Disclaimer: I started writing this because it was a way to procrastinate from studying and because I read the "Heralds of Valdemar" series by Mercedes Lackey too much. I have no life and no money. I'm a rather sad excuse for a human. :(

A/N: Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully none of you suffered/are suffering from hangovers too bad and had a good time. This chapter you may need to be a little on the sober side for because I actually tired my hand at writing about MAGIC! That's right people, all the talk about Jennifer being a mage and now I finally do something with it. 'Bout damn time. And with that, let the reading begin!

Ch. 10: Hey Teach, Look What I Can Do!

Within the next few weeks word about the actions of the Eastern Empire had started to leak out. The spies King Tremane had within the Empire said men from all over were being amassed in the central capital, but either nobody knew why, or they weren't telling. Rumor was the force that was within site of the Hardorn border was just the tip of the iceberg, which didn't bode well. The border with Hardorn was long and the Empire had far more resources to draw on. Things out there were starting to get dicey.

Yet because nothing was happening and information was sketchy at best, the countries in the Alliance could only sit, watch, and wait. There was still a call for mages and many were being sent out, including the gryphon twins Jerven and Lytha. I wasn't anywhere near ready for combat according to Elspeth and Darkwind, though I would certainly be needed since my Gift was so strong, my training sessions were doubled and lengthened so I could be ready ASAP. Unfortunately that left little time for friends anymore.

I was able to score an hour with Kris three days after our last argument and we hashed things out. He didn't apologize for what he said or for kissing me, and I didn't expect him too. Kris never lied to me (but the bastard wasn't above omitting certain royal truths), and even when he stuck his foot in it his words were true. But I made it clear to him that while I did love him, it was in a brother/sister fashion and nothing more.

Things with Tashir, however, were progressing. I wasn't fully sure if giving him an inch was a good idea, but so far it was okay. All we had done (or had time for on my part) was to sit and talk. Either he would join me for an evening ride with Shayna (and she'd amazingly include him in the conversations) when I had the energy, or we'd talk in his rooms in Bardic. Tashir's reason was if I felt too uncomfortable with a topic I could leave anytime and not have my personal space threatened. Fine by me.

Tashir would ask me all sorts of things: what life was like in the States and how it compared to Valdemar, questions about culture, history, music, tv shows and movies, yet nothing ever personal. Trine and Nia had tried to ask questions from time to time but I could never bring myself to answer them. Yet when Tashir did I wasn't hesitant in the slightest in giving up the information. For some reason around him, it was okay.

The more the two of us talked, the more I found myself liking the guy. Okay, so he was still arrogant and had one hell of an ego problem, but he wasn't that bad. Daresay, pretty likeable. We had some similar interests for what it was worth and he was an excellent conversationalist. I also discovered that while there might be an intellectual attraction emerging, there was most definitely a physical one brewing. Tashir couldn't help it. He was smokin' hot and bending over backwards to impress me.

But I had more pressing matters. As the most powerful mage Valdemar had at the moment, it was imperative to get me up to snuff and prepared for a possible war. That meant training up the wazoo.

One day around mid-January during my second year in Valdemar I was equally dreading and excited about my impending workroom session. Treyvan would be joining Darkwind and I for extra concert work because I was having problems linking with some of the other mage students in the main class with Hydona. I'd never worked with Treyvan, just his mate, so I was nervous about that. But I also had a surprise that was gonna get me yelled at for sure.

I knocked twice on the door of the largest workroom and entered, but the first thing I saw was Treyvan and I gave a sudden yelp.

"Sorry, man. One of these days you'd think I'd get used to seeing you," I apologized with remorse. Even though everyone in the complex knew the Gryphons were harmless, they still either startled or scared the crap out of people by their sheer size.

Treyvan parted his beak in a gryphonic smile and laughed. "You werrre warrrned I would be herre and yet you werrre ssstill ssstartled. And I am told my mind isss not asss sssharrp asss it once wasss due to age." His retort was good humored and was one of the things I really loved about him and Hydona. I could back talk to them as much as I did with Trine.

"Oh, stow it, bird brain. I know you get a perverse pleasure out of seeing me scream. I still think the reason you scared me the first time we met was deliberate, swooping down in front of Kris and I screeching your head off. I'd never seen a gryphon before so what else was I supposed to scream besides "Holy shit!" I shot back with a smile.

"It isss not my fault yourrr people do not have birrrdsss orrr otherrr crrreaturrresss asss beautiful orrr magnificent asss Grrryphonsss. You have learrrned the conceptsss of magic well enough ssso I ssshould be no different."

"Well I'm sorry if the only bird my mind allows to be as big as you is taller, yellow, and lives on Sesame Street."

Darkwind chimed in with a small laugh before Treyvan could say anything else. "That is enough you two, we need to get to work. You can banter all you want afterwards."

An hour and a half later I was beat. I knew Treyvan was a tough teacher and so was Darkwind, but those two together was no picnic. By the end of the exercise we had ironed out my issues for the most part; the rest would be practice. I felt exhausted but not enough to put off the showing of my new parlor trick.

"Before we go, I've got something to show you guys, if that's okay?" I asked nervously.

"Of course, though I am not sure what you would be able to show us," Darkwind replied with a hint of arrogance seeping into his voice.

I felt a little hot under the collar at his response but quickly calmed. Chill out, he didn't mean it like that. Remember in the books Elspeth would have to chew his ass about it when they first met. Old habits die hard, I guess. "Well, I think I learned a new trick and was wondering if you guys had heard of anything like it before. I never came across it when I read the Books so as far as I know nobody has ever done it before, but then again I'm still new at this and could be blowing smoke out my ass."

Treyvan tilled his head sideways and his eyes gleamed with interest. "A new trrrick, you sssay. Interrresssting."

"Alright. Explain," Darkwind replied curiously, crossing his arms over his chest.

I nodded and took a deep breath. They are so gonna kill me.

"Ok, first off, I know I shouldn't have done this without the supervision of a mage. Shay has already yelled at me for it and I fully expect to receive an ear-full. But a couple weeks ago I got to talking with Dirk about what substances were the most difficult to burn, and this somehow got me thinking about physical shields. Now I know pretty much anything with substance can be burned, with the exceptions of water and air, but the proverbial light bulb turned on.

"I started to think: as mages, we can project our energy into different kinds of physical shields to protect us from an attack. And because a physical shield does in a sense have substance and is thus made of matter, then is it possible to burn? So Dirk and I got to playing around a little bit and discovered I could. I can burn physical shields."

Treyvan and Darkwind said nothing for what felt like an eternity. Darkwind had sat down on the wooden stool in a corner earlier, which was good, because he looked about ready to pass out. Treyvan just sat on his haunches and gaped at me. It was he who finally broke the silence.

"You can do what?!"

I bit my lip and looked down at the stone floor before answering. "Yeah. Apparently I can quite literally burn energy," I said hesitantly. "And I'm gonna assume by the looks on your faces this is a new concept to ya." I got nothing but silence from both of them.

"Wanna see?"

"Please," they said in unison.

"Okay, umm, outside would be safer. Just to be sure, if you don't mind." They agreed and we left the room for the courtyard outside. Though there was snow on the ground it didn't feel that cold which was good. I'd need all my concentration for this and the cold would be an extra hazard.

I explained the process and began. I quickly made four snowballs and cast a shield around them to act as a barrier. In order to prove my point I had to have proof what I was burning was the shield and the object underneath would remain unharmed. Then I cast a larger, thicker shield around that one. Next I imagined the outermost shield to be as hard as possible and focused deep within it to See the tiny atoms of pure energy. Then, the trick was to treat those atoms like any other hard substance I wanted to burn, moving them as rapidly as possible and setting it alight.

The snowballs erupted into flames and the surrounding snow immediately melted from the intense heat being given out. This caused my two teachers to respectively squawk and yell. Keeping myself focused, lest I loose control, I ventured an eye to my left where they stood. Both Darkwind and Treyvan looked like someone had hit them with a sledgehammer. Mouths gapped, eyes wide, and totally stunned.

I extinguished the flames with a thought and banished the two shields. Because I was burning my own energy I was left even more drained than I had been. My knees felt a little shaky and I was a little light-headed, but otherwise I didn't feel too bad. The first couple times with Dirk I'd almost passed out.

Darkwind walked over to the snowballs and stared in wonder. They were perfectly sound, like nothing had happened, yet the brown grass underneath was visible in a wide circle. He looked over at me and asked, "You put a second shield around these and under the one you burned?"

"Yup. I can control how much of the shield I burn, how fast and hot, and keep things protected from the burning one with another layered underneath."

"And how long did you sssay you had been trrying thisss experrriment?" Treyvan inquired.

"I asked Dirk about it about three weeks ago and we tried it roughly two."

"And he agreed to let you try this, knowing full well how dangerous this could have been?" Darkwind all but yelled.

"He figured I could handle it," I stated meekly. "Remember, my Firestarting Gift is insanely strong as well, probably stronger than Lavan Firestorm's was, and Dirk's the one who trained me to use it. He knows what I can and can't handle as well as me. Yes, we both knew going in it was stupid and could have been disastrous, but felt it was worth a shot."

"Jennifer, if you had lost control for even a second, the flames could have back lashed on you and then you would be dead! You are too valuable to loose if the Eastern Empire does decide to invade sometime soon! This is not something you should be playing around with!!" Darkwind bellowed.

I stood my ground."I know, but it could be beneficial. Say if there's a shield around a target we would need to take out, but if not even Firesong was able to breech it, then normally we'd be screwed. But if I had a crack at it, I could burn the shield and weaken it and send the flames back on the mage. Problem solved. Yes, it is very high risk, but sometimes isn't the risk worth it?" I defended and shivered. Am I cold or is DW just really, really scary right now?

"Come, let usss go inssside beforrre you frrreeze to death, young one and featherrrlesss ssson," Treyvan recommended irritably.

As we entered the building again I couldn't help but think I was about to be verbally ripped to shreds. Once back inside, I was. They asked me every single question they could think of, yelled at me for being stupid, and then asked more questions. I did the best I could since I didn't really understand the whys and thought it was just a way for my Mage and Firestarting Gifts to work together. I actually thought it was kinda cool.

When Darkwind and Treyvan finally let me go I was starving. Even though working magic at first was excruciatingly difficult for me, once I got past my mental blocks and started to do stuff it was loads of fun. Plus it was proving to be the best diet ever. I had lost maybe close to 50 pounds in the last year, dropping from a size 14 to maybe a 6, and could eat like a pig without constraint. And with all the energy I'd used that evening, I just wanted to stuff my face.

On the way to the common room for dinner I ran into Kris, who for a change had been let loose by the Council and was eating with the rest of us. He looked whipped and brightened considerably when I hailed him. We sat in a far corner of the room as far away from others as we could, so as not to be overheard, and I quietly gave him the details of my session.

"You can do WHAT?!" he shrieked.

"Kris! Keep it down! But yup, sure as I'm breathing. I have a new toy."

"I don't believe it!"

"Treyvan and Darkwind didn't either until I showed them outside. I'm not sure if they believe it yet. But if you want other proof, ask Dirk. He's the one who helped me figure it out."

"Talia's Dirk?"

"Umm hmm. But Kris, listen to me." I lowered my voice to barely a whisper and brought my head closer to his. "Don't tell anyone yet because if things do start to escalate even more out east this could be an ace up our sleeve. The other mages are probably gonna want to see this first, so until they do, don't say anything, or I'll take you out behind the shed and shoot you myself. I don't care if you are my friend and the Heir," I warned.

Kris just stared at his half finished meal and shook his head. "Jenn, whether you like it or not, with an ability like that you could be well on you're way to becoming one of the greatest Herald-Mages in history. And I don't envy you in the least. You truly are absolutely amazing," he said gravely.

I sighed. "It's not by choice, I'll tell you that. I'm just too stupid to know when to stop playing around."