21st Day of Summer Scholar’s Forum A deal was a deal. Professor Annalisa Marin had upheld her side of the agreement and had given him a lesson in glyphing. Now it was his turn to return the favor and give her a lesson in flux. The magical discipline was one that was extremely important to Tallis, and he was quite happy to impart the knowledge. The mentality needed to learn and use flux was one that he had most obviously adapted to his everyday life. Unlike Annalisa, Tallis was much more flexible with the timing and location of his lesson. He had told the professor that he would begin the lesson around 5th bell. When she arrived, she would have to take the time to find him in the grassy park around the Scholar’s Forum. There were only a few trees littered around the area, and Tallis sat alone in the shade of one of them. It shouldn’t have been too hard to find him, but the search acted as a preliminary test of her patience. The location was ideal for learning flux and it was one that they were both familiar with. He suddenly wondered if Anna would see it as a jab at her pride. He could imagine how unhappy she would be if she, a professor of the university, were caught taking a lesson from him, a former student. Hopefully the thought wouldn’t occur to her and the lesson would proceed without a hitch. Ever since the lesson he had received from Anna, he had spent a lot of time thinking about how he would structure his own lesson. He doubted that he could teach as well as the professor did. She spent her time in the company of other professors, the most esteemed educators of the city. Tallis couldn’t do that justice. But he would have to try. Before the professor arrived, he moved into a position for meditation. He crossed his legs and placed his hands upon his knees. His back was held upright to align his body properly and to ensure that he was breathing properly. He inhaled deeply, letting the air fill his stomach and chest before exhaling calmly through his mouth. Unlike glyphing, the only materials needed for flux were a calm mind and a functioning body. Two things that Tallis was glad to have. If Anna had intended to take notes throughout the lesson, she would be sorely disappointed. Of course, she would have an opportunity to write anything she wanted at the beginning of the lesson. But for the most important and crucial parts, she would have to commit things to memory rather than parchment. |