He lands in a pool of water. 

The surface is barely disturbed by his sudden entry; a small ripple forms, but not a single drop splashes out onto the floor around the water-filled depression. The pool is deep, the distance from the floor to the surface is roughly twice as deep as he is tall. He slips down to the bottom quickly, slowing as he reaches it such that the impact is as light as a feather. The water feels oddly... smooth, but it's just as easy to move in as any other body of water he might have swam in before. 

Once he surfaces, he'll first note the enormous ring which rises from the center of the pool, made of a violet-black metal. Or possibly just a black metal, it's hard to tell in the bright pale violet light being radiated by an object he can barely make out on the other side of the ring. 

The light tints every surface in the room a shade of purple, from the smooth stone walls to the mosaic spiralling out across the floor. The water itself seems even more purple than the light is, adding another mark to the tally suggesting it might not, in fact, merely be water. 

It's possible that he would be wise to get out of it. 

Given that the first thing he notices is he now needs to breathe that's the first thing he does.

He climbs out, takes stock - he doesn't have his rings, he can't contact anyone telepathically, he has none of his powers - he can feel his spells clicking into place in his mind, and he uses a cantrip to detect magic, trying to mostly determine what here is possibly dangerous (and if he can safely use another cantrip to get the water off).

The maybe-water isn't dangerous! Or at least not in this state. It is, however, magic. Very magic, maybe just magic? Is it even water? It's acting somewhat water-like, but it sure is very magic.

Still, it's water enough that he can dry himself off if he wants, assuming he wants to risk magicking unknown magic. 

The giant ring isn't taking any questions at the moment, but it's also not doing anything else, so there's that. Any spell directed at it will slide off onto the "water". That being the case, who can say whether or not the ring is magic?

Farther away, the glowing object is extremely magic! Though all it's doing right now is glowing.

The walls, floor and ceiling of the room itself are not magic, but there are veins of magic running just beneath them, large ones all leading to the pool and the ring. 

...He is going to touch absolutely nothing here. He hopes the magic-water-like-material isn't dangerous because casting magic at unknown things is usually more dangerous than touching unknown things.

He'll start walking, avoiding the magic places, and looking for a way out.

If he's paying attention he can step over the veins of magic in the floor, if he chooses, they're thin enough for that. 

There's an enormous set of stone doors at the far end of the room, past the glowing object. There's no way any lone power-less person could move them by hand. A vein of magic runs through the walls to meet each door, suggesting that moving them requires yet more magic. 

Ugh. He settles in to study them, flipping through different variants on detects.

So much magic! His detection spells will reveal more along this line, and also that the veins leading to the doors are composed specifically of Water Magic.

Meanwhile, the 'water' in the pool behind him is some other, more esoteric type of magic. There's none of it on him anymore, though; while he was looking at the doors the 'water' soaking him through has become actual water, and some of it appears to have vanished altogether. Spooky.  

If he stares at the pool for a bit he might be able to identify it as some kind of... space magic? With a bit more of the omnipresent water magic laced into it. 

The glowing object is also producing that 'space' magic. To some detection spells it will seem to pulse slowly, like a heartbeat. 

...He's going to position himself well away from that, keeping an eye on it while examining the door.

Before he can get much examining in, the veins leading to the door start doing something new and interesting. A small influx of yet more water magic enters the veins from either side of the door, thickening them and flowing into the doors themselves. It leaks into a set of formerly empty veins, curling around in a number of circles, before making its way back out and vanishing deeper into the walls. 

As this happens, the doors silently swing open. 

Erin has been exploring the lower levels again.

Lady Helen had shown them to her in the last year, when it became clear that Erin would be inheriting the Gauntlet of the Healer within the next year, and all its wielder's responsibilities along with it. She is supposed to check the locked levels every month to make sure no one has broken in. 

She's already been down here a few times this month, and despite the fluttering of her maids about the state of her robes and the councillors about her safety (how can she be anything but safe within the Sanctuary?), she can't really help coming back. It's the only part of the city that no one else can get to, so it's the only place she can be alone. 

The Gauntlet gently nudges her.

Well. She should be the only one who can get to it. The presence in one of the sealed rooms suggests differently. 

The intruder seems to be a human male in good health. He's through the big doors at the end of the first level, in the room with the ring and the sleeping Rod and the pool of mana. 

How could he have gotten in there? She wonders. 

Intent on finding out, she marches up to the doors, lifts her (oversized) Gauntleted hand, and wills the doors open. Her connection to the city does everything else, and the doors begin to swing open without a sound. 

He steps back. Spreads his hands, fingers and palms clearly visible so she'd get warning if he starts a spell.

With the doors open, she gets a good look at the room and its occupants. She blinks at his pose, noting that he's not armed and doesn't appear to be gathering mana at any point she can see, then glances over at the Rod. Which he hasn't taken. 

...Honestly she's not sure what reason a person would have for being in this room if they weren't after the Rod of the Fourth Gate. Especially if they'd gone to all the effort of entering her wards without her notice. How?

Actually that's a good question to start with. 

"How did you get in here?" She asks, her tone a little sharper than her tutors would have liked. 

There's no way she can disarm herself without taking the Gauntlet off, which she's not going to do, but she does face her hand towards herself, the way she would if she was doing self-healing. 

"I was practicing a basic plane shift spell. It misfired."

Most of those words make sense. Plane-shift, though? She might have heard something like those words somewhere at some point, but it's definitely not anything anyone thought she needed to know. It does sound spacetimey, though. 

She steps closer, so she's standing in the doorway, and glances over at the Rod again, "Did you come for the Rod, then?" She asks. She frowns, "You can't have it. It's supposed to stay sleeping." 

"I didn't. Being here was an accident."

"An accident?" She reapeats, incredulous. She crosses her arms, taking care so that she doesn't hit her chin with the Gauntlet (no, she definitely isn't careful because it's happened before, what are you suggesting?), "I didn't notice you coming into the city," she tells him, "That doesn't happen by accident!" 

"I think this isn't my home planet at all," he says. "A plane is a world, it's - all the places with the same rules."

She scrunches up her nose. A different world? But lots of places have different rules. 

She shakes her head, repeating that thought out loud, "The Empire has lots of rules we don't?" She suggests, uncertainly, "But... I've never heard of other worlds." 

"Rules like which direction things fall in. But maybe our worlds are very different." He shakes his head. "I can maybe prove it, though I'd be reluctant to use any of my magic around this much magic..."

"Why?" She asks, confused, "It's not doing anything. The Rod can't do anything without a wielder and the pool won't do anything, it's mine." All the water in the city is hers and the Gauntlet's, especially the veins in the walls and floors. The Healer can see everything in Sanctuary - and it always tells her if there's someone or something where they shouldn't be. That's why she knows he shouldn't have been able to get in the ring room without her noticing. 

The detection spells he was using when the door opened will have revealed that the Gauntlet gives off it's own glow. It's not visible without it, like the violet light the Rod is giving off further into the room, but a detect magic spell will be able to tell that it is radiating Water and Life magic in all directions. Where the magic hits the surfaces around the girl, it's absorbed into them, flowing into the veins. If he looked at the pool at this point he'd notice that the liquid mana in it, formerly perhaps 1 part Water magic, 9 parts Space magic, is quickly reaching a ratio of 1:1, the Gauntlet working to prove her words true. 

Whether he wants to risk unintended magic interactions on the word of a 13 year old is up to him. 

"Magics don't always work together safely. Mine is different than the local, and it's - a good rule not to do stuff like that without safeguards."

She frowns, glancing over at the pool and Artefact once more, then back to him, "Well..." she draws out, "We could go somewhere else if you want?" 

She's decided that he's probably not a thief at this point. And anyway, there's a reason she doesn't have bodyguards. If she doesn't have the reaction time to protect herself, the city will do it for her. She steps back out into the hall and beckons him forward. 

The surfaces of the hall are made of the same material as the ones in the room, with a different pattern spilling out over the stone floor. On either side of the hall runs a trough filled with water, sparkling in the low, pale blue lights set into the ceiling. 

The veins continue here, under the water troughs and in the walls and ceilings, but the floor is clear, so far as he can see. The Gauntlet is still radiating magic, though, and with the doors still open the Rod's magic spills out of the ring room.

He deactivates his detect spells so he doesn't get a headache, and follows her. "That'd be good."

She leads him out of the room, turning back briefly to watch the doors close, and then down the hall. At the other end is large open doorway, leading into a farily large room with no other exits. There is a small pool of water (real, actual water) in the center of it. She leads him in and then turns to the wall next to the opening, where there is a series of discs made of the same black metal as the ring. She waits for him to enter and then reaches out a thread of water magic to one of the discs. 

As a door makes its way out of the wall in perfect silence, she looks up at him, "The room moves," she tells him, "We're on one of the lower levels so we have to take the lift up. It'll let us out again when we get to the right floor." She's had to reassure people of that before - lots of refugees get nervous when the doors in the lifts seem to close them in. 

An elevator, then. A very nice one. "I've been in similar."

"Really?" She asks, turning to him with enthusiasm. 

The door reaches its destination; nothing else descernable seems to happen, but based on how smooth the doors in this place are it would be reasonable to assume that the movement of the lift wouldn't be noticeable either. 

"The Sanctuary is the only place I know of that has lifts," she continues. She pauses, "Well, maybe the city in Cialin has them too, but if they do they don't work."

"We don't use magic for them, and have had them a while."

"No magic?" She asks, her fascination heightening. 

Before she can ask anything further, the door begins to open again. She waits until the gap is about twice as wide as she is and then slips through. Once he's out as well the door stops in its tracks and begins closing again. 

One could be forgiven for mistaking the new hallway for the one they'd just come from. It looks much the same, with the exception of the pattern on the floor, which is subtly different. 

She continues speaking as they make their way down the hall, "I... guess I can see how someone would do that," she says, uncertainly. "There's machines in the walls that my magic moves," she explains, "But I suppose you could do it with actual water," she speculates. She looks up at him for any further explanation. 

"The early ones used pulleys and cables - like metal rope - that were pulled by a machine. New ones use magnets, I think," he says. "But I'm not an engineer."

"Oh," she says, disappointed. At the end of the hall, she lifts the Gauntlet to get the doors there to open. 

On the other side of these doors is a massive, cavernous room, filled with pillers, with a huge artificial lake in the center of it. Paths, or perhaps barriers, crisscross it every 10 meters or so, a pillar rising wherever the pathways cross, and incthe center of the lake is a spire, rising up to meet the ceiling, with another open archway allowing entry to it. The path before the lift is one of the four largest ones, in the middle of this side of the lake. At the end of the other three large paths is another large door, likely leading to more lifts. 

As she leads him down the path, she asks him, "What kind of place do you think would be best? For you to do your magic?" She bites her lip, then lets go of it, reminded of Lady Helen's constant exasperation about the habit. "I could show you one of the training rooms, or there's parks?" She trails off. 

"Is there somewhere my magic's least likely to touch other magic? If not, the training rooms are fine."

She frowns, thinking about that. Her magic - or her Artefact's - is pretty much everywhere in the city, in the veins beneath the ground and in the walls. There's lots in the training rooms, to let her keep an eye on the people practicing with their magic and heal them if necessary. There's spots in the parks that don't have a lot, though. She sends a questioning thread to the Gauntlet, which obliges by offering her all the bits of the city it can't get a good sense of. 

Noting them, she turns her attention back to the stranger, "The Healer says there's a few places like that. The biggest ones are in the central park and at the Guardian's disc, but those are both a bit far away; we'd have to take the railcars." She shrugs, "There's a few smaller ones in the palace training hall," she offers, "Just a few meters where the veins were damaged at some point." 

They reach the spire as she says this, she's surprised to notice. It must have taken her a few minutes to find all those dead spots. 

The door closes behind them as they enter the spire, and the directs another thread at another disc in the room there, presumably another lift. 

As it begins to rise (not that he can tell), the Gauntlet nudges her, pointedly, reminding her of something she's forgotten. 

"Oh!" She says, flushing, "I'm sorry, I didn't even-" she huffs, clears her throat, "I'm Erin," she tells him, "Erin Noak, wielder of the Gauntlet of the Healer and Lady of the Healer's Sanctuary," she corrects herself. She should probably be at least somewhat formal if he's actually a visitor from another world.

"My pleasure to meet you, Erin Noak, and my apologies for my lapse in manners. I'm Sugira, rookie detective in Azad City, on the independent planet Buru."

"Sugira," she repeats to herself, carefully trying to pronounce it precisely the same way as he did. Then she smiles at him, "It's good to meet you, too," she tells him, then pauses, "Well," she amends, "It's not nice that you were somewhere no one else is supposed to be able to get to, but other than that..." she trails off. 

The doors open, revealing another room in the same theme as the last few - stone surfaces, waterways, mosaic on the floor, door at the end. The only exceptions being that one, there are no lights on, and two, this room has windows. They're almost floor to ceiling, revealing the plaza surrounding the building and the night sky above. The stars are a little faded due to the lights of the city, but most of them are still visible. 

He nods, and re-activates his detect magic.

The city continues to be Extremely Magic. 

There's the same things he noticed before: the Gauntlet still radiates magic, though it ripples across the glass to collect in the walls, quite unlike light; veins of water and increasingly more life magic run through the walls, floor, ceiling, and the water troughs. 

What's new is what he can see outside the windows. The lights are magic, much like the ones down below, and veins continue to run through the streets as far as his spell allows him to sense, but the real interesting thing is up above. A powerful protective dome covers every bit of the sky which he can see. It swirls with multiple kinds of magic, primarily water and life, but with significant amounts which could be identified as fire, air, earth, illusion, space and time. 

Through the front windows he can see a sprawling building across the plaza from the one they're in. It glows with magic, and another, smaller dome of the same type as the one above surrounds it. 

After setting the doors to opening, Erin turns back to Sugira, "So?" She asks, "Is the training hall alright? That's the palace just there, the hall's not too far from the side entrance I like to use this late."

It is in fact pretty late. Probably she should be in bed by now, but what's the point of being ruler of a city if you can't set your own bedtime? 

"Here's good."

He considers, mentally pages through his spells for a suitable test...

Dimension Door tends not to fail too spectacularly. 

He speaks a few seconds' worth of a twisting, incomprehensible chant, and teleports across the room.

Her eyes widen. That's... something that could be done with the magic she knows. A powerful enough mage with a strong space affinity, the kind that's born once or twice a generation, could do it, or a mage with a close bond with a space-aligned Complex Artefact, or a powerful enough Simple one. But... she pokes her Gauntlet. It sends her a negative; he doesn't have an Artefact, and it didn't sense any mana coming from him.

Alright. 

"I... Guess I believe you, then," she says. She frowns, "You said it was an accident. Can you get back?" 

" - I'd assume so." He goes quiet. "I'm... Not sure."

"Do you want to go back? Do you want to try outside of the city, Sanctuary is one of the most magical places in the world, outside is probably better if you're worried about that."

"I do want to return home. But it might not be safe for me from my end; another mishap could strand me somewhere less friendly. It's likely people are already searching for me, though."

She nods, "That's good, though I hope they don't show up in the ring room like you did, it takes a while to get down there, and I wouldn't want them to bother the Rod."

She leads him out into the plaza, closing the doors behind them, pushing her hands up into her long, wide sleeves to protect then from the cool night air.

"I can find you someplace to stay," she offers. "In the palace, or the refugee district. Or you could go to Cialin, it's not as safe there but it might be easier to do your magic."

"Here's fine. And I might be able to help. You're in charge of things?"

She nods, the stops, then shrugs and makes a little up-and-down wave, "Sort of, yes. I'm the wielder and avatar of the Healer, and the Gauntlet," she waves with it, "Let's me control everything in the city. Or, I will be able to, I've only had it for a year or so, I'm nowhere near as close to it as Lady Helen was." She drops her hands, shaking her head, "But really it's the council who's in charge. I have a lot of training, but Lady Helen decided they'd be in charge of most of the actual ruling until I'm older." 

This was a good idea, Erin thinks, but she's sort of wishing she hadn't, now. Some of them are alright at their jobs, but some of them are less than  stellar. She suspects Councillor Gavre has been pressuring new immigrants to move into smaller housing, and Hoburn and Lethburn have been using their power over the guards and the merchants respectively to increase their standing in the city. 

She's not sure what to do about this - she's talked to them all about it, but they keep assuring her that their actions will be good for the Sanctuary, and telling her to focus on her studies. 

...She doesn't have a ring and says she'll be in charge when she's older, she's probably actually thirteen. Why is a thirteen year old even sort of in charge of a city. "That's a lot of power," he says, while he searches for something else to say.

She shrugs, "I guess it is," she says, "Most wielders don't have as much power as I do," she assures him, "It's just that the Gauntlet needs a wielder, or else the city starts shutting down, and then the Empire would find us."

 Her opinions on this matter are not quite the same as most residents of the city. At least one faction firmly believes she should be in charge of the govering, too, no matter how old she is, just by virtue of her bond with the Healer. If they had their way Cialin would be ruled by the Guardian, too, even though his city is in ruins. Their alliance with the only other free realm on the continents is sometimes a bit tense. 

"What's the Empire like?"

The only proper empire he's familiar with is the benevolent and sometimes annoyingly paternalistic great Empire, though history books contain mentions of less utopic ones. And they tend to ignore anyone not interested in joining.

Tiring of idling in front of the vault, Erin gestures for him to follow her as she heads down the stairs towards the right side of the palace. As she walks, she answers him, "The Arming Empire, is its full name," she clarifies, "They want to conquer the world. They've almost done it - only the Sanctuary, Cialin, and parts of the Island Alliance are still free. Most of the refugees we get are from the Islands and Cialin, though... sometimes we get a few wielders or mages from the Empire, running from the army or the recruiters." 

 It's late, but the city is more than large enough that a number of people are still out, walking through the plaza on their way to or from the palace. A wooden stand selling hot drinks is still open in the small market there, while shutters cover the openings in all the others. In the day time workers in the palace, off-duty guards, and servants and nobles alike from all the nearby households come here to eat, but at night it looks like something out of a ghost story. 

Those people they pass acknowledge Erin with a short but respectful bow, hand pressed over their heart. Erin nods in return, smiling pleasantly, before continuing on. His detect magic spell should reveal that every person they pass has a core of magic, most of them identifiable as neutral-shading Water and Life, and much smaller than Erin's, which he might just barely be able to make out past the glow of the Gauntlet. A few of them have larger cores, many of them tinted towards other magics than those most prevalent around the city. One particularly ancient looking woman has a small core which shifts with every colour of the rainbow, Water and Space and every other magic he has encoutered here so far, as well as a number he has not. Several people carry objects which shine like small stars, some pulsing with life like the Rod in the ring room, and some glowing steadily. 

They pass by an elaborate fountain, one of many in the plaza, the water shooting up in straight, continuous streams, the veins of magic beneath them running in a winding loop, the magic entering and exiting from the same two large veins. Erin sticks her hand into one of the streams as she passes, smiling at the fond look one of her people gives her as he walks by. 

 They reach one of the openings onto the plaza, where a set of wide stairs leads down to a canal. A dozen small, shallow boats are tied up at the jetty there, one just pulling away with a trio of passangers. They have oars, settled in the bottom of the boats, but they appear to be using magic to move them instead, one member of the trio pressing a thread of magic into a disc at the prow. 

To the right of the canal is a staircase leading down, to the railcars. To the left is a path leading around the palace, an eleborate railing to prevent falls bracketing it. It's the last Erin heads towards, beginning to speak again now that they've escaped most of the late-night traffic. 

"Most of the mages from the Empire say it's not so bad, living there. People from the west sometimes talk about how the Imperial schools took away their culture; that back when they'd just been conquered the Empire would take the children away and return them speaking Imperial. They've been doing it in the Islands, too, I think, only they haven't been there long enough to have returned any of them yet." 

It's weirdly quiet here, though not really in a police state way. Just... No nightlife.

"That's horrible. Taking children away, stealing culture... It'd be considered a crime, where I come from." He shakes his head. "We also don't really have wars. Sometimes a cult will start a new planet and start doing horrid things, and get stopped on sapient rights grounds - though unless children are involved people usually just ensure freedom of movement and leave them be - and sometimes two frontier nations will get into a spat, but..."

"No wars..." Erin sighs, "That would be nice. Maybe I could leave, then, if I didn't have to maintain the shield I wouldn't have to be here all the time." 

The guards salute her as she leads him into a side gate, eyeing him as he passes but nothing else. They palace dome ripples as they pass through it, accepting them into its protective embrace. This side gate leads right into the palace water gardens, beds of flowers and long grasses interspersed by wide, natural looking ponds, filled with water flora. Small, decorative fish can be glimpsed, glinting in the cool green light atop poles littered throughout the garden. 

"The Empire's been at war with the rest of the world since they formed; they ate up all the other countries on Tor, the east continent, first, and then expanded onto Cian. Cialin has been holding out against them for over two hundred years, but they're losing territory now." She gestured up at the sky, "The shield keeps the city hidden," she says, "But if Cialin falls we won't be able to feed our people, so..." 

"I might be able to do something? My magic's versatile, and theoretically powerful."

She shrugs, "Maybe," she agrees. "The Empire has a lot of mages and wielders. The Emperor himself has the Blade of the Emperor, one of the most powerful Simple Artefacts. I don't know much about your magic, so I don't know how much of a difference you'd make."

They pass another set of guards as they enter the building, finding themselves in a small hall. At the end of the hall there's a door, and the hall continues down to the right. She ignores the door and leads him down the other hall, before heading up a flight of stairs at the end of this one. Back down this hallway, through the door above the one they'd passed downstairs (which slides into the wall as she approaches), and they enter the main hallways of the palace. 

"We're only holding out because we have better mages and wielders," she tells him, "The city had a lot of powerful Artefacts in it when it was found, and our academy turns out some of the best mages in the world. Our magic users fight with the Cialin army, and their mages come here to learn - that's some of the biggest things we trade them in return for food."

"I could list the type of things I can do - the teleport I showed is fourth level, two ranks below my most powerful magic, but power progression between ranks isn't really even. First level spells are basic, through sixth level spells, which are the height of what everyone except a single person can do."

She nods seriously, "That would be good," she agrees, "And you don't know if your magic might mix badly with ours, right? I should introduce you to the teachers at the academy."

At the end of this hall, she turns left. She stops outside another door, this one with an exasperated looking guard standing before it. 

"Lady Erin," he sighs out. 

She grins at him, "Hi Walon," she says, cheerful, "This is Sugira," she pronounces it carefully, "I met him out on the city," technically true, "He has some unusual magic that I believe could be a great help to our ally's efforts." She turn back to Sugira, gesturing at the other man, "This is Walon Carver, the head of my personal guard." The idea is just as silly to her now as it was when they were first introduced. What does she need a guard for?

The beleaguered guard looks over at Sugira and nods, "Evening, sir," he says. 

"Good evening," he says.

Erin frowns, looking around, and then pokes the Gauntlet. She frowns harder at what it tells her, "I thought it was Lucan's shift tonight?" She asks Walon. 

He shrugs, "Councillor Lethburn told him to change shifts, my lady," he tells her, "They're having some kind of event at the estate tonight." 

Erin crosses her arms, frustrated, "Of course. Hoburn must have known, he probably assigned Lucan tonight on purpose." 

Walon hums, "I couldn't say, my lady," he states. 

She sighs. After a moment, she looks up at Sugira, "It's pretty late," she notes, "I was going to go to bed. I can get one of the servants to lead you to a guest room, if you want." She pauses, "Unless it's too early for you to sleep?" She knows it's a little after noon in Cialist, "There's always the library if you're too awake." 

"It is somewhat early, yes. The library works."

Despite the late hour, there's always servants at work in the palace. Erin touches a thread of magic to the metal strip which runs through the middle of the walls. 

"Someone should be here any moment," She assures Sugira. She yawns, quickly covering her mouth, "Excuse me," she says, "I'll have someone direct me to you when I wake up." She smiles, "Good night!" 

Assuming no one needs anything else from her, she enters her rooms and leaves them there. 

 As Erin had assured him, a young woman in a simple, pale blue robe hurries up to them from the direction of the door they'd used earlier. She bows shallowly, "How may I help?" She asks, glancing from Walon to Sugira. 

"I would like to go to the library, please."

The servant gives him a pleasant smile, "Of course, sir, just this way." 

She turns to lead him down the hall, sticking to the main hallways, unlike Erin. Unlike the vault, the hallways here have no water troughs in the floor. They do, however, have small fountains here and there, the water features creating a relaxing atmosphere of trickling water and leaving the air pleasantly humid. Oddly, the blue and gold carpet running down the hall is bone dry. Well-tended plants in neat blue planters sit in the corners of the hall, leaving the halll smelling of fresh, green things, and the lights above are low, allowing the light of the stars and streetlamps in through the window at the end of the hall. 

The door they come to slides open to allow them to pass at a touch of the servant's own magic. On the other side is a wide stairwell. Above, the stairs continue to a third floor, but she leads him down to the ground floor instead. 

There they enter another door on the other side of the stairwell and continue down a hall much like the one they'd come from, if larger and without the carpet. After a bit of walking they come to a large set of doors, which swing inwards when the young woman touches one. 

She gestures him inside, "The library doors open at a touch," she assures him, "You don't need to have your mana registered to leave." She is unaware of the fact thay he lacks their kind of magic, but as he isn't keyed into the palace's system he wouldn't be able to enter any of the doors which require it anyway. 

"I expect Master Kelka, the librarian, is still insdie. He'll be happy to help you if you need anything," she says, giving him another bland smile and a bow.

As she leaves, he can make out a scratching sound from inside. A dry cough announces the presence of what is likely the librarian in question. 

He'll enter, then, looking around.

It's a large, fancy library. One might call it palatial, even. 

It's probably about the same size as the ring room, with shelves of some dark red-brown wood covering every wall, as well as standing in ten wide rows starting about fifteen meters in. The books are neatly organized, metal plaques announcing their contents adorning the end of each row of shelves in large, easily readable font. Gentle gold light falls between the shelves to allow readers to peruse the titles, and sturdy wooden footstools can be found here and there to give easy access to the higher shelves. 

Between the door and the shelves are a trio of tables made of the same wood, a varying number of chairs tucked in around them, and a scattering of plush brown and gold armchairs. 

This room, with its soft gold walls, red-brown wood, and deep red carpeting, seems quite at odds with the parts of the city he's seen so far. 

Seated at one of the tables is an old man, his head bent over a finely bound book, a stack of large tomes settled beside it. An intricate lamp holding a golden globe of fire, one of several in this part of the room, offers illumination for his writing. He seems quite engrossed in his work.

He'll leave the man to his work for now. He knows how libraries work.

First: recent histories, and primers on magic.

On the plaque second to the left is written 'History, S.E.-A.M.C.', while the one to the right of it insists its contents are 'History, A.M.-S.E.'. The books on magic can be found in the two shelves to the right of these - 'Mana Studies', those shelves' helpful labels inform him. 

The man hums as he walks by, tugging down the third tome in his stack and flipping it open without looking. He glances over at it and taps thoughtfully at a passage, then rushes to jot down another line in his book. His quill is long and fluffy, it's bright green plumage waving and bouncing in the air above his head with every stroke. 

He starts with Mana Studies, then. He'll wait for the history until he's found someone less distracted to ask about the dating system.

The organization system in the Mana Studies aisle seems easy enough to deal with, at least. Just above eye height for him on each shelf is a small metal plate describing the contents of the shelf. On the left side, the first one says 'Time', the next three say 'Fire', and so on. The 'Time' shelf holds a sparser collection than most of the shelves, only the four shelves around head-height being full. 

Arranged at the begininng of the right shelf is a collection of books whose titles all begin with the words, 'Mana: the Elementary Principles', with variously coloured covers. The first is white; this one's title continues with, 'for the Novice Mage'. The rest, in all colours of the rainbow, declare themselves to be primers for the various types he has seen in the city so far, beginning again with the dark red Time book on the left. The plate on this shelf reads 'Compendiums', as do the two he can make out to the left. More books of that type litter the first three shelves, while further there seems to be more large tomes like the ones the librarian is using. 

He'll pick up 'For the Novice Mage', and if it doesn't seem so thick it'll take him multiple hours, he'll also grab the Time and Space books. Those seem most likely to mess with his own magic in dangerous ways.

They're fairly thick, but if he pages through to the table of contents in one if them he'll find that the first two sections are an overview and introduction to their respective magics, and those aren't terribly long. 

If he checks the introductions they quickly recommend he read 'For the Novice Mage' first, though, so perhaps he should start there. 

'Novice Mage' is about 300 pages long; the book begins with a page detailing its contents: 

1. Introduction to Magic

2. Meditation: Finding your Mana Pool

3. Affinity: Determining your First Affinity

4. Beginner Spellcasting

5. Minor Magics

6. Further Reading

7. Glossary

He'll start with 'Introduction to Magic', skip to 'Minor Magics', 'Further Reading', and 'Glossary.' He's not interested in how-to for now.

The introduction begins by recommending any potential mage read the book in order, as each chapter describes the successive, necessary steps to begin spellcasting. It also recommends the reader seek out an experienced mage to supervise their attempts, in order to prevent any unfortunate accidents. Sugira isn't planning to attempt any of the magic described, however, so he can safely ignore this advice. 

Next the book describes what it calls the eight 'primary colours' of magic: Deep Red, for Time; Red, for Fire; Orange, for Air; Gold, for Life; Green, for Earth; Blue, for Water; Indigo, for Illusion; Violet, for Space. It gives examples of each, including one each of first, second, and third-tier spells, and explains that the 'Beginner Spellcasting' chapter contains two simple spells from each category. 

The reader is reminded that it is unwise to practise anything beyond minor magics without examining one's own core, as mana exhaustion can come on unexpectedly, and is extremely dangerous. 

Next, the author writes that those minor magics, simple applications of mana to do such things as induce growth in plants and heat water for hot drinks, are in fact useful exercises in controlling and refining one's magic, and suggests that any prospective mage make an effort to preform them as much as possible - no matter what certain elitist types might say. 

Last, there is a 'Note for Artefact wielders', recommending that they not attempt any spells with their Artefact's assiatance until they have a good grasp of both their own mana pool and the Artefact's.

The Minor Magics chapter itself offers a number of suggested applications to strengthen the reader's control and affinity to the various types of magic. It also warns against investing too much of one's mana pool into any one type of magic, as this limits how much magic of other types one may preform. 

'Further Reading' contains several more spells of each type, along with a number of simple combination spells. Each spell description includes suggested incantations, an estimate of how much mana, and of what types (if applicable), is necessary, in a unit described as 'pins', where to direct the mana, and useful (if sometimes unusual) applications for each spell. For example:

Earth Wall - Calls forth an earthen wall from any surface made of loose earth. Common incantations are mostly variations on the word 'Wall' in one's preferred language. This spell requires seven pins of earth mana, and is therefore among the most expensive first-tier spells. It can be used to build defensive formations, platforms, temporary shelter, and allow access to places out of reach. 

 The Glossary consists of a list detailing the definitions of various terms used throughout the book. 

Sounds like their magic system's pretty flexible.

He'll turn to the one on Space.

'Mana: the Elementary Principles: Space' is quite a bit thinner than 'Novice Mage' but still thicker than 'Time'. Unlike the former, it does not appear to be a step-by-step how-to, though it does go over the basic method of casting in the introduction. Most of what it contains is more spells, from the first-tier 'move this object, at speed', to second-tier gravity manipulation, to third-tier teleportation. It also contains a warning against attempting those higher-tier manipulations without the framework of a spell, as such attempts often go wildly wrong, resulting in sometimes massive explosions, in the case of gravity manipulation, and body parts strewn across the continent, in the case of teleportation. 

Sounds like spell development. Learning his homeworld's spells usually isn't that risky, though.

What about Time?

'Time' is much the same, in terms of format, but it contains far less spells, and nothing beyond second-tier. First-tier spells are mostly meant to determine the time or to briefly slow or quicken a person or object. Second-tier spells include longer-lasting versions of the latter, spells which cause their target to reverse their recent actions, including mild de-aging and un-wounding, as well as past-oriented divinitory spells.

One might conclude that third-tier time spells may allow one to look forward, reverse aging, or even to move in time. The book describes none of them, however. 

The book also cautions against free manipulation of its magic type, though the results it references are more along the lines of mysterious disappearances, infinite loops, and reversions to infancy. 

Different focuses than the time magic he's used to, then - highly limited precognition can be obtained fairly early, and postcognition's in some ways often harder, or at least more niche. 

And he'll avoid any very powerful time magics.

He stands up, stretches, and glances around for the librarian.

The librarian is tilted so far forward into his current tome that he looks to be attempting to merge with it. As Sugira stands, the man snorts and turns his head in his direction, though his eyes remain on the page. He coughs, "Sara," he calls, "Get me 'Permanence', by Dauntless. Cursed elitists have no idea what they're talking about," the last part is grumbled into his beard. 

"I'm not Sara," he says.

The man starts, raising his head from the book to squint at him. After a moment he clears his throat, "That does seem to be so," he agrees. He scrutinises Sugira for a long moment, and then turns towards the shelves, "Where is that girl?" He mutters, then, quite against the spirit of librarianism, calls, "Sara!" Into the still air of the library.

Listening closely, one might be able to hear the sound of something hard hitting wood in the back. Seconds later a young, feminine voice shouts, "Coming!" 

"Don't shout in the library," Kelka shouts in return. Then he turns back to Sugira. "How can I help you, young one?" He asks mildly. 

"What do I do with books I've read?"

He hums, eying their vividly coloured covers, "Elementary Principles, hm?" He says, "A good choice." He glances back towards the shelves, "Not to worry, not to worry; my assistant will reshelve them for you." 

He nods. "Are there similar series, or things on interactions between magic types?"

A young woman creeps out from between two of the rightmost shelves, a large tome clutched in her arms. She blinks curiously at the sight of another person in the library this late. 

"Magic types?" The old man repeats, "Well, there's plenty of books on the interaction between the eight colours, if that's what you mean by 'types'?" 

 "Did you need something, Master Kelka?" The girl asks. 

"Ah, Sara, yes. Where were you, child? Well, nevermind, I need a copy of 'Permanence', by Dauntless."

Sara blinks, nods, and disappears into the stacks. 

Kelka turns back to Sugira, "As for series such as that one there, you won't find any so simple yet so useful, if I might flatter myself, but there are any number of compendiums of imprinted spells to be found in the Compendiums section."

"I'll stick to this series for now, then. And which books on color interaction are good?"

The librarian hums, tapping the table in front of him in thought. After a moment, he heaves himself to his feet and makes his way towards the 'Mana Studies' shelves. He stops at the third bookcase in and runs his finger over the spines of the books there before tugging one out.  

"Here we are," He says, "'Compound Spells, First Tier' is a good choice for beginners." He moves two more shelves down and pulls down another, "And this is 'Mana Interactions', which covers both natural and guided interactions." 

"Master Kelka?" Sara calls.

He passes the books into Sugira's arms and strides back to the front. "Ah, thank you," he tells her, "And what were you reading about?" 

"Ancient Machinery, and how it works, sir." 

"A fascinating topic! And it ties into my current project, come, let us have a look at 'Permanence'; no Machinery could be built without an understanding of the topic, after all." 

He takes the books, thanks the man, and settles in to read 'Mana Interactions.'

'Mana Interactions' is not so organised as the series Sugira has been reading, but it does cover the promised topics. 

According to the book, there is mana permeating everything in this world in amounts so small as to be imperceptible. The landscape contains mana which is related to it - such as lakes having high concentrations of Water Mana, or forests breathing Life and Earth. It also states that high in the air the mana of that type thickens dramatically, and that the stars, sun, and moon are effects of the high concentration of Illusion Mana which pre-Seal resources suggest is there. 

The book discusses the Mana Veins, thick rivers of unaligned or coloured mana which course through the earth, the outer layer sometimes coming close enough to the surface to create Mana Wellsprings, such as the one Sanctuary is situated on, or breaching it to continue into the air, as the two wellsprings at the ulimate north and south of the world are said to. 

When veins of mana surface, the site of the wellsprig often becomes affected by that interaction. In the same way that a forest will breathe out Life and Earth, a cross of these types will create a great forest of its own. An example of this exists in Cialin, in the form of the Tuvek Forest, which stretches across an eighth of the country and consists of trees so wide and tall that man settlements are built inside them and in the canopy, rather than on the ground. 

A less common but more dangerous category of this is the illusion and water wellspring in south Cian. The site is a misty bogland filled with illusionary figures which tempt onlookers after them and to their doom.

The book states that most wellsprings are covered by pre-Seal structures, which harness the mana there the same way Sanctuary does. 

It only briefly switches to the topic of guided interactions, stating that much like the natural world contains mixes of different colours of mana, a mage may make use of interactions as well. A mixture of Life and Earth mana to convince a seed to grow, a blend of Illusion and Fire to create a light which does not burn, and many more. 

Hm.... Sounds like if it interacts with his magic system at all, it'll interact strangely - he'll need to test out how elemental cantrips, and cantrips from different fields, interact with their spells.

Sounds like it. 

By the time he finishes the latest book, Kelka has been reabsorbed by his work. His assistant is working with a little set of stone and metal tiles, carefully carving into one of the metal ones with a stylus of the same material, which is covered in little carvings of its own which glow a cheery red-orange.

After a moment she lifts the stylus and sets it down, the glow fading as she does so. She looks up from her work and notices that he's finised the book.

 "Need anything?" She asks, her voice quiet in deference to the Master's focus. 

Just as quietly: "I'm trying to figure out how a different magic system might interact."

"A... different magic system?" She repeats, uncertain, "I'm not sure. I suppose it depends on what kind of magic this other system would be?" 

Well, he'll explain wizardry as best he can. It draws on arcane energies, the source of which are unknown, and channels them through the caster. You have to memorize specific sequences to shape the channeled energy into specific effects, and channeling burns the memorized sequences out of your mind.

Sara takes it in with interest, "That sounds fascinating," she says. "Maybe more limiting?" She speculates, unsure, "But if you can only cast with patterns, I guess there wouldn't be unstructured mana accidents." 

She pauses, fiddling with one of her tiles, "Could you make permanent effects with it?" She asks, holding up the one in her hand; it's one of the ones made out of the strange black metal, a symbol carved into it - ℑ.

"We can have accidents if we use the wrong pattern, but if you follow instructions and aren't in spell-development that's rare. There's a permanency spell, that's difficult to learn to do, and methods for enchanting objects, that's a bit easier."

"Permanence and enchantment mean then same thing, for us. If you want a permanent effect you have to enchant an object to hold it. But, you wanted to know about how they might interact, right? I don't think there's any information on the topic - if there's any other kind of magic, it's not in these books, at least. Would it be safe to experiment a little? If I held a benign enough spell, maybe water ball or something similar, and you cast something on it?"

"Experimenting should be safe."

She grins, reaches out a hand, palm upright - and then pauses, "Um. Maybe not here, though. In case of explosions, or anything along those lines. The training rooms aren't far away?" She pulls out a small drawstring bag which she sweeps the tiles into, and then pockets it and the stylus she was using earlier. 

"Somewhere more amenable to explosions does seem good. Training rooms work."

She stands, glancing over at Kelka, who is dozing into his notes - he'll be in for a rough morning, but there's no getting him up when he's asleep, so she just tugs one of the cushions off a chair and swaps it for the book, closing it on a ribbon to mark his place. She leaves the books Sugira was reading in a neat pile on the table, so she'll notice them first thing when she gets back, and then leads him out of the library. 

She quickly heads into the servants' halls, and then out into the water gardens again. The indoor training rooms have their own building at the south end of the palace, the outdoor fields stretching out beyond that before hitting the back wall. She goes in through a side door, tapping the access disc with a thread of mana to open it for them. Peering into a few rooms, she skips three occupied ones before pushing open the door to a fourth and heading inside. 

The room is 30x30 - all the ones in this side of the hall are. There a long bench along the wall with the door, and mirrors on the two side walls, and the far wall comes out to form a counter. 

"Most people practice Earth magic outside, or in the courtyard, but these rooms work for everything else," she comments. "Anyway, I can hold a water ball for a while. Just let me know when you're ready!"

He mentally flips through his spells. "Ready."

She reaches her palm out again, and draws up a thread of water magic. Pulling it up through her palm, she recites her incantation - just 'water ball' - and it settles in her palm as a lightly glowing sphere of water, rotating gently. 

"This one is pretty safe to do just free-casting, it's pretty hard to mess it up in a dangerous way," she mentions, "Making it a spell just takes less focus." She nods to him, "Go ahead."

He chants and gestures. The water cools down and turns bright pink. (This is a cantrip, so it's good for little tests.)

Sara blinks down at it, "Huh. That's what it was supposed to do?" She glances up to confirm, "It's a little colder, along with the pink." 

"Yes. Spell called prestidigitation. It has minor magical effects, on up to a cubic foot of material."

"Huh. I'd classify that as an illusion spell, if it was our magic. I can tell it wasn't, though - I'm still connected to this, I would've noticed anyone else's mana. That's low tier, I'm guessing? I guess it doesn't explode on contact then." She unpicks the water ball, the liquid pooling pinkly in her palm and dripping onto the floor, where it sinks into the stone to the water veins below. She eyes it for a moment, then looks back up at him, "Another?" she asks, already drawing another thread up, "I can put it somewhere other than my hand, if you want to try something that might hurt me if I'm touching it."

"It's transmutation, not illusion, though it'll revert after an hour. That was the lowest tier. Higher level things might do damage to you, and the highest level I can cast would be hard to restrict just to that. But I have a spell that could turn it to acid prepared; anything else would require waiting until tomorrow."

"And that will be a transmutation too?" She guesses, "Alright." She reaches out and casts another sphere into the air about ten feet away from them, "Whenever you're ready."

And he turns it to acid.

Now she's holding a ball of acid in her magical grip. She doesn't know what this tells him, but it reminds her that the water ball spell can hold most liquids, though usually the farther you get from pure water the larger the thread it takes. She glances over at him, "What does this tell you?" She asks, "It tells me that I can cheat at controlling acid if you cast that spell on water I'm already controlling," she adds, "Which could be useful in a fight." 

She reaches out with another thread, hooking into the ongoing spell, and spreads the sphere out into a disc; this is technically free-casting, but she's good at minor water manipulation. Usually that would take more mana as well, but the costs are the same as if she were working with pure water. Interesting. 

"The water doesn't meaningfully count as something you're affecting. Can you try hovering a solid object somewhere, while I try to use a telekinesis spell on it? Lower-level telekinesis spells only work on unattended objects. It's unclear currently if your magic counts as 'attending' to an object."

"Hm," she says, "Alright." 

She leaves the acid hovering; better not drop it in here, she can take it outside and drop it one of the training fields later. 

Just about everyone has a pool of Space-tinted magic, just from everyday summoning and levitating. She draws a thread up and pulls a coin out of her coinpurse with it, lifting it to just above head height between the two of them, "This works?" She asks. 

He tries to push it around with mage hand; it doesn't go.

"The telekinesis didn't work."

"Alright, so if I'm still connected to the thread my spell is using, you can't affect it?" She pauses to wrap the thread around the coin, letting go of it with a quick, "Float." 

"Try now?" She suggests.

That works! He scooches it.

She grins, "There we go!" 

"I bet you can affect permanent effects, too. Is there anything you could do with our lamps? They're Illusion-Fire enchantments," she adds, "So people can see without catching their books on fire." There's the ones on the wall, or there's the ones in the library. The ones on the walls are fed by the city and might count as being controlled by the Healer, but the ones in the library, and the ones people carry around for personal use, are unattached but rechargeable. 

"Maybe. Is there one I can experiment on?"

"I can myself make permanent, heatless lights that are attached to specific objects. They consume some resources - specifically rubies, to channel the arcane energies - to make them safely, but I'm an experienced enough mage I can skip that somewhat. The permanency spell for other effects is a lot costlier. I haven't tried enchanting an already magical object before - it's usually difficult to impossible within our own magic system."

"But the different systems might mean your magic doesn't consider objects enchanted with our magic to be magical objects. Enchanting objects with our system involves carving them, so you can only do as much to an object as you can fit the runes for onto it. If we could double enchantments using the two different systems... Well, I don't know what we could make off hand, but it would certainly be something interesting!" 

She pulls out her own lamp and trots over to the lamps on the wall, touching them together to charge her lamp from the city's veins, "You can use this one," she tells him. It's shaped like cube with an empty sphere in the middle of it, leaving the center of each face open, a long handle extending from the top. Each face is covered with runes. After a few moments it lights up, the center glowing a soothing pale blue, and she sets it down on the counter under the wall lamp and steps back, "Here." 

He'll try to make it glow yellow, first.

It glows yellow! 

After a moment of this, it goes out. 

"I was using it all last night," she says, "It's out of mana. If you have the materials you need you could try enchanting it, though?" 

He shakes his head. "Even the most basic of enchantments takes eight hours of work, and a lot of material."

She nods, "Okay. Um. Do you want to try the wall lamp? To see if an Artefact being in control of it stops you from affecting it?" 

"Sure."

He'll try changing that one's color, too.

No go. 

"Guess that counts," she says. She looks around, fishing for other ideas, then shrugs, "Can you think of anything else to test?" 

"Do you have any enchanted objects that aren't glowing already? I have a short-term light spell."

She goes through her pouches briefly, before lighting up when she touches the bag with the tiles in it, "Oh, I have my stylus with me," she remembers, pulling out the tool she was using earlier to etch runes. She sets it on the counter, "Will this work?" She asks. 

"Just fine."

And he casts a light cantrip on it. It should start glowing like a torch.

It does!

She grins, delighted, and starts to talk, but has to pause to yawn. "Alright," she says once she can speak again, "So you can definitely cast on enchanted objects and alter our spells so long as we aren't actively controlling them, but you can't affect anything we are controlling. I don't think there's much else we can do tonight, though, and I'm obviously about ready to sleep... Are you staying in the palace?" 

"I think so. I was told I could have a room, and to ask a servant about it."

"You can tap the wall rail with some mana to call someone- or, I guess you can't, actually. I'll call for you." She gathers up the stylus and lamp and heads out into the hall, reaching out a thread to bring the acid ball with her, leaving it hovering in the hall to tap the rail with another thread. 

It only takes a minute for someone to arrive; in the meantime, Sara trots over to the building's entrance and tosses the acid ball out into the nearest training field. 

The man who arrives is wearing the same outfit as the woman who had led Sugira to the library earlier. He bows shallowly to Sara, "You need something, Miss Sara?" He asks. 

She gestures at Sugira, "The Lady offered him rooms in the palace?" She offers. 

He turns to Sugira, "Yes, Elena informed the steward; you would like to rest, now, sir?"

"Yes. Thank you."

And to Sara: "Thank you for the experiments. How can I find you again?"

"I'm in the palace library most evenings, you could find me there? I attend the Academy every day except Timeday and Voidday, if you're going to visit you can find me between classes - I have two hours free at midday, I usually spend that in one of the workshops one the second floor of the library at the Academy." 

"Evenings in the library works. Thanks."

"You're welcome! I hope we can experiment some more!" And, with a wave, she heads off in the direction of the side door they'd come in through.

After she leaves, the servant gestures him to follow, "We prepared a room in the guest wing for you, sir," he says. 

He nods and follows.

The guest wing is in a different part of the palace than any he's seen so far. The servant leads him through the gardens, eventually passing out of the watergardens to a carefully tended artificial wood. Tall golden lamps shine on the path, shaded by branches passing below them. They pass a couple cuddled close on a bench in a clearing off the path, and a few people pass them, apparently on leisurely midnight walks. A light mist drifts over the ground, covering the springy moss and low ornamental bushes with droplets. 

 The main hallways of the guest wing are much like the wing Erin's room was in. They pass many of the small water features found all over the palace before Sugira's guide eventually halts in front of a door. 

"Your rooms, sir," he says, gesturing at it. This door opens without a mana key; the servant offers a physical key of black metal instead. 

"Thank you."

He takes the key and opens the door.

The servant bows, "If you would like a meal before you retire you need only ask," he says, "I will wait while you examine the rooms."

The room on the other side of the door is a sitting room/dining room mix. There's a set of pegs on the wall near the door for the hanging of cloaks, coats, bags, and other things, and beneath it is a small, short table with space for shoes underneath. 

Further inside the room is a brown loveseat and a comfortable dark blue chair arranged on a cream carpet in a conversation circle. An oval-shaped wooden coffee table sits between them, a set of three small woven mats settled in the center, and a matching pair of smaller tables bookend the couch. 

At the other end of the room a three-seat table sits before the windows, which look out on a clearing in the woods outside. There's a small pond, on the shore of which a large grey bird rests, preening its wings. 

A number of landscape paintings line the walls, and in the left wall is another door, closed, which presumably leads to the bedroom. 

He glances inside, finds it acceptable, and turns back to the servant. "I would like a meal, yes. Something simple, with no meat or other animal parts."

"Certainly, sir. I will return shortly." 

He bows, and heads back around the corridor, quickly moving out of sight. 

He goes to explore the bedroom.

It's a bedroom! Also a study. 

The walls are a subdued green. To the right is a desk and padded chair. The bookshelves standing on either side, bracketing the window, are currently empty. 

Across the room is a four poster bed, a thin, weighted cream curtain hanging from the canopy to keep out the light. A small table stands on either side, one with a lamp (though he may not be able to use it as intended), the other with an water-filled hourglass suspended in a frame, its base covered in dials. The water trickles down very slowly. 

Against the outside wall beside the bookshelves is a dresser, with a tall center closet for hanging robes. A mirror stands in the corner between dresser and bed. Another door, likely to the washroom, sits on the other side of the bed. 

Any way directly to the outside from either of these rooms?

Doesn't look like it; unless he wants to open up a window and climb through. He's on the second floor, so it wouldn't be particularly dangerous. 

He might do that sometime if he gets restless, then.

While he waits for food, he starts mentally reconstructing the path to the library in his head, as well as planning to request paper and writing supplies.

If he looks in the drawers in the desk he'll find some writing supplies - a thicker, more brittle paper than he might be used to, like thin, flexible bark, a set of blue, red, and black inkwells, and a trio of quills of varying nib thickness. 

Finding the library should just be a matter of going down to the ground floor of the southeast wing, walking down the central hall to the center wing, and then up that wing's center hall until he reaches the library, which was just off it. He could also trace the path to the training halls and then back to the main palace, if he's unsure. 

He looks in the drawers, and sets about making a few notes for a spell to make more spellbook-quality paper out of wood. That sounds unlikely to explode, and it's something he'll probably need sooner rather than later.

He only gets a few minutes in before there's a knock on the suite's door, preumably a servant bringing him food. 

He'll answer it.

It's a servant, as expected. She has a wheeled cart with her, carrying a covered tray, a jug of cool water, and a steaming kettle.

"Your meal, sir?" She says quietly, in deference to the hour, and wheeling it in and over to the table by the window. After moving the tray over, she lifts the lid, revealing a steaming bowl of stew, with some kind of crusty bread on the side, an empty glass, a tea cup, and a small teapot with a selection of herbal tisanes in labeled cloth bags. 

"The stew is mushroom and vegetable, and the teas are all of the night variety. The steward thought you might like some, given the hour." 

"Thank you."

"When you're done, just place everything back on the cart and roll it out into the corridor. Someone will come pick it up." 

That said, she leaves him be. 

He nods, and sets in to work on his notes while picking at his food. 

The next morning, there's a knock on his door. 

He's slept two different times, each for one to three hours, and has gotten a good bit of notes done.

He gets up - he's been awake two hours now - and goes to open the door.

It's a servant - another new one, in the same blue robes as the others. 

"Good morning, sir. Would you like breakfast? I can bring it to you, or direct you to one of the dining halls, if you would prefer."

"I'd like breakfast here, yes." He has the same dietary restrictions as the last night.

The servant notes them and vanishes down the corridor. 

Twenty minutes later the same one returns with another cart, with the same tray-jug-kettle set up as the last. Though there's two jugs, now - one looks like some kind of fruit juice, perhaps. 

The meal this time is an omelette filled with vegetables, mushrooms, and cheese. The fruit juice is sweet with a slight, tart bite, and the tray again comes with teapot, cup, and a selection of teas which the servant identifies as 'energizing'. 

After setting it out, she reminds him to leave the cart and tray in the corridor when he's finished, bows, and leaves. 

He thanks her as well, asks for non-caffeinated tea (which they seem to describe as 'nighttime'?), and mostly focuses on the omelette and juice. 

(Does she know if anyone's likely to need him today?)

She comes back shortly with the nighttime blends.

"Lady Erin requested she be informed when you woke; she would like to introduce you to the academy this morning, if you are amenable." 

"I'm amenable."

"Someone will let her know. I expect she will come find you late in the next hour." 

"I will be ready then."

And she leaves. 

About thirty minutes later, someone taps on the door. 

He sets his notes down and answers that as well.

It's Erin! And a guard - not Walon, someone else, perhaps that Lucan fellow. 

"Good morning!" She says, "Lucan's following me around today; don't mind him. I can take you to visit the Academy now!" 

Lucan offers a short nod. 

"Alright. Lead the way."

She leads him down the corridor, towards the central wing. Once they enter it they begin encountering many more people in the halls. Guards, messengers, servants, and citizens of varying status pass them, offering short half-bows to Erin if they catch her eye before continuing on their business. Erin offers nods in return but otherwise pays them no mind, busy speaking with Sugira.

"Did the rooms have everything you needed? And was the food alright? If there's anything you need I can try to get it to you, within reason." 

"Everything was fine. I might need raw materials at some point to make spell-quality paper out of, but I don't have a spell for that yet."

"What's the difference between our paper and spell quality paper?" 

"A lot of it's in the specific processes, but also generally finer grained, heavier, takes inks in a certain way. I don't know a lot of paper-specific terms, though."

"I don't know much about paper either, but I know there's different kinds? You might have to go to a shop that sells them to find out if we have some that works for you." 

They walk out the front doors this time, out into a wide stone courtyard. The sky is perfectly clear, the sunlight beating down on their heads, but the mist from the fountains leaves the air pleasantly cool. 

Erin directs them to a building to the right, in which several boats are docked. The canal outside is visible through the opening in the side of the boathouse, the doors pulled into the walls on either side to let the vehicles of various palace workers inside.

"You don't get sick from water travel, do you?"

"I'll look up a shop, then, and I'm fine with water travel."

She gets in a boat. It's one of the smaller ones meant for multiple people, about 15 feet long, with two rows of benches and standing room up front. There's a disc of that same black metal at the bow, and Erin threads some mana through her Gauntlet to touch it, setting the runes carved into the boat glowing faintly. 

"The Academy is about fifteen minutes away by boat," Erin says, waving Sugira aboard. Lucan has already climbed on, standing evenly balanced behind and to the right of Erin. 

He climbs on, hanging nearer to the back of the boat. "Alright."

And they're off. 

They're just past the morning rush, and there aren't a lot of people going from the palace rather than to it, so there's very little traffic to deal with. Erin's aware of every boat before they pass them, which makes her a good helmsman. 

Most of the city seems to be built of the same materials - pale stone in a variety of tones on a base of white or light blue, covered with metal-filled carvings. As they move further away from the palace the houses they pass go from large, single family villas to what must be apartments, judging by the variety of decorations on the balconies they can see. 

Eventually they enter another canal station, much busier than the palace one was, where people of all ages - though the majority of them are teens and young adults - disembark from public ferries and leave through the open gates to the plaza outside. There's guards at the gates and at various points throughout the building, keeping an eye on the milling populace. Past them they can see the Academy, another building just as enormous as the palace. 

Pulling in at one of the long-term docks, Erin leads Lucan and Sugira to the dockmaster in charge of this part of the station to fill out the short docking form. Then it's out the gates, slipping through the crowd, who mostly ignore her, and out into the plaza. 

 The Academy plaza is ringed by shops. There's a bookstore which has contracts with both the two largest publishing companies in Sanctuary and the largest one in Cialin, a shop which supplies students with paper, ink, quills, quillknives, and everything else in that vein, a restaraunt which sells on-the-go meals, and several other useful businesses. 

There's a permanent stand near the main entrance which sells drinks, much like the one in the palace plaza. Erin stops to get one, ordering a cup of hot (non-alcoholic) cider. It comes in a large, smooth wooden mug; there's a stack of dirty mugs on one of the stand's counters, which people add to as they pass by. 

"Would you like something?" Erin asks Sugira.

He makes a note of the route as they go, and when Erin addresses him, says, "Sure." He's fine with the same kind of non-alcoholic cider she got.

She gets one for him, counting out two silver coins by the feel of the runes carved into them.

The cider is sweet and tart, and lightly spiced. 

Taking the drinks with them, they follow the crowd into the atrium, and from there through to the courtyard on the other side of the building.

The courtyard is more of a park, really - students litter the grounds, studying and practising under the trees and eating breakfast by the pond, lightly menaced by the waterfowl who live there. A group near them is currently scattering away from an angrily chattering, large, mottled-green-and-brown, tree dwelling creature, both tree and dweller soaked and dripping water. Erin giggles as she passes but does nothing else; korniff are harmless, and they deserve it for drenching the poor thing. 

Once they reach the center of the park, she settles on a bench out of the way of the traffic and spreads an arm as though presenting their surroundings to him.

"This is the Academy! What do you want to see first? I can show you the library, or admissions can suggest some good lectures to observe, or I could introduce you to some of the scolars and professors here." 

"Observing lectures might be a good place to start. Can you show me the library first, so I can visit it before or between lectures?"

"Definitely! It's this way."

She hops off the bench snd starts toward the east side of the courtyard. 

Back inside the Academy's wrap-around building, the library is immediately visible. Just inside is a wide corridor that continues all the way around the courtyard, and beyond that the wall alternates between stone and glass. Through the windows the massive archive of knowledge can easily be seen. There must be over ten thousand books on the first floor alone, where more than half the space is taken up by study tables and lounge areas. 

"Do you want to go inside?" Erin asks, "We can move on to the admissions office first, you'll almost certainly have time to take a look at the library before a likely looking lecture comes up." 

"I'm fine not looking inside, though - who would I talk to to learn about library etiquette? Things like 'what do I do with books I've read' and 'can I check out books.'"

"You can ask the librarians! Though I can answer both of those questions - there's book carts near the entrance, you put books you're done with there so they can sort them and put them away later. As for taking books out, they record who took them out and then you have to bring them back in a certain amount of time. You need an Academy badge and slip for that, though. They'll give you one at admissions. You're not a student, and normally they'd make you do tests to mark you as a scholar, but I'll vouch for you as a 'foreign magic expert'." 

"Alright. Thanks."

"You're welcome!"

And they're off to the administration building. That is to say, back to the entrance, and into one of the large office-like spaces therein. 

There Erin voiches for him, as promised, and a man of roughly thirty years (assuming he's not bonded to an Artefact and just looks that way) sets Sugira up with a Scholars badge - actually more of a large metal pin, the backside covered in engraved runes and the front depicting a hand outstretched - and an identification slip, which states his name, status (student, teacher, scholar), area(s) of study, living arrangements, and an emergency contact. 

The admissions official also offers a list of classes which are open to observers that day. These include: 

- An Introduction to Artefact Handling

- History of the Sealed Age

- Novice Life Magic

- Permanency and Runecraft

and a special lecture on the Mana Crisis by a well-respected scholar.

The magical ones sound more useful to him than the history, but history is one of his fields...

Can he attend 'Permanency and Runecraft', 'An Introduction to Artefact Handling', and the Mana Crisis lecture all together?

Sure! Artefact Handling will be about three hours after noon, Permanency and Runecraft starts three hours from now, and the Mana Crisis lecture is set to start in thirty minutes. 

Erin will be attending some other classes shortly - she's a student at the Academy, attending classes here and there as suggested by her tutors, most of which involve higher level magic. Still, she can show him to where the Mana Crisis lecture is. 

Alright, thanks.

Who would he ask for directions to the other two?

She's not actually sure in this case. Usually you can ask the scholar or professor teaching, but from what she's heard about this one-

"Thom Morton is a visiting scholar," Lucan cuts in, "And is unlikely to be able to direct you to your other choices. I would recommend asking the other attendees - I can direct you to any good options if I recognise them."

"Oh! He's the one who studies the Mana Seal, and wanders the world investigating the Pre-Seal Ruins, isn't he?" 

"He is."

"What's the Mana Seal?"

"We don't know a great deal about it," Lucan tells him, "But it's well known that roughly 300 years ago a seal which had been keeping anything magical from affecting the world for 3000 years was broken through unknown means. Based on what immediately followed and what we have since been able to reconstruct from materials found in formerly sealed locations, humanity was being driven to annihilation by a disease which we call Mana Sickness. As a last attempt at surviving our ancestors sealed magic away, hoping that in time the sickness would die out, before eventually magic was unsealed once more. No one knows how the Seal was broken, but we can assume it was not meant to be this early - uncountable people died of it when the Unsealing occurred." 

"Do you know if it's possible for people not native to this world to develop Mana Sickness?"

"I wouldn't expect it," Lucan says, "It passes from parent to child. Even if it could somehow pass to you, no one lives long who has it - that is to say, they die as infants, those born to lines which carry it and inherit the disease. There is no one to pass it." 

"So it's more of a genetic sensitivity?"

"Yes," he says shortly, "The mana in the air chokes them, the mana in their mothers milk poisons them, their own mana pool kills them from the inside. It's... horrifying to watch, especially considering the victims are always so young. Most often they fail in the womb, but there are cases, where both mother and child have a small enough pool..." He trails off, clearly remembering something. 

They reach the classroom at this point; seizing on a chance to change the subject, he points out two of his former classmates - one a full time student, the other a professor at the Academy - as good people to ask for directions. Heun Korrus, the black-haired man, teaches Pre-Seal era history, while Teyla Carver is studying under a number of Academy professors to gain her mastery in Life Magic. 

And now Erin's class will be starting soon, so they have to rush off. 

"I hope you like the lecture!" 

"Thank you. Good luck with your own classes."

And to find a seat, preferably somewhere on the edge of an aisle or the room.

The room is shaped sort of like a small, square amphitheatre, with the lecturer's desk and podium in the central pit, a very large slab of slate covering the entire wall behind it, and the seats going up from the pit to the door. Most of the seats in the back and front are already taken, or are at least more crowded than he might prefer, but there's a few aisles in the middle where almost no one is sitting. The man Lucan pointed out, Heun, is sitting about halfway down the aisle of the middle-most row, and no one else is sitting there. 

Another man, this one really quite old looking, stands, head down, at the lecturer's podium, poking through some notes there. He looks a bit nervous. He's quite wizardly looking, otherwise - big pointy hat, long brown robes - he even has a staff, tucked into the crook of his elbow. 

He should probably introduce himself to Heun.

He walks up, and says, "Are you Professor Heun Korrus?"

The man looks up at his approach, "I am," he says, "Did you need something? I don't recognise you from my classes." 

"I'm a visiting scholar; Lucan pointed you out to me as someone who could direct me to my next class. I'd wanted to introduce myself, first - I'm Sugira."

"Lucan... Ah, Lucan Lethburn! We were in the same magic combat classes. Yes, I do know my way around, I'll be happy to help you find your other classes. What are you taking? What's your area of study? Or areas, I suppose." 

"I'm not taking anything yet; I'm trying to learn more about the magic system, right now, so I'm attending a few open lectures on that and related history, to try to get a feel. I'm from another universe, I think, or at least another planet - my magic system works differently, and I want to understand here better. Today I was also going to go to Permanency and Runecraft, as well as an Introduction to Artifact Handling." He names the times.

"A different universe?" His brows raise, then he glances at the scholar badge and shrugs, accepting. "Well, P and R is in the Enchanting department, in the magic studies section of the Academy. That's across the quad from the entrance, on the third floor. Artefact Handling is in the same section, but the Artefacts department is on the first floor, in one of the extensions..." he pulls a map out of one of his belt pouches and points out the two areas. "You should be able to find the right room from there - there's signs showing which way to go in front of the lifts and stairwell doors." 

"Thanks."

He nods, offers a quick smile, then turns to face the front - the lecture should be starting any moment now. 

Sugira sits nearby, also on the aisle. 

Indeed, the old man - presumably the visiting scholar Thom Morton - straightens up at the podium and clears his throat.

 "Ahem. Hello, welcome to, ah, this discussion - or, ah, lecture - on the Mana Crisis. If everyone could, please, quiet down?" 

He sweeps his gaze over the class as everyone settles down. After a moment of silence, aside from the shuffling of papers, he continues. 

"Right. Well, best start at the beginning," he mutters, "As I am sure most of you know, the Mana Crisis began when the Mana Seal was broken, at the end of the last age - which we now call, the Sealed Age, or Sealed Era. Well, I say it began then, but the disaster most associated with the Crisis - the Mana Sickness - did not begin appearing more than, ah, sporadically, until perhaps ten years after the Seal was broken. We will not be covering the Sickness right away, instead I will be taking this time to speak of the societal collapse caused by the sudden introduction of magic to a previously magicless world..." 

 The lecture is fairly informative. The man speaks more of the experiences of the common people during that tumultuous time than of the collapse of nations and such, in many cases sounding as though he experienced it himself. Despite pausing to peer down at his notes every so often, the lecture portion is well worded and engaging. 

Apparently most communities either banded tightly together or collapsed - in the face of witch hunts, in some cases, or forced recruiting, in many others. The first ten years after the Seal broke many nations fell to civil war, while many others warred with each other. Conscription of any who showed any sign of controlling their mana was common. It wasn't until roughly twenty years after the sickness had run its course that ancient compendiums began to be found in ruins all over the world, eventually leading to safe, structured high tier magic being used by more than just Complex Artefact users and those they taught. 

With fifteen minutes to spare before the end of the lecture period, he stops to answer questions. One boy - looks to be in his mid-teens - raises an arm to catch his attention. 

"You were alive during the Crisis, right? Do you have any idea how the Seal was broken?" 

He clears his throat nervously, "Ah, no, no one knows how it happened. It's, generally assumed, that the ancients left some way to break the Seal, but no one knows how it was done - no, not even I." 

He doesn't know enough to want to ask questions, here, but he is taking detailed notes.

A few more questions follow this, before the end of the timeslot. One student wants to know more about the Islands during the crisis, but Thom regretfully informs her that he didn't spend much time there before the second century. 

When time is called, Thom is mid-sentance, answering a question about the early mage armies.

"-lead by an Artefact Wielder who spread what their Artefact taught them..." At the sound of the bells, he trails off. Clearing his throat, he waves his unoccupied hand at the listeners, "I, ah... Suppose that is all the time we have. Thank you for attending, I hope my words prove useful to you!" 

Students and scholars begin standing and stretching, gathering their belongings and checking through their notes. Heun stands as well, turning to Sugira, "Well, that was fascinating. There aren't many people left from that far back, and the times were so chaotic that not much survived. Hearing about the Crisis from someone who experienced it is a rare treat." 

A few of people head to the front to talk to the lecturer. Heun frowns as one of them passes, a man in his mid-thirties. When he reaches the pit, Morton looks no happier to see him than Heun did to watch him pass. Bits of their conversation can be heard over the babble of every other conversation happening in the room, thanks to the acoustics. 

"-old, Master Morton, surely it's time... claimed by anyone who finds it after... powerful Artefact deserves..." 

"Excuse me," Heun says, "I should go interrupt that. Can you find your way off the directions I gave you? If not, you're welcome to wait, or join me in the pit." 

"I might join you."

He nods agreeably, and begins making his way through the seats to the aisle, and from there to the pit. 

As they get closer, the subject of the conversation becomes clearer. 

"-Surely the Artefact department would be a good place to keep it until a proper wielder can be found?" 

Heun interrupts Morton's nervous stammering when they arrive, "This again, Mien? Your demand goes against the Artefact Inheritance law, and you know it. Give it a rest." 

'Mien' turns to give Heun a condescending look, "As you well know, I am demanding nothing, only suggesting that an Artefact of such unprecidented power and utility as the Staff of the Magus should, pehaps, be kept somewhere safe while its wielder lives out his last years! If we lost it to the Empire, the results could be catastrophic. Think of the ruins they could access with that Staff! The Artefacts they could find!" 

"The Artefacts you could find, you mean, if you could just get your hands on the Staff." 

Mien looks comically offended, "Well, I never-" 

Heun scoffs, "Of course not." He nods towards the door, "Perhaps you could storm off in insult over that way and leave Master Morton be." 

Mien gives him a disgusted look, but leaves as suggested. 

Heun turns to Morton, "Apologies, Master. The Artefact department has been clamouring for new Artefacts to study for months. With Lady Erin refusing to open the vaults to potential wielders until she's experienced enough to hear the Healer's word on the subject, they must have decided you made a viable second target." 

"Ah... Thank you for the intervention, Scholar," he hesitates. 

"Heun Korrus." 

"Scholar Korrus," Thom continues. He pats the Staff with one hand, the other gripping it tightly, "I think the old girl would be most displeased with me if I gave her up before I absolutely had to." 

"Are Artifacts usually choosy like that?"

"Oh yes!" Thom tells him, "Particularly inherited Artefacts! An Artrfact just lying around in a ruin somewhere is likely to be willing to take whatever it can get, but given options and a good relationship with its wielder? They can be very choosy indeed!" 

Heun hums, "Complex Artefacts, at any rate - Artefacts with souls, personalities, like the Staff of the Magus, and the Gauntlets of the Healer and Guardian. Simple Artefacts will bond anyone who touches them. This is Scholar Sugira," he adds towards Morton. 

"Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"And I yours!" He half-bows, using the Staff as support on the way up. "Did you have any questions about the lecture? Or about Artefacts, I'm always happy to discuss them, so long as the conversation doesn't turn to stealing my own," he huffs. 

"I have a few, but I don't necessarily want to keep you very long."

"Oh, worry not, this is my purpose for being here at the Academy! Teaching, sharing thoughts - I wouldn't visit if I didn't wish to answer questions!"

He smiles a bit.

And he has quite a few - rather intelligent - questions on artifacts, their impact on history... Though he'll cut himself off when it gets too close to the next lecture he wants to go to, or if someone else seems to have a question.

He answers them! Among those answers is that Artefacts did have a great impact on the methods of rulership - as he already knows, Sanctuary is ruled by the Healer and its wielder with aid from the council, which is made up of certain nobles, merchants, and scholars. Rulership passes from one wielder to the next, though Erin is only the second Lady of the Sanctuary, inheriting the position along with the Artefact from the late Lady Helen. The Arming Empire is ruled by an Artefact Wielder, but the Blade of the Emperor is a Simple Artefact, and does not extend its wielder's life. The Blade is bound to each new Emperor at his coronation. Cialin, meanwhile, is emphatically not ruled by an Artefact wielder - after the kingdom was won from a tyrannical wielder in the first century AMC, rulers, and first heirs, whether royal or lesser nobles, were forbidden from wielding Artefacts by law. 

The only part of the world which has mostly continued the same methods of rulership regardless of the appearance of magic and Artefacts is the Island nations to the south - where individual islands have long been lead by a single leader and council of elders, and the wider alliance by a leader elected from among the leaders of each isle. The addition of Artefacts has mainly allowed elders to live longer - admission to the council and retirement from leadership is based on chronological age, not physical. 

Artefacts do talk to their wielders, which has allowed those with significant enough bonds to their Artefacts to gain information on the Age of Mana. Unfortunately many Artefacts know little of the world beyond things which happened to their past wielders directly, and the rarity of Complex Artefacts, and even greater rarity of wielders with close bonds to them, mean few reach a point where they can truly converse. 

At this point the person who asked the last question before the timeslot ended pipes up to ask about early magic militaries again, and Master Morton turns to adress her.

It's getting close to when Sugira's next lecture starts, anyway, so he may want to get going. 

He thanks the professor and heads out.

Morton distractedly thanks him for attending.

Heun leads him across the quad to the Mana Studies building, and points him to the lifts. 

"There's stairs, too, just to the right of the lifts - if you can't use our magic you might need to take them instead. It was nice meeting you, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day - and if you need anything, feel free to come find me, my office is H282, on the second floor in the same building as the library."

He bids Suira farewell and heads towards the history department to get some marking done. 

He thanks Heun and uses the stairs to try and track down his next lecture.

The signage is pretty clear. All he has to do is follow the numbers to the right room. 

The Permanence and Runecraft class is much smaller than Master Morton's lecture. It's all on one level, for one thing. There are a number of tables for students to sit at, all the chairs facing the professor's table at the front. Most of the chairs are already filled when he enters. The professor herself looks up from her notes when the door opens.

"I don't reconise you," she states, "I suppose you must be an observing scholar? I'm Jan Kelvin, Master of Runecraft." 

"Scholar Sugira, and yes, I'm observing."

"Have a seat, then. We're waiting for a few stragglers, we'll begin in about five minutes."

There's no completely empty tables, but one on the right has only two people clustered at one end. It's anyone's guess where the stragglers will sit when they arrive, though. 

He'll sit at the one on the right, at the other end. He can put up with a few stragglers, anyways.

Some stragglers do appear. None of them sit near him, though one joins the pair at the other end of the table. Once they arrive, the class begins. 

They're covering a particular rune in depth today - the rune commonly called 'repell'. An important run in Sanctuary, it can be found sewn into clothes and carpets, carved into doors and walls, and inked onto paper - along with the rune for 'water,' in order to protect the city from the abundance of it. The professor has brought an example of gloves, though she points out that most of them likely have paper bought in the city, and if it wasn't water repellant they likely would have noticed by now.

He doesn't ask questions but does take copious notes.

Near the end she hands out unmarked paper and small bottles of rune ink to the students, suggesting they attempt the water repelling set. 

"I can't give you any, since I don't have any idea of your rune proficiency," she tells Sugira, apologetic but firm, while the students work. "The water repelling set is difficult to mess up in a dangerous way, but it's better to be safe than sorry." 

"That's sensible," he says, nodding. (He's good at copying random symbols - he's done that in arcana enough - but arcane symbols can fail disastrously very easily.)

She appreciates this. 

So the class passes in this way, and soon enough the students are standing up and slowly vacating the room, the teacher waiting impatiently by the door so she can leave as soon as it is empty. 

He heads out, checking his schedule for when his next thing is.

He has several hours free before the next class he chose to attend - the Artefact Handling one. 

The halls are bustling again, it being the start of the second lunch period. It's not quite as crowded as it was when he arrived, as only about a third of the Academy attendees are out of classes at this time. The green outside is littered with students and scholars eating their meals and enjoying the early autumn sun. Some are settled into comfortably furnished alcoves off the main hallways, in groups or pairs or alone. 

...Hm, does he have any money for food...

He does not! But Erin (and Lucan) is waiting for him in an alcove by a window outside the P&R classroom. She has something that might help with that. 

"Sugira!" She calls, waving him over. "I forgot - I was going to give you this before we parted ways earlier." 

She hands him a small black metal disc, carved with a lightly glowing stylised hand - or gauntlet. 

"This is a Healer's Seal," she tells him. "It gives you access to the palace, and also lets you draw your resident's funds from the treasury. It'll stop glowing if you run out - you have 75 silver a day, and you don't have to spend it all in one day." 

"20 copper to a silver, 100 silver to a gold," Lucan adds when she looks to him to see if she forgot anything. "Those drinks were a silver each, if that gives you useful reference. An average meal is five silver. Coppers are mostly used to buy small things like candies, and to give exact change." 

"Alright. Thank you."

"You just tap it on the readers - the little black metal squares, most stores have them. Or you can take out coins from the treasury offices - there's one in the academy, and more here and there around the city," she adds.

"I have to go, though - I had first lunch, and I'm almost late." 

And she hurries off, Lucan trailing in her wake.

Well, off to see what food's available.

There's a cafeteria in the same building as the main entrance. They offer free meals to registered students and scholars, including an option for vegetarians or people with various sensitivities. A fair number of students and scholars can be found there, though many more are heading out to the square to buy something more interesting or appealing from the restaurants and stands. 

He's not really saving studiously or anything, so he heads out to the square, to get something mild and vegetarian from somewhere less trafficked, and sits himself in as quiet a corner as he can find to eat.

Many of the stands offer vegetarian options. Meat is actually quite expensive in Sanctuary, given the fact that they import nearly all of it. 

The quietest place around is probably one of the alcoves he passed on his way out of the Academy. Many have one or two people inside, eating, studying, socialising, but at least a few were empty, especially off the main pathways in the Mana Studies building. It shouldn't be too hard to find an empty one in the halls off the Academy entrance, or inside the library. 

That suits him well. 

He heads to the library, intending to spend a bit of his break browsing the shelves.

He can find an empty room on the second floor, then. 

The library takes up all six levels of this building, though the ones above the second floor contain mostly study rooms, and the sixth floor is restricted access.

The books on the second floor are mostly about the Sealed Age, covering things such as pre-Breaking geography, countries, and cultures. There are a few students quietly browsing the shelves, and more sat reading and writing at the desks out with the books, or in their own rooms. 

After he finishes eating, he wanders the shelves a bit, mostly browsing but also seeing if there's more introductory materials for different magic categories. Like runics.

The runes section is on the first floor. Most of the mana studies books are on that floor - excepting only the ones up on the sixth. He can find several introductory books, along with rune dictionaries, books on individual runes, ones detailing the study of untranslated runes, and more. 

He just grabs the introductory books for now, and spends the time until he has to leave for his last thing reading.

He can pass the time reading about rune orders and rune choices, along with materials. The book recommends always starting with something small and not too mana conductive, with only a few runes, simple enough to charge on one's own. 

One goes a bit deeper into the details of what is actually happening when you make runes. When you charge them the first time, you remove the actual matter of the material making up the runes, whether stone being carved, or thread being stitched, leaving only mana. When they lose charge, they revert to adamantine - that black metal - a highly conductive material, which can then be recharged to allow the object to be used again. 

That doesn't sound much at all like the arcane writing or runes he's familiar with. He notes it down for later investigation, then heads to his next thing.

His next thing: Artefact Handling! 

The Artefacts department is in the sprawling Mana Studies section of the Academy, the most expansive one. The section was originally housed only in the building where Sugira observed the Runes class, before the Academy became so incredibly famed for the skill of its graduates. 

This information can be read from a plaque in the entrance hall. 

Now, it's actually more of an interconnected web of buildings, having slowly expanded and then consumed the nearby housing complexes. Many of the closest extensions, and connections - mostly covered pathways from the upper floors - are made of the same pale stone as the rest of the city, but the colours often do not match the connecting buildings - or even the more common colours found in the area - lending the complex something of a mismatched air. The plaque mentions that many of the early expansions were built using materials taken from buildings on the outskirts of the city. 

 The class Sugira is looking for takes place in one of the ground floor training halls, the surfaces of which are covered with runes to keep any damage from bringing the building down. The entrance is right off the main hall, and there is an audience of about two dozen up in the observation area, come to see the new crop of wielders.

Most of the students - there are less than twenty out in the floor when he arrives - are dressed unlike the people of Sanctuary. He will have seen mostly robes of various types around the city, from the open ones worn over tunics and leggings common around the Academy, to the often belted overrobes and fitted underrobes worn by many of the people in the palace district. These students' clothing styles vary more - ranging from tunics and leggings without the robes, to simple dresses, to loose, layered outfits, often with intricate scenes and patterns stitched, dyed, or printed upon them. 

Most of the students are in their mid-teens to late-twenties, but there are some outliers - two children under thirteen, and a woman in her mid-fifties.

Probably some number of people with artifacts, then.

He tries to find somewhere to sit.

The seats are through a door and up the stairs, set back into the wall behind a slightly shimmering net. There's a full wall of them, going up five rows, so he'll be able to find somewhere to sit quite easily, either by himself or with the other observers. 

One of those observers is Sara. She is sitting in the back corner opposite the entrance to the observation area, focusing intently on the block of wood she's carving. 

His preferred seat seems taken, so he sits a few seats down from her, leaving plenty of empty space.

She looks up after a few moments, once she's finished carving the latest rune. Seeing him, she gives him a smile, "Sugira!" She greets, "Hello! How has your day been? Have you been enjoying the Academy?" 

"My day's been good. I've learned a lot so far."

She nods, "That's great. You're in for a treat, with this class," she adds, "It's a brand new crop of Artefact wielders. All new to wielding. I predict they'll all be drenched and covered with stone dust by the time the class ends - but we'll get to see the scholars in charge perform some high tier spells!" 

"I met my aunt for lunch," she mentions as well, "She mentioned you - she teaches Runes and Permanence."

"That'll be interesting," he says to the first bit, and: "She's a good teacher."

"She is!" She agrees, "I've learned a lot from her. She's been teaching me runecraft since I first showed an interest, when I was a small child." 

Several people enter the hall below through a different door than the one he came in through. The students (now numbering 18) perk up and turn to them as they approach. 

"Oh," Sara says, "I think they're starting - though we csn still talk during the class, the netting stops sound from up here getting through to distract the students." 

He gets his notes set up. "Clever."

She nods, "Runecraft is very useful!" 

The teachers down in the hall organise their students into groups, each under one of the five of them. Then they stand together before the group to begin speaking.

"The groups we have just placed you in are to sort you by Artefact type and affinity," begins one, standing ahead of the other four. "Those of you with Lesser Artefacts will be learning under scholar Kefa. Those with Greater have been matched with the rest of us, barring you with the Dagger," he nods to one of the teens, "Your Artefact is Air/Space, neither of which is represented by our Artefacts. You'll be with me, as my group is smallest." 

"Before we begin, I have a warning for the wielders of Simple Artefacts: I'm sure all of you have used mana before. There's hardly a person alive who hasn't. I expect you all believe you have a good measure of your pool, and that your control is perfectly satisfactory - that there are several spells and freecasts that you feel very confident you could never mess up. 

"I'm going to start this class off by telling you that if you attempt any spells at all through your Artefact without getting full measure of their capabilities, you will be extremely lucky if the only thing you do is damage your surroundings. The reason you are in this hall, learning to do this properly, is that the training halls at the Academy are covered in protective runes, and will prevent any catastrophic failures. If you try to cast with your Artefacts outside this building before we clear you for it, you will almost certainly hurt yourself or others, unless you are exquisitely careful. Don't do it." 

He flips through his notes for a refresher on Artefact classifications.

Greater Artefacts: offer a large increase to two colours of mana. 

Lesser Artefacts: offer a smaller increase to all mana.

Complex Artefacts: have minds. 

Simple Artefacts: do not have minds. 

 This warning having been given, the five groups separate out to different parts of the room, and the teachers begin by showing off some flashy spells, both with and without the aid of their Artefacts, displaying how the increase in power results in much larger effects. One conjures a twist of water, and then a carefully controlled waterspout. Another produces a spray of sparks from their hand, and then a popping crackle of minor explosions like fireworks. The man who had spoken before casts a minor haste spell on a student, allowing them to zip from one end of the room to the other at twice the speed, and then casts again on himself - disappearing for a mere moment before reappearing with a canteen, formerly in the hand of another teacher across the room. 

Then they begin directing the students to choose their least powerful spell of the correct affinity (if applicable), and attempt to channel the very smallest amount of mana they can through their Artefact's pool. 

Sara's earlier prediction is quickly proven true. 

They're a lot like new arcane students, in some ways, especially in the magical device classes.

Sara giggles a bit when one of the kids manages to let off a cloud of smoke, getting himself and his whole group covered in ash. 

"They demonstrate the high-level magic at the end," she tells Sugira, "It'll mostly be the novices practising until then. In the meantime... You're from another world, right? So... what do you think so far? Of Sanctuary, at least. The rest of the world is a bit of a mess," she acknowledges with chagrin. 

"Sanctuary's doing well, especially given the resources it has."

"We do our best," she says, "We're very small, compared to the rest of the world, and we have our own issues... but I think every place has issues, honestly." 

He nods. "Even the nicest places in my universe do."

She nods.

She peers down at the ongoing class, shrugs, and picks up her wooden block, continuing her carving. It will be an icewolf, which she will carve with runes to make it chilly. 

He turns to watch the lecture.

Not so much a lecture as a workshop, really.

Eventually the scholars pull the group all back together to conclude the class. 

"Alright, now that you've had the chance to practise a bit, we're going to show you the kind of thing you can look forward to being able to do, if you apply yourself to your studies," the Time mage tells the group. He takes a step back and nods to the others. 

Carefully, three of the other wielders incant their spells.

One brings into being deer-like creature made of earth pulled fom the trays left out for that purpose, onto which he tosses something which turns out to be grass seed, which he grows to resemble fur. Its antlers are made of sharp stone. The Life and Earth mana animating it gives it a semblance of life, and it wanders around pretending to sniff at the students. 

Another calls up a wall of shimmering light, crawling across the floor and up the walls before seemingly melting them, leaving behind the appearance of a clearing in a forest. One can even hear the rustling of the leaves, the trickling of a distant stream, and smell the scent of soil after rain.

The last spell slowly pulls together a vast cloud to cover the ceiling of the room, which rumbles ominously before releasing a torrent of rain. The rain slides off a dome over the students and teachers, collecting in the troughs at the edges of the room. A few flashes of lightening crash off the dome as well - the netting dulls the noise. 

The students ooh and aah, and the observers do as well, leaning forward to examine the effects. Several from each group reach out to examine them with unrefined mana, trying to learn how they were done. 

He'd prepared a beefed up, more useful version of Detect Magic, and quietly casts that before the demonstrations, observing.

All three mages thread fairly small amounts of mana into their Artefacts, resulting in much larger ones. The first two are Complex, and shine more and less with mana as they aid their wielders with the spells. The last shines steadily, exactly as it always does.

The Earth and Life mage first casts a spell to gather earth and stone, then one to mould it. He then throws the seed onto it, and directs a thread of mana freely to carefully grow it to give the deer the appearance of fur. Then, he attaches a thread each of Life and Earth, and directs it around the class. 

 The Illusion (and Life) mage casts just one spell, with a large volume of mana. The spell causes the thread to expand out across the room, leaving behind a layer of Illusion magic which is doing its best to convince everyone in the room that they are in a clearing in the woods. It's very convincing.

 The Fire and Water mage casts two spells, one a twist of each colour to gather the storm above, and another to repell both water and lightning. 

With the detect spell he will also be able to see the mana of the students and observers, stretching out around them like hundreds of thin tentacles, and that of the Artefacts in the room. As well, the glowing runes in the walls, floor, and ceiling, and the mana flows of the city, as he could before. 

Fascinating.

He takes copious notes.

With the demonstration done, they wrap up the class, letting the students know the halls are open for practise, though they'll have to reserve a spot. 

The observers start filing out of the observation area as the students leave, though some of both groups gather around the professors to ask questions. 

Sara doesn't have any questions - she must have seen demonstrations like this at least a dozen times. She just comes to them because they're interesting to watch, and she can runescript just as well in the observation area as she can anywhere else.

She puts all her things away as the area empties, turning to Sugira once she's all packed up, "Are you going back to the palace district after this?" She asks. 

"I think so. I want to organize my notes, and think a bit."

"Do you know the way back? You can take the public ferries, or the railcars - but I'd be happy to give you a ride, too." 

"I think I know enough of it to figure it out? But guidance or a ride would be nice."

She can give him those! 

"I have my own boat - technically it's my aunt's, but she hardly ever leaves the Academy district." 

Downstairs, then? And then out of the hall, unless he has questions for the Professors. 

He doesn't, though he does thank her for the directions.

"Your own boat sounds convenient. It's good of your aunt to let you borrow it."

"It is! I spend a lot of time going back and forth between the Academy and the Palace, given that I'm learning under Master Kelka. You might not know it to look at him, but he's the biggest authority on Pre-Seal architecture and Mana Machines in the City. I'm going to learn everything he knows, and eventually I'm going to build a Mana Machine of my own, just like Sanctuary itself." She sounds very sure of this. 

"Seems like a good ambition."

"It's going to take a lot of skills, but it's definitely needed." And here is the boathouse again, "Did you want that ride, then?" She asks, walking over to the private docks, where Erin had tied up hers earlier. 

"Sure. Thanks."