WoW story Chapter 2

A couple of notes. As the WoW junkies might have already noticed, the story is starting just before the Troll Wars, which is almost 3000 years before the opening of the dark portal, so you should expect some time-skips both when growing up and after. I'll try to trickle those in, as I try with the system stuff. I don't want to overwhelm things by loading several chapters just full of it. I'll try to keep it manageable and digestible. That said, one of the reasons the starting date is this early is because things won't go just like they do in the lore. Expect heavy deviations from the lore, which get only heavier as time passes. Our main character is not the type to just sit on her hands for 3000 years, waiting for the story to happen. This isn't that kind of fic.

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“Ugh. I saw this coming.” She muttered as her first words the next morning. Her head didn’t hurt exactly, but she was having a slight information overload. The reason was rather obvious.

[You’ve unlocked the Magic attribute!]

[You’ve unlocked the Arcane skill!]

[You’ve unlocked the Spellbreaker skill!]

Magic, like the other two attributes she’d unlocked previously, was a combination of many things. The attribute itself was not a very information-heavy one. She got some information on the nature of magic itself, and she got her first hints at the different types of magic that existed, even if she didn't get specifics. No, as an attribute, Magic was very performance-focused. It seemed to improve all parts of magic. Even when casting a simple spell like a fireball, one cast by an experienced magister was very different from one cast by a new magic user like her, and the Magic attribute was part of that. As the attribute grew, each spell became more powerful, and she’d be able to cast more complicated spells faster and more easily.

There was theoretically nothing stopping her from casting a high-ranking spell right now if she studied well and had enough mana, but as her Magic attribute grew, it would become much easier. Something that was difficult now would be as easy as breathing with high Magic. As a result, spells would become faster to cast, and more complicated spell formulas would become more feasible to use. She also got the sense that any spells she cast would also become less fiddly with the formulas, tolerating more mistakes without blowing up in her face, and after a certain point she would be able to omit huge portions of the formulas if she wanted. When casting some spells became like second nature to experienced mages, they no longer required the crutch of the formula. It also decreased the mana each spell required. Interestingly, it didn’t increase her mana reserves, as that was apparently something she had to train herself.

That was just part of it, and she didn’t understand enough about magic to fully appreciate the true depth of the attribute she’d just gained. That would come with time. Interestingly, the system also let her know this was the one attribute she could start training right away. It would be more difficult to level until her body matured a bit more, but leveling it was possible, and gaining more mana through meditation was an option fully available to her.

Arcane was the opposite of Magic, in that it was extremely information-dense and the main source of the information overload. As the magic of Order, it was all about knowledge and understanding, and for the first time, the information the System provided her was almost completely new. The only portions that weren't were those that dealt with the actual physics of many spells. Funnily enough, although she'd only studied the tome on fire magic, she now had enough information on frost and arcane magic to cast their spells as well. Something had also clicked in her mind. Yesterday she would’ve been a bit hesitant to cast any spells without supervision, but now she was certain she would be able to cast the basic spells of all three elements without trouble. Her fire spells would be better, as she’d studied the tome, but she could cast frost or arcane as well. She didn’t, but she could. And as the skill went up, each of her spells would become more effective.

Fire spells were heavily influenced by emotions. Anger, passion, rage, joy, almost any emotion worked as an amplifying factor. Frost was the exact opposite. The more dispassionate you were while casting, the better. It wasn’t like you couldn’t cast frost spells while angry, or fire spells while emotionless, but it would affect the outcome. Arcane on the other hand seemed to be all about logic and math. It was all about controlling magic in its purest form through measured actions and calculations. Emotions simply weren't a factor. Selessa could easily see how certain elements appealed to certain personality types.

The Spellbreaker skill was all about ruining a caster’s day, week, or even their life. It was all about taking hold of uppity mages, shaking them, and telling them no. In the most brutal way possible. What she got from the skill was an intriguing combination of techniques, exercises, and knowledge, but the skill would also make all those anti-magic options more effective. Even the most basic counterspell might become enough to stop the grandest spell if the skill was high enough. At least in theory. The skill wasn’t anything mechanical like 200% effectiveness to counterspell or anything; it only told her how a spell might be stopped with certain techniques. Weaknesses in the structure of most spells. And the higher the skill, the better she’d know how to achieve that goal. She would have to do all the actual work herself.

Interestingly, the skill provided her a first look into another facet of Spellbreakers that the basic tome had not gone into, namely the handling of magic that was already in effect. A skilled Spellbreaker could dominate a magic-rich battlefield when it came to stripping their enemies of spells enhancing and reinforcing them, while removing negative magic afflicting their allies. There could also be all sorts of magic that could be dispelled, such as conjured beings or objects. A powerful enough Spellbreaker could even destroy enchanted items and equipment on the battlefield.

Well, at least now she had something to do and strive towards.

After her morning run, and after a nice bath, she sat down in front of the library to meditate. This was something she knew how to do. Even if the process of growing her mana was not the same as it was when she was training her psionic might, it wasn’t all that different either. It only took her seconds to enter into a comfortable enough rhythm that the process became almost automatic, and she slipped deeper into her meditation. She could feel the ambient mana flowing into her. Slowly at first, and then gaining speed until it almost felt like she was in the middle of a small vortex.

She didn't know how long she was meditating until her concentration was broken by a voice. "I thought we agreed no spells, little one?" Nallorath's voice carried a hint of disapproval, but also understanding. It wasn't uncommon for starting mages to want to test their abilities. He’d once again dressed in rather flamboyant red and gold robes, which fluttered as he strode closer.

“Huh? I wasn’t casting any spells though?” Selessa was confused. Everything around her looked fine as well, so it wasn’t like she was spontaneously spouting fire or anything.

"Maybe not intentionally. What you just touched upon is actually a rather advanced technique called the Evocation. It's a rather intense way for a mage to replenish their mana in the middle of a fight. It takes many precious seconds to perform and requires utter concentration, and after the fight, you'll feel like you've run a long distance but sometimes needs must in dangerous situations.” Nallorath explained.

“I’m…fine though. I was just meditating.” She jumped up and performed a cartwheel just to demonstrate.

“So it seems. I did say you only touched on the technique, and I now realize you weren’t trying to cast it. It’s not really something taught to beginner mages. Still, I thought it wise to mention.” Nallorath smiled, showing that he was mostly just teasing her.

“Speaking of. Since I’ve almost cast my first spell, we might as well go all the way and have me do it properly.” She had a playful smile of her own.

"Oh? You got far enough in the tome to think you can cast a spell?" Nallorath wasn't too surprised. He'd expected the girl to be gifted, and it didn't take long for someone gifted to grasp something basic like fireball.

“Read the whole thing actually.” She muttered mostly to herself. Nallorath heard her though.

“You did? A fast reader then. We’ll have to see how well you understood what you read though. Here.” With a wave of his hand, he conjured up several targets. They seemed to be mostly glowing lights, but there seemed to be something more solid inside the glowing objects. “Cast a spell of your choice at the target of your choosing.”

Selessa recalled the feeling of drawing on the mana inside her from yesterday, while at the same time forming her first magic formula. A glowing red circle appeared in front of her extended hand with dozens of glowing red glyphs around the circle. She could mostly tell what each of the glyphs stood for and why, though not quite all of them. In the center of the circle was a single large glyph that seemed to signify the core of the spell being cast. As the process seemed to finish, her mana flowed through the formula, and a ball of fire shot toward the nearest target. The whole process had taken five or six seconds to complete, though half of that was just because she focused so much on the process of her first spell.

As the fireball hit the target, the glowing thingy suddenly shifted green but didn't seem to have suffered any damage. "Well done. Your first official fireball. The first of many I assume. You managed to form the formula correctly, and your memory is obviously great. That was a perfect example of a basic fireball. Most people forget some of the glyphs, which can have unpredictable results depending on which glyph they forget.”

“What do the glyphs mean? I mean, I know roughly what they’re for, as that’s somewhat required for casting the spell, but they aren’t in Thalassian.” She asked. Thalassian was the language of Quel’thalas.

“That’s the interesting part. Each mage that creates or customizes their spells uses their own symbology. Because magic can’t read, it doesn’t actually matter what shape the glyph is. What matters is what it means to you. Magic then understands the glyph through you or others using the same formula. The glyphs in the tome are the standard ones used since the ancient times when we were still part of the Kaldorei Empire. You'll find that most magisters that reach a high enough skill level will start using their own symbology. It's not just because it's more effective and personalized. It also helps when others can’t identify exactly what you’re casting. The glyphs only need to firmly hold the meaning you want. Still, that’s something for much later.” He waved a hand and the targets started to slowly move around seemingly at random. “Ok, now let’s try that again, but against a moving target.”

She repeated the process a dozen times. First, her aim was a little iffy, but the targets weren't exactly fast, and once she got a hang of it, all of her fireballs hit the target she was aiming at. One of the hits caused the target to turn red instead of green though. “What’s with the red?” She asked right away.

“Ah, that signifies that you did hit, but it wasn’t a clean enough hit to really damage the target sufficiently. When you get more practice, we’ll also have the targets require enough power to count as hits, but that’s for much later.” Nallorath said, rather proud of her progress. “Ok, let’s try to modify your spell a bit. Which of the glyphs in your formula controls the speed of the projectile?”

She created the glowing formula without channeling mana through it and pointed at one of the squiggly glyphs at the top. The question was obviously testing her understanding of the formula.

“Very good. Now, if you did indeed read the whole book, you should know how to replace that glyph with another one that makes the fireball travel faster.” Nallorath wanted to push her, to see how much she could really do and how much she really understood.

Wordlessly, she replaced the glyph with another she’d learned from the book and then channeled mana through it. She could feel right away that it required a bit more mana to successfully. Not enough to really matter, but enough for her to notice. The fireball burst from the formula and traveled with much more speed this time. She frowned a little as the effect once the fireball hit the target seemed to be the same.

“What’s with that frown?” Nallorath asked, noticing the change. “You succeeded.”

“The spell has no real mass. I thought the increased speed would also increase the power, but with no mass…” She left the rest hanging in the air. The only improvement from the modification was that it would be easier to hit moving targets.

Nallorath smiled wide. “Well done. You can learn to add mass to your spells that don’t inherently have any but that’s a very advanced modification. Certain spells, like arcane missiles or most frost spells, have mass, but that's because the spell requires it to function effectively. Setting someone on fire on the other hand doesn't require mass."

“But without mass, there’s no concussive force. There’s no proper explosion that way. It has very little stopping power without that concussive force.” She argued.

“Well done again. Fire spells generally aren’t known for their stopping power. That’s why you don’t generally use them when someone is charging at you. That’s what frost is for. Or you could learn how to tweak the spell formula to add mass, but that makes the formula a lot more complicated and thus takes longer to cast. Again, not something you want when someone is charging at you with a sword or an axe.” Nallorath was enjoying teaching someone with enough smarts to notice these things. “Now, I assume that isn’t the only spell you learned if you read the whole tome.”

She created another formula, a much faster one this time, and a small beam of scorching energy shot from her hand to one of the targets. A much larger and unwieldier formula created a glowing area on the ground before a small tornado of flames covered that area.

“Scorch and flamestrike. Good. You have the basics down. We’ll spend the next lessons tweaking and training all three spells until you can cast all of them much more effectively and much faster. Ideally, you should be able to cast the basic spells on instinct and without thought and focus. As such, there will be as much repetition as your mana allows. How are you doing on that front?” He asked, slightly concerned. She’d cast quite a lot of spells for such a young girl, and she did seem the type to push herself.

She took a quick look inward and noticed only a slight dip in the reservoir inside her. “I’m fine.” She said simply.

“Very good. It seems you are blessed with a rather nice mana pool to start with. Not that I’m shocked after all this. The positive thing is that with that kind of mana, you can heavily modify your spells to be much more effective without running dry after a couple of casts. Makes our future lessons easier. Don’t skip on your meditation though. I don’t tolerate waste of talent and your current mana is just your starting point.” He took a firm stance on such things. Many gifted Quel’dorei magisters wasted their potential by spending most of their time on frivolous pursuits instead.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” She reassured him. “It’s not like I’m too busy with other things. Not much to do here, honestly.”

“Let me oversee your meditation then. I can do some work on my own, and if things go to plan, father might also come to visit later today.” Nallorath suggested, which suited her just fine.

Nallorath used one of the tables inside the library to read some documents, while Selessa once again disappeared into her inner world while meditating. She again couldn’t tell how much time had passed when a voice called out to her. “I just heard father is coming. I already sent word for the servants to prepare some dinner, so we can converse while we eat.”

“Sounds good to me.” She agreed while standing back up and shaking off the lingering effects of her meditation. Apparently, she'd been at it for a while, as she had to flex her legs as she got up to work the numbness out.

The Sunstrider Estate was a rather elegant affair. The white stone and red banners and curtains were ever-present as they were in all Quel’dorei architecture. Much of the stone was decorated with gold scrollwork, and statues of the members of the Sunstrider dynasty decorated the front garden. Quel’dorei didn’t really do modest and understated, so the decorations were excessive in her opinion, to say the least, but here it was done in a way that it didn’t seem tacky at least. There were things that were magical with no real reason, like some of the self-moving brooms that kept sweeping the floors by themselves. The Quel’dorei also didn’t seem to believe in doors, and most arched doorways were simply covered with curtains, if that.

The amount of space here was excessive as well, especially considering that the Sunstrider dynasty didn’t have that many current members. Maybe in the past, the builders had dreamt of a huge family. Currently, all members of the Sunstrider family Selessa was aware of were Anasterian, Nallorath, her mother Selenna, and maybe a distant cousin or two. To avoid any potential dynastic struggles, other members of the family aside from those in the direct line of succession were commonly married off to other families. Her mother was something of an anomaly because her father was not from a prominent family, and had only been allowed to marry her mother due to his personal power. Or that was as much as she’d been able to gather so far. It was highly likely that she’d be married off eventually as well, especially if Nallorath produced an heir. So, she theoretically had more relatives, but they weren’t part of the dynasty anymore. She did get the feeling the royal family was small on purpose.

Anasterian was already waiting for them in the room usually used for daily meals, so not any of the grander rooms meant for entertaining guests, and got up to meet them with a slightly relieved smile. “It’s good to see some friendly faces. Son. Little one.”

"I think that little one was directed toward you too.” Selessa theatrically whispered Nallorath.

He gave a small chuckle before going to shake hands with his father. “I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was. Rough day?”

“Always. And who else would I mean?” Anasterian grinned playfully, before pulling Selessa in for a one-armed hug. “Now let’s sup before I starve.” He clapped his hands, and the servants brought in the dishes.

Even in these circumstances, the servants avoided looking her in the eyes, something both Anasterian and Nallorath noticed. Anasterian didn't react, but Nallorath couldn't hold in his frown at their behavior. "Are they always like this?" He asked once the servants had withdrawn. He started piling food on his plate at the same time.

“More or less. They’re less subtle about it when you’re not around. I haven’t yet figured out if they’re afraid of me, or if they think of me as somehow illegitimate since I don’t have your eyes.” She replied with a mirthless smile. She too took a decent portion from the greens and fruits on offer.

“Want me to do something about it?” Anasterian asked, his voice not revealing his thoughts either way.

“I’d rather you didn’t. It’s their problem and I can tolerate it. They’re not actually disrespectful about it. Otherwise, I’d put my foot down as well. They simply avoid me and especially my eyes.” She dismissed any concerns they might have.

Glancing at her plate, Nallorath decided to comment. “You’re not eating any of the meat? This quail is magnificent.”

“Oh, I eat meat on occasion, just not very often.” Truthfully, her meat intake was quite limited. It wasn’t some moral stance. She'd simply lived thousands of years in her previous life on ships, and even their continent-sized craftworlds didn't have enough space for raising animals for consumption. As a result, she wasn't all that used to meat. She still ate some to get some of the necessary nutrients and protein, but she was simply more used to a plant-based diet.

"You've started your magic lessons, right?" Anasterian asked, elegantly lifting a piece of fruit to his mouth with his silver fork. Even the fork held some magic, likely just to keep it shiny. The elves seemed big on such trifling enchantments.

“Yesterday was the first lesson. Today she cast her first spells. Too early to tell anything, but so far so good.” Nallorath kept his praise minimal.

“What tome did she pick?” Anasterian leaned closer out of sheer curiosity.

“She picked the Spellbreaker tome actually. I had her pick a second one as well, and she picked fire.” Nallorath smiled a bit at that. “Incidentally, you’ll need to allow one of your elite guards to come and train her as a Spellbreaker at some point if you want to honor her choice.” His voice hinted that he didn’t think Anasterian would do it, for some reason.

Anasterian laughed. “Should’ve guessed she wouldn’t do anything the simple way. It’s fine. Most of the Spellbreakers that aren’t keeping an eye on the magisters are just training anyway. Might as well train her while at it. Don’t want them to grow fat and lazy.” He smiled at his own memories before speaking. His casual acceptance seemed to catch Nallorath by surprise. “I remember picking the fire tome first as well. Funny how that one is almost always the first. Or in this case second.”

“The Spellbreaker tome was rather interesting as well, although a bit too advanced to really put into practice yet.” She played down her understanding. “Still, I can already tell why they’d be the bane of spellcasters.”

“Oh, that reminds me!” Anasterian suddenly sat up straighter. “I ran some of your ideas by one of my advisors. Talanas really liked many of your ideas about fighting the trolls. We’re ramping up the training and numbers of the rangers, and we’re starting an elite unit of rangers called the Farstriders specifically to combat the threat of the trolls. We’re also quietly increasing the numbers of our military. The Convocation wasn’t happy about the extra spending, but they do recognize the necessity.”

“Is that why you seemed so pensive when we came in?” Nallorath asked slightly hesitantly. Selessa could tell some topics seemed a bit sensitive.

Anasterian sighed and sat down his utensils. “Unfortunately, no, and this concerns you as well. The Convocation is pushing me to take an official wife.”

Selessa cleared her throat. “I suppose now might be the time to ask a couple of the questions I’ve been wondering about.”

The corner of Anasterian’s mouth twitched into a slight smile. “I suppose it is. Nallorath was…born as a result of indiscretion. I’m not sorry about it and I’d do it again knowing the result. Still, it was a bit of a scandal when it occurred. His mother was a servant, and our liaison was not meant to be a permanent arrangement. My late father had her reassigned after Nallorath was born, to put a stop to the affair.”

“She’s alive?” Selessa asked carefully. She had thought Anasterian was a bit young to have a hundred-year-old son, since that meant he had been less than twice Nallorath’s current age when he’d had the affair.

"Last I heard. She was assigned to our emissary to Kalimdor and the Kaldorei. Anyway, the Convocation would never tolerate her becoming a queen. Even consort would be…a lot to some noble families.” She felt there was a lot left unsaid. “They’ve expressed the need for me to marry some respectable daughter of a respectable family. I’m not all that keen, but it would ease tensions, and it wouldn’t be too bad for Nallorath to have siblings.” He didn’t seem too enthusiastic despite his words.

“If that is your choice, I’ll be happy to grant my blessing, if such is being sought.” Nallorath tried to bring some levity.

“That would take a weight off my shoulders. If and when I do accept, things are likely to proceed rather quickly.” Anasterian added. “I might not want to take a queen, but a consort at least would be tolerable. Anyway, I’d rather wring some more concessions out of them before I commit to anything, but I’m entertaining the idea at least.”

Selessa pondered for a moment. “Forgive my question but I’m not entirely clear on the particulars. Assuming you were to take a queen, or even a consort as you mentioned, what would that mean for Nallorath? Would he still be the crown prince?”

"That's not a bad question," Nallorath stated, and she could sense there was something hidden behind his words. Things like these went into the weeds of succession law that hadn’t been necessary in Quel’thalas before, and by some standards, he was a bastard son. The law had never been made clear before, because it hadn’t been necessary.

Anasterian nodded. “Regardless of his and his mother’s status, Nallorath is still considered a full member of the Sunstrider dynasty since he was recognized by me. Unless he marries into another house of course, but that would be highly bizarre for the presumed crown prince, and would only happen if there was some particular reason why it was necessary to remove him from the line of succession. Incidentally, you’re in the line of succession too. Currently behind Nallorath and your mother, Selenna. Any new children I may or may not have would theoretically be positioned behind Nallorath and before your mother. That said, the line of succession only matters if something catastrophic happens. I will eventually officially appoint the crown prince. My choice doesn’t necessarily have to be Nallorath, who’s only the presumptive crown prince until I make an official choice. Who I appoint doesn’t need to follow the line of succession, as we’re not stupid enough as a people to be beholden to such things. If someone like your mother, for instance, was first in line, no one would bat an eye if I skipped them over.”

Selessa gave a shudder. “Let us all hope the situation never gets desperate enough that my mother is considered for the role.” She half-joked.

"I'll drink to that," Anasterian said in a tone that made it clear he wasn't joking at all.

“I suppose that means you’ll have to avoid accidentally blowing me up during training.” Nallorath on the other hand was trying to lighten the mood, even if she could see something less chipper in his eyes.

Selessa made a theatrical sigh. “If I must.”

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She really had to lift an eyebrow at the message in the morning. It was the first time the System was addressing her directly.

[The System would like to file a protest. You still haven’t unlocked the full functionality of the attributes and skills, and you’re very, very specifically unable to increase Charisma while so young. The attribute carries along with it physical changes that your body is unable to handle. Yet, you’re influencing politics on the kingdom level without even really meaning to. Something that would usually be the exact kind of thing that would get you massive improvements in your Politics skill and the associated Charisma attribute. The System is unsure how to deal with this. A decision has been reached, however. Neither your attribute nor skill will grow until you're ready. That said, any improvements you would’ve made are saved and applied to you once you reach a sufficient level of physical maturity. Normally, improving Charisma would make further improvements easier, but this is obviously not the case in this situation. As compensation for both the delay and the compounding improvements, the improvement of Charisma has been made significantly easier in the interim. Normally, you’d be expected to improve several skills to effectively improve the associated attribute, but you can’t be expected to do that when you haven’t even unlocked those skills and wouldn’t be able to improve them with the associated attribute locked, so we’ll ease up on the conditions to improve the stat to help it grow along with your Politics skill.]

“Thanks…?” She muttered, not sure if she fully understood the implications.

[You are welcome. The downside is that once you do reach sufficient age, the physical changes will be applied immediately and all at once, which can be quite drastic and hard to get used to. You will essentially grow up overnight.]

What she did get though, was that improving attributes was hard work, and apparently improving the associated skills was one way to do it. However, she’d gotten the distinct impression that she could, for instance, improve her Magic attribute without necessarily improving any of the skills. Was it just a Magic thing, or did it apply to other attributes as well?

She dressed in her exercise clothing, preparing to head out on her run. She had a fair bit to think about. As she stepped outside though, she noticed a tall and uncharacteristically bulky, for a Quel’dorei, man in heavy and ornate armor standing in the yard, looking a little out of place. The man had a helmet with sweeping red wings above his head and covering most of his face, a large red and gold shield, and armor that was also uncharacteristically heavy for their people. She guessed it would qualify as full plate if she had to categorize it. The material was something she hadn't seen before and seemed quite light.

“Excuse me, you look like you could use some help.” She said stepping up to the man.

“Oh, maybe you’re right little one. I was supposed to meet my new student here, but I was given sparse information. This student is the niece of our king, and that’s about the extent of my knowledge. Makes it a bit challenging to find a person with just that.” The man explained.

“Ah, that would be me. I was not informed I had a new teacher, hence why I wasn’t here to meet you. Seems both of us are working on faulty information.” She explained with a smile.

“You’re my new student.” The man asked, clearly surprised. “Aren’t you a little…young?” For once, he wasn’t looking at her eyes like most others.

“I am. I assume you’re one of Uncle Anasterian’s Spellbreakers?” She confirmed.

“Indeed. Commander Thelion Salonar.” The man nodded in greeting.

"I'm Selessa Sunstrider, as you probably know. My uncle mentioned he'd get me a teacher in the arts of the Spellbreakers, but I did not expect one this quickly. I think the idea is to train me in the less physically demanding aspects of the order. I recognize being a Spellbreaker is a physically demanding path, and I can't match that at my current age." She speculated.

Thelion made a sound that wasn’t quite agreement or disagreement. “The king should be aware, but many of the techniques he wants me to teach you are more physical than most might think. Unlike with magisters, you can’t really separate the magical and physical aspects. But we will see what we can do. First, I’ll need to evaluate your current state and your motivation. You seem to be dressed for training. So, let's go. We'll run until I say stop."

And so they did. Selessa had to take two steps for every one Thelion took, and he was at most jogging while he ran much faster than was advisable for long distances, but she gave it her best. She was no stranger to giving her all, and she was in better condition than anyone her age had any right to be, but it was inevitable that she ran out of stamina eventually.

"Not as bad as I thought," Thelion admitted while watching her kneel on the ground while vomiting in a bush. For the third time this morning, thus she was pretty much just dry-heaving. “You gave it your all without a single complaint. That’s a lot more than I can say for many of our much older recruits.”

“Thanks?” She mumbled uncertainly. She really needed to wash her mouth.

"No problem. All that said, you clearly don't have the physicality for any of the real techniques, though I suppose I can show you some of the basics. Another day. You're not in a condition to really learn anything today. I will encourage you to persist in your physical training though. It’s going to start paying dividends soon enough.” Thelion was rather brutal in his estimation, but also brutally honest. Something she could appreciate.

“Whether I’m in any condition to learn or not, I’ll still have to later on. My other teacher is coming later.” She mostly joked.

“Other teacher?” Thelion asked.

“Nallorath. My magic teacher.” She explained, a little thrown off by the question.

“Prince Nallorath? That’s interesting. Just a hint, I would not advise mentioning being taught both magic and my craft to others. Well, you’re not really learning from me yet. Regardless, I’ll keep a secret as it’s my duty, but you should know that while it’s not exactly outlawed to teach both to a single person, that’s only because no one has ever thought it necessary to outlaw something that has been an unspoken rule for so long.” Thelion said in a serious voice, making it clear just how important this was.

“Why?” She asked, surprised.

"Think about it. Magisters are the holders of real power in our society. The only shackles limiting their power are the Spellbreakers. We’re the king’s iron fist keeping the magisters in line. That only works as long as the magisters can’t counter the Spellbreakers. Now, if there’s a magister who’s also a Spellbreaker…”

“Then they’d know how to avoid the techniques meant to be used against them, thus becoming your worst nightmare.” She finished the thought.

“Exactly. I’m sure the king knows what he’s doing, but he is taking a risk here. A risk that I wouldn’t advertise.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She promised.

Nallorath arrived a couple of hours after Thelion had left. "You look a bit on the tired side." He commented.

"Your father sent my other trainer." She explained curtly. "He did say something interesting though. Apparently, it's not common for someone to be trained both as a magister and a Spellbreaker."

"Ah. Yes, I thought your teacher might bring that up. And he's right. It is not. However, that unwritten rule doesn't really apply to the king and his successor.  In fact, my grandfather was probably the strongest Spellbreaker of his time, due to having access to techniques that aren't common among the rank-and-file.  Think about it. Who has a palace guard that's specifically trained to kill people like the king without knowing how to work around them?" Nallorath sat down next to her in the library where she had been meditating, something that had become her most common activity to pass the time.

"Right. That makes sense. Does raise a couple of further questions though. I'm pretty sure you said you weren't trained in those skills, and notably, I'm not the successor." She pointed out the obvious gaps in the explanation.

“The first part is easy. It’s not that I didn’t try, I just have no talent for their methods. I’m a good mage, but I’d be a complete failure as a Spellbreaker. As for why you, I’m not sure. My father has a plan of some sort. I’m certain of it. I’m also not privy to what that plan is. It’s rather obvious you’re a big part of those plans, and I would do the same in his place.” He looked her directly in the eyes. “Let’s not pretend you’re a normal child. We both know that’s not true. I’m not sure why or how, but it is what it is. You clearly aren’t planning on resting on your laurels and becoming a socialite like your mother. Might as well turn that energy and drive into something useful. If my father didn’t have plans for you, it’d be a horrible waste. It might even be that he's not sure what to do with you yet. He might simply want to arm you with everything he can to make sure you’re ready whenever he does figure out what to do with you.”

“Fair enough.” She pursed her lips. “I’m somewhat surprised neither you nor your father have asked. You I understand, since we’ve only known a few days. Him though?”

“Would you answer if I did ask?” Nallorath tilted his head in question.

“Eventually, perhaps.” She allowed.

“Then I won’t ask until that eventually becomes to pass.” He reassured her. “Even with knowing you for only a few days, I can already tell a lot about you. And one of the things I can tell is that you don’t mean harm. To us at least.”

She grimaced. "You trust too easily. It's going to bite you eventually."

He laughed mirthlessly. “Perhaps. Father has mentioned something similar. But I prefer to walk this path anyway. It might not be the right attitude for a king, but I believe it is for me.” He stood up. “Now let’s go and cast some magic. Maybe this time I’ll add a little more challenge to your targets.”