mes études

[beheld_beauty]

Belle studies magic.

It's tricky. Getting into and out of her rose-sphere is routine after a few days, but she still hasn't uncovered an explanation of how channeling works, though she's been informed that there are three options for how to do it (by herself, through a willing helper, or through an unwilling helper). Unlike the fourfold options for reaching the Dreamworld, this does not tell her how to begin fumbling towards a practical understanding, even though she can rule out the last one just on the basis of its description.

Beast can only do so a tiny bit of reading per day, and her pile of books that she can read shrinks much faster than his. She combs the library for multilingual dictionaries, so she can pick her way through the titles of the foreign-language books and at least prioritize them before handing them over.

Finally something in an obscure language that even Beast can barely read - Belle has to look up a lot of words - explains the channeling in a way she can understand.

Comments

[beheld_beauty]

"Instructions on channeling."

The part on channeling through oneself is first. Belle reads it first.

[deslandes]

To channel through oneself, the enchanter approaches his (many of these books, despite their own illustrations, seem convinced that all magic users are male) Dream-world from the inside. He must make a Dream-gate at the borders of his mind, bring power through himself from whatever source he chooses, and channel it out of the gate and into the spell.

[beheld_beauty]

Make a Dream-gate. Ooookay. That's helpful. Or, no, there's more detail in there. Now she just has to figure out how to connect to the Sky or the Earth or the Will or the Heart. Perhaps this book has something on that, too?

[deslandes]

It does!

The Heart refers to emotions, her own or other people's - apparently using either the caster's emotions or the channel's is most efficient, but anyone present or connected to the spell can work. The Will is the caster's intentions, which if properly focused and sufficiently strong can power some small spells all by themselves.

[beheld_beauty]

How nice! That explains those little abbreviations in the corner of each spell page in the Hedge-witch book; it was suggesting a power source. Many of them were Will-oriented. Belle goes back to look up the finding-a-person spell.

That's Heart-powered.

That's all right. She can summon up strong emotions about her father if she needs them. They haven't been useful before now.

[deslandes]

The other two power sources are also explained, but in less accessible terms. Apparently Earth power comes out of the ground, and can be substituted for Heart and vice versa in a pinch, although the greater the amounts of power involved, the riskier it is to make such substitutions. Sky power comes from the sun, or (rarely) the moon or stars, and is similarly not-quite-interchangeable with Will.

There are further explanations of how to connect to each of these power sources, starting with Will, which is apparently the easiest; the caster need only focus very hard on the desired goal, and the power will become available to send through the Dream-gate. Similarly Heart, using one's own emotions, is just a matter of keeping the emotion and the spell in focus at the same time.

Using someone else's emotions is trickier. Apparently you have to touch their mindscape. There is a separate chapter on how to do that.

[beheld_beauty]

"I don't need it for the first spell I want to try," Belle says, "but at some point it might be useful for me to learn to connect to your mindscape, if you don't object."

She reads the instructions for the hedge-witch spell, "translating" them into her own words until she's sure she understands them all. She thinks she gets it after the Dream-gate part. She'll have to have another look at her rosevines with that in mind.

[deslandes]

He shrugs agreeably.

[beheld_beauty]

Belle meditates her way into her sphere of rosevines.

She noticed the flowers, and the prickles, but she hasn't paid a lot of attention to the vines. But they're nearly as interesting as the blossoms, on inspection. There are - sections. While some vines from each section cross into each adjacent section, it turns out that each vine forms a complete circle with itself if she follows it patiently enough, and most of them do this over a small enough area of the sphere to help define regions.

And here is a bit of a gap, neatly crisscrossed vines around it, that would make a decent gate, she supposes, if it would only -

The vines move, when she considers it. The gap widens.

She's not sure how big it's supposed to be, but if she wills the spell to work, maybe something suggestive will happen...

A flower close to the gap bends its stem towards the outside of the sphere.

Belle makes the gap exactly large enough to comfortably admit that rose, and she focuses on her spell, and -

[deslandes]

Power flows out of her, in three streams that twine and tangle together, bright blue and indigo and turquoise. It slides around the rose and out into the world beyond her mindscape.

Pushing the power out of her mind stings a little, like being slapped very lightly, but all over and not fading with time.

She doesn't have to keep it up for long, though. This spell only needs a brief jolt of power to get it going. And then Belle sees her father.

[beheld_beauty]

Charlie has apparently made his way home, and he's physically intact, but he looks drawn and worried, maybe sick with grief; he's sitting at the table at home, staring disconsolately at a plate of food.

The spell's not particularly prolonged, but Belle's seen what she needed to see. She opens her eyes. "My father's okay," she said, "or, well, he's alive - but I think he's worried about me," she murmurs. Pause. "And, I did a spell!"

[deslandes]

"You did," the Beast agrees. "And you glowed in pretty colours."

[beheld_beauty]

"I glowed? That's interesting." She nibbles her lip thoughtfully. "It hurt. Not that bad and not for that long, and I didn't have to concentrate through much of it, but - I'm not really optimistic that I'll be able to do anything big."

[deslandes]

He shrugs. "You can put the next one through me if you want. See what it's like."

[beheld_beauty]

"Okay. Maybe there's a spell somewhere that will let me get - a message to Charlie, or something."

She starts hunting.

[deslandes]

The Beast squirms in his enormous chair, then settles, watching her again.

[beheld_beauty]

"Nervous?" Belle asks. "If I find something it'll have to be little for me to be willing to try it this early in my studies, little like what I just did - doesn't hurt too bad, like a light smack."

[deslandes]

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Not nervous, no."

[beheld_beauty]

"What, then? If you're having," she gestures, "extraneous emotions it's not impossible they could throw off a spell..."

[deslandes]

He rumbles thoughtfully for a moment, then says, "Restless."

[beheld_beauty]

"Why's that?" No message-sending spells in this book; she grabs the next likeliest.

[deslandes]

Snort. "Oh, I'm always restless."

[beheld_beauty]

"Mmm." She only needs about a third of her brain to scan indices for message spells. "What bothered you about being alone, anyway?"

[deslandes]

"I hadn't heard a voice not my own in a century and a half when you came," he says. "I haven't touched another person in just as long." With a twist of a smile on his surprisingly expressive face, "Wrestling rosebushes just isn't the same."

[beheld_beauty]

Belle looks up.

She tilts her head.

She reaches out and settles one hand on top of his paw, well away from the claws, and goes back to reading, turning the pages with her other hand.