Chapter 15

Alexandra opens a link to her father's home crossing into her rooms there. It has been much easier upon her since learning and mastering these links, she may now easily go home to bathe and obtain fresh clothing. This allows her access to all her clothing rather than just the small portion which she may keep at the Sister's Conclave. It also reduces the workload at the Conclave since they will not be responsible for cleaning her clothing. The spells she has placed at the closet here will do that while keeping everything fresh and as new looking as possible.

She must talk with Andrew about that, his clothing is beginning to appear a little shabby and she is not about to have her husband, or husband to be, start looking like some vagabond. He seems to care but hasn't done anything to preserve his clothing. He cannot make it new again but there is no need for it to become shabby due to neglect. Then too, any clothes he purchases new will last far longer with the proper spells on his closet.

After her bath and change of clothes, Alexandra searches out her father who is, of course, down in the library reading, the thimble size globe floating several feet up and behind him providing light to aid his ailing eyes. ‘Perhaps when Alice learns more, I will bring her here to see what may be done to help him.'

"Hello, Father."

"Alexandra! I'm so glad to see you. I could use a hug from my favorite daughter."

"Father, I am your only daughter."

"So that makes it easier for you to be my favorite, doesn't it?"

She rolls her eyes at his feigned logic and not only gives him a hug but kisses him on the cheek.

"Alexandra, I'm so glad you are able to return here so often. The household is still well under your control and things are always quite in order. You are here to grace the halls and gladden my heart."

"Father, you don't need to be a politician with me."

"Politician? Me?"

"Yes you. Now you wouldn't be saying all this if you didn't want something, so out with it."

"I don't want anything. I'm just glad to see you again."

"Father, I was just here yesterday afternoon. Besides, I know you well enough to know you need something done and, since you are flattering me, it must need magic to accomplish it. Why don't you have one of your sorcerers do it?"

"They cannot control the new magic."

"I continually tell you Father, the magic didn't change. The way we control it did."

"Whatever. The old way cannot make these little globes of light and I was wondering if you could produce some for us to use at the Assembly. The spelled candles work well, but the Assembly is so vast that the candles, although brighter, cannot dispel the shadows. The other legislators see me enter and there is this circle of light all around me. I cannot accomplish anything while they are all trying to use the light and jabbering away in their attempts to find reasons to stay close by. Three or four small globes could be used to light the entire assembly bright as day."

Alexandra smiles as she shakes her head.

"Alex, don't say no. Please, just come and look."

"I'm not saying no, Father. But I would like to discuss this with Andrew to see what ideas he may come up with. There may be other solutions. How are the legislators to see well in their own offices for instance. The difference in light will be quite pronounced if even the spelled candles cannot produce sufficient light to dispel the shadows and allow easy reading. If we accompany you to the Assembly and look everywhere then perhaps a better solution will present itself."

"Thank-you Alexandra. I told them I would ask about it. Now that is out of the way, what brings you here to visit? Your suitor not living up to expectations?"

"FATHER. Andrew is being very nice. He has been and is being a perfect gentleman. I have come because of a new class we have just begun. A class for Sorcerers and Sorceresses of the old way. They must be willing to embrace new concepts and to receive training. Hopefully after several months they will be able to offer more to the household than the old ways allow. How many do you have working for you now? The last I knew there were twelve."

"I recently added two more. How will you decide which of them will be trained in the new way?"

"We must test them. It's a little complicated to explain but the test will show which are most adept at learning this way and two of those will be accepted into the class."

"When and where will this test occur?"

"As soon as possible, I think. The class began a week ago so there will be some need to overtake those who have already had some training. The test will be in the Shambles. This is due to the need to remove the persons being tested from the area with which they are familiar. If they are able to reach back then it proves they are using the new magic. The old way cannot reach so far."

Her father thinks about this for a moment as she adds, "Those who are younger in their control seem more able to accept the new methods. One way of controlling the magic seems to inhibit or at least reduce the ability to use the other."

"I have four here who came out of the Training centers less than three years ago. So I suppose they are the ones most likely to be able to accept the new way."

"I hope so. We have found that those who have the greatest difficulty with the old control are the easiest ones to whom to teach the new."

"In that case you should probably take Phillip and Tully. They seem to botch about half of what they attempt and I haven't had the heart to dismiss them."

"Just because they are inept doesn't mean they have difficulty with the old way. With the choice of Phillip, I agree, but I was thinking of Lola as the other."

"Lola? She uses the magic without a problem."

"True. But she cannot use it strongly, nor does she come up with new ideas and place them into practice. She has lots of ideas but she cannot find a way to accomplish them with the old way. All right, allow me borrow all three for testing and perhaps also ‘Friar Tuck'."

"Gordon? Why in the world would you want Gordon? He is a healer and is otherwise about as useful at magic as a toadstool."

"That is exactly why I want to test him. Because he IS a healer and because he cannot easily control magic the old way."

"All right. When will this occur?"

"Sometime soon I think. Possibly this week-end. I'll let you know as soon as Andrew and I talk again."

"I'll tell them to be ready at a moments notice. I can't believe you want to test Gordon," he says shaking his head, "When he goes to training I hope you will remember not to call him ‘Friar Tuck'. He allows that only from you because that is what you started calling him ten years ago when he first came here."

"I'll remember Father. Thank-you. I need to return to the Sisterhood. Are there any problems here that I need to know about before I go?"

"Not a one. You keep this place running ‘like a well lubricated water wheel'. That reminds me, remember that crazy old man down by Granite Hole? The old guy invented a clock that actually works. It runs by water. The mechanism is driven by a small stream of water which is held in a tank above it. The tank may hold several hundred liters so it may run for several days as the water flows down to another tank below it. Someone may take the water back up to the top tank in buckets or the wind may run a pump which moves it back up. It only needs to be adjusted about once a week and water added for that which evaporates. How about that? The first working clock in what, maybe eighty years?"

Alexandra agrees this is a good thing, and giving her father another kiss on his cheek and a hug to accompany it, she opens a link to her room at the Sisterhood then walks across. Looking back she slowly closes the link only to discover herself to be in a dark room. "Candle, light," she says, annoyed, as the room fills with light. Going to her candle she changes the spell so that it will light when she enters the room as well as allowing the vocal on-off control.

As the hour is not terribly late, Alexandra rings Andrew who chimes back a few seconds later. She opens the link to find Andrew putting on his tunic, while standing in his room at the Conclave. "Andrew? I have spoken to Father and will have four to be tested whenever you are ready. One of them is a healer."

"I also have four from my Father and there will be four more from the Elijah's House for testing. We could do it tomorrow immediately following lunch. I may take the eight from the Survivor and you the four from the Shambles. We could take an early lunch for the children and conduct this testing during the hour or so following lunch. That would allow us to begin our afternoon schedule slightly late but we could add the new trainees to our existing group.

Speaking of them. There are five who cannot seem to do well with the new method so I think I may ask Gabriel to remove and hold them for future training so we do not slow the progress of our present group. That means we could add a few and still not have so many that we are overwhelmed. In three weeks we are to have our first group of children in the morning with the new group of children in the afternoon. I don't know how we will fit in the adults, possibly integrate them with the morning children although I don't believe that would work out so well.

Maybe you could give that some thought. I don't want to break up our winning combination of you, Missii, Kayla and myself. With the SaVannah sisters present as well, the children seem to consider the training as fun but of increased importance since there are Felines there to help with the training. Strange how that seems to mean something to the children, isn't it?"

"Perhaps it is because so few of them have seen Felines."

"Possibly Alexandra. Then too maybe they think the training is important because it is being taught by some who are not human teachers. Who knows how children think."

"I think it is the excitement of having a teacher who is obviously another race. Sometimes that may be an incentive to children. They like to try to prove they may be as worthy as someone of the race who is teaching. I best go now, Andrew. I'll tell Father we will be testing just after an early noon meal."

"All right. Tell him we will hold the noon meal an hour early and begin immediately after, so they should likely be at the garden promptly at the start of the usual noon meal."

Ring, Chime.

The following morning finds our four teachers involved heavily in the training of the children, the magical seal has been removed from Jeremy far before two weeks with his promise to always seek approval from an adult before he attempts to produce solutions from his ideas.

The morning class has found itself moved into the countryside. The SaVannah sisters each are wearing armor and carrying sheathed weapons. The children occasionally glancing toward them in puzzlement then all around them in some apprehension. Alexandra leads them to a small lake/ large pond which is fed by a waterfall of perhaps five meters height. Here they again practice their links and then attempt some new and decidedly interesting spells.

A very small amount of water dropping from the falls is placed under magical control and is diverted from near the top of the falls to follow an invisible channel through the air toward the fields about 30 meters distant. Each child is given the opportunity to create a sub-channel which will accept a small portion of the diverted water whenever it flows and that diversion will be sent into a furrow upon the fields.

Through the use of magic, water may be easily taken from the source back at the pond and it will flow down until it irrigates the fields which are soon to be planted. A test of this method of supply is conducted with moderately good results and the vocal command of the flow is successful. The greatest problem occurs whenever there is a high breeze as that tends to partially upset the magically ‘solidified' air which is providing the path for the water and that causes leaks and loss of part of the diverted water much to the delight of the children who are making a game of either plugging the leaks or creating new sheets of air to allow the water to be brought under control again.

In a few minutes they are creating channels to take some of the fallen water over the heads of the others thereby gradually soaking everyone. Once the adults have the children back under control and warming spells are used to allow them to dry and not become chilled, the only other problem is one of the disintegration of the entire channel system when all efforts to sustain it cease.

Construction of a permanent channel system is the necessary answer but the magic has proven the feasibility of the project. The children enjoy their outing and are happy to experiment with this, a practical application of their magic. One of the boys asks if he may magically fell a few trees and use of them to make the channels. He is given permission to topple several small trees to begin the project, "Strictly as a test, mind you."

In a few minutes he and several others are busily applying magic to the project with larger branches used as the sub-channels and the trunks split lengthways then hollowed to provide the main channel path. Magic is placed upon the portion of the trunk which is near the falls so the water may be turned on and off. Smaller branches are used to support the trunk. The idea actually produces a few minutes of water for the fields before it all collapses under the weight of the moving water.

"I still think it could work. We just need to give it better support so several trees will need to be used for that, and maybe some nails to help hold it all together. We could make a movable scoop for the end at the falls and control it magically like we control the candles. Then anyone could operate it."

"Possibly. Not too bad for a first attempt."

Each of the children is given the chance to magically till the soil and very quickly the fields are filled with loose soil and long furrows nearly ready for planting, thus in one morning's time several days work has been accomplished and large portions of these fields are ready to be planted by the feeders.

"We will during the next week go to the homes of each of your families and prepare a small plot of land before planting some spelled seeds so that your families may raise fruit and berries to eat. This will also give each of you greater experience in the control of the seeds and land which you may add to the experience you gained nearly a month past. This time, however, each of you will be spelling your own seeds rather than my preparing them for you. During the next two days you will learn how to spell the seeds. It is a little tricky so you will need to pay attention.

Each of you will spell twenty two seeds, the first six, one at a time, we will plant as an experiment to see how well you controlled the magic spells you will place on the seeds. That will give you five chances to alter your spells after learning what mistakes you have made on the previous seed. After that, all mistakes are something you will need to live with, or you will need to end the spells on the remaining seeds. Future magic will become increasingly complex.

Sometimes as many as eight spells may be in use at once. The candles were a good start for your multiple spell attempts since, as you recall, there are four spells involved in making the spelled candles. One to change the rate of conversion of the wax, one change the heat to light ratio, one to change the color and brilliance, and one to turn it on and off. The seeds will be a little more complex and just as with the candle, the spelling of the seeds must be accomplished in a certain order."

The children have been very quiet, listening to every word. Some are nodding their heads in understanding as they think about the pattern necessary to spell a candle. Others are thinking about how quickly they have been able to apply the spells to the candle, the order of the spells nearly a natural thing for them now.

A few have not memorized the pattern but spent their time learning the reasoning behind the pattern, this allows them to easily accomplish the spells as well as giving them some insight into other multiple spell casts. Physical laws apply and they must make changes which will still be accepted by those laws in order to accomplish the end result of the multi-casts. Recently they learned to create walls of air which seem so solid that they are not easily penetrated. The speed with which one attempts the penetration is the key. Fast attempts bounce off, very slow movement allows gradual but complete penetration.

The walls vanish the moment the person stops thinking about maintaining them but they do exist for so long as the person casting the spell may continue to concentrate upon it. Heating or cooling something may also be accomplished but when the control is removed the item slowly returns to room temperature unless heated or cooled again. A spell linked to something like a glass and which may be likewise be linked to a small energy reservoir, which is placed with it, allows for a longer heating or cooling but there are complex limits to the amount of energy which may be placed with each spell. These energies cannot be replenished so when the energy runs out the spell dissipates requiring the placement of another spell. The ability of the person casting the spell/ energy combination also affects the longevity of the spell.

The spell to cool milk, for instance, may be placed upon a large container and energy set with it to allow the spell to continue. Once the desired temperature is obtained then the spell, if properly placed, only uses energy once in a while to maintain the temperature. This allows the spell to last much longer since the energy usage drops after the initial cooling. It also helps if you cool the milk with a separate spell beforehand as this saves the energy reservoir for use only in maintaining the cooling. If you wanted to suddenly freeze something then the simple spell is used but all the energy sent is released at once. Extremely cold, or hot, temperatures may be obtained for very short periods. The frozen or heated object then gradually changes back toward the room temperature.

In the case of cooked meat, it remains cooked and does not again become raw. Glass created by extreme heating of the necessary materials will not separate back into those materials but remains as glass, a semi-stable configuration of the combination of materials. The children's ability to work in complex magic is being thoroughly challenged. The mornings have found them more and more involved in complex castings.

The afternoons are finding the adults now rapidly approaching similar expertise and in some cases rapidly passing that of the children. Understanding of the new control no longer a mystery but an interesting challenge allowing them to accomplish everything they did under the old methods but with greater finesse and ease of casting. By now they are opening their own links and traveling from their home locations to the appropriate garden for further training and then linking home again. Two from each of the three houses, Elijah, de Toraline, and Beaumont have been added to those others who started a week prior. No one has been dropped from training, the five who started out so very slowly are now rapidly catching if not surpassing the others.

Most importantly, three of those receiving this training are Healers. Under the ministrations of Alice and Kayla they have discovered new ways of examining their "patients". The five of them traveling around, accompanied by several others who may offer energy, in order to perform minor healing here and there throughout both the Survivor and the Shambles. Their healing abilities rapidly increasing as new discoveries in technique and application appear as if by ‘magic'.

During these travels they make their way to Alice's sister and learn the nature of at least one of the ‘ailments'. Again it will be a difficult and multi-visit healing process but it appears possible. The first attempt went well and Alice is quite pleased with the outcome.

After this particularly difficult day, with no less than three complex healing's occurring, they lack the energy to return to the garden. Alice now opens a vision link to Alexandra and describes their plight requesting a link be opened to allow them to return. Moments later the link occurs using Alice's ring as the anchor and the grateful Healers walk across into the garden at Percoin where the afternoon session is just ending. Everyone disperses, with Andrew and Alexandra providing links to allow the adult healers to return to their homes.

The five of them, Alice, Kayla, Missii, and of course Andrew and Alexandra, now have their daily post training meeting to evaluate the ability of each individual who has received training or practice that day. The healers are coming along well and for some reason seem to be more adept at accepting the new control despite, in two cases, having spent many years using the older method.

The adults are being used during both morning and afternoon sessions in order both to improve their skills, and to provide additional eyes and minds to assist the children in learning. This of course assists the adults as well, one may always learn more from attempting to teach than from simply studying under another teacher.

"While we were out today we checked my sister again and did a second healing. It is very difficult. Could we bring her here so she may be watched and we have the chance to try things which may help?"

Andrew gives this some consideration, "Alexandra, what do you think?"

"There are rooms available but I think the Sisters should be given some recompense for the room, feeding and observation. Alice, who has been caring for your sister?"

"The town. Since we don't have parents we are cared for by anyone with the time to stop by and check. When I came here I started to feel much better because I had somewhere warm to sleep every night, and food every day."

"Andrew, I agree. Let's bring her here. Alice would probably be more at ease as well, knowing her sister is somewhere she will be given the help she needs every day."

"Yes. I think so too. All right, Alice let's go get her. Alexandra, would you alert the Sisters? I'll pay for the room and other costs."

"I'll talk with them now. Perhaps Alice may be moved and the two of them could stay together in one room. I'll arrange something while you're gone."

"Good. Come on Alice, I don't know where your sister might be so you will need to link to her but I'll provide the energy. After we are there you may close the link and when we are ready I'll bring us back."

"Thank you, ‘Father'"

Andrew and Alexandra glance at each other with smiles on their faces.

"Mother, does Rachel get a ring like mine? If you and Andrew are my Mother and Father now doesn't that mean you are Rachel's too?"

"Yes Alice, of course it does." and with a stern look upon her face and intent expression in her voice Alexandra directs at Andrew, "Doesn't, it Andrew?"

"I, uh, yes. Yes, she will have a ring too."

"Oh good. Then you will have two daughters.

Andrew has a somewhat bewildered look on his face and Alexandra just smiles at him as she hugs Alice.

Alice ventures, "I'll help her learn the magic. She could start the fire without matches and she always knew who was coming to see us before they arrived."

Now Andrew is suddenly interested, "Alice, when did Rachel become sick?"

"It was after Mother and Father died. She has been sick for almost two months. She's been getting very bad."

"Is it the same kind of sickness?"

"Oh no. She was having nightmares all the time and then started getting sick and no one knew what to do. She has been getting worse lately. We couldn't afford a healer and nothing else helped. Now I have enough training to help."

"Alice, I want to bring Rachel here right away. Alexandra, I think we need someone who may remove the ‘headaches' from a new sorceress."

"Oh no. You don't suppose?"

"It all fits. We'll know as soon as we bring her back and she is checked to see if it helps."

"Go. I'll tell the Sisters."

Alice and Andrew link to Rachel's bedroom startling an older lady who is trying unsuccessfully to feed Rachel some broth.

"Oh, Alice. I'm afraid Rachel is not doing well. The healers helped but now she is much the same as before. Who is this?"

"He is my teacher and we are going to take Rachel to the Sisters to get help."

Andrew give the woman a slight bow, "Hello, I'm Andrew. Alexandra and I have been teaching Alice, among others, for several months now. I think we may know what is wrong with Rachel and we need to take her with us to be examined. Thank-you for caring for her. I know it isn't enough to repay your kindness but here are a few coins to show our appreciation."

Andrew hands her nearly a dozen silver and scoops up the young girl, his impression that she is perhaps two years younger than Alice and early to be starting her magical perception now flooding his mind. Perhaps the illness is not related to magic after all. The link to Percoin is established and the three rush back into the garden with the link closing even as Andrew is chiming Alexandra so he may learn which direction to carry the girl so they may save time.

Even as he is rushing down the corridor he sees Alexandra and a Sister, with the stripes of an elder on her cloak, rushing toward him. They meet and the Sister chants a spell while placing her hand on the child's head. A second spell and even a third are also chanted and the young girl's eyes finally begin to open, great pain still evident in them.

"Does she have the talent?" Andrew asks the sister.

"Oh Yes. Very strong. She will need to be tested, but first she must be brought back to health. She should have been brought to us months ago. But this late?" The Sister shakes her head and the implication is clear, "It may take days to clear the pain just to reach the point where she may be able to eat again, then many more weeks to restore her health. Come, follow me, we have a room which the two girls may share." She smiles at Andrew, "Alexandra explained the significance of Alice's ring to us, we will try to make it possible for a second one," then she is off rushing down the corridor with the four of them following her.

Not far from Missii's room and just five down from Alexandra's, she stops and opens the door. Andrew carries Rachel into the room and Alice starts pulling down the covers on one of the two beds allowing Andrew to place the girl upon it. Alexandra chases Andrew from the room, closing the door behind him as he leaves, then turning to help undress the child and prepare her for bed.

The candle is one which has not yet been spelled so she does that almost as an afterthought and raises the temperature of the room a little to just remove the chill so the child may rest without using much energy trying to remain warm.

"Alice, you need to go bring your things from your other room to this one. This will be your new room as well as that of your sister. Don't forget to teach your kitty that this is it's new home."

"Oh she learns quickly. If I feed her here a few times, then she will always come here."

 © 2010 by Rénae Dáºmas. This work may not be replicated or presented in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the work’s Owner (copyright holder), with the exception of the private and non-commercial viewing by the reader who is also the end purchaser. ALL Rights Reserved, including but not limited to ownership of Characters, final content decision, and more. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this story are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental. Any and all images shown within this work are taken by license under Corel. Sketches are a product originated through the efforts of Terry Volkirch.. No affiliations, involvement or gender assignations through the use of the images provided by Corel, Terry Volkirch or the subjects contained within those posted images or sketches is implied or intended.
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