Lintalai rolls her sleeves up and turns to face the light and stretches.

As she does so, Lintalai will eventually notice that she is becoming more aware of certain details she would normally overlook- how the warmth feels on her skin, exactly how hungry she is...she's noticing how being in her body feels, details about it that had never before become salient.

It isn't quite what she might be inclined to call magic, but it is new. There's a sharpness to that awareness, beyond her ordinary sense of proprioception.

"- ooh, neat!"

"What do you notice?"

"It's - easier to pay attention to myself? Like, how I feel physically I mean."

"Oh, how nice. Yes, that is a first milestone. You're making progress faster than I would expect for someone so-" she's really trapped herself here, she can't even pretend she was going to say anything besides 'clumsy'- "uh, unused to athletic activities. You'll most likely have the other senses within a week of shorter sessions, or a day of a longer one. In that case, we should start discussing your options. If you were less clumsy, what kinds of physical activities do you think you would be most interested in, recreationally?"

"...low-gravity dancing looks kind of fun. My aunt likes skiing, that also looks fun."

"And when you think of 'magic', what goals are you most interested in accomplishing? I understand that you're interested in magic that can traverse the planes, but very little of war-gymnastics can do that, unfortunately. Is there anything else you've always- dreamt of, when imagining you could do anything?"

"I'd like to be able to fly! I was very disappointed when I found out that I had weird powers and none of them were flying."

"If you are very attached to flying, then I should teach you the basics of shezodza, even though it is more difficult. At the highest skill levels, zodja can walk up walls and survive long falls- I've never known one who could fly, but I've heard stories of it. Otherwise, flight can only be accomplished by spellcasters. As for skiing, no matter how you specialize, you'll soon be capable of much more than you are now, physically."

"Can I learn to teleport? Or... telekinesis?"

"Zodja can learn to teleport over short distances, although like with any skillset, you'll need to choose how to specialize. There are so many things that you could learn to do- I will find a master to consult with on your curriculum, if this seems like the best avenue. Shezodza is the only form of war-gymnastics that would allow you to mimic flight or teleport unaided by a spell-caster. Are you interested in focusing your studies there?"

"It sounds really cool but maybe I'm missing cooler things just because I haven't heard of them?"

Nue can briefly summarize cool things that the different kinds of war-gymnasts can do:

Sozev allows the war-gymnast to put unnatural force behind their strikes, heal via touch, lift heavy objects, intimidate others, run tirelessly, sense more acutely, fight off disease, withstand poison, commune with spirits...

Xæmā allows the war-gymnast to befriend an animal companion, commune with a nature spirit, call on animals for aid, take on the shapes of various creatures, manipulate air, manipulate water, 'communicate' with plants (Nue is not confident about what this means so if Lintalai is interested she will need to consult with experts), and supposedly, move on the wind- similar to what shezodza allows, but her impression is that it is more naturalistic, while a zodje moves through the air with as much control over their body as they do everything else.

Shezodza allows the war-gymnast to contort their body into difficult poses, throw objects at high speeds, react more quickly, teleport short distances, cling to nearly any surface, walk on water, "harness the elements" (again, Nue apologizes for not having much detail to offer here), float...

Thievery allows the war-gymnast to dodge nimbly, detect danger, tumble safely, mimic minor spell-casting abilities, predict the future, identify weaknesses, bolster allies and menace enemies (Nue seems least excited about the possibilities offered by this particular type of war-gymnastics), hide unnoticed, move silently, just generally get lucky...

Ranging allows the war-gymnast to befriend an animal companion (Nue thinks this is somewhat different than how it's done in xæmā, but she doesn't know xæmā enough to give a confident guess), understand a specific kind of terrain, aim accurately, take on the natural advantages of animals, hunt a chosen type of prey trivially, produce a healing mist, survey a new environment quickly, recall extensive factual information on the natural world, control plants, and move unnaturally quickly (but only in the wilderness).

"Healing sounds cool but it's not really in-caste. Predicting the future sounds great... Plant stuff sounds cool too. Why are these all in... groups like that?"

"Each discipline aligns the body with different planes. These terms are only for the general categories, since they can take on different form depending on the nearby planes- rangers are nearly the same across the planes, although there are some minor differences. The reason rangers' abilities have that shared emphasis on animals, nature, healing, and the general environment is that these are things associated with the Plane of Creation- I referred to healing, but I should specify that it will not provide much protection from disease. On Arcadia, that is rarely necessary, but if it were, we would likely pray for an angel."

"I've never actually gotten sick, probably because I have never met anyone else of my species since before I got amnesia."

"You may not need to worry about it, then. I don't know exactly what predicting the future is like- it might not be exactly like you're imagining, like with flight, I'm not sure- but I can find you a thief if that's where you want to focus your energies. I recommend choosing three of the five disciplines so that I can find experts with more insight."

"What do you know about predicting the future? Also why would that translate as someone who steals things, do you know?"

Nue frowns, slightly.

"On Arcadia, they're all very nice, but- a good amount of their abilities don't function, either. Thieves align their bodies with the Plane of Destruction- they obscure their intentions, projecting fear or confusion rather than friendliness of calm. They hide, sneak around, they set traps, they sabotage- the terms used to describe them refer to that, so if the term you're hearing describes an antisocial force that is destructive to social order and peace, I think your translation device is not mistaken. Arcadia doesn't allow anti-social magic, though, and of course, magic performed on Arcadia will be more lawful-good than magic elsewhere, so thieves here are mostly pleasant people."

"Huh. Probably it doesn't make sense to specialize in that unless the future seeing is really good."

Nod.

"Which of the others are you curious about?"

"Shezodza sounds like all-around best but xæmā has some very cool things too - I am a plant myself, I don't know if that would affect the plants part -"

"You know, it might. I'll continue teaching you good general principles, until you're very comfortable with the basics, and hopefully by then I'll have found you experts in shezodza, xæmā, and- thievery, in case it is closer to what you want."

She doesn't hide her distaste of thievery, but nor does she particularly judgmental of Lintalai for considering it. Nue will talk Lintalai through a few more things she do to reinforce what she's already managed so far- since it is a matter of using her body, it's best to practice and experiment until she can do these things by rote- she should practice the stretches that she finds work best for her.

Lintalai will happily do MAGIC STRETCHES though at some point she feels inhibited by need-for-cognition and asks if she could put on music, which will automatically interrupt itself when there is translation to do.