THE APPLE OF SNAKES

xi. winter storm

A couple of weeks passed. It got colder. Snow fell. Snow fell a lot actually. One day all of their classes were canceled as it was deemed too dangerous to even leave the dorms. Something about how they didn't want kids falling off cliffs. For his midday task, Nerluce found himself shoveling snow. Very frequently.

Nerluce had been doing poorly in both his academic and magickal studies. But... he was trying. Taayir told him that was what was important and that everyone did things at their own pace but they recently did the candle test again and Nerluce was the only one who couldn't get his flame to even so much as flicker. It was almost enough to make him want to blow the thing out again.

But he didn't. 

Nerluce had gritted his teeth and pulled at his hair and tried to figure it out but he just wasted his own time and nothing happened. Taayir had him stay after everyone else left. She did that frequently enough that it wasn't suspicious. Sometimes they spoke. Sometimes they didn't. Very rarely did they train. Or, at least, very rarely did they do anything that Nerluce recognized as training.

"Yer pool is expanding," Taayir said, that day she held him late after he failed miserably on the candle assignment.

"My... what?"

Taayir glanced up, frowning. "The pool of magick inside of all things. Yers in particular. The one that's expanding."

Nerluce looked at her blankly.

"Gods, drag whatever tutor yuh had before to the pits," Taayir said, pressing a hand to her temple. "So kid, yuh know that magick is inside of everything, right?"

"Y-yeah," Nerluce said. "That's- that's why we have different types of magick."

"Exactly," Taayir said, nodding. "The way magick settles is what we call magickal pools. They, also exist inside of everything." She turned her head. "What makes humans so unique is that our pools are flexible. They can get bigger than they originally were. That is the reason that everyone can practice magick, despite not having been born with a pool as big as yer friend... Lyana's."

"My pool must be very small," Nerluce said.

"Not necessarily," Taayir said. "Yer pool... ah well, it's just a little..." She rubbed the back of her neck. Just like when he was told his affinity - which he already knew - Nerluce had a feeling deep within his stomach that she was keeping something from him. "Yer pool is... polluted and- and that isn't yer fault at all!"

How did she know that he was going to say that? Nerluce laughed a bit helplessly.

Taayir smirked at him and then continued speaking. "The problem is... since the pool is polluted yer magick has trouble flowing outwards. But yer pool is still expanding and through time, eventually, the fire magick that has entered you will overwhelm the... pollution." She smiled at him. "But... for now we might need to try a bit of a different approach."

"Different?" Nerluce echoed.

"Yeah, yuh ain't the only student who's having trouble with this," Taayir said. "Some people... well some people need a more physical approach."

"There's something like that?" Nerluce asked, perking up.

"Kid, I told yuh on the first day of class that there's an unlimited number of ways to learn magick," she said. "I'll get yuh signed up."

"Thank- thank you!"

"Don't worry about it, kid. Just stay out of trouble in the meantime."

Nerluce, who in no way excelled in any environment where he was meant to sit still and absorb information just by listening to someone talk was more than thrilled by the idea of a different way to learn magick. A way that would let him get to move and actually do things other than just sitting hopelessly, staring at a candle.