It took Bahruun two days to finish up the interior of the cabin. Once he was done, it was a pleasant little home suitable for two people. In less pleasant news was that my fears about the cold promising an early winter proved right. We just finished breakfast when the door opened and Bahruun and Millid entered. Well, to be more exact Bahruun entered carrying Millid inside his robes to shield her from the bitter cold. He was kind enough to have removed the snow before stepping inside.

  “Brrr, if I didn’t know better, I’d say we were back in the northlands.” He opened his winter robes and let Millid drop to the floor before he closed them again. Millid didn’t hesitate to jog over to the fireplace. “I appreciate you sharing your ever-burning fire with us, Morgana. We would have been popsicles without by now.” She gave me a cheerful smile as she enjoyed the warmth of the fire. I glanced out of the window and into the predawn darkness. “Well, considering the sun won’t rise for a few hours, I can’t say I’m surprised. And I can also hazard a guess why you’re here this early.”

  I headed into the kitchen where Meleri was enjoying a cup of hot cocoa. “Hey Sis, dress-up class is starting.” She gave me a confused look. My only reply was a cheeky grin. “You’ll see. Today’s class will also teach you the primary reason I couldn’t be your teacher.” That got her attention. “I thought it was because you couldn’t help me with my mana flow.” I turned back and looked at her from the doorway. “That was one reason, yes, but not the primary one. Hop to it now, Bahruun’s waiting.”

  Bahruun was leaning against the wall near the doorway as Meleri, with Irane and Irenji in tow joined him by the door. “I take it there is a reason we’re having this lesson outside?” Bahruun nodded, then glanced over at me. “I gotcha, I’ll come with, just in case.” Meleri glanced between the two of us. “Should I be worried?” I headed towards the potion room. As I did, I gestured for Bahruun to answer Meleri’s question. He pushed off from the wall and held Meleri’s outer robe up for her like a proper gentleman. “It’s more a precaution for the worst case. Today’s lesson will see you basically back to square one as far as control is concerned, among other things. I will explain more once we get to the lesson clearing.”

  Meleri put on the robe and gave Bahruun a grateful smile. As she turned towards the door, Millid plodded over and gave Bahruun a hug. “I’ll stay here, Boss. It’s way too cold outside for me.” Bahruun bent down and hugged Millid back. “Alright, Millid, have fun. Midnight looked up from where she was lazing on the floor next to the fireplace. “We will keep her company, Bahruun. Well, almost all of us, as I am pretty certain Winter is coming along with you.”

  As if on cue, we could hear the little pet door in the rafters open and close, and since Soot was dozing on the mantelpiece, the only one it could be was Winter. I entered the potion room and grabbed several mana potions, some warmth potions, one of which I downed immediately, then coughed because of the peppery taste. Ugh, as spicy as always. And some healing potions, just in case. As I entered the living room again, I saw Meleri and Bahruun exit, so I grabbed my coat and mittens and hurried after them.

  The predawn was cold, but thanks to the enchanted clothes and warming potion, I couldn’t even feel it. Winter landed on my hat as I stepped down from the porch. “The weather is great, isn't it, Mother?” She wasn’t wrong, despite the snow covering the area there was not a single cloud in the sky, and in the east you could see the very first hints that dawn was approaching. “That it is, Winter.” I reached up and scratched her belly, earning a happy chirp from her.

  I followed the trail left behind by Bahruun and the others, not a difficult ask, considering there were four of them. I found them waiting at the clearing, which was now covered in almost half a meter of snow, Meleri couldn’t ask for better conditions for her first lesson in specialized magic.

  Bahruun looked up from where he was standing. “Ah, there you are, that means we can begin.” I nodded and headed over to where the bench was supposed to be, a bit of spellcasting later, and I dug it out from the snow. Sure, I could probably use some glyphs or runes to keep the benches free of snow, but it wasn’t that much of a hassle.

  Bahruun turned his attention to Meleri. “Now, as I was saying before Morgana got here… Yes, there is a reason we’re out here in the cold at this hour for your lesson.” He gestured for Meleri to follow him into the clearing as he spoke. Irenji and Irane padded over to me and sat down without a word. Irenji yawned. Bit too early for them, eh?

  Bahruun stopped at the center of the clearing. “Now, to explain. As you have been trained already, I want you to close your eyes and focus on the surrounding magic. Meleri did as instructed. “Focus on all of it, do you sense it?” Meleri creased her eyebrows. “There is… something there, but I can’t say for sure what.” She got it on the first try? Damn. Almost made me jealous with just how talented she was. This should be quite interesting to watch.

  Bahruun nodded, “Impressive, well not surprising, you have an absolutely insane talent, not to mention you are well suited for this branch of sorcery. What you are sensing is the different mana around you. This is something that’s unique to us sorcerers, and why Morgana could never teach you. After all, she just pulls it all in and uses it for her hexes and boons with the same effectiveness, regardless of mana type. You, however, are a sorceress and so can, by instinct, differentiate between the different mana types. What you are sensing right now is cold mana, also known as ice mana. It requires freezing temperatures to occur naturally, so to teach you how to sense it we needed the cold weather.”

  Meleri opened her eyes, her teal eyes glowing stronger than before. “But why wait for the cold then? Why not teach me to sense fire, or air or whatever?” Bahruun scratched his beard for a moment and pointed directly at her eyes. “Because your mana specialty is the cold and ice.” Meleri gave Bahruun a blank stare, not understanding what he was getting at. I stretched my arms a bit. “You’re skipping ahead a bit there , Bahruun; you might want to actually explain that to her as you just lost her, I think.”

  Bahruun shot me an annoyed glance but then turned his focus back to Meleri. “I suppose my explanation might be a bit lacking. Long story short, the color of your Shimmering actually has meaning, and that clear teal color means you are naturally gifted with the ability to use cold mana. It doesn’t mean you can’t use other types. You’re just naturally disposed towards ice mana; conversely, you find that mastering fire magic will be harder, as you may have noticed early on when I deliberately had you practice using fire element spells to learn to control your magic flow. Yes, it was much harder, but it helped you master your control far better than starting with ice would have.” Meleri looked annoyed for a second but seemed to accept Bahruun’s argument.

  Meleri then looked at Bahruun. “So if teal is ice, what’s your white Shimmering?” Bahruun blinked in surprise for a moment, then turned around. “I-it’s nothing important, I don’t want to brag or anything.” I couldn’t keep quiet seeing Bahruun like that. “Bahruun’s Shimmering is the second rarest out there, Light. Only Darkness is rarer, since it has a terrible reputation. This causes Darkness Shimmerings to meet with various unfortunate difficulties I really don’t feel like going into, but you can probably guess since you know how this world functions by now.” Meleri swallowed and nodded.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “The short version is that Bahruun’s Shimmering means he can use Light magic, a branch of sorcery that without a Light Shimmering is almost impossible to master, apparently. Suffice to say if someone from a sorcerous family is born with such a Shimmering, there are expectations and peer pressure aplenty surrounding it.” Meleri nodded slowly as she looked at Bahruun. “I see, I take it I can’t learn it then?” That caused Bahruun to turn around again. “With your talent it’s technically speaking not impossible. However, I wouldn’t get my hopes up about learning it before you are way past the stage where you need me to teach you, as you would have an easier time with fire than light or dark, and I can’t in good conscience say you should try the latter.”

  Meleri tilted her head and got her usual inquisitive expression. Bahruun sighed. “Light magic has healing and rejuvenating properties. And someone who wields it will live longer and healthier than normal. A person with a Light Shimmering such as myself can live indefinitely if they continue to use it regularly. Darkness is the polar opposite. It’s extremely destructive, and if wielded by someone without the Darkness shimmering, they’d be cutting their own life down to use it, while someone with a Dark Shimmering dodges the side effects. The sole exception to that rule is witchcraft. That entire school of magic is technically Dark-aligned regardless of how it’s used. It usually causes a whole ton of different side effects to the witch using it, though most witches learn how to mitigate it. Not to mention that what they can’t mitigate they usually use magic to remove, if they have even a modicum of talent. Although your sister is all but immune to the more adverse side effects, aside from the skin color change and infernal talons. Witches somehow take the ambient mana around them and regardless of type, convert it into dark mana. None I have met have any idea how they do it, but it’s part of why witches make people nervous. But we are getting sidetracked…”

  Bahruun’s sentence faded as it was obvious Meleri was itching to ask another question. “Fine, one more question.” Meleri grinned. “So if there is a benefit to wielding different sorcery, what is my benefit?” Bahruun shrugged. “That’s easy. By this time next year, you won’t need that coat, mittens, or toque; heck, you won’t even need shoes. The cold will be as much a part of you as breathing, and the cold will just strengthen you.” Meleri pondered Bahruun’s words for a few moments, then she took a few excited steps forward. “So I’ll be a winter witch then?”

  Before Bahruun could answer, I interjected again. “No, Winter witches exist, you’ve even seen one.” Meleri turned and looked at me. “Are you telling me you-” I shook my head. “Eira is a winter witch, it’s why her skin is blue. A witch’s skin color is basically a witch’s answer to Shimmering. Blue witches are winter witches and excel at hexes and curses that use cold or ice in some fashion. And before you ask, I am a bog witch. It should be pretty obvious considering my choice of demesne. Now focus on your lesson.”

  Meleri looked like she was dying to ask more but then turned back towards Bahruun to focus on the lesson again as it was clear neither I nor Bahruun would allow further sidetracking. Bahruun cleared his throat. “Now, as I was saying, before we got sidetracked. The trick to using specialized magic is to not just draw in every type of mana as you have been doing so far, but to draw only on a specific type. Since you shimmer with Ice mana, that is what we will be using for this lesson. Allow me to demonstrate.”

  I put my head in my hands and simply watched as the two began the lesson in earnest. Since over half the stuff that was going on would be outside my ability to detect, there really was no point in even trying to do so. That did not mean there was no sign of Meleri succeeding, however. A few minutes after starting I could see rime and frost begin to form on her enchanted robes. Robes that I enchanted to prevent just that. “You’re doing great, girl, excellent job.” Bahruun clapped and seemed quite pleased, so whatever was going on must be doing well.

  “Now that you can hold on to the Ice mana as your only mana source it’s time to actually make use of it. Focus on the target in front of you.” Meleri opened her eyes, her teal eyes flaring with barely suppressed energy. “Channel it the same way you would any other spell, let your imagination and instinct form it, and let your intent mold that form into its final shape and then strike.” Meleri’s hand shot forward, and a multitude of icicles popped into being before shooting toward the target dummy on the other side of the clearing with unerring accuracy. Not a single one of them missed.

  I let out a whistle. “Impressive.” Meleri turned around with a big grin on her face. “Thanks, I- woah.” She staggered and grabbed her right temple as Bahruun grabbed her shoulders to support her. “Easy now. That’s normal, it’s harder to notice you’re running on empty when you use specialized mana. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough, but I think that’s enough for now. Let's get you a warming potion before you develop frostbite.” That was my cue as I got to my feet and pulled out the warming potion and a mana potion. I handed her the warming potion first. “I could also give you the mana potion, but you will wind up with potion sickness if you down both in rapid succession, so pick your poison. Meleri downed the warmth potion and then eyed the mana potion. “I think I’ll rather just lie down for half an hour, thanks. Also, I don’t feel any discomfort from the cold, so why would I need this warmth potion anyway?”

  As I casually picked up Meleri and began to carry her home, I looked at Bahruun to let him answer. He gave me a thankful nod. “Because you are still only beginning to learn how to use the ice mana. Once you master it to where you can make it yourself even in summer, then you will be immune to cold and its dangers. Until then, all it does is cause light hypothermia and dull your sensation of cold while you channel moderate amounts. And with extreme amounts like you just did, you can develop frostbite unless you down a heating potion soon after. Remember, magic is inherently dangerous in untrained hands. And though you have certain safeguards in place, as you should be in a much worse state right now, it’s better to be safe rather than sorry until such a time comes.”

  As we reached the porch, I put Meleri down again, and she wobbled up the stairs. Irenji and Irane padded up after her. “Use us for support, Mistress.” Meleri gave the two a grateful smile. “Thanks, guys, I’ll get you some extra treats after dinner, just need to rest awhile first.” The two great wolves seemed more than happy with that promise. As Meleri closed the door behind her, I handed the mana potion to Bahruun, who downed it immediately.

  “Thanks, it took a lot out of me to shield myself from the cold aura she was giving off.” He handed me the empty vial, and I pocketed it again. “I figured as much, It takes a ton of power to overpower my enchantments and you didn’t even get a single hint of frost on your robes. I am honestly surprised you could feign being unaffected as long as you did.” Bahruun dropped onto one bench on the porch. “Heh, I figured I could handle it. Imagine my surprise when it turns out I was losing out on drawing magic to a girl who hasn’t even been going at it for half a year. Her talent is terrifying, Morgana. I am just glad none of the sorcery guilds or towers got their mitts on her. She’d be used as a political tool and not allowed to advance with how dangerous her talent is. Or worse, depending on where she wound up.”

  I reached up and poked Winter, who fell asleep during the training session. “Which was yet another reason I wanted a private teacher. The towers and guilds come with too much red tape and too much baggage.” Bahruun scratched his head. “Not sure what that first one means, but I doubt it’s good, given the context of the second, so I’ll just agree. Anyway, let’s get inside before I develop a cold.” I helped him to his feet, and as we entered back inside I was met by Rathina with a cup of warm tea, while Bahruun received his own cup from Millid. That was just what I needed after being outside, even with the potion in my system.