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[sythyry]

First Spell [1 Hispis 4261]

Topic the First: The first spell I grafted was Cute Fangs of the Hearthfire (Sustenoc Pyrador 10), which, of course, paralyzes a small fire so that the flames do not move (but otherwise the fire burns normally). [This is unusual -- most people start with complexity-5 spells -- but a reasonably smart Zi Ri of minimal skill could handle a complexity-10 Sustenoc spell, so it's not impossible. -bb]

This is false!

Rather, it is true, but it is true for my ~mother~ Eitharheinen, not for me. Verehinga recognized zir strong memory at a distressingly early age, and gave zir an unusual spell as zir first. It was not a very good idea! It is hard enough to learn how to graft a pattern spell when you start on a simple complexity-5 cantrip. Cute Fangs is a rather odd and twisty complexity-10 spell -- it wouldn't be so hard for a highschool freshling, say, but ~mother~ was some years younger than that when zie got it. Zie managed to break one copy somehow, and was stuck with a half-grafted mess on zir magerium while Verehinga scrambled to copy out another one so zie could finish it properly.

Or so zie told me, as zie gave me a nice straightforward Comb the Night Bed (Sustenoc Pyrador 5), the spell which I use most nights to keep a fire burning, low, the whole night through.

I did get Cute Fangs as a birthday present from Verehinga two years ago. I procrastinated for half a year before I grafted it, and the only reason I was so fast was that Verehinga was about to visit. I stayed up all night grafting it. I only remembered to cast it where Verehinga could see when ~mother~ reminded me. Useless spell, that.

(tempralisis: Yes, I did the enchantment in Aquador, but that's because I wanted to get a bit better at Aquador. It seems like an important Noun to be good at if I'm going to continue this unfortunate and doom-supplying interest in Orren. I'm hardly a great fire mage, but Pyrador is a very practical and useful Noun for a Zi Ri, and I'm about as good at it as I am at Aquador. My second spell was Extinguish the Fire (Destroc Pyrador 5), given to me in rather a hurry one day when I developed a snoutful of sneezes.

~Mother~ of course urges me to get much better at Airador before I ever go on a long flight by myself. I use this, rather than any laziness of the wings, as an excuse for not going on long flights by myself.)

(terrycloth: All four are only true or false in some detail. I don't have the energy to make fantastical stories up out of whole cloth.)