Inyanga's Star and Other Constellations

I.iii If Inyanga Gets In

One afternoon before the magic scavenge the class watched Part II of Mirai Ossani's documentary All the Stars in the Sky: Nonmagical Astrophysics From the First Dawn. So soon after lunch filled their bellies, it seemed every head in the classroom had fallen to the desk, including that of Maestra Alma.

"You are the hardest working students in the empire," Alma would say in the afternoons, after lunch. "If your bodies need sleep in the afternoon, let them sleep."

It did get dark and warm, and Inyanga's eyelids would sink under the weight of sleepiness, but she wanted most to stay awake, in case the movie led to any knowledge she shouldn't miss. All of her waking hours she spent like a living sponge, soaking up information in case she came upon any shred of it that would help her get ahead.

Inyanga fought yawns, sat up straight, and took notes with a good and inky pen. She would remember for years to come a statement from Mirai Ossani's voice over because it left her with so many questions. "The stellar energy taken for magical purposes is mainly generated from a star's corona — the outermost part of the star, which extends for millions of miles into space." Captured by what Mirai was saying, she listened hard, and her pen began racing down the page in an attempt to catch every word.

"This energy mostly goes to waste, merely dissipating and cooling as it spreads farther and farther from the core — a star's densest and hottest area. The most primitive magia required large amounts of energy, due to low efficiency. Early Constellation researchers and mahias recommended channeling directly from stellar cores, but we have had great progress since those early days. Now only a small amount need be taken from the corona, and with so many stars to provide an energy source in our universe, there is no cause for worry that magica will deplete an entire star. The energy source for magic is almost entirely renewable."

After the movie, when Maestra Alma woke up, Inyanga asked, "Why did Directora Ossani discuss stellar energy as a magic source when the movie is called 'Nonmagical Astrophyics . . . From the First Dawn.'"

Alma looked thoughtful for a moment. "The focus of the movie was nonmagical, while the discussion of stellar energy as a magic source was quite limited. Mirai Ossani is a licensed mahia; however, Constellation regulations prevent the disclosure of any information pertaining to magic, as the Constellation University must remain the only source of magic training to ensure standardization and high quality education. And to ensure that magia is taught in a safe and standardized format. Any other questions?"

A part of Inyanga wondered at Alma's ability to answer the question when even she had slept through the movie — but she reasoned and accepted that Alma had probably seen it before. And yes, she did have more questions. Many more. In all her years of book diving and all nighters spent studying, she had never come across such a detailed description of the part of the star from which magica engineers drew stellar energy.

When she put up her hand again, though, Masetra Alma ignored her and chose Esperanza instead — Esperanza, who had spent all but the first fourteen minutes of the film snoring deeply and loudly. Indeed, Esperanza asked a really basic question about information covered in the first five minutes. "In our universe, there are a finite number of stars, right?"

"That's correct," said Alma.

"What about the multiverse?"

"Potentially infinite, but that's a question you'll have to ask a magic professor at the Universita." Alma had a way of pretending every single one of them was going to magicians college that didn't bother any of them, every single student swelling with sincere pride.

Inyanga kept her hand up until the time ran down and a bell rang for afternoon break, at which point Alma's eyes glinted in her direction for the first time in a long while and said, "Any other questions, if you really must ask, will need to be brought to me after break — after I get myself a coffee." Half standing half sitting on her desk, she got up, waving Inyanga off, and headed to the school's cafe to get into the kitchen's coffee pot.

Why wouldn't Alma take her questions? It really sounded like the source for magia was completely sustainable. How come no one ever talked about this? She hadn't known magia came from a renewable source.

Everyone seemed to figure Constellation risked killing stars day in and day out, burning them out.

This information was fascinating, and she wanted to know more about it.

Inyanga didn't let Alma make the trip back before accosting her. "Why does the documentary label itself non-magical and then talk about mahia, and the source of stellar energy?"

Sipping and swallowing coffee from an invisible force field cup, Alma said, "Every year I hope a student will think about that question. It's not exactly my place to answer it. In fact, the answer is kind of prohibited. If you're asking a question like this, I would imagine it's because you already know the answer, don't you?"

Wanting a sure answer, Inyanga stated her theory out loud. "What Mirai said in that documentary — she wasn't allowed to say that, was she? She told the public prohibited information about mahia. She's not allowed to tell non-magical people about how its source is renewable, or any other information that's classified by Constellation University. Did she put 'non-magical' in the title to get past some kind of censor?"

"I don't know, did she?" asked Maestra Alma, and she just walked away with her coffee.

Thank you for reading the Inyanga's Star! All of your thoughts and feedback will help me to workshop and revise this book. I'm so grateful to hear what you think! Have a good one and stay safe, fam.