"Never have I met anyone like you. Your magic is unique in this world, and I am unsure how to proceed. That will not stop me from trying." Yapha paced in front of Raine, who had been sitting on the ground in front of the fire for several long minutes. "Let us start with trying to gauge what you know of magic. I want you to do any magic. Whatever you want. I only need to see you use it. From there, we can begin."

Raine frowned. "I… I've struggled to use any magic at all. I can try, but I don't know what to do."

Yapha smiled gently. "Then let's start small." She walked over to a candle, and picked it up, blowing out the flame. "Light it again. However you wish."

Taking the candle, Raine focused on the wick. She could see that it was still hot, the embers within the fiber held heat. She could feel the power within her flow through her arm, and the embers began to glow, bursting with energy. As the candle burned once more, Raine smiled, but as she went to hand it back to Yapha, she stopped. Yapha had frozen in place, eyes wide. "Did I do it wrong?"

"You are a child of two worlds. I did not believe it at first, but now I can see." she said quietly. Looking down, Raine saw that she had partially shifted back to human. Her arms and legs were still wolf, and she still had a tail, but the rest of her was human.

"No! No! I don't want this!" Raine cried out, wishing that she could vanish, and dropping the candle.

Yapha walked past, picked up the fallen candle, and whispered to someone outside the tent, before tying the flap closed, before turning back to Raine. "You are not pleased with progress?"

"Progress?! This is a nightmare!"

"Peace, child-"

"Peace?! I'm a monster now!"

"No, you are-"

"I hate this! Why can't you see that I-" Raine suddenly shut up as Yapha whacked her on the head with her cane.

"Silence!" Yapha stood over her, looking down angerly. "We will get nowhere if you do not let me speak! Now, why do you not wish to look like so? You are a child of both worlds, so why do you try to hide it?"

"Because I look like a monster. I fit in with one world as a wolf, and the other as human, but this is awful. If I stay stuck like this, then I can't show my face anywhere again. You wouldn't understand."

Raine sat down and pouted, but suddenly turned to see Yapha bearing down on her. "You see me. You know me. You know my kind."

"I didn't-"

"I have been hunted for more than a century. I have been chased by assassins. I have been pursued by Templars. I have been turned over by my own kind. I have been scorned by the world. You fear being seen as a creature of two worlds, but me? I have no world. You speak of being an outcast, but I am Undar'ilk. Scorned by my own blood for decades, I only have respect because I proved myself, and survived. You have a not one, but two worlds to go back to. I have nothing but the ground under my feet. So do not speak to me of being an outcast, hatchling."

Raine was quiet as she listened to Yapha. "You… you were turned over by other Ishtaer?"

"A story for another time. Now, stand up. We will try again. Do not be afraid of your power. Once you learn how it works, you will learn how to control it. Focus your magic again."
Scared of what might happen if she didn't do what she was told, Raine stood back up. Her arms itched, and she looked around the tent. "What next?"

"Something more powerful this time. Conjure a shield, a flame, something. Push your power to the limits. Do not worry about the damage, for there is nothing in here I cannot replace, save myself. Unleash your power. All of it. Show no fear, for if you fear, you will never grow."

Holding out her hands, Raine concentrated. She hadn't used magic willingly like this before. She was afraid, but she was going to be the master of her Fate, she was going to control her power. Sparks began to form at the edge of her fingertips, and slowly an orb of bright red fire grew in her palms. It took everything she had to keep that going, and after only a few seconds, her magic faded, and the orb with it. A wave of exhaustion passed over her, and Raine doubled over, shaking. She hadn't changed at all, but she could feel the magic in her. "That…" she panted "took so much… for so little… why?"

"Magic is like a muscle. Train it, use it, teach it, and it will grow. Now, you have potential, but you have not used it. Calling forth magic will be difficult, as it is for all who learn."

She looked down at her legs and arms, and frowned. "Why didn't I change back… I tried so hard."

"You aren't going to master magic in a day. For some, it comes naturally, for others, it takes their whole life."

"I can't spend my whole life like this. And I'm not just talking about this imperfect transformation, I mean I can't spend my whole life trying to master a skill I should already know. I have friends, I have someone waiting for me back in Edinmire. I can't spend my life up here."

"Yours is not a path of exile, but a path of understanding, young hatchling."

Sighing, she sat on the ground. "Why do you call me that?"

Yapha chuckled. "Hm. You reach the ripe old age of a hundred and sixty one, and then try to look at everyone around you. Even the adults seem like children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren."

"But why hatchling? Forgive me if this is rude, but do Ishtaer lay eggs?"

"No. It is a name we call all of the young, a tribute to our ancestral heritage. Dragons call their young hatchlings, and thus so do we."

"The more I learn about Ishtaer, the more confused I get. How are you over a hundred and still alive?"

"Again, we share the blood of dragons. While the ancients are immortal, we are not, though we have greatly extended lives compared to other races. I am an exception, and I know my time will come soon. I can feel it in my bones. Most Ishtaer pass around the age of a hundred and fourty five, so I am long lived indeed. To reach the age of a hundred is cause for great celebration, but to pass of old age, well… everyone will rejoice, for even though I am Undar'ilk, I have lived my life to the fullest. There will be many who will wish to send me off to the afterlife in peace. Bah, enough talk of death. Let us continue. Stand up, and focus your magic again. We will go until you cannot call it anymore."

…

Vehc tried to teach Barret, but progress was frustratingly slow. The entire morning was spent going over how magic actually worked, and how Ishtaer differed from everyone else. "Our wellsprings give us power. Just like a muscle, you have to use it, flex it, strain it, and over time it will grow. What makes it difficult is that it is not an actual muscle, but a reflex. When someone is young, they can learn the reflex, and it becomes second nature, but once you stop learning, it becomes harder to teach yourself."

"That would explain why I haven't been able to access it." Barret scowled.

"Let's try something. Most of the time, when a child is struggling with magic, it helps to start small. Your magic is wild and uncontrolled, so we'll try to keep things simple, just so you can feel it." He left Barret, and went back to the camp to retrieve some items to manipulate with magic. Sitting on the ground, Barret looked to the south. It was April now. He wondered if Trace was still in Edinmire. If the war had ended. If Zen was still being overly protective of Natani. If she and Keith had decided to actually commit to a serious relationship. In his thinking, he remembered something. From his belt, he pulled out a pair of scales. One shone with brilliant silver with a tip of gold, the other was silver and vibrantly iridescent. Holding them, he looked at the contours of them both. Like a human's fingerprint, every Ishtaer's scales were unique in color and shape.

"Why didn't you teach me what I needed to know?" he whispered, tears welling in his eyes.

He didn't even hear the footsteps behind him. "What happened to them?" Vehc's voice was quiet and somber.

Still staring at the scales, tears gently rolled down his face. "I had been separated from them for fifteen years. More than half my life. We had just crossed the mountains north of Keidran territory, we had endured a blizzard and assassins. One of my best friends was sick, and she lost her child. And the same day, new years day, I watched those bloody Templars drive an axe through them both. I had found them for all of five minutes. And just like that, they were gone."

Vehc knelt down and put his hand on Barret's shoulder. "They would be proud. You've carried on. Make them proud again."

"No." Barret closed his fist around the scales. "I carried on for them. I fought for them. But it's time to let the past be the past." He stood up, and considered very hard what he was about to do. These were the scales that were the most perfect and pure. They weren't damaged or broken. Tears poured down his face, and he scowled. "It's time to let go." He moved his arm back, and with all his might-

"Wait!" Vehc caught his arm. "Just… wait. You don't have to get rid of them. Just move on. Let go, yes, but do not abandon them. Let them be in the past. Let the future drive you. Now, let's try this." Vehc handed Barret a candle. "Just try to light it with magic. However you can make the flames appear, whether you heat up the embers inside, or just create a new flame entirely, it doesn't matter. Just get it lit."

Barret looked at the candle. He could smell the smoke from the wick, and he could tell that it had been burning not long ago. Focusing, he stared at it. He put his willpower into making the embers heat back up, as he though that would be easiest. But for several minutes, he stared. The embers died out, and the candle grew cold. "I can't even do the most basic magic. How did I use so much power last time, and yet can't do this?"

"What exactly happened? You said you've used magic before, so what happened?"

"Well, the first time was basically me panicking. I had turned around because I heard my friend yelp in pain. She had fallen over, and we were being chased. I saw that she was about to die, and I wouldn't get to her in time. So, I just… did it. I made a shield around her. And when I had deflected the arrow that was about to kill her, I scooped her up and we fled."

"Fear is a strange motivator. Sometimes it can make you forget your reflexes, and other times it can sharpen them to absurd degrees. What about the other times?"

"There was only one other time. It was the day that… my parents died." Barret stopped and turned away.

"I understand that it is hard. I lost my father several years ago in an ambush. Fate is not kind to us. But you must work through the pain. It will hurt for a while, but it will be easier afterward."

"I had heard that my parents were in town a few days before I had arrived. Then, they my mom dragged back by the Templars, and faced public execution. My dad chased them down, and I rushed out to help him. My friends and I fought valiantly, but we couldn't break the lines. I watched as the axe cleaved into her skull. In our anger, we kept fighting, hoping to avenge her. And then they brought down my dad. He was on the ground, and I watched them raise the axe again. I don't know how it happened, but something lit up inside of me. I shot a bolt of energy at the executioner so hard he flew twenty feet back, and snapped his neck. But the axe fell into my dad, and he died in my arms. I don't remember much else of that day. All I remember is sorrow. Pain. Agony." Tears were rolling down his face again. His whole body trembled as he spoke, and by the end, he had sank to the ground, barely able to contain himself. "I lost them. I failed them."

Vehc sat there, arm around him as he cried. "You will only fail them when you give up. When you stop fighting for everything they gave their lives to let you have. They gave you a chance at life. When you give up your life, then, and only then, will you have failed them. Don't give up." Barret slowly stopped crying. The pain was too real, too close to him still. But Vehc was right.

"Then how do I do this?"

Vehc smiled. "I actually have an idea. But we'll try tomorrow. Go clean yourself off and clear your head. Do writing, go hunting, cook something, spar, anything. But tomorrow at dawn, we will try again. And you will use magic."

…

Haelith spent the morning reading books, and speaking with the four healers that were part of the tribe. She didn't actually expect anyone in the tribe to be able to read, but the four Ishtaer had a large collection of books they had traded for over the years. Anatomy, magic theory, biology, and a number of other sciences. Loriel was the one who was going to try to teach her magic, but they spent a large portion of the day just talking about their different practices. There was nothing for them to practice on, and they weren't going to intentionally hurt someone just to let Haelith try. When evening came, Loriel set aside her book, and smiled. "This was nice, but you'll never learn magic if we don't actually talk about it."

"I know, but there are so many other things that we talked about." Haelith smiled back.

"You haven't used magic before, so we should start small. No healing yet, that's a pretty big task. Try heating up the kettle over there. I actually do that all the time, means I can sanitize my rags more easily."

"Oh! How do I do that?"

"It's different for everyone." one of the other Ishtaer said as he organized a bag.

"Right. Some people can simply will it to happen, and it does, while others have to focus on a specific aspect, and enhance it's properties, like amplifying the heat that already exists, or that you perceive exists, within the water. It varies from one person to the next. You just have to figure out what works for you." Loriel explained.

"I… I can try." Haelith got up, and walked over to the kettle. She looked at the copper, and at the water within. There was no heat that she could feel, but she thought that it would be easiest to try that first. Placing her hand on the side, she focused her mind on the water, and then she felt it. The water began to stir, and the copper heated up. It took a lot out of her, but she heated the kettle to a low simmer over the course of a minute.

"Very good! I thought you hadn't used magic before."

"I haven't." Haelith panted as she sat down. "That was hard. How do you do that all the time?"

"I've never found it difficult. Power varies from one person to the next, so this might be all you can manage. But, we'll keep practicing."

"When we first arrived, Vehc mentioned that we inherit our magical abilities from our parents. Does this mean my parents didn't use magic either?"

"It's possible. It's also possible that you have a wide but shallow wellspring."

"What? Wide but shallow? What does that mean?"

Loriel smiled as she walked over to the now heated up kettle. "It means that you could have a vast amount of energy at your disposal, but only be able to use it slowly. Imagine your power like water. You could take a bucket of water, and pour it across a platter, until there was a large amount on the surface. You can only access however deep the water is, and it's spread out now. You have the same amount of water, but can't access it quickly. Some people could have the same thing, but poured into a deep hole. Same power, different result. They may be able to use magic only once, but that one spell could be extremely powerful."

"That makes a lot of sense. Is there a way to change it? To train yourself to be able to use more power quickly or to stretch your magic to go further than just one spell?"

"Yes. You can train yourself to do exactly that, but it is difficult. No one knows why this is how we are, but it just is. Training and vigilance. Tea?"

"Yes please. I haven't had a nice cup in a while."

"It's a commodity up this far north. Nothing grows up here that's edible, so we get most of our food from trading and hunting. Sometimes we get coffee, and add some spices to keep us warm, especially during the winter."

"Umburian coffee by any chance?" Haelith smirked over the cup of tea.

"You've had it before?"

"Once. Too hot for my taste, but I'll have you know I powered through the whole cup I was given." she laughed. Looking outside, the sun was setting, and the camp fires were being lit. "I should go. I hope that Raine and Barret have had as much luck as me."