seen similar things on Sahova, done as a matter of course in the laboratory. But it was interesting to ponder whether such things could be separated back into their original components by a simple system of glyphs...

Time for that later. Tsaba didn't think she herself would be using attraction very often; she didn't know what it would tell her, experimentally. But it might still be useful to know about. She made a mental note to read up on it later.

Master Marin seemed to want to make certain that Tsaba understood everything, which led her to suspect that there was a lot more to being said than she'd grasped. After all, the information seemed simple enough in theory, if not in practice. If she was missing anything, she was sure she'd find out. So Tsaba nodded and said, probably the first time she'd ever uttered the phrase to Master Marin, "I have no questions."

Of course she did have questions. What are the para-elements? Is there only one for each elemental combination? Can you alter them by altering the amount of each element? Can you add together three or more elements? But she could learn that on her own. There was no reason to bother her teacher with it.

x

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna raised an eyebrow at Tsaba's lack of questions, it was almost unheard of for the Nuit to not possess some question. The wizard shrugged it off and instead gestured for the undead to follow her again, her wrist's pain diminishing to a dull throb. Much about personal magic was personal trial and error, no matter how much Anna instructed the Nuit on what was necessary and what was not the Nuit was going to discover things on her own. Unfortunately, that also meant she was going to screw up on her own and overgive if she wasn't careful. Newly minted reimancers tended to have difficulties with limits.

The wizard gathered up her supplies and started off down the beach slowly, obviously indicating for Tsaba to continue to follow her. Anna had rehearsed this for some time, thinking about how best to word the subject to gain the best results.

"In any event, you should be able to safely utilize your Auristics in a couple of days. I'd recommend waiting before testing yourself in either that or reimancy." Anna instructed.

"Now then, as I've said I have resigned my position as a Professor though I didn't tell you why. I'm planning on going on a bit of a journey. One that I doubt will have me returning to Zeltiva anytime in the near or even distant future. My first stop on the journey happens to be Sahova." The wizard stated flatly.

"That being the case I can't very well continue to instruct you as you might wish, however I would be willing to keep something a correspondence with you if you desire such a thing. If you feel as though you have questions or otherwise I'd assume you know where to send a letter." She said, glancing down at the undead.

It was best to phrase things as being her choice, really it was the Nuit's choice if she wanted to or not. A command was bit too much for a matter like this one. Anna would welcome keeping in touch with a potential resource outside of Sahova, especially one so bound by the pursuit of further knowledge. Given the initiation and the amount of instruction given to Tsaba placed outside of class that placed her firmly in Anna's debt. Not exactly a favorable place to end up for most.

"Naturally, while I'm in the city you can still needle me with endless questions if you so desire." She said with a chuckle.

The wizard had no doubt that Tsaba could very well prove to be a formidable Djed manipulator in enough time, if she had thought otherwise she wouldn't have bothered to initiate her. Initiating someone into reimancy was not a cheap thing offered freely, nor was any lesson offered on the subject. Her reimancy was a precious thing, nearly as important to her as her gift from Rhysol. To impart its use to another was a hefty gift indeed, one that she'd only give after knowing the person's use to her and their inner strength.

Tsaba possessed much strength within her, she was also extremely curious and willing to think outside the box for plausible solutions. If she applied herself fully Anna had no doubt that the sky would be the limit for her potential, provided she was careful.