CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A LESSON IN MAGIC

The council went on for several more hours. Happily, they didn't have to remain standing the entire time, as weary as they were already from their long journey. A table and chairs were brought in and dinner was prepared.

Terra sat next to Arvis and looked at him fondly and often. "Why didn't you tell me?" she said, awed by the depth of his forgiveness.

"It would only have grieved you, my child," he responded. "As far as I was concerned, your encounter with the Esper washed away your past forever, and I was anxious to keep you from evil memories for as long as I could. I could have wished to keep you ignorant forever, but now that I see how much courage and strength you have, I have the utmost confidence that you can endure anything. Bless you, child, for gracing these old eyes once again with the sight of you." Terra teared up and hugged him with all her might.

Banon, Edgar, and the elders spoke more about battle strategy. Their plan was to hold the enemy outside Narsha's walls for as long as possible, and to flank them on either side by means of secret passages in the caves. In this way, they hoped to capture the magitek tanks before they reduced the walls to rubble.

If the enemy broke through, they could retreat up the mountain and make a stand on the plateau, where the Narshans would have the advantage—for they knew the terrain and would not be strained by the altitude. They would be fighting with their backs to the Esper, and this would be the very last line of defense against its capture, unless the Esper itself fought.

"Captain Terra will go up and speak with the Esper before the battle and try to make it understand our plight," said Banon. "Who knows? Perhaps it will fight for us."

"No one has seen this Esper and lived," said the elder. "What makes you think it won't destroy both sides (and Narsha too) and be done with it?"

"One lived," Banon retorted. All eyes turned to Terra. Arvis looked apprehensive, and there was worry in Locke's eyes, despite his seemingly mischievous grin.

"Will you do this, Captain?" pursued Banon.

Terra's fear was overmatched by her sense of duty. "I will," she said, though in saying so she felt that she had most assuredly been wedded to Death.

"Then it is agreed," said Banon.

Just then a message came for Edgar. "My men have arrived," he said. "I must go out to meet them."

"Yes," said the elder. "The meal is over; this is a good time to adjourn our meeting. You'll want to call all of your men inside the city walls. And we must go make arrangements to accommodate them as best we can."

Everyone got up from the table.

"I don't like the idea of your going to see the Esper," said Arvis to Terra, "but I suppose it can't be helped. And I don't like the idea of your going into battle, but that can't be helped either. In the meantime, don't you think it might be wise to ask Celes for a magic lesson? Perhaps you'll gain some command over your powers."

Terra agreed, though she hadn't been able to read Celes very well before, and didn't know what kind of response to expect.

As they were leaving, Terra caught up with Celes. "Could you teach me how to use my powers?" she said.

Celes looked at her with surprise and perhaps a little incredulity. "Me teach you about magic? Won't that be kind of ironic?"

"I don't know. Will it?"

"You really don't remember a thing, do you?"

"Nothing."

Celes laughed. "Sure, I'll teach you."

"Can I come?" said Locke, poking his head between them.

"Sure," said Celes. "We'll need a target."

"Uh oh," said Locke. All three of them laughed.

Terra and Celes were standing in a small field with maize stubble just poking through the snow. They were facing each other a few feet apart. Locke was sitting on a stone retaining wall on one side, swinging his legs restlessly. The wind blew and Terra, though wrapped in her thick, white bear fur, shifted from one foot to the other.

Celes began her lesson with an oration, which sounded like something she had memorized: "We don't call it magic when the soul exercises its will over the body to make it move or perform some action, or over the mind to contemplate some thought. We don't call it magic because it is such a familiar phenomenon that we take it for granted.

"The soul of a man is the king of his body, which is his rightful domain. No other man can control his body because that is not his domain, and the gods give his will no power over it. But what about nature and the elements? No one (or, rather, no one but the gods) commands fire or water, earth or trees or animals, as a soul commands its body. For that reason, nature is for the most part like a country without a king, which could be commanded by one who, like a god, could extend his will beyond the boundaries of his own body to this unclaimed domain."

"If one's will is the sole sovereign over his body," said Terra, "you couldn't force him to move his arm or transform him into a pig?"

"No, we can't," Celes replied (which answer filled Terra with doubt, since she had once done that very thing). "We can influence him into moving a limb or thinking that he's a pig. Or we could make it appear that he's a pig, but it would just be an illusion; we could never actually change him into a pig. And not just because the gods have not granted us power over his body, but also because a change of that magnitude would be an act of great violence to nature, and would require a power beyond that of even the greatest magitek knight"—("Then what am I?" Terra thought)—"It requires great mental ability and strain to extend one's will beyond one's body, and for that reason our magic abilities are limited by distance and vision—and limited in power. I might be able to lift a cat by magic, but it would be very difficult for me to pick up a horse, and impossible to pick up a mountain."

"Where does magitek come from?" asked Terra.

"That story has never been fully told. All I know is that the Emperor found a supply of magic stone called magicite, and had his chief engineer experiment with it. He infused it in machines and created magitek tanks. He infused it in human beings and created magitek knights. Each knight has a scar on her abdomen from the infusion."

Now Terra wondered more, for she certainly had no such scar.

"Are all magitek knights women, then?" she asked.

"Almost. Women seem to be more receptive to the infusion. Most often the men die or show no signs of magic ability—with one notable exception."

"Who?"

"Kefka. He was the first experiment. They say something snapped in him that day, that he lost his mind. Whether it was because of the infusion or because a lust for power awoke in him, no one knows. If he didn't prove such a useful weapon, the Emperor would have had him killed. He may yet. The Emperor fears Kefka."

"And why is it ironic that you should teach me to use magic?" asked Terra.

"Haven't you guessed? You were the second, Terra. It was you who taught me and all the others how to control our powers."

"I must have been very young. I can't be more than twenty-five years old."

Celes laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"The truth is that you are closer to forty-five. The infusion significantly decreases aging. That is why the Emperor desires the Esper. There is some link between Espers and magicite. The Emperor seeks immortality."

Wonder upon wonder! Terra could never have guessed that she were so old. The delight of perpetual (or near-perpetual) youth and beauty soon gave away, however, to the fear of outliving those she loved. How long would she live? Would she live long enough to see Locke become Arvis's age, herself unchanged since the day they met? Would he die while the fire of youth still surged in her veins? How she dreaded to see his innate energy and vigor fade—ultimately, and finally, leaving her alone again, totally and utterly alone!

"How is all this helping me use magic?" asked Terra, trying to banish the thought.

"It may not," said Celes. "But you'd be surprised how often theoretical knowledge has practical value."

Locke, who hadn't heard a word of their conversation, suddenly shouted out: "Hey, when are you gonna blow something up?"

Celes rolled her eyes, then looked around and found a scarecrow at the end of the field. "Try to set that on fire," she said.

"It's too far away," said Terra.

"No, it's not. Try. Extend your will towards it."

Terra made several attempts. She reached out with her hand, for that seemed to aid her reaching out with her mind, but all to no avail. She only succeeded in worsening her headache.

"What's the problem?" said Celes.

"If I knew that I wouldn't need a lesson, would I?" said Terra, frustrated.

"I mean, you look pained."

"I have a headache. I've had it ever since we entered the city."

"Really?" Celes looked as if this were meaningful to her, but would not disclose its meaning when asked, much to Terra's chagrin.

"Try to clear your head first," said Celes.

Celes stared hard at her. While they kept eye contact, almost imperceptibly Celes' eyes glowed dimly with a cold light. At the same time, Terra prayed that her headache abate. And finally it went away, almost entirely, leaving only the lightest weight pressing on her mind.

She stretched out her hand again, palm up, and suddenly a fire came to life in it. It was hot but did not burn.

"Now do something with it," said Celes, who must have moved behind her.

Terra made a fist, and the fire (she felt) continued to grow in her hand until she feared she couldn't hold on to it any longer—not because it grew too hot (although a greater heat she had never felt), but because it grew so powerful that it would soon leap from her hand. Terra quickly fixed her eye on the scarecrow and released the fire. It shot from her hand faster than arrow from string, hitting the scarecrow with such force that it exploded. A shower of flaming straw fell where it had stood a second before. Now there was nothing but the smoking stub of a post.

"Yeah! Way to go, kid!" cheered Locke.

Terra looked at Celes, who gave something like an approving smile.

Suddenly Terra heard a second explosion. She looked back to the annihilated scarecrow. It remained the same.

"That wasn't you," said Celes.

Locke jumped off the wall, and all three of them ran towards the sound.