Timestamp: 6th of Fall, 523 A.V.
Tazrae had offered once before… to hold a weekly magical gathering for the people of Syka who wanted to learn about magic and how to utilize it if they could. People had nodded, smiled, and told her what a good idea it was… but no one had shown up. Shiress, eventually, had stepped forward and hesitantly offered to learn. The Innkeeper still wasn’t sure if it was a pity acceptance or if Shiress truly had the urge to learn. Taz already knew Shiress absolutely had the capability to do so. Her young son Ian had a deep bright well of djed also, one that Taz suspected had the God of Evil knocking on the boy’s door. The Innkeeper turned Wildling knew Shiress needed more tools in her toolbox to fight the battles Taz suspected were before her – all surrounding Ian – but she wasn’t sure giving her the tools to do so wouldn’t also further Rhysol’s plans for Ian by giving Ian himself access to a magic user that may very well teach him magic.
“Follow your heart.” It had been a mantra that Taz had gone by since she’d been cast alone in the world. If she’d have done the sensible safe things, she’d be in Riverfall right now contracted to an Akalak and bearing him children. Instead, she’d followed her guts and heart and stepped foot on a ship bound for a deadly paradise. She’d loved Syka. She thrived in Syka. Taz was convinced Shiress could as well, so long as she got the support she needed and that included good friends.
Her heart told her to teach the Ravokian woman magic. It was never to late to learn – Taz was proof of that – and the Innkeeper thought for sure Shiress would be a quick study. All she had to do was start small, start clean, and teach her from the ground up as if she knew nothing. So she’d cleared out the main room in the Inn, set out plenty of iced tea and snacks, left a blank book with ink and quill for Shiress to take notes, and waited. Shiress would show up, and Tazrae would learn.
When the Healer arrived, Taz greeted her warmly, escorted her to the couch, and settled her there by the fire. Syka had no need of fires, nor did the Inn have any glazing in its windows. But Tazrae loved the ambiance and kept a blaze glowing to add to the atmosphere as the evening set. Ian was welcome to sit in on the sessions, though Kami had offered to watch him on the ‘magical’ nights so the training could continue uninterrupted by youth. Taz hopped Shiress took her twin up on the offer. Khari and her brother were already over there.
Along with the blank book was a giant volume of a book titled ‘Encyclopedia of Arcanology” that Tazrae left resting on the table as well. It was there for reference had had every discipline of magic that was well known in the world. She’d added to it with a smaller volume that sat beside it where she’d listed some other known magics – a bit about Dominion and one or two she herself was creating – for reference as well. That journal was titled Lost & Found Disciplines. One day she hoped Ialari would flush out her knowledge of Dominion, not because Tazrae wanted to practice it. But rather for the ways that Tazrae could combat it. If she ever ran into her Grandfather’s nemesis again and was imprisoned in a dominion, she wanted to be able to know enough to perhaps get herself out of it.
And so Taz waited for Shiress to arrive, fussing a little with her setup, and pacing the porch until Shiress put in her appearance. There was never a thought in Taz’s mind that Shiress wouldn’t show. Once she committed to something, the Innkeeper was sure she’d bust through the Ukalas itself to see her word good. And so, once she had Shiress settled, Tazrae launched right into the lesson.
“The first and most important thing you need to know is that there is something called Djed. We all have it. Everything in the world has it, including the world itself. Some things, like a grain of sand, have tiny bits of djed, while other things like say a God, have huge portions of Djed. It’s a power, a tangible thing, that exists in all of us. It can be felt, like emotions, and it binds us to things we love and are connected too. You are bound to your son by blood and djed. You will, through these bindings, always have a mother’s insight into how he is doing. Is he happy? Sad? Is he smiling but you sense something is terribly wrong? That’s the djed and blood link.” Taz said softly. Then she settled across from Shiress, made herself comfortable by folding her legs under her so she was sitting cross-legged in an overstuffed chair, and then tilted her head.
“Djed is the word we use for this power. It means backbone in the Old Tongue. It is the primal energy of the world and everything in it. It takes a million forms and can be manipulated from one form to another if you know how to do it. It has rules… only three simple rules.” Taz said, then paused before she continued speaking.
“Djed cannot be created or destroyed. It is more powerful than we are. It can only be transformed.” Tazrae said, reaching out and plucking one of the small sticks of tinder from a basket by the fire. The tinder was a long thin piece of wood. “This is a stick of firewood, a small one called tinder. We use them to start a fire. It has djed within it. You’d think by burning it, you’d destroy the tinder but that is completely untrue.” Taz said, thrusting the long length into the open flame until it caught fire. Then she pulled the burning stick out of the fire and watched the tip that was lit lick at the air in the room. “When we burn wood, we perform a magic of a sort. We transform the djed of the wood from wood to fire. And in turn we transform the fire to heat. That heat we absorb into ourselves to keep functioning… to stay warm.” Taz said softly, then tossed the burning brand into the fire.
“Humans, like you, have things that make up their body. They have bones and muscles and fat. They have organs and blood. They have skin to hold it all together. And they also have djed. Each person has a known quantity that much like blood in a body stays at the same level the whole of the person’s life. One can lose blood and be weak, but the body will manufacture more just as soon as the cause of the lost blood is dealt with and no more is lost. Djed is the same way. We can use our djed and feel utterly depleated. It will often set us abed and make us weak when we use too much. But like blood, the body will make more… by eating, resting, and going about our normal days. Djed is just another part of us, one we just don’t talk about.” Taz said thoughtfully, then carefully spilled out the next two rules.
“The other two rules are that Djed comes in many forms. Some forms are purer than others. The djed of a rock is much weaker than the djed of a living thing such as a person. That’s true because a rock is just a thing… a thing that does nothing and is subject to the world around it… wind eroding it, water tumbling it, that sort of thing. Our djed is subject to our will because we are sentient creatures. We can bend it willingly or unwillingly as we desire. I will show you how.” Taz assured her, leaning back in her seat.
“The final rule is that some djed transformations are irreversible. I can’t make that piece of firewood back into itself after its burned. Its djed has turned to fire, then heat, and that heat will then turn to something else, and on and on. There’s no going back to that piece of firewood tinder.” She said softly She hoped Shiress was following her.
Then she rose, slipped around to where Shiress sat, and smiled. Kneeling beside her, Tazrae offered her hand. “Let me show you where your djedpools is within you. Let me show you how full it is.” Holding her hand out, Taz hoped Shiress would accept her offer.
Words: 1450
