Fire is my Hope

[Vae]

The day began one step away from nasty.

Light rain had drizzled down, steadily enough to saturate the ground until every step was a soft, squishy mess. The air was chilly, but not cold. Soft white clouds of breath billowed from noses and mouths that never seemed to dry.

West waited calmly in the cold wetness, which reminded him of Kentucky: Fort Knox, to be exact. Beside him was a wooden lunch table like one found in a public park, with several items on it.

A Kindle, in a freezer sized ziploc, a laminated map that was immediately recognizable as their local area, a large serrated knife, a bagged cell phone, and binoculars.



Emily walked away from her car to where West had told her to meet. She was slightly damp and not particularly enjoying the chill. Her short hair was sticking out in pointed clumps and she had her arms wrapped around in an attempt to conserve heat.

She approached the table cautiously, and eyed the knife, the color in her face dulling slightly. Then she noticed the other items on the table, “So what are we doing?” she asked after a moment of silence and confusion, her breath visible.



"Hey Emily," West raised a hand in a small wave. He gave her a curious look, tilting his head slightly.

"You want a jacket? Or... a hat?"

He wasn't sure if he asked the second question because of the old losing-body-heat-through-your-head or because he wasn't sure if he could take her seriously while she looked like Lisa Simpson.



“I don’t think I need a hat, and yeah...Let me go get my coat.” she said dashing back to her car and returning with a red knee-length coat. On her way back she shook her head quickly, spreading water droplets and splitting the points of dirty-blond hair.

“Sorry about that, what’s with the knife and stuff?” Curiosity obviously lacing her voice.



West ran a chilled hand over his face and through his close-cut hair as he waited, briefly wondering if someone somewhere had done this weather, or if it was natural.

He nodded at the return and the question, his eyes moving to the first thing she had named. That said something.

"Today I wanted to tell you about... people like us. What we do. What purpose we put our power to."

He pointed to the table, and nodded to the stable.

"Let's say we're going on a ride. A long ride. Into the hills, and away from civilization. I'll let you take one thing off the table. Which one do you pick, and why?"



“Purpose? In what way?” She asked feeling full of questions.

At his prompt she looked over the items, automatically dismissing the Kindle and the binoculars with her eyes. She loomed for a moment over the others then looked up at him. “Mind if I do some poking around on the items?”

“I don’t see a compass...” she mumbled to herself, managing to rule off the phone as useful but not necessary.

“I’m torn between the Map and the Knife.” she said. “I’d say the map for the reason of knowing the location, but this map is a generalistic, and there’s no compass to go with it. That doesn’t give you much other than a guess of where you are. Sure one could use nature skills to determine north and a twig or something to guesstimate distance, but there isn’t much usefulness in just the map as itself.”

She pointed to the knife. “The Knife on the other hand can be used a lot more liberally, but it also depends on the particular knife and whether one knows how to use it. Personally I’m not good with a knife, but I can use one; and I know that I could mark my path in with a knife, thereby being able to find my way back out. Also I could use it for protection if necessary, though I’m not sure if I could.”

She took a deep breath, “I wouldn’t choose the Kindle, because it’s pointless, the phone could run out of batteries and If I didn’t know my own location what use would it be. As for the binoculars, in the hills and woods it really only seems good enough for bird watching.”

She reached out for the knife, tapping the table in front of it.

“That being said, I would take the knife, as it’s the one that I could get the most use out of.”

[West (The Mage)]

West wasn't surprised by the choice, given it's what she had first noticed on the table. He was surprised by her pointing out the obvious and the practical: batteries. It was something he'd forgotten. Something that she'd forget, soon enough.

Still, it skewed the answer.

He let the first question slide past, faintly amused by some of the rationale.

"Let's say the electronics have batteries, and it's not a worry. Change your mind?"

He doubted she would, already touching the knife.

There was definitely something about knives with her.

For a moment, he wanted to pull out his Sig Sauer and trade the knife out with it, to see if the choice would remain with the weapon. He didn't though. That was something to consider later.



She shot him a look that plainly said ‘are you kidding me’. “What use would a cell phone be without a GPS, in that particular scenario? And the Kindle is still useless, despite what books you have on it.”

A moment’s pause later she spoke again: “Why? Are we going on a trip or something? ... I’m still kind of in pain from the last on-horse adventure.



West nodded, more to acknowledge what she was saying than in agreement, and collected the items while leaving her the knife.

He nodded towards the barn, and started walking.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do? You asked about 'purpose' when I mentioned it. What are you going to do with what you can do, and with what I teach you?"



She looked at the table, then at the single knife, as West walked away. “Is that a ‘yes’, we are going on a trip?” She grabbed the knife and hurried after him. “You have some sort of hip holder for this thing?”

“Besides I don’t even know what I can do yet, how can I make any form of assumption of what I can use it for if I don’t even know what I have?”



"That's a 'let's get inside where it's dry'," he answered, pointing to the barn. The assumption was obvious, one he'd overlooked. He'd picked the barn because, just because. Not that it was that much different than the house, but it was.

He held open a large wooden door and took a horshoe off the thin chain that acted as a counter-weight to keep the door closed so that it stayed open. The clean rainy smell was always a welcome way to vent the hay and horse smell of the barn.

"Well," West shrugged, "Most of what you saw, you have the potential to control."

He held his hand out to her, fingers splayed.

"And the Celestial Fire I threw. What would you do with that?"



“Oh, that’s different, you just left the knife there and all...” She said as she stepped past him into the barn, her senses wide although a bit recoiled at the scent.“What I saw you do, or are we still talking about what I saw? Also where do you want me to put this?” she asked holding up the knife.

What would I do with it? she asked herself.

“The sky-fire, Celestial fire, well, there’s that whole protection thought, but I’m not sure what it was designed for, right?” She shrugged, “Since I don’t know how to use it properly, I can’t make a popper judgement call on how I would use it.”



West set the items on a long work table that was half covered with tools and hardware. Most of the items were mundane, but there were also several handguns in various states of disassembly. At her first question, he gestured to the table as well.

Moving past that, he stepped into the soft dirt floor of the barn proper. Hollow stamping sounds and huffing preceded the curious heads of the two horses peering out of their stalls.

West gestured to a stack of hay bales.

"You can sit, if you want. As for... design? It's like fire. It... is. That's what I'm asking. What purpose would you put it to?"

A hand fished into a pocked, and held up a Zippo.

"Like, what would you do with this? It's... kind of a rhetorical question, but not totally. Think about it. Because deciding 'how to use it properly' is part of who we are."

He paused, and smiled, just a little.

"Am I going too fast? I can show you how to do other spells instead."

[Vae]

“I’m not sure.” she said as she place the knife on the table with the other objects. “I mean if it’s just like fire, if it just is as you put it, I still wouldn’t be able to guess now.” She shrugged and walked over to the hay bales he had indicated.

“Not really, I mean sure Celestial Fire is cool and all, and I kind of have this sight thing down... but what else is there? I mean I saw you teleport, and I tried to do that... all that happened was a massive headache.”

Her brow furrowed in thought. “The headache hurt, is there any way to work around it? I mean I figure I can’t teleport, but what exactly can I do?”



"You learn. You practice."

The smile widened slightly a her description of her teleportation attempt.

He picked up a small ball peen hammer and tapped it gently, rhythmically on the table.

"Can you see the sound? Remember when I said whatever you see, you can learn to control? Picture a funnel, around the sound waves, and move them."



See sound she thought letting her mind wander as she tried to put a thumb down on how exactly to do that. Sooner rather than later she let her head fall into her hands and she tried to focus on the tapping. She calmed her own breath, letting it fall into tandem with the rhythm. She raised her head, keeping the rhythm steady in her head as she felt the pulse of sound in her lungs and blood.

She steadied her mind, focusing entirely on the sound, and letting the mental picture of a funnel form around the sound, pulling the tip of the cone tighter and tighter. She stretched the image and pushed it into the ground. She kept the thought in her mind, her breathing still echoing the motion of the hammer. She could feel the sweat sliding down her face and her teeth grinding slightly as well.



A moment of concentration, and drawing motes of power from the powdery soft resonance of the Hallow to infuse the foreign spell, and he could also see the small ripples of sound. Like splashes in a pool, except in three dimensions, small explosions of sound waves. He watched as they gently warped, and the explosions became a tornado tube. His ears confirmed what he saw, as the sound shifted to over there.

"You did it."

There was no doubt in his voice, nor congratulations: it was a simple statement, in case she'd been too focused to notice it herself.

"I'm going to teach you to cast spells, but you'll reach the point where you'll imagine your own," he added, subtly steering the conversation back where they'd come from.

"What interests you the most?"

West was curious, wondering what sort of Theurge she'd be.



“Huh?” she asked looking up and breaking her concentration on the spell. Her face had lost about a shade of color and she raised a hand to wipe off the cold sweat. “You mean that worked? It actually worked?” The excitement raised her voice half an octave.

She swung-kicked her legs as she sat, and let her own thoughts drift back in his perimeter. “Well a lot of things, I mean I got into a really good art school, and I’ve been drawing and reading since I was really small. I’ve also gone out hunting with my dad...” her voice trailed off, not sure if her answers would even reach his bar.



West watched the puddles of sound splash from her mouth, and wove his spell to bring the ripples to him.

A small smile slipped out as he remembered Get Smart re-runs from his childhood.

"Yeah, it worked," he affirmed, the smile widening.

"Drawing and reading is going to help, a lot," West added with a nod. "You're going to create spells with your ability to visualize what you want to happen into an Imago."

His eyes moved back over the table as she mentioned hunting, wondering if the knife signified skinning kills or some such to her. A small part of him hoped the drawing and reading didn't mean she'd gravitate to the Free Council.

"So, you're... going to be an artist?"



“...also defense.” she said quietly. The thought as to why she had chosen the knife coming into her head before she pushed away the memory again.

She breathed a slight sigh of relief that he hadn’t shot down her ideas of fun like many had. “Imago, is that just a fancy word for image?” she said her tongue twisting around the strange word as she tried to identify it’s origin.

“Formally yes, I’ve already sent out applications to enhance my education in that direction. Although, I have been looking at other options, but no one in particular. Art is something of a hobby that I know I can make money off of, and my dad has always told me ‘do what you like, like what you do’; that’s why I hunt too.”

“I probably wouldn’t use a knife like that anyway; only for marking trails and stuff, and in the need of protection or something, I’m more accustomed to a gun or a bow.” she said slipping to her feet and demonstrating a right handed draw.

[West (The Mage)]

He nodded, in affirmation of her first question, for a moment his brows knitted as he considered the words that preceded the question, but he let the moment pass. West almost asked if she'd ever read "Imajica", which he always thought of when he said "Imago", but let that pass, as well.

"Hunting is cool." His agreement sounded odd in his ears. It was a small slip of the tongue, more a verbal 'check mark' under the Ungala Draconis to match the others under the Free Council. Kai would certainly never let him hear the end of it if he had an Apprentice become a Libertine.

The other words finally caught up, and he turned to face her. His head cocked to the side as he asked, "Applications? Are they... local?"

Well, that would be really awkward if she moved after he'd Awoken her.



She raised an eyebrow, surprised slightly at the interest. Sure he was teaching the magic right now, right? But she was a college student already, how old did he honestly think she was.

“Montana State, NAU, Portland State, and SIAC, those are the major ones. Why? I mean I’d only be gone for a year or so, if I set up my credits right, it’d be heavy work but Bachelors Degrees can be some times; besides i have most of the credits already. but I have the rest of this semester to finish out at least.” She shrugged.



"Oh, OK."

West made a mental note to add that to his checklist of things to look into when considering a Gambit. He wasn't sure if it would change anything, but maybe he would have waited. Of course, Dagobah wasn't entirely reassuring.

His hand made an offhanded, dismissive gesture.

"Oh, it's, just... some of this stuff can take a while to learn. I would," he paused as his eyes went upward, searching his memory for any KingMakers in any of those areas. "I might see if someone else could take on, I mean, teach you."

He realized he'd made her sound like a flat tire that needed changed, and added, "If you wanted me to."



“If this is anything like the magic I’ve read about it takes a good amount of time.” she agreed, “I mean I would rather just be taught, I trust you, so you seem like the best option. But if me going off to school I could always, do like a message back and forth or while wherever I could find someone I could attach to for a while or something.” she said while scratching her head absently.

“You know, that really won’t come into play for another five weeks anyway. We could just discuss learning and stuff before I have to leave. I don’t even know where I’m going yet so it’s not like we have to make decisions rashly.” Emily shrugs and then picked up the knife that she had placed on the table previously.

“So where were you going with this whole discussion anyway? You know before you got distracted by my wonderful news of school.” she spun the blade.



West watched as the knife drew her again, even as he considered what her absence would mean: that he couldn't teach her linearly, and would have to prioritize.

"Well. I was going to talk to you about what people like us do. What our... societies... are like. So I was asking what, if you'd had a chance, you thought of what you could, or want to do with your power."

He almost went there : quoting Uncle Ben, but he refrained.

"The stuff on the table, they were kind of symbolic. I wanted to see... what drew you."

As he spoke, his eyes dropped to the knife spinning in her hands.


“You keep saying that like I’m leaving tomorrow, I’m not. All I did was give you a heads up, Sir.” She flipped the blade and caught it before placing it on the table again. “I guess I would use this power as a tool for protection, nothing else really jumps to mind.” She slid her fingers off the blade lightly.

“What type of symbolism? And what did you learn?” she asked following his gaze down to the knife.



West arched an eyebrow slightly. They were far enough into familiar territory that he felt comfortably in a professional capacity, and briefly wondered if she were trying to bait him or emphasizing something.

"I know that there's something about knives, and you," he answered calmly.

"You haven't looked at these," he continued, pointing to the pistols, "Even though you mentioned knowing how to shoot. You put it down, but you can't keep your hands off of it."

He paused, then added, "And I bet you'd be really uncomfortable if I'd picked that knife up right now. You want... control of it, I'd bet, from the need to be in possession of it and spinning it. Now you've used the word 'protection' twice. So I'm going to say that something bad happened to you or yours with a knife. That's what I learned."

West pointed to the guns again.

"Some of us are protectors. Warriors. That is what I am. I hope that's what you will choose to be."



She had passed her eyes over the handguns previously, but they hadn’t pulled her eyes like the knife had. It wasn’t the same type, it wasn’t the same size, but perhaps it was just the essence of the blade that pulled her so strongly.

He was right... too right. She blanched slightly at how correct his words were. “Y-yes.” She said to his thoughts, she felt shaken, her breathing pattern shifted slightly as possibilities began to flood her mind. She closed her eyes and took a moment to settle her breathing down again before looking over the guns and yet still keeping the knife in her peripheral vision.

I would have a serious issue if he were to pick it up... especially depending on his...

She shook her head and looked back up at him with an explanation: “I can use a rifle, I’m not fantastic with handguns, and I’ve only used range guns under my father’s permission and watch. California won’t let me get one for any purpose for another two years.”