A Visit, Qhori | the academy

[Isa Karun]

The gate keepers knew him. "The Master Seer's grandson" got away with slipping in from time to time. It was common knowledge that the young man visited his grandfather.

Isa was not visiting his grandfather.

His grandfather was away on a trip around the isles, so Isa couldn't have visited him if he tried. Instead, he was looking around for someone else - someone he'd promised he'd come to see, though he wasn't sure where he would find her. So he aimlessly walked about hoping he wouldn't get told off for being where he shouldn't be.

[Qhori Jyotis]

The day was clear enough to practice out in the yard. It was still cold enough to see her breath in the air, but windless, and the clouds had given way to pale sunlight. Only a few dozen people were milling about, though that was still more than in previous weeks, when the weather was bleaker. Qhori had practically leapt at the opportunity to escape the confines of her dorm.

Stick in hand, she was in the middle of drawing a circle on the ground, carving neat lines into the stiff, inch-thick layer of snow that had fallen overnight. Within the first shape, she had begun to inscribe an involved set of lines and markings, forming a glyph. Her tongue poked out of one corner of her mouth in concentration, as it was the first time she'd worked on this spell strictly from memory.

At first, Qhori didn't even notice the young man walking past her, assuming he was just another mage enjoying the day. But she did a double take when she realized just how out of place and aimless he looked. Her brow went up in surprise. "Isa?"

[Isa Karun]

"Oh, thank Tristella!" Isa murmured, turning with a smile and pulling down his scarf. "Hey, Qhori."

He was one lucky bastard to have found her in this damn maze. It took him a few good days to learn where his grandfather's place was in this place. Only now did he notice that she'd been drawing things on the snow. He cocked his head to the side, looking confused.

"What're you doing?"

[Qhori Jyotis]

"Practice spell," Qhori explained vaguely, not sure that it would make sense if she even tried to speak about the process in depth. Showing was better than telling. The magelet used her free hand to point at the center of the ring, "Stand there. Watch your step." It was best if he didn't ruin the markings she'd set up already by tromping all over them, though it wasn't that hard to fix if he did.

[Isa Karun]

"Oh...kay?" he confusedly consented, stepping into the place she indicated and watching her curiously.

"My hair's not gonna fall off, right? I'm also not keen on turning into animals," Isa informed her with a smile.

[Qhori Jyotis]

"No worry," Qhori smiled back, though there was a mischievous glint in her eye. She put the stick to the ground, making the last few marks around his feet. Once it was done, she took a few steps back, "Okay."

Setting the stick on the ground, she crouched, scooping up a handful of snow. Between both palms, she began to compact the white substance into a ball. "You trust me, yes?"

[Isa Karun]

"Fine," he conceded. His eyes narrowed as Isa added, with a challenging smile, pointing a warning finger at her: "But if I'm turning into a dog, I'm pissing on your foot!"

[Qhori Jyotis]

She shook her head, continuing to roll the snowball together until it was a tight lump. "No dog. No piss." Did people really think that's what mages learned to do here? Transfiguration was far too advanced for her, and not exactly the most useful spell in general situations.

Oh well. That wasn't what she had in mind, anyway. Qhori tossed the snowball from hand to hand, mentally preparing herself. She was looking in Isa's direction, but not quite at him as much as around him. The lines began to glow faintly. "Steady."

[Isa Karun]

He forced himself to relax even though every single bit of instinct he'd acquired in his twenty years of life told him to be on guard. Isa couldn't help thinking he was going to be under the most formidable snow attack of his life.

[Qhori Jyotis]

"No move," she gave one final warning, waiting until he'd stood stock still. Qhori raised her arm, took a half step back, and then pitched forward. The snowball went flying. Her aim wasn't perfect, but he was so close there was no chance that she could miss. In the moment that it should have struck him squarely in his broad chest, it instead seemed to smash against an invisible shield, right at the outer edge of the glyph. The air in front of Isa seemed to shimmer for a half second, before going clear once again.

[Isa Karun]

Isa flinched as the snowball zoomed towards him only to hear it hit something invisible and slide to the ground. Isa blinked, trying to look less in awe than he felt. "Can I move now?" he murmured.

[Qhori Jyotis]

It worked! Qhori couldn't help grinning madly at her own success. She'd tested it out before, throwing pebbles at the circles and watching them bounce back at her, but never with someone else inside of the ward. The glow faded from the symbol, flickering out like a candle. At his question, the magelet nodded, "Yeah, you can." She said nothing about the other bit of snow she'd kept in her other hand, tucked behind her back.

[Isa Karun]

His shoulders dropped down and he felt his chest ease. Magic made him uncomfortable these days. It was something way beyond his control and far more powerful than him. Isa supposed that was normal, though.

"That was... amazing," he confessed. "Wish I could do that."

[Qhori Jyotis]

"Protection ward," she said slowly, dragging out the phonetics of the first word. "Is nothing," Qhori shrugged nonchalantly, but that was a lie. It had taken weeks to get it to work right, as had just about every other lesson she'd been taught. The hardest part was memorizing the diagram. Magic was still a power so new to her that it hardly occurred to her that other people might find it intimidating.

[Isa Karun]

He smiled. Her nothing was definitely something for him.

The blacksmith's prentice looked down at the signs in the snow. "So that's a ward, right?"