Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

TaliesinSkye said:

@SoaringHawk218 - It might not occur to the Whitewings because they're mercenaries and not messengers (primarily) but they could probably make a killing by setting up offices in every large settlement on the continent to collect letters to go to recipients in other settlements. Maybe have a local employee or two in each who handles collecting the letters and final delivery, and have actual Whitewings ride route to deliver the various letters to their offices. By the standards of medieval post, even if they only made a pickup and drop off in each city every week or two, that would probably be far faster than post by land travel, and more secure.

I don't think anyone else has enough fliers to start a competing service, and there would be a big strategic benefit; any polity that messes with the Whitewings would face getting their postal service cut off, which would be a major inconvenience after everyone came to rely on it.

I'm not sure why I bring it up, except maybe Ryza could suggest it at some point if the Manakete kind of did something similar with carrying letters between settlements when they traveled.

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I've been meaning to respond to this for a while. It got me thinking about the world, so thanks for bringing it up.

This is one of those things that's a really good idea, and they kind of do it already (not in a formalized sense, but people can pay Whitewings to deliver a letter: they charge only a little bit if they're going that way anyways, or a lot more if they're going out of their way.)

In-universe, there's a few reasons they don't go for the postal service route, some good reasons, others less good:

1: The largest polity, and so the one who would most use a mail service, is the Empire. The Empire, however, are the only other power that even has a notable aerial presence to compete with the Whitewings. The two groups also don't like each other much.

2: As @GreatWyrmGold mentioned, there aren't as many pegasi as the Whitewings want. There are a lot more than wyverns, that's true, but they're still a limited resource, especially since the Whitewing Nation does keep a sizable reserve at home for defense.

3: Whitewings tend to be kinda proud. During their apprenticeship, young pegasus knights do a lot of messenger duty in the mountains themselves, so courier jobs are kind of seen as something one grows out of.

4: Opportunity cost: Whitewings can justify charging a lot more money to fight than to carry letters, and so if they're just carrying letters they don't make as much.

None of these are to say it's not a really good idea that wouldn't make money, it absolutely would. It's just the Whitewings aren't quite there yet. Give them a few centuries of relative peace and a reconciliation with the Empire, and they'd probably come up with it.

GreatWyrmGold said:

Does Ryza know that human birth doesn't involve laying eggs, that babies hatch from their mothers' bodies? Because if she did, it might be easier to explain that sometimes two yolks grow at the same time or that the mothers sometimes break during hatching.

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Manakete do actually give live-births. Despite their appearance, neither heart nor dragon are actually reptilian. Births also always happen in heart-form: manakete mothers can transform during pregnancy, but if there were an attempt to transform during the actual birthing process that would probably kill the child, so the heart and dragon temporarily block the dragon out during the process for safety.

(Ryza doesn't know that last bit; having never studied the fully nitty-gritty of births, but she does know the former.)
There is a very important story reason I'm having it work this way.

"Keep your wits about you, mage. True tests, never end."
-The Gorgon Matriarch Tor-quza, taunting Archmage Staticwhisper as he escapes her lair.


The next day finds you in the Yellow Library, ensconced at a second-floor table with a big pile of books on one side of you, the scrolls from your backpack on the other, and a bunch of parchment in-between. You'd left most of the stuff you'd brought in your room, but the scrolls will be useful right now. Besides, aside from the three dragonstones in your pocket, these scrolls are probably the things you'd miss most if Blitzbolt tries anything.

Thankfully, since your confrontation with him yesterday, the unpleasant mage hadn't shown himself. Hopefully Archmage Stormspeaker just ordered him not to do it and he wasn't plotting something.

You shake your head; you have more important things to worry about than him. Pushing him from your mind, you look over the study guide that you'd made for yourself. It was mostly based on your memory of the test Jenna had given you, so you know it's not perfect, but it's a starting point.

You're confident in your casting abilities. You can use both Thunder and Elthunder without support, as well as Barrier. From what you remember, the testers might try to raise a stink about you using a non-standard tome during the test (or in your case, a tablet.) Hopefully you'll be able to convince the Archmage to let you use your tablets to show the full extent of your ability, but you're satisfied in what you can do by yourself. If you have some time or need a brain break, you'll find a place where you can do a bit of practice, but that's down at the bottom of the list.

The main thing that you need to study is the human understanding of how magic works, especially the language and terminology. You remember your test with Jenna; the second she asked you to describe some principle or theory, until she gave you a starting point you didn't know what she was talking about. You'd made it through by expanding on those hints and giving Jenna the manakete names for them, but you don't think that'll fly with Blitzbolt.

Which means you'll have to fit all those names and theories into your head. That's step one, written in big runes and circled.

You're sure you make an odd sight. The librarian of the Yellow Library that you'd talked to had certainly raised her eyebrow when you asked her where you could find books on magical theory. In fact, had you not had Archmage Stormspeaker's letter saying that you were going to be taking a test tomorrow, you get the feeling that she would have refused. As it is, she had only allowed you to take a fraction of the books you'll probably need, so you'd found a table as close to that section as possible.

Taking a deep breath, ignoring the strange looks you're getting from a pair of younger mages a few shelves over, you pick up the first book and dive in.

You quickly lose yourself in the learning process. Honestly, in many ways this is very similar to translating between your language and human; just with more reading and less saying the same words out loud in both languages and trying to figure out how to spell the results. You're lucky that humans do genuinely do magic the same way as manakete, just with a few extra steps. This means that most of the terms and rules you come across have some sort of connection to something you'd learned from Father.

There are some exceptions, of course. You'd spent the better part of five minutes just staring at 'Alberta Elecstone's General Theory of Broad Magic.' "This… this is just stating the obvious?" you say to yourself. "I mean 'Magic exists in all things and all beings? Of course it does, that's… just… obvious…'"

Although… Leaning back, you consider. Hadn't Father said something similar a few times, just less formally? Elecstone does go into more detail later in her theory, about how magic can transfer between different sources and forms. True, she was mostly describing how humans could use dragonstones to cast magic beyond their natural capacity, but the premises are logically sound and comport with reality. Shrugging, you set about writing the basics down in both Common and Makai; you'd found that writing things helped you remember them. If humans considere this important enough to put into Foundational Theory of Magic, then it might be important enough to show up on the test.

Time seems to fade away as you keep studying. You occasionally take breaks from memorizing names to hit other items on your study list. You have some fun practicing runewrighting mathematics and language (humans having come up with a simplified version of both.) You chafe a little at some of the restrictions you see, but you remember Lacroix's reminder that having something simple that works is better than complex that doesn't. In fact, you're able to translate the rune you'd been trying to draw at home into this new format, and the math does finally line up with the simplified version Lacroix had suggested.

Of course, you'd have to actually carve it to see if it'd really work, but you got farther than you had before!

You also spend some time looking at the theory behind tome and staff-making. You have no intention of ever using them yourself, but… well, knowing how they have been made and used is history, and a step towards coming up with a better way. You're not surprised to discover that, in many ways, they're the same as your enhancer tablets. The main difference is that they have a spell-form written into them, which means that each tome can only cast one spell, no matter the skill of the mage using it. A stronger, more talented mage would be able to get more out of a lesser tome, but a Thunder tome can never cast Elthunder.

Another interesting thing you notice is that, when you read the description of how to use some of the more powerful tomes, you realize that humans have to use the same trick you did when you cast Arcthunder: forming their own feedback loop to gather enough charge to activate more powerful tomes. That, along with the skill needed to direct the powerful spells coming out of the tomes, prevents young, untrained mages from using the more powerful tomes. You guess that makes sense: after all there'd be no point to a school if the tomes just did all the work for human mages. Humans have to learn to channel and control arcane power just like you, even though they get it from somewhere other than themselves.

As the day wears on, you can't help but notice that you're never quite alone. Nobody approaches too closely, but there's a constant stream of mages who find reasons to be nearby, and while some are better at hiding it than others most of them are paying attention to you. Many are older mages, likely ones that heard about your upcoming accreditation test and were curious, and they don't bother you too much.

However, you find yourself noticing your younger watchers more, on account of them being so much worse at pretending to be doing something else while they watch you. Most seem to be from the Kingdoms; in fact you even recognize a few of them from yesterday.

Slightly annoyed, you finally get up and make your way over to where a trio of girls a few years older than you (relatively) are gathered around a book (an upside-down book) and pretending to read as they peek over it at you. "Can I help you?" you ask.

The three girls look up at you innocently. "What do you mean?" one asks. "We're just reading. That's what people do in libraries."

Folding your arms, you frown. "What are you reading?" you ask.

"Oh, um…" another of the girls says, trying to surreptitiously check the title. She finally seems to realize it's upside-down, and she throws you a guilty look. You raise an eyebrow mildly as the three girls glance at each other for a moment.

"Well?" you ask.

"…Okay, we were watching you, but can you blame us?!" the third girl says. "I mean, I heard from Maria who heard from Jaine who heard from Michael who overheard Fillia and Calta talking about how you're some sort of super-mage coming to visit your boyfriend…"

You blink in confusion for a second before paling as the realization hits you. "Wait, no!" you say, waving your hands. "Apollo and I just met! We're not- I don't-"

The girls raise their eyebrows. "I mean, I heard that the two of you were basically cuddling yesterday," the first girl says. "Not that I'm blaming you. He's kind of cute, if a bit of a pushover-"

Mustering your will, you narrow your eyes. "Hey, don't talk about him like that," you say. "He'd just gotten some really bad news from home, and I was being a good friend. Have none of you ever hugged each other when you were sad?"

The three seem to ponder this for a second before one ignores the question and presses on. "You never answered the first question, though," she says. "Are you some sort of super mage?"

You sigh. "You made a statement, you didn't ask a question," you say. "But no, I'm just someone who wants to study for my accreditation test in peace without being gawked at like a weirdly-colored goat." The girls give you a slightly hurt look, causing you to sigh again. "I'm sorry, it's just that I'm going to be taking it tomorrow and I really need to study."

"… are you sure you and Apollo aren't together?" one of the girls says after a moment. "Because that sounds exactly like something he'd say. I'm in a few classes with him, and he never stops talking about studying."

Folding your arms, you look the three over. "Isn't that the whole point of being here? To learn so that you can be better mages? Why wouldn't we study? Besides, it's fun to learn new things, right?"

"I mean, I guess, but tests are just annoying and stressful and the worst!"

Before you can come up with an answer, Apollo's voice comes from behind you. "But if there weren't any tests then the teachers wouldn't know what we know and what we don't know so they'd either be going over things we already know over and over again or they'd be going ahead faster than we can follow, and both those things are bad, right?" You nod; Apollo makes perfect sense. It'd be super frustrating if Father or Mother had done either of those things. True, their tests had been simpler and less formal, but they'd only had to deal with one of you rather than dozens.

The three girls give each other knowing looks for some reason. "Riiight…" one of them says, dropping the book onto the table and standing up. "Well, we'll leave you two to your… study time," she says. "Have fun!" With that, she and her friends flounce off towards the stairs.

You and Apollo glance at each other. "Friends of yours?" you ask.

The boy shrugs. "I mean, kinda? Not really? Molly and I have a few classes together, but I've never really talked to any of them outside of that." He shrugs. "So, how are you doing? Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you," you say. "How about you?"

"Alright, I guess," Apollo says as he follows you back to your table. He opens his mouth for a moment, seems to reconsider, then pulls out a few books from his bag. "So, I stopped by the Light Library. You mentioned yesterday that you can use light magic as well, so they'll probably throw a few questions about that at you."

"Great, thank you," you say. You'd been meaning to do that, but you hadn't wanted to leave anything behind and packing everything up to walk over there had seemed like a pain. "Come on, I've been doing pretty well, but it'll help to have someone ask me questions to see if I actually remember things."

As the two of you sit, Apollo fidgets for a moment. "I… I hope you haven't been having too much trouble with people!" he bursts out suddenly. "I had a lot of people asking me about you and what I think happened was that someone overheard the teachers talking about you getting accredited and someone else saw you trying to make me feel better and the two of them got together and somehow people've decided that we knew each other from before and are secretly together or something I remembered you didn't want me to talk about your scaly side so I tried to just stop them talking but they just kept asking-"

You grab Apollo's hands as they start to wring, trying to give him a comforting squeeze. "It's alright, it's not your fault," you say. "I wish I'd had more time to just be me without people whispering and pointing and making things up, but you didn't do anything wrong." Besides, it could be worse. Somehow the students could have figured out that you're a manakete, then you'd never get any peace! At least this way, they just look at you funny; you don't like that, but you'd learned to deal with it at Agrithe.

Apollo takes a deep breath and seems to calm down a little. "Right, right, sorry," he says. "It's just… you went to all this trouble coming here to warn me and the others about problems, it seems kinda bad to have you have to deal with all the staring. I don't get it as much here, but I remember at home everyone staring at me whenever I did something, and it could get a bit unpleasant."

"That's kinda true, but I've gotten used to it," you say. "Now come on, let's finish this up so that I can be ready to take the test tomorrow and prove to everyone that I can do what I say I can do." Apollo nods, smiling, and the two of you get to work.

Time once again seems to slip away as you and Apollo work together. You quickly realize that, while his youth and lack of experience has left Apollo's knowledge of magic clunkier than Jenna or Lacroix's, he's still a bright young mage, especially when it comes to Red magic. True, you probably won't get tested on that, but you have the excuse of discussing examples of Elecstone's Special Laws of Elemental Magic and how the different colors of magic cannot directly interact with each other and reiterating the arcane principles behind the Trinities of Elements. Really, though, you like giving Apollo a chance to shine, and it's nice to see his eyes light up as he describes the feel and nature of his native magic.

Eventually, however, you're forced to get back to the test at hand. You and Apollo move on from Yellow magic to study some of the books he'd brought along. Other than the obvious topics: the way White magic interacts with the other schools, some historical runic constructs that use it, and theories on why it behaves the way it does, one interesting book is all about the human biology. Apparently, while White magic can simply heal by forcing enough magic into an injured body, it becomes more efficient if the caster knows the way things are supposed to be, so the Hall teaches that.

You're a bit surprised at just how similar humans and manakete are to each other, or at least the heart-form. True, human bodies aren't as magically malleable as yours, since they don't have magical wings or ears that only appear when you want them to. Other than that, though, the layout of the body seems to be almost identical.

You wonder how that came to be. After all, back before the dawn of time, manakete had just been dragons, back before the Mother made you better and wiser. Could she have gotten the idea of the heart-form from humans? Had there even been humans at the time? Or had humans come from manakete, ones who'd given up their dragon for some reason to just be their heart.

Something to think about later, perhaps. For now, it's nice to just talk with Apollo about the meanings of certain words. A few of them seem to have gotten lost from whatever translation spell Father had used; it's almost fun to be on the other side of language explanations.

"So your wings," Apollo asks after he finishes quizzing you on major parts of the body. "Do they… do you feel them? When they're not out?"

You consider for a moment. "Kind of?" you say, flexing your shoulder blades experimentally. "I mean, they technically exist within my body, even if their physical reality is… debatable. After all, if they get cut or bruised, they stay cut and bruised until they heal, even if I put them away."

"Cool," Apollo says. "Do you think… do you think I could see them, at some point? Not right now, not in the middle of the library since while I don't think there's a rule about it the librarians probably wouldn't like flying in the library."

"Sure," you say. "I'll be happy to let you see my wings at some point." Glancing up at the nearest window, you're surprised to see that the sky is starting to turn a reddish-gold in the distance. Had you really spent all day here?! You suppose it's true what they say about time flying when you're having fun. "It's starting to get a little late, and I'm feeling pretty good about this," you say. "I should probably practice casting a little; is there someplace in the library where I can do that?"

Apollo nods. "Yep, there are some practice rooms down on the first floor, let's see if any of them are available." He looks at the piles of books; while you'd done your best to keep them neat, they are a little scattered and messy after a day of using them. "We should probably put these back first; Mistress Piercejolt gets upset if people disrespect her books."

You quickly nod, and after a few minutes you've stacked most of the books where you found them (or at least close enough). Avoiding the gaze of a pair of older mages who'd shown up to watch you a while ago, you take a few books that you hope to check out so you can look at them tonight and head downstairs.

The head librarian doesn't look happy when you ask her to use a practice room, but with a grumble she relents. "Just make sure not to damage anything," she says as she unlocks it for the pair of you.

"We won't, thank you," you say.

Once you and Apollo are safely in the stone-lined room, you set down your bag of books in the corner, well out of the way, and stretch. "Alright," you say. "So, do you know anything about how the magical part of the test'll be run? Jenna just had me cast spells at a rock."

Apollo nods. "That's a big part of it, from what I've heard," he says. "But there's a bit more to it than that. I was asking some of the older students and teachers about what to expect, and they said that you also have to be able to identify other people's spells, hit moving targets, switch targets rapidly, that sort of thing. A lot of what we call 'practical magic' is really some form of combat magic. Though, if you do know any support or non-violent spells, those'll also be tested." He studies a piece of paper. "Everyone I asked said that the expectation isn't perfection: you're just supposed to show that you're good enough to survive in the outside world."

You get the feeling that Blitzbolt's going to try and grade closer to perfection if he can, and you don't intend to give him an excuse to cause you problems. "Alright," you say, cracking your knuckles and letting a flow of Yellow magic into the air around you. "Let's do this. Do you have anything that you can throw to test movement?"

What follows is something you can honestly say you are very proud of. You've been practicing your magic, of course, but it's been a while since you've had to aim at anything moving without the imminent fear of death driving you to greater heights. Apollo makes the first few arcing throws of the thin wooden disks that act as targets pretty easy, but as you tag them one by one with Thunder spells, he starts getting more forceful in his throws. However, you still don't miss a single one, even as you start shifting into Elthunder casts (you don't dare use Arcthunder in here).

You also spend some time practicing the Light spell, and as you do you start to notice something. Maybe it's just familiarity, or maybe it's the fact that you've internalized some of the human ideas of casting White magic, but as you keep hitting the disks, you realize that you're using Mother's Hymn less and less. Could you possibly…
Magical Study: 5/6
"I want to try something," you say after a moment. "Could you just throw one easy one?" Apollo nods, hefting a disk. Carefully, you set your tablet down and kick it lightly away, focusing on the shimmering light within your soul. "Okay, ready," you say. Nodding excitedly, Apollo lobs the disk into the air. Your eyes track it as you let your spirit shine, your hands blazing with pure White magic. Then, just as it reaches the height of its arc, you point at it, and a bolt of White magic shoots out, completely of your own making, and strikes it.

"Wow!" Apollo says, clapping. "That's amazing! Most mages can only cast one element at all, let alone doing it without any sort of focus! Were all manakete this good?"

You smile sadly. "We're born of magic, so yes, all manakete could cast all the colors. Father and Mother did always say that I was… that I was exceptional…" you sigh. "I… I don't know if that's true, or if they were just being proud parents… I don't know if I'll ever be as good as them…"

Apollo stops picking up more disks to throw, giving you a worried look. "Ryza, you okay?" he asks.

You force yourself to smile again. "I'm alright," you say. "I… I guess I just have some sharp edges left, when it comes to Father and Mother."

The boy takes a few careful steps towards you, and when you don't retreat he pats you on the shoulder. "I… I'm sure you'll be just as good as them one day, maybe even better," he says determinedly. "You're super smart, and you work hard and you like what you're doing. I'm sure you'll be a great mage. Or manakete. Manamage? Magekete?"

You laugh. "Sorceress," you say. "But thanks." You take some of the disks from Apollo. "I kind of want to take a rest for a little. Do you want to give it a try?"

Apollo hesitates, but squares his shoulders and nods. "Okay, if you want to see," he says, grabbing a small red book from a shelf by the door. "I'll do my best."

As you start lobbing the disks, you watch as coils of Red magic flicker from Apollo's hands, into the book, and then back out. A moment later, the magic twists and twirls into a small fireball, which shoots out and burns a dark mark into the first disk at the peak of its movement. You hum: Apollo might not have your raw magical strength, but he's still pretty good. Given a full Fire tome rather than the little practice one he has, he'd probably be able to cast at least a few decent spells in a pinch.

That's good to know: if there's trouble in the future, you'll be able to trust him to help see it off.

You continue throwing disks for Apollo for a few minutes before he stops. "Sorry, I shouldn't be taking up your time," he says with a guilty frown. "You have the test tomorrow, not me, so I shouldn't be showing off."

"It's alright," you say. "I was practicing watching spells to see how they're being cast. Besides, you seemed to be having fun, and you're pretty good."

"Not as good as you," he says. "I don't think I could have gotten a second spell out in time to hit more than one target."

You toss another disk for him. "I also have almost eighty years more experience than you," you say as he sends it to the floor, smoking. "You're doing really well; when I was your age I was barely flying, let alone casting real magic. You're doing really good."

After a moment, Apollo smiles shyly. "Arti said the same, but I wasn't sure if she was just being nice, or maybe she couldn't really tell since she's functionally magic-blind," he says. "So… thanks."

Before the two of you can say anything else, a sharp rap comes on the door. "Library's closing," Mistress Piercejolt says.

"Yes, Mistress!" Apollo calls. "We'll be right out!"

The two of you quickly clean up, and you heft your bag back onto your shoulders as you leave. The librarian peers into the room as you leave for a moment, before closing and locking it with a click. "You two should be on your way," she says. "It's almost curfew."

You nod, bowing slightly. "Thank you for letting me use this space, Mistress Piercejolt," you say.

The old woman huffs. "Well, at least you treated it better than most children your age," she says. "And you were dedicated; that's something." With that, she ushers the pair of you out of the darkening building.

"I think she likes you," Apollo says as you walk around the darkening path towards Apollo's dorm. "I think I even saw a small smile at the end there."

"Really?" you ask.

"Oh yeah, she's really strict, but if you actually follow the rules she's nicer than she lets on," he says. "So, are you feeling ready?"

You consider for a moment. "Yes, I think I do," you say finally. "I mean, I know there's still some things I'm not a hundred percent on, but for the most part things make sense; I'm still not sure on all the different human body parts and how they're supposed to go together and I could do with another look at some of the more specific terms on different magical principles and I should probably reconsider how they're different from the nearest manakete version. Hopefully they won't throw any weird twists in…"

"You'll do great," Apollo says soothingly. "Archmage Stormspeaker won't let Blitzbolt do anything too bad, and you know everything super well for only having studied it for a day. You'll be fine."

Taking a deep breath, you calm yourself down. "Yes, I'll be fine," you say. "I'll be fine. Jenna and Lacroix both said I was good enough; they know what they're talking about."

"That's the spirit," Apollo says before stopping you from continuing forwards. "Wait, this is our down-path." You nod gratefully, letting him guide you onto the proper way: even with your darkvision it's harder to tell where everything is without the sun.

The pair of you walk down the hill in silence for a minute before Apollo speaks up again. "So… I…" he starts. "Well, you said I could… but if you don't want to right now that's okay, I get it if you don't want to out in the open…"

You blink, confused. "I'm sorry, I don't quite follow," you say.

Apollo grips the strap of his bag. "Well, I asked if I could see your wings," he says. "And we kind of ran out of time which is okay since the studying is super important but… well…"

You can't help but laugh a little; he just sounds so flustered. "It's alright," you say, glancing around. You don't see anyone, and you're on a more secluded part of the path without any buildings nearby. "It's not like they're something private or anything; I just don't have them out when I don't need them." Carefully, you spread your wings, making sure not to hit the boy walking next to you.

Even in the darkness, you can see his eyes widen. "Wow…" he whispers. "They're… they're beautiful." Slowly, almost as if in a trance, one of his hands rises to stroke the outermost finger of one wing.

It automatically twitches away. "They are a little sensitive," you say. "Could you please not touch them, at least not without asking first."

Apollo blanches. "Sorry, sorry!" he says, pulling his hand back as if scalded. "Sorry, it's just they're really big and shiny…"

Slightly self-conscious, you fold them up tightly. "Thanks," you say. "They're a bit bigger than most manakete's, it's why I can fly with them when most others couldn't." You look around again. "Maybe sometime I can show you that, but there're too many people around here…"

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," he says quickly. "No, that sounds like a not-good idea, so you probably shouldn't do that. If Archmage Stormspeaker doesn't cancel it, maybe you could come on the trip to the Smokepillar and do it there, since from what I read there are some places that are really hard to reach and maybe it's because it was made by manakete who could fly and so they didn't need stairs or anything like that."

You consider for a moment before shaking your head. "Probably not," you say, folding your wings away as you approach Flamewheel Hall. "Even if the manakete who founded the hold was Sky-Blessed, they'd recognize that not all their descendants would be, so they'd make sure to make everything accessible to everyone. From what Father said, manakete with wings like mine were pretty rare."

"I guess that makes sense," Apollo says as you reach the front door. The two of you stare at each other for a minute before Apollo kicks at the ground. "Alright, well, goodnight, and good luck tomorrow, and sorry for making you uncomfortable earlier…"

"It's alright," you say. "I should have told you in advance, and it's not that bad, they're just a little ticklish. It didn't hurt or anything."

"Still, it's wrong to do something a girl isn't comfortable with when she doesn't want you to," Apollo says earnestly. "Arti would have been super mad at me."

You smile. "Oh, Artemis's hugged me plenty of time, even before she asked if she could. I didn't mind, of course, but she wouldn't really have a leg to stand on in this case."

"I guess," Apollo says. "Well, I… I had a lot of fun today, thank you."

As he says that, he opens the door and nearly drops the four or five boys who'd been leaning against it onto the ground between you. By the looks of it, they'd had their ears pressed to the wood.

"Hey, Apollo," one says casually, as if he hadn't just been caught eavesdropping. "Glad to see you made it back. Was starting to get worried about you, wanted to make sure you weren't having too much fun studying with the new girl."

Apollo's face slowly turns beet red. "Right!" he says, trying to push the snickering boys into the Hall ahead of him. "Night, Ryza. Sleep well and everything, goodnight!" Once they've all been pushed in, he quickly closes the door behind him, leaving you alone on the step.

You take a deep breath to clear your own embarrassment. You should have heard that they were in there, your senses are better than that, but thankfully you hadn't said anything incriminating while they were listening in. Spinning on your heel, you start to walk back up towards the main Hall.

As you leave, you faintly hear laughter from inside. "I mean, you've got to admit she is kinda cute, Apollo," someone's saying.

You have no trouble hearing Apollo's reply.

"Oh spirits shut up she can hear you you guys are the WORST!"

---

As the Mother's Light climbs into the sky above the Hall the next day, you slowly close the book Apollo had loaned you and take a deep breath. 'It's time,' you tell yourself. The sun isn't quite at its highest, but you don't want to risk having mis-interpreted the Archmage's note and miss the test. That would be catastrophic.

Re-packing all your possessions save Thunder's Cry, Mother's Hymn (just in case) and the three dragonstones you carry into your bag, you carefully push it under the bed where it will hopefully be safe. Then, you tuck your tablets into the pouches hanging at either hip, hopefully Archmage Stormspeaker will let you use them. Finally, you press the dragonstones, one after another, to your forehead. "I can do this," you whisper to each of them, trying to draw some measure of Gyra-dregon's courage, Father's wisdom, and your dragon's determination into your heart. "I'll prove to the world that there is a place for people like me. A place for manakete and humans to be able to live and work together in peace."

You bask for a moment in the flickering lighting before putting the stones in your pocket, where they spark and hum comfortingly. Then, with a final look around, you leave your room, lock it behind you, and set off for the Yellow Tower.

As you approach, you notice that there's quite a few mages who seem to have found reasons to hang around the flattened area at the base of the tower, one studded with multiple pitted, scarred stone pillars. As you approach, every eye seems to find you, and the air seems to fill with whispers. Straightening your back, you try to channel Mother's fierce dignity into your stance as you walk towards the door, the Archmage's note gripped in your hands. Reaching the tower, you raise your hand and knock firmly.

A minute passes before the door swings open. "Ryza," a yellow-cloaked mage you don't recognize says. "You are expected. Come with me." He turns on his heel and walks into the tower, leaving you following in his wake.

You climb several sets of spiral stairs in silence before you reach a large, circular room that you estimate is about halfway up the tower. The outer ring of the room is dominated by a raised platform, while the rest of the room is lined with dozens of small tables, each with only one chair in front of them.

Across from the door, on the raised ring, Archmage Stormspeaker and Master Blitzbolt are talking quietly. Neither of them seems angry, but there is a tension crackling in the air between them as if it were a second coating of Yellow magic. Both turn as the other mage leads you in.

"Ryza, from Agrithe, to take her Accreditation Examination," the man announces formally.

The Archmage inclines his head. "Thank you, Master Skyrumble," he says. "Master Blitzbolt and I shall take things from here." The mage bows and leaves, closing the door behind him.

You take a step further into the room. "Thank you for taking the time to do this, Archmage Stormspeaker," you say, looking around. "So, should I just sit anywhere?"

"A spot has already been prepared," Blitzbolt says icily, pointing to a table across the room from you. "You are to put any and all materials you have brought with you into the box beside you; you are permitted nothing but your mind for this part of the examination."

Nodding, you unsling both pouches from your shoulders and put them in the box: while Thunder's Cry and Mother's Hymn won't be much help on a written test, you could still get some ideas from them, so it was fair that they be somewhere away from you.

As you start towards the desk, Blitzbolt's voice lashes out like a whip. "Everything, girl," he says, a smirk starting to crawl across his face. "Including those lightning artifacts in your pockets."

You frown, trying to figure out what he means, before realization dawns on you. You hesitate for a moment, but you've already told them that you're a manakete. Best to be honest about why you have to do the things you do. "That's my dragonstone, as well as my father's and my ancestor's," you say. "They're not going to be a problem, but I can't part from them."

Blitzbolt raises an eyebrow. "The rules of examinations are clear," he says. "Any and all tools that might give a prospective mage an unfair advantage are to be left behind, and such powerful objects are clearly-"

"No," you say coolly. "Humans may see dragonstones as only sources of power, but for manakete they are our essence and our being. My stone is a part of me, and I would sooner cut off my own wings than part with it. As for Father's and Gyra-Dregon's, they are the last links I have to my bloodline. I swore when I took them that I would keep them safe from the fate of other dragonstones." You throw an obvious look at the tome you see hanging from Blizbolt's belt.

The man's smile widens slightly. "It seems we are at an impasse," he says. "The-"

"She may keep them, so long as they do not leave her pocket during the test," Archmage Stormspeaker says firmly. When Blitzbolt turns to give him a disapproving look, the Archmage smiles dryly. "We do not ask human students to part with their hands when taking our tests. If what Ryza says is true, and she likely knows more about manakete than either of us, then it stands to reason we would not part a manakete from her stone."

"We merely have the Fel… her, word on that," Blitzbolt says.

"And as of yet, I have seen no evidence that we cannot take her at her word," Archmage Stormspeaker says in a voice that very clearly says the debate is over. "Take your seat, Ryza, and let us begin."

Letting out a breath, you finish the walk to the table. Laying on it is a sealed scroll, held shut by yellow wax marked with a lightning bolt. There are also several quills and bottles of ink.

"When I tell you to begin the exam," Archmage Stormspeaker says formally, "you will open the scroll and answer all the questions. Since Mistress Flarestone and Master Skyfire have vouched for you being proficient in both lighting and light magic, you will take both tests. Once you have completed the Lightning test, you will have a short break before you begin the Light test." He studies you for a moment before continuing. "Do you have any questions before you begin?"

You shake your head, everything seems pretty straightforward. "No, thank you," you say.

"Very well," Master Blitzbolt says, picking up the odd wood-and-glass contraption on the table next to him and turning it over. As he puts it down, you see a trickle of sand starting to fall from the top glass bulb into the lower one. "You may begin."

Quickly opening up the scroll, you scan the first question. You blink, and then read it again more slowly. Then a third time.

'Is this a joke?' you ask yourself. 'What two elements of magic do lightning magic have dominion over?' You suppose it made sense to start with the easy questions first, but they didn't even ask you to explain why yellow magic can disperse red and white magic. Maybe they just figured you'd do that on your own; so you do: white magic is a spiritual magic, less tied to the physical world than any of the anima colors, and red magic being easy to starve of energy by the manipulation of Yellow magic, just as a real fire could be starved of air. It takes you only a little while to phrase that in human language, but it's still a remarkably simple question.

Slowly at first, then with growing speed, you continue answering the questions. While the questions do get a bit more complicated as you go along, you never find any of them particularly hard. There's not nearly as much focus on specific terms and theories as you'd expected. Instead, you are asked to describe different facets of Yellow magic and related in your own words. You try to bring in your research as much as you can, just to show that you do understand how humans have done things in the past, but on the whole it's easier to just… write about how magic works. You know this; you've been doing this most of your life.

For example, 'What would be an example of a runic structure that would use lightning magic? Describe why it would work that way.' Pretty much anything that had to do with transferring energy: but you chose to talk about both the big structure you'd read about Archmage Thundercrier making, the one that's used to recharge tomes, as well as a draining-stone that Father showed you once that he used to safely pull out magical energy from other runic structures.

The test goes on like this, with questions that are surprisingly more simple than you'd expected. If you're honest, they aren't really easy, and if you hadn't taken the time yesterday to study you'd probably be having some difficulty putting your thoughts into human words, but all the same, this is far more simple than you'd been worried it would be.

Honestly, you're more concerned that you'll lose points for your handwriting than your knowledge. Stupid human writing; just close enough to Makai that your hand keeps following muscle memory to make the symbols you learned when you were young rather than the ones you were supposed to make now…

You're not quite sure how long you work for, but when you finish and look up at the sand-dropping device, you're surprised to see it's almost a third full still. Had you missed something? You turn the paper over a few times, but no, it seems you got everything. Instead, you spend some time going back over the questions and adding a few more things that you'd skipped to make sure you had time to finish. After all, you hadn't been quite happy with your answer to question thirty-two, while the Special Law of Elemental Magic forbade the different colors of magic from directly interacting with one another, Master Hawkbreeze's Corollary allowed for the use of raw-magic to act as a temporary bridge. Exceedingly difficult, fragile, and not good for any spell you want to last for more than a few seconds, but when used on small, simple cantrips (a human term that you'd picked up for spells that took so little energy they could be done without a tome), it would allow for spells of similar complexity to runes, such as the detection magic that Archmage Stormspeaker had used when he realized what you were.

Finally, once you'd gone over all the questions again and are satisfied with your answers, you look at the sand-thing again. It's still got about a fifth of its original amount of sand, but with one last look over the test you decide that you've done all you can. "Um, Archmage Stormspeaker," you say. "I'm done."

The man nods, setting down the book he'd been reading and descending from the raised area. "Very good, Ryza," he says, casting a flicker of Red magic to dry the ink before picking up the scroll and rolling it up. "Take a minute to breath and stretch your legs, then you'll begin the Light exam."

"Okay, thank you," you say, standing up. "I think it went well."

The man raises an eyebrow. "I hope you are right," he says before retreating to the upper area again.

You spend a few minutes simply closing your eyes and resting your brain. While the test was easier than you expected, it was still kind of stressful. Finally, however, you steel yourself and head back to the desk. "Archmage Stormspeaker? I'm ready."

The two mages look up from the test they'd been reading over, and the Archmage nods to Blitzbolt. The man grimaces, but grabs another roll of parchment and stalks over to put it on the desk in front of you. "The same rules will apply," he says coldly. "Are you ready to begin?"

He looks angry. A small, slightly nasty part of you hopes his bad mood means you did well on the test, since he doesn't want you to be a mage. "Yes, Master Blitzbolt," you say. Just because he's going to be rude doesn't mean you have to be. Some of your thoughts might have appeared on your face, or maybe he just assumed them, as he narrows his eyes at you slightly before turning and returning to the raised area. Grabbing the time keeper, he flips it over. "You may begin," he says.

Opening the second scroll, you get to work. The questions are of similar to the Yellow test, just focused more on White magic. You do have a bit more trouble with this portion, but on the whole you still think you do very well. You're glad that Apollo thought to bring the book on biology, since there's a tricky section on healing. For example, "Why are broken bones more difficult to heal than flesh?" You probably would have just said that it's because they're harder, which is partially true, but it's more complicated than that. However, since you studied, you can add in that bones have to be properly positioned before you heal them or they fuse wrong, and also that there are multiple different parts of bones that react slightly differently to the Heal spell than the other parts.

You grimace: you'd known that Mother healing your broken arm had been hard, but you hadn't realized just how hard. You hope you have a lot of time to get better before you have to do it yourself.

Still, for the moment, you feel like you've done a good job. Once again, you finish the questions with plenty of sand left in the glass thing, so you can go back and add to/improve your answers. Finally, however, you lean back, rubbing your tired hand. "Okay, I'm finished," you say.

"Very good," the Archmage says, coming over to recast his drying spell and take the scroll. "Do you feel ready for the practical portion?"

You nod. "Yes, I do," you say. "Though… I did notice there were a lot of people out there when I came in."

Archmage Stormspeaker gives a thin smile. "It is traditional to post notice when an Accreditation test is occurring, and while for some reason nobody seems to have time to help proctor the written portions, the practical tests are more popular to watch." He studies you. "Will that be a problem?"

Ignoring the huff from Blitzbolt, you shake your head. "No, no I'll be fine," you say, picking up your tablets as you follow the Archmage out of the testing area. "It's just… well, how many people did you tell about… me?"

"As I said, the fact that you're taking the test is public knowledge," Archmage Stormspeaker says. "However, I saw no need to tell the majority of the Hall about your personal nature. The various Heads of the Towers would suffice, though all have been informed that they are forbidden from spreading that information to others until further notice."

You cock your head. "The Heads of the Towers?" you ask.

"There are five, one for each of the five elements," Archmage Stormspeaker says. "And it is their duty to oversee the particulars of the students and mages of their element, as well as acting as advisors and deputies to myself. You've already met Master Blitzbolt, of course, as well as Mistress Highwind. Since you would be taking the White test, it only stood to reason to inform Mistress Softshimmer as well, and from there involving Masters Magmablaze and Darktide was only sensible. We all agreed it would be best to give you time to prepare for your test before pushing for more details."

You're grateful that's the case, though you kind of get the feeling it was mostly the Archmage and Sunny who came to that decision. "Thank you, Archmage Stormspeaker," you say. "I had enough people coming to stare at me just because I was taking the test."

The man glances back at you, raising an eyebrow. "I would assume that at least some of that came from the rumors you and young Cartese were spreading the day you came here," he says mildly. "While I understand that you have a responsibility to follow the wishes of your patron, I would have very much preferred you hadn't done that. As of yet, I have still seen no evidence of his claims of danger."

You frown. You're pretty sure that Archduke Letoro's information was good, or at least that he wouldn't have you potentially burn that bridge unless he was sure of it, but… you shake your head. "I just wanted to make sure that, if something did go wrong, everyone who was at risk would be prepared," you say. "The people who attacked Artemis and Sypha were not polite enough to give warnings beforehand."

Blitzbolt mutters something you don't quite hear, but before you can decide whether you'd risk confronting him over it or simply letting it go, the decision is taken from your hands as you step out of the tower and back onto the pillar-covered patch of ground. "Your station is over there," the man says more loudly. "As are the tomes you claim to be able to use."

You frown as you look at the table, where indeed four tomes and a pair of staves are sitting. "I don't need most of those," you say. "The only spell I absolutely need help on is Arcthunder, and that I can do with my own tablet." You pull out Thunder's Cry as you say this.

"Personal tomes are not permitted in these tests, just as notes are not permitted on the written portion," Blitzbolt says. "These tests are to determine what you are truly capable of as a mage, not what you can… fake."

Your eyes narrow, and you push as much of your anger back as you can. You aren't completely successful. "If I am not allowed to use these," you say, hefting your tablet-pouches, "then fine, I'll just cast what I can under my own power. I understand that you need those tomes, and I have come to terms with that as much as I can. However, I will not play a part in the desecration of my people's remains by using your tomes just to satisfy your ego."

Wisps of Yellow energy begin to gather around Blitzbolt as his fingers stroke the tome at his side, but before he can say or do anything the Archmage steps between you. "Enough," he says sharply. "Ryza, while I understand you are in a difficult position, so long as you are a guest or a member of this Hall you will act with decorum. Am I understood?" Swallowing, you nod; you had been a bit out of line. A simple no would have sufficed.

Archmage Stormspeaker nods back before turning to Blitzbolt. "Donnor, we have already decided that we might need to make some allowances for this… unusual situation, and you did agree to set your personal feelings aside. Will you hold to that promise?" The man grits his teeth, but nods as well. "Good." Archmage Stormspeaker turns back to you. "I will check your tablet, to ensure that it will give you no unfair advantage," he says, holding out his hand. "Master Blitzbolt, can I trust you to run the first part of this test impartially?"

"Yes, Archmage Stormspeaker," Blitzbolt says. "Very well, gir- Ryza," he says to you. "Step up to the position. I will tell you which target to strike and what spell to use. Then, we will test your healing capabilities."

"Yes, Master Blitzbolt," you say, walking over to stand on the small rocky platform. "Ready."

"Thunder, back left rounded," Blitzbolt says sharply. You instantly respond, your spell striking the identified pillar. Unlike the others, it doesn't splinter or crack; they must be enchanted to be tougher. "Elthunder, center cluster." You drop the spell in the middle: if they were people none of them would have died, but all would have been stunned. "Light, third on the right, squared." It takes a fraction of a second longer to switch spell-minds, and you almost miss your tablet, but you can make do.

The test goes on like this. The murmurs and whispers of the audience fade away, though you can't tell if it's because everyone's silent or simply because you're too focused on the moment. Blitzbolt's commands begin coming faster and faster, occasionally interspersed with either a moving disk or a question on a spell he'd just cast. You sink into the magic, ignoring the world around you as you channel your power and extend your magical senses. You cast Barrier on yourself on command, hit three Thunders in rapid succession before telling him he'd just cast Barrier on the rock you'd been told to target with Light. You can feel the strain starting to build up, but you push it aside; you're not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing you falter! You're not going to let this small-minded bigot beat you you were learning magic before his school was even A THING!

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the orders fall silent. Pulling yourself out of the magical haze, you blink and look around, wondering why everyone's staring at you gaping like fish. Oh Mother you didn't turn into your dragon, did you? You don't think you did, you still feel small, but even Blitzbolt's mouth is hanging open slightly as he stares at you. You scan the targets; they're all still in one piece, so what…

Unbidden, a memory pulls itself from your mind; watching in awe as Mother practices her own magic. You didn't see her doing it as much as you saw Father work on his runes, but you remember being caught almost between terror and awe as you watch magic swirl and dance around her, fiercer and brighter than what Father did. 'One day, Ryza, you'll be able to do this,' Mother had said. 'One day, you'll be an even greater sorceress than I am; and you'll be able to protect your family, just as I protect you and your father.'

For the first time, you really believe her. You're not there yet, if for no other reason than you only use Yellow and White magic, but you tip your head back confidently as you look at Blitzbolt. "Is there anything else, Master Blitzbolt?" you ask, trying to keep the mocking out of your voice.

"Two last things," Archmage Stormspeaker says quietly from behind you, and you force yourself not to ruin the moment by yelping or jumping. Turning, you see him holding out your tablet to you. "First, as using this would be more difficult than using the Arcthunder tome, I see no reason you cannot use it," he says. "A simple demonstration of capability will be good enough for this spell. If you would?"

Nodding, you turn to the targets. Building up the feedback loop in your hand, you channel your magic to the brink before feeding it into the tablet. Then, just as it's about to escape your will, you send it on its way. Arcane lightning swirls and falls upon the center-most pillar, causing it to hiss and smoke for a moment before your final bolt slams into it. Once again, the protections on it hold, but from the shimmer in the air above you can tell you've noticeably heated the rock.

"Excellent," the Archmage says, before holding out his arm. On it, you see a burn, not deep or dangerous, but clearly intentional. "Now, demonstrate your healing capabilities, and we can consider this test concluded." Swallowing, you hold out your hand. It takes you a moment to realize he'd put a Barrier of his own up, but still you're able to worm the gentler White magic through, clearing away the reddened skin with ease.

A hush almost seems to fall over the courtyard as Archmage Stormspeaker studies his arm for a moment. "Very well," he says loudly when he is finished. "As of now, the Accreditation Test of Ryza is concluded." He looks down at you, and you blink as you realize he's smiling! "While it will take some time for myself, Master Blitzbolt and Mistress Softshimmer to complete the grading of your written exam… if I were you, I would consider what I want my mage-name to be. Well done, Ryza." With that, he turns and walks back towards the main Hall, followed by a still-silent Blitzbolt.

Slightly stunned, you grab Mother's Hymn from where you'd set it down, swinging the pouch back over your shoulder, before turning to walk towards the gate. As you approach the spectators, who are still staring at you silently, you hesitate for a moment, unsure of what…

Then, at the back of the crowd, someone starts clapping. Almost as if that was a signal, others start joining in. "Well done!" someone calls as your feet continue onwards.

"A masterful display!"

"Incredible! Absolutely incredible!"

You feel your cheeks heat up with embarrassed pride as the complements and applause continues. "Thank you," you say, waving. "Thanks."

It takes a few minutes for you to get through the crowd, as people continue to congratulate you. Quite a few ask you who taught you before, and you honestly answer "your parents." Nobody seems upset or disbelieving of that answer. Others ask how you'd been able to cast without the tomes, and you're a little cagier about that, only saying again that it was something your parents had taught you. Thankfully, everyone seems to be too impressed by your accomplishments to question you too vigorously. However, you're finally able to make your escape. It's not that you're not happy that people are impressed by you, but you want to find Apollo and let him know how you'd done.

You're slightly surprised to see Artemis's brother sitting just outside the gate, reading a book. When he spots you, he quickly clambers to his feet. "Ryza!" he says, smiling hopefully. "They wouldn't let me in, but I heard a lot of lightning magic in there. How'd it go?"

"Archmage Stormspeaker said it went well," you say.

His grin widens. "Great!" he says. "So you passed?"

"I don't know yet, but he said I probably had."

Apollo lets out a laugh and pulls you into a hug. "Great!" he cries. "I knew you could do it, of course, but I couldn't help but worry that Blitzbolt would manage to pull something off to make things worse but I knew you could do it anyways!" Rolling your eyes as Apollo continues to babble, you hug him back, not caring who else would see. He's Artemis's brother; of course you're going to be friendly with him.

After a minute, he coughs and pulls back. "Sorry, sorry," he says. "But come on. I may not have been able to be in there to provide moral support, but I got some of the others together, and we want to show you something, come on." Letting him grab your hand, you follow him back down the hill.

Rather than heading towards Flamewheel Hall, Apollo turns towards the White side of the hill. It takes you a minute to realize that he's leading you towards Anna's shop. "What's going on?" you ask.

"You'll see when we get there," Apollo says, grinning. "Come on, let's go!"

A few minutes later, he's pushing open the door to the shop. "Go on, you first," he says. Rolling your eyes again, you step in.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" a chorus of voices calls, nearly sending you tumbling back out of the building.

A few dozen different students are crammed in and around the store floor, all waving and smiling at you. "What…" you whisper.

"It's a tradition to have a post-accreditation exam celebration party," Apollo says. "They're usually for whole classes, since the Masters usually don't have solo tests, but every now and then an exception is made." He grins at you. "Besides, you came all the way from the Kingdoms to warn us all about trouble, and we wanted to let you know that we appreciate that." You blink and look around more closely. Now that you think about it, you recognize most of the students here; they were some of the people you'd talked to with Apollo that first day here.

"I…" you say. "Thank you, everyone. Thank you all."

"You're welcome!" Fillia says, holding up a rough wooden cup. "Come on, we had to pool our pocket change to get this blood-sucker to let us use the room, so let's enjoy it before she kicks us out!" Anna simply grins from where she's still standing behind her counter, a bunch of different foods and drinks lined up in front of her with little signs in front of all of them.

"Pot calling the kettle black, Whitewing," someone else calls. Fillia extends her middle finger at him for some reason, but she's laughing as she does it so it must be an act of endearment. "But seriously, come in, Ryza. It's been ages since any of us have heard anything from home. Come in, tell us about how the test went!"

Smiling, you allow yourself to be pulled into the room by Apollo. A lot of these young mages had been tense or worried when you'd first spoken to them, but now they seem to have relaxed. "Well, if the Imps try anything," Calta says when you mention this. "At least we'll see it coming. While we may not be good enough to pass the accreditation test two days after we get here, we're still a bunch of mages. If they try anything, we'll fortify one of the halls and chuck books and spells at them until they surrender!" That gets a laugh out of everyone. "But come on, stop being so modest! You just passed the big test, brag a little! What was it like?"

The mood of the room was infections. Soon, you're drinking something called "lemon drink" ("Nothing alcoholic for the little girl, I'll lose my license," Anna says cheekily) and talking about the test, as well as some of the interesting things you'd done on the way here. The various students ooh and aah appreciatively, even as you carefully avoid some of the parts people aren't supposed to know about.

"So," Apollo asks as you finish your description of saving Sypha (leaving out the part where you flew her away on dragon-back). "I meant to ask, what's your mage-name gonna be? Technically, nobody's supposed to know until you officially announce it at the ceremony, but nobody follows that rule."

"Yeah, come on, tell us!"

"It's gotta be something cool!"

"Something that'll go down in history!"

Caught up in the moment, you take a second to consider before answering.


What is Ryza's Mage Name going to be?
[] Write-In


While it's not official, all signs point towards you having succeeded at becoming an accredited mage. What are your plans now?


[] You've done what you came here to do. Once you've been officially acknowledged, you'll make your way back to Agrithe. You're needed there.

OR

[] You still have some things you'd like to do at the Hall, and you don't know if you'll be able to come back anytime soon. (Choose up to six, put them in order from most to least important. The more things you do, the more likely you'll be around when Things Happen)
-[] Go to the Smokestack; maybe you'll find something important there, something the humans missed…
-[] Talk to Revisionists. You have a lot to tell them, and the sooner you can start fighting the bad stories about manakete, the better.
-[] Try to find time to talk to Archmage Stormspeaker privately. He seems like a decent fellow, and maybe he can give you some advice.
-[] Spend some time in the libraries to see if you can find anything interesting about the human understanding of spirits, runewrighting, or other topics.
-[] Meet with Master Searedstone. Apollo seems to like him, and not all Imperials you've met have been bad.
-[] Meet with the other Heads of the Towers. Archmage Stormspeaker indicated that they have some questions, so you might as well get that over with.
-[] Try to figure out what's going on with the Regent's plan. He has to have done something, and you get the feeling that Blitzbolt is involved somehow. This'll be dangerous, but so've been a lot of other stuff you've done.
-[] Take some time to practice your ____ magic. You already made some progress on White magic without focusing on it, if there's any place you can make a lot of progress it'll be here. (Write in what color to focus on.)
-[] Write-in (Subject to veto)