Patli circled overhead Isak and Tonauac at their meeting spot on the beach in that out of the way corner of the campus beach where they had first tested Vidal’s powers. It was here that the pair of mages had chosen to complete their homework for Core Spells. The young human held a flattened hand to his brow to shield his eyes from the afternoon sun as he looked up at the bird, still getting used to being at a center of Imperial culture where someone offering to have their vulture circle overhead was a friendly gesture instead of an obtuse threat.

“Is he good to just keep soaring up there?” Isak asked as he looked back down to Tonauac, who was sitting on a driftwood log and reading from his textbook.

The lizardfolk didn’t look up as he spoke. “Both of us have eaten, and soaring just doesn’t take up much energy to begin with. Especially with all the thermals that Vidal is putting out right now. However your concern is greatly appreciated! Patli is all too happy to keep watch up there while Vidal keeps watch down here!”

He gestured in the general direction of where Vidal was standing as still as a presently burning statue up on a rocky ridge after having been assured by both young mages that all offensive spells would be aimed down towards the sea and not at one another. Being a thing that no one had ever seen before, it was enough to have the odd student carefully observe the rock man from a distance while most others avoided that stretch of beach entirely.

“Alright!” Tonauac announced as he stored his textbook and hopped from his perch onto the beach. “So you heard the professor, focus on first awakening spells for now! You haven’t learned any new ones since your first awakening have you?”

Isak shook his head. “Nah. I tried begging Kazimir to teach me a few but he was always all ‘You just awoke and already you’re jumping at the sun with a hoe!’ and then he’d tell me to just focus on the spells I awoke with and offer to help with those. And then our professor teaches me the same thing, and I think ‘Of course I know where the shoe pinches!’ I just...wished it pinched in a slightly different spot...”

The lizardlad stared at the human with jaw agape before scratching at the back of his head and looking off to the ocean. “Um, I’m afraid I did not understand those idioms?”

“Oh.” The human flinched, suddenly aware of his own accent as well while he thought over his words. “Sorry, uhhhh let’s see, know your limitations? But I wish my limitations were slightly different?”

“It’s fine!” Tonauac waved him off. “Though I will refrain from trying to use those as I would no doubt horribly misapply them! And I’ve just had my same two first awakening spells as well, which I should remind you is the vast majority of all mages. Also you have Storm as a spell, that’s like four hundred in one.”

“Only much later!” Isak held up a finger to wag at Tonauac, but relented before he could actually get to the scolding. “But, fine yeah it’s pretty cool.”

“So we’ll focus on that and Blood Stitch!” The lizardlad’s happiness was palpable as he dragged Isak into the tiniest bit more self worth. “Because you might not always have me around!”

Isak rolled his eyes and groaned “Quit being grim...are you going first or should I? Eh, nevermind I’ll go.”

The human steadied himself, inhaling and remembering what his professor had taught him about how to try and explain one’s feelings around a spell to others. Starting with their first awakening.

“So, I had just had the Awakening dream. And it took me a moment to figure out if I was still dreaming, because...is it fine if I share some details of that dream?”

“I would be honored!”

“Right...right well I had a treehouse back home. And in that dream I met The Man in Shadows himself at my treehouse with my parents there. I woke up and I’m still there at the treehouse but I was just spending the night alone out there. I start wondering if that was just a dream within a dream and I’m going to be the first to have a false Awakening dream and I’m alone and I’m sitting up in a cold sweat and feeling around for my lantern and as I swing a hand through the air I finally just give it a shot with the first word that comes to mind. And I cast Storm as really tiny lightning arcs between my fingers.” Isak suddenly realized how long he had been talking and staring at his hands. As he looked up to Tonauac, the boy gestured for him to continue with a smile and wide eyes. “Anyway uh, I thought about that a lot and it was like I was taking all the chaos of a storm and...focusing it. Like you’re the eye of the storm and spell is The Black Sun manifesting the storm around you. And for now, that storm is a single focused bolt of electrical annihilation! Okay, I think I got that right. How’d I do?”

Tonauac gave a thumbs sideways, and after one slight jolt of his eyes going wide he oriented the foreign gesture correctly. He turned his body towards the sea and took a few deep breaths. “I think I get it. Chaos around you and remaining stable at the heart of it all. Here goes!”

The lizardfolk gained a serious face with narrowed eyes as he threw a fierce pointer claw to the sea to cast Storm. And produced a tiny, tiny spark that Isak had almost missed due to a blink.

“Ahem.” Tonauac cleared his throat and readied himself once more. “Let me go again. Hang on.”

He grit his teeth and prepared a stance as Isak leaned forward with hands on his knees to observe. The lizardfolk shouted the spell again as a somehow smaller spark sprang forth from his claw.

“Wait, wait okay I got it!” Tonauac’s voice was wavering again as he quickly cast the Storm spell again, which a squinting Isak was just able to observe as the tip of the lizardfolk’s claw glowing in a way that was only barely different from catching the high sun overhead at just the right angle.

“Hang on!”

Isak put a hand on Tonauac’s wrist and shook his head as he lowered the other boy’s claw, with his spirit falling soon after with accompanying head and shoulder slumping.

“There’s a decent base there,” Isak said as he released the lizardfolk’s wrist to pat him on the back. “but Kazimir explained it like...you’re starting off feeling like you’re the eye of the storm directing the turmoil and chaos. But what you’re really doing is directing that power of The Black Sun in a way that just happens to be similar to a storm until it is a Storm! Intuition into understanding!”

What went unsaid was that Isak was worrying for his friend who, from outward appearances and visible frustration, may have been even worse at handling stress and chaos than he was. The human got a far away stare in his eyes as that realization hit him, and he was thankful that Tonauac was still too busy wallowing in defeat to notice.

“Anyway, let’s clear your head!” Isak cheered on his friend as Patli’s shadow passed over them and Tonauac brightened up. “And fill it with thoughts on how to possibly begin to teach your best friend blood magic! Why did you think that was a good idea!?!”

All moping and sorrow were cast into the sea as Tonauac crossed his arms and glared. “Because even if you just focus on the healing side of Blood Stitch, which you should, it will greatly increase your quality of life! Now, it’s Professor Zipactonal time!”

Isak held up his hands and backed away in mock fear and an amused grin. Which was only partially mock fear because there were few things more terrifying in this world than an angry blood mage, even if it was anger born of worry and an inexperienced blood mage at that. Tonauac gave his friend a stern nod then walked about in circles to mirror his familiar overhead until his yellow eyes relaxed enough and he stood before Isak once more.

“Alright!” Tonauac held his arm out and away from his body as he pointed to it. “So my Awakening wasn’t so harrowing, and my Light spell was the first one I cast, but later that same day while my family was celebrating my dad cut his finger as he was making dinner. And since we’re sharing our Awakening dreams, well The Smoking Mirror himself...he uh...well see what he showed me in the mirror was-”

The lizardfolk’s eyes went unfocused and his arm sagged with his entire body following suit. Isak tilted his head, brows pressing together before looking around as he started to worry.

“You uh...you okay buddy?” Isak asked, gaining no response.

Vidal was still standing tall at that ridge, and just as Isak was about to wave for him to join him for...something and anything to help his friend, Patli swooped down to land on Tonauac’s shoulder and nuzzle at his head. Tonauac straightened up and gained a look of determination to cross his green and black banded face. “He showed me what I couldn’t let happen. So I made it simple for myself. That small cut on my father’s hand was like a fabric that could be sewn back together. My blood, the needle. His blood, the thread. Focus on that, Isak. Blood magic is a sacrifice. You pay in blood to work with blood. And when healing, you are making things as they should be again.”

Isak’s mouth had fallen open as one brow had risen so high as to get lost in his black hair. He rested a hand on his hip as he chewed on his lip, glancing around once more while wondering if anyone else had seen that before looking back at his friend. “Were...were we going to talk about that?”

“Talk about what?” Tonauac tilted his head to the opposite side of Patli.

“The whole nightmare flashback and silence thing?”

“Well, we could get into that and talk about feelings but then it would only be fair that you do the same for yourself-”

“I for one am so ready to try out blood magic!” Isak said while stretching as though he was about to run a marathon, avoiding eye contact along the way. “What do I need to do, scratch myself and try to heal it?”

Tonauac burst out laughing, with even Patli imitating a ‘laugh’ with a series of screeches.

“Of course not!” Without another word, the lizardfolk took a claw and poked a tiny wound into the scales of his forearm. “Intuition! Your favorite fine jacket just got caught on a thorn, and now you need to sew the hole closed! As you speak that spell, remember that your blood is the needle and-”

“Yeah yeah I got it, but warn me before you do something crazy like that again!” Isak huffed as he strode over to his friend to attempt fixing this.

Tonauac was refreshingly back to his usual state of being unphased. “Oh it’s just a little bit of blood!”

The human didn’t bother fighting him on that, only remembering the stereotype of blood mages be they healing or combat focused being at least a bit odd was certainly holding true. And there was definitely no stereotypes about whatever specialization Isak was going to end up as that he would have to worry about. Not one bit. Isak just had to focus on casting Blood Stitch as he put his palm to Tonauac’s tiny stab wound, feel the tiny sliver of an odd sensation that he assumed to be that sacrifice as mentioned, and figuratively but literally sew that wound shut. Simple and easy like translating metaphors into completely different languages.

He pulled his hand back from the wound, grimacing at the blood on his own palm and the wound that was now….at least not bleeding but still fresh looking?

“You did well!” Tonauac congratulated him with a cheer as Patli took the opportunity to take off into the air once more. Isak raised a brow at him but the lizardfolk clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Humans can literally die of sadness, so quit it. You did just as well as most other young mages who never tried a healing spell before. And you didn’t even stitch any veins closed!”

“THAT WAS A POSSIBILITY?!?”

“Haha of course not!” Tonauac gave another hard pat to the shorter boy’s back, nearly knocking him off his feet as Isak struggled with the shock that he could have sealed even a few veins off in his friend’s arm. “Just like you don’t accidentally produce rain instead of lightning with Storm, you don’t accidentally seal off a vein when you were focused on repairing the flesh! Which is why I didn’t tell you about the other possibility. Blood magic is inherently messier than standard magic! Speaking of which you should clean your hand off.”

Isak scowled at his smiling friend, getting a small headache from how hard his eyebrows were trying to fuse into one. He cast Storm once more, this time even more focused on channeling that chaos around him into a more significant yet still small rain that he used to clean his hand of while walking off to gain some space between him and his crazed friend. Tonauac put a claw to his jaw and hummed.

“You said it’s like being in the eye of the storm, right?” The lizardfolk asked. “Kinda like staying standing while in a storm?”

The human wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to change topics, even if that topic was back to homework. He sighed and answered. “Yeah. Yeah it’s like...you’re that eye but you also have to be the eye. Like the power of The Black Sun is going to keep being there, but if you don’t do something about it...well I guess the storm just dies and doesn’t manifest.”

Tonauac frowned, and for a moment Isak was worried he was going to freeze up once more. Instead he held up his hand, staring at it as he breathed in and out several times and uttered the Storm spell and a tiny arc of electricity jumped from the tip of one claw to the next for a brief moment.

“That’s progress that I will take and use to demand we just call it a day and relax now!” Isak exclaimed with a triumphant pump of his fist into the air.

The lizardfolk narrowed his eyes but relented with a shrug as he started gathering up his book bag from the driftwood log. “Alright fine, we’ve got the rest of the weekend after lab classes tomorrow to finish homework. This was a surprisingly eventful study session and I really don’t want you dying of sadness.”

Isak pinched the bridge of his nose and came to a stop as he was retrieving his own book bag. “Not a thing. It’s just a metaph-” He stopped to heave a heavy sigh, wondering if Xoco would be thrilled at all the talk of metaphors and idioms and figures of speech or if she would be furious that she had been excluded from such talks “-it’s just not a thing.”

Tonauac cast a suspicious glance over to the human, debated questioning him further on this but immediately relented when Vidal hopped down from the ridge to rejoin the pair at seeing them pack up their things to leave. He was in no hurry to test the rock man’s protective instincts yet again.

“Did training go well, Master Isak?” Vidal asked.

“I was not injured physically!” Isak said as he cast another quick Storm spell to turn Vidal back to his water form in order to not incinerate his friend or any passing students. “Emotionally? Let’s call it a minor bruise. Tonauac was not so lucky.”

The rock man eyed the lizardfolk in question who had a highly colorful vulture landing on his shoulder while he healed up his small arm wound until it was nothing but a memory. Tonauac waved back with a grin. “I got better!”

Isak drew in a breath to correct him about how that was a filthy stinking lie on the emotional front, then shut his mouth and bit his tongue rather than risk going down that road himself when it was completely unnecessary. For now.

“As your friends have sworn to ensure your safety, Master Isak, it is my strong recommendation that you return the favor.” Vidal suggested in a firm yet even tone.

“I’m trying!” Isak threw his hands up in the air as Tonauac looked off with guilt showing in his face. “It’s like I need to physically restrain some of them from bad ideas...starting to see where you were coming from, Vidal...that was not me saying you can do that freely.”

“Only when absolutely necessary, Master Isak.”

Isak ignored how deliberately open ended that sounded as he focused on counting the tracks in the sand while they all made their way back onto campus proper. The young human doubted that his mysterious stalker would be so bold as to try something in full daylight and an open beach, but as he confirmed the lack of questionable tracks he relaxed and assured himself that a little bit of precaution didn’t hurt. That his current companions were not as talkative and in need of filling the silence as a certain well meaning drow was a welcomed thing in being certain he hadn’t been distracted in counting tracks.

And with another group meetup planned a short while from now in which Xoco had planned to bring a number of candied honey confections, Isak conceded the day as an overall success. One that would be sorely needed before the overly eventful day tomorrow that would begin with a Wilderness Survival lab and end with an Astronomy lab.

Simple.