She completed the movement by picking the cup out of the air, taking a sip, going “ahhhh” and sliding back down into her drowsing position.
Marcus was thankful for the show, as it gave him time to fight off that echoing memory. Even from amidst a battle within his mind, he had to admit that it was impressive. “Is it safe to be here when she’s falling asleep like that?” he asked.
“Oh yes, it’s fine.” Eustace chuckled roguishly. “She does her best work half asleep. It’s actually a very interesting area, but never mind that. See, there are Masters who can handle the paperwork, and there are Masters who are actually bloody good Linewalkers to boot. There aren’t many who can handle both. There are skill levels to this business, you see. Some have it naturally, some can learn it, some will be eternally hopeless. I knew I was destined for the scholarly life as soon as I discovered that the extent of my abilities was opening a portal barely big enough to step through. I’m sure you can sympathise.”
“Meaning?” Marcus asked, tearing his gaze away from the Master’s delicious looking coffee.
Eustace laughed again. “Don’t get twitchy, boy. I’m just saying. In theory anyone can learn to be a Viaggiatori, but in most instances you’ve either got it or you don’t. Linewalking is an art. You can teach geniuses to play it safe, but you can’t teach genius. And since you’re just sitting there looking unimpressed at pretty much everything, I feel I’m quite within my rights to declare that you, my boy, will never be a Viaggiatori. So I’m lead to wonder, what are you doing here?”
“I honestly haven’t got a bloody clue,” Marcus said flatly. “Your Master said I was important for something, but never got round to telling me what. Pretty much all I know is what you’ve just told me. I didn’t ask for this. I was quite happy drinking myself to d- into a stupor. Then you people whisked me up with your crazy magic and dropped me here and started chasing me, then hitting me, now insulting me. Thanks for that. A real homely welcome.”
“Ah, so the boy does have a little punch,” Eustace said with a grin. “Jolly good. Well, yes, I might happen to have some idea what all that’s about, but I’ll leave that one for Eira to explain. I’m going to have to disabuse you of your rampant stereotyping of magic, though, lad, because that’s some terribly Earthman thinking right there. ‘Magic’ isn’t some sort of convenient catch-all term to explain stuff you don’t understand. Magic is complicated. It’s a force, it’s energy, it’s something that has to be researched and understood before it can be controlled. In any case, ‘magic’ as you understand it.. that’s pretty far from what we do. Wizards do magic. We do science. The dimensional science of the Mirrorline. That’s our area. How it all works, how the worlds fit together, what the concept of balance even means outside of abstract terms, all that jazz. It’s taken decades for us to solidly configure reliable instant connections for travelling between worlds, for example, and we’re still ironing out the creases there. That’s to say nothing of the times that the Mirrorline decides to randomly explode and dump people and places from one world into the other. The more we know, the more we can prevent that kind of thing from happening, because if we don’t, then-“
Eustace was at this point cut off in mid flow, as a herd of horses charged past between himself and Marcus, knocking Marcus’s rocking chair over backwards in a shower of wicker and sweat.
“What the hell was that?” Marcus asked, as the herd stampeded off into the abyss.
“That,” Eustace said, “means story time is over for today. It seems that Eira has fallen completely asleep, and so her control over the Mirrorline is now being dictated by her unconscious mind, meaning that the things that will be happening in her dreams..”
“Happen here, to
Marcus was thankful for the show, as it gave him time to fight off that echoing memory. Even from amidst a battle within his mind, he had to admit that it was impressive. “Is it safe to be here when she’s falling asleep like that?” he asked.
“Oh yes, it’s fine.” Eustace chuckled roguishly. “She does her best work half asleep. It’s actually a very interesting area, but never mind that. See, there are Masters who can handle the paperwork, and there are Masters who are actually bloody good Linewalkers to boot. There aren’t many who can handle both. There are skill levels to this business, you see. Some have it naturally, some can learn it, some will be eternally hopeless. I knew I was destined for the scholarly life as soon as I discovered that the extent of my abilities was opening a portal barely big enough to step through. I’m sure you can sympathise.”
“Meaning?” Marcus asked, tearing his gaze away from the Master’s delicious looking coffee.
Eustace laughed again. “Don’t get twitchy, boy. I’m just saying. In theory anyone can learn to be a Viaggiatori, but in most instances you’ve either got it or you don’t. Linewalking is an art. You can teach geniuses to play it safe, but you can’t teach genius. And since you’re just sitting there looking unimpressed at pretty much everything, I feel I’m quite within my rights to declare that you, my boy, will never be a Viaggiatori. So I’m lead to wonder, what are you doing here?”
“I honestly haven’t got a bloody clue,” Marcus said flatly. “Your Master said I was important for something, but never got round to telling me what. Pretty much all I know is what you’ve just told me. I didn’t ask for this. I was quite happy drinking myself to d- into a stupor. Then you people whisked me up with your crazy magic and dropped me here and started chasing me, then hitting me, now insulting me. Thanks for that. A real homely welcome.”
“Ah, so the boy does have a little punch,” Eustace said with a grin. “Jolly good. Well, yes, I might happen to have some idea what all that’s about, but I’ll leave that one for Eira to explain. I’m going to have to disabuse you of your rampant stereotyping of magic, though, lad, because that’s some terribly Earthman thinking right there. ‘Magic’ isn’t some sort of convenient catch-all term to explain stuff you don’t understand. Magic is complicated. It’s a force, it’s energy, it’s something that has to be researched and understood before it can be controlled. In any case, ‘magic’ as you understand it.. that’s pretty far from what we do. Wizards do magic. We do science. The dimensional science of the Mirrorline. That’s our area. How it all works, how the worlds fit together, what the concept of balance even means outside of abstract terms, all that jazz. It’s taken decades for us to solidly configure reliable instant connections for travelling between worlds, for example, and we’re still ironing out the creases there. That’s to say nothing of the times that the Mirrorline decides to randomly explode and dump people and places from one world into the other. The more we know, the more we can prevent that kind of thing from happening, because if we don’t, then-“
Eustace was at this point cut off in mid flow, as a herd of horses charged past between himself and Marcus, knocking Marcus’s rocking chair over backwards in a shower of wicker and sweat.
“What the hell was that?” Marcus asked, as the herd stampeded off into the abyss.
“That,” Eustace said, “means story time is over for today. It seems that Eira has fallen completely asleep, and so her control over the Mirrorline is now being dictated by her unconscious mind, meaning that the things that will be happening in her dreams..”
“Happen here, to
Similar Books
