On Being a New Wizard in Arcadia--Part IX

    Saturday night bled into Sunday morning as Christian finished his paper for McMillan and tidied up the last of his missing assignments. He would have loved to have spent the rest of the evening with Sebastian, but knew that any advances would be gently rebuffed. It was hard to not feel jealous of choir when it interfered with their romantic life. Sebastian had preemptively absolved Christian of any obligation to come. It was a relief to have that particular burden lifted. He liked the Episcopalian minister who preached at the campus chapel, and he really enjoyed listening to the choir, but the chapel itself could never decide if it would be freezing or roasting on any given day. The pews were another matter entirely, quite revered in their antiquity, but designed for an era when mortification of the flesh was considered a virtue. Given the amount of mortification his flesh had recently endured, Christian took a pass this time and slept in until late morning.

    The rest of the day crept by at a glacier's pace. Assignments were checked and rechecked, reading was completed, laundry was finished--there was very little to be done except wait. At around two o'clock, Christian caught up his guitar and travel amp and headed toward the student union. The music department was located in the same building, and there were usually practice spaces open on Sunday afternoon. Given that he hadn't seen Rei all day, and Rei's instrument cases were missing from the room, there was a good chance that he was hiding out there.

    Christian felt his hunch was correct when he came out of the stairwell on the third floor. There was a small mob clustered around one of the practice room doors, and the distinct sounds of a violin being played with prodigious skill suggested Rei's presence. Christian slowly shouldered his way through the crowd, ignoring the noises of annoyance he was eliciting. True enough, Rei was in the room, showing off to his admirers. He spied his roommate, and without dropping a note jerked his head both in acknowledgement and invitation. Christian sidled into the room and into the corner while Rei continued to play, clearly determined to finish. At last with a flourish and a bow, Rei struck the last few notes, and let the raucous applause wash over him. With a final sweeping bow, he slammed the door shut.

    "Show-off," Christian chided as he pulled out his guitar to tune it. Rei made a rude noise as he put away the violin and bow with the same sort of reverent ceremony as a samurai cleaning  his sword. "You never came back last night."

    "No need. Zo-chan had the run of her house this weekend, and I stayed with her. Lazzaro came by, and we need to find a drum-player. The man is very gifted with a honky-tonk piano style." Rei would happily play any music set in front of him, but he had a passion for jazz and Southern blues. "We played some Mozart for Zo-chan, and then he did some Beethoven for Audrey. She laid her head on the piano for that." Rei smiled with a fondness. "It meant a lot to Lazzaro. He really likes her."

    "I've noticed. Look, I have a meeting at 4:30. Do you mind if we just kind of dick around a bit? I feel like I might be rusty." He held up his half-healed hands in apology.

    "You take the lead, then. I go where you go." Rei pulled out his beloved electric bass and strummed it with the same tenderness he undoubtedly showed Zoe. The intimacy of the gesture made Christian's throat tighten. He was a thousand times a fool for thinking he could leave this behind.

    Losing himself in music and melody, 4:30 came far too quickly. Christian hastily excused himself and gathered up his things as quickly as possible. He swung the door open hard, preparing to sprint down the hall, and instead collided with Samir's wide chest. He and Emmerich both caught a hold of Christian before he lost his balance.

    "I told you he was in here," Samir laughed. "Careful, Garrick. You're too talented to drop that guitar."

    "Don't look so impressed," Emmerich said to Christian. "He didn't follow your aura or anything so sinister. There was a herd of Mikazuki's fan-girls and boys flocking, and we followed them." They made their way toward the stairwell. "Samir shooed them off. What on earth do you see in that pretty boy anyway? You're too talented for that too."

    "Rei's loyalty is absolute, and his heart is pure gold." Christian bristled at the dismissive assessment of his best friend. "He's one of the best people I know, even for all his flaws. I'd prefer if you didn't disparage the few friends I do have."

    "He didn't mean it like that," Samir assured him. "You'll have to excuse Emmerich's bad manners. He's been raised to take his responsibilities very seriously, and his social graces have suffered for it. Besides," and Samir bumped Emmerich in the back a little too solidly to be merely teasing; "He can't read auras to save his ass, and he hasn't been in any classes with Rei, so he doesn't realize what a bold and noble spirit burns within him. He's the epitome of the gallant knight."

    "Is it really okay for us to be talking about magic stuff like this in such an open place?" Christian asked as they exited the stairwell on the fourth floor. The crack of billiards and the pinging of the pinball machines competed with the overly-loud electronic sound effects from the ancient arcade cabinets. "Won't we be overheard?"

    "Probably not," Emmerich said absently as he scanned for an empty table. "Even if anyone did, they'd think we were talking about dungeon-crawling or the like."

    "Christian needs to have his back to the crowd," Samir murmured as Emmerich started to sit at a corner table. "He's getting a headache from the aura feedback." Emmerich looked surprised, but moved to the other side of the table without argument. "Sorry. I'd teach you something to block it, but I don't know how to turn it down. It doesn't affect me the same way as it does you." Christian noticed that Samir's eyes had that same luminous effect in the half-light.

    "Where do we start?" Emmerich asked, half to himself. "I suppose with a bit of history. I guess you've figured out by this point that magic is an actual thing. It's an incredibly difficult thing, and you have to have a certain degree of inborn ability, and someone to guide you through the learning process, or you run a real risk of getting burnt to a crisp or worse."

    "That much I follow so far, yes." Christian tapped his fingers down on the table for emphasis. "There are thin places in the world that connect to other worlds and the like, and dabbling is a very dicey proposition. There are more here than in other parts of the civilized world because we colonized too quickly and didn't seal off these portals. Am I on the right track so far?"

    "Yes." Emmerich seemed taken aback that he had any information at all. "Well, certain mages have taken it upon themselves to settle near the thinner places to keep those that would do harm at bay. Oh, yeah, I mentioned that yesterday, so you sort of know about that. Right." He rubbed his head thoughtfully. "So, which do you want first then? My magical background, or how magic works in the first place?"

    "Let's go with your own history. I'd like to know I'm not dealing with some self-taught dabbler here." Christian had to admit, he did enjoy the chagrined look on Emmerich's face. Samir grinned at his friend.

    "You deserved that. Humility--"

    "Is not one of my virtues. So you like to remind me." Emmerich had a lop-sided smile despite his put-upon tone. "I'm a Kabbalahlist on my dad's side, for as long as that side of the family can remember. Mom's out of the European Druidic traditions, and not that garbage that freaking neo-pagans pretend is Druidic tradition. We're talking the real deal pre-Christian stuff that they took with them when they went hiding. So, I've got solid pedigree there. I talked to Dad last night, and he thinks I should go ahead and guide you with what I know. It's not a lot, mostly the basic stuff that most mages learn despite their traditions. Now, we need to get you a focusing tool before I teach you anything."

    "A what?" Christian tried not to sound as dense as he felt. "Sorry, you will have to be a bit patient with me."

    "No, I've got you. You're coming in backwards, I have to keep reminding myself." Emmerich reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin metal rod, slightly thinner than a pencil and about four inches long. "Most, and by most I do mean nearly all, mages need an aid to focus magical energy into a usable form. Popular culture usually depicts it as a wand or staff, but it can be any open-ended object of a magically conductive material. Silver, wood, certain types of crystals, that sort of thing. Gold and iron are absolute crap for this. My tool of choice is this baby." He held up the rod, which might have easily been mistaken for a stylus for a tablet. "Pure silver, easily concealed in a hand or pocket, and no ridiculous ornate carvings or rune stamps or what have you. That crap will break the flow too much. Now, what you want to focus with is a deeply personal choice, and it might take you a while to find the right thing."

    "Let me see your ring," Samir interrupted. Christian handed it over, too startled to protest or ask. Samir turned it over in his hands, humming to himself. "Oh, well done. Well done indeed." He leaned across the table, motioning the other young men closer. "Em, it's genius. Look."

    "Rings are shit, you know that. Closed circles contain power, that's why they're used for wards." Emmerich sounded annoyed.

    "Rings are shit. This isn't a closed circle, numbnuts. Look with the eyes  your Creator gave you." Samir turned the ring over in his fingers. "See here? For all its loops and spirals, there are two distinct ends. It's one long piece of silver wire made into the shape of a ring. But it never overlaps, never crosses."

    "The flow won't be broken, and the sheer length of it, you could channel more energy more easily. You're right, it is genius. Where on earth did you find this?"

    "It found me," Christian said. "It was on my dresser when  I came back from the hospital. I don't know who left it for me."

    "There's no such beast as coincidence, as my granddad likes to say," Emmerich muttered softly. "And wizards are a different beast altogether. You've got some kind of luck."

    "Well, it's clean at any rate, and a perfect focal apparatus. You really do have some kind of luck." Samir handed it back to him. "It'll be a little tricky to use at first, since wands and the like are taught as an extension of the body, feel the flow of energy radiating up from the earth into your feet, coursing through your body, direct it to flow down your arteries and veins into your arm and hand and out through the wa-HOLYFUCK STOP!!" Samir slapped Christian's hand sharply. Christian jerked out of his reverie in time to see a fading whitish light around his right hand.

    "Maybe not that tricky," Emmerich smirked. "Magefire. A very basic skill, and you did it so easily, with just some horrible guidance from a terrible teacher. Well done."