Wednesday, January 14th.

We're having our first practical magic class.

The first few lessons in theoretical magic were sinfully boring. And so is this.

Nicolas, the teacher, made a big deal about how awesome the three kids that can already channel are.

Glad I didn't tell him I could do it too already. He'd pull me up there to be stared at by everyone like I was a freak.

Or worse, awkwardly ignore me whenever he praised the others.

I'll just keep my head down for now.

``How about you, Nightblue, do you want to give it a go?'' [Nicolas]

``Hmm? Excuse me sir?'' [Nathan]

``Were you not paying attention to me?'' [Nicolas]

He asks, visibly annoyed.

``Sorry sir.'' [Nathan]

``Hmph, go sit over there if you have more important things to do than pay attention then!'' [Nicolas]

He yells, as several from the class snicker at me.

I follow his instructions, and go sit on the snowy grass some yards away from the rest of the class. Damn, I should stop daydreaming when I'm in class.

At least now I can be just a little productive.

I take a deep breath, and start meditating. I don't have a spell that I'm working on at the moment, but being in contact with Ash will make it easier for me to control the ones I can cast.

Which will help me use them for imprinting.

After a while I ease myself out of the trance. There's too much noise, I can't concentrate properly here.

Someone is standing in front of me. It's a classmate of mine, Moonhide Julius.

Like me, he stands out. Mostly because he's two heads taller than the rest of the children.

And he's very, very clearly a lizardkith.

He has a slow, almost sluggish mannerism with everything he does. Makes me wonder if perhaps he isn't very bright.

``Do you want something from me?'' [Nathan]

I ask with a puzzled look on my face.

After a long second, he shakes his head.

``Then why are you here?'' [Nathan]

``... Teacher told me to go be useless here.'' [Julius]

He slowly says after a slightly too long pause.

``What do you mean?'' [Nathan]

Talking to him is like talking to someone online with a delay.

Everything feels weird, and I almost start talking again before he opens his mouth.

``... I asked him questions. He said they were stupid.'' [Julius]

Pff, arrogant bastard.

``What did you ask him?'' [Nathan]

``... Why do we need to channel an aura to use magic? Why can't we use all three elements? Why do our familiars determine which elements we can use? Why do we need to invoke magic with speech? Why can we make things just appear with magic? Why does it take more mana to make things appear than to move things? And why does that change your hair color?'' [Julius]

He spouts in a quick succession that defies his usual sluggishness.

``... Wow, where to begin.'' [Nathan]

I say, taking a few seconds to think about the questions

``... With the first question.'' [Julius]

He says with a completely straight face.

``.. You're a very literal one aren't you?'' [Nathan]

``... Yes.'' [Julius]

``Sigh.. Alright then. I'm not sure about this, but here's what my parents told me. We need auras to invoke spells because we're not the ones casting them. Our familiars are. That's also why we can't use all spells, because familiars can only belong to two elements. We have a bond with our familiars that makes us able to cast spells, but they need our guidance, which is why we tell them what we want them to do with incantations. After a while, you can make them do what you want without speaking to them, but that takes a lot of practice. Making things appear requires more mana because the mana has to be dense enough to crystallize, but if you just have to move something then the mana only needs to move things, which isn't nearly as hard.'' [Nathan]

He takes a moment to contemplate what I just said before he nods his head.

``.. That makes sense.'' [Julius]

``Do you have any other questions?'' [Nathan]

``... How do I channel my aura?'' [Julius]

``You find out what your familiar is called. Then you can ask it with the aura invocation.'' [Nathan]

``... How do I found out what it's called?'' [Julius]

Didn't the teacher even tell them something is simple? Geez.

``You meditate. When you reach a trance, your mind will touch the familiar, and it will tell you what it's called.'' [Nathan]

``... I'm not good at meditating..'' [Julius]

He says, looking dejected.

``You just need to get the hang of it. Try sitting down like this behind me, facing the other way.'' [Nathan]

I pat the ground behind me.

After a seconds pause, he sits down behind me, and I slowly lean against him.

``Yeah, like this. Now just relax, focus on your breath and my back against yours. I always had problems with meditating. My- ... My mother showed me this long ago.. Now, block out all of the noise and your own thoughts. If you get distracted, just focus on my back, on how I'm breathing slowly just like you.'' [Nathan]

I start breathing slowly, controlling my breath to match his rhythm.

After a while his breath slowly calms. He stays calm for a while, so I sit here with my back against his.

Slowly, his breathing starts to accelerate, before he exhales deeply.

``Did it help?'' [Nathan]

``... Yes.'' [Julius]

``Good. Try to do this for half an hour before you go to bed. You should be able to contact your familiar soon enough.'' [Nathan]

``... Thank you. This helped me.'' [Julius]

``I'm glad. Just come find me if you need more help, I'll do my best to help you.'' [Nathan]

``... I will. Class is over. I'll go now. See you tomorrow.'' [Julius]

He says, leaving straight away.

``Oh, alright then, ehm, bye?'' [Nathan]

I say, not sure he heard me.

... Strangle kid.

Well, at least now I have someone in my class to talk to that doesn't consider me a freak.

At least I don't think so?