fandomhigh | Magical Theory and Practice, Friday, Period 3

Today's workshop was being held in a classroom. There was a hot Renaissance Faire goth standing at the front of the classroom when the students arrived, and when they sat down they would notice that each of them had a flower and a rock sitting on their desk. "Good afternoon," Yennefer said to her students. "I am Yennefer of Vengerberg, and this is..." She glanced at her notes, and then looked again. "Magical Theory and Practice. Bit of a joke in the class description, I see." Or was it? "Well, we might get to that. We'll see how it goes. For now, I will tell you that while I am new to instruction, I am a sorceress trained in the school of Aretuza, and have been an advisor to the king of Aedirn for thirty years." Yep, she was older than she looked.

"Being as we all come from different realities here, I expect we also come from different magical traditions, and that sticking too closely to what I was taught might be completely useless to you, but I believe that in broad strokes much of that information continues to be true, based on the fact that I have been able to do magic since I got here, so I will teach you starting from that foundation. First, I would like to know what I am working with. Everyone will please tell me their name, so I can check them off this list, and what their experience level is with magic, and a little of how they know it to work, and then we're going to do a little exercise. Any questions so far? No? Good."

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To be fair, being in a class called Magical Theory and Practice wasn't the most confusing thing Freya had been sidled with since arriving here, but it did cause a decent amount of bewilderment in her.

"My name Freya," she eventually offered. "Freya Crescent. I am a dragon knight of Burmecia."

Spoken as though everyone should clearly know what that meant, although she sort of figured, by now, that no one actually did.

"So although certain aspects of my skillset are derived from magical energy and are similar to magical abilities, they aren't really magic...Though I suppose maybe an understanding of magic will assist in improving them?"

She certainly hoped so, otherwise this whole thing was just going to be a bit of a waste...

Yennefer had no idea what a dragon knight of Burmecia was either, but she wasn't about to let that bother her. "That's an interesting technicality," she observed. "If your abilities are derived from magic, what makes them not magic?"

"I believe," Freya ventured, after having pondering this technicality quite a bit herself, a paw to her chin as if to prove just how contemplative she was, "it's because dragons are magical creatures, and our powers are derived from tme, or rather, inspired by and learned from them from centuries past..."

Even as she said it, though, the answer didn't feel very satisfactory.

"It's an incredibly old tradition, going back to the very beginning of my species' history," she offered, almost apologetically. "I'm afraid my mentor didn't have the opportunity to explain the nuances to me in detail before he..."

Here, she paused, filling the space with an almost tangible sense of longing and despair.

"...left."

Ah. Yennefer nodded. "Well, I hope that this workshop will prove useful for you." She wasn't going to press on what was clearly a sensitive subject.

Freya gave a small nod, already chastising herself for even that moment's weakness.

"Thank you," she said. "As do I. Even if it does not prove to directly enhance my skills, I am sure there will still be useful information to be had."

"Uhhh..." Julius said quietly to his roommate once Yenefer had gone off to talk to someone else. "What's a dragon knight?"

You know. No reason. JUST CURIOUS AND STUFF HA HA HA.

It was interesting how the details of Freya's status had gone mysteriously unmentioned thus far, wasn't it?

But Freya had to smile, just a little, her chin lifting with no small amount of pride.

"It's the highest order of the Burmecian military," she informed him, hoping to maintain the gravity in her voice that such a position would suggest, though she felt her chest was bursting with butterflies at the thrill of saying it. "Anyone who manages to acheive the rank of dragon knight has proven themselves worthy of the greatest strength and ability, inspired by the ferocity and magesty of the beast for which the name is derived."

Also, it meant she could jump high!

And, you know, slay them.

THIS WAS COOL! You know. Cool cool cool cool. No doubt no doubt.

"Do you, uhh, know? A lot of dragons?" Julius asked, totally casually and voice not at all a half-octave or so higher than usual.

And as curious as the shifting voice might have seemed, Freya was mostly thinking this was all just generally how her roommate was.

"You run into minor ones on occasion if you happen to be out in the Mist," Freya noted, "but they're hardly much trouble for any dragon knight worth his salt. Ironites are particularly populous in the Burmecia area, but I've always found that their bark is much bigger than their bite. Nowadays, the grand dragons will keep mostly to themselves, but we're always ready, just in case."

In fairness? She wasn't entirely wrong. Julius just...kinda was this way. Especially if, you know, you started talking about fighting dragons.

"Always ready?" he repeated. "To....?"

THIS WAS ALL VERY FINE.

Freya eyed Julius a little curiously for a moment, but she did have to remind herself that she was very far from Burmecia now...far even from Gaia, for that matter.

"To defend Burmecia, her allies, and all of Gaia, if need be," she said stolidly, chin lifted with pride again, "against whatever threat may arise. And no one can handle the threat of a dragon as well as a Burmecian dragon knight. Our spears can pierce through the strongest scales, will strike down the most fearsome beast."

Freya might even be able to truly prove her mettle in taking down a grand dragon herself, one day! She hadn't even been a dragon knight for a full year, yet, though, so she figured she still had some time, although she worried about being strong enough if she failed to ever find Sir Fratley again...

THE FINEYEST.

"So, you're pretty much prepared to kill, uhh, any dragon at any time?" he checked for exactly no personal reasons beyond curiosity.

Freya nodded. "If need be," she said, "and it would be my great honor to do so."

To not only be Burmecia's first female dragon knight and slay something more challenging that your average ironite or serpion within the first few years? That would be almost too much legendary status to handle!

NOTHING BUT FINE-NESS HERE.

"Oh," he said, a little weakly. "That's just. Just great. For you, I mean."

On the one hand, he couldn't entirely disagree? Dragons were assholes and, worse, they were dangerous. But it was still a bit much to hear your roommate talking so calmly about how they'd murder you and your whole family for the honor of it all.

For once, he was almost grateful for his mother's seal. Much less likely to get murdered in his sleep.

Magical Theory and Practice, Friday, Period 3

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