VARA

I moved through the hallway towards my last class of the day. Introduction to Image Binding wasn’t bad, but they dealt more with the history than the practicality of the style. They had gone over the basics, but as image binding was more of a method to allow those without large aether pools to accomplish some of the other bindings, it was more a history class at this point.

I let out a sigh. Arya had tutored me more in an afternoon than that class covered. I knew the parts of image binding: Activation, Gathering, Siphon, and Effect. Everyone knew about the activation and gathering portions, that was how the image was activated and the passive recharge effect. The siphon surprised most people, it was there to let the image bleed off the aether so it didn’t destroy itself if it wasn’t used right after charging. The effect portion was relatively self explanatory, since you couldn’t bind an image without having source material. Want to bind a Firebolt spell, you need to put the firebolt runes on it. Professor Schneider hadn’t even gotten to the point in the history of image binding about how the use of combat cards became prevalent before the class was over.

Takahashi was with me heading to the class on gear binding and said, “Not impressed with that class?”

“It was alright, just not very informative,” I replied.

“Maybe if some of the class didn’t disparage the lesson every few minutes he may have gotten to more material,” Tak said.

I scoffed, “Yeah I don’t see that happening. Most people look down on image binding as playing games. They haven’t seen how effective it is as a form of combat binding.”

“Technically, neither have I,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow at him. He got the hint and continued, “The town guard where I grew up used image binding for training. Both in actual sparring and in tactical analysis.”

“I’ve seen an expert in image binding use the combat cards in a fight. One of the most terrifying and complicated confrontations I was present for,” I said.

“Can you tell me?” Tak asked with a curious note to his voice.

“I can give you the highlights, but I doubt Professor Stormleaf will appreciate it if we disrupt the class after it starts,” I said as we entered the classroom and found seats.

He nodded and motioned for me to go ahead, so I began the story while keeping an ear out for the start of class, “When I was about nine there was an assasination attempt on my mother and grandfather. I don’t know how the King’s battle went, but I remember hearing explosions. Mother however was having dinner with Magnus, his mother, and myself when it happened. Arya wasn’t caught unaware like the rest of us were and before the assassin even got within knife range of my mother he was pinned to the ground by an Oak Bear, had a set of glowing chains wrapping him up, and was watching a barrier form around the table we were at. I have never seen a spellbinder throw that many different spells at once, let alone call a creature at the same time.”

“Aren’t image binders limited in their options for what they use?” he asked.

I shook my head, “Only by the images they have on them. Ever since combat cards were developed that has become less of an issue. There’s even a family in Haven that has started making and selling some of the simpler cards, They even developed a type of card that is an illusion for training purposes.”

“So for image binders it’s the preparation long before confrontation that determines effectiveness?” Tak asked.

Professor Stormleaf answered as he moved past us to the podium at the front, where the hell had he been hiding?

“Yes, which is as close to the opposite of Equipment Binding as aether binding gets,” was the answer.

As he reached the podium he turned and addressed the class, “Equipment binding in general has less to do with preparation than it has to do with training. Which is not to say preparation isn’t important. As in so much of aether binding it is extremely rare for someone to have the ability to control aether enough to use the effects without inscribing the sigils on something, As it should have been explained to you in your Introduction to Aether Binding class, what we are teaching you are subtypes of binding. Equipment Binding is the art of storing and retrieving physical objects, and the adjustment of those objects.”

Most of the students didn’t seem thrilled with the subject matter and the professor gave the class a grin before he continued, “Now why is this still an important subject to learn? Because there is nothing that prevents you from binding equipment that has its own form of bindings.”

He raised one gloved hand and a sword appeared in it. The blade was engraved with a multitude of runes, some of which I recognized. He raised his other hand and a fan of combat cards appeared in it, then they disappeared into motes of light to be reabsorbed into the gloves.

“I don’t see any binding runes, how did you do that?” called one student.

Stormleaf looked at him and said in a slight teasing tone, “You don’t? How strange, all bindings require sigils of some form.”

Tak snorted out a bit of laughter, drawing the professors gaze to him along with a raised eyebrow. Tak took the hint and clarified for the class, “Those are duelists gloves. They have a second layer of leather over the back of the hand. If the runes were below that we wouldn’t see them unless we could view the aether flow.”

Stormleaf clapped his hands briefly and said, “Just so. Unlike other forms of binding where having the runes visible, equipment binding takes advantage of the fact that you can hide the glyphs. There is also another advantage, can anyone tell me what it is?”

A young man with a broad build, and short almost shaved brown hair, raised a hand and said, “Efficiency.”

“Succinct, but not enough details for those unfamiliar with the end result. Elaborate please,” Stormleaf said with a smile.

The boy cleared his throat and said, “Equipment binding sigils are small and depending on the size of the volume of equipment cost little in the way of aether to summon.”

“Close, you are right on all counts except for the fact that it is mass and density, not volume. I hope everyone understands the difference; if you don’t we will need to start there,” the professor said.

I looked around the class, I knew what the terms meant, but it seemed most of the class didn’t. I let out a sigh similar to the one I had released in the hallway. It seemed all the intro classes were going to have to cover basic concepts. Now I wish I had Spellcraft with Richard and Magnus, even if I didn’t enjoy spellbinding at least the teacher was known for being efficient.

“I’ll keep it simple, but I expect you to have learned these terms before the week is out,” the professor lectured, “Mass is how much matter there is to an object and volume is how much space it takes up. A wooden disc and wooden ring of the same size would have the same volume, but the disc would have more mass. Does that explain it for everyone?”

No one raised a hand so he continued, “Now like Mr. Krieg said these bindings are efficient, and if created right can be layered.”

The professor held a wooden plaque, about a foot across and long, up from his podium. There were six lines of runes on it, and he said, “This simple wooden board has six items bound to it. Each item is actually the same mass as the board itself, so the cost in aether is negligible. Because the mass and density of the objects stored are the same the cost is lowered. The greater the difference the higher the cost, and because the runes are linked between this board and the stored items it doesn’t take up much space. Now, can anyone give me an example of how else this could be used?”

I raised my hand, Arya had taught me a bit more on the concept of density compared to mass and I suspected I knew the point he was driving at. He smiled at me and said, “Go ahead.”

“If you used lead reinforcement in your gloves you could bind daggers or short swords to each section for less of a cost, since lead is heavier than steel the cost is negated,” I said.

“Very Good, it is also why you will see equipment bindings on various precious metals as they tend to be denser than good steel. Anyone else?” the professor replied.

Tak raised his hand. I looked at him and he had a wry grin on his face for some reason. I wondered what that was about. When the teacher called on him he said, “Couldn’t you store weapons within weapons? Especially if they are the same size and weight.”

My eyes widened as I looked at our professor. The glyphs on his sword I hadn’t recognized, those were equipment bindings not spell bindings. I could have sworn you couldn’t put an equipment binding within an equipment binding.

“Exactly, which is why you will find most crossbows in military usage have bolts stored within them,” the professor said with a smile, and a brief almost unnoticed wink.