Curious, she walked up toward it. The top half of the sheet was covered in what looked like the same script on the whiteboard, but clearly written by two different people, as the style was visibly different in several places.
"Don't touch that!" Snow jumped in surprise, as she turned and saw Grenarin smiling at her cheerfully, though his eyes were serious.
"Sorry," Snow said, feeling rather embarrassed, "I didn't mean to intrude".
Grenarin looked at her for a moment, and then appeared to accept her apology, and beckoned her into the center of the circle he had painted on the floor.
"What do you know about Cumhachd?" he asked expectantly.
Snow blinked. "What do I know about what?"
"Surely you know something! Cumhachd, the Power." Snow was still confused. "Ah, that's right, you call it something different. Hmm." He mumbled to himself for a moment. "Magic! Yes?"
Snow nodded. "So what do you know about magic?" Snow was suddenly uncomfortable. She knew very little about magic, though she had a general desire to learn about it, a combination of several factors had stopped her from ever really trying to. Among them were compelling reasons including active discouragement on the part of her father, general dislike and distrust toward her stepmother – the most prominent magic user she was in contact with, and the fact that it had killed her mother.
But there was no point avoiding the facts, and so she admitted her ignorance. Grenarin looked shocked.
"You don't know, anything? How could you possibly . . ." he trailed off, looking utterly confused.
"Well, then, I suppose I should teach you the basics before we get any further."
"Are you sure," Snow asked cautiously, "As long as you can tell me what's going on I don't really need to understand, and it is rather complicated-" but at that Grenarin cut her off.
"Complicated! Nonsense. Cumhachd is elegant in its simplicity. Though complex to put into practice it is simplicity itself to understand. What have mortals been doing all this time? No, I suppose we will have to start at the beginning."
He wiped away the writing on the left half of the dark slate and turned to face her. "Every action has a consequence. If I go out and chop down the fruit trees, I will not have fruit to eat. If I were to leave my books outside, they would become ruined. Likewise, If I spend many hours practicing a skill, I will become good at it. Every action has consequences inherent to the action. I can choose my actions, but I cannot choose my consequences. It is the same with Cumhachd. More Power to act creates more choices for my action, but it cannot change the consequences of them. So be sure to choose wisely."
Snow nodded.
Grenarin turned back toward the board. "Now we may begin talking of magic."