Ariom and Professor Erish moved around the classroom, passing out materials to each student. As she set one of the packets of paper on Thenio's worktable, the professor bent over and said in a low voice, "Please use as little magic as possible, Thenio. If you cause an explosion today...." She didn't finish, but from her tone, it was clearly a threat.

"I know..." he muttered, avoiding her stern gaze. He considered pointing out that pressuring him like this would only make his control over his magic even worse. But she probably wouldn't listen.

The professor moved away from his workstation, leaving Thenio biting his lip and looking despondently at the papers in front of him.

Simply not doing the assignment…probably wasn’t an option. Not if he wanted to convince anyone that he was more than just a lazy student who wasn’t worth helping. He'd have to spend as long as he could on the design part of the project and hope it wasn't too obvious that he was stalling. And when Ariom stopped by his workstation...what? What should he say? Would a grandmaster enchanter actually listen to him, when none of the academy professors ever did?

Thenio closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Worrying wouldn't help. He could already feel his magic starting to act up. If he didn't calm down, he was going to blow up before he even did anything.

He turned his attention to the item that he was supposed to be enchanting. It was an octagonal brass plate about six inches across with a white magic crystal already set into the center of it. That must be the power source that the enchantment was supposed to use.

Thenio flipped through the packet and found the diagram he needed. He studied the lines of its central magic formation, starting at the points that should connect to the magic crystal socket and carefully following them as they ran through the rest of that formation and on into other parts of the matrix. There was a large chunk of the diagram that was missing altogether and several places where the tiny runes written along the circuit lines were obscured by scratch marks. But this part here was definitely an attribute convertor, which would change whatever type of magic the crystal was charged with into...light magic? That should be it. Then that formation there was to adjust the power flow. There should be some kind of trigger point to start and stop the magic draw from the crystal.... There it was, over on the side. The runes there were mostly gone, but Thenio could recognize the shape once he knew to look for it. Then this large portion that was missing...? Ah. The original item must have been a portable magic lamp. So the area of the inscription that was broken off had probably been something to control the appearance of the light, like specifying the size and color.

Thenio took out a clean sheet of paper and a pencil and started redrawing the diagram. Once he understood the enchantment's purpose, he didn't have too much trouble filling in the missing parts. The Pre-War runic system was different from the one that was most commonly used now, but Thenio was already somewhat familiar with it. And the packet Ariom had given them included a helpful chart that showed the archaic system compared with the modern one. Thenio referred to it as he wrote in new runes.

Figuring out the large missing section took the most time. When Ariom had mentioned 'seeing the result' of their reconstructions, this must have been what he was referring to. From the diagram he'd given them, there was no way of knowing exactly what this section had contained in the original version. The students would each have to decide on their own how to fill it in, which should mean that everyone's finished lamps would look different when they were turned on.

Interesting.

Thenio pondered for a bit, trying to recall what he knew about Pre-War culture. Weren't botanical motifs popular back then, at least in this area? He'd been to the Kafron National Museum a few times, and he remembered seeing a lot of plants on the Pre-War items they had there. It supposedly had to do with the region being a major producer of alchemical materials at the time.

All right. A flower seemed like a safe choice. Something like a lotus, maybe? That would be easy to make because of the repeating shape of the petals, and it would look good with the octagonal plate. He used another sheet of paper to do some sketches and calculations. After working out how to create the shape and color he wanted, he went back to his new diagram and drew in the last part of the magic formation. Then he went through the entire diagram very carefully, checking every part and correcting a few small mistakes.

There. That should do it.

Thenio smiled a little as he finished up his design. This reconstruction stuff was actually pretty fun–like solving a puzzle. He could see why Ariom liked it.

His smile faded as he thought of the grandmaster wizard and remembered that he was still in the middle of class. He glanced around to see what was happening in the rest of the room.

Oh. He’d been a bit careless.

He ducked his head down again. He’d gotten too interested in the assignment and hadn’t worked as slowly as he should have. It looked like most of the other students were still working on their own diagrams. Some were obviously having trouble. Professor Erish was across the room helping a girl who looked like she was on the verge of tears. Only a couple of students had their engraving tools out.

Thenio looked back at his paper, feeling conflicted.

Really...why did the assignment have to use a metal plate? He would have been fine if it were an inscription that could be drawn on with ink, but he couldn't use his engraving tools without magic.

This particular inscription was actually large enough to make using regular, non-magic tools. But it was impossible to do that with advanced enchantment inscriptions, which were often so tiny and intricate that they couldn't even be seen without using special magic tools. The purpose of scribing classes was to train students in the techniques they would eventually need to create these advanced inscriptions. So they were deliberately given tools that required magic to operate.

Thenio understood the intentions, but he was feeling quite resentful toward them at the moment. This inscription wasn't that complicated. He'd created hundreds of simple enchantments like this before. If he were by himself, in a calm state, he probably wouldn't have any trouble with it. But in the middle of class...with a grandmaster visiting...and knowing how upset Professor Erish would be if he messed up....

Just by sitting there and worrying about what might happen, Thenio could already feel his magic stirring restlessly, like a wild animal trapped in a cage. With a resigned sigh, he picked his pencil back up and started going over his diagram again...very slowly.

 

---

 

Ariom had never really enjoyed doing guest lectures. He did them occasionally because he had also been a student at the Royal Academy of Magic at one time, so he recognized the value of them. But he hated the fawning looks the students gave him, especially now that he was a grandmaster. It was even worse with these younger ones. He never would have agreed to teach a first-year class if that conniving department head hadn't forced him into it as a requirement for helping him meet with Thenio.

That same Thenio, he noted, watched him during the lecture with a different kind of expression than the other students. It was cautious, even a bit fearful, but also slightly hopeful, as though he were a hungry stray dog who was sizing Ariom up and trying to decide whether or not it was safe to come closer and ask for something to eat. Well, it was understandable why he might feel that way. The poor kid had clearly been having a rough time. His magic circuit was a mess. Ariom wasn't sure how much of the damage was caused directly by that strange instability and how much was Thenio overworking himself in an effort to compensate for it. Either way, he was going to be in real trouble if he didn't get proper medical attention soon. Just what exactly had the academy professors been doing? How did a first-year student manage to cause half a dozen explosions in one term and not get carted off to the necromancy department for a thorough magic analysis?

Ariom gave the scribing teacher a sideways glance. Was it because of her? Nelina Erish. She was the daughter of an earl, but her magic talent was mediocre. Despite being only a few years younger than Ariom was, she was still just a journeyman wizard–three ranks below him. Not even a sorcerer yet. She was barely qualified to teach at the academy and almost certainly wouldn't have gotten the job if she hadn't been from a noble family.

And she obviously didn't like Thenio much.

It would be hard to prove one way or the other, but Ariom strongly suspected that she was the one who had perpetuated the idea that Thenio was merely an irresponsible student who never practiced his magic skills.

"Why does this part of the formation loop around like that? Wouldn't a straight line there be more efficient?"

"It would, but efficiency isn't always the highest priority. Those loops are called stallforms. They're intended to slow down the magic flow. There are various reasons for doing that. In this case, it's to lessen the load on this junction over here. That's a weak point, so you'd get power leakage and overheating without a protective measure like this."

Ariom kept half of his attention on the student he was currently helping and half on the unstable boy in the corner. He really shouldn't have given the class an engraving project.... Thenio was clearly nervous about the prospect of using magic when there was a grandmaster wizard visiting the class. His magic power fluctuated noticeably whenever he glanced at the other students who were already engraving or caught sight of Professor Erish looking in his direction. Ariom had chosen the assignment because he wanted to see Thenio use some basic magic in order to better evaluate his control issues. But the boy's condition was much worse than he'd anticipated. If Thenio tried to use magic right now, with his anxiety exacerbating his damaged, unstable magic circuit....

Well. Things might get a little dangerous.

Fortunately, Thenio seemed to be aware of his own condition. He had been one of the first students to complete his enchantment diagram, but rather than moving on, he'd gone back and started checking over it again. Probably as a delay tactic.

"Make the corners on the runes a little sharper.... Right, that's it. Keep your lines nice and clean like that."

As he was speaking, Ariom felt a sudden tug from the magic bond he shared with Iggy, a sensation rather like having someone pull on his sleeve to get his attention. The young dragon hadn't gotten the hang of telepathic speech yet, but he was able to transmit general impressions. And Ariom had specifically asked him to monitor Thenio, so he knew what Iggy was trying to tell him.

He looked up in time to see Thenio open his scribing tool box and stare at his gravers with a hesitant expression.

Ariom sighed and leaned closer to the student he'd been helping. "Looks like you're doing fine now," he said quietly. "Just keep going. I need to go stop your classmate from exploding."

"Huh?" The boy blinked, then looked over at Thenio. "Oh. Him." He made an aggrieved expression. "Does he seriously have to explode today of all days...?"

"It's fine. I'll take care of it."

The other students obviously weren’t fond of Thenio’s pyrotechnics….

As he approached, Ariom could see Thenio fiddling with his tools, acting as though he were having trouble deciding which one to use. Almost all the other students were engraving now, so he must have felt that continuing to check over his diagram stood out too much. But he was clearly still just killing time.

Thenio froze when he noticed Ariom, looking up at him with faint trepidation visible on his face. His magic power flickered dangerously.

"You're not engraving yet. Are you having trouble?" Ariom did his best to keep his tone casual and non-threatening.

"Well...um...I guess? Kind of...yes," Thenio stammered awkwardly. It felt a little like talking to Iggy when he didn't know how to explain himself.

Ariom held out a hand. "Here, let me look over your enchantment diagram."

Thenio silently handed him the paper. Ariom looked over the neatly drawn lines and couldn't help raising his eyebrows a bit in surprise. This kid was pretty good. Ariom hadn't seen all the students' reconstructed diagrams yet, but this was easily the best one in the class so far.

"Good." He nodded approvingly. "You even thought to use a floral design to match the fashions of the time. I wouldn't call this a perfect reproduction, since you incorporated a couple of modern techniques. But there aren't any functional problems, and it would be unreasonable to expect you to have a thorough knowledge of Pre-War enchanting methods at this point. For a first-year student, this is very well done." Ariom handed the paper back. "Your diagram looks fine, so you can go ahead and start engraving it."

"That...um...." Thenio had looked a bit happy at the praise, but he quickly turned solemn at the mention of engraving. Ariom saw him glance nervously at Professor Erish. "I probably...probably really shouldn't. It's...kind of dangerous."

"Because of your magic instability?" Ariom also looked briefly in the teacher's direction. When he turned back, Thenio was staring at him, his eyes wide. "What? Is it that surprising? Even Iggy could tell you had a problem. Didn't he talk to you about it when you met him the other day?" He paused. "Well, not that I could blame you if you didn't understand him. The way he talks.... It does take some getting used to." He shook his head. "Anyway. You have to be able to analyze people's magic circuits if you want to do enchantment tailoring. I've studied necromancy, and I can use magesight. So I can see perfectly well that you have a serious problem. Luckily for you, I'm also a void mage, so I can deal with it if your magic starts going out of control. Don't worry about it. Just try engraving a little. I want to check how your active magic flow looks."

 

---

 

A void mage? No wonder he hadn't recognized the stigma....

Thenio wasn't sure which part was more surprising–the very rare magic affinity or the fact that he hadn't had to use a single one of the arguments he'd prepared to convince Ariom that he had a real problem and wasn't just a slacker.

"Is it really okay?" he asked cautiously. "You're sure?"

Ariom nodded. "I'm sure. Go ahead."

"Okay...." Thenio took a deep breath and looked at his tool box seriously for the first time.

He took out a small pair of pliers and used them to loosen the prongs holding the magic crystal in place, then he removed it and set it aside. The channels that came in contact with the crystal and drew magic power from it should be a bit larger and deeper than the rest of the engraved lines, so Thenio selected a larger, square-shaped graver to start with. He was still nervous, but the knowledge that a void mage was on hand to disperse any runaway magic gave him courage. Very carefully, he infused a bit of magic power into the tool and cut four lines leading away from the crystal socket, making sure they tapered neatly on the ends. Then he switched to a slightly smaller graver and continued carving out the main lines of the central formation.

He managed to make it through most of that first formation before he ran into trouble. His magic gave a sudden surge, causing an ugly jag in the previously smooth curve he'd been drawing. Thenio stopped and looked at the mistake, his brow furrowed.

"It's fine," Ariom said, his voice calm. "Just correct it and move on."

Thenio nodded, biting his lip. He took out his smelting tool and ran it over the damaged area to smooth out the metal. His magic flow was still uneven, so it was difficult to get the surface as flat as it had been before, but he eventually got it to a workable state. Then he continued with the engraving.

After the first problem, though, things quickly went downhill. His unruly magic soon caused another mistake. Then another. Each one increased his tension and frustration, which in turn made his magic harder to control. Ariom's calm encouragement was the only reason he dared to keep going.

Ironically, it was while he was trying to form the intricate loops of the magic flow regulation formation that he finally lost control. His power started thrashing wildly, causing him to accidentally carve a deep gouge across the metal. He froze and dropped the graver, but the magic didn't stop. Thenio tried to ignore his rising panic and forced himself to take slow, even breaths, while fighting to hold his magic back. But he knew it was already too late...it was just about to break loose....

Then he felt someone place a hand lightly on his back.

Thenio let out an audible gasp of surprise. It was gone. It was just...gone.

The surging magic inside him was suddenly extinguished, like a raging fire being drenched with water.

All that magic....

Was this what a mid-rank void sorcerer was capable of? It was amazing...and a little scary....

"It's all right." Ariom's voice was low and soothing. "I've got it under control. Just catch your breath and try to calm down."

Thenio nodded. Then he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing again, slowly bringing it back under control. Now that he'd experienced how easily Ariom could scatter his magic, even at its wildest, he was able to calm down fairly quickly. After a minute or two, he opened his eyes and was about to tell Ariom that he was okay now....

Then he saw who was standing in front of his workstation, and the words caught in his throat.

"Is everything all right over here?" Professor Erish gave a rather forced smile. "Thenio, you're not giving Grandmaster Denifor any trouble, are you?"

Had she recognized the panicked expression on Thenio's face when he was about to lose control? Whether she realized exactly what had just transpired or not, the professor had obviously decided that she needed to intervene and stop the grandmaster from seeing too much of her number one problem student in action.

Thenio watched her with mute apprehension.

"I really appreciate your patience and your willingness to work with Thenio here." Her smile became warmer as she turned to Ariom. "But I think your time would be better spent helping some of the other students instead." She gave Thenio a patronizing look. "I'm afraid this one is a bit of a lost cause. I haven't been able to convince him to take his magic control practice very seriously."

Thenio's face grew hot. It was bad enough when she told him things like that one-on-one, but did she really have to say it in front of the entire class and a visiting grandmaster wizard? His magic power shifted threateningly again, and he clenched his fists and stared fixedly at the table in front of him, trying to will himself to calm back down.

Ariom let out an irritated sigh. "Really, now. And here I'd just gotten him back under control. What irresponsible fool decided to inflict a teacher like this on poor, innocent first-years? I'd like to have a good talk with them."

A shocked silence followed these words.

What did he just...? Had he heard that right? Thenio stared at Ariom in disbelief, completely distracted from his embarrassment.

"Professor Erish." Ariom straightened up to look at her squarely. His voice was calm, but his expression was chilly. "I can accept that you don't understand this boy's problems. I can accept that you're not able to recognize how overworked and damaged his magic circuit is, which is a clear sign that he's been taking his magic practice far too seriously. I can even–reluctantly–accept that you somehow believe that publicly declaring your student to be a 'lost cause' is appropriate behavior for a teacher. But as a certified wizard and a professor of the Royal Academy, how can you not understand the concept of acute magic destabilization? You should know how dangerous it is. You should know that he's much more likely to destabilize when he's emotional. And here you're deliberately insulting and upsetting him in front of the entire class? Do you enjoy seeing him explode and hurt himself? Are you trying to put the other students at risk? Or are you just a complete idiot who has no idea what's going on here?"

Now it was the professor who turned red. "Of course not! I wasn't– I mean, I never meant–" She broke off, caught between admitting ignorance or confessing ill intentions and apparently unwilling to choose either one.

The students all watched this exchange in stunned silence. Professor Erish was one of the youngest teachers in the enchanting department, but she was from a noble house. Even the senior teachers treated her politely. Did this guy not know? Or were grandmaster wizards such fearsome creatures that he didn't need to care?

Ariom snorted disdainfully and then turned back to Thenio. "I've seen enough for now." His voice was suddenly much gentler. "We need to talk more…but later. Are you free after this class?"

Thenio nodded. What was this? Talk more?

"Does that mean you–?" Thenio swallowed. "Do you know...do you think you can…help me...?" he asked in a very small voice.

Ariom looked at him in silence for a moment. His expression was difficult to read.

"Help you?" he said finally. "Yes. I intend to help you. But it might not be the kind of help that you want." Before Thenio could ask what he meant, he turned toward the front of the room. "Iggy, come over here."

Iggy, who had been watching them alertly, immediately jumped up and flew across the room. Several students tilted their heads back to watch as he passed over them. Ariom held out an arm for him to land on, then he set the little dragon down on the table.

"It's better if you don't use any more magic right now, since you're still unsettled." Ariom gestured at the packet of papers on Thenio's worktable. "Why don't you clean up your tools and then try out some more of those practice reconstructions?" He patted Iggy's back. "You stay here and keep an eye on Thenio for me, okay? Just in case his magic goes wild again."

"Mmm!" Iggy settled on the edge of the worktable, his swishing tail hanging over the side. "Don't worry, Thenio. I won't let you go boom!"

"Ah…okay," Thenio agreed without being quite sure what he was agreeing to. Wait…did that mean Iggy could also use void magic? He didn't know void affinity dragons even existed.

"All right, everyone," Ariom told the still-staring class. "Drama's over. You can get back to work." He walked over to a nearby workstation to start helping another student.

Professor Erish was standing rigidly off to one side. Her cheeks were still rather pink, and her expression was somewhere between baffled and outraged. Thenio quickly busied himself with putting away his engraving tools before she could look in his direction. He was honestly a bit worried about what she might do in the future. He knew she was probably going to hold a grudge against him over this event.

But at the same time, he had to admit that seeing her get told off by a higher ranking wizard was pretty satisfying.