In the Shadow of Ribbons: Part 1-08: Marnie: Assessment Time! - Session 1
Scene 8 of 'In the Shadow of Ribbons', set Within Thalenra. Where the basics are explained, and limits are explored.
The previous scenes are all saved Within Thalenra. Or go direct to scene one here, or scene 7 here.
A few hours have passed since Meliath departed, and Erian is finally ready to start Marnie’s assessment.
Marnie’s eyes widened when she entered a large room in the basement of the CCD base with Gretham. It had been a few hours since Erian had left to prepare for the assessment. She had wanted to go with him, but he said it could hinder her assessment if she had. So she instead spent a pleasant time investigating the many fun objects Gretham had.
Now that she could see where Erian had been, she was regretting not trying to get here sooner. There were several long sticks on a table near where Erian was standing, like those foci that man and woman had earlier, and a few targets. In the centre of space however, was a ritual circle she wished she had watched Erian create. Belaine had a few permanent circles in that basement - one of which she refused to let herself think about - but this outshone them. She didn’t usually pay attention to the stitches Belaine had insisted she learn, but even Marnie could tell Erian was an expert in their use. His signature ran through every thread and stitch. And despite the use of infused cord and Runestone anchors in place of an etched permanent circle, she could tell care had been taken with every placement; the thaumic threads had a natural flow through the entire space, something Belaine would never bother to attempt.
Gretham, entering just behind Marnie, let out a low whistle. “Have to say, kid, this is some nice work. Maybe too nice for two days’ use...” He was studying Erian closely, as he walked over to him. “You sure you not done a bit too much here, what with the kerfuffle before? Not to mention last night. And you ain’t over that camp yet either. You gonna be alright covering it all today?”
Marnie realised what he meant, when she was closer. Erian was paler than he had been in the workshop, and the thread connecting them quivered a little, as if it agreed with Gretham. That’s my fault, panicking before, she thought to herself. “I don’t mind wait-”
“I’ll be fine.” Erian answered Gretham, a little too firmly, a tad too fast. “It’s just the basics today. Quick tests confirming what Marnie did in the workshop, a bit of Warding and Control. I barely need to do more than keep the threads active. I’ll rest before we do anything taxing.”
Marnie saw Gretham’s eyes narrow, as he scrutinised Erian further. When Erian rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Gretham’s stare, Gretham snorted under his breath. He leaned back, crossing his arms. “I’m not buying it kid.” He said, flatly. “I’m staying as witness. You can hold the frame - not sure I could pick that up any road - but you’re leaving the rest with me.”
When Erian reluctantly accepted Gretham’s decision, his shoulders dropped; just enough for Marnie to notice how tense they had been before. It surprised Marnie; it hadn’t occurred to her he needed help. Even when they had been talking in her room of the training camp and what he had seen there, or when Meliath had been asking him about the weirdness that had just happened, Erian had seemed like an adult to her. Older than her, confident, in charge; handling everything himself. And when he had pulled her out of her memories, she had known he would handle what came after for her as well, with that quiet confidence he’d had since the cell.
But in this moment, when a memory bumped to the surface for a second - Harmon staring down the adults who had been chasing the boys, until they left; the boys hiding behind Harmon’s legs, safe - she found herself thinking, he’s not much different from them. Their thread thickened then, just a little, as Marnie saw a new side of Erian; a man still, but a younger one than she had thought, who would push too far, if someone didn’t step in front of him.
—-
Marnie shook her head, scattering thoughts too deep for this place, where she was going to get to see new stuff. She brought her attention back to Erian, who was explaining to Gretham his role in the tests.
“Seems simple enough. Didn’t know those kids we found needed this much checking.” Gretham scratched a cheek, as he inspected one of the sticks. “Seems a lot for one man to handle.”
“It’s not just me at the centre.” Erian replied. “And, it is usually a little simpler of a setup.” He gave Marnie a small smile, when he saw her looking at them. “Most that come through the Transition Centre, aren’t much above apprentice level, Marnie.” He explained. “They certainly can’t fix infusions, or generate obfuscations like you. The normal tests would do little more than tell us you can use Thaumcraft.” He gestured at the circle. “This will let me make a proper record of your abilities, one that you can use as you return to society, and find the right level for your talent. You’ll be able to choose what you train in and where you go.”
Marnie couldn’t help smiling, when she heard that. It sounded like there would be no end of new things if she passed this. “What’s first? She asked, looking at the sticks on the table next to Erian.
Erian raised a hand, a finger pointed up. “First, basic knowledge. Today, we’re doing Reading, Manipulation, Protection, and Control. Any mage needs the fundamentals in these. Tell me what those are.”
Marnie sighed. It was simple enough, but not new. She may not have many memories still of her time with Belaine, but she didn’t need many to know the lessons where he made her repeat things over and over would have put her to sleep, if not for the oathbinding.
Not bothering to hide how not fun it was, she rattled off each of the terms he had listed, her voice flat.
“Reading. The use of Thaumic sense to detect and interpret active and residual Thaumic flows. “Manipulation. The combining of pure Thaum and elemental strands to craft infused objects, perform rituals, or perform non-elemental Thaumcraft. “Protection. The use of wards and barriers to defend from physical and Thaumic attack. “Control. The use of threadcraft to generate physical effects with elemental threads, or through infused objects.”
She stopped, and looked pointedly at Erian. “Do you need the rest of it?”
Erian gave a small cough, in response. “I think that covers it. Let’s move on.”
Gretham gave a chuckle. “Best make it quick kid. She’ll start on her own if you make her do any more of that.”
Marnie tried to look innocent, averting her gaze from the sticks, just out of reach on the edge of the circle. She had thought of activating one if he had said to list the rest; but only for a moment.
Erian picked up two items - a wooden cube about the size of an apple, and a flat silver disk with nine sides. They had been out of sight until now, tucked between the sticks. He placed them in the centre of the ritual circle.
Marnie let her focus shift to them, as she walked into the circle. Only to find Erian’s hand in her way. “I’m going to activate the circle, once you’re in the centre.” He explained. “We are confirming your Thaumic sense right now, so don’t look at the items with it until I say. I need you to give a clear explanation of each items purpose and the main thread type it contains, along with what misstep was made when the infusion was laid.” She nodded quickly, ready to start, but he hadn’t finished. “This is Reading only, so no fixing them like you did in the workshop, not yet.”
Marnie huffed a little. “Alright, senses only, no touching, I get it.”
Erian knelt at the edge of the circle, while Marnie quickly stepped to its centre. He placed a hand just above one of the runes, not touching its surface. He pinched one of the threads tethered to that spot, and flicked, sending a thin stream of light around the circles edge, ready to retain any Thaumic activity that happened within it. “You can begin.”
Marnie grinned, and crouched down next to the two objects, staring at them intensely. ‘What do you do?’ she thought, while running fingers along the threads that lay just above the planes of the cube. As usual her simple question got a quicker answer, than the threads.
“This slots into a box, and records what goes in and out of it.” She listened to the threads. “It’s mostly Thaum for the transporting part, but light too, for recording, and dark... seems like it hides it happening when something gets transported.”
“Good catch,” observed Gretham from where he was sitting next to the table. “And the misstep?” Asked Erian.
Marnie cocked her head, listening. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked the cube. She got a sense of stubbornness, refusing to record when things left the box unless they did it properly. “Too many dark strands included in the light threads. It ignores what gets transported out, just remembers what someone takes physically.”
Erian blinked, then gave a faint nod. “I suppose that’s one way of putting it. It does fail to record transported contents correctly.” He glanced over at Gretham, who nodded, with an amused smile, and then asked her, “What does the disk do?”
She answered quicker with this one, the disk’s response already collected. “It’s meant to keep things stuck on it from scattering, like powders and stuff, so you can make shapes, but the earth threads have been put in wonky and there’s not enough wind. It doesn’t like getting its middle dirty, so only the edges work.”
Gretham laughed out loud, and Erian was nodding slowly, while looking down at a notebook. “I’ll put down the attraction has been restricted to the edge.” She heard amusement in his voice when he spoke, although she couldn’t figure out why, and looked around to see what she missed.
“Can I fix them now?” She asked. She was itching to tweak them.
“Not just yet, I need to record the Thaumic readings as well, which are…” He trailed off as his fingers flickered over the runes at the edge of the circle, an odd look on his. “This is unusual”, he murmured.
“Didn’t it catch it?” Asked Gretham. “She was seeing what we expected, sort of.”
“No, that was fine. It’s just this level of Thaum use for two items…” He looked over at Marnie. “You’re very efficient, Marnie.”
“Is that a good thing? She asked, deliberately keeping her hands away from the objects as she asked “And can I start fixing yet?”
“Just an observation, nothing else.” He reset the circle, the light flickering around its edge again. “You can now do object manipulation to fix them. One at a time though, so I can make sure I get the reading for each one. Do the disk first.”
She was about to tell the dark strands to leave, when she caught herself. What she normally did, wasn’t object manipulation; not the way Belaine had taught it anyway. And if Erian was taking readings, he might not get any if she did it her normal way. I won’t get to do the training if I fail, she thought. I’d best do it Belaine’s way.
She placed her hands lightly above the disk, and began to slowly pluck one thread at a time, shifting their positions carefully, pulling in an extra strand here and there. It was frustratingly slow, but the correct placement soon took shape.
Marnie took a deep breath when she was done, stretching her fingers out, before she looked up at Gretham and Erian. “How was that?” The two were looking at her, with almost identical expressions of mild confusion. Her stomach tightened “What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing Marnie. That was textbook work, easily 5th year adept level. But…” Erian peered at her quizzically. “That’s not what you normally do is it?”
She pulled her arms in, unsure if she had done something wrong or not. “I was doing what Belaine said to do for Object Manipulation. You said you were Reading that, so…”
Erian’s face lit up with understanding, as Gretham spoke up. “So you’ve got your own methods then. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you know the standard.” He nodded over to Erian. “Best get them both, kid, so you can catch if there’s anything hinky with them.”
Erian was quickly jotting down some notes. “I’m more interested in what you can do, than what Belaine knew; but Gretham’s right I need to check both. We’ll do each of the tests twice from now on. Once for what he taught you, and once for your own method. That sound alright?”
Marnie nodded, relieved she hadn’t failed. She didn’t mind doing things twice, even if it took longer. The circle was still active, so she immediately turned to the cube. ‘You need to lighten up.’ She told it, giving one of its surfaces a soft flick of her finger. ‘There’s nothing wrong with them leaving if they want to.’ She felt the strands responding, shifting from dark to light, until it was more balanced, its stubbornness replaced with apologetic acceptance.
“Done!” she said, bouncing up, ready for the next test. Erian, his fingers flickering through the threads of the circle, didn’t look up. His eyes were glued on them, and he was muttering something she couldn’t make out under his breath.
“You get it, kid? Gretham asked him. And then, louder, “Erian? Did you get it?”
Erian looked up at him, rubbing the back of his neck, “What?, Oh, er… yes!” His eyes drifted back to the threads for a second, before fixing on Marnie. “Yes, I’ve got a record of the updated infusion. Good job, Marnie.”
Marnie grinned, enjoying the praise. She picked up the disk and cube and brought them over to the table, putting them next to the sticks. She could tell they were focus rods from here, one for each element “Can I use these now?” She picked up the fire one, eagerly.
“Not yet.” Gretham said, taking it out of her hand. “That’s my job. You’re on wards. Take one of those targets into the centre.” She promptly grabbed one of the thick sticks and headed back to the middle.
“I’m going to run a mild Recovery routine through the circle first.” Erian was moving the threads again, his focus back on them. “So we can get a base for your natural protection. Say when you feel something.”
The circle began to glow again, a building up this time, as a thin thread of yellow & green streaked around it. “You’re using what?!” exclaimed Gretham.
The look on Gretham’s face made Marnie retreat a little where she stood. He was looming behind Erian now. Erian was wincing, but he pointedly didn’t look at the older man. “It’s built into the circle so it’s… there, all finished.” He looked at Marnie. “You should have nothing to worry about with most mages or infused objects. To use the Council ranking system, your resistance is on par with the minimum required of a new Magister.”
Marnie glanced at Gretham, quietly fuming at Erian’s back, and with a little hesitation asked. “How is that? I couldn’t stop Belaine from doing anything.”
“Resistance builds up over time, and you were young when he took you.” Erian answered. He was hunching, clearly aware of Gretham’s growing anger. “From what I saw in that basement he was having to regularly renew his binding on you. And you said you were getting times of clarity, yes?” She nodded. “That was your resistance growing. At the level it is now, and the training you can get now you’re free of him, he won’t be able to bind you again, unless you allow it.”
She shuddered at that idea, but she did suddenly feel a lot lighter, as one major worry at the back of her mind promptly disappeared.
“Something to be aware of,” Erian continued. “Is that it will need a Protector who is Classified Adept or above, to perform standard Recovery on you. Anyone lower can’t get through your resistance.”
“Unless you’re at death’s door.” Snapped Gretham. “And get your energy reserves burnt through in the process. Then anyone can do it to you, or anything else they want! We’re stopping here.”
Erian did turn to face him then. Marnie was impressed he could stand in front of the glaring man. The last time she remembered seeing someone that angry… Well, she couldn’t remember who exactly, but she and Delly had to run really fast.
Gretham, I’m-”
“If you say you’re fine one more time, then I’m getting Meliath to knock you out for a week. You, using Recovery of all things, to test her resistance?! That’s difficult enough when you’re at your best.”
“It’s the safest method for testing!” Erian protested.
“I know that. But it would have been safer all round, if you’d told me that was what you had planned! I’ve objects that do similar, don’t I?”
“I would have had to adjust the ritual’s pattern to accommodate them. And it wasn’t necessary.”
Marnie stared at the two arguing in front of her, her eyes wide. Should I do something? Gretham is really worried. She traced a mental finger along that purple thread. It felt solid enough, but it did seem to be quivering a bit, more than earlier,. It reminded her of tiredness. Actually, thinking about it, she was beginning to feel a little of that herself.
“We’re nearly done Gretham. I’m not anywhere near my limit, and I can certainly manage-”
“Um… I’m feeling a bit tired…” Marnie said quietly raising a hand. “Can we do the rest tomorrow?”
Erian blinked, and faced her. “You are?” He studied her for a second, and then concern came over his face. “Of course you are! You fell unconscious yesterday, after everything else you’ve… Of course we can stop. I’m sorry Marnie, I should have realised sooner.”
Gretham rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. “And you can’t be like that about your own health? Of all the stubborn…”
Marnie stopped hearing what he said as Erian continued. “From what I’ve seen today, you’re definitely above an apprentice in the basics; and above adept in manipulation. Certainly enough for an Academy recommendation. We’ll cover Spirit Wielder tomorrow after Protection and Control, alongside the mindscape exercises.”
“You won’t be running either if you don’t sleep before then,” Gretham grumbled just loud enough for Marnie to hear, then louder asked. “Why are you including them? It’s not needed for the assessment.”
“I know, but we both saw her obfuscation before, and Marnie’s illusions look Spirit-matter based, rather than light. I need to confirm that’s the case.”
“I don’t mind extra tests,” said Marnie. “Erian said I can go to the Academy and learn stuff if I do the tests.”
“She’s too old for a student, isn’t she?” Gretham asked.
“No, there’s no age limit, although admittedly, it can be difficult fitting in. But given Marnie’s skill I think she could enter as the equivalent of Classified Adept, and take advanced classes if she wanted to.” He was packing up the objects in the room as he spoke, making sure the circle was dormant, and there were no stray threads around to corrupt the ritual space overnight. “I’d actually like to offer you a position as my assistant Marnie, if you would be willing. Just from what I’ve seen today would make for several years of research. And there’s what happened in the work…” he coughed with a quick glance at Gretham. “I mean, I think we’d work well together, and I’m interested to see what you can do. Would that interest you?”
“Marnie thought for a moment. She wasn’t sure what he meant about the research, but the idea of learning lots of new stuff... And then there was the thread. As she thought about it, it shimmered between them, still quivering slightly. Best keep him in sight for now.
“I think so,” she answered. “Especially if I can see more circles like this one. And make objects. And learn new patterns.”
Erian smiled, happily it seemed to her. “Good! I mean, very well. I’ll speak to Meliath about it. Upstairs I have some copies of last term’s Thaumcraft and High Thaymian tests for the Adept years. If you would like to try them over the next few days, then I can include those results with your assessment as well.”
This sounded like writing to Marnie, which she wasn’t very good at. But reading them would be fun. “I’ll do them.”
“Good, I’ll bring them to you shortly. Gretham, could you-”
“Finish up here, while you and Marnie both go to your rooms to rest? Sure, no problem. I’ll bring you both some food, once I’m done here.”
“That’s not-”
Without another word, Gretham marched Erian out of the room, with Marnie following behind, and firmly closed the door, leaving them both standing in front of the stairs up to their beds.
Thanks for Reading! This would have originally included the rest of the basics, but once I started thinking about Gretham’s increasing concerns, they dovetailed with mine about how long the scene was growing, so here we are. I suppose I could have gone with a simple ‘they ran some tests and the results were…’ but where’s the fun in that?
The assessment will continue on the morrow, but there will be two scenes first, where Marnie finds out what the paper tests are (9(a) Written Tests and Amethyst Mist), and whether Erian paid any attention to Gretham’s instruction to rest (9(b) Meliath: A Late Night Conversation).
(PS. In case you’re wondering why Erian had tests with him, he got called up by the CCD during marking week, and no one volunteered to take them off his hands, so he’s been working on them in the background. Gretham asked while Marnie was deciding to do them.)