[PM to Join] Can I get a witness? [Norellie]

[Ezre Vks]

Varendare Hall

Afternoon Class Block on the 14th of Dentis, 2719

The stifling heat of the Anaxi dry season had withered away—finally, thank the glorious generosity of the Circle gods!—and temperatures had reluctantly cooled to a more tolerable level (for a certain Hoxian, at least). The classrooms were no longer strangling with heat, and after a cloying fog the day before, today's drizzle made the autumn season feel particularly official.

Ezre felt the end of this year of his education far more keenly than he thought he would, and the slow creep toward Vortas was something he couldn't quite articulate how much he looked forward to. He'd endured three years in the Kingdom, in Brunnhold specifically, and while he didn't entirely dislike his time spent so far from his homeland, he'd not realized just how restless he'd become, either. As much as he missed Hox—and Kzecka, specifically—the Hexxos Guide had come to realize he wasn't necessarily in a hurry to return to the home he missed to settle permanently, either, and the strange sensation of being in between desire and duty, curiosity and concern for Vita and its problems, gnawed at the very marrow of his young bones.

The dark-haired cxîl, regardless of his current state of mind, always looked forward to his Clairvoyant classes. He'd been in the morgue that morning, however, his fellow mortuary sciences students checking on the statuses of their final project for this school year: cadaver preservation techniques. Fascinating comparatives had been found between ancient Mugrobi and pre-BT Vezzean mummification practices that had been preserved in a single textbook from Brunnhold's founding.

Of course, he'd shared his thoughts over lunch with Lilanee, and their conversation had quickly digressed into various archaeological discoveries and cultural comparisons across several historical periods, only for their food to grow cold while ignored and for their knees to touch in subtle secrecy beneath the cafeteria table, hidden from public view. The dining hour ended too soon and the Hoxian made sure to give himself time to walk the Hessean to class before slipping away in the crisp Dentist chill to Varendare Hall for his own.

Now settled in his seat, Ezre found himself scribbling notes while Madame Exudus spoke about the various methods of obfuscationthe act of intentionally blocking scrying attempts by another person and various theories surrounding the creation of a well-guarded vestibulethe available part of the mind, usually limited to the area of consent, such as the channel of communication versus the careful protection of the rest of a Clairvoyant's mind within the latibulepart of the mind that the scrying target deliberately closes off from the scryer. It was not entirely new information, of course, but this lesson was definitely more in-depth than he'd been presented with before. It was a subject he couldn't deny being interested in.

"Scrying, as you all know, is not necessarily a private occurrence. While it is often easy to assume so, one must learn to be vigilant at all times against counter-scrying measures and spying."

The Professor repeated for emphasis, watching as her class nodded along. She was a spry, well-aged Bastian woman, poised and graceful with her greying dark hair pulled up into an impressively multi-braided updo. Her arms moved fluidly beneath her dark professor robes, worn as they were over a plum skirt suit, "Any other Clairvoyant sorcerer can attempt to listen in on someone else's magical conversation, through either mind of both participants, though the situation is usually determined by who the offending eavesdropper knows is involved and what information they are actually after."

"Clearly, for most casual, personal seer stone use, this is not a problem. The Seventen and the Anaxi Armed Forces obviously deal with espionage in a more formal and skillful fashion, but today I believe a little demonstration is in order. I will need three volunteers: a witness, a scryer, and, of course, an interloper."

Madame Exudus smiled wryly, almost as if she already knew which hands would raise in her class of a few eighth and mostly ninth form students.

Ezre sat up a little straighter, setting down his pencil and letting his dark eyes wander the class for one curious heartbeat before his tattooed fingers lifted from his desk to stretch upward, the sleeve of his tidy green (terribly uncomfortable) uniform bunching at his elbow to reveal more of the dark lines inked beneath his tawny skin. He certainly could play the part of any of the three roles, but, admittedly, he kept to himself in the quietude of his mind an interest in interloping on an on-going scryed conversation.

The professor nodded in recognition and then glanced around the rest of the students at their long-tabled desks expectantly.

[Norellie Siordanti]

14th of Dentis, 2719
Barendare Hall | Afternoon

Norellie twisted a strand of her bright orange between her fingers, listening to her Clairvoyance professor. On any other day, she would be zoned in and completely focused, as Clairvoyance was a class that interested her. But today she was different. She was distracted by a slight feeling of hunger that pulled on her stomach muscles, causing periodic growls to quietly erupt. Thankfully, only loud enough to be heard by those closest in proximity to her.

She had skipped out on a meal to get more, undivided study time. The year was close to coming to an end, which meant there would be finals. The Galdor was in her ninth form and these exams would be some of her most important ones of all her years of schooling.

As she sat, her mind was half focused on her hunger and the other half focused on the lecturing of the Professor. Her free hand was busy taking notes. Even the distraction of her hunger would not stop her from learning all she could about Clairvoyance and everything that went along with the Conversation.

At the request of the Madame for volunteers, Norellie attention abruptly snapped in a deeper focus. She dropped her what she was writing, mid-word, and shot her hand into the air. Her posture stiffened straighter and a charming smile spread across her face.

Her eyes locked with those of Madame Exodus, who returned a nod and smile. “Thank you, Professor.”

Norellie was always one to volunteer for demonstrations. She learned best by doing the thing she was learning, so the more she volunteered in class, the easier it would be for her to learn the subject and remember it perfectly.

Happy to have been chosen (as usual), Norellie’s hand slowly lowered and laid on the desk with her other hand. Her eyes glanced between the other hands that were raised and the other volunteer that was chosen, Ezre.

[Ezre Vks]

Varendare Hall

Afternoon Class Block on the 14th of Dentis, 2719

Acollective sigh rippled through the class—some students disappointed, some students relieved—as Madame Exudus made her selections: Ezre, Miss Siordanti, and Mister Moriand Izolitia, lanky and blonde, who had been reluctant to raise his hand, but did so once he saw others who did. Motioning for the students to come down to the front of the class from their desks, the professor appeared to consider for several moments their various roles, letting her sharp green eyes wander over the faces of the three she'd chosen.

Normally soft-spoken and rather prone to being austere in her own ways, especially known for the various crystalline jewelry that she wore as if in rebellion to current fashion, Madame Exudus nodded to herself. This particular lecture hall in Varendare Hall was one equipped for Clairvoyant instruction—two small, dimly lit rooms on either side of the large blackboard allowed two people to sit separately and, when the heavy curtains were drawn over each doorway, communicate via magic without still hearing each other speak. While this often left the rest of the class excluded, prodigium were often drawn across the floor at the front of the room or a large cauldron of water could be rolled in to replace the podium in order for everyone to participate in group activities.

Today, there was no large container of water, but on the narrow desk to one side where Madame Exudus had left her notes, there was a small aquamancy cup no bigger than the one Ezre had lost in the East Garden in Roalis. His dark eyes lingered on its spherical shape for a moment instead of looking to his two classmates, the tattooed Hoxian finally looking toward their professor once she cleared her throat to indicate she'd made her decisions,

"Excellent. Well then," She began, using her slim, long-fingered hands for expressive emphasis. Almost every finger had a ring, sometimes two, and each of them bore various crystals, many of which were most likely various decorative galdor-grown artificial crystals containing ferrous-monic oxide. The Hexxos Guide suspected nearly all of them were differently-attuned seer stones, but he'd never bothered to ask, "Miss Siordanti and Mister Izolitia, would you to be so kind as to be our scryer and witness?"

She paused for the only responses she would accept—affirmative ones—and removed from a pocket a pair of round, palm-sized seer stones, dark and polished. Carved into the bottom of them in a careful, serif typeface read the words:

Property of Brunnhold University, Clairvoyance Department. Removal from Campus is strictly prohibited by Law.

Handing one to both the redhead and the blond, the Madame Exudus continued, pretending not to struggle over the pure consonants of the third student's very foreign, Deftung surname, "Mister Vks, you will sit out here within view of the rest of the class in order that they may observe your attempts at interrupting their scried conversation."

The dark-haired student's expression was deadpan but he nodded. If he was happy at all that she'd given him the role he most wanted to play in the classroom exercises, his rhakor was far too well-honed to show it (not that any Anaxi would ever understand, of course), nor was it at all audible in his tone of voice, "Thank you, Madame Exudus."

Sweeping her hand toward the blackboard, she addressed Norellie and Moriand, "As we have read in Brudham's treatise on obsufication and counter-scrying measures, I expect you both to begin your invocation with one of the three phrases of protection we've taken notes on this week. Once you're aware of Mister Vks' presence, one or both of you should be able to maintain your connection between the two of you while an attempt is made at countering the intrusion. Everyone in class will have a chance to participate in one of the three roles, so if we could all please be patient and take notes on what you observe through Mister Vks and my own narration for this first example."

The willowy well-aged Bastian didn't bother explaining, her powerful Clairvoyant field far weightier than any student's. It was rumored that while she had no interest in becoming a Magister, she'd not only published several works on obsufication herself, but had also spent a year in Caroult in her home kingdom on sabbatical and returned knowing her True Name. With a gentle jingling of the necklaces she wore, Madame Exudus indicated the rooms to her chosen scryer and chosen witness, "I will let you two know when to begin. Please get settled in your seats and make yourselves as comfortable as you'd like." Looking to Ezre, she added, "You may sit at the desk with the aquamancy kit if you'd like—"

"May I please sit on the floor here in front of the class?" He offered instead.

"Should that be your preference, I will not deny it." Her green eyes narrowed for a moment, but once the Hoxian had permission, he moved to gather the equipment on the desk, arranging it on the floor and pulling a piece of chalk from the cup on the railing below the blackboard. He drew a very small prodigium of his own, and while he should have most likely asked permission for the monite and lines he drew in a personal arrangement before he sat in the middle of it, cross-legged, and opened the aquamancy cup carefully so as to not spill any of the water inside the dark lacquered interior.

"Now, Miss Siordanti and Mister Izolitia, would you please open a ley channel of communication with each other? One of you please choose who to be the witness and who to be the scryer—perhaps having a book or some notes to look at would be helpful so that Mister Vks can reveal to the class when he has broken into your connection." Madame Exudus waited.