Neo points at Sable

And so does Ruby. "Sorry Sable, you're it."

Sable laughs and bends down to the lock. "Betrayed by my own headmates! I see how it is."

She tries the latch.

The latch shimmers and pops open. Inside the chest is a straight length of carved wood, with a handle sized for a human hand; the handle has seven spiraling grooves for grip, and the wand part has seven flat spiraling sides and a slight taper toward its point. The wood seems high quality, with a slight gloss from some varnish or oil, but the design is fairly plain.

"Nothing for it," she murmurs, and reaches down to pick up the wand.

There's a sensation like the click of suddenly understanding a difficult puzzle, and in its wake, a subtler sense of having more mental motions available than she did a second ago. The new pathways seem to route through the wand, and come in seven different flavours, though the sense of them is faint enough that it's hard to pick out any detail.

"Well, the wand seems to like me."

She pushes the dim sensation of the mental motions at the other girls.

"Huh. Different flavors of magic, maybe? Wonder if we can all wield it. Check the book while I try it?"

Sable passes Hailey the wand and carefully opens the book.

Sable, separated from her wand, has an insistent sense that she's missing something important and it's over thataway; Hailey, holding someone else's wand, feels a sort of muted staticky sensation that's mildly uncomfortable but not too much of a bother.

The toothy cover creaks open under Sable's hand. The title on the first page reads in clear, bold letters, A Record in Brief of some few Rituals which may prove Useful in these Trying Times.

"Hm. The wand definitely imposed a sense of... attachment to it. Book has rituals."

She starts paging through them.

"Doesn't feel like the wand likes me, either. Probably we each need our own. Maybe the book'll have a guide on how to make one."

The first ritual in the book is titled Repel Fog and has a brief description in a clear, bold hand reminiscent of the title, with a few clarifying margin notes in a less shaky version of Magister Aspen's handwriting. The long and the short of it seems to be that you stand at the Mana Font (Mg. Aspen clarifies that it's the big crystal formation in the next room) and channel unformed magic through your wand (Mg. Aspen has a note pointing to a later page for explanations of how to channel magic), and then the fog (there are no notes explaining what the fog is) should retreat somewhat.

The second ritual is titled Summon Student and involves channeling Lightning magic (Mg. Aspen points to the page on channeling magic again) at the Student Summoner (Mg. Aspen has helpfully drawn a little picture of it, a bunch of mysterious hovering arcs of what might be wood or metal, and noted that it's in another chamber adjacent to the Mana Font room) using a wand (pointer to a later page on wands) as the main ritual focus, to summon ("^ hopefully" - Mg. Aspen) a student who will ("^ hopefully") bond to the wand.

Does Sable want to follow any of those pointers?

She does. To start with, she will pluck her wand back from Hailey with a kiss to her cheek, "We'll make wands for you girls next," and stride out of the room, book in hand, to find the Mana Font. As she goes, she flips to the page on channeling magic. Hopefully it isn't very complicated and she can hand the book off to the other girls to take notes on the important rituals and processes.

"Fog first, girls. It sounds ominous enough that I want to banish as much as I can quickly. Y'all can take notes while I do that once I'm going."

What she carries away from the pedestal isn't exactly the book; as she lifts it away, it slips ethereally through her fingers and a ghostly copy rises in its place, open to the same page she was reading. The ghost book's weight is faint, but it follows very obligingly wherever she carries it, and its translucent glowing text is clear and legible.

The page on how to channel magic (written entirely by Magister Aspen) goes into the different mindsets, wand motions, and physical stances involved in channeling the seven elements. Unformed magic appears at the end of the list, with a note that it's paradoxically difficult to settle into the right channeling style without accidentally slipping into some specific element, but once you've mastered that, it has the lightest mana burden of all of them. To channel it, you clear your mind, stand in a neutral posture, and hold your wand steady.

With that plus the directions of the Repel Fog ritual, Sable can successfully cast the ritual at the Mana Font. A blue-white glow emanates from her wand and connects to the massive crystal formation in a thin line, and a pool of blue light begins spreading through its massive translucent base and then slowly, slowly filling it. The whole formation is about twelve feet tall at its highest jagged point, with a few scattered crystals floating in the air around it, ranging from fist-sized to head-sized; everywhere above the slowly rising waterline of the blue light, the dormant crystal is as clear as slightly frosted glass.

As the Mana Font fills, its glow begins the light the room, bringing more visibility to the spiral stair of floating stone slabs that wraps around the central figure of the Font, and the engraved mural at the back of the room depicting a crystal suffused with a crackling glow. At the top of the stairs where they meet the ceiling is a firmly closed hatch with a glass porthole in the middle showing ominously swirling darkness, and at the bottom where they meet the floor is another one.

As the ghostly copy lifts off, Sable pushes a thought at Hailey and Maya to inspect the real copy. She focuses on keeping up the channeling as long as she can (or as long as it takes to fill the Font to capacity, whichever comes first).

That swirling mist sure looks fuckin' spooky. She checks to see if the book is still open, and if it will let her flip to the page on wands. They don't need any students until they've got a better handle on things, and they might as well practice by making wands for themselves first.

Maya gathers a notebook and pen and steps up beside Hailey, ready to take notes as they read.

My own wand is elementally balanced, meaning its bearer's power is equally sharply limited in every element. An archaic curiosity, useless for serious casting—except that it channels unformed magic with exceptional efficiency. I hope it serves you well.

"Fascinating." Maya takes notes of the required ingredients for each element. "Find a primer on the basics of each element? Sable will need to make a Wand Crafter and we will all need wands."

"On it, babe." She carefully looks for references that indicate where such basic information may be found.

Ruby and Neo, meanwhile, determinedly set to exploring what space is safe from the fog, and what stuff is there.

There are three rooms on this level: the room with the book, the bigger room with the Mana Font, and the promised Student Summoner chamber. The rooms for the book and Student Summoner are both pretty small, but the Mana Font room has plenty of extra space around its centerpiece and the winding spiral stair, and there are scuff marks on the floor indicating it might have had more furniture once, or been used for storage.

The only two exits are the hatches in the floor and ceiling of the Mana Font room.

🔥 Fire is most commonly used to cook, hunt, and clear debris. In battle it is straightforward, powerful, and costly in mana. It should be cast with vertical, curved wand motions from an aggressive, forward stance. Its mindset is direct and passionate, focusing on a specific concrete goal and an emotional drive toward that goal.

💧 Water is most commonly used to heal, clean, and perform alchemy. It should be cast with smooth, flowing wand motions from a loose, balanced stance. Its mindset is calm and flexible, conscious of a goal but open to many paths and ready to flow around obstacles.

💀 The main use of Dark magic is Quilting, creating autonomous servants from the bodies of dead animals. It can also be used to conceal things in shadows. It should be cast with wide, sweeping wand motions from a relaxed stance. I find its mindset the most elusive of all the elements, but would describe it as focused, curious, and intense.

🌱 Nature is most commonly used to care for plants and to craft wands. It should be cast with natural, vinelike wand motions from an upright, rooted stance. Its mindset is meditative and detail-oriented, attentive to the life and form of each specific plant or length of wood.

⛰️ Earth is most commonly used to carve and handle stone, and to repair and preserve walls and furniture. In battle it can provide sturdy armor against all manner of attacks. It should be cast with slow, precise wand motions from a wide, firm stance. Its mindset is solid and forceful, with a clear idea of one's desired outcome and an uncompromising attitude toward reaching it.

⚡Lightning is most commonly used to charge mana reservoirs, but is also indispensable to the Student Summoning ritual, and many mages use it to organize their research. It should be cast from a grounded, dancelike stance, with wand motions that flick rapidly between points of stillness. Its mindset is alert and open, seeking to perceive and understand.

☁️ Air is most commonly used to move small items, or shrink larger items for storage and portability. Before the fog, it was also used for flight. It should be cast with rapid, swirling wand motions from a light, mobile stance. Its mindset is cheerful and content, with a musical aspect; many mages find it easier to hold while whistling, humming, or listening to music.

Okay, that's interesting. "Probably we gotta all take different elements. Sable's wand does all of them, but it sounds like the rest of us can't easily switch between them, and we're gonna want coverage. Probably I take Fire? Ruby maybe takes Air or Lightning. Air fits her attitude, but Lightning sounds like she could use it for some kinda artifice or enchanting."