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Savaross doesn't take infants when he goes out looking for apprentices; the years when they will need care and be unable to make themselves useful are a nuisance. But seeking apprentices is not the only reason he leaves the tower, and it is unwise to look a gift horse in the mouth.
He carries the babe away from the burning wreckage of the now-dead witch's abode and hands her over to the care of the older apprentices on childminding duty.
And the next he thinks of her as more than a nuisance, she’s grown up into a waifish five-year-old. Meticulous, but timid. She cries when she sees bruises on the older apprentices. Not the kind of apprentice he would consider promising.
He does not, no.
But he will do his best to teach her regardless, and she will learn that it is best for her if he succeeds.
She’s bright, at least. Doesn’t need reminding of things she’s told. She’s memorized the usual haunts of the other apprentices, and has a natural talent for not being found. She’s punctual. She never talks back.
It seems like she’s trying to make the world ignore her entirely.
This is a good strategy for avoiding harm at all times except when actually in a lesson.
He is sitting behind a desk, looking expectant and critical, when she arrives.
She stands at attention, with the perfect posture expected of her, and waits to be asked a question or given an order.
"Today begin your real lessons; those on magic. The first thing any warlock must learn is how to gather the power they will use to shape the world."
She is given instructions on how to meditate in order to perceive the magical fabric of the world around her, and the basic technique for tearing a piece off.
She closes her eyes, and focuses.
She sees it almost instantly, but -
tear?
It didn’t do anything to deserve that, but the lesson...
She hesitates.
He is still waiting. He doesn't actually expect her to have found the pattern quite yet.
She doesn’t know that.
Her gaze flicks to the head of his cane, just for an instant.
... if she’s going to do this she had better do it properly.
Mentally, she puts pins in all along the edge of her range - this technique is so sloppy, who does this to the world? - no time for that, she has to do this quickly, Savaross is waiting -
She’s not fast enough.
The interruption makes her drop a pin.
Back up two, another five now, quickly -
She has the perimeter in her head -
She hesitates again.
She has to get this right now. She knows what happens to apprentices who don’t perform.
She puts in the pins as fast as she can, one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-leven-twelf-
... she makes a mess of it. Only half her range, coiled up around her like a serpent of fire, all tattered and ragged and sharp -
This isn’t good enough, is it.
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