Part 3: Evocation & Auspice

While her odd dreams from the night before did keep her awake into the early hours, Fallsenia still managed to get enough sleep that she felt ready for the day’s adventures.  Arvin met her for brunch at the inn again, but this time they chattered about all the sights to be found in the city.  The sprite explained that when he had first come to the Court of Stars, he had nearly run himself ragged trying to see everything.  “Believe me, I’ve slowed down quite a bit in the last decade!” he said with a grin, laughing when Fallsenia raised her eyebrows.  Given that she had to make some effort to keep up with him yesterday, the acorn fairy didn’t want to even think about what it must have been like when Arven was first here.  

Once they had finished their mint tea and apple cakes, the two fae made their way to the Evocation Guild.  Fallsenia was quite curious about this particular guild, as her uncle had quite the name for flashy uses of Evocation magic when defending his kingdom.  She knew that shield magics and warding runes were also something to be learned here, along with the more well known spells of star-fire and gravity manipulation.  But there was also more danger to the work being done, so often that the Healers’ Guild kept a small wing ready for any of the students.  “Dangerous, but powerful.  A tool to be carefully wielded if you choose that path, niece,” Oberon’s rumbling words came back to her mind as the pair walked through midnight black doors.  

The courtyard they entered was divided into rune-warded dueling arenas, which made for a showy view for any newcomers.  Silver-white orbs of pure energy flashed into existence and towards glittering shields, while distortions bent energy in every direction where gravity magic was being practiced.  They both ducked as a tiny moon zipped overhead, having escaped from the warded area.  A fae with dark blue skin, moon-silver eyes and no hair came sprinting over, looking relieved that neither of them had been struck by the rogue bit of magic.  “Deepest apologies, we got a bit carried away there!  I’m Zaria, one of the assistant instructors here at the Evocation Guild.  You must be Fallsenia, Oberon said you would be coming.  He asked me to show you around, since we were students at the same time,” she said with a bow.  Fallsenia curtsied back, knowing that anyone her uncle trusted on this level was someone to respect.  Zaria glanced over her shoulder and added “Bear with me a moment, I need to check on my students”.  Arvin’s eyes were wide as a trio of green-robed fae hurried over.  One of the healers helped one student back to her feet, and the other two crouched over the one laying on the ground.  One held a clearly broken arm straight while the other channeled a soft green magic into it.  

Once she was satisfied, Zaria came back over, shaking her head.  “They were experimenting, something that we advise only be done with caution and supervision.  Evocation magic looks effortless in the hands of a master, but it takes a long time and many trials to get to that point,” she said.  The tour was interesting, and Fallsenia could see why her uncle had a deep love of its halls.  Some areas were set aside for magic practice with dampening rune-wards, while there was a whole library wing set aside for theoretical uses of the magics and treatises on how the magics were developed.The acorn fairy was glad to see the scholarly side of the guild as well, it made her feel less out of place.  She could see herself staying here as well, but there was still one more guild she wanted to see

Over dinner with Zaria and Arvin, she learned quite a few entertaining stories about her uncle that Fallsenia was sure that Oberon would have never allowed anyone to hear.  But having a first hand witness to her uncle’s antics left Fallsenia in a good mood.  She would certainly have to ask about the trick he’d pulled using a shield charm to mask his tracks just to agitate a professor.  Twilight was falling as they left and headed towards the Auspice Guild, and Fallsenia was quiet as she mulled over the sights of the Evocation guild.  It certainly had its advantages if she was going to be traveling into unknown dangers, but the power itself was inherently dangerous.  She would have to be very careful if that was the path that she chose.

The Auspice Guild was closest to the outer walls of the city, and its courtyard was filled with pitched tents, wagons drawn by clockwork horses, miniature wizard towers, and even a hut resting on chicken legs.  Everywhere she looked, Fallsenia saw people from every Court represented, and even the rare fae who held alliance to none.  She found herself staring for a long moment at the chicken legged hut and the fae who appeared as an old human woman cutting into the belly of a dead chicken.  The old woman stuck her finger in and drew out a long string of intestine for inspection.  Fallsenia had heard of entrail reading in her time in the human realm, but she’d never actually witnessed it.  The old woman scribbled something down in a leather-bound tome, then looked across to Fallsenia and grinned with long wolf’s teeth.  The acorn fairy shuddered and hurried on. 

By the time they reached the building, Arvin and Fallsenia had seen less sinister uses of Auspice magic, mostly using mirrors, crystal orbs, and runestones.  The receptionist had raven feathers instead of hair, and smiled when they entered.  “Ah, excellent!  My name is Bran, and the Auspice Guild welcomes you into our halls!  If you’ll follow me,” he said, heading down the hallway to their left.  The trio passed by open rooms, closed doors and windows that showed a kaleidoscope of scenery.  Bran narrated their way through the halls, showing them observatories, gardens, another library, and courtyards.  He explained that while Auspice magic was mainly used for prediction and prophecy, there was a new use that had been developed in the last few decades.  “We’ve figured out that by reading the patterns and making predictions, we can use the magic for traveling too!  Right now we’re keeping things to this plane, but we’ve started to explore the possibility of going to others, like the elemental planes.  But slowly, it’s possibly more dangerous than what they do with Evocation magic,” Bran explained, talking with a great deal of excitement.  Fallsenia had to agree, and she let her mind drift back to what she knew of the other planes.  It would be so interesting to see what wonders they held.

They finally stopped at what appeared to be a cave built into the guildhall.  It was beautiful, made of a deep blue stone, carved with runes, and some had been filled in with gold and silver.  Fallsenia blinked, staring.  Something about this place seemed so… familiar.  Bran was watching her, and nodded.  “Aye, your mother studied here.  She had a little cot she’d let you sleep in sometimes.  But you weren’t there that night, it was just after… well, you’d been taken.  And… this is the last place anyone saw Siofra,” he added with a sigh.  His shoulders slumped, and Fallsenia knew why.  Accidents in the guild halls happened, but for someone to just up and disappear without a single trace was unheard of.

Stepping into the cave, the acorn fairy was quiet and let her eyes just see everything before processing it.  It looked so different from an adult’s perspective.  She understood more now, like why the crystal bowl was in that position, and why the gemstones were arranged in such a peculiar pattern.  Bran spoke up in a quiet voice “We haven’t touched anything since she disappeared.  So everything is where it was.  You may want to look at that journal, you’ll see why”, indicating a book that was lying open.  The quill was next to it,  the dried ink powder again with how long it had been. Fallsenia studied the open pages, not daring to touch it.  But what she saw caught her breath in her chest, and she nearly couldn’t breathe.

“The daughter, lost then found, waits for the stars to show the way.  To find her blood, the mother will lose her own way and fall into the mirrored lands.  But the stars will show the way…” 

The ink trailed off the page, as if her mother had been torn away in the middle of a sentence.  But mirrored lands?  What in the stars did that mean?