>>5804259In the end, useful and fascinating as the <Sand-swimming> spell might have been… You couldn’t do it. You couldn’t get naked—or near-naked, or whatever was technically required—with Nemenmo watching. Besides, how useful would such an ability really BE, amidst the cobblestones and packed earth of Hawksong, or the dense roots and rich, moist earth of the Sylvan Realms?
No, you would learn <Daylight> instead.
This choice seemed to befuddle and amuse your teacher in equal measure, but you didn’t let her judgement deter you from focusing on her lessons. TO her credit, the young Ashurati woman likewise did not let your tutelage suffer for it, either. In fact, she seemed genuinely impressed by the speed with which you learned the light-producing spell—a process of gestures, words in her people’s strange desert-dialect of the Feytongue, and specific focusing images and emotions.
“My mother’s race are already attuned to the rising and setting of the sun,” you explained, a little proud. “We are children of the Sun God and Moon Goddess, after all.”
“But your human half does not impede you,” Nemenmo noted.
You tried not to let your irritation show, as you elaborated upon this point as well: “Humans are actually especially adept at Elementalism—the manipulation of forces like this. If you’d STAYED in that battle against the goblins, you’d have seen me <summon> a fire elemental, actually.”
Nemenmo cringed at the reminder of her shameful act of cowardice, and was quiet for a time. There was something she couldn’t seem but help tos peak up about, though, and it surprised you:
“You should not do such things,” she said.
“What?” you asked, confused.
“Summoning the elementals… The soulless ones, from beyond.”
You stared at her, no less perplexed than before she’d continued speaking. Nemenmo clearly sensed your confusion, and pressed on.
“The <Daylight> comes from the Sun Above… From your ancestor, yes? And other works of our craft come from the nature around us, and spirits of our ancestors and relations whoa re close to us, and who dwell amongst us. But the Realm of Fire and Realm od Air, of Water and Earth… Theya re not OF this world. Theya re separate. They resemble nature, but are not.”
“Well, the sun and moon aren’t this world, either, technically,” you began to lecture, surprised at the genasi’s ignorance in this matter. “They are each approximately 300 to 450 miles from the surface of the Earth, and—”
“It is different,” the genasi asserted. “A person can travel upwards to reach them, never removing themselves from this material realm. The places which you and the humans reach into is… Alien. The things that live there… When you bring them here, they are changed. When they go back, that place is changed.”
