Before the Alka Alon stepped in and taught us Imperial magic. Only that was before the Magocracy, really, so it wasn’t exactly Imperial magic. It was just . . . human magic.”
“So what did the Alka Alon do that was so important if we were already practicing magic?” Tyndal continued to dig.
“They – you know, you could just read the text!”
“I’m just looking for context,” Tyndal insisted. “If the first magi were all wild magi, why did the Alka Alon teach them to be . . . well, civilized about it?”
“It wasn’t a matter of civilization ,” Rondal explained. “It was a matter of standardization . If each mage used their personal system of magic then working together – or even teaching magic to anyone else properly – would be hard. The Alka Alon gave us the means by which to measure the nature of magic. Like figuring out just how much energy it takes to raise one cubic centimeter of water one degree in temperature. Or to force an empty sphere of space to illuminate. The Alka Alon gave us a . . . a common language. Like theirs, only . . . dumber.”
“That . . . that makes complete sense. How come when you tell me stuff like that I remember it, but when I read it, it just . . . evaporates? ”
“I don’t know! Memory spells are Blue Magic, and I haven’t studied that yet!” Rondal was annoyed – which he didn’t mind – but that caught Tyndal’s attention like a flipped skirt.
“Wait, there are memory spells? ”
Rondal groaned and slammed his book shut. “Yes! Blue Magic! The magic of the mind and the consciousness! You are the loudest silent reader I’ve ever seen. I think I’ll go read in the courtyard!”
“Memory spells,” Tyndal said, thoughtfully, as he ignored Rondal’s huffy retreat. “I had no idea . . .”
* * *
Tyndal spent the rest of the day in the library, only he wasn’t reading any of the books on Mistress Selvedine’s list. Instead he was doing something he’d never imagined himself doing in a dozen lifetimes.
He was doing magical research. On his own.
It had never occurred to him that there might be spells that could help him learn magic. But the somewhat obscure branch of the Art known as Psychomantics, or more commonly Blue Magic, had a solid and dependable history. Blue Magic was the sorcery associated with the human mind.
Tyndal quickly discovered that the most elementary texts on the subject were not even found in the Main Library of Inarion Academy. Most of the discussions on it were in books on other subjects, though the assistant archivist informed him that there was a small but in-depth collection in one of the reserve libraries. That surprised Tyndal. He had never suspected the school would even have more than one library, but it did. Indeed, it had six.
There was the distinguished and stately Main Library, which Tyndal admitted, upon reflection, did imply that there were non -main libraries. He’d just never thought of it that way. He even recalled Master Secul mentioning more than one library. But upon inquiry with the helpful advanced student on duty at the main reference area, he learned that there were in fact six libraries at Inarion Academy.
The student librarian told him of the others: the Master’s Library (off-limits to all but faculty and reputed to be a vast repository of old examinations) and the Scriptorium Library, where commonly-used texts were kept (and where all advanced students could – and were required to, as a condition of their graduation – copy the books for their own use. And at their own expense, the student explained with disgust). There was the Enchanter’s Reference Library, a vast technical archive specific to the art, and the Student’s Reserve Library in the basement of the East Tower, where nonmagical works were kept.
And then
“So what did the Alka Alon do that was so important if we were already practicing magic?” Tyndal continued to dig.
“They – you know, you could just read the text!”
“I’m just looking for context,” Tyndal insisted. “If the first magi were all wild magi, why did the Alka Alon teach them to be . . . well, civilized about it?”
“It wasn’t a matter of civilization ,” Rondal explained. “It was a matter of standardization . If each mage used their personal system of magic then working together – or even teaching magic to anyone else properly – would be hard. The Alka Alon gave us the means by which to measure the nature of magic. Like figuring out just how much energy it takes to raise one cubic centimeter of water one degree in temperature. Or to force an empty sphere of space to illuminate. The Alka Alon gave us a . . . a common language. Like theirs, only . . . dumber.”
“That . . . that makes complete sense. How come when you tell me stuff like that I remember it, but when I read it, it just . . . evaporates? ”
“I don’t know! Memory spells are Blue Magic, and I haven’t studied that yet!” Rondal was annoyed – which he didn’t mind – but that caught Tyndal’s attention like a flipped skirt.
“Wait, there are memory spells? ”
Rondal groaned and slammed his book shut. “Yes! Blue Magic! The magic of the mind and the consciousness! You are the loudest silent reader I’ve ever seen. I think I’ll go read in the courtyard!”
“Memory spells,” Tyndal said, thoughtfully, as he ignored Rondal’s huffy retreat. “I had no idea . . .”
* * *
Tyndal spent the rest of the day in the library, only he wasn’t reading any of the books on Mistress Selvedine’s list. Instead he was doing something he’d never imagined himself doing in a dozen lifetimes.
He was doing magical research. On his own.
It had never occurred to him that there might be spells that could help him learn magic. But the somewhat obscure branch of the Art known as Psychomantics, or more commonly Blue Magic, had a solid and dependable history. Blue Magic was the sorcery associated with the human mind.
Tyndal quickly discovered that the most elementary texts on the subject were not even found in the Main Library of Inarion Academy. Most of the discussions on it were in books on other subjects, though the assistant archivist informed him that there was a small but in-depth collection in one of the reserve libraries. That surprised Tyndal. He had never suspected the school would even have more than one library, but it did. Indeed, it had six.
There was the distinguished and stately Main Library, which Tyndal admitted, upon reflection, did imply that there were non -main libraries. He’d just never thought of it that way. He even recalled Master Secul mentioning more than one library. But upon inquiry with the helpful advanced student on duty at the main reference area, he learned that there were in fact six libraries at Inarion Academy.
The student librarian told him of the others: the Master’s Library (off-limits to all but faculty and reputed to be a vast repository of old examinations) and the Scriptorium Library, where commonly-used texts were kept (and where all advanced students could – and were required to, as a condition of their graduation – copy the books for their own use. And at their own expense, the student explained with disgust). There was the Enchanter’s Reference Library, a vast technical archive specific to the art, and the Student’s Reserve Library in the basement of the East Tower, where nonmagical works were kept.
And then
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