The following morning the novices were still full of the previous evenings events, master Brookwyrde’s show in particular had been so different from their experience of him that there was a new respect amongst the juniors for his talent. His manipulation of the flying letters had been astonishing to them, they only thought of him as their reading and writing instructor, not a real master, but now they knew better. But they would not have a lesson with him immediately, first they had a double lesson of geomantics with master Mariel. As they filed into her classroom Freder recognised the short slender, dark haired master from the previous evening when they had danced together, a glimmer of a smile dwelt on her lips as she looked at him.
“As today is fine and dry we shall be working outdoors.” She announced when they had all taken their places much to the delight of all. “I have prepared a field with some treats for us to find so I hope your vision is clear this morning.” They all laughed at her veiled reference to their late night and Winston was rubbing his hands together.
“What’s Win happy about ?” Freder asked John.
“He always finds the most, he’s the best at this aspect of geomantics.”
“What is geomantics ?”
“I will explain as we walk.” Master Mariel interjected as they were walking past her.
“You have some experience of geomantics.” Master Mariel said to him as they left the House. “Stannous told me that you found a spring, located shoals of fish and also spied out the Hand and their airship.”
He nodded.
“All those are aspects of geomantics. Finding water and minerals is particularly useful for us as we can help locate them for farmers and miners, help that they are very grateful for.” She added in a meaningful tone. “Being able to see animals and fish can be useful if you are hungry and in the wilds and don’t wish to become a meal yourself.”
“Are there dangerous animals here master ?” He enquired at the revelation.
“Hereabouts, no. They were all hunted down by the farmers a century or more ago, but in Wales and Hibernia there are still bears and wolves that would make a tasty snack of you.
These days we have to beware of a more dangerous animal than either of them.” She said darkly. “The Hand are everywhere and we have to be constantly vigilant, especially in the towns or, heaven forefend, the cities.”
“They carry no metal.” Freder said quietly, remembering his last encounter with the Hand on Doubtmoor.
“Indeed, and it is a lesson that all too many masters forget when they leave the House.” She sighed.
“I won’t ever forget.” Freder said to himself with a shiver.
A hand settled lightly upon his shoulder and he looked up at master Mariel’s face, her green eyes looking sympathetically at him.
“You are safe here Freder, no member of the Hand has ever set foot across the boundaries of our land.”
He let the tension go and smiled.

The art of locating matter both living and dead meant that today the junior novices were having a scavenger hunt in one of the huge pasture fields over the hill to the north of the House. Master Mariel called them into a semi circle about her and took some objects from the little bag she had at her waist.
“Today you will be hunting for objects made of glass, bronze, copper, silver, gold, bone, lead, pewter, and this.” She announced holding up each specimen in turn, but the last object was inside another bag . “So each of you in turn come forward and divine all these items, especially the mystery item. No you can wait Winston.” She added with a grin as he stepped forward. “Give the others a chance. Stella.”
Each of the novices in turn came forward as she named them, roughly in order of their ability until only Winston and Freder remained.
“Winston, you next.”
Winston quickly skimmed over most of the objects as he knew their feel well but dwelt a time on the mystery object, frowning. Then he was away after everyone else and almost immediately swooped upon a hidden coin.
“Now Freder. Divining an object is easy so long as you know what you are searching for. Let your aura taste each of these items.”
“Taste ?” Freder pondered out loud. “Stannous told me that gold has a special glow about it, especially when it is refined.”
“He is quite correct, but gold is exceptional and most metals and other minerals do not have that property, but they do ‘taste’ different.”
“But how do I ‘taste’ them ?”
“For your first time, put it in your mouth and then sight it.” She told him and held out the gold coin.
A little sceptically he placed the coin on his tongue, closed his eyes and circled the chant through his mind. He could clearly see the special glowing quality that Stannous had told him of but there was something more and master Mariel was right in defining it as a taste for it had a clean, almost citrus tang to it.
“Cool.” He murmured taking the coin out of his mouth and placing the silver button upon his tongue. This time he got the sensation of something gingery. Each new object brought a new sensation but he didn’t pick up the mystery object as he would certainly only get the identity of the bag about it.
“You have gotten a feel for how this works. Divine the objects again now that you have tasted them.” Master Mariel prompted him.
His questing hand now elicited the tastes in his mind as he perceived each one in turn and finally he got his first ‘feel’ of the mystery object, it was similar in sensation to the bronze and pewter objects. These he knew to be alloys so whatever this mystery object was it was a mixture of elements and it had a unique almost peppery ‘taste’.
“Ready ?”
He looked up from his deliberations and nodded.
“Away you go then.”

Freder didn’t go haring off up the field like most of his compatriots he stood still and let his aura sweep out from him to scan an ever increasing circle and smiled in satisfaction as he felt one of the metals at his feet. He bent down and his fingers unerringly closed upon a silver florin.
“Excellent.” He chortled holding it up and then walking purposefully to a spot just three yards away where he collected a glass bead. His deliberate progress might have looked slow to his compatriots but every time he stopped it was to pick up yet another object, many of which the others had overlooked. After a time he sneaked a ‘look’ at what everyone else had gathered, Winston had bulging pockets and Valentina had accumulated nearly as much, the others were more or less successful with Lewis bringing up the rear. He regarded his own tally, probably on a par with Valentina, but he also noticed that nobody had yet found any of the mystery item, well there was time enough for that. He stood still for a few moments and let his othersight rove over the field to spy out more baubles, Lewis had just walked straight over a pewter disc and Freder made it his first collection of the new search pattern.
When they had been happily engaged in the hunt for nearly two hours master Mariel called out to them.
“Five more minutes, and no one has found the mystery object yet, who finds it keeps it.”
There was a surge of frenzied activity to find this one last goal but Freder and Lewis were not part of it. Freder because he was once more standing still and carefully scanning and Lewis because he was sitting miserably regarding his tiny haul. Freder’s search swept over Lewis and stopped dead for two reasons, one Lewis’ inactivity and clear distress and second because he was sitting with the mystery object between his legs. Freder would very much have liked to have claimed it for himself but he could not see any way of doing that without seriously embarrassing his friend, then an idea occurred to him. He began to move towards Lewis picking up a silver bead, a bone needle, two more bronze buttons and another glass marble. He came to a halt just in front of Lewis who was sitting head down, legs astride the object, possibly looking right at it. Freder reached out with his aura and sent a little pulse of flux up under it making it jump up into view with a startling purple-blue flash in the light. Even Lewis couldn’t miss that and he reached out to pick up the gemstone.
“Hey, you found it.” Freder said loudly enough to carry over the field. “What a beauty.”
Lewis looked up in surprise at Freder and then back down at his hand where the purple-blue stone glinted in the sunlight.
“Yeah.” He said with a slowly growing smile. “I found it.”

The rest of the group hurried over to them to inspect the find that he held. In the midst of the chorus of appreciation master Mariel joined them and pronounced the hunt over.
“Time is up. I see Lewis has found the Blue John stone. Well done, that was a very tricky one, and as I said you may keep it. Now let’s have a look at what the rest of you have found.”
Taking each in turn she picked through their hordes and made some comment upon any perceived weakness in detection. Most had few bone or glass objects and Harley didn’t have much bronze or pewter. Winston had the largest haul, mainly of metals, Valentina scored well on everything bar the bone but Freder’s haul contained everything in good measure except the mystery gemstone. Master Mariel spent little time waving everyone’s finds around so that nobody was really any the wiser about each others finds, except Freder and he was keeping quiet about what he knew. With all the finds returned to master Mariel she told them that they could take their break out in the field if they wished, they certainly did.
“Freder, a moment.” She requested him quietly as the novices started to run off.
“Yes master ?”
“You found the gemstone didn’t you ?”
“I…ah.”
“I felt your flux pulse.” She told him.
“Yes.” He admitted looking down at the ground.
“That was a noble thing you did for Lewis, had you sighted him ?” She said approvingly and he looked up to see her smiling.
“Ummm, I was searching and sort of, yes I sighted him. He hadn’t got much and the gem was sitting there in front of him.” Freder admitted.
“Yet you helped him find it when you could have just taken it.”
“He’s my friend, I wouldn’t do that to him.” He protested.
“It is as Catherine said at your initiation Freder, you have a good heart.” She said warmly and then waved towards the others who were waiting for him to join them, except Valentina who had gone to sit under a tree. “Your friends are waiting for you.”
His gaze lingered on Valentina, a lonely figure under the tree, he knew what it was like to be the outsider but her intense stare daunted him and he couldn’t summon the courage to go to talk to her.
As he ran to the rest of the junior novices master Mariel reflected upon his glance at the Master Supreme’s daughter, maybe his good heart would succeed in breaking through her high wall of self isolation.

Their final lesson of the morning was once again letters but this morning the atmosphere was different, last nights show was fresh in their minds. Master Brookwyrde looked around the class and smiled slightly.
“So did you learn anything about words last night ?” He enquired lightly.
“They can be interesting.” Lewis allowed with a grin.
“Ah, I see that we are getting somewhere.”
But Freder was thinking about some of the things that master Brookwyrde had said during his show, some of it was pretty dark and menacing.
“Excuse me.” He said politely.
“Yes ?”
“What did you mean when you said that words can be weapons ?”
“The right words can cut you to the bone just as easily as a knife.” Master Brookwyrde told them all. “But leave no visible scar. A disparaging remark in the right ear can blight a life, a cunning lie can end a life. We must always be wary of what we say, when you are all masters you will be the emissaries of the Brotherhood. What one of you says will carry the authority of the Brotherhood but could just as easily slander us. You know that we are in conflict with the Righteous Hand.”
There was a rumble of  discontent at the master giving them their full title.
“An excellent example.” Master Brookwyrde pointed out to them. “You do not use the full title because you want to convey an insult, but to many in the towns and cities such a usage would betray you to their allies and sympathisers. The Righteous Hand have become very adept at using words as weapons; they have spread rumours and half truths widely about us. Whispers that are hard to disprove and yet easily sway the ignorant; they poison our reputation so that we are not perceived as a society that helps everyone but as a power hungry sect bent upon domination.”
Glances were exchanged in the class, they were not used to such powerful truths being released to them. Then he smiled at them.
“I have faith in each and every one of you that you will uphold our honour and live by the tenets you have sworn yourself to.
Now shall we use words a little more prosaically ?” He waved his hand at the board and letters sprang up onto it to form a sentence for them to copy.
There was a little groan but it was good natured in light of the theatrical gesture and they uncapped their pens and began to transcribe it.
Freder looked at the words for a time before committing pen to paper, looking carefully at the serene flow of their forms.
“Freder.”
He looked up to see master Brookwyrde standing before his desk.
“Yes master ?”
“When I was training as a novice, I found that the same skills I learnt in writing properly, the concentration, the movement of hand and fingers, these helped me when I needed to control the flow of energies in fluxing or luminating.” He said in a normal tone so that all could hear him. “Your previous schooling did not place so much emphasis on such things, but here all your education is linked. Do well in one subject and you will find it helps you in all the others.”
“Thank you master, I’ll remember that.”
“And here is something to help your coordination.”
Master Brookwyrde held out the unmistakeable shape of a yo-yo.
“Practice using it with both hands.” He finished enigmatically and then began his rounds of the rest of the class.

Freder wasn’t sure he liked being singled out for special attention in front of his class mates but he was intrigued by the idea that writing clearly would help him in fluxing. He was a bit baffled by the yo-yo, he had never been good with such toys, but then master Brookwyrde had said it would help with his coordination so he determined to use it.
By the lessons end Freder was slowly producing flowing words, if still a little ragged at the ‘edges’. It took a lot of concentration to get his fingers to move so precisely and at school he had been harried by the need to keep up with what the teacher was saying and simply scrawled as best he could. Here master Brookwyrde did not hurry them, he was seeking the finest writing not volumes of tat and he was endlessly patient, ready to demonstrate to his charges just the correct touch. Valentina had produced the words almost effortlessly and was given a longer piece to transcribe, the others had to repeat some of theirs to get it all to his satisfaction. Freder still hadn’t completed the sentences by the lesson’s end, but it didn’t seem to matter to master Brookwyrde, he collected the paper made a small comment and passed on.
Outside the classroom Freder was eager to try out the yo-yo but walking and yo-yoing seemed mutually incompatible objectives so he stowed it in his pocket and collected his lunch with the rest of them.
The meal seemed to end too quickly and his friends all left for their duties around the House leaving Freder to wonder if he had been forgotten by master Elena. She had not told him where to meet for today’s lesson and he doubted he could find the arena that easily. He had a few attempts at getting the yo-yo to work but failed miserably and stuffed it back in his pocket annoyed at his body’s lack of coordination. Finally he decided that he must go and find master Elena himself, but by now there was nobody else in the refectory to ask directions. He stood up and looked at the many exits, which one to try ? But as he stood undecided a thought came to him, he had sought out objects this morning with great ease, why then couldn’t he find the master by her aura ? Calming himself he let the chant cycle in his head and willed his aura to expand out and search for the particular blue and green aura but to his consternation he found that much of the House was dark to him. Most of the rooms had walls that impaired or deflected his othersight so that he could not detect or identify their occupants, he could only send his quest prowling along the corridors and the communal areas. Then he caught a flash of master Elena’s aura, emerging from a room and after a hesitation coming his way. He tracked her progress, yes she was definitely coming towards the refectory. Emerging from an archway to his right she strode up to him with a slight frown upon her face.
“Freder, did you search for me ?”
“Yes master.” He answered her lightly but saw her frown deepen.
“That was not the right thing to do.”
“Sorry.” He said contritely. “I just didn’t know how to find you , everyone had gone and….”
She waved a hand at his little outburst.
“It is not an offence, it just impolite here in the House. I shall ask Lewis to spend some time showing you around those areas of the House that you should be familiar with.” She told him with a lighter tone. “Now we continue your lessons.” She announced and produced a squirl from within her robe.

“Here ?”
“Of course. Today I want you to attempt to levitate the squirl and then move about the refectory. The pillars and tables are an ideal obstacle course for you.”
Freder accepted the squirl from her and decided that perhaps he should first refresh himself with a levitation exercise and sat down upon the bench.
“Good.” Master Elena remarked.
He slipped easily into that other world where every surface around him had small sparkles of energy twinkling deep within and below his feet streams of flashing silver ran swift and inviting. He chose a stream close to the surface and dipped his aura down into its metallic tingling substance then placing the squirl upon his hand, spread his fingers and summoned the energy. There was a thump as the squirl pitched off his hand onto the table and he had to retrieve it, too much energy too quickly. His second attempt was almost as bad but he ‘caught’ the ball before it soared away from his hand and had it bobbling above his hand for a few moments before he gained control over the flux and steadied it. Now he went through the raising and lowering exercise, gaining in confidence as the heavy ball responded to his desires and finally came to hover a few inches above his hand.
“Good.” Master Elena said softly. “Keep the ball in that position, don’t move just yet.”
Freder kept the squirl hovering for what seemed a very long time before he received the instruction he wanted.
“Now slowly move you hand off the table, just move it up and down to start with.”
As he moved his arm the ball rose more rapidly and he had to stop and adjust the flux to compensate and bring it back to close proximity with his hand. He tried again and noted it drifting up again, almost as though his desire to move his arm and his levitation were linked, maybe they were. He lifted his arm and tried to desire the ball to hold station over his hand, it bobbed up and down but seemed to be staying at about the same height. Then down again and it once more seemed that the squirl had a mind of it’s own but he brought his hand back onto the table top and then risked looking over to master Elena and saw that she was looking at his hand with eyes defocused.
“You are doing well Freder, you have seen the link between your physical actions and your flux control. Try sideways.”
Paradoxically this worked better and the squirl only bobbled a little as he slowly brought his hand towards himself and then moved it away again. He wondered if a combination move would be possible and began to trace a circle in the air with his outstretched arm. It turned out to be more of a flat oval by the time he had finished the move as the vertical movements were still the most difficult to achieve whilst keeping the sphere where he wanted it.
“Rest for a moment.” Master Elena suggested and he gratefully lowered the sphere onto his hand, his arm was getting tired from being outstretched for so long even though the weight of the squirl was not upon it.
“We have to learn to separate the control of the flux from the control of the limb.” She said to him. “It is very much like when we first learn to do anything, we have to concentrate upon it until such time that the movement, or here, the flux control becomes automatic. You have not had the opportunity to practise as the other novices have but you have a talent that far exceeds theirs; you just need time. This is why you are here with me and not about some task. You have difficulty with the lifting but not so much with the to and fro movements. So we will do more of the lifting, this time I want you to raise the squirl from floor height to full stretch above your head.”
“I…I..don’t know.” Freder stammered at the instruction but she smiled back at him.
“I will not let the squirl fall upon you, begin.”

Getting up Freder moved away from the bench into the clear area and then crouched down and placed the sphere upon his hand once more. His levitation was markedly smoother and the ball settled quickly as he concentrated upon it then very slowly he began to stand up, again this seemed to go well and it was only as he moved his arm that he had to correct his fluxing but he persisted and his arm rose above his head and on upwards. With the squirl up above his head he felt a giddy sense of achievement, he had gotten there, now to get it down. The ball bobbed and he corrected too much, it should have fallen from above his hand but it did not, it held station even when he lowered his arm.
“You are quite safe Freder.” Master Elena told him. “Take the squirl again.”
“What ? Up there ?” He quailed slightly.
“Of course.” Was her amused reply.
He stretched up to the sphere and summoned the flux to levitate it and found that he once more was supporting it. He tried to imagine that he was controlling the flux with his right hand, like a tap, so that when he moved his left arm it should not interfere. It didn’t really work and he had an anxious moment when the squirl did some very agitated bouncing before he regained control again. It all had to be done with the left, but he reflected that he didn’t have to think about moving his left arm and his fingers on his left hand, he needed to get that sort of control. Now as he lowered his arm the squirl seemed to be more stable, he reversed the movement and saw that something had clicked for him, it was smoother. Just like riding a bike, once he had the basic confidence he began to get more adventurous and moved his arm much more swiftly until he could go as quickly as he liked, the squirl matched his movement perfectly. He laughed in delight and began to twirl around, the squirl seemed glued to his hand and it was his dizziness that eventually got the better of him and he lost control of the heavy ball. But this didn’t dampen his spirits as he collapsed onto the floor and waited for the room to stop spinning, a huge grin on his face.
“You are a very quick learner.” Master Elena commented as she smiled down at him and offered him her hand to help him up.
“It’s great.” He enthused. “Hard but great.”
“Then perhaps we should make it harder still for you.” She commented thoughtfully.
The reply cooled his ardour somewhat, just what did she have in mind ?
“You have gotten control over the position of the squirl and can maintain it through limited movement, now I want you to go around the refectory holding it up, blindfolded.” She concluded and held up a length of dark cloth.
“Blindfolded, but how do I see ?”
“As you always do Freder, with your mindseye. Turn around.”
Unwillingly he did what he was told and experienced a moment of panic, this was way too much.

“Relax, use the chant.” Master Elena said soothingly as she fastened the cloth about his eyes and he began to cycle it through his mind.
Immediately the darkness gave way to the strange ethereal glowing and sparkling world of energies and he could ‘see’ everything about him, master Elena behind him her aura alive and glorious in blue, the pillars twinkling in that curious way that hard rock did, the wooden tables and chairs ghostly greys overlaid with the multiple echoes of those who had sat at them and below the floor the myriad rivers of laughing silver, the vatenloeker.
“Chose your vatenloeker Freder, pick up the squirl and walk around the pillars as I direct.”
Unerringly he stepped forward and stooped to grasp the heavy iron ball, his dark echo still hanging around it like a shroud, then he brought it up upon his hand and let his aura dip down into a silver stream. The squirl rose to his command and he hefted his arm experimentally, watching the sphere track his hands movement faithfully.
“Walk to the end pillar on your left and go around it right to left.” Master Elena commanded him.
This meant negotiating a table and its attendant benches but these were all clear in his othersight and he strode forward confidently. This took him away from the stream he was tapping and instantly the ball dipped as the flux diminished and he was forced to halt and correct two flows at the same time. The ball was unstable and he felt his balance going as he struggled to regain control, he wobbled but the sphere wobbled with him and he drew in a deep breath as he steadied.
“As you move so you must keep the energy flowing according to the needs of your flux, you have to adjust your energy demand in much the same way as you adjust the flux as you move your arm.” Master Elena said reassuringly.
It irritated him that she hadn’t warned him of this but then he reflected the experience was probably the best teacher of the new demands his movement would place upon him. Now fully aware of what his next step would do he tried to keep one part of his mind upon the energy flow whilst he was navigating by his othersight and relying on his learnt abilty to keep the squirl levitated. Taking small steps he found that he could keep these ‘balls in the air’, navigating, levitating and drawing more or less energy. It was tricky and he did not feel at all confident as he shuffled around the refectory so he was very relieved when master Elena told him to rest for a moment.
“No keep the squirl aloft and leave your blindfold on Freder.” She said as he began to lower the ball.
Another tedious ‘keepy up’ exercise he thought to himself but barely had the time to duck down as a bucket came flying through the air towards him from across the room. He just about kept his balance and more remarkably still levitated the squirl as he stood up to a round of applause.
“Excellent Freder !” Master Elena congratulated him. “You may do a lap of honour.”

He sighed, okay so he didn’t drop the ball, but going around the refectory again didn’t seem much like a lap of honour. It became even less so when Freder became aware that master Elena was setting traps for him as he went. A pan held at head height as he rounded the second pillar, another bucket that silently slipped into his path as he squeezed between two tables, random surges of energy as she luminated using the same energy stream as he was drawing from. The squirl bobbed, he wobbled and ducked and swayed but somehow he completed the assault course with it still above his hand. Finally she took the blindfold off him and beamed at him.
“I have defeated senior novices with that challenge.” She told him. “But you adapt far quicker than they did. You can put the squirl down now. Come sit here beside me.”
Clutching the sphere he walked across to the table where she was sitting and carefully set it down before sitting on the bench beside.
“Here, I think you deserve a little refreshment.” She said warmly holding out a goblet to him.
He recognised the spicy scent that rose from it and happily accepted it.
“Thank you.”
“How are you settling in ?” She enquired as he drank the apple juice.
“Good.” He said. “No problems.”
“Then the message has thankfully gotten through to the seniors. They can be arrogant and thoughtless.”
“I spoke to Arthur the other day.” Freder said. “He seemed okay, but he told me that many of the other novices who had escaped from the Stone had been recaptured, is that true ?”
“Yes, I’m afraid it is.”
“He said that one was Norberts brother.”
Master Elena nodded.
“Maybe that’s why he was being aggressive.” He suggested.
“That may well be one reason but we cannot allow our emotions to get the better of us Freder, having a good arm means that we must be mindful of others at all times.”
“It was bad in there before, I’ll bet it’s even worse for them now.” He said quietly, remembering how the warders had delighted in suppressing their charges. “We should go back for them.” He said with sudden intensity.
“That is a decision for the Master Supreme to make Freder, do not wish such decisions upon yourself.” Master Elena counselled him. “Now we should have some practice of boule de fer.” She announced getting to her feet and held out her hand to the squirl which lifted off the table and came to reside in her palm before Freder’s wide eyes.

“You need to be able to hold your own in the next game of ‘boulder fear’.”
They left the house and went to the arena where Freder’s mistakes would be of little consequence. For the next hour he was coached in how to deflect the squirl so that it didn’t just fly off but went in the direction he desired, sometimes by pushing it away but also by pulling it around him. That was difficult and many times his head was preserved from being turned inside out by the flying ball by master Elena’s deft intervention. He started to achieve success by spinning around to maintain the fleeting contact with the sphere but quickly realised that the flux could just as easily pass through him, though with an odd tingling sensation, and achieved control with a rapid flick of the wrist to swing the squirl around behind him. He got even better when master Elena once more blindfolded him so that he was not tempted to use his eyes but had to rely totally upon his othersight.
“Can I keep the squirl to practise levitating with ?” He asked at the end of their time together as they walked back to the house.
Master Elena regarded the squirl that she easily held, dented and pitted by its numerous crashes and scrapes, it certainly could not be used in a proper game of boule de fer.
“On the condition that you only use it for levitation Freder, do not use it in boulder fear or any other game, it is far too dangerous.”
“Only for levitation.” He nodded vigourously.
“Very well.” She assented and held it out to him. “But remember that I can tell if you are misusing it Freder and I will inform Stannous, who will then have to apply the disciplinary measures that are appropriate.” She told him in her steely tone that effectively quoshed any ideas of using it for a boulder fear game.
“Yes master.” He said solemnly and accepted its weight.

His friends eyed the squirl with interest when he joined them in the refectory for the evening meal.
“Where’d you get it ?” Winston demanded breathlessly. “That’s a proper squirl.”
“From master Elena.” Freder said matter of factly as he tucked into his stew.
“But why have you got it ?” Ariadne cross examined him. “We’re never allowed anything like that.”
“It’s for me to practise with.” Freder answered her in the same ‘what’s the deal’ tone.
“Practice ? What can you possibly practice with a real squirl Fred ?” Lewis pressed him checking the metal ball for weight. “I mean, it’s far too heavy to levitate.”
“Really ?” Freder grinned at him and carried on eating.
“Go on then, show me.” Lewis challenged him.
Freder’s grin faded, he didn’t want to try levitating here. He might make a complete fool of himself in front of everybody and he wasn’t keen on that at all.
“Not here Lewis.” He said quietly and looked around the room meaningfully.
“So let them see.” Lewis shot back.
Freder didn’t like this pressure, he was still only a novice and levitating the squirl was not an easy task.
“Look, I’m only just getting the hang of it Lewis.” He told him. “I don’t want to look like a show off and then cock it up. I’ll show you afterwards, okay ?”
At that moment master Elena looked their way with a frown upon her face, she had obviously caught some hint of the little tiff from their aura’s. Freder took the opportunity to take the squirl off the table and place it between his feet out of harms way.
“Is that what you do every afternoon then ?” Harley asked him. “Levitating.”
“So far, and a bit of boule de fer practice.” Freder admitted.
“That’s hardly fair.” Harley grumbled. “You’ve only been here a couple of days and you get to do stuff we can only dream of.”
“I didn’t ask for it.” Freder said defensively. “This is what I’m being told to do.”
“Why ?” They pretty much all asked.
“I don’t know, you would have to ask Catherine or Stannous.”
“Oh, on first name terms now eh ?” Lewis said with a sarcastic air.
Freder felt himself blush strongly in embarrassment, his slip of the tongue had precipitated him into a worse position than ever.
“I…I.” He began but faltered into silence, everything he said just made it worse so he kept quiet and continued eating.
“I’ve been here the best part of five years and I don’t get personal lessons.” Lewis complained to nods from Stella and John.
“You don’t have a dark aura Lewis.” Winston stepped in unexpectedly.
“So ?” Lewis bridled at the comment.
“So maybe Freder can do things we can’t.”
“He can’t even get the weights to move without hitting the tops.” Lewis retorted cruelly.
“That’s….” Winston began.
“True !” Lewis snapped back.

Freder had stopped eating, at the centre of a growing maelstrom, he wanted this squabble between his friends to stop. He reached down for the squirl and thumped it onto the table causing a sudden quiet in the refectory as everyone looked up. He placed it upon his left hand and closed his eyes to let the chant close out all the distractions and see into the dark earth to find a vatenloeker. He slipped himself into the silver metallic sparkle and allowed it to wash away all the hurt and irritation of the previous minutes and freed himself from any uncertainty. The heavy ball rose above his hand in a swift jump and steadied itself in moments as a gasp went around the refectory and excited whispers began to spread; but he was beyond such matters he only paid attention to the flux and the squirl. It began to rise to head height and then lower back down to within an inch of his palm, up again, down again, then up and held station.
Freder opened his eyes and turned to regard Lewis; the calm of the chant had driven out any chastising words he might have uttered.
“One day I’ll be able to do this with the weights too. I don’t understand why I can do this and not the other. I’ll help you do this if you’ll help me control the weights.”
Lewis didn’t answer him for a long moment, he was too awestruck by the sight of the ball hanging at eye level in front of him.
“That’s a fair trade.” Winston said nudging Lewis. “I’d jump at it.”
“I…err. Well yeah, sure I’ll help you Fred.” Lewis managed to say then looked at him. “Sorry I got onto you like that Fred, but you see what I mean, it isn’t fair.”
“I know that, but it isn’t my choice to make, you see that don’t you ?” Freder replied.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Novice Adams.” A familiar voice called across the room and Freder looked up into the angry eyes of master Elena. “You will bring the squirl to me.”
He shrivelled inside and the squirl bobbled dangerously as his emotion threatened his control of it but he caught it before it fell and lowered it onto his hand then picked it up and carried it across to master Elena.
“This was for practice, not for showing off.” She told him in an uncompromising tone which drew some murmurs of dissent from those around her. “Master Stannous will hear of this.”
“I’m sorry master.” Freder said contritely.
“It is easy to be sorry after the event.” She countered him frostily and effectively ended the exchange.
“Master Elena, it was my fault that Freder showed us that he could levitate the squirl.” Lewis voice said at Freder’s shoulder. “He shouldn’t be blamed.”
Master Elena regarded the pair but there was no softening of her severe features.
“Self control must sometimes be learnt the hard way. Master Rognvald shall be informed of your behaviour novice Stanshall. You may go.”
They walked back to their table with heads drooping.

“Thanks for trying to help Lewis.” Freder said as they sat down. “Sorry you’ve got in more trouble.”
Lewis shrugged it off.
“It’s not the first time master Elena has reported me, she’s very strict.”
The juniors were all a bit subdued when they retired to their common room and tried to settle for the evening. Freder went up to the dormitory and brought back the frame of weights, he might not have the squirl anymore but he was determined to put the time to good use. Lewis came over to his table as he set it up.
“Still want some help ?”
“Of course, I want to get perfect on this because it’s much finer control. Lifting the squirl, well it’s all a bit brute force you know.”
Lewis nodded and watched as Freder went through his paces on the heaviest weight and still crashed it into the top on his first attempt. He tried again and just caught its headlong rush this time but it bobbed up and down like a cork in a storm and he let it drop with a sigh.
“Maybe you can see what happens when I do it.” Lewis suggested.
“Okay.”
Lewis moved the frame to the end of the table so that he could touch the plate in the wall, he couldn’t pull energy out of thin air as Freder seemed able to. He half closed his eyes and let himself settle into the chant then very gently began to channel the energy and concentrate the flux upon the base of the circular weight, it shifted a little the began to hover as Lewis released more flux energy. Freder let his eyes defocus to ‘see’ what Lewis’aura was doing to the energy and at first nothing made sense. The energy seemed to disappear into the calm blue and then reappeared where he was controlling the flux.
“Where does it go ?” He asked wonderingly.
“Huh ?” Lewis opened his eys fully and let the weight sink back down.
“When you take the energy it just seems to vanish into your aura and then come back out again as the flux energy.”
“Ohh, I’ve never thought about it, show me what you do.”
This time Lewis slipped into othersight to watch Freder’s efforts to control the weight and was taken aback at the sight. Not just the sheer scale of Freder’s dark aura that swelled to a huge size even on so small a task but also the intense stream of energy that his friend was extracting from the intractable stones of the wall. The energy was funnelled directly through and the flux surged fitfully.
“It looks like you channel the energy and it just rushes through in a torrent.”
Freder nodded at Lewis’ assessment.
“That’s pretty much what it feels like to me.”
Lewis sat back and scratched his close cropped hair.
“What was it we were told when we first learned about drawing energy from the founts ?” He muttered to himself. “Stella, can you remember what we were told about how to get energy from a fount ?” He called across the room.
“Pull then relax and let it flow.” She answered without looking up from her magazine.
“Yeah, that was it. Looks like you keep on pulling Fred.”
“But when I tried a fount it was even worse.” Freder protested. “That’s why I get it from the wall stones, there isn’t much energy in them and I have to work to get it out.”
“But when I sighted you I saw lots of energy Fred, far too much for lifting a simple weight. Can you, umm, not work so hard ?”
Freder sighed, it was worth a try. He closed his eyes and started the chant then reached out for the stones and attempted to extract a bare minimum of energy, nothing happened. He tried a bit harder, still nothing flowed, harder still and suddenly it gushed out and the weight rocketed up to the top with a resounding spang.
The pair looked at each other wondering what else they might try but another presence entered the room and drew their attention.

“Ah-hah, my errant novice.” Stannous said jovially and clapped Freder on the shoulder. “Hard at work, I felt your efforts way down the corridor.” He grinned. “And you too Lewis, your fine flux control is admirable.”
“Thank you master.” Lewis beamed.
“But your egging on of Freder was deplorable.” Stannous said in a more serious tone. “But you did admit your error, that at least was honourable.
So my young friend what are we to do with you for your transgression ?”
Freder hung his head, it looked like he had already broken his promise to Catherine and let his irritation get the better of him, he could picture her disappointed face.
“Personally I think that your levitation in public shows signs of strong control, able to ignore all the distractions, and I am proud of you for such rapid progress.” Stannous said with a wicked grin. “But master Elena has her own ways and she frowns upon what she see’s as showing off and we are playing by her rules Freder.” He concluded more seriously. He stroked his chin thoughtfully then glanced at Lewis. “What are your duties in the afternoon ?”
“I’m cleaning the pots and pans in the kitchen and doing anything else that cook wants me to.”
“Well I think that tomorrow you will take Freder to the kitchen and introduce him as your replacement for the next two days.”
Two days, Freder mouthed dejectedly.
“It is the minimum that will placate Elena and besides it will be good for you to meet some of the others here in the House.” Stannous said with a small smile. “And when you return to master Elena for lessons you will be on your best behaviour, no dissent or asking favours. She will be quite a task master for several days before you will have earned her respect again Freder.”
“I’ll do my best.” He said to his mentor.
“Of course you will.” Stannous said jovially. “Now what were you attempting when I came in ?”
“I was trying to get better control in levitating the weights, even the heaviest is difficult for me.”
“Show me.”
Freder went through the ritual and taking his energy from the stones once more he tried to get the largest weight to just lift, it whizzed upwards and he barely choked back the energy flow in time to stop it topping out again.
“Hmm. You have too much energy and it is causing you all the problems of control. You aren’t using the fount, why is that ?”
“It’s worse when I do.”
“Show me then.”
Freder sighed silently and prepared to take energy from the bright sparkling fount on the wall just three feet away; it was like trying to sip from a gushing hosepipe and the weight blasted into the frame so hard that everyone in the room jumped at the loud report.

“I see your dilemma.” Stannous allowed. “Your dark aura has such enormous potential that it makes our normal sources excessive for your needs. Quite the reverse of the normal situation.”
Stannous pondered the problem and took energy from the fount to make each weight in turn levitate to the same height to remind himself of the mechanics of the exercise, while Lewis goggled at the display of strength with finesse.
“I’m going to have to discuss this with other masters.” He said at length. “Master Brookwyrde may have records from the time of the last dark aura that can help us.”
“The Wolf.” Freder recalled the conversation at the feast.
“He was so powerful.” Lewis enthused. “I’d love to know more about him.”
Stannous eyes twinkled at the admission.
“Then maybe I can persuade master Rognvald to allow me to set your punishment Lewis.”
Lewis looked extremely apprehensive at the announcement.
“Yes, I think master Rognvald will find that two afternoons spent in the library seeking out references on the training of the Wolf will be a suitable educational experience for you.” Stannous said with a broad grin.
Lewis had to smile slightly, he wasn’t that keen on reading and writing but the subject matter certainly appealed.
“Thank you master.”
“I shall expect the information to be written out for me.” Stannous warned him gently.
“Yes master.” Lewis assented, he would have less time to read about the Wolfs other exploits, but as punishments went it was pretty lenient.
“Good, learning by experience.” Stannous stated lightly and stood up. “Carry on Freder, you may work out something for yourself in the meantime, you’re bright enough. Just have a little patience.”
“Yes St…master.” Freder answered him.
With Stannous gone all the juniors gathered round Freder, except Valentina who was not in the room.
“We hardly ever see our sponsors.” Harley said morosely.
“That can be a good thing.” Ariadne said and the others laughed. “Master Beryl is a bit dotty now, she doesn’t always remember my name correctly.”
“Let’s play a tune on the frame.” Winston suggested and everyone nodded and settled on the benches so that they could reach the fount, then divvying up the weights between them, Freder naturally got the two heaviest.
“Okay when I point at you you bash your weight into the top. One, two.”
The tune was a bit rough at first but after a couple of rounds it became recognisable, if not quite in perfect key as the weights clanged away merrily.