>>5829728There was none you could talk to about this—that’s how it felt, at least. Even Pearce and Zith-Zi felt unapproachable on this matter, as if not having seen and heard the things you had—not having experienced the same revelations—they could not advise you. Perhaps a part of it was a desire to protect Izzy, as well… or yourself, and your attachment to her. You well knew both of their opinions on the snake-eyed mage-girl. She was not merely an eccentric genius to them, but disturbing or even dangerous; she was a ‘basket-case’, a ‘kho-blis’. She was mad, detached from reality.
Well… Maybe. But she was also your friend.
You thought on her (mad?) vision for her future, and even if you didn’t feel quite the same way about the world… Well, there was potential there. This was a young woman who, not even yet a Mage Apprentice, had a mastery of Divination and Extraplanar magic sufficient to PEER INTO OTHER PLANES. And you completely believed that she could travel to them, as well. You believed she WOULD do it, eventually. What you weren’t so sure of was whether she would survive the attempt. THAt, you sensed, was up to you.
You found your answer to that puzzle not in books and literature, that last year. Or, your studied advanced adequately (and then some), and by the year’s end you were confident enough in schools such as Elementalism and Life Magic to attempt virtually any simple spell with at least SOME confidence…
>UNLOCKED: Tower Graduate>>You can now attempt, at a higher DC, to cast virtually any common spell in the schools of Life Magic and Elementalism. However, if they aren’t on your spell list, DCs will typically be 16, 18, or even 20 depending upon circumstances and the level of the spell. Ones you were offered early in your career like <Contagion> or <Hold Monster> are easier, and ones which aren’t contested like <purify> are easier still, but never AS easy as spells you properly ‘know’But your real focus was inward, and upon the world—YOUR world, the world of the here and now. You began leaving the Tower more frequently again, walking the streets of Hawksong and taking in the sun, the breeze, even the rain and (come winter) the light snowfall and the bitter chill. Eventually, your aimless journeys began to take you beyond the walls, on gentle meanders to nearby creeks and streams, through fallow fields and clover-covered stones. You watched the sun rise, and watched it set, and beheld the moon. By glow of <Faerie Fire> you witness the world as humans could not, and when the True Fey without a court came calling, you did not flinch and shrink from them as you had when a child, but met them as an equal. You spoke with them, and you listened… And you understood.
