A sharp knock at the door startled Pria awake. She shot upright, looking around wildly. She was in a bed—a very plush, soft bed with thick blankets and several pillows, the curtains around it drawn shut. It took her a moment for her to remember where she was, but when she did, she didn't relax in the slightest. Her heart shot into her throat, and she all but tumbled out of the bed, sheets tangling around her legs as she landed straight in the middle of a sunbeam.

Pria blinked. The room was almost painfully bright after the darkness around the bed. She climbed to her feet, one hand idly running along the length of her cap and pulling it down.

The night before, she waited up to confront Rahu when he came, huddled in the corner of the bed with a pillow clutched to her chest like the world's worst shield. She must have dozed off at some point.

Now it was morning. Pria struggled to process the information. Rahu never came?

The knock sounded again, louder this time. Pria scrambled up only to fall again with the sheets still wrapped up in her legs. She hissed, tugging at the silk. "How did something so smooth—?"

"Miss Pria? Are you awake?" Viris's voice called through the door. The panic in Pria's chest eased at his rich baritone.

"Yes," she replied. Finally free, she rushed to the door, barely remembering to straighten her clothes before pulling it open.

Viris looked pristine, not a feather out of place. He wore the same outfit as yesterday except for the handkerchief in his breast pocket—a rich purple with a silver sheen replacing the seafoam of the day before. He bowed his head in greeting, the picture of respect even though Pria hadn't even changed her clothes or brushed her hair. "Breakfast is ready, miss."

"Pria!" Pria ducked away as Geight came charging into the room, flying right up to her face and circling her head. "Pria, Pria, gooooood morning! Did you sleep well?"

"Mister Geight," Viris sighed. "What did we talk about regarding personal space?"

Pria smiled even as she held her hands up to ward Geight away. "It's alright, sir. No harm done."

Geight still, hovering next to Pria's head as she gave a pleased pulse. "Yeah, Viris, no harm done!"

Geight squeaked as Viris levelled a flat look at the aspect, darting behind Pria to escape the kinnara's chastisement. Viris shared a look with Pria, his eyes smiling knowingly. "Very well, then. Come to the dining room at your leisure, Miss Pria. And do try to remember your manners, Mister Geight."

Geight peeked out from behind Pria, body rippling. "I always remember my manners. I just... don't always act on them."

Viris hummed, arching an eyebrow and taking his leave with a swish of his tailcoat. Pria glanced at Geight before turning to the armoire. She really didn't want to be scrutinized by the tower and Rahu, but she wanted out of these filthy, grimy, threadbare clothes. If the tower was nice enough to find some garments her size, she'd just have to hope that Geight was right and it wasn't that nosey.

"What are you doing here, Geight?" Pria asked as she headed into the bedchamber. The orb drifted in behind her, his body nearly drowned out by the bright sunlight in the room.

"Everyone else is busy," he lamented, though his light didn't change colors, so Pria figured he wasn't too upset. Unless his colors actually had nothing to do with his mood. Pria didn't know, she was still so new—but she would learn. "All the other aspects have jobs they tend to all day—well, except for Nine, but she's still growing. Viris is nice, but he's busy a lot and prone to lecturing. So I thought I'd come say hi to you!"

Pria smiled as she plucked a blue tunic from its hangar. "Well, could you say hi from the other room? I'd like to change."

Geight immediately bobbed away even as he kept chattering. "Rahu doesn't like us in the room when he changes either. Which doesn't make sense to me because we're not even alive, so why would we care which parts you've got extra flesh in? Viris says it's about property or something."

Pria paused. She'd been so busy worrying over Rahu's magic spying on her, she didn't even think about how much Geight would know about him. The aspect was enough of a chatterbox that it would probably be easy to get information out of him without prodding too much. Slipping on her new shoes, she tried to keep her voice as casual as possible. "Hey, Geight?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me about Master Rahu?"

The aspect was floating over the chess board when she walked back into the room, a beam of light shooting out of his body as he replicated the different pieces in the middle. He gave her a pulse, abandoning his illusions to spin around her. "Oh! New clothes! How nice." He drew closer to her face, and Pria swatted him away. "Still need to take a bath though. You're awful dusty. Rahu, huh? What do you want to know?"

His daily schedule, where he sleeps, where he usually eats, how to gain his trust in the most efficient way possible. Pria bit the inside of her cheek, deciding that any of those were probably too obvious even for Geight's obliviousness. "Do you know if he'll be eating breakfast with me and Viris?" she settled on. If Geight started chattering, it would be easy for him to reveal something Pria could use.

His light tinged with a light gray that might have been confusion. "Maybe? If he's not doing something else. Storm season is starting, you know, so everyone's been especially busy lately, and Rahu often loses track of the time. I was talking to Qwo the other day—"

"Wait," Pria said, brow furrowed. "You're saying he always eats with Viris?"

The gray in his light darkened a shade. "Yeah? Where else would he eat?"

Pria stared at him, waiting for his light to shine bright and tell her he was joking. He didn't. "He's the lord of his tower," she said slowly, "It's not proper for him to eat with his servants."

"It's not proper to sneak in an apprentice as a servant either," Geight said. At Pria's stunned silence, his light eased back to its normal color. "Anyway, I was talking to Qwo the other day—"

Pria let the sound of his voice wash over her without bothering to catch any of the words. Rahu didn't come to her chambers last night. He ate dinner with them because in his sideways world, masters sat with their servants every night for dinner. It had nothing to do with her. So then why did he take her in? Why did he maneuver around the king's orders for her?

She thought of the way he looked at her—lingering gazes and cold, calculating eyes. Rahu was a scientist—a magical scientist, but still a scientist. She doubted he got his hands on many new specimens or test subjects in a place so far removed from civilization.

That must be it. Rahu wanted to use her for his experiments. The thought was infinitely better than him using her for her body. It would be much harder to know what exactly would happen to her, but it wasn't nearly as terrifying as the helplessness and objectification of the day before.

Pria let out a long, slow breath carrying some of the weight from the last day. Maybe she didn't have to wait up at night expecting a leering visitor. It was too soon to know for certain, but Pria couldn't help the hope she felt. Cestra always said she was too quick to accept good news, but Pria needed this. She was too alone to scorn any hope that came her way.

Pria left the room, Geight floating behind her as he prattled on about something Qwo and Dree—which had to be two of the other aspects—did to some bandits that tried to raid the tower during the last storm season. It involved a lot of apologies and maniacal laughter, respectively. She cracked open the door across the hall with more than a little caution.

Geight laughed, the sound warm and easy. "The tower is already giving you trouble? Yes! I win!"

Thankfully, the room beyond was just the dining room. The lights from yesterday were gone, leaving just the sunlight pouring in from above. Viris sat by himself at the table, no Rahu in sight. Pria frowned over her shoulder at Geight. "You win what?"

"The bet! Aone said it would take at least three days before the tower started bothering you. I said that it would only take a day. He has to bring me something for my collection now." He darted past her into the dining room, swooping over to the chair at the opposite end of the table as Rahu sat last night. Viris nodded to the orb and to Pria as she stepped inside.

A plate of pancakes covered in a variety of berries waited for her. Pria thanked the kinnara as she tucked in, content to sit with nothing but the quiet clink of silverware against porcelain. Geight managed to stay silent for a few minutes before striking up a mostly one-sided conversation with Viris, chattering on about the plants in the greenhouse or Dree's latest shenanigans. Pria was surprised to find she didn't mind the aspect's idle prattle, listening with half an ear and smirking at his enthusiasm. It was useful, at least, for learning a couple of the other aspects. Beyond Dree that Geight referred to as 'she', there was also Aone, a 'he', who apparently had the misfortune of bearing the brunt of Dree's pranks. Pria filed the information away, determined to learn about all of the aspects before the day was out.

Viris excused himself before Pria was done with her meal, citing some clothing that needed mending. "Head to the library when you're done. Master Rahu should be waiting with your assignment."

Pria gave a curt nod. She set down her fork as Viris left, her appetite curdling up and waltzing out the door with him. She glanced at Geight. The orb had drifted over by the fireplace at some point during his rambling. His body wavered with reds and oranges that almost looked like flames. Pria focused on his childish antics and not the constricting feeling in her chest.

She wasn't sure if he knew she was watching or if he just noticed her, but eventually he let his light go back to its usual yellow and floated back towards her. "What's that taste like?"

Pria stared down at the scraps left of her pancakes and fruit. She poked idly at one of the blueberries and watched it roll across the plate. "Sweet?"

"What's that like?" Geight asked. She couldn't be sure, but it seemed like he was watching her push her food around.

She frowned. She'd never had to explain taste to something that couldn't eat. He was just a ball of light, so he probably just understood the world in terms of sight and sound. "I'm not sure."

Geight gave a little pulse. "Weird. Can we go now? It's not very entertaining watching you fleshy people put things in your body to gain more flesh. Kind of gross, actually."

Pria sighed through her nose, hands gripping the back of her chair. "Yeah, let's go."

The tower didn't make a fuss out of them going to the library. Pria opened the door and gaped at the stunning sight of hundreds and hundreds of books lining the walls. The massive room was circular with several levels to it, each one with its own towering bookcase that wrapped around the entire wall. A slender, black iron staircase opposite from the door snaked up to each level. In the middle of the room, a sprawling wooden table with eight chairs sat under the light of dozens of the smaller orbs. They floated above the burnished gold railings of the higher levels or drifted aimlessly through the air like motes of dust. The tabletop held a couple of the bronze plates with their own orbs.

Rahu stood on the third level slightly to the right of the door, another aspect hovering behind his shoulder. He leafed through a book as the aspect spoke, but Pria couldn't make out anything but the orb's monotone voice. He didn't seem to notice them enter.

Geight zipped up to his master, spinning around him with such an unabashed enthusiasm that Pria almost felt jealous. Geight was still Rahu's, no matter how friendly he was towards her. Rahu greeted the aspect, his voice loud enough to carry down to where Pria still stood, frozen. She'd never seen so many books before. Books that were all on magic. The stuffy air seemed to be suffused with knowledge as much as dust.

The slap of leather soles against metal snapped her out of her reverie. Flanked by two of his aspects, Rahu descended the spiraling stairs, his book tucked up under his arm and running his other hand down his face. When he reached the bottom floor, the aspect on the left shot forward to dance around Pria. As if that wasn't enough to know it was Geight, Pria could see the center of the other aspect. Where Geight's lights writhed and twisted about itself, the other's core was almost completely smooth, only the slightest flares of movements popping out of its side before flattening itself once more.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" Rahu asked the other aspect, the barest smile lifting his lips. The orb pulsed in response but made no move to hover closer to Pria.

"I am Nine, Ascendant Rahu's aspect of madness," it droned.

Pria glanced at Rahu. His expression was blank again, but he nodded to her. "My name is Pria. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Nine didn't respond. Rahu gave a fond sigh and held out his book. "Could you bring that to the earth lab for me, Nine? I need to talk to Pria for a moment."

A beam of light shot out of the aspect's core, encasing the book and lifting it from Rahu's grip. It floated over to Pria, the book trailing behind it, and paused in front of the door. It swung open on silent hinges for the aspect who left without another word. After a moment, the door closed again, as quietly as it opened.

The whole exchange was incredibly bizarre after the eager energy Geight showed to everyone and everything. Neither he nor Rahu made any comment on it though, and Pria recalled Geight mentioned Nine yesterday. The youngest aspect. That apparently meant the one with no personality or social awareness at all.

Rahu gestured to the room, snapping Pria's attention back to the task at hand. "This is the tower's library." Pria bristled. Obviously, she wanted to snap, but she held herself back from rising to the man's taunt. "As you can see, there is no shortage of books. I'm afraid to say that in my time as master of this tower, it has become rather disorganized. I want you to go through each book and put them in the level that should correspond with their discipline of magic."

Pria narrowed her eyes. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

Instead of darkening in the face of her indignation, Rahu's face lightened with a smirk that didn't reach his cold, purple eyes like pressed flowers. "I suppose you'll just have to read part of them to determine which discipline they belong to." He moved to leave but stopped himself next to her. Pria resisted the urge to step back even though there were inches between them "I would suggest starting with A Practical Guide to the Classes of Magic. A real page-turner, that one."

Pria turned to face the ascendant, bewildered, but the man slipped away without another word. She stared at the closed door behind him and tried to make sense of the exchange. His tone should have been mocking, but instead there had been an undeniable lilt to his tone. He was joking with her?

Maybe he was doing the same thing as her—trying to win trust so nefarious deeds could be more easily committed. She knew an ascendant like Rahu would only appreciate subjection and perfection from a servant, but maybe he thought she would appreciate humor before he lured her into his lab and experimented on her.

There was no doubt in her that Rahu killed in the past, but she just didn't know if that applied to her and his experiments on her. She knew firsthand that he liked to torment people. His gaze was always calculating. These facts brought Pria to only one conclusion—Rahu wanted to test magic on her for future battles. She just didn't know if that magic would be designed to kill.

It didn't matter. There was nothing to be done about it now. As long as she knew what he was playing at, she wouldn't fall for it. All she needed to worry about at that moment was learning magic. Everything else could come after.

Geight's voice echoed down from one of the higher levels, startling her from her thoughts. "Found it!" He dropped back by Pria's head and answered her unspoken question. "The book Rahu said to read. He marked it for me. Come on, I'll show you."

Pria took the stairs up to the fourth level where Geight floated by the third row of books. Too high for Pria to reach, but there was a rolling ladder that remedied that easily enough. The book Pria slipped off the shelf was bound in leather surprisingly lean, the title carved into the spine in neat, golden letters. Geight hovered over Pria's shoulder as she inspected the cover. This was where Rahu said to start—she would just have to go with it.

Tucking the book under one arm, she slid down the ladder in a move that had Geight awed and slipped back down the stairs on silent feet. She brought one of the bronze plates closer to where she sat, the orb above it pulled along after a fraction delay. Geight drifted to the seat across from her at the approximation of where another person's head would sit.

"Story time!" he chirped, giving a sharp pulse. At Pria's dubious look, he asked, "What are you waiting for? Open that bad boy up and let's learn some magic."

She gave a tiny smile. "Geight, you already know magic."

"But you don't! And I want to know what you're reading."

Pria shook her head fondly and had to stop herself. As charming as the little orb was, he was Rahu's. He'd drop her in a heartbeat—a pulse of light?—if Rahu told him to. After ditching her at just the sight of the man, she was sure of that.

Geight wasn't her ally. The only one who she might be able to really befriend was Viris, and even he seemed rather devoted to Rahu and his spells. Surrounded by the enemy, Cestra's voice whispered. Unbidden, Pria pictured dusty glass and twinkling stars. But never alone. The strength of all the sky and all your ancestors run through your veins, Priavalon.

She didn't need Geight. She opened the book, briefly scanning the tiny, scraggly handwriting. "Why don't you read it yourself?"

"I can't read," Geight said, absolutely scandalized. "None of use can, not even the tower."

Most elves couldn't read either, but Cestra knew how and taught Pria, drawing letters in the dirt and erasing them whenever her alert ears caught someone headed toward them. That bit of information could come in handy later if she could ever get a message out to Cestra. Sighing, Pria conceded, reading aloud for the aspect.

There is not much to learn in the basics of magic. Magic can be many things for those blessed with the power to wield it—an art, a weapon, a hobby. Few are born with the gift, but that just makes mastering it all the more important. In this book, we will go over the different disciplines of magic and a few facts about each of them.

Oh yes, a page turner indeed. At least Geight was quiet. He really was like a child in that regard, content to listen quietly during story time.

There are five sets of magic and two disciplines each—ten disciplines in total. The sets are made of two opposite disciplines. For instance, healing is the opposite of necromancy and vice versa, putting them in the same set as opposite disciplines. Each discipline is most potent when used by itself, but each can be combined with another discipline for more varied spells. The only disciplines that cannot be combined are opposites.

Pria stared at the paragraph for a beat. She was going to hate the word discipline by the time she was through.

The sets and their disciplines are as follows: healing and necromancy, earth and storm, illusion and madness, alchemy and enchanting, and shields and weapons. Once you learn one half of a set, it will be easier to learn its other half. Many mages have debated as to why this is, but the general consensus is that opposite disciplines are not opposites at all. Rather, they are two sides of the same coin. Whichever way you think of it while you're learning magic, just know the magic of each set, while incompatible, are similar.

"Sounds complicated."

"I thought you already knew magic?"

"I know illusion magic. Can't do any of the other stuff. I mean, I know about all the other stuff, but it still sounds complicated, doesn't it?"

"Are you going to let me keep going or not?" Pria snapped.

"Okay, okay... Sorry."

Pria tried to convince herself she didn't feel guilty at the shamed hues of pink in Geight's light. He was the enemy. Not a lonely little kid or however else he wanted to present himself. Her enemy.

"...It's okay," she breathed and hated herself for it. Cestra always said she was too soft, her kindness warring with what must be done. It looked like the old elf was right—but when was she not? But Geight stopped looking so cowed and gave her a hesitant little pulse, prompting her to continue. She cleared her throat to alleviate some of the sudden tightness gripping it.

Healing magic is the manipulation of a living body; in practice, this means mending wounds and curing ailments. In theory, there is the potential to control living creatures, even people. No humans have enough magic for this, but elvish mages are rumored to have access to such power.

It hadn't even occurred to Pria that these books might actually talk about what elves could do. She figured all of them would focus on humans only, though it made sense that some of the books would at least mention what elves were capable of in case a human ran into one. Or what they would be, if any of them still knew how to use their magic.

Necromancy, therefore, is the manipulation of a dead body. Whether that be recent or long deceased and rotten, necromancy allows the user to make it do their bidding. For a mage seeking to specialize in warfare, this is an essential discipline to study in depth.

Pria imagined it: human battle mages storming a battlefield, waving their staff and raising the dead back onto their feet. Soldiers that had already suffered and perished, bearing the faces of friends and comrades of their fellows who had to watch them die all over again... she shuddered. That was exactly the kind of magic that had won humans the war. Elves would never stoop to such lows, but humans put it in their essentials and called it an art. Pria wanted to tear out the page and burn it right then and there but forced herself to continue.

Earth and its counterpart, storm, are all about the controls of the respective spheres of the world. Earth deals with the ground, storm deals with the sky and wind. Both disciplines are useful for a mage crafting bountiful lands for their country, but also have many battle applications.

Illusion magic is exactly as its name suggests: the creation of illusions. This magic has few applications on the battlefield beyond deceit but shines most readily when pursuing magic as a form of art. Magic shows are almost entirely illusion and illusion-based spells.

Madness magic is harder to quantify. Instead of changing what the world looks like, it changes how someone sees the world. Illusions for the individual—and as the name suggests, can easily be used to attack the psyche.

"That's you and Nine, right? Illusion and madness."

"Oh! Yeah. Erm, I can tell you what the others are too, if you want." Without waiting for her to respond, he listed off, "Sive is healing, Nour is Necromancy, Aone is earth, and Peven is storm. We all get one each!"

Pria let a smile flicker over her face before going back to the book, scanning the page to find where she left off.

Alchemy and enchanting magic are the two disciplines that bind magic to items and are almost always paired with one of the other disciplines. Typically, alchemy is used in conjecture with healing or illusion magic while enchantments are usually done with storm or simply weapon magic.

"So who are those?"

"Vix is in charge of alchemy! Rahu doesn't have an enchantment aspect, though."

Pria frowned. "Why's that?"

"Well, Rahu says most enchantments can only be used to hurt people, so he doesn't use it much."

Typical. Once the blood was shed and he was at the top of the food chain, of course Rahu would act all high and mighty. Pria snorted.

Shields are defensive magic. Whether from physical or magical attacks, shields can be used to block or even nullify any effect. When dueling another mage, it is imperative to be well-versed in shields. Be warned, though, that by their nature, shields cannot be used to harm a person.

Pria took a moment to absorb the information. Did that mean that Rahu would have killed her on the way to the tower, but his defenses were literally incapable of it? The thought was as terrifying as it was humbling. She was in the tower of an acutely powerful mage—she could never afford to forget that. She would be extra careful with her words and actions from then on.

As its opposite, the entire intent of weapon spells is to harm. Weapon magic can easily be paired with other offensive magic to make more powerful spells without requiring greater knowledge of that particular discipline. By themselves, spells of this discipline can be used in a variety of applications. From making literal magical weapons to summoning a meteor, weapon magic is one of the broadest fields of study and subsequently the hardest to master. Any battle mage will devote their life to the study of weapon magic.

Pria arched an eyebrow. "So there's no enchantment aspect, but Rahu keeps a weapons one."

"Well, yeah, but like, Qwo is really polite and stuff. He doesn't use his power to hurt people unless they deserve it."

Pria's nostrils flared as she sighed. "And Rahu has all the power to decide who deserves it? He's the judge and the executioner?" So much for keeping a more tepid tongue.

Geight's light darkened with that confused gray again. She wasn't sure if he was confused by her sudden aggression or the question itself. "Not really. He has Qwo defend the tower from, like, monsters and stuff that try to attack it. Sometimes he'll send him and Dree to a town with a bandit or monster problem, but only if they send in a request." Geight gave a weak pulse, hesitating before his next words. "You... don't like Rahu?"

She huffed and turned away. "What gives you that impression?" she said very evenly. "Of course I like him."

The gray darkened. "He's nice," Geight insisted.

Nice? "He kept me from the tower for over a week," She said, voice measured. It wasn't Geight's fault that his creator was a jerk.

"No, he didn't. Dree did that. It's her job to deal with intruders—Rahu thought you left the first day you showed up. Dree was complaining about it last night. She was pretty embarrassed by the whole thing."

Pria narrowed her eyes at the orb. She didn't think he would try to deceive her, but she also had no idea just how far Rahu's control over him extended. The ascendant could be the one speaking right now, or Geight could just be lying. It wasn't like he had eyes or a body that could give him away.

If Rahu was the one speaking right now, it would be best if Pria acquiesced to his innocence. She was the one who came groveling to Rahu, after all—it would be suspicious if she was so critical of him. "If you say so," she muttered. She leafed through the rest of the book but found no mention of celestial magic or its blessing. She chewed the inside of her lip and wondered how suspicious it would be if she asked Geight about it. She knew her blessing gave her access to a school of magic humans couldn't use, but most humans wouldn't know about it. She did come under the guise of wanting to learn magic though. Maybe it would be normal if she asked about the fabled magic of the elves?

She ultimately decided against it. She still didn't know how much she could trust Geight. Besides, there could be information about the magic somewhere in the library. Viris said the tower was old—it had to have books from before Rahu was the ascendant, maybe even back when elves were seen as people and not slaves. Wouldn't that be something.

Later on in the book, a hand drawn chart listed the different disciplines and the symbol that corresponded with each of them. Healing was two cupped hands; necromancy was the same, but with skeletal hands instead. She recognized the symbols. Clutching the book to her chest, she climbed the stairs again, stopping at the second floor. A swirling storm cloud with a bolt of lightning was etched into a metal plate mounted on top of the railing. The next floor, three pointed mountains replaced the storm. Pria referenced the chart to make sure, but it was already obvious that each plate designated what books each level of the library was supposed to hold.

Geight didn't follow her. He hovered over the chair, his light wavering with dismal blues. She frowned at him as she came back down the stairs. "What's wrong?"

The orb gave a sickly pulse, light stuttering across the polished wood of the table. "You don't like me?"

It should have been a statement, spoken clearly and cleanly. Instead, Geight seemed to shrink, collapsing in on himself as putrid greens mixed with the dejected blues. Pria wanted to reassure him. She wanted to say he was good and eager and all the things his creator wasn't. Of course she liked him.

She couldn't. She hesitated, debating on how to answer him and trying to ignore how her insides twisted with guilt. "Why do you say that?"

"You don't like Rahu." He muttered. As he spoke, he began to drift down, like gravity was overcoming his natural energy and enthusiasm. "I come from Rahu. Ergo, you don't like me."

It should be true. Pria shouldn't like or trust the aspect. She clenched her fists and wished—not for the first time since she set out—that Cestra was here to remind her why she shouldn't smile at crying children or waste time picking flowers or trust the spell of their race's greatest threat, no matter how charming he was. Without the old elf's guidance, it was much more difficult to lock away the guilt.

Slowly, movements jerky as she focused on keeping her breathing even, Pria sat back down. Geight's colors became darker and writhed more furiously with each passing moment that Pria remained silent.

The way the aspect understood it was very simple. Pria struggled to find a way to explain the situation to him without revealing herself to him. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think of how many elves Rahu killed during his life—and if poor Geight was ever involved.

"I... like you, Geight," Pria tried, but even as she said it she knew it was too halting and hesitant. The aspect shrunk even more, and Pria scrambled to continue, "I really do. You're a charming little spell. But... I don't know how much is you and how much is Rahu."

"What difference does that make?"

Pria gripped the book still snug on her lap. "I don't know how much control Rahu has over you. How can I know if when I talk to you, I'm really talking to him? It's hard to make a friend that way, don't you think?"

Geight's colors lightened a fraction. "He doesn't control us! Not really, anyway. He lets us exist too long for that."

Pria froze. "What?"

Slowly, Geight expanded to something closer to his original size. "He doesn't control us. He can let us know he wants us to come or check where we are or pressure us to do something, but he can't make us do something. Well, he could probably make Nine do something, but that's because she hasn't existed very long."

"And he can't see through you? Or hear through you? Read your thoughts?" Pria pressed. Her fingers were like a sprung trap around the edges of the book, the leather creaking beneath them.

Geight's colors eased further until they were just tinged with twirling blues and greens. "Not even a little. He can sense our moods, I guess, if they're strong enough, but that's about it."

Pria still couldn't be completely sure if Geight was telling her the truth, but fates damn it all, she couldn't keep doing this to herself. She'd been alone for so long—and now here was Geight offering his companionship like it was nothing. She wanted to trust him. So far, he hadn't given her a reason not to.

The way Geight explained it made all the aspects out to be innocent, too. Except for Nine—who Pria figured she would have no trouble remembering to be extra careful around—Rahu had little influence over his spells. Geight should be trustworthy enough.

She tried imagining explaining the situation to Cestra and unconsciously shrunk into her chair. She could already see the old elf's flat glare and hear her scathing voice mocking her justifications. They were stretched and flimsy like a toad's slime, and Pria was the foolish child getting it all over her hands.

"So where are you going to put it?" Geight asked, snapping Pria from her thoughts.

She blinked at him. "What?"

"The book. What level does it go on?"

"Oh." Pria looked down at it. She pried her fingers away and laid it on the table. It wasn't on any one discipline of magic but a bit of all of them. "This one, I guess. The rest have specific symbols."

Geight hummed, his body vibrating with the sound. "Yep, good luck with that."

Pria frowned, but, scanning the room, saw what he meant. There wasn't any available shelf space anywhere, a few books even propped up along the bottom of the shelves. With one last look at the book before her, she rolled up her sleeves and set to work.

Geight bobbed alongside her as she went to the end of the bookshelf to the left of the door. This level was shorter than the others, and with the help of a stool that seemed to be in the room for that reason, Pria started on the top shelf. She piled as many of them as she could carry—which only ended up being four since the tomes were as thick as troll hide—and shuffled back to the table, Geight happily slipping back into his old chattering self as he followed.

Pria was happy he was back to his old self, too.

He was content to hover quietly across from her when she read aloud to him, not that it did much good. The book might as well have been in another language for all that Pria understood of it. As far as she could tell, it was a theory on the advanced application of storm magic used for changing the form and temperature of water. Not that she understood any of how to actually do it.

She lowered the book and chewed her cheek as an idea crept into her head. She snuck a glance at Geight who gave a confused pulse at her sudden silence. "Geight," she said slowly, "Do you think you could explain some of this storm magic to me?"

He darted around to her other side. "Hm, well, no. I have some of Rahu's knowledge on basic magic, but the only thing I really know is illusion magic."

Pria sighed. So much for that, then. "Could you explain some illusion magic, then?"

"Sure! What do you want to know?" Geight drifted over the table, bobbing around its middle.

Pria frowned, shutting the book and setting it off to the side. "Well, everything, I guess. How do you even begin?"

"Oh! That's easy. You just think about it and a beam of light shoots out of your body and—oh." A wave of pink light burst from Geight's core and rippled through his body. "Well, um, I guess you'd have a hard time doing that, what with all the flesh."

A smile ghosted Pria's lips. "Yeah." She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She already knew that Geight was created in magic—he wouldn't understand having to learn it. "Thanks for trying though, Geight."

He hummed in response, drifting back over to the bookshelves as she pulled out the next tome. This one seemed to be an in-depth examination on a singular spell based in ward magic and supplemented by healing magic. A sort of self-restoring shield.

It made more sense than the last book, but still not enough to give Pria any idea of how to actually perform the spell. This one spoke of one's inner flow of energy in brief enough terms to make it clear that the book was definitely meant for more seasoned mages than Pria. In particular, it spoke in length on the process of moving that energy out through forced points of egress in one's palms to sculpt a small barrier. Pria huffed and set the book aside, right next to the first. Both equally useless to her until she understood how to actually access the magic running through her veins.

The last two books seemed to actually belong on the first floor. The first described noteworthy places of magic or just sites of famed events in the magical world. Pria was pleased to find both the site of the blessing of the first elvish ascendant, Drisanthanlu—by the divines as well as the Glittering Caverns, a network of tunnels and caves with luminescent rocks that were said to augment an elf's celestial magic.

The second was a lengthy description on the history of mages. Pria may have been interested if it weren't so blatantly biased toward human mages and their amazing accomplishments. It looked to be a fairly recent addition to the library judging from its stiff spine and crisp pages—and the heaps of accounts of battle mages during the War of Fate. She was about to stack it with the first when Geight gave a sharp pulse.

"Oh! I know this one." Pria wasn't sure if he was referring to the book or the war, but she didn't get the chance to ask. His next statement derailed any other thoughts. "You should read the bit on Rahu."

Pria gawked at him. "Rahu was alive during the war?" The war that ended three hundred years ago and had persisted for a century before that. Not only alive but apparently fighting in it.

She tried to rationalize it and simply couldn't. Humans did not live that long. Rahu looked so young too, unlike centuries old elves whose hair turned to silver and eyes, like gnarled trees, spoke of countless seasons passed.

She flipped back to the beginning of the book and scanned the neat list of names and the page number of their entry. There were dozens of them, all of them foreign to her. Maybe Geight was mistaken. She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Rahu's not here."

"Well, of course Rahu's not there—that's not his real name. Check for Malanthosis Dyzrin," Geight said, bobbing closer.

Pria searched for the new name, blanching when she found it near the bottom of the list. Going to the indicated page, she gaped at the sketch of Rahu gazing back at her. She skimmed the facts listed briefly next to the image.

Age: Unknown

Heritage: Unknown

Current Status: Storm Ascendant

Most Notable Accomplishment: Battle of Bahlis—Head Battle Mage

Ascendant Name: Rahu

Rahu had been a battle mage—just not anything close to what Pria expected. He really had killed elves, and probably too many to count. The Battle of Bahlis was one of the darkest days in elven history. It was the day they lost the last of their mages, battle or otherwise.

Pria went cold. She couldn't tell if it was the icy calm of fury or the freezing chill of fear. Maybe both. Rahu was part of the party responsible for the slaughter of her people's mages and the enslavement of the rest of them. Now Pria had thrown herself under his thumb. If he found out what she was, he'd kill her without qualm or hesitation. He'd already killed so many like her.

If she didn't kill him first.

She clenched her jaw but otherwise forced herself to appear calm. She didn't need Geight freaking out again. "He really was part of the war," she breathed. "How is he still alive?"

"Good question! I have no idea." Geight chirped.

Pria sighed. She shouldn't have expected anything else. "Right," she breathed, turning back to the entry. For someone still alive, there wasn't much written about him. There was a long list of battles he either fought in or otherwise supported as well as references to a couple of other entries in the book to other mages alive during the time. After that, it described how King Zerin the First appointed him the Storm Ascendant a decade after the fateful Battle of Bahlis and the end of the war. The book mentioned his continued status of Storm Ascendant as well as his contributions to the research of all disciplines of magic. The entry ended with a note from the author.

Ascendant Rahu is one to surround himself in mystery. Any attempts to meet with him were rejected. Any questions on his actions during the war or anything remotely personal were left unanswered. Just as the secret to his immortality has been the debate of many for decades, so too will everything else surrounding the man go without explanation from the ascendant himself.

Pria nearly dropped the book at 'immortality'. "Rahu is immortal?!"

"What? No."

Pria's heart thundered in her ears. "It says here that he's immortal."

"Well, he's not. He's, like, the opposite of immortal. Im-immortal."

"Mortal," Pria said, relaxing a fraction though her heartbeat continued to gallop. "You're sure? You said so yourself you don't know how he's still alive."

"No, I'm sure. Rahu is super mortal. He just doesn't age anymore. Or, well, his flesh bits don't. His soul still does."

Pria didn't bother asking Geight to explain any further, already knowing that the aspect would only leave her more confused. In the end, it didn't matter how Rahu was still alive as long as he was killable. She all but melted into her chair. The day was proving to be more emotionally draining than she'd expected—which was impressive, all considering.

She sighed as she levered herself out of the chair, gathering the two books that belonged on the first level along with the one she left propped against the bookshelf and slotted them into the gap on the top shelf. It was pure chance that she was on top of the stool piling up the next stack of books in her arms when a voice sounded from right beside her head.

"You must be Pria."

Pria started, stumbling back and finding nothing but open air. Even her elven reflexes weren't enough to stop her from crashing to the ground, the rug doing little to cushion her fall. The books in her arms flew from her grasp, their pages fluttering like doves as they dove in a heap around her.

"I'm so sorry, milady! I didn't mean to startle you," the male voice fretted. Pria winced as she sat up, her back giving a dull protest. Above her, an aspect shot about, nearly frantic pulses punctuating his words. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Pria muttered, a slight blush rising in her cheeks. She couldn't hear the orbs coming no matter how good her ears were. It was really throwing her off. She ducked her head and began collecting the scattered books to hide her shame. "And you are?"

"My name is Qwo, milady. It is quite the pleasure to meet you."

"What, uh, pronoun do you like?"

"He, please." He said, his tone mild and respectful. "Is Geight here? Viris told me he was following you like a puppy."

"I am not!" Geight called, zipping down from where he was zigzagging through the rail guards of the upper levels. "I'm... a mighty wolf!"

Qwo gave a soft pulse, his voice light with amusement. "Of course you are, Geight. If you're not busy, Dree says there's a monster climbing one of the spires. You can come watch us deal with it if you like."

Geight's light shone a brighter yellow. "Of course I do! See you later, Pria!" With that, the aspect shot away, phasing through the wall.

Pria let out a huff of laughter. Qwo let out a chuckle of his own. "Energetic, isn't he? Sorry about that. I hope he's not annoying you."

Pria shook her head. "Geight is fine. That monster is nothing to worry about, is it?"

"No, milady, I swear to you that you are safe."

She nodded and pursed her lips in the pursuing silence. She'd already gotten used to the constant sound of Geight's chatter. "So, um, Qwo. What magic can you do?"

"I'm Rahu's aspect of weapon magic, milady." Pria's eyes widened slightly at the admission. She looked the aspect up and down, taking an unconscious step back. Qwo sighed. "Ah, I apologize if that makes you uncomfortable, Lady Pria. I assure you that I do not take the burden of my magic lightly."

Pria gave a terse nod. "Right."

Qwo sighed again. "I will leave you to your work, then, milady. If you're still aching from your tumble, I suggest visiting Sive—that's the healing aspect. They'll fix you up in no time."

"Okay," Pria said. Whatever it took to get the aspect to leave sooner.

He bobbed to her in the imitation of a nod. "I hope I will see you again soon, milady."

Pria sincerely hoped he didn't.

He hesitated a moment—likely waiting to see if Pria would say anything else—before floating out of the room in the same direction as Geight. Pria watched him go and did not move again for some time.

It shouldn't bother her so much. She was going to learn weapon magic. According to the book, she'd devote her life to studying and mastering it. If she was truly going to free her people, she would use weapon magic and she would kill with it. Mercilessly.

The thought made her stomach clench. It didn't matter how it made her feel, though. Cestra was right—Pria couldn't afford kindness. She'd do what must be done. Rahu certainly hadn't held himself back.