Will’s log 4/3/2012
Will was out and about today. Fen held his hand, and they walked through the city. It was a decently sized city, in which capes, suits, students, merchants, aliens, espers, and the like walked about, going about whatever business they had.
Fen looked like a human child, but she was Will’s familiar, a class 5 spirit whose sole purpose was to keep him safe. Will eventually developed his own system of classification. Able to subtly sense auras, he classified them as either moths or butterflies. Moths were beings without magic, butterflies possessed magic. Most people were moths, but there were a lot of class 1 butterflies. Whether it was just being able to sense the rain before it came, or knowing how to finish people’s sentences, they were out there. In this town, there were two class four moths, and four class three butterflies. Will was a class 2 butterfly, and Ross was a class 3. At class 3 you could reliably conceal your powers most of the time, except perhaps by those who were higher class, or if you had intense emotions. Ross was generally pretty controlled, so most people didn’t know.
Will and Fen picked up groceries and ran some mudane errands for the shop. When they got back, Ross greeted them.
“Will, did you get everything?” Ross asked.
“Sure did, sir,” he replied.
Will was unable to read Ross sometimes. Ross had two common modes: polite, and annoyed. It was hard to predict what annoyed Ross. It could be anything, really. Will heard him laugh two times since he had been there, and once was a maniacal cackle. Ross smiled often, but one never really knew.
“Are you ready to resume your lessons?” Ross asked after polite conversation at supper. Will cooked. He had gotten a lot better at it, actually. Ross ate whatever was before him, but tonight.. he complimented the meal. Will just said thanks. Then, “What would you like to eat tomorrow?”
“How about something… mediterranean?”
“Sure thing,” Will said.
Fen, Will, and Ross went through an illusory wall into Ross’s library. There was a magic circle in the center of the room near a work bench and an altar. Will wasn’t sure what it was Ross worshipped exactly. Most of the stuff looked Egyptian, or so Will thought, but he never asked.
The circle was designed to muffle the effects of spellcraft outside of the circle, although Ross must’ve had wards to prevent others from noticing the results of his tinkering on artifacts he had acquired. Ross was a black market talisman dealer, and occasionally would speak with clients in the back, bringing and leaving boxes, bags, and other things. Will left well enough alone, out of sheer instinct. Fen once said, “For every 1 master mage, there are 99 dead initiates”
Will believed her.
So they entered the circle. In the center of it was a stand, and a bowl filled with water. Ross stood on one side, Will on the other.
“Picture someplace you feel safe,” Ross said.
Will closed his eyes and pictured a park bench near a pond.
“Good. Now look to the horizon. You see our city. There’s a staircase of glass, and if you walk up it, you’ll see the clouds above the city. Go up there, and then stretch your hands out toward me,”
“Good. Now open your eyes, and look in the bowl,” Ross said.
Will looked, and saw the city from an eagle’s eye view.
“This is called scrying, Will. It’s very simple. There are ways to hide from it, ways to deceive it, but in our city, you have free reign to look almost anywhere, if you’re careful. I’m taking care of the security measures right now, but I’ll show you that, too, in a few nights,” he said.
“Look in the northwest corner of the city. That’s where the park is,” Ross said.
Will pictured flying closer, and saw the map adjust. They were at the park, above it, but much closer to ground level.
“Do you remember the stones standing at the edge of the park, past the pond?” Ross said.
“Yes. Do you want me to .. scry for something?” Will said.
“Ahh, you see the goal in site then. Yes, search the stones, and see if you feel any of those.. what do you call them, butterflies?” Ross said.
Will looked, and walked around the stones for a few minutes, and saw something flit across the view.
Was that. A golden butterfly? Will saw the girl from the other day, the one that bought jewelry. What was her name? Mary? Marcy? Oh right, Mercy. What was she doing here.
She was dressed in some kind of suit, and looked at some device on her wrist. He couldn’t hear what she was saying, but Ross said.
“Okay. Go back to the park. I’m sensing someone else with her. A mage,” he said.
Will backed off.
“Okay, that’s good, Will. We’re done for now. Go to bed, and make sure you read Fen her story,” Ross said. He was inscrutable again.
“Story, story!” Fen shouted.
Ross chuckled. “What were they doing, Mr. Ross?”
“There is more going on in this city than you think, Will. I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow night. You are dismissed,” said Ross.
”Okay,” Will said. He took Fen and they left. He felt the wards go up to hide Ross’s work. What was he making tonight, Will wondered.
