Hope

Irwyn ended up finding Alice not far, loitering with a gaggle of almost a third of the company’s mages who had gathered just around the corner. They seemed to be in the middle of either gossip or fearful muttering. It ended up being the Time mage herself who stepped up to ascertain the situation for everyone.

“Everything is quite fine,” Irwyn gave his best nonchalant shrug. “You seem to have overblown this out of proportion in your heads. Our guests are already gone.”

“And these ‘guest’ were…” Alice begun skeptically.

“Presumably confidential,” Irwyn interrupted. “I am sure her Ladyship will inform anyone who needs to know if it comes to it."

“They appeared in the middle of the camp without the slightest trace,” one of the soldiers Irwyn did not recognize spoke up. “Of course everyone is freaking out.”

“Nor even the slightest spacial fluctuation when they left,” Alice added.

“Is it so strange that powerful mages visit a daughter of House Blackburg?” Irwyn inclined his head and applied a misdirection. It was probably for the best given their visitors had not been mortal in nature. “They had business and my involvement was agreed upon. That is all anyone needs to know unless our Captain says so.”

“Not much of a gossip, are you?” Alice harrumphed which seemed to make a few of the mages behind her stare at her back with wide eyes.

“You can ask her yourself if you have more curiosity than sense,” Irwyn shrugged. “Your meeting is still after lunch.”

“I think I will,” Alice nodded, then turned away.

Some of the mages seemed still staggered by her mannerisms though most quickly dispersed. But that did not mean that the simple conversation had sunk all the tensions. The mortal soldiers knew far less but that perhaps only made it worse. It had to be quite stressful to see the mages themselves get so visibly nervous and the word had clearly gone around in that brief time frame – Irwyn could see that. Unmaking that was not Irwyn’s job… but he had little else to do. So he decided to mostly walk around the camp in his uniform until lunch, showing that he was doing quite fine.

After the meal Elizabeth had gone to the upstairs offices with the newly arrived Alice, committing to a meeting Irwyn would take no part of this time. They did not talk too long before he was invited up, in any case. When Irwyn reached the top floor, Elizabeth had brewed fresh tea for him, making herself a second cup while Alice was still only halfway through the first. It seemed lukewarm at that point.

“As I planned yesterday, we have reached an agreement that Alice will be a second liaison between the army and your friends,” Elizabeth announced as he sat down.

“Alright,” Irwyn nodded. “I can give her a bit of a crash course on the Tears and such.”

“When am I to be introduced to your illegal contacts then?” Alice said with a good deal of mirth and excitement.

“I have scheduled a visit for tomorrow,” Irwyn nodded. “We can talk now though.”

“Yes, that might be for the best,” Alice nodded.

“I would also like to hear more,” Elizabeth chimed in.

And so Irwyn ended up explaining about the Tears and Ebon Respite’s underworld in general. With some hesitation, he mentioned the honing of his friends and some of the dynamics. He had actually remembered the young boy with a spark of magic and asked for advice – Elizabeth strongly recommended getting an education as a mage before they accidentally crippled themselves. With the conversation sprawling into various directions and jumping away from the topic it was over an hour later that Alice excused herself.

“We should probably focus on training more,” Elizabeth mused as their third left.

“We both are practicing, pretty much daily,” Irwyn pointed out. He usually did right before sleep.

“I mean dedicate all the free time we can to it,” Elizabeth shook her head. “Rest and leisure are also important… but I am starting to feel like I have been too unfocused recently.”

“I get the sense of urgency,” Irwyn nodded. “Though I doubt we will achieve much in time. Even if we reach conception before the War ends it would be of limited use.”

“Not as such,” Elizabeth shook her head. “This Lich War could sprawl over many years. And the two of us will likely sprint to the end of conception at a breakneck pace. Much faster than imbuement is taking us.”

“Is that so?” Irwyn paused. “Why do you think that.”

“Well, it is in the nature of what each attainment represents,” Elizabeth explained. “The very first step of a mage is to learn how to summon mana into your Vessel and circulate it. Then to draw and maintain the magic outside their body. You have mastered those so quickly that you might as well have skipped those novice stages - so have I and most prodigies. But keep in mind that those with meagre potential may very well spend months in training before they can achieve any spellcraft at all. You have seen that many of our mages cannot wield a single intention despite some of them being older than 40. Many factors apply to this but the most important in these two steps is raw affinity to your elements.”

“Then a mage learns to imbue intentions. They must twist their mind. In essence, imbuement is about thought. About being able to split your mind into too many incomprehensibly complex details. Of course, affinity, Soul, as well as other advantages still apply, but ultimately to pass through imbuement you must sharpen your mind beyond mortality. Reforge it into a tool of magic, then continuously refine it.”

“My mind is not that much faster,” Irwyn pointed out.

“How much do you think you can push something like the human brain? Each multiple will inevitably be harder than the last as you force more performance from the same physical grey matter. You are doing quite fine,” Elizabeth inclined her head. “And it’s not just about being faster but being better at parsing magic. Have you not noticed that magic is so much easier in comparison to everything else? That lifting your hand requires more attention than beckoning a firestorm?”

“Yes, I suppose I have,” Irwyn conceded. “Only, it was a long time ago. Before reaching Abonisle I have found that I could split my mind far better when directing magic than I could otherwise, when reading a book for example.”

“Since then the ratio has almost certainly increased by a decimal, perhaps two,” Elizabeth nodded. “You are refining both the raw cognition at your beckon as well as improving its suitability for spellcasting. That is the essence of imbuement. Of course, your raw talent still accelerates how quickly you achieve this as well as other advantages you take for granted that would make others seethe with envy.”

“Such as?” Irwyn raised an eyebrow curiously.

“It’s better to let you demonstrate,” she smiled. “Could you create a Flame spell with, let’s see, intentions of arbitration, twenty-seven, forgiveness and perpetuity?”

“Sure,” Irwyn shrugged and did so a hoop of solid flames appearing. He was unsure what direction she was going but it was as easy as breathing, perhaps easier.

“See, you take it so for granted you have no idea what exactly you are even doing,” she grinned at him.

“Doing what?”

“Arbitration, an advanced principle loaded with much interpretation. Useful for certain types of divination, interrogation or spells targeting criminal elements. Eased by a background in law or its enforcement,” she paused, staring at Irwyn while maintaining the smile. “An average suitable mage capable of one intention spells can expect to grasp it within two to three months.”

“What?” Irwyn asked, caught off guard.

“Twenty-three, a number turned into intention,” she continued over his surprise. “Turning something detached from linguistic meaning and interpretation adds major difficulty, especially to those with no prior experience. Numbers are the most common of these as they have a use in highly complex enchantments interlaying countless spells. A suitable mage can expect a breakthrough with the logical leaps of numbers in two to three months and then a work day or two on each new number.”

“Forgiveness, a loaded emotional intention. Suitable mages who have experienced such strongly can learn it within a month, non-suitable have an unusual divergence, as is common with emotion-bound intentions, of four months. Perpetuity, in principle simple enough. Two months on average.”

“Do mages usually… learn intentions?” Irwyn realized the implication with complete bafflement.

“Yes, they do Irwyn,” she laughed at his expense. “In fact, it is half of what imbuement mages do. Those with ambitions for conception plan out which intentions they will target to speed up their progress. Carefully walking the line between countless hours of effort and situational powers. In the meantime, you don’t even slow down just making them up on the spot.”

“Can you do that?” Irwyn asked.

“Most I can grasp within seconds,” she nodded. “I may take a few minutes with those particularly unsuitable. Do understand, we are a ridiculous rarity in this. For a while, I thought you knew, but at in Abonisle, I realized you had no idea.”

“And Alice, to benchmark?” Irwyn asked. Alice was, by all means, a prodigy as well after all.

“Presumably hours, maybe minutes with the ring, though estimation is difficult,” Elizabeth shrugged. “This is more a side effect of an exceptional Soul - it is your inner essence that interprets and integrates magic for you to use. I have little indication of how powerful her Soul actually is.

“Alright, this was definitely a blind spot I somehow missed…” Irwyn paused thinking back. There were probably some conversations that had come up in, and he had not realized. Though what actually stirred memory were the books. They would occasionally reference something like ‘learning intentions’ and such. Irwyn had paid it no mind at the time - absorbed in learning the other contents, blinded by a misunderstanding - though in hindsight it was obvious. “Yes, that sounds very inconvenient for the average mage now that I hear about it.”

“Many have just a few intentions they use and rush towards conception,” Elizabeth nodded.

“For all the books I read I am still unsure what exactly is required to grasp a concept,” Irwyn inclined his head. The books on magic he had been given were mostly censured of some secrets. Elizabeth was not when she spoke. “Or why you think we will pass it quickly, which I think was the original topic.”

“To reach conception you need to inscribe a single concept. We use that word because you quite literally write it onto your soul,” Elizabeth explained. “For that, you first must discover one, either by trial and error - a dangerous proposition for most - or by following a known combination of 9 intentions necessary for it. It’s basically a linguistic association puzzle, except using the wrong solution has the tendency to severely wound you.”

“Should I be worried?” Irwyn paused. “What if my writing problem extends to this.”

“I don’t see your soul being in any danger of being scorched by neither Light nor Flame, should that be the case. If that indeed happens… We can look for solutions then,” Elizabeth paused. “There are many ways to help or bypass some of the requirements. It’s quite difficult for people who need to carefully learn each intention going into their chosen concept, or don’t have raw talent and soul resilience to survive a miss-step. Of course, any mage has the option of enrolling into the academia where they will be educated in how to safely progress, even helped with planning what exact intentions they will need for the concepts they fancy inscribing much later into their career.”

“With a mild indoctrination on the side,” Irwyn presumed.

“Well, House Blackburg is not exactly a charity,” Elizabeth shrugged. “The mages with no backing get secrets and education, we get bodies unlikely to run from the next Lich War or actively work against our interests during peacetime.”

“And conception will be a breeze for us because…?” Irwyn steered away and back to the original topic, hopefully for the last time.

“Right,” Elizabeth nodded. “Imbuement is mainly a test of the mind. Conception is a test of the Soul. As I said, you need to inscribe concepts onto it. That means that they must ‘fit’. Too weak of a soul and you will be unable to bear even one. And that is why we will have no trouble, Irwyn. Our Souls already have the power to bear several, maybe all 9. Moreover, they have much greater potential to grow rapidly if that is not the case - each concept will nurture and stimulate such progress further.”

“So all that will slow us down is how quickly we can ‘inscribe’ them,” Irwyn nodded.

“Which is still an involved process and requires breaks in-between,” Elizabeth affirmed. “But it will be much faster than our gradual amelioration through imbuement. Months rather than years.”

“What about domains then?” Irwyn asked with curiosity. “In your comparison allegory.”

“Test of everything,” Elizabeth shrugged.

“How… simple,” Irwyn squinted slightly.

“A lot of circumstances usually need to align for even a chance at attaining a domain,” Elizabeth replied. “Fraction of a fraction of a fraction ever achieve it. Too weak a soul and it will shatter; too little talent and it will elude every grasping reach; too little skill will lead only to a stumble; and too little time results in a wilting death before meeting the requirements. Remember the Ambassador from the Duchy of Red? He has been bottlenecked at the peak of conception for centuries yet had never taken the final step. His case is only unique in the longevity. Not to mention the trouble involved in actually choosing what domain to attain.”

“That makes a difference then?” Irwyn observed.

“Much like how concepts are formed from intentions, domains are born from concepts,” Elizabeth nodded. “Except they are not actually created. There is a reason the terminology is ‘attain’, not made or anything such. Domains are principles of magic, the underlying mechanisms from which laws stem. They are, in a way, omnipresent with some exceptions. Attaining one entails first aligning 9 appropriate concepts, then convincing the very essence of reality that you would make a worthy host for it.”

“This has a cost. Each domain puts perpetual strain on the Vessel - the term becomes more appropriate than just ‘body’ at such level - and constantly drains tremendous quantities of mana. If the mage survives the attainment process and manages to offset the downsides, they become inhabited by said domain and can begin to wield its principle with exceptional potency. More importantly, they can pour practically infinite quantities of mana to empower the principle further… with diminishing returns.“

“Take Dervish for example. His domains are BLADE, SEVERENCE, and ELEMENTAL VOID. He had excellent affinity with them and managed to attain them essentially as soon as his Vessel and Soul could bear it, in that order. He had almost completely stalled in his progress since.”

“That does make sense,” Irwyn admitted. “Though wouldn’t he have attained ELEMENTAL VOID first? It seems kind of important for a literal Void mage.”

“It’s not like he could not wield Void magic just because he did not grasp the Domain,” Elizabeth shook her head. “He would still conjure his weapons using Void magic, and although he would have been able to make them more powerful the domain of BLADEs simply had a far greater impact. It is also an issue of affinity. Convincing a domain you would be a worthwhile bearer can often come down to personal affinity… or so I am told. I have chosen to not learn too many details.”

“Choice, rather than it being a secret,” Irwyn noted.

“There are few secrets of magic my father would not divulge if I truly desired,” Elizabeth nodded. “But to learn the exact details before even making an attempt stymies potential to vanquish a bit of risk in return. Same with many great achievements. How could I possibly have the ambition to one day claim a Name if I don’t dare sharpen myself throughout the journey?”

“No shortcuts, no held hands,” Irwyn nodded. “I agree with that. Earning power myself is enticing. As long as I am not heading in the totally wrong direction.”

“Nothing wrong with looking from the shoulders of giants to see over the tree line - just as long as we climb down and make the journey ourselves,” Elizabeth smiled. “That has always been my philosophy.”

“Speaking of philosophy, I suppose there is plenty of time until dinner,” Irwyn nodded.

“Hours still for improvement,” she nodded. “As many as a day can fit without draining our spirits.”

“I will see you later then,” Irwyn nodded, then went to his room. All that talk of power has certainly set his blood ablaze a bit, making his following practice both tantalizing and frustratingly inefficient. How long would it take him to reach conception, he wondered.