Shadow patted Annie on the side, getting her attention. Shadow wanted to show off her latest creation.

It was her best rendition of a flying woodpecker. She made the shadow bird swoop and twirl around in front of Annie, doing her best to make the movements seem natural. She was getting a lot better at making the darkness do what she wanted. It was still far from perfect, but she was pretty proud of how well things were going.

She wished the darkness looked less like… a hole in the world. It was basically impossible to see anything but the outline of whatever creation she made, as it just destroyed all the light that hit it. She’d had a few instances where nobody could tell what she’d created because it didn’t have a good silhouette.

She knew it was just the nature of the spell, though. There wasn’t actually an object there, just a lack of light that looked like one.

Still, she was having plenty of fun making things and moving them around. She was getting good at syncing her gestures and the bird's twists and turns. The gesturing wasn't necessary but it was very satisfying.

“Hmm, a woodpecker?” Annie asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

Shadow nodded happily in answer, and her little flying shadow bird did too.

Shadow dropped back to all fours with a sigh, letting the spell dissipate. She took a moment to stretch out her back, then used a forepaw to rub at it as best she could. She’d been up on her hind legs for a while. They were feeling surprisingly okay, not burning nearly as bad as they had earlier. It was her back that was more the issue this time. It felt like she was kinking something staying up for too long.

“Are you alright?” Annie queried, looking a little concerned.

Shadow grinned at her, and gave a nod. It was no big deal. She stopped messing with her back and trotted after the group again.

“So, you're done for now?” Annie asked.

Shadow gave another nod, before quirking her head for a second.

Well, not quite.

‘Done except for using it to talk.’ she wrote, floating the text in front of Annie.

There was nothing really stopping her from casting on all fours. The shadows were directed with her mind, not her paws. She just had a limit on how far she could make them from where she had the spell array located. Her limit seemed to be about 8 feet at the moment, but it was getting farther (and easier to manipulate) as she improved the shape and flow of mana through the array. She did like having her forepaws available to ‘direct’ her magic around with, though. It felt like the proper way to cast stuff, after seeing Annie do it. It was also a lot more fun.

“Finally ready to learn about the elements?” Annie queried with a small smirk.

Shadow managed to look a little sheepish as she nodded her affirmation. She couldn’t help it! She’d really wanted to cast a spell.

And it had totally been worth it.

“Alright, then let’s get to it.”

Annie launched into the second explanation of the day.

“There are 8 total elemental mana types, and one type of mana that is not considered elemental. Each mana type has a subset of spells that it’s good at fueling.” Annie explained.

“The types are: Light, fire, metal, air, dark, water, wood, and earth, with pure mana being the only non-elemental type. All mana starts as pure mana.”

Shadow blinked. Was that true? She’d only ever been able to make dark mana, as far as she could tell.

‘Really? I thought mine was dark mana.’ Shadow rendered the words in front of Annie, raising a brow, glancing between her mom and the clearly very shadowy and dark words.

Annie laughed.

“Yes, it’s true. Or it should be. I suppose you could be the first exception we’ve ever seen, but I’d bet your mana font is creating pure mana, just like anyone else’s.” Annie shifted back to a lecturing tone.

“All mana starts pure, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Pure mana can be changed to mana of an elemental type by something called a foundation conversion array. It’s similar to a spell’s runic array, but it works automatically, continuously shifting any pure mana you have into one of the elemental types.” Annie explained.

She glanced over at Shadow.

“That’s what I expect is happening for you. Your pure mana is being converted to dark via one of these conversion arrays. Although… shadelings are not supposed to have one.”

Annie gave Shadow a longing look that showed she was more than a little curious about that fact.

“Looking into that sort of thing will have to wait until we get to Glossa and my workshop, however. Assuming you’re still ok with letting me examine you?” Annie asked, fixing Shadow a tentative look.

Shadow nodded. Annie kept asking her about stuff like that. Shadow was very willing to let Annie look at her with whatever magic tools she wanted. Shadow was as curious about her own magic as Annie was.

Shadow had the sudden impulse to try looking herself over to find this array, but stopped after a few seconds. She was being silly. She’d seen herself plenty of times, and had never found anything like that. It didn’t really make sense that she’d suddenly discover something now.

Just the short check had made Annie chuckle though.

Shadow fixed her with an annoyed glare.

“Generally, for magical creatures, they grow the array inside themselves. You probably won’t be finding it on your scales or skin.” Annie informed her with a smile.

I'd have figured it out! ...But that is interesting.

Wait.

‘Wouldn’t… you need to, like… cut me open to check that?’

Annie fixed her with a firm gaze.

“Absolutely not. I promise I’d never ask you to do something that would hurt you. I’ve developed methods that let me check that sort of thing without the need for anything invasive like that. Although… that is one of the things I worry about, should someone with fewer scruples get their hands on you.” Annie stated, ending with a sigh, before shaking her head.

“That won’t happen though, not with you being a beastkin,” Annie said, shooting a nervous glance back at Kirrik.

He gave her a small nod back.

“Nothing weird ‘bout a beastkin using magic. Might want to practice faking an array on the outside, though, so she looks like a mage.” Kirrik suggested. “But… scales and dark magic might be good enough to explain it away.”

Jonas nodded in agreement.

Annie looked at the pair with some surprise.

“That... yes. I should have thought of that. That makes sense.” She squinted at Kirrik. “Why would scales help though?”

“Knew a snake-kind mage. You can’t tattoo scales, so they filed them off, so they could tattoo the skin under. Didn’t sound too pleasant, but it meant his array was pretty hard to spot once the scales grew back, even shirtless.” Kirrik explained. "Would probably be next to impossible to spot on a dark mage. Dark mana doesn't glow."

Shadow stared at all of them in confusion.

‘What are you all talking about?’

Annie looked back at her.

“Let me explain. Foundation conversion arrays are a bit different for humans. or Beastkin. Or really any non-magical creature that has a mana font and would like to be a mage, I suppose. We don’t have an inbuilt array. Left alone, anyone gifted with a mana font would just end up empowered, like Glenda was back in the village. To become a mage, however, you need to have a pure-mana conversion array tattooed on yourself. The type of conversion array tattooed determines the type of mage. My array makes me a light mage, whereas your inbuilt one essentially makes you a dark mage.”

‘Tattooed? Is that like drawing?’ Shadow wrote. She was greatly enjoying her ability to write with the darkness spell. Being able to just… ask things, even on the move, was really nice.

“Close, but not quite. The ink is inserted under the skin using a needle. It’s generally done to make the drawing, known as a tattoo, permanent. Although it’s useful for other reasons when talking about conversion arrays.”

The group burst out laughing at Shadow’s expression.

She was staring at Annie, horrified.

‘That’s awful!” She exclaimed in large letters.

That sounded terrible even if you didn’t have scales that had to be ‘filed off’ first!

Annie reached down and ruffled her ears.

“It’s not as bad as you’d think. Not pleasant, but tolerable. And without it, we’d never be able to use magic. Pure mana can’t be used to cast spells directly.”

Shadow wasn’t entirely convinced.

‘Couldn’t you just draw one instead? Why does it have to be a tattoo?’ she asked.

“Well, there are a couple of reasons. You can draw a conversion array on paper, but it’s impossible to force pure mana outside of your body. Or really force it anywhere. Pure mana is not amenable to direct control,” she said.

“That means the array needs to be made directly on the skin, where it can draw in any pure mana and convert it automatically. The problem is, skin is constantly shifting, stretching, and compressing. A normal array would be disrupted in a second, especially one as complicated as a foundation conversion array. So, the array needs to be made with skin in mind. The only way to truly make it work is with a tattoo. From what I’ve heard, the depth of the ink in the skin is part of the array. I don’t know all the details. Tattooing conversion arrays is a specialty all of its own, and you need to be a master before they'll let you work on a person.”

Shadow slowly nodded. If that really was the only way to make it work, she supposed she could understand people going through it so they could use magic. But still… she shivered at the thought. She was glad she wouldn’t need to go through that.

“Well then. Ready to learn about the elemental circle?”

Shadow nodded eagerly.

“One second,” Jonas broke in, “Feeling hungry, Shadow? Smell something good?” he asked with a grin.

She blinked up at him.

Actually, yes, she smelled a deer, and it smelled great. It must be pretty close. And she was starving. She really should have waited and grabbed some food earlier. But… magic.

And how did he know? Oh right, I can just ask.

‘Yes! A deer! How did you know?’ she asked Jonas.

“You’ve been sniffing at the air and swallowing your saliva for the last few minutes.” He told her.

She tilted her head at him.

‘Really?’

“Yes, really!” he laughed.

She hadn’t noticed at all. She’d been too caught up in Annie’s lesson.

“My point being, maybe you should go grab some food and we can continue this a little later. “

“Not the deer though,” Annie broke in. ”Please keep your meal personal sized."

'I know! I can't help it smelling good!'

"Although… Kirrik, did you… need meat as well?” She asked, giving him an uncertain look.

“Ahh, yea… Well, I can go without for a bit if I have to, but I don’t do so good long term without any.” Kirrik looked at her like he’d just remembered an unfortunate fact. “I would… likely be fine. For a few weeks. If you’d prefer that.” He said it like it pained him.

“No, it’s fine. Perhaps you can both go hunting together. I would appreciate it if you didn’t shoot anything larger than the pair of you can eat. “

Kirrik nodded and gave her a thumbs up, looking relieved. Shadow was already getting better at reading his facial expressions, just over the course of their walk. Watching him as he talked about himself had really helped.

“Well?” he asked, looking down at Shadow.

She nodded at him. She was more than ready to eat now that she was aware of her hunger again, even if they would have to settle for something other than the deer.

She sighed a bit.

Why did all the big stuff have to taste so good?

He nodded back and trudged off into the woods, with Shadow close on his heels.

“Pay attention. I'll show you how to hunt like a beastkin.”