Eventually, Circe nods. "You are an apt pupil, as I expected. We can move on to your first spell. Did you want to try the specific light spell you had picked out, or will any do?"

"I'm not attached to the particular one."

Circe nods and floats a book off one of her numerous shelves. It falls open to a certain page on Bella's lap. "This is one of my preferred instruction manuals; its light incantation is simple and easily modified, and the binding looks impressive on a shelf, which never hurts. Read over the instructions and see if you can work out how to cast it without my assistance. If not, I will coach you through it. It is better to be thorough than to be quick, as mangled castings can result in hobgoblin constructs, many of which will bite you."

"...I think I would like to know more about 'hobgoblin constructs'. And their biting habits," says Bella, though she turns her eyes to the instructions.

"Am I borrowing this one or should I get my own copy?" inquires Bella, writing down the assignment.

"Feel free to borrow mine; I have three copies. Just be aware you will be returning it in a few months, and keep it in good condition. Unless you learn a good parchment-cleaning spell, in which case you can do what you like with it until you have to give it back."

"And should I be scheduling my homework with a particular view to the possibility of running out of enough Essence to cast the spell, or can I do it in a lump if that's more convenient for me or my magic spotter?"

"You should absolutely keep your reserves in mind and work in short bursts. In fact, that should be standard practice until you have been using magic for several years. Next week I will teach you how to monitor your own reserves. Until then, you may use this." She reaches into a desk drawer, pulls out a wrist monitor, and tosses it over. "When you put it on it will prick your wrist for a drop of blood to prime itself; from then on, it will display a reading of how much Essence you have in your reserve. It was the final project of a gadgeteer in the Mystic Arts program proper, a few years ago. Very handy for beginning students."

"What's my capacity and what does the spell pull, in the units this uses?"

"Right now you stand at 12-and-some of the device's units. The spell pulls one. It was the designer's baseline spell, conveniently enough. Self-monitoring is more intuitive than numerical, so it's best not to get too attached to the system."

"Okay. And my recharge rate probably varies with how well I do at the managing my thoughts thing and how much I meditate and all that?"

"Indeed. Hence the need to space out your castings. Also, I should note that the pull of a mangled spell is two to three times higher, so, again, care should be taken."

"I don't plan to flirt with zero, but if I run afoul of it somehow...?"

"It will hurt, varying by how much you would have overshot with the spell, and you will need to meditate heavily for somewhere between a few hours and a few days before you regain any Essence at all. After that your rate of regeneration will be as usual."

"Okay, so not career-ending but very much best avoided. Anything I should be asking but haven't thought of?"

"Nothing springs to mind. You are quite thorough."

"Thanks! See you in a week, then."

"Indeed."

And Bella pops away to get lunch, because she was a little hurried at breakfast what with the lesson at dawn. She puts on the bracelet. She keeps an eye out for Ariel, but she can check her room later if she's not in the cafeteria.

"Hi! How are you?"

"Great! They've got lamb in the hungry carnivore line today, I friggin' love lamb. Today was your lesson with Circe, right? How was that, did she make you carry water up a mountain or something?"