[Flashback] Two Young Mages (Hadrian)

[Kye]

3rd of Spring, 507 Kye had had enough. His father always seemed to be in a bad mood recently. Kye knew it was because he couldn't travel yet and he was secretly pleased. He had no intention of going anywhere, and anything to stop his father asking and planning was a good thing. He had lain in his bed that morning, wide awake, watching the dawn approach. A little after sunrise he flung back his sheets and dressed before quietly leaving the house. He thought as he walked, no set destination in his mind. "Why does he want to leave the city anyway? We have everything we need. And for Endrykas? He frowned. Well I'm not going. He's already moved me once from Avanthal. If I'm going anywhere it's going to be back home. Yes, he was thinking like a stubborn little child, but he didn't care. The city was surprisingly crowded for the early hour, and Kye found his shoulders being knocked a few times as he walked. His eyes scoured the area ahead of him and he saw a gap in the crowd. He made for it and found himself at the entrance to a garden of some sort. He ducked inside, relived that it was completely empty. He found a bench and sat on it for a moment before looking down at his hand. "Might as well practice while no one can see." He concentrated hard, and a small pool of res appeared in his palm, djed that he had pushed through his skin and given form to. He raised his other hand and formed a sort of cup with both hands before transmuting the res into water. He nodded to himself, and then decided to take it one step further. He tapped into his Gnosis and the water solidified. It wasn't spectacular, but he was glad he could still do it with ease. He dropped the ice the the ground where it shattered.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian was not exactly pleased to be home visiting, but his father payed his bills at the University, so he was rather at his beck and call. All the same, he had come to the Stone Garden to escape, to meditate, and to practice his new, arcane skills, the which he wasn't very good at yet. He didn't like it when he wasn't good at things, but these personal disciplines were coming more slowly for him than his understanding of theoretical magics, such as magecrafting. He couldn't wait to assist a professor with something along those lines, because the University had the resources to produce such things. But he sat on his bench, legs crossed under him, elbows on his knees, and his hands cupped. He was managing to hold the Auristic spectrum in his vision while producing a bit of res, but he wasn't sure if the res was really faint or if his beginner's Vision was just not tuned correctly. Or maybe he was just crap at magic. That was possible too. He sighed, the surface of his res rippling like water, and then it was water, but he hadn't even meant to let it transmute yet. As he began to curse, there was a flash out of the corner of his eye that nearly blinded him, at least on a magical level. He blinked dazedly, but when his Auristics receded -- it was so difficult to manage it at the best of times, but impossible when his concentration was shot -- he found that he was a little disoriented, but his vision was unimpaired. He glanced to the side, saw an old acquaintance drop ice to the ground. But it was Spring and there was no more ice to be had except in the deep, cold larders of the Knights, no doubt. "Kye?" he asked, getting up and walking over. "The hell are you doing?"

[Kye]

Kye had been staring at the broken fragments of ice that lay scattered around his feet, so he hadn't noticed anyone approaching. It was only when a shadow fell across his vision that he looked up. A grin appeared on his face at the sight of an old friend. He shifted over on the bench to make room before answering. "Ah, you saw that?" He was unsure of how to explain what he had done. He had no idea if Hadrian even knew what reimancy was; the last he had heard was that his friend was studying liberal arts or something. "I uh, was just practicing something I learned a while back." He smiled again. "Anyway, it's good to see you again Hadrian. How's Zeltiva?" Kye had always wondered about the city. He had even considered trying to persuade his father to let him study there. But it would be useless. They couldn't afford it, and his father was determined that Kye go to Endrykas with him. He glanced down. The ice shards had melted and formed a tiny puddle at the two boys feet. Kye resisted the urge to transmute it again and looked back at Hadrian. "What exactly is it that you are studying?"

[Hadrian]

"Zeltiva's great. Studying magic, although my father thinks I'm studying economics and finance. Are you a reimancer, too? I thought it looked like... but then there was a flash and... ice?" Once fixated on a subject, his mind was not easily distracted unless it found itself on an interesting tangent. He knew Kye was from Avanthal, wondered if this was some gift of Morwen or something. His study of magic was still young, and he didn't know even a fraction of everything yet. "That looked like reimancy and something else," he repeated, though his Auristics were hardly subtle enough to ferret out true secrets. "Oh." He blinked, remembering his manners and smiling sheepishly. "Hello. How are you and your father?"

[Kye]

'Magic?' So Hadrian wasn't studying some mundane course after all. Kye made a mental note not to mention it anywhere around the city. Getting his friend in trouble with his father was the last thing he wanted to do. So Hadrian was a reimancer, which meant that he probably had a good idea of what Kye had been doing. But a flash? He could have sworn that there was no flash. He glanced at the shrinking puddle curiously. The boy was so intent of figuring out what Hadrian was talking about that he missed the rest of his words till his father was mentioned. "Oh, I'm well. My father... he's still adamant about traveling, though this time it's Endrykas wherever that might be." Kye shrugged to show his disinterest. He then answered Hadrian's first question. "And yeah, I have water reimancy." He glanced up at Hadrian and smiled. "What did you get?" He was referring to his friends element of course. His face then adopted a curious, albeit puzzled expression. "And when you said flash... what were you talking about? There was no flash."

[Hadrian]

Momentarily sidetracked, Hadrian's dark brows rose curiously. He knew a lot about Endrykas, or thought he did, at any rate. A class or two in anthropology and everyone was an expert. "If you move to Endrykas, you might learn to Web," he noted, but quickly returned to the subject at hand. "I also got water. I was disappointed at first, but now I'm realizing that you can do a lot with it if you're clever. It's not as obvious a power as fire, but... I can be clever." He shook his head. "You did something," he insisted, not trying to be an ass, but sure that he had seen a flash on the auristic spectrum. "There's ice," he noted.

[Kye]

Kye was paying enough attention to his friend to notice the brow raise. Was there something about Endrykas he should know? He frowned. Web? He had no idea what that was, so he made another mental note to ask Hadrian about it later. He nodded. Kye was satisfied with having water as his element. He had never used it for sparring, he merely found it useful. Perhaps Hadrian used it differently. Maybe they could learn from each other? 'Ice...' Oh. Now Kye thought he understood. If the ice was connected to the flash Hadrian had seen... "Um, I can make water into ice. Not a lot though. It's uh, my Gnosis." He'd never mentioned it to his friend before, there had not been any need for it. He still had no clue where a flash would have come from though. He was certain there hadn't been one. He fixed his eyes on his friends face, curious for his reaction.

[Hadrian]

"Oh," he said, mollified. Gnosis made sense, and Kye was originally from Avanthal so it wasn't so very strange that he would have been blessed by Morwen. Of course, this made Hadrian slightly jealous, but he wasn't going to comment on it. Perhaps one day he too would find favor with a deity. Hope springs eternal. "Ice reaving, right?" he asked. "That explains it. The flash of energy I saw on the Auristic spectrum, that must have been energy from Morwen, or something along those lines. I've never seen gnosis at work like that. Well..." He didn't want to give in to his desire to pepper Kye with questions that would likely make him uncomfortable. Hadrian was a bit odd, but he had been taught his etiquette. When he remembered it, he was quite polite. "Well... anyway, so you don't want to go to Endrykas? What's keeping you here?"

[Kye]

Kye nodded. "Yes that's right. Though it does a little more than let me turn water into ice. I have a sort of immunity to cold." He shrugged. "Up to a point anyway." It was the reason he never needed a cloak in the winter, not in Syliras anyway. The mention of another magic practice caused him to glance at his friend curiously. "You know Auristics?" Kye had only ever heard the term mentioned before. He knew roughly what it was, but he figured it was one of those things you had to see to understand. "Uh well, if you like I can use it again sometime. If you wanted to see again it with Auristics or something." He offered a smile. He had no idea how Auristics worked, but he was more than willing to help a friend out. He shrugged and shook his head lightly. "I never really wanted to leave Avanthal in the first place. It's not like I don't want to go there, just, not now. I'd rather go home first." Kye also didn't want to travel with his father. He was a good man and all that, but on the road he was insufferable.

[Hadrian]

"I wouldn't mind looking again," he said, "though I'd rather know how to get Morwen's attention. That would be a handy skill, and to be able to stand the cold better..." He tried not to get jealous of those who were blessed. Kye had always been a nice kid and, even if Hadrian didn't really have friends, if he was going to say he had a sort of friend, Kye would fit the bill. At least, they had known each other a long while now, and that was something. "But yes, I've started studying Auristics, and I was initiated into Reimancy..." He made a bit of a face at that, his own experience not being the greatest. "Well, you're old enough to part ways with your father. You could be a squire or an apprentice to someone. There's nothing absolutely keeping you here, or forcing you to go to Endrykas. Right?"