Once they finished their meal, Dawn and Niphru headed out to meet with the rest of their group, finding Viera and Thomas already practicing, though the others were not present yet.  Joining those present, Dawn sat down in one of the chairs, with Niphru leaping into her lap.

As Dawn began her exercises, Niphru moved one of his flames to the side and began his own, starting with fire.  As expected, he had no trouble at all working with fire, rapidly going through all the examples they had been taught.  However, he found himself struggling when he switched to trying air magic, as he could not see the result.

Seeing this, Viera suggested, “Why don’t you try to have an orb of water surrounded by the air magic?  Then you can shape the inside instead of the outside and see the effect on the water.”

Hearing this, Niphru nodded, beginning to try just that, finding that it also helped keep the water bubble stable despite his lack of skill with that form of magic.

As the magic stabilized, Viera smiled and remarked, “That was difficult for me as well until I figured out that trick.  I’m glad it helped you as well.”

“Thank you for the tip; that does help a lot.  It should help just as much with force magic, as well, I think,” Niphru responded as he added two more shapes of fire circling the water and air construct.

Spotting his bit of play, Dawn did similar, creating a dozen shapes out of fire and spinning them around for a moment before going back to practice other forms of magic.

By the time the others had returned, both of them had switched to practicing their force magic.  Niphru tried to create a platform he could rest a leg on, while Dawn was using it to change the shape of an orb of water, as Viera had suggested.

Half an hour later, Niphru found himself quite bored, and jumped off Dawn’s lap, walking a short distance away.  Through their bond, he warned her to catch, and sent a slow-moving fireball in her direction.

Slightly startled, but reacting quickly, Dawn took control of the orb of fire and spun it around her hand before sending it back to Niphru at a higher speed.

Much more startled, however, were those around them.  It did, after all, look like an attack.  Seeing the ease with which Dawn redirected it made it seem more like another form of practice, though a bit more intense than they were used to.

After a few moments of watching, Miana asked, “Could I try as well, with something slow?”

In response, Niphru gently tossed a ball of flame so it would pass beside her at a slow pace before resuming tossing others to Dawn much more rapidly.

With a bit of a strained expression, Miana focused on the fire, seemingly without effect until after it had almost passed her.  With an exclamation of excitement, she pulled it towards her hand, marveling at actually taking over someone else’s spell, even if it was intentionally allowed.

As she tossed it back near Niphru, he moved his foxfire to pass just above it, then pulled the flame into an upward arc that would pass over Miana’s head.

Feeling more confident, she managed to take control before it reached her and looped it around behind herself before redirecting it back to Niphru.  In response, he sent Dawn’s fireball towards her, and hers toward Dawn, catching both of them a bit by surprise, though everyone recovered quickly.

After several more rounds of bouncing the fireballs back and forth, clapping from the stairs caused them to stop and look up, spotting Morris walking towards them.  While Miana lost control, Niphru took over and dissipated the flame near her, as Dawn snuffed out the one near herself.

As they paid more attention, they realized that Thomas and Richard had both stopped practicing and had been watching them instead.

Seeing that they had safely disposed of the fire, Morris stated, “That is a very unique way to practice, and very few ever attempt it.  Without a good degree of experience, it is extremely difficult to hijack another person’s spell, even if they do not intend to keep control of it.  I do recommend practicing with things you are not skilled at, however.”

Niphru quickly responded, “We were.  It is just that it got boring, so I started playing around to relax and Dawn joined in.  Miana was interested, so we let her join, too.”

“Ah, that is understandable; that way, you still get some practice while also getting some rest at the same time.  At any rate, I just wanted to see how everyone was doing, and if you had any worries about the future plans,” Morris remarked, looking at everyone but Dawn and Niphru.

Viera spoke up, “I must admit, I have worries.  Light isn’t exactly powerful or dangerous, so won’t I just be a burden?  At least here when we clean the sewers I can help with light and scouting.”

Before Morris could respond, Dawn replied, “My mother uses light magic too, and she is plenty useful in the wilderness!  If you can’t do the burning beam of light, you can put lights in front of the eyes of our enemies to blind them, light up the area so no one trips or gets ambushed, make setting up camp significantly easier, and even help avoid getting lost by leaving a trail of tiny lights.”

Chuckling, Morris nodded and stated, “Dawn is correct on that matter, though you can also use your less specialized magic, as well.  Dirt or fire in the throat or eyes can be crippling.  The Church of Conflict has shown that water magic can be used to rip blood from a wound, causing extreme blood loss in seconds.  With air magic, you can pull air away from the face, causing something to suffocate.  You will be fine; everyone is able to help, even those on the floors below, if they were trained for a day or two.”

“Thank you…  Those both make me feel much better about the upcoming trip.  I’ll see how things go when we have our combat lesson,” replied Viera, smiling as her worries were eased.

Morris then turned to Dawn and Niphru before asking, “Would the two of you be willing to help with teaching how to use fire magic in combat?  You both have experience doing so, and that would allow the rest of us to focus on other elements.”

Surprised by the question and the implied trust, they both looked at each other in surprise before nodding and agreeing.

Upon getting their agreement, Morris smiled, thanked them, and began returning upstairs.  Meanwhile Richard and Miana asked how they had combat experience, leading to a retelling of their experiences before reaching Arrival.

Shard

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