He broke away at last. There was much more he needed to tell her. “As for your training, if it’s like mine was, then you mustn’t give up hope.”
“She isn’t teaching me anything!”
“There’s nothing to be taught; she’s waiting for you to be ready.”
Her reply was saturated with frustration. “Ready for what?”
Will shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it. Heck, maybe that’s why Arrogan never explained it to me, because he knew I’d ask endless questions that he didn’t have answers for.”
“It still doesn’t make sense.”
“Grandfather once told me that it was easier to teach someone who hadn’t learned to use magic yet. I think she’s trying to help you get used to being without magic before she tries the next step.”
“With as much time as I’m wasting, it would be better to just start and deal with the problems as they come.”
He shook his head. “No. The next step is dangerous. You could die if you aren’t ready for it.”
Selene stared at him thoughtfully. “I remember you saying that once before, but I figured you were just exaggerating for emphasis.”
Will ran his fingers through her hair. He couldn’t not touch her, even for a moment. I’m like a man dying of thirst, he observed. “This first phase could last a long time. Has she given you a candle to watch?”
She held up her right hand. There was a gold ring there with a small, clear stone set in it. Will could see an intense knot of turyn hovering over it, and after studying it a moment he could make out the faint lines tying it to her source.
He was surprised. “How did I miss seeing that?”
“You were looking at other things,” she said with a sly smile.
“Your face for the most part,” he admitted, “to see if you missed me.”
“You know better than that. So, what is this ring supposed to teach me? The old hag was emphatic I pay close attention to it. It seems to read my mood but I’m not sure why that’s important.”
Will thought carefully about his answer. Arrogan hadn’t explained that point very well until he was ready to move on to the first compression of his source. Was there a reason for that? Would it be better for her to be left in the dark until she came to her own conclusion? “I’m not sure how much I should tell you,” he said at last. “It isn’t reading your mood, but your mood affects it.”
“Then it reflects the state of my turyn?”
He nodded. Damn, she was quick. Then again, she’s already a fully trained sorceress, so it isn’t as though she’s completely ignorant like I was, he consoled himself.
“How is that important?” she asked.
And yet she still missed the point completely, thought Will, fighting to hide a smirk. “I’m sure you’ve noticed how it changes, when you’re tired, angry, excited, sleepy, and so on.”
“Or when we kiss,” she said with a smile.
“Your current lesson is observing it, so you learn to understand what your inner turyn is doing without needing to look at a candle, or in your case a ring. If you want to get ahead of the game, learn to change it.”
Selene frowned. “A person’s internal turyn doesn’t change.”
“You’ve seen it change already.”
“I mean it isn’t something a person can control. It’s like your heartbeat, it regulates itself.”
“Remember our bet about whether I could take your spell from you?”
She nodded.
“This is part of it. You have to master the turyn within before you can master someone else’s. Here, watch.” Will had long since learned the candle spell that Arrogan had used on him, and though he didn’t have a candle, the spell didn’t actually require one, since the flame was illusory. With a second’s effort, he cast the spell and linked his own source to an illusory flame at the end of his finger.
“Impressive,” Selene remarked sarcastically.
He ignored her obvious lack of belief. “This is basically the same spell that you have on your ring. The flame reflects my internal turyn. Now, watch.” A second later the flame changed from a forest green to a bright red, then it flared, tripling in size. He kept it that way for ten seconds or so, then shrank it down until the flame was a tiny ember, barely visible.
“You aren’t using a second spell, are you?” muttered Selene, obviously puzzled. “Is that real?”
“Would I lie to you?”
She narrowed her eyes. “In point of fact, you have lied to me on several occasions in the past.”
“Not maliciously!”
“No, you always thought it was for my own good, which made me even madder.”
Will held up his hands as a sign that he wanted a truce. “Guilty as charged, but I don’t have any reason to lie this time.”
“So you claim.”
He kissed her before she could make any more accusations, but this time she pushed him back. “Tell me more before we run out of time.”
“That’s it really. Try not to make the flame larger; that’s counterproductive. When the next stage comes it will be important for you to learn how to make it smaller.”
“None of this makes sense,” Selene grumbled. “How long did this stage take you?”
Will thought about it for a moment, but he wasn’t certain. He counted fingers silently. “A year? Two years? I’m not sure.”
“A year! I can’t wait that long!” she exclaimed. “The last six months have been miserable.”
That caught his attention. “She didn’t use the candle spell on you until six months ago? She should have done that from the first day.”
“That was the first day,” confirmed Selene. “Six months ago.”
“It’s been a year, Selene,” he said softly.
She shook her head firmly. “No, it has only been six months. Trust me, I’ve been counting the days.”
“Look out the window.” He pointed. “Spring is here. This is the beginning of my second semester in my second year.”
“That can’t be right,” she muttered weakly, going to the window. “What’s the date?”
“It’s the third of Marta, in Earrach, the year 462 of the Terabinian calendar.”
Her face was ashen. “Are you sure? From my count it should still be Mean, of 461.”