Ah, intro incantations. The bread and butter of learning some goddamn spells already that you don't have to hunt for between poems or cross your fingers you'll get good ones from the void. Standard, universal English incantations with a grounding in how they work, why they're better than other versions that used to predominate, how they get embedded into artifice and potions, what the difference is between incanting and telling a spellbook it's very lovely.
Why is everyone in this school a creepy maleficer??
Actually, this girl might not be; she's not nearly as creepy, and she's got a power-sharer, so maybe she's just the ordinary kind of creepy. Still, her aura feels really off.
"Briar. Portland, creative writing." She hesitates for a moment. "Pure mana." Hopefully if this girl isn't a creepy maleficer she won't take offense to that.
Portland, Portland, has she heard of Portland? She thinks no.
"No cheating, even? Bold choice."
Annisa, great, she knows Annisa. Naima sits next to Annisa and then totally ignores her in favor of going over the new flashcards she made during lunch.
Pen sits in the back of the room, because that seems like the least inconvenient place if you're obviously not going to successfully talk to anybody anyway. She opens the textbook and starts reading. Maybe if she learns enough she won't die even though she's apparently totally mute.
Naima's very herself. There's an intro incantations textbook where there wasn't one before; Annisa's going to get started on it.
That's not a helpful answer!
"No cheating! --Not that I have anything against people who cheat."
"Sensible, you wouldn't get many allies if you did. It's hard enough to get through school without that kind of limit."
Annisa cannot fathom what the girl's 'tell Pisa you're strict mana' play is about??? Where is Portland. It's not an enclave, she has all the enclaves memorized.
Ellen sits down next to a blond girl.
“Hullo. I’m Ürömi Heléna, but everyone calls me Ellen.”
Oh good, at least someone in this class doesn't have an aura.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Briar, from Portland."
"Is that in America? I'm from Üröm, a town near Budapest."
She looks over Briar at Teresa, notices her nails. Teresa is looking at someone on the other side of the room, so Ellen puts the question to Briar:
“Is she a maleficer? I’ve heard they have black nails and a weird aura. I have never seen one, at least that I know of.”
Briar nods. "Yeah, on the West Coast."
She lowers her voice a little, although not nearly enough that it would actually be difficult for Teresa to hear. "And -- I'm not sure. She has the aura, but she also has a power sharer? So maybe she's just creepy? But it's kind of a lot to be a coincidence."
Ellen looks puzzled.
"Is there some reason a maleficer couldn't have a power sharer?"
"I mean, enclavers aren't supposed to be maleficers? Not that anyone should be a maleficer. But it's even worse than normal when enclavers do it, since then other enclaves might also start maleficing to keep up."
"My friend Mari is in an enclave and I've visited it, but we didn't talk about that sort of thing. If it gives an enclave a big advantage, can't they have malificers and not tell anyone? It's not as if anyone can just walk in and look to see if there are any; they have guards. They only let me in because I was with Mari. It sounds like an unstable equilbrium."
Ellen is looking around, notices El.
"That girl has an aura sort of like this one. I can't see her fingernails from here. Is she a malificer? Are there a lot in the Scholomance?"
"I think it's mostly a problem if people are doing it in the Scholomance, not outside? A problem for the other enclaves, I mean. Obviously it's still bad if people are maleficing outside."
She follows Ellen's gaze. "Yeah, she's in one of my other classes -- clean fingers, but that's not the only tell, and she's barely even trying to hide it. And I didn't think there were that many, but I ran into another one at orientation, and then Shanghai also adopted one..."
"I suppose you could paint your fingernails, but if she isn't trying to hide it why would she bother?" I'll ask her.
She walks over to El.
"Blair thinks you are a maleficer but you don't have black nails and I don't know how else to tell. Are you?"
"So you aren't? You could just say so. How can I tell next time I see someone else with your kind of an Aura and ordinary fingernails?"
"And who is Pisa?"
"She's Pisa, ask her." El points at Teresa. "Maybe if you turn that charm on her lot they'll teach you the spell their senior used!"
Since El is talking to Ellen right now, Lissa turns her glare at Briar. She does her best to convey "what the hell is your problem" through body language and expressions only.
Ellen gives up on getting any information out of El, beyond the fact that she isn't a maleficer — at least says she isn't — goes back to her seat, picks up the textbook. After she has read the first few pages she puts it down again, turns to Blair.
"This book is written to teach incanting to small children who don't know anything. The girl you thought was a malificer says she isn't. How can you tell?"
El wasn't exactly subtle, so Teresa is ready to say her piece before Ellen even gets back. No need to raise her voice, though.
"It's true, my seniors checked her. Scary aura yes, maleficer no. Somehow. And we're the experts."
"So you are a maleficer — is Pisa the name of your enclave? Is Briar wrong about maleficers in enclaves? Why did that girl snap at me — I just asked and she could just answer."