Air, Rynn discovered, was the most difficult to manipulate of the four elemental magicks. It required unwavering concentration, clear thought and steady breathing. Glaive said that this made it a magic rarely used during battles, as very, very few people could remain calm and collected in such a situation. When Rynn asked how Air could be used offensively, Glaive answered that a skilled mage could suck the air from an enemy's lungs, suffocating them, or cause stones to rise and hurl themselves at targets, or manipulate air currents so that a loosed arrow would fly with perfect accuracy. Air could also be fashioned into invisible armour no weapon could pierce if the mage could but stand unflinching and confident under any onslaught.
"All right, Ebontyne taught you the other three Cycles," Glaive said, "so let's see how good you are with them. Conjur me some Fire."
Eager to display her skill, Rynn summoned a large ball of golden flames (about the size of her head) between her hands.
"Good. Let's see if you can make it smaller. Say, the size of a candle's flame."
Rynn tried to reduce the size of her fireball, remembering that emotions controlled this aspect. She forced herself to think of a mildly funny joke she'd heard once and the flame immediately dwindled to a spark. She thought of a funnier joke, and the spark became a dancing flame. Glaive nodded his approval and Rynn quickly doused her Fire before her pride could make it flare up.
"Now, Earth."
Once Rynn had made grass grow, rocks split, whirlpools form, water freeze, then levitated herself on a pillow of Air, Glaive moved her on to combining the elements. He taught her how to create a bubble of air underwater which she could use to breathe while swimming. He showed her how to melt rocks to lava, and how she could walk across it unharmed. He taught her the basics of healing, then reversed the method and displayed how easily she could kill.
At the end of the day, although not yet adept in the four Cycles of magic, Rynn was competent.
"We can keep training as long as you wish," Glaive said, "but you don't need to know everything about these four elements to get on to the fifth. You just need to know how they work, which you now do."
"Can you teach me anything about Rift magic?" Rynn asked.
"I never learned it," Glaive admitted. "I never thought I'd need it, and didn't see myself as an Archmage. In short, Rynn, I have no idea how to manipulate ether. You're going to have to figure that one out on your own."
"But that could take forever!"
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. The first Archmagi had no one to teach them."
The sun had sunk behind the high mountains to the west and the ever-lengthening shadows threw the Belltower and its surrounding grounds into cool darkness. Rynn walked up the grassy slope from the bay to the tower, glancing up once as a flock of twittering birds flew across the sapphire blue sky, and sat down with her back to one of the stone walls.
"You've had more than enough mental exercise for one day," Ebontyne said from the huge gateway of the tower. The black-armoured woman stepped outside, eyes intent on the cloth she was running up the blade of her midnight blade. "Do much more thinking and your head might explode. Figuratively speaking."
"Oh... good." Rynn closed her eyes with a sigh and rubbed her temples. "For a moment I thought you were serious. There's a lot about all this magic stuff I don't understand."
"If exploding heads was a factor, Navaros would have detonated his ages ago." Ebontyne leaned back against the wall. "What about a spot of sword-fighting?"
Rynn squinted at her, then at the sword. "What does that thing do, anyway?"
"A shadowshiv? Another weapon from the Eastern Wilds. There's a canyon over there were darkness is like flesh. Real, touchable, as capable of killing things as you or I are. I cut a piece of the shadows from that place and had it shaped into this form."
"But what does it do?"
"Among other things, this. Hold still." Ebontyne called forth a small gout of Fire and lifted her sword in front of it so that its shadow fell across Rynn's face.
And in that shadow of darkness itself, Rynn suddenly felt a deep fear. She felt herself backing away, as though she was seeking to bury herself in the side of the tower to escape, but she couldn't look away. It would be idiocy to take her eyes away from what she feared most in all the world...
"Rynnnnnnn!" Delon shrieked as he plummetted into the depths of the Void...
"It's good to be back..."
"NO!" Rynn shouted, and blindly threw herself forward. Abruptly, she found herself sprawled face-down on the grassy ground, heart pounding. Ebontyne stood nearby, watching Rynn a little too avidly.
"Everyone's afraid of the dark," the woman warrior said softly.