It felt good to be back in class again. It was something…normal. That is, if learning to change her appearance with magic could be called normal. Apparently, Virginia and Ellen's Christmas had not been as interesting as her own. Ellen and Donald had had a fight over some misunderstanding, but then had gotten back together again. The girls agreed that Alice's father-in-law had provided more drama than that.
She had gotten her new wand out of the box in her husband's room, and had started working with it. Apparently, not only did it magnify her level of skill in the various colors of Magic, but it also magnified the power of her spells. Of course, it did nothing as to the dexterity with which she handled her spells, so she had to get use to the control so she didn't blow out a wall when she had been intending to light a candle. Still, it was a very useful tool.
It was also getting easier to see the webs of spells that others made. As sophomores, they had more dueling practice than they had as freshmen. This time Alice found herself face to face with Pastel. They had been forbidden to use magical items during their duels, so Potsdam was holding her wand and Pastel's necklace. Different tactics were running through her head, but Alice decided to do something different and go on feel this time.
As soon as Potsdam said 'go' Alice saw Red magic being woven by her opponent. Instead, Alice pulled on White which engulfed and redirected Pastel's weaves, forcing them into a self-sustaining barrier which pressed upon Pastel's connection to magic and prevented her from forming other webs.
Potsdam wasted no time in declaring the duel over, and then had the rest of the class see if they could observe her webs before sending Pastel to the main gate where there was a ward especially for disrupting and canceling such webs. Anyone else might have been self-conscious with the entire class taking turns to inspect her, but Pastel was preening under the attention.
"This is how you were restrained from performing magic after making your Choice, but before coming here," Potsdam told them all. "It takes White magic to make something that's self-sustaining from a caster, otherwise it dissipates. Therefore, as soon as the subject starts using any magic other than White, you can coat it with your own White magic and use it like a plug to keep the other person from using magic. This works if the subject is using any other color than White."
"What happens if someone is only using White magic?" Jacob asked. "I heard something about a stir being caused by a little girl that belonged to a magic house but that lived with normal parents."
Potsdam nodded. "That is because the child in question is using nothing but White magic at this point, even if she tries to use something else. If you tried to coat White magic with White magic, you would be unable to redirect the flow of magic into a plug; you would simply be adding to the web that was already being produced by the subject. While you could make a temporary web that would keep the subject from using magic, it would not last long for someone that used White magic often."
Alice thought that was a clearer explanation than she had heard from her grandfather. She had not known that Nancy was becoming a subject of local gossip. This must be an unusual situation.
Potsdam was continuing. "Now, mages that show this level of affinity for White are highly sought after for various reasons. For example, they are able to enter realms farther away from our world and are able to communicate with spirits that are not normally accessible to us. Can anyone tell me why that would be useful?"
"To know about other worlds?" someone guessed. "Acquisition of rare substances from those other worlds?" someone else said. "Can they speak to the Ancestors?" a third student wanted to know.
"Correct for the first two," Potsdam said. "On the last, a very few have been known to do so. Human spirits pass on into the next Realm upon death with very few able to maintain the most tenuous ties to Earth. The few that have, though, act as basis for stories of 'ghosts.' Most of 'ghost' activity is actually a product of other, less benevolent spirits. The few that can speak to human spirits are both unusually strong in White magic, and were born during the Chime hours. The last has been hard to pin down, as Chime hours can vary from location to location."
Alice listened, fascinated as Potsdam continued her apparently unplanned lecture. She guessed that what Potsdam had been testing her sister for had been to see if she could make the barest thread of any other color of magic. Obviously, that had failed or else she would have been informed that Nancy was safe.
On another front, Virginia had agreed to go out with Clark to the Glen the coming Saturday…assuming that they both passed their exams and were therefore able to avoid detention. She had been wondering how long it would take him to finally ask Virginia out. While her brother had many fine qualities, he did tend to drag his feet on his own personal issues at times…and she thought that he couldn't always see what was right in front of his face while he picked up subtle nuances elsewhere.
Her brother had told her about the conversation he had had with Adelaide at the opera. She had been quite surprised at this new view into Adelaide's personality, as well as her predicament. Alice had found her to apologize for not giving her the opportunity to finish explaining her problem. She had thought that she knew what was going on, and then given advice based on that. Apparently, it was a worse situation than she had first believed. And Alice could more than understand the fear of being married to someone that she did not love, though Adelaide had it worse. At least in her own case, Hieronymous had made it clear at the start of their marriage that he wanted it to be 'on paper only' while Adelaide would be expected to bear and then virtually abandon her child.
Alice had to ask Adelaide how that fate would rate with if one or both of Adelaide's parents promised such an arrangement, and then she refused to go through with it resulting in her parents' loss of magic. The other girl had not been able to answer, but apparently found either prospect horrifying.
Adelaide had been quite gracious about accepting her apology, though Alice considered that it would be foolish for her to be anything else. After all, if worst came to worst, Alice could still get out of her situation once she had graduated if she got Adelaide a job that paid well, or put her in a position to meet eligible wizards if they could stall her parents until then. And maybe her and Clark's plot to 'encourage' her parents to downsize to give Adelaide a chance to get at him would be successful. He had decided to help her, and Alice had decided to trust her brother's judgment on the matter and go with their plan though she would have rather found another way to help Adelaide herself. After all, what would happen should her mother become impatient? More than three years was a long time to stall someone. Alice hoped that they could find a more permanent solution to Adelaide's problem before that occurred.
Clark had said that it would help the 'friendship' angle if she appeared friendly with Adelaide in public, at least on occasion. This was how Alice had ended up helping the other girl with her Blue magic in the library on the weekends, since it was imperative that they be seen together by others. Virginia, of course, had been told everything.
Of course, Virginia was in favor of just telling Adelaide's mother to just divorce her husband, marry the pocketbook for a year herself, and then get back together with her husband after she had earned the cash. This idea lasted until Adelaide told her that the reason she was an only child was because her mother had had her womb removed due to an infection after she had been born. This had seemed to disappoint Virginia, who tended to appreciate the most direct approach to a problem rather than delicate circumvention, but she had not had any other ideas and did not disapprove of Alice or Clark treating Adelaide as a friend. Virginia was also grateful for the parents she had, who would never place her in a similar situation.
And Alice had been hoping that she would not be involved in any plots other than passing her tests before graduation.
The next exam itself appeared to be the hardest yet. This time there were illusions over traps, illusions that could turn into traps if you did not dispel them correctly, and a couple of monsters to top everything off. What made this exam interesting was that it was announced that there were three students in the dungeon, and whoever got to the exit first would get double points—unless there was a tie in which case the points would be split. The last student out would be docked points, while the second would pass the test but receive nothing.
As Alice had enough merit points, she was willing to team up with one of the other students that had suggested an alliance. The third hooded figure did not want to join with them, play a game of wits, or fight the two of them claiming that would be unfair especially in light of the wand that she carried. Alice guessed that her ally must have been paying attention to the web she had used during dueling practice, because as soon as the third figure started to use Blue to disappear, it was changed into a shield that prevented the third figure from using magic. Remembering that there were creatures in this exam, Alice wove a stationary protective shield over the figure with White magic coating it to keep it going.
"How did you get a real wand this early?" her ally wanted to know.
"Christmas present," she answered. She had noticed that most of the other students in her grade did not have serious wands yet, though a few had the 'sparkly' ones her husband was so dismissive of.
She wove White magic trying to watch for illusions or traps, and was startled to notice a thin trail that link what she had thought was another student to her. There was also another thin line hooking him to someone else. She had seen this line before.
"Asim or Hafiz?" she asked, knowing it was the manus that belonged to either her grandfather or her husband.
The manus dropped the disguise. "It is Hafiz, Mistress."
Of course, her grandfather's manus would not be here, but her husband might be using his for the test.
"Your lord husband will be pleased that you noticed," e hissed.
She shook her head. "What instructions were you given, or are you allowed to tell me?"
"I was not forbidden to tell you, Mistress," the manus replied. "That there are three students here is a falsehood. Your compassion in whether you provided any protection for the one that did not wish to join was tested…it is actually another student working off demerits and allowing himself to be bound. I must pretend to be a weaker student that slows the tested student down for the strong ones, and a stronger but naïve ally that will tempt the lesser students to betray me."
"So you aren't going to do any of the work I take it?" Alice asked, and the manus merely gave her a toothy grin. She sighed, and went along solving the rest of the exam herself with the manus floating along behind her.
"Excellent work rosebud," Potsdam said when she finally got back into the light. "Technically, you could have ordered Hafiz to help you."
"But none of the other students could have done so. It wouldn't have been a fair test of my abilities in that case," Alice replied.
"And right you are. Ten merits," her teacher announced before waving her away.
When she got back to her dorm, Virginia was there snarling about what an idiot that other kid had been.
"You're lucky," Alice told her, choosing a book from her desk. "The first time I saw em, e nearly ate me."
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Katy, you aren't signed in, so I'm answering here. Please don't apologize for the long comments…I love nice, long reviews! In fact, more please. ;)