Part of Pela wonders if this is some kind of oddly phrased test, which half makes sense in that fairly, they don't know her. But the Eslistan Court would have vouched for her, since it was their own reputation on the line, so it shouldn't have been that. Or perhaps Pela was just absurdly overthinking the point, and chose instead to focus on answering the queen's question.
"Ward magic, like many schools of magics, draws its stability from stars," Pela explained as she tapped a small charm on her bracelet, a glass bead with a quadrille of arrows carved into it; one glowed, and she oriented herself to lead Nausicaa southward through the halls. Were she outside, she could have discerned south in a heartbeat, but the stone corridors of the palace had her directional sense muted.
"And ward magic is a forward-draw magic. That is, the energy to cast a ward is mustered when the ward is set, not when it is activated or expended. That's why wards can outline their casters," she said, bringing the explanation to the former Queen. Pela touched one side of the hall and under her hand, a curious swirl of energies lit up against the stone, moving like flowing water, leading them onward.
"But because it's a forward-draw magic, the scale and scope of a ward is limited by its caster's energy capacity. Skill and training can help, of course. They reinforce how one's body handles that draw. But to try and cast a single ward over an area the size of the palace for example, would cause such enormous drain that it would likely kill its caster, no matter how practiced they were. Which is why ward-witches create warding chains."
She touches the side of the corridor again, and this time the flowing swirls of light are tangled, looping over and over one another. "Here, see Your Grace? This is where two wards have been joined together, we call this a Ward Knot. So you can cover a much larger area by daisy chaining wards together like this, and it has the added benefit where if one ward were to fail, it would not compromise the entire structure."
Nausicaa expected to feel frustration at her lack of magic knowledge, but what she found bubbling inside her instead was excitement. Pela's willingness to share what she knew helped, too. The young queen might not be able to digest everything at once, but she'd be walking away with new learnings. Magic drawn from the stars. Why wards could survive even if their casters did not. Linking wards together to make them stronger and cover a larger area.
But one piece of information struck her the most: To try and cast a single ward over an area the size of the palace, for example, would cause such an enormous drain that it would likely kill its caster, no matter how practiced they were.
She'd always suspected that Uriel's mother hadn't really died from the Plague. Before today, she'd believed it was a covered up assassination. But here was another angle now. Though if the late queen did die from reworking the palace wards, why did she decide to do that in the first place? Had she discovered something in Galenaea that made it necessary? Did she know, as someone originally from Chrysocolla, that there would be unrest and the threat of war in their future?
She watched the flowing swirls of light with fascination, suddenly seeming a couple of years younger than she initially appeared. This was who she'd been, back in the day, before the burden of the Crown. She'd wanted to see the world, ask all the questions, learn about everything she could.
"How long will it take for you to cover the entire palace?" Realizing she might sound impatient instead of thrilled, she quickly added, "I do not wish for you to overexert yourself. We can accommodate you for as long as you need... though the Council, I suppose, will wish for you to hurry." She did not sound pleased by that, but she would deal with the lords herself then.
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"Ward magic, like many schools of magics, draws its stability from stars," Pela explained as she tapped a small charm on her bracelet, a glass bead with a quadrille of arrows carved into it; one glowed, and she oriented herself to lead Nausicaa southward through the halls. Were she outside, she could have discerned south in a heartbeat, but the stone corridors of the palace had her directional sense muted.
"And ward magic is a forward-draw magic. That is, the energy to cast a ward is mustered when the ward is set, not when it is activated or expended. That's why wards can outline their casters," she said, bringing the explanation to the former Queen. Pela touched one side of the hall and under her hand, a curious swirl of energies lit up against the stone, moving like flowing water, leading them onward.
"But because it's a forward-draw magic, the scale and scope of a ward is limited by its caster's energy capacity. Skill and training can help, of course. They reinforce how one's body handles that draw. But to try and cast a single ward over an area the size of the palace for example, would cause such enormous drain that it would likely kill its caster, no matter how practiced they were. Which is why ward-witches create warding chains."
She touches the side of the corridor again, and this time the flowing swirls of light are tangled, looping over and over one another. "Here, see Your Grace? This is where two wards have been joined together, we call this a Ward Knot. So you can cover a much larger area by daisy chaining wards together like this, and it has the added benefit where if one ward were to fail, it would not compromise the entire structure."
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But one piece of information struck her the most: To try and cast a single ward over an area the size of the palace, for example, would cause such an enormous drain that it would likely kill its caster, no matter how practiced they were.
She'd always suspected that Uriel's mother hadn't really died from the Plague. Before today, she'd believed it was a covered up assassination. But here was another angle now. Though if the late queen did die from reworking the palace wards, why did she decide to do that in the first place? Had she discovered something in Galenaea that made it necessary? Did she know, as someone originally from Chrysocolla, that there would be unrest and the threat of war in their future?
She watched the flowing swirls of light with fascination, suddenly seeming a couple of years younger than she initially appeared. This was who she'd been, back in the day, before the burden of the Crown. She'd wanted to see the world, ask all the questions, learn about everything she could.
"How long will it take for you to cover the entire palace?" Realizing she might sound impatient instead of thrilled, she quickly added, "I do not wish for you to overexert yourself. We can accommodate you for as long as you need... though the Council, I suppose, will wish for you to hurry." She did not sound pleased by that, but she would deal with the lords herself then.