red tide at night, scholars' delight.

He rests his head on his chins. "Yes, please!"

Merves demonstrates what he knows. It's best to start with something simple.

"For Ice, they recommend breathing exercises. First, breathe in and out very rapidly. In, out. In out. Don't worry if it feels odd; you're intentionally breathing in an unnatural way to practice the feeling of Air traveling through your body quickly."

Temperance tries to bounce with excitement, good thing he already had his tentacles to keep him in place. Instead, he will diligently follow the breathing exercises.

He doesn't feel much different.

"Good. Now, try with deep breaths. In...out...in...out. Focus on the breath, not on any other part of your body."

Ophelos Areus Blackpass

sea-legged

Okay. This is the time where Areus gets too restless and decides to go out. He might be interested in this kind of magic in the future, but watching people breathe is just too much.

Tentacle-wave. But then starts focusing on his breath, only his breath. It's easy enough for someone whose breath can be a weapon.

Merves nods and waves him off dismissively.

Temperance finds that as he breathes in and out, he starts feeling somewhat colder- not unpleasantly so, more like a gentle wave of cool air is rippling through his body- it doesn't hurt.

Interesting! He remains focused on the gentle coolness.

Focusing on the feeling causes it to fade away as his breathing becomes more natural.

Not surprising, but he can get back on that state of only focusing on his breath, right?

Now that he is actively seeking that state, it seems more elusive.

Merves waits; interrupting this will likely make it more difficult.

Temperance is unbothered. He can start over and focus on just doing the exercise.

When he's managed to reach a state of just focusing on his breath, the cool feeling returns. The longer he breathes deeply, steadily, the more the feeling spreads, until he feels a slight discomfort in his throat- it is warmer than the rest of his body. He could make it cooler, though.

Does trying to make it cooler causes him to lose focus?

It doesn't seem to do anything. Temperance remains aware that his breathing is slow and steady and his entire body is cool, except for his throat and his mouth.

He pauses the breathing exercise, mentally revises that this sounds like it's as far he will get on his own and then asks Merves about the next step.

"If you've managed to feel cool and firm in your entire body, you're ready to begin moving."

Merves stands, eager to move on to the fun part.

"Moving?"

"Yes. Now that your body has aligned with Ice for the first time, you need to practice re-creating that state while in motion. This exercise was fairly similar to the one I did when I first started, because Ice and Salt have in common the tendency to inaction and solidity. You'll be learning to move despite that- using that. Think about your body as a solid piece, complete and indivisible. You are but ice, and you cannot move fluidly without melting. You do not want to melt. Do you know anything in your world about how ice moves? Or snow, in large enough quantities?"

"You mean like in glaciers? Also, how will this interact with how I can freely change my shape? A strong part of my relationship to my body is how it is in a shape now, but not stuck in it. Staying in one shape for too long causes me to want to tear my hair apart."

"-you might want to choose something other than Ice, no matter how much freezing breath you have. It normally matters less to people what their body is aligned with, but if you value shape-shifting that much, you would be better served by Steam."