“So the foundations of magic are what we call Sigils. Sigils are a pattern that creates a spell. Each spell has a unique sigil; complex spells can be made of multiple smaller sigils linked together.” Tani said using her power to illustrate what she was saying.

     So how do you learn and use these Sigils?

     “That’s something we’ll work on later, if you jump in without the right knowledge or training you could cause something bad to happen.”

     Understood. I nodded to her, I knew very well that. We once had a new hire cause thousands of dollars of damage to some of our lab equipment. She wasn't too severely punished…

     “Lilli?” Tani said, waving her hand in front of my face.

     Sorry, you reminded me of something. Please continue. She nodded at me and patted my cheek.

     “Since you're such a cutie, I'll forgive you,” Tani said which caused me to blush slightly. A random awww coming from my sister. 

     You’re embarrassing me…

     She giggled and smiled before resuming. “To cast magic most people use magical items. An inscriber will engrave the desired sigil into an item, say they want to make a flaming sword, they'd inscribe the sigil for fire into the blade. However, skill plays a pretty important role, as well as materials.”

     What materials? How do they interact with these Sigils? The more she spoke the more it made me want to begin. A whole world of stuff to be discovered, and her explanations got the wheels in my head turning.

     “So eager, it's adorable,” she teased.

     Hmph we'll see who's eager when you wanna snuggle up in my hair again. I'm just as capable of teasing her. Though she isn't wrong. On earth I wasn’t really working towards anything cool. Here however I can learn magic, literally freaking magic. Though I may be a sci-fi nerd, a nerd is still a nerd. I'm just really looking forward to learning magic. I just hope that something exists that can fix my eyes.

     “I'm sorry Lilli but as far as I know such magic doesn't exist. Though maybe there's a lost magic that can help.”

     Hopefully. Honestly, it's a little disappointing that it doesn’t exist but maybe I can make something up. So long as my biology isn't too different I learned some about neuroscience. There was that breakthrough as well, Dr. Edinburg gave a lecture on it.

     “Let’s continue. The energy you use to write your letters is called Ether. Depending on the Sigil, the Ether is converted into different energies when channeled through it. A caster will have an affinity for a particular type of energy but will be able to use all of them to some extent. The rate at which ether is converted into energy is determined by your affinity.”

     So do you have to have the Sigil engraved into something?

     “Usually yes, simple spells can be cast manually, but more complex spells become tedious. Especially in the midst of battle. Therefore, engraved foci are the choice of most mages. Weaker magic can be cast using one's own ether, usually things like flameless torches and camp stoves. An etheric crystal must be used for higher-powered sigils. There are several sources, the most common being monsters. These are called cores and are refined into Etheric Crystals.”

     Do humans have cores?

     “It’s speculated but no one has been able to verify it. The most common theory is that a human's core is their soul and upon death, it disperses to be reborn.”

    The conversation came to a close as Anna chose then to feed and bathe me. She then set me in my crib and sat watching me. I knew what she was waiting for but I didn't want to take a nap. I knew from experience however that she would just stay there until I did. Tani was floating merrily in front of me smiling and giggling. I scowled up at her and she put on a fake sad face, then floated down and rested on my chest.

     I’ll just close my eyes and pretend to sleep so Tani can get back to teaching me.

*****

     It was the middle of the night when I woke back up. Well, I assume in the middle of the night because the ever-present Anna wasn't there. Tani was once again sleeping in my hair, she really liked it there. I decided to continue with my ether practice, I'm so glad that I had a name for it now. I have gotten a lot better at compression but it's also become necessary to compress my energy even further. I released my ether and passed out once again.

     Something was on my face, small and warm.

     Morning. Tani was rubbing her face against mine.

     “I'm sorry did I wake you up?”

     It’s ok I wanted to get up before Anna got here anyway. We didn't get to finish what we were doing yesterday. I was eager to keep learning magic.

     “Aww but I wanna just lie here for a little bit.”

     Fine… I pretend to be sad. She pretended to be offended and we both ended up giggling. In my previous life I never really had time to meet people. Not that I would have anyway, my few attempts at socializing were pretty disastrous. Thought I might be interested in guys but dating proved that false, I still don’t know what goes through their mind. The other side wasn't much better, most women ended up being shallow. I eventually tried finding someone in the STEM fields but those people had their own sets of problems. After all that, I decided relationships just weren't my thing and focused on my career.

     “Hey… hello?” Tani said, poking my nose and drawing my attention.

     Hi? 

     “Welcome back, where do you go when you get that look?”

     Look?

     “Yea like you are looking far away.”

     Sorry, I was remembering my previous life. Apparently, she saw something she didn't like because she frowned and hugged me, as best as she could. Am I that easy to read?

     “Actually no, it's your ether,” she said. Of course, I should have thought that. If I can tell how others feel based on the pattern of their ether, then she would too.

     How are you able to see ether?

     “Ah, it's because I have something called spirit sight. I can see people's ether as colors around them. The color represents their affinity, mostly. People's ether fluctuates with their emotions. I can also tell how much ether they possess by how bright the light is.”

     Huh… that's not what I see. What does mine look like? 

     “Really? What do you see? And yours is silver, much like your eyes and hair. And very bright. In fact, if it wasn't for the barrier around your house it would probably be visible from hundreds of leagues away.” Barrier… Wait, that was a barrier I broke? Silver hair… oh right, I don’t know why I didn't think of that. Tani can see me, maybe I’ve gotten used to being blind?

     Well, I see everyone as white light, the light which makes up the whole of their being. Their details, like eyes, mouths, etc, are black, I can also see what people are wearing. Also the day you showed up why’d you come? Oh, also what do I look like? I was eager to find out. I’ve never been able to see myself, even though I think there's a mirror in the room. Anna stares at something while putting on makeup.

     “You wouldn’t have been able to see yourself… well you’re small, smaller than an average girl your age. You have silver eyes, they seem to sparkle and are very entrancing to watch. Your skin is very delicate, like porcelain almost transparent. It seems to have a glow, that isn't from my spirit sight. You give off a warm but distant air. You are dressed much like any other noble, save the colors. Your parents seem to have gone with colors that enhance your beauty

     I wouldn’t be surprised to hear nobles go to war seeking your hand. It must be one of the reasons for the powerful barriers. I thought it was because this was a noble house but now I'm sure it's because of you. And yea there are multiple barriers, the day I met you I saw an incredibly bright flash of ether from this house. But it quickly went away so I thought it was some kind of spell. But I found you instead. As for what you can see, I've never heard of anyone seeing ether like that. But I've also never seen anyone with ether like yours.”

     Is that bad? I was starting to get a little scared, if I am imagining it correctly then my looks alone will be enough of a problem. But if I have some crazy cheat skill this could be very bad for me.

     “It isn't good or bad, it just is. Though we will want to be careful as I teach you magic. For now, I want to teach you some common sense.

*****

     It’s been a hectic few months, I've been mostly stuck here with Anna and my siblings. Mother and Father come by occasionally. Tani has been teaching me everything about this world and I have been teaching her a fair bit about my previous one too. Some things are the same like there is one sun and one moon. Others are different like the seasons being reversed, and there being fourteen, thirty-day months. She was surprised when I told her about some of Earth's technology. I was surprised to hear that there are similar things here, except made with magic.

     Tani I really wanna learn magic already. Please… 

     “I'm sorry Lilli. I would like to wait until you turn one at least. I want to know that you’ll be responsible with it. Trust me, I am as eager to teach you as you are to learn. Most kids don’t even learn the basics until they turn ten.”

     Come on, I'm a forty-one-year-old woman, I can restrain myself. I say with a pout on my face.

     “You could have fooled me, you don't look a day over ten months,” she said which just made me cross my arms.

    Though I am glad you taught me the fundamentals. Honestly, it kind of sounds like a mix of computing and programming. Though I won't know for sure until I can actually start learning. I hint giving her a sidelong glance.

    “If you want to know the truth, I want you to be stronger. As you are right now you are strong but not strong enough. As it is, you are probably the strongest in terms of raw Ether capacity, but you don't have enough to protect yourself should that power become known. And once you start showing magical aptitude people will examine you.”

     “Lilli!!!” My brother cries when he opens the doors. I hear him rush over to my playpen and he lifts me up. 

     “Uwaa,'' I cry reflexively and shiver. His hands are ice cold. Anna takes me from him and scolds him.

     “I’m sorry Lilli,” he said walking over to the window and putting his hands up by the temperature controller, warming them. It's like an air conditioner and heater in one. It keeps the air at a specific temperature using magic.

     Tani, is it cold outside?

     “There's a lot of snow out there.” For some reason hearing her say that makes me want to run around and play in it. I didn't really care for the snow in my previous life. Lately, I feel like I’ve been changing. And it scares me, I don't want to turn into a different person.

     Hey Tani, have you noticed me changing at all? Like do I seem different?

     “That's kind of a vague question. But no you seem like you. Why?” 

     Well, it just feels like I'm changing. Like I'm regressing.

     “I mean we’re always changing, it isn't a bad thing.

     Anna hands me back to Andi and he takes me to the bookshelf. I find myself missing this. They were gone for a while and I only had Anna to read to me. But she picks books for babies, which makes sense. Andi starts reading a book about a legendary adventurer, who made a name for himself by slaying a dragon. He was on a quest to find medicine for his wife and daughter.

     Hey Tani?

     “What's up?”

     I have an idea I want to try tomorrow. Can you help me out with it?

     “Sure anything for you cutie.”