Session 1: Drysi Maelgwyn

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Observing students as they grappled and resolved their inner struggles was one of Dr. Sumedha's greatest delights; this moment was no different. A smile spread unbidden across her lips, softened by the question. "...you're a paper witch?"

Lady shook her head. "Certainly not. I craft stick figures compared to a true witch's David, but I have learned many things from many mages over the years." She paused, mulling over her next words. "I know new places can be a cause for anxiety, but I truly believe Safeholme is the right place for you. Your prior education was far too... insular, and would have resulted in more harm than good. There's the old adage: knowing is half the battle. I would argue knowing is the entirety of mage conflict: knowing yourself, knowing your environment, knowing your opponents. Knowing the varieties of magic. Dismissing any aspect of magic is foolhardy."

[Kokuten]

That was just what she knew. She doesn't even specialize in the magic.

Drysi couldn't help but be amazed by the woman in front of her. Her fingers spindled as the thoughts raced through her mind, before trying to mimic the folding motions as she listened. It took her a few moments to realize she was acting a bit silly.

She settled her hands, bundling them at her lap.

"I suppose I could say I was wrong. Perhaps that even Gram was wrong," the girl spoke softly, her confidence having turned inward under her curiosity. "Everything seems different from the books I read, from what I was told. It seems so much happier, it doesn't seem real. Like learning magic isn't... my school life wasn't supposed to be like this."

Drysi looked up at Lady, "I don't feel like I've been myself since I've come here. Like something else is there telling me how to live, and reminding me how wrong everything is. I thought it was the school, the spirits, the druids, but maybe it's just me, my expectations."

She shifted, a soft glow on her face as she dropped her eyes to the table, "It feels like I don't know anything now."

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

"Here. Kneel." Dr. Sumedha knelt before the coffee table between them and beckoned for her student to do likewise. Once there, she produced a sheet of paper seemingly from nowhere beneath the table and set it before them. "Hands." She waited for Drysi to overcome her uncertainty, then gently set her thin fingers on Drysi's hands and began to guide them, occasionally instructing verbally. She closed her eyes. While Lady physically and verbally instructed her, Drysi would feel these movements to be natural, as if remembering an old ritual. She would start the gestures in sync with Lady's guidance.

When they reached a repetitive sequence, Lady resumed their conversation, eyes still closed. "What was your school life supposed to be like, Drysi?"

[Kokuten]

As the session transitioned to another stage, Drysi seemed to be unsure of whether or not to continue. She did not immediately come to a kneel at the table, her mind considering what would happen next. Again, her curiosity won above her confidence, the same confidence that would have scoffed.

When hands were asked for, she got a little bitter look on her face. The paper was something tantalizing, though, like it were an assistant encouraging her to be brave. So she put her hands out, and her mind mellowed as Lady took over.

It was warm. The feeling in her chest grew as her mind went back to Wales for a moment, in the old home. Memories of her mother guiding her hands just like now. This was how a paper witch learned; one had to mold with their hands first before they could do it with her mind. She could remember her mother saying that to her, she could see it in Sumedha's careful movements.

Her three eyes were utterly focused on the paper.

"I was supposed to become powerful. I was supposed to learn the skills needed to unfurl secrets and gain power. That's what matters to a Librarian," spoke Drysi, almost as if she were in a daze with the sharpness of her focus. "I was supposed to become like Gram. Someone powerful."

Her hands stopped, as if something had caught her fingers.

"I wasn't supposed to make a friend."

Then, they moved again, "The only thing that matters is power. It's what sets those above from those below. To study the art is to gain power, and I was determined to study until my eyes bled."

Once more she was still, her fingers trembling, before pressing herself to keep going with the motions, letting them guide her mind.

"I wasn't supposed to do anything else. Everything else -- anything else -- would waste my potential."

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

All the pieces were falling perfectly into place for Dr. Sumedha as she listened and led Drysi through the final motions. This seed in the young student's mind was sowing wild discord in her, leading her to behavior that was contrary to her nature. She quickly sought out an appropriate metaphor.

"Picture a handyman and his tools. A handyman with a full toolbox is equipped for any problem that he might be hired to handle. If he neglects or discards any of those tools, he weakens himself as a handyman, and also makes himself less desirable to hire."

She finally opened her eyes, the technique complete. "Having a primary goal is perfectly normal, but pursuing one thing to the detriment of all else is not only unhealthy, it's obsessive. You don't need to surrender your friendships, and happiness, and health to also pursue knowledge, power, and proficiency. You can balance them all. It just takes practice, as do all good things." She smiled, rising once more to sit on the couch now that their lesson was over. She crossed one leg over the other and folded her hands atop her knee. "This is clearly another major source of dissonance for you: this maxim you were taught by someone you held in high esteem is at odds with who you are as a person, and you are struggling because of it."

[Kokuten]

Drysi was still sitting at the table, staring at her hands as they finished the motions. She could feel her nerves tingle, that sensation she would get when she learned a new pattern, a new shape to make in the medium. It had been a couple of years since she had even remembered what that felt like.

It seemed to drive the point home.

"I'm not the girl my gram wanted me to be, because it isn't me," the triclops seemed to repeat Sumedha's conclusion in her own words. Having ridden a roller-coaster of emotions in the past thirty minutes took a mental and physical toll on her, and Drysi was slow to come back up to the comfortable couch. Once she settled in place, Lady saw a different girl look up at her, much different than the one that had walked in the door. "I just thought that she was what a mage was. This whole time, I've been so afraid that I've had it wrong, seeing how everyone else goes about it. There's so much that's just different from what she told me. And now I can see it."

Her fingers rose to her hair, tangling into the curls as her nerves started to rise. Drysi looked to the adult for guidance, "What do I do?"

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Lady Sumedha pondered the simple question for several seconds. "I think writing it down would help you the most." She rose and approached her desk once more. "So, I'm going to give you some homework. Due in... two weeks, let's say." She sat. "Very simple." She picked up a pen and began to write in her notebook. "Take some time to be by yourself and compile three lists, each in order of most important to least. Create a list of your goals- long- or short-term, doesn't matter; create a second list of qualities you find most important; and lastly, create a list of people you admire. They can be as short or as long as you need them to be. Sort them as best you can, again, from most to least important."

"Unless you have any other questions, Drysi, I think this is a good place to rest for today. I think we were incredibly productive, and you were much more open and honest than most students your age. Your ability to be objective is a significant sign of maturity." She smiled, and if Drysi was waiting for another subtle barb, one never came. Instead, a small shot of confidence and graciousness pumped through her.

[Kokuten]

"Writing," Drysi nodded, her hair bouncing with her movement, "I can do that. Writing is easy. Lists are even better."

The Triclops seemed to play with her fingers as she thought about this. Every time it seemed to be on her to speak, she wasn't sure what to say, at least not anymore. Hostility had felt so easy before now. Striking up fire against people was, as she was coming to see it, a method of avoiding any real, organic conversation. In fact, Drysi could remember a time, before her grandmother died, when she didn't talk to people at all. Willow, Vrey, Kat, Johann, all of them were people should would never have bothered with, mostly because of that underlying fear of people.

What made her so bold, and at times... angry?

She realized he was getting distracted, and looked back up at the adult across from her, pondering her compliment.

"Thank you," she said, softly, with a little smile that spoke of the truth underneath all the bluster and fuss. "I don't think I've ever felt more myself in a long time. I feel like I've been sharing a mind for two. What I want to be and what I really am, and I don't think the former has let the latter out in a long time."

Drysi closed her eyes, looking at peace, "I hope it isn't the last."