Honor and Blood

What to give back? What did he have? He had only himself. He had his strength, his motivation, his devotion, his sense of duty, his love for-

Love. That was what he had to give. The Weave was the Goddess, and the Goddess was the Weave. Working Sorcery was a demonstration of his co

Artists loved their work. Part of what they gave to their creations was that love of art, that love of creation, that spark that made the object truly remarkable. If he was to be an artist of the Weave, he had to give his love to the Weave every time he touched it.

He closed his eyes and aligned his mind to wrap it around that idea, and then he pushed his will against the Weave, with the intent to weave together a simple two-flow spell that would cause a small bluish light to appear before him. As he made his co

"Was that so hard?" Spyder asked with that same disarming smile. "Did you see how he did that, Je

"I think so," she replied immediately.

"It was… beautiful," he said reverently. "I never understood before. Not like that." He wiped at a single tear forming in the corner of his eye, fully aware he had just experienced a religious revelation.

"Our Mistress is a gentle one, brother," Spyder told him with a nod. "All she asks of us is our love. Give her that, and what she returns to you is tenfold."

Tarrin watched as Je

"Now, practice," she commanded. "It's much like learning to touch the Weave the first time. You can always do it again, but you need to get accustomed to it."

Until well past sunrise, the two of them practiced under Spyder's watchful eye. She critiqued them on their styles of handling flows, correcting little things that made them faster and more efficient. Tarrin especially had a bad habit of trying to draw out more power than he needed for his spells, and Spyder rode him hard over that the entire time he practiced. "You are not trying to break an eggshell with a hammer!" she reprimanded sharply after the fifth time he overdrew, despite her warning him about what he was doing. "Pull only what you need, no more, no less! Drawing more than is needful will tire you prematurely!"

"I'm trying," he said with a fret. "I'm not used to delicacy in spells."

"Then you must retrain yourself," she said sharply. "Sorcery is an art, not a display of naked force! Painters do not ram their brushes through the canvas!"

Tarrin's good feelings about her began to evaporate as she harangued him several more times, as he drew out the flows again and again and again. He became so a

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Weave this spell," she said, and he felt her draw out flows of all six Spheres, then tie them in an intricate knot as she pulled an ordinary pebble from the black depths of her cloak, barely larger than a pearl. When she released the spell, it caused the stone to shimmer suddenly, then flare with a bright light. When the light faded, the small stone was gone, in its place was a sapphire the same size and shape as the pebble. She had Transmuted the stone, one of the most intricate and demanding tricks of Sorcery that could be performed.

He found that his memory of the weave was still fresh in his mind, so he sent his will out and had it touch the Weave, and felt it respond to him when he gave his love back to it. Almost as easily as she did, Tarrin wove the exact same spell together. Spyder reached within her cloak and withdrew another small pebble, and he released the spell into that stone in her hand. It too shimmered, then flared into light, and the light faded to reveal another sapphire.

"I did it," he mused, looking at the sapphire in her slender, four-fingered hand.

"It is an easy spell, but you did it quickly," she told him with a smile. "You do learn fast, Tarrin Kael. You wove the spell quickly, neatly, efficiently, and effectively. I am most pleased with your performance."

Tarrin beamed at the compliment as she pulled out yet another stone and looked at Je

Tarrin watched Je

"Very good," Spyder nodded. "You learn very fast, child, and have a good memory. Few could repeat a spell of that complexity after only seeing it done twice."

"You said it was easy," Je

"It's easy for me," the Urzani told her pointedly. "Since Tarrin is so sensitive to the Weave, he can feel much more than he can see, and that allows him to follow complicated weaves more easily than most. Given your young age and your lack of experience, I am pleasantly surprised at how quickly you picked it up. I'm very pleased at your progress, child."