Solo The Song Of The Wind IV

[Kelski]

Timestamp: 72nd of Fall 518 A.V.

Continued From: The Song Of The Wind III

The Kelvic tilted her head at Gilthas, trilled softly, and looked puzzled. “So… how do we find out what my first element is?” She asked, her vision more focused inward than it was focused outward. Her silvery eyes had lost their luminous quality and had settled into the harder steel of her calm repose.

Gilthas took on a teaching quality to his voice again. “Remember the taste of my Res? Remember the feel of it? You know what it is… you just want to know what it can do now. Recall that taste, that texture, that scent, that wholeness about it. Reach down and pull from your well, Kelski, your core… and bring up the djed. You’ve done it hundreds of times using auristics or working on shielding. But this time form Res. Lock your will around the djed and mold it, Kelski… turn it into Res. Then gently expel it. You can pool it in your hands, expel it from your eyes, even breathe it out. But get control of it early. Delve into yourself… sink Kelski… and show is what your element is.” The Eth said with a patient voice, folding his hands in front of him, elbows on the table in a position of patient study. He watched his new daughter, curious and hopeful, knowing this was just another test in a series of tests she’d have as a mage.

Kelski nodded.

She took a deep breath, then a second one, and knew exactly where her core was. She tapped the well there and felt the djed surge upwards, eagerly answering her summons. In fact, she felt oddly overfull with it, as if her initiation from Gilthas had caused her to swell with power, thrum with it, and she itched to use it. It was an odd feeling, being ‘bloated’ with a foreign power. The Sea Eagle pulled at the power, did as Gilthas instructed, and pictured the Res as his was.

Nothing happened.

Kelski frowned, the djed burning in her waiting for a purpose. She frowned, tried again, and furrowing her brow pictured everything she could remember about Gilthas’ Res. Her Djed didn’t reform into Res. It just pooled in her throat, as if she had food choking her causing her to shudder.

“Not as easy as you thought it would be, is it?” Her instructor rumbled, amusement in his tone.

“Kelski, you are a natural at so many things. Magic is one of them. I suspect its because you are a K’etir. Your family is an old one, old enough I’ve heard of them and know they are lousy with mages and money. They are so good at what they do I suspect they are lazy, none of them properly trained because they don’t bother with it. They used to rely on luck and good breeding. You can’t lean on that. And since you weren’t born among them, I don’t hold it against you. But I will make you learn things properly, Kelski. And I will not let you take shortcuts. Now… you are a jewelcutter. How do you make beautiful gemstones out of raw hunks of ore that to the untrained eye look like worthless rock?” He demanded, somewhat annoyed because he truthfully hadn’t expected her initial failure.

[Kelski]

Kelski started to open her mouth, to explain gemcutting to him, the djed still a burning pool of power in her throat. But she stopped, suddenly understanding.

Gilthas didn’t need told how to cut gems. She just needed to apply what she knew about jewelcrafting and use it on the djed to transform it to Res. So she closed her eyes, bowed her head slightly, and cupped her awareness around the djed like she would cup her hands around a raw hunk of ore… turning and looking at each and every angle to see where the best cut would be.

The djed reacted in a similar manner, twisting and turning in her grasp, as if eager to be tasked like she would a shield. Kelski formed the picture of the Res.. its taste, touch, smell…. all in her mind and twisted the image around then infused it into the djed pooled in her throat. The Djed shifted into the Res almost instantly and Kelski gasped and exhaled in relief, the Res pushing its way out of her throat as she did so.

A glittering vaporous ethereal cloud manifested instead of Gilthas’ translucent thick gel. It sparkled with deep violet and blue particles that gleamed with power. Kelski blinked, and the vaporous substance turned into a mischievous breeze that zipped all about her, reflecting her delight. The Kelvic gasped, surprised at the difference, and pictured not Gilthas’ gel but the vaporous glittering mist. The Res formed almost immediately, oozing from her hands, her mouth, her nose, and trailing out of her eyes like tears not restrained by gravity.

She tried to speak and choked on the substance, it forming a cloud around her.

Gilthas made a choked noise and at first she thought he was angry. She shook her head to clear the vaporous tears so she could see him and realized he was laughing. Her djed father was laughing at her! The Kelvic had a flare of temper and the Res vanished, shifting to air that whirled around her violently for a moment before vanishing into nothing.

“Go figure. A Sea Eagle’s first element is Air. It’s a hard one, Kelski…. a hard one to master for a student. I would say you unlucky, but I always feel like the Res knows what it is doing. You conquer Air and the rest will come far easier to you.” He said with a gleam in his eye, his mirth leaking away now that he suddenly realized his djed daughter could summon tornadoes with a thought, especially if she couldn’t control her temper. Perhaps the Eth thought it best not to laugh at her, glad suddenly that Kelski was normally fairly level headed.

“Why does it feel like I’m overfull… like my well is flooding my body. Is that your Res? The initiation?” She asked, not sure.

[Kelski]

The Ancient Eth Mage nodded. "Yes… it’s a little like leeching, initiating a student. Only the gift is willingly given and the Res important in your molding. It’s just not today that it will work for you. It’s just not in that moment when we cut each other and you accepted that which was me into you. It will remain with you for some time until your body naturally absorbs and balances it. Exercising and burning off some of it using the magics you are familiar with will really help. So too will running, working in your shop, doing all the things you love doing. But give it a few days. You will balance out.” He assured her, looking amused all over again.

"Mages in the before times always left the Res with their students. After the Valterrian, mages took it back. Even a commodity like Res was considered precious. Accept mine though. It is freely given and won't be rescinded." He said with a grin.


The Kelvic nodded slowly, grateful this man was her Djed Father.


“It feels good to have a student again, Kelski. Thank you for letting me be your teacher. One day, when you are in your advanced years… you will understand the value of having children, students, lovers, and friends that need you. Cherish them when they come forth. They will keep you young.” He assured her, then went back into his teaching mode.


“Now… there are hazards with what you wield. You can always harm yourself with what you craft once you have transmuted your Res into your element. With you, my dear, the air can be stolen from your lungs just as you could pull the air from someone else’s lungs. I know I did not touch on that, but there is much you can do with Res and I will talk about that in a moment. Before then though, understand that once you transform your Res, it can harm you. I can’t say that enough. You will have a gentler transition than most, for air is not immediately as deadly as Earth or Fire. Fire Reimancers are in the most danger, especially after they have been initiated. Many have gone up in flames, not immune to their own fire. Water is perhaps the least dangerous element, but you can still drown in your own transmuted creation. Anything you make from Res, Kelski, is magical. It mimics the real element, but it is wholly magical. You can see it with auristics. You can feel it, taste it, know it as a mage. Make no mistake, Kelski. You need to know it each and every time. For once your Res is tasked, the element formed, it cannot be unmade back into Res. Only you can manipulate your Res. No one else can, nor can you manipulate anyone else’s Res.” He said firmly, studying her intently, making sure she was paying attention.

A lot had changed for the Kelvic. He knew that. And he also knew that he needed to feed her teachings slowly, carefully, making sure she understood each part before they moved on. It would take her the whole of her life to understand the truth of her existence. All mages were like that. And perhaps it wasn’t so much that it would take her whole life, however long that life was, for her to understand the truth of her existence. It was perhaps more accurate to say that it would take the whole of her life to DEFINE her existence.

Gils smiled slowly, feeling the pleasure of teaching again, of having responsibility for another life. It gave him a new purpose now that he was free and his defined existence wasn’t his acquisition of freedom.

[Kelski]

“Kelski. Listen. You can also combine elements and make para-elements as well. Fire and Air make lightening. Water and Air can make ice. Fire and Earth can make lava. If you do not know what that is, don’t worry, it is not something you need to know now right now. I doubt there are many volcanoes in and around Sunberth, or even Lhavit where you were before. The point simply is, combinations of what you can do with your power either as a singular element or combined are limited only by your skill and creativity.” He chuckled, then moved on.

Kelski listened intently, watching the emotions on his face, and trying to absorb what he said. Her mind was often like a sponge absorbing information and yet she questioned everything. Gilthas proved good at anticipating those questions and answering them beforehand. And yet somehow, after this day and her initiation, he seemed more alive. His face had acquired an animation that it lacked before. He picked up gestures, reaching up to brush his overly long hair out of his eyes. He even smiled. It was fascinating to her and she watched him curiously.

Even as she studied him, he continued, taking her scrutiny as a hint of boredom or a waning attention span. Gilthas’ cure for such things were more learning. “So, you should clearly understand now that Res is just a physical manifestation of your bodies energy, its djed. Many things are attracted to djed and even feed on it. You have a good deal of it, Kelski, so be ware of that." Gilthas remarked, pausing for a breath in his teaching.

After a moment, he continued. "Also understand that its appearance varies greatly. Yours is obviously different than mine. You can emit it from your body anywhere you’d like. Generally, we use the hands, in the area of our original initiation scars, but obviously it can be breathed out or even shat out of a mage if they so choose. Because it is yours, you can have absolute control over its flow and what it does, relevant to your skill and the distances you can be useful with it at.” Gilthas took a breath, looked thoughtful, and continued.

He had Kelski’s full attention now.

“When you begin, Kelski, you will as I’ve said only use one element. Your production of Res will be slow, careful, and your control will be limited. You will be able to wield it within a couple of feet. As you get better, you will gain a second element and be able to combine them. You’ll get faster at generating and manipulating your Res. Your reach will be ten feet or more, and your speed and accuracy will be better but far from perfect. As time and practice happen, you’ll gain your third. Many mages stop here. You can affect the entirety of a small building, large room, and gain more control and speed." Pausing to regroup, Gilthas took a breath then continued.

"And finally, when your fourth element comes, your control will be effortless. You can produce astonishing amounts, but your control will be limited to line of sight and how fast your Res can get there. Being an Air Reimancer, Kelski, means you’ll be fast. They always tend to be. And your control will be better. It will have to be. Fire Reimancers tend to be fiery, fierce, and uncontrolled. Earth Reimancers have the best control, it comes earlier, but they are slow… like the earth itself is slow. Water… water is fluid, beautiful, and easy to produce, and fast like the rain.” The Ancient Eth said gently, hopeful he was answering her questions.

[Kelski]

In fact, Gilthas was answering Kelski's questions. Kelski was definitely getting a lot of information fed to her at once. Not that she minded, but it was uncanny how a question would pop into her mind and Gilthas would be answering it even as it filled her awareness.

The Kelvic shifted, nodded, and looked thoughtful. “You said you’d tell me more about Res… its properties and how it can do more things than just BECOME an element.” The Kelvic said, reminding him to go full circle.

Gilthas nodded. “So, some of this I have touched on, but let’s cover all the basics together. Res can be transformed from one form to another. Meaning you can make Res solid or gaseous, liquid or make it one large solid form or a thousand tiny solid forms. Its ultimate end is up to you. If you work with Res, even transmuted, up close, your control is fairly absolute. But as you push it away from you and gain distance, Res is less likely to listen to your will and you loose control. Accuracy and control at a distance only comes with practice. You will learn that fine manipulation is the best achieved when Res is still in Res form. That means if you transform something into a ball, for example…. “ Gilthas reached out and a ball of his gel-like translucent Res floated in front of him.

She watched as he hardened the outside to fire, flames licking up it. Then he split the sphere in two, so she could see that like a perfectly round egg. The fire only became fire in a thin layer on the outside - shell- while the inside was still swirling Res much like a liquid yoke.

“So, the vast majority of this sphere is Res. The fire is only on the outside. My power and my control will come if I keep most of it Res – thus more attuned to me – and only ignite the rest of it into Res when I get close to my target.” He explained. “You can do the same with your Air. And with you, its important to remember that density is up to you as well. Air Reimancers quickly get good at breaking their falls, floating on air, or creating what appears to be invisible stairways or ladders by only manipulating blocks of Res beneath them. Air can be manipulated multiple ways, almost unlimited. But there is more… so much more. Let me explain…” Gilthas said, even as the Kelvic let the possibilities explode in her mind.

Idea after idea whirled through her mind, each and every one she wanted to try right then and there. Gilthas could see the eagerness on his Kelvic’s face, but he raised a hand. “No practice, Kelski, until you completely hear me out. You need not only encouragement but warnings. For there are a great deal of cautions to take as well.” He added.

The Sea Eagle nodded, dialing back her creativity, bidding it to wait until the right time.

Continued in: The Song Of The Wind V

[Kelski]

G R A D E S

Kelski

Reimancy: +5, Arcanology +3, Endurance +2, Logic +3, Interrogation +2

Reimancy: Her Element Is Air, Reimancy: Her Color And Texture Of Her Res, K’etir: The Family Is Old And Lousy With Mages, Reimancy: Thinking Like A Jewelcrafter To Deal With Magic, Reimancy: Kelski’s Res Is A Translucent Thick Gel That Sparkles With Deep Violent and Blue Particles, Reimancy: Can Hurt Yourself With Your Element, Reimancy: Para Elements – What They Are/Do, Reimancy: Where/How To Release Res From One’s Body, Reimancy: More Elements Acquired As Skillset Builds, Reimancy: What Kind Of Control To Expect Based On How Many Elements One Has, Reimancy: The Many Forms Of Res, Reimancy: How To Transform Res, Reimancy: Control Close Up – Inaccurate And Lack Of Control At A Distance Unless Practiced, Reimancy: Air Reimancers Get Good At Breaking Falls, Floating On Air, Creating Invisible Stairways Or Ladders, Reimancy: Air Can Be Manipulated Multiple Almost Unlimited Ways

Acquisition: None