Chapter 3

Back To Studying

Thanks to Maggie saving her a roundabout bus ride that required a connector layover to the next bus that would bring her to campus, Argyria made it to college with time to spare. She had been able to use the mirror in the flip down visor to see what she was doing as she used some lotion and tissues Maggie kept in the glovebox to rub off the worst of the raccoon eyes from sleeping with her mascara on, scarf down an everything bagel with cream cheese, and was half through her extra-large Dunkaccino with whipped cream. She had her Theory thesis in her bag, ready to turn in, and thanks to the coffee she should be able to fully pay attention to the review. Something Maggie insisted she stay in class for, reassuring her that Ivan and she had things well in hand and Raistlin, who was known to put his academics before everything else, would certainly understand she needed to be in class. Argyria remember Raistlin himself had told her to go to class and not worry about him, so she knew Maggie wasn't wrong there.

For all the wrong foot things started off on this morning, things had gotten back on track pretty quickly. She was so very thankful for her mentors. Time and time again, they always seemed to know what to do, how to help, and were always willing to give that help.

Argyria gave Maggie an extra big hug as she was let off in front of the building today's class was in. Maggie laughed at that and returned the hug, then shooed her out of the car to get to class so she could get settled in without rushing.

Argyria exited the car and waved to Maggie as she drove away. Then she turned back to the building, gaze sweeping the massive stone structure with its high pointed roof and many arched windows. The aspiring artist and storyteller loved the buildings on campus with their old fashioned grandeur. It was one of the benefits of choosing to stay local for her education, as New England was the oldest European settled part of the country and the necessary granite was so very profuse in the dubbed "Granite State", New Hampshire. This had formerly been an old Catholic monastery complex, built in the later part of the 1800s. It had shut down midway through the 1900s and, after decades of being abandoned and therefore a monetary sink hole, the church had sold the property to the state about 30 years ago so it could be turned into a community college.

On the days Argyria had multiple classes and some time to kill between classes, she'd sometimes sit out on the lawn and sketch the buildings to refine some of her techniques and show them a little appreciation for their enduring legacy and willingness to accommodate the changing times.

Today, though, it felt very strange to be here after the crazy long weekend she had. She had stepped foot on campus a hundred times before, walked into those halls a hundred times before. This was something familiar and routine, and now it felt absolutely surreal. Even though a part of her brain knew she had to return to her normal life, this felt so weird.

She had found out her world wasn't the only world out there. Yes, scientists theorized it was silly to think Earth was the only life sustaining planet in a universe that had trillions upon trillions of planets in it.

But it was one thing to debate in class what those worlds could be like and what sort of imaginary civilizations might be there to write stories about.

It was a whole other thing to KNOW that at least one of those worlds was in fact life sustaining, that it had this rich history, and somehow her world had come to know of it. And not only that, that she currently had someone from that world in her freaking living room (at least, she hoped Ivan had shown up and moved him by now.) And not only ALL of that, that the inhabitants of that world weren't some enigmatic, inhuman beings out of some Lovecraftian novel. She didn't have some cephalopod-esque Elder God in her apartment and plotting to destroy yet another galaxy, it was a young Raistlin freaking Majere.

When he hadn't been in bed this morning when she woke up, she had again briefly wondered if it had all been some crazy dream to make up for all the years she had never had dreams she could remember, or if maybe that was what her dreams were like and she finally remembered one. But it wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a hallucination. She had woken up still wearing his leather jacket that smelled of roses, so that proved it had been real. And contrary to her follow up fears, he hadn't disappeared back to his world just as suddenly as he had arrived, like he had been given some interdimensional weekend getaway. He was really real and really there and the weekend had really happened.

There were still so many unanswered questions she had, but the brush with reality being what it was… It was making her want to find out more answers and more questions formed as she tried reasoning out the original answers.

And she was supposed to go about her day, as though none of those revelations had happened?!

"Surreal" didn't even begin to cover this mind-bending juxtaposition.

As much as Argyria enjoyed her classes, even the ones she struggled with like Economics, for the first time since wrangling getting into college, she was resenting this opportunity. She had so many things to discover and, for the first time, her school held none of the answers to her questions.

Argyria was broken out of her thoughts and staring up at the building by a running hug that almost knocked her over. She gave a startled "Eep!" as Janet's arms remained around her and the taller girl swung around a bit to help balance the both of them.

"Hey, space cadet!" Janet said teasingly, clearly in high spirits as Argyria recovered from the surprise. "You were like a thousand miles away. Thinking about Race? How did things go after you guys got home?" The last was asked suggestively, giving a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Argyria gave an embarrassed laugh at that. "We crashed as soon as we got upstairs." Janet linked arms with her and was leading her inside for class. "Race had a bit of a rough night, though. Gabby came home and he let her in, and she's still not used to him being around so she gave him a hard time about that."

"Poor guy," Janet said in sympathy. "Well, from the looks of you two last night, seems like he's sticking around, so Gabby is just going to have to get used to the new boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Argyria protested with a flood of heat entering her cheeks.

Janet raised an eyebrow to that and released her arm so they could jog up the stairs to get to class. She teased with amusement unabashedly present, "Oh? So I didn't see you two getting hot on the dance floor?"

Argyria couldn't bring herself to look at Janet as she felt her blush growing, remembering the incidents. Raistlin had surprised her in a dozen different ways throughout the night. He seemed to actually enjoy the night once he got used to the club scene. It had been a lot of fun, and they had been kissing. Then there was what he had told her between kisses, what he had promised in Sihir… Was he her boyfriend? Were they dating? She hadn't really had much time to consider things, it just sort of happened. Is that how to quantify things between them?

That question brought a whole new slew of confusing questions to mind as they turned the wide corner on the stairs and headed for next set that led to the third floor. Between school and her apartment, she was getting pretty used to stairs these days, and her thoughts continued to spin as she climbed them. Had Raistlin meant what he said as much as it sounded like he did? Or was that just a heat of the moment thing? If he meant it, could he keep his promise? How exactly did one manage dating someone from another world? Could they somehow manage it? Or was this going to come crashing down on them at some point? Raistlin had to go home at some point, Krynn kind of needed his presence, so what happened then?

To distract from her rapidly spiraling and tangling thoughts, Argyria said instead, "Speaking of getting hot on the dance floor… What was that between you and Bri last night? Did I somehow miss something? You've never mentioned you liked him."

A blush was just noticeable as it spread across Janet's mocha skin at the mention of the guy who was two years older than her 19years. "I uh… I didn't realize I did. But then he was asking me to dance, and I thought, 'Why not?' Turns out, skater boy has some moves I didn't know about. It was fun."

Argyria could sense that Janet was definitely crushing way harder than her attempt at playing it cool let on. A grin formed at the realization. "Well, I think you two would really get along if you maybe wanted to follow up on that dance."

They came to the top of the stairs, breaths a little heavy and pausing to catch them. Janet leaned against the bannister and asked, "You think so?"

Argyria nodded, leaning next to her. "Yeah. If I know Brian half as well as I think I do, he was enjoying himself too. So why not?"

Janet shrugged, but her blush was more noticeable now. "Isn't he still rebounding pretty hard from Felicia?"

"Well, maybe a little," Argyria admitted, giving a shrug of her own. "But she was his first long term girlfriend, so it's kinda to be expected. Vic said he's finally getting over her, and he's not the type to use a girl as a rebound. You guys have a lot more in common than he and Felicia did, and Brian is a lot of fun when he's not stressing over class and work. If you guys can swing seeing each other between his busy schedule, I'd think you can make a pretty good go of it. Maybe wait and see how he acts this weekend at the Sky Show? If he seems a little shyly flirty, I'd say he's done rebounding and liking you. If not, then he's still sorting his thoughts out and just wanted to be nice for the night."

Janet nodded to that thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm still trying to figure out how much I like him, cuz last night kinda blindsided me. We'll see how things go next weekend; I should have a better idea by then."

"That's perfectly fair," Argyria agreed, excited smile forming. Janet already got along so well with her other friends, it's not like her and Brian dating would upset things. It could be just a whole extra level of awesome.

Janet gave her a sidelong glance. "Don't give me that look, Ria. It's making me all nervous cuz I'm trying not to get my hopes or expectations up over here."

Argyria laughed at that. "Sorry. I just really like the idea you and Brian could end up being a thing."

Janet gave her a playful little shove, blush returning with a vengeance. "Shut up before you jinx it."

Argyria knocked on the wooden bannister they were leaning on. "There. No jinxes."

The one minute warning bells sounded for the first block of classes for the day. They traded glances and then took off at a sprint, their class was at the end of the hall and Mr. Khouri didn't like stragglers.

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After Maggie had double checked her work to make sure Raistlin's energy was settling as best as she could help it, she bid the two men a good morning, needing to get back to her shop before the lunch hour when the flow of customers would start picking up.

Ivan stayed with the mage, deciding that because Raistlin would need the day to finish recovering his magic properly, he could postpone his training with Yevgeny to tomorrow when Ivan would be a little more preoccupied and they could spend today reviewing some of the notes he had taken. Depending on some of his ideas, they might be able to work that into tomorrow's training session.

Yevgeny had been at their home, working on some new hidden components options for Raistlin to wear in everyday situations, when Ivan had been alerted to the problem. Ivan gave him a call to inform him that things were sorted out as best as can be expected and of the change in plans. Yevgeny took the change in stride, saying that would just give him more time to get a few things made and introduce tomorrow, and that Raistlin better enjoy his chance to rest because the mentor was planning to put him through his paces.

Even if this wasn't an ideal way to get a break, Raistlin was actually glad for that reprieve. He was able to join Ivan at the kitchen table of his own accord and pulled out the notes he had hidden under Ria's mail.

Ivan read through the notes quietly, taking his time to absorb the information properly and consider the ideas. Raistlin eventually started to feel a bit hungry and got up to make himself a quick breakfast of fried eggs with some bread and blueberry jam. Ria's store bought bread wasn't bad, but there was something to be said for Ivan's black bread, the mage thought as he settled back at the table and slowly ate his food. When Ivan finally finished his browsing of the notes, he had finished eating and was washing up his dishes so that Ria wouldn't feel the need to do so when she got home.

"I must say, Raistlin, you are quite the thorough young man," Ivan said, leaning back in his chair and briefly rubbing his eyes. "This is impressive, especially with consideration to your state of exhaustion."

Raistlin felt a flicker of pride at the praise, but he tried to keep it in check to avoid getting himself into another round of trouble. He realized that he really didn't want to disappoint Ria's paternal mentor, not just because Ivan was Ria's mentor and played a rather important support role to his endeavors to protect Ria, but because he genuinely appreciated Ivan's opinions on matters and wanted to be able to match his contributions.

Raistlin rinsed off the silverware he had just finished cleaning, set it aside and then came back to the table. "So you think some of my ideas could work?"

Ivan nodded to that. "Yes, I do. Many of them, in fact." That confirmation caused Raistlin to perk up a bit, pleased by the encouragement. "With what I can follow from your diagrams, I think you have solid theories on how certain cantrips may react with one another. I do not think it so likely some of these ideas will have situations come up that would allow them to come into play. However, such does not mean the ideas are wasted. I can tell you are trying to plan for many contingencies and such a broad consideration can help shift strategies when specific situations arise."

Ivan shuffled some of the pages, finding the ones he was looking for and glancing over them again as he said, "Your ideas for how to expand your magical arsenal also seem reasonable. While I see a few queries into unfamiliar spells you have heard of, it seems you aim to concentrate on building off concepts you have studied from cantrips you learned. If I understand these properly, you mean to increase their power or versatility to make them more in line with spells of a higher caliber. I do not have knowledge of all such ideas you have here, however I see some that bring to mind spells we know your world has."

He passed the pages back to Raistlin, saying, "I made a notation using a star next to those and will collect what information we have on those to help you as I think they are not unreasonable for a mage of your training level. There were some spells we had thought of that do not resemble some of your ideas. However, I think we will discard those for the present time. The intricacies of how mages of your world construct the various elements of spells seem more complex than we had reason to know. The books only briefly reference the importance of inflections and pronunciation for verbal components. We know only some written phrases for specific finished spells, and what their proper way to be spoken is only guesses as we do not have such a background. Sometimes there is mention of noticeable hand gestures or components that were used to cast the spell. Sometimes that was paired with words, other times that was the only insight into the spellcasting. However, none of the underlying theories and mechanics of the spells were explained, such things as were written seem to be the superficial parts. With this insight of yours, we should conclude your time would be best utilized for these you are more likely to piece out properly and practicing those you are successful with."

Raistlin scanned his notes to see which of his ideas matched what this world had knowledge of. Some of his theories to do with finding a way to improve his minor levitation spell were starred, such as to better throw his summoned daggers, or to more deftly manipulate objects out of his reach, or work on increasing how much energy was used to be able to lift heavier things than the small objects he was currently capable of.

He had the spell to keep a door or window closed against intrusions, and he wanted to experiment with that to see if he could reverse it to allow him to open or close doors or windows from a distance, or see if perhaps he could manipulate his levitation spell to do so for him. If he needed to misdirect someone's attention, he could use such a spell to such an opening he was not at, then be able to peek out from where he was to see if things were safe. Or, if there was only the one around, use on the portal to see if the movement attracted hostile attraction so he could react from within instead of sticking his head out like a fool.

He had cantrips for making various small sounds, but sometimes he needed to not be making noise. He wanted to try reversing those spells to see if he could quiet the sounds of his footsteps, or keep an old creaky window or door or steps from being heard. Ria's building had such stairs, and her balcony had been creaky when he was out there. And he didn't know where they'd be when attacked, so he might have to deal with doors or windows while trying to avoid being killed and finding someplace to counter attack from, or to get Ria safely somewhere without the false wolves finding out where she was.

This world didn't seem to make use of torches, so summoning one to see by could out him as a mage from Krynn. He was capable of summoning brief flashes of bright light, or dull little lights meant for illusory images and shapes that didn't provide much light on their own, and he wanted to see if he could harness that basis of technical knowledge of light spells to make a longer lasting, middle range brightness, light source. Perhaps using an object to hold the spell and mimic the lamps around the houses of this world.

Some of his ideas for improving on his illusions were starred, those to do with improving their visual scope so he didn't have to overlay cantrips multiple times to get depth and dimension on even something so simple as some smoke.

There were some stars by Ivan that brought an especially pleased thrill to the young mage who had already been considering he may want to look into war magics as a way to earn a more comfortable lifestyle. It was the marks next to some of his theories on how to better harness elemental magic.

Right now, he could only create small sparks of electricity or fire that came from his fingertips, or little ice crystals that formed around them. The fire sparks could light some tinder, maybe set a sleeve on fire, but they weren't a sustained fire source he could handle directly. The electricity was mostly just a visual effect for his street faires, or could give someone a little prank zap. The ice crystals were likewise mostly for effects, or if he held a drink it could chill the contents sufficiently, but it wasn't even enough to cause someone frost bite.

Half his ideas were to do with buffering his hands with magic so he could then properly handle the elements, maybe increase their strength enough to cause some damage if someone tried to grab hold of him because he wasn't a fighter like his brother. They'd let go pretty quick if there was flames wrapping around their hand, or a sudden stronger zap, or a swift brief freeze that threatened losing some fingers.

The other half of the ideas that Ivan had starred as feasible and known to this world had to do with, if not holding the elements themselves, at least increasing some of the power behind them when they released from his fingers to potentially cause some damage when they hit a person so he could try avoiding too much grappling about.

A stronger zap of electricity such as he might be able to pull off wouldn't kill a person, but it might stun them a bit, leave them shaky and disoriented. Something that seemed especially feasible after Ria had explained to him the other day what she knew of electricity powering this world's appliances and that he needed to be careful not to let the plugs or sockets come into contact with water, especially while plugging something in. One of his diagrams of thoughts actually utilized that idea too. He had a cantrip that could make things damp. It was often used for prank applications by younger students used to douse a candle, or ruin a parchment someone was taking notes on, or make each other sit through a class with uncomfortably wet and chafing clothes. Raistlin used it to tend his garden when there was delicate potted sprouts in the spring that couldn't handle being outside and heavier rainfall. However, if he took a page out of the pranksters' book, he could cast that cantrip on a person, which should surprise someone of this world and distract them as they tried to figure out what happened, and follow it up with a reasonable zap of electricity. If he could manage that, he might have a combination for causing some actual damage.

He didn't for one second think he could manage a proper fireball, that was really advanced spellwork. But he hoped maybe he could manage a stronger flare of fire, something that could light clothing on fire or sturdier things than tinder. If he knew an enemy was in a room he and Ria weren't in, and they had a way to escape from where they were that wasn't through that room, he might be able to light a few things on fire in that room that couldn't be easily put out, and then use his spell to keep the door closed. Either the false wolves could die in a burning room, or at the very least it would give him and Ria time to escape once the assailants gave up on trying to leave the room and got busy trying to put out the flames.

As for throwing some ice spells, he knew he couldn't manage anything strong enough to say freeze someone's arm or leg. But if he used the water cantrip to douse a lock, and then could freeze it, it might slow down pursuit. And there were those gun things that had a trigger similar to a crossbow that he had to worry about. If he could ice up the gun, he might be able to keep himself from having the projectile launched at him. Even if he couldn't fully ice it over, hopefully the gun would be icy enough to make an assailant drop it to protect their hand. He also considered the flame could likewise heat up the metal weapon enough to make someone drop it. And Ivan had not only starred those ideas, but notated that if he could manage those two spells, those would be extremely useful in this world.

The last things Ivan had starred were a few fuzzy ideas he had. They weren't to do with building off specific cantrips he knew. It was to do with his channeling of magic. When he was channeling his magic, he always felt a little stronger, a little less tired. It helped during his late night study sessions. He shouldn't hold it all night as he had, and Ivan wrote a slightly reprimanding reminder of that. However, he was wondering if he could channel that side effect somehow, put it to use for a brief time to bolster him if needed.

He also knew there was a way to form that channel of energy around a mage, to slow down an incoming attack and lessen the damage it caused. He hadn't seen it in practice yet, but Antimodes had mentioned it during one of their visits. Even as he was steadily growing to the point where he could rightly be considered elderly, the Archmage persisted with his meandering around Ansalon by mundane means to see what was happening around the continent, instead of travelling the corridors of magic. A small band of particularly foolish hobgoblins didn't recognize him as a mage, or didn't care because they thought an old man would be an easy target, and had set upon him. Unfortunately for them, they didn't realize mages who travelled about outside their own little communities only got to survive to old age if they were especially clever and strong, and his age should have been the warning to give him a wide berth. Antimodes had noticed them in the tree line well before they reached him and used the spell to help protect himself from potential attacks before bringing out the offensive magic to obliterate their gang.

After telling him the story, which had happened not long before one of his visits to check on his protégé, Antimodes promised that when Raistlin was closer to taking his Test, he'd teach him the spell to help him succeed. When Raistlin asked if that was necessarily allowed, Antimodes had given a conspiratorial wink as he said in dismissive humor, "At my age, I'm allowed to bend the rules a little, and I do need to protect my investment in your career."

Raistlin didn't have Antimodes here to get him to make good on that promise in circumstances just as serious as taking his Test, but he knew the spell existed and he knew Antimodes thought he was capable of casting it. He knew the concept of the spell, its purpose. If he could reason out the mechanics, get a proper string of words together to harness the magic, he might be able to get a similar means of protection up for himself or Ria. And Ivan had that starred as something their world knew of and might be possible.

Even if he ignored the theories that Ivan hadn't starred and only stuck to these ones, if he could manage to improve a bit on each branch of spell work he was already thoroughly versed in and figure out some of each sort of spells, he could have a better rounded arsenal at his disposal to protect himself and Ria.

Assuming, of course, he had the time to work his way through such studies and practical trials.

And that was the question, wasn't it? How much time did they have? They didn't know when the false wolves would attack. It could be tonight, this weekend, a month from now, two months from now. Given Maggie and Ivan's visions from their gods, they knew it wasn't some far off date. What did Gods consider to be just enough time to prepare for such an attack and be in place for when the false wolves descended on them?

A resigned sigh escaped him. He had no idea, and he had no way to question them on it. So, he had better make use of every bit of time available to him and see what he could manage to pull together.

Raistlin looked up from his notes to Ivan. "If it's alright with you, I think I should get started on drafting up potential ways to make the ideas you starred work."

Ivan nodded his approval. "Of course. I noticed little Ria has been somewhat lax with dusting and other minutia of cleaning as of late with how hard she has been studying for her exams. I think I will busy myself with tending some of those things for her. I will also leave at some point to get us some lunch and will have you break from your studies when I return. I give the notice to you now so I will not need interrupt your work twice by informing you I am leaving and why."

Raistlin nodded to that. "Thank you, Ivan." He looked down at the pages, which were almost entirely filled back and front with initial ideas and side notations. "By chance, would you know if Ria has any spare notebooks for my note taking? I used some pages from one of her class notebooks because I noticed she didn't mind using it for a grocery list, but I don't want to leave her without all her paper."

Ivan hummed at that, thinking. "She usually has a few notebooks on hand for when she is inspired to write new stories. If she has any, they would be in the little coat closet in the living room she uses to store her art supplies. I will go check for you."

"Thank you, Ivan," Raistlin said again, attention turning back to his notes, debating which theories he should get started on first. As much as he wanted to dive into the more offensive magic, it would probably be wiser to work on a few of the defensive or distraction theories first, then allow himself to work on some of the offensive magic, and continue rotating between them until the attack came to keep his options for response open as best as possible.

Not to mention, he had never actually crafted his own spells before. He should probably dip his toes into this new stage of spellcraft with those spells that are least likely to cause a destructive backfire if he got it wrong.

That decided, when Ivan handed him a notebook, he got to work drafting potential mechanics and constructions for the sustainable light spell. That was probably the safest idea to try first. If he could manage that, he might have hope for some of the others. When he saw Yevgeny tomorrow, he'd be able to work on refining what spells he did know, and test out his theories for cantrip combinations.

Ivan watched the young mage work for a few minutes. Raistlin was already wholly focused on whatever theory he was working on; scribbling out notes swiftly, checking his charts, making notes on those charts as he remembered more relevant details that he hadn't had time to write over the course of the evening, then back to his notebook writing down ideas.

There definitely wasn't any chance of them being able to contain the young mage who would someday be the Master of Past and Present. The best they could hope for was continuing to temper his enthusiasm with logical arguments for caution in how he proceeded; and trying to structure his studies so that he felt like he had free reign to explore his options, but keeping him focused on what might be most useful and in a setting where they could keep watch to make sure he didn't go overboard and forget the basic things to take care of himself.

If they could manage that successfully, Ivan was willing to consider that a victory in upholding their duties to their own world. Hopefully, if they allowed the mage relatively freer reins than he had in Krynn, he'd be able to keep their little Ria safe when the time came.

'And perhaps he might truly learn a few lessons, beyond magical ones, that might better him when he returns to Krynn,' Ivan thought with a small, cautiously hopeful, smile before turning his attention to the dusty state of Ria's knickknacks on display in her bookcases.

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A/N: For any of you who may read this and worry that I am opening the door for Raistlin to become too powerful, too soon in his timeline, I would like to assure you, as a Dungeon Master of many years experience who was taught how to run games by guys who have run tables at WotC events, that I am not. Everything listed above is cantrips or 1st level spells in D&D, or lesser versions of 1st level spells I am adding for this story. Those that aren't cantrips are as basic as they get without being cantrips. It's just that people often don't appreciate the basics and how useful they can be, or aren't used to placing them into context of why spells make such a big impact against the mundane normal world. And Raistlin is going to have to earn every single advancement out of those mentioned that he does get. Which is going to be fun scenes for me to write. *Laughs in evil DM* On to the next chapter; it's not related to Raistlin's studies and it's going to be a bit heavier, fair warning.