[Druidic Grove] Adept Druidism [Self-Mod]

[Aydyn Blair]

Late Morning on the
21st of Optia in the
Season of Summer

A cycle had passed since Aydyn's arrival in Natura and Aydyn had aged. She was a full era older and at twenty-six ordinances there were many things she acknowledged that she wished she had done. Things that she wondered if she would ever accomplish in her life. Things she wondered if she would ever see. She had left home at twenty-three--or was it twenty-two? she could no longer remember--and had desired to see many places around the empire, to explore and experience things she had not seen yet in her life. She'd seen a little of the empire, crossing from Demios to Acumin from Acumin to Mystique. She'd seen Nexus Prime, she'd seen--against her will--Vortex and New Coldmoon. Brief glimpses, both of these. But she'd seen them. Still, there were many things in life that Aydyn desired to see. Desired to do.

Learning the arts of the Druids was one such of these desires. Arcana had always been a foreign thing to Aydyn as the daughter of a farmer. Having left home, it was one of the first things that Aydyn undertook as she struggled to live on her own. She had studied first in Demios and then in Mystique. And now...here she was. Natura would be the home of her next mentor. The place where she pursued what she could of an art she had come to love and cherish, that she'd woven seamlessly into her life. There was no entangling it from the life that she led. It was, quite simply, who she was.

Standing at the edge of the grove, Aydyn examined the thick weaving of vines in the heart of the clearing. A strange thing, but she had heard something of it from the townspeople. From Selena. They were safe here and this was why. The spring was hidden there, hidden where people could not tamper with it. Well and good. Aydyn needed to be safe. Needed her daughter to be safe. This made Natura perfect.

The druidess took a step forward, her arms supporting Noah's bottom as the six month old dozed, drooling, against Aydyn's chest. She'd brought her daughter with her because she saw no reason not to. It was, quite possibly, a risk of its own, but this brightening she was here to speak more than she was to act.

As if aware of this, a lithe figure sidled rather abruptly in front of Aydyn. She was a slight and beautiful creature, all sinewy arms and legs, skin and hair golden, wearing little more than a twining of vines around her body. The eyes were strange, forest green with darker green scleras. A crown of branches and wild flowers sat a top her head. "You can't go near that." Despite the crispness of her voice, her timbre was sweet and flutey--it reminded Aydyn of the wind dancing through the treetops.

"Sorry?" Uncertain of herself, and a little uncertain of the creature in front of her, Aydyn took a small step back.

"You can't go near that," she repeated, a little slower, hands crossing under her chest. Her eyes narrowed on Aydyn, scrutinizing. "I watched you. In the woods. You're a druid, I can tell. You're not here to see Dhwae are you?" She sounded a little exasperated but when Aydyn shook her head, she breathed relief.

"Although I was interested in being trained here..." she prompted gently, a little off put by the other's abrasive attitude.

"Druid training."

"Right. I'm an apprentice. I was hoping you might...promote me?" It was a hope, almost a thin one. Masters could be reluctant to promote those they had not formerly trained. But Natura was safe. Mystique was not. This was the better option.

H'annaeryth paced around Aydyn, examining her like a cattle on market. "Maybe. But you need to convince me. And some other masters. I wouldn't be able to promote you all by myself. We need two more, but I need to get them. Maybe you should come back. Tomorrow. Come back tomorrow. Then we'll tell you if we want you."

ooc: permission granted by Kalinda

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn worried through the rest of the brightening and throughout a portion of the darkening--not even she, strung out on worry as she was, could fight back the overwhelming sleepiness of a mother. They would test her and decide whether or not she was worthy. They would decide if she would join their ranks or if she were easy enough to turn away. For Aydyn this was important. Important because she had a daughter and was not a person to depend on in a fight. She was a Druid. She had arcana. It was, quite simply, who she was. To be turned away, rejected, had not before registered itself into her mind.

She left Noah with her friend that brightening because she had no desire to be interrupted when her concentration was most needed and struck out for the Druidic Grove with her sleeves rolled to her elbows. Though it was morning the brightening was already considerably warm. The birds were out, fluttering through the branches, the squirrels and chipmunks chattering through the trees and bushes. A comfortable brightening. A good brightening for a Druid.

The druidess entered the grove to find the creature she'd met the brightening before, a woman who she soon uncovered to be H'annaeryth, a dryad and a Master Druidess, paired with two others. The one was an elf and of obvious sea-elf origins and considerably elder, her skin wrinkled and a perfect white. The other was a human and in his middling eras with skin worked over from brightenings beneath the sun, his hands dirtied and worn with wear. The first was introduced to her as the High Priestess Lhyllis, a thaumaturge from the nearby temple, and the other Gorte Biteweather, a former member of the Druidic Faction who turned eventually to the Rangers not too many eras past.

"See, I brought them like I said I would. Now you're supposed to impress us," H'annaeryth instructed her as they arranged themselves comfortably on a log that function as a bench. Aydyn was offered no seat, but stood in front of them as the entertainment for their brightening.

"It's all right, dear. Tell us about yourself. About you, your history as a Druid," Lhyllis prompted, in a calmer, softer tone of voice that was instantly reassuring. Almost maternal in its way.

Aydyn nodded and considered it first before finally starting to speak. "I first learned Druidism in Demios from an Adept by the name of Adamon Mylenthar, though not to confuse you, it was Mistress Laroalle of the academy that Unbound and Imparted the information to me. Adamon educated me on how to work the spells. I had intended to stay in Demios for my training, but I heard about Acumin and how they were trying to rebuild, that they were looking for Druids. It drew me so I left Demios. Somehow things didn't work out in Acumin for me. It was, I think, a little too small for me. I needed something bigger. So I tried Mystique and though I've also learned that I don't really like cities either, that's where I continued my training under Mistress Amelia Doradee."

Gorte studied her thoughtfully. "And what is your use of the arcana? How do you use it?"

"Peacefully. For practicality. I...have...used it before to defend myself. I have not led an easy life this past era or more and there are times that I've had my hand pushed to do things I am not proud of. Mistress Doradee taught me only spells of peace and of my combative spells I learned from Adamon I have only used one spell and that for wood fires to warm or cook." She drew in a deep breath, measured. "I am not a violent person and abhor those who think it necessary to live. I don't believe Carmelya intended for us to be a violent lot. We have no need for it."

"But you have used it to hurt people," H'annaeryth prompted.

"Only because he gave me no choice. It was that or be...forced. I had no choice." She did not explain forced. She didn't feel that she needed to. At any rate they didn't press.

They looked between one another and nodded. She seemed to have passed that test. But she could tell...it wasn't really over. Lhyllis confirmed it.

"Now, my dear. We would have you demonstrate a few spells for us. H'annaeryth, Gorte, if you could dictate which spells she is to complete."

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn wasn't certain what spells to expect to come her way as H'annaeryth and Gorte conferred quietly a little away from where Lhyllis and Aydyn waited. The aging thelyri studied Aydyn openly, curiosity etched across her wrinkled features. "May I ask why it is you want this?" she asked as they waited. "Some would be content to stay as an apprentice and still call themselves a Druid. But not you."

The druidess did not hesitate. "For my daughter. So that I am not completely powerless to protect her. For me because this is who I am and what I know how to do in my life. And for Carmelya also so that I may serve Her better than I have been able to thus far." Of these facts Aydyn had no doubts. This was why she strived to better herself. For her daughter. For herself. For Carmelya.

"I note that Carmelya comes last in your reasoning. Before Her there is your daughter, yourself."

Aydyn frowned a little, believing her words had been twisted to some degree. "My daughter would come before all else, High Priestess. I would do anything to protect her, if it came to it."

"Anything is a powerful word, my dear," Lhyllis cautioned, but gently and seemed to understand the depth of love that Aydyn held in her heart for the child she had given birth to. Seemed to, but Aydyn could not be certain.

At that moment H'annaeryth and Gorte returned, Gorte taking his seats on the log that served as their bench. H'annaeryth remained standing, sliding one arm around the thick waist of one of the tall trees. She seemed more at ease this way, her somewhat stern features shifting into something more sweet. She seemed less intimidating as she stood there with her cheek pressed to the bark. "We've decided what spells you need to show us," she announced and Gorte nodded along with her.

"We would like to see Warp Wood first. We want to see what you can do with it. Can you show us something interesting? We don't want to see a cup. Cups are boring. Everyone does a cup. Show us something different. I want to see something pretty." H'annaeryth leaned forward a little, her arm still anchored to the tree.

Something pretty? Aydyn frowned slightly. She had a good number of experience with the spell, enjoyed it for the sheer practicality of it, but she could never say that she'd created something simply for it to be pretty.

"Here, I want you to use this." The dryad extended a thick stick towards Aydyn then took to leaning her body against the tree as she watched, waited. They all watched. They all waited. Expecting.

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn turned the stick over in her hands, trying to figure out what to do with it that was pretty. She was usually a practical sort of woman, relying on her spells to create what was needed more than for show. She glanced around her for inspiration and spotted a small cluster of colorful cala lilies growing at the edge of the clearing. Right.

She meditated as she stood there, working her way into Clara, the arcanic energies warming around her as she reached it. She combined the Vis and the Ara carefully before drawing on the nature essence from the plane, wrapping them together to start shaping the Mana. She wove the spell around the stick, shaping it with Alteration and Abjuration into the form of a beautiful cala lily with its curling, cup of a blossom and a single leaf that curved away from the stalk. She held the wood in her hand as she released the spell around it.

It altered form almost instantly, one moment a boring stick, the next a grainy flower. There was no questioning what it was, but though Aydyn had shaped it just so, it still lacked the beauty of a real cala lily. Nothing could match that. Not unless it truly lived, drinking water as it nestled in the soil. Nonetheless, the Druidess extended the stick--lily--out to H'annaeryth, who looked it over thoughtfully, then handed it down to Gorte.

"It is lovely," Gorte praised her, in his deep, gravelly voice.

H'annaeryth looked less impressed, but she shrugged anyway. "It looks all right," she agreed, snuggling against the bark of the tree as she frowned, contemplating. "We wanted you to do two more things for us before we agree--or disagree!--to do anything with you." She paused. Aydyn waited. "You should have learned how to Reshape Mana, right? Well, I want you to cast a Firefly Globe, then reuse the mana to shape a new spell. Hmmm...how about you make friends with that Animal over there? The sparrow on the tree branch?" She gestured vaguely, but Aydyn spotted the pretty little creature, all browns and whites nestled on a tree branch not quite overhead. Not quite watching, but not disinterested either. It almost seemed to be waiting for something. Mayhap she was.

"What's the second thing?" Aydyn asked, curious.

"Same thing--sort of. Instead of reusing the mana, we want you to combine two of the spells. Your teacher should have taught you how to do that, right? Well it's like me combing Bark Skin with Heal, so that they do both at the same time as you cast them. We want you to pick two spells you learned as an initiate and combine them. Any two. Except the ones I just mentioned."

[Aydyn Blair]

The instructions were not overbearing and Aydyn relaxed herself into Clara before she began to weave the needed mix of ara and vis, drawing on the essence from the plane to combine them and make the mana for the spell. She wove the Firefly Globe spell, using conjuration to draw the fireflies from the nature plane, there being none present at the time. She released the spell and the small Globe hung in front of the three Masters who awaited some example that she was worth the pending promotion. But that was not the test for it would have been too simple--far too simple.

Aydyn sifted into Clara once again, the gathering of energies blaring brilliantly in front of her as she observed the spell that she had created. To Re-Shape it required taking the mana. She did so and the fireflies disappeared, back into the plane from which she'd conjured them. She altered the shape of the spell as she'd been instructed and focused it instead on the sparrow still sitting on the branch nearby. It had not taken off. She weaved the mana around the bird, using Divination to instill the warmth within it, to let the bird know that she meant it no ill.

She released this second spell upon the bird and waited, watched, feeling comforted with her own abilities as the sparrow fluttered down from its branch to perch on her shoulder. The little bird nipped at her ear and she yelped, but the bird did not leave, as if the nip had simply been in kindness and not ill-will. The little bird twittered and moved back and forth along her shoulder, peering down at the other three masters. Content. A friend.

"I'd say she did that just fine," Lhyllis commented lightly to her companions, one of which nodded, the other of which frowned in deep thought, eying the bird and eying Aydyn.

Finally H'annaeryth agreed. "And the other? Combining the two spells to make them one? Can you do that?"

As if on cue the bird on Aydyn's shoulder left, though Aydyn could tell it was not from any lack of being disinterested or unfriendly...she had merely spotted something. So Aydyn assumed. "I can do that," she assured the dryad, quite certain that she could. Even so, she would not show any doubt. Not to her would-be instructor. Not when doing so meant losing everything she'd hoped to gain.

[Aydyn Blair]

Combine two spells to make them one... Aydyn gave it some thought before actually putting her thoughts into action. She needed to know what spells she intended to use and then needed to have a basic understanding of what she expected with the merging of both of those spells. Some of them simply made no sense whatsoever in the combining and were immediately eliminated, but she managed to choose two as she turned her back to gaze off into the woods, quiet and thoughtful.

Create Water and Growth seemed perfectly matched with one another, so she clung to the two spells as she looked around for a target...and found in a small shoot of a tree sitting idly in the shade. It must have sprouted that spring from the dropped seedlings, barely nurtured by what little light scattered through the tightly woven leaves and branches overhead.

She focused on this tiny tree that wasn't quite yet a sapling, delving into Clara and again drawing on the Vis and Ara, combing it with the Essence to create the necessary Mana. She abjured the Mana first for the Growth in the spell and Alteration to draw the moisture around them to the small plant. She released the Reshaped spells around the tree and watched. Waited. The tree grew slowly, inching upwards. A whole foot it grew, the lean sprout thickening slightly, the leaves bigger. The bare beginnings of an actual sapling.

H'annaeryth was the first over to the tree, followed by Gorte and Lhyllis. They were required to inspect her work, to ensure she hadn't simply used one spell. H'annaeryth, more in tune with the trees, churred after a moment, a strange sound not quite like the purr of a cat, but not a human sound either. "She fed the tree," she announced after a moment, a small hand delicately caressing the leaves. Gorte nodded his own approval, while Lhyllis smiled at Aydyn, as if to tell her that somehow she'd been right.

The tree took their seats and Lhyllis scooted to the edge of the tree log. "Do you know what will be expected of you when we give you this, Aydyn?"

Aydyn frowned slightly. Did this mean they were accepting her? "I think so. You will teach me. I need to do some...things. Make a staff, a masterpiece." This is what she had heard from others in the arcanic craft, but she had not researched it for herself.

H'annaeryth shrugged her dainty, soft shoulders. "You don't have to do a staff, but you should. Not everyone makes a staff as an Adept. Those take months to make so a lot of people don't bother. I like them, though. But I'll teach you how to use the spells I'll Impart and then I'll send you on your way. To learn. You'll need to work on a masterpiece if you want to go any further. Because if you want to be a master you'll need a prove yourself. A spell that's all your own. No one else's. You'll be able to do that when we Promote you." The dryad canted her head slightly, nose wrinkling. "It's not quick training, either. It'll take you a few months, if you're lucky. Some people are slow learners."

"So you'll teach me?" Aydyn drew in a deep breath, eyes wide, feeling suddenly a little shaky. Overwhelmed.

The dryad expelled a deep breath, looked at Gorte and Lhyllis and nodded. "Yes. I'll train you."

[Aydyn Blair]

The did the usual run-down of what she could expect and told her that it would be something akin to what she had experienced during her Promotion from Initiate to Apprentice. Nothing amazing, of course, but a feeling that suddenly there was more. More around her than she'd known before. They instructed her to enter the state of Clara, to relax herself...prepare.

Aydyn did this and as she sunk herself into a relaxed state, freeing herself of the extraneous and hindering thoughts and feelings. She closed her eyes and simply gave herself into the hands of the three Masters as they worked to breach the barriers that constrained her from accessing the full-depths of her vis well. It started as something of a trickle, this new awareness, and suddenly Aydyn felt the flood wash around her, this fuller power encase her, a whisper of promise for what she was about to embark on.

"There. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Aydyn opened her eyes to see three faces looking at her expectantly. Lhyllis was smiling, a gentle smile, and Gorte had a patient look upon his, a dignified cross between genuine care and curiosity. H'annaeryth looked more thoughtful than anything else, maybe a little impatient. "No, it wasn't," she responded with a faint smile, sliding out of clara, the new sensations washing away from her. She hadn't expected it to be 'bad', so she wasn't quite certain why the dryad had spoken such a line.

"Well, since you won't be needing us any more, we'll just be on our way," Lhyllis announced after a moment, pushing herself up off the log with the care of a woman old now, no longer moving with the grace and ease she once had. Gorte helped her gently. And the pair bid the two druids good-bye, departing along paths through the wood.

H'annaeryth folded her arms across her plant-covered breasts, frowning a little as she observed Aydyn. "Since you already did so much this brightening I don't want to push it, but I know you're probably hoping to learn a little bit more. But before I teach you anything I'm going to Impart the spells to you that I know. It'll take a moment."

As the dryad suggested the Impart of the Adept spells that H'annaeryth knew did not take long. The woman and the dryad both stood in the clearing as the dryad worked the technique around her new pupil, the new knowledge sinking into Aydyn like pieces to a puzzle longing to be deciphered. The knowledge was there, the outcomes, the shapes, but the know-how somewhat lacking. Aydyn felt dazzled by it.

"It should all be in there," H'annaeryth murmured once she finished. "All the spells I've learned up to that level. I'm going to teach you one, okay? And then you're going to go home and relax. You can come back tomorrow and I'll really start teaching you then."

[Aydyn Blair]

As H'annaeryth thought, Aydyn was anxious to learn something--anything--about what she'd just been given access to. The dryad knew better than to simply let the Druidess go to explore what had been opened to her for doing so on her own might result in something...not so great. Better to let the woman go back home too tired to do anything on her own.

"The first spell I'm going to teach you I like to call Animal Form. It's as simply as it sounds: With this spell you take the shape of an animal." She paused, gauging Aydyn's reaction, which was more than obvious--instant intrigue. "Just so you know, you can only take the shape of an animal you've already come into close proximity with so don't try anything fancy because it won't work. I wouldn't go for anything too big or too small either because the more you have to change the size the more energy you use up and that might not turn out so great for you either." As the dryad talked she draped an arm around the waist of a tree, nuzzling her cheek against it. Her eyes were sharp, however, and she kept a close eye on her new student. "So I want you to pick an animal--tell me which one first before you go ahead and try anything--and then give it a try."

Aydyn was giddy with excitement. The Patriling spell had always been a favorite of hers for the ability to shift into a tree, while not necessarily practical, was a unique and interesting experience. One of her favorites. People seemed to find that odd. But this...ah the options with this spell.

Her first thought was a sparrow, but as H'annaeryth had suggested, too much energy would be used up trying to make herself so much smaller. An alicat might be too small as well--although she'd give it a shot sometime. A deer or a horse came also into her mind. But it was the wolf she'd seen once that she decided to try. She told H'annaeryth as much, who looked surprised, but told Aydyn to go ahead with it.

"It's like Patriling, only there's more to it. You know the different shaping techniques? Well you'll want to use Alteration so that you change form. Divination so that you can acquire the senses of the animal, and Conjuration because you'll need all that lovely fur and what not that wolves have."

Aydyn nodded at the instructions and worked her way into clara. It was quicker as an Adept, she thought, and she found it a little bit easier. She combined her Vis, nearly expanded, and the Ara around her, drawing the Essence from the plane to create the Mana. She began to shape it then, using the techniques as described by H'annaeryth, Alteration to give it the jolt to transform her, Conjuration for the fur and what have you, Divination for the senses.

Aydyn wrapped the weave around her and released it and felt herself transform, body giving way to all-fours, face extending, backside producing a tail. She felt it all and realized that she was somewhat off-kilter as she stood there. She stumbled a little as she tried to walk. A wolf. She was a wolf!

She allowed herself a quick trot through the grove and found it to be rather uncomfortable, stumbling here and there, veering when she didn't meant to. The tail was the key, she realized. It helped to give her balance. The senses were different too, changed, heightened.

The jumped, thrilled, and landed awkwardly on her throat. When she sat up, shaking herself, she found H'annaeryth standing in front of her with an amused look to her strange features.

Aydyn dispelled the transformation and again felt the change to her body until she was a young woman again, scars and all. She sighed, a smile on her mouth. "That was..." she trailed off...H'annaeryth nodded in understanding.

"You should probably go home and rest a little. But I want you to think about something. Part of being an Adept is making new spells, so I want you to think about that and tomorrow I'll have you show me a spell that you made. All on your own. Okay?"

And that was that. Her first brightening as an Adept. She'd come back tomorrow and continue that work. Aydyn's heart pounded...incredibly excited with the way events were rolling out in front of her.

[Aydyn Blair]

When Aydyn returned the next brightening she was nervous. She'd spent a majority of the time between when she'd left and her return thinking about a new spell. A spell all her own. She'd only been going along using what had been given to her and Aydyn had never particularly thought of herself as a creative individual. She was practical, not an artist. Thus it was, when she arrived, that she became relieved to hear that first Aydyn would learn a new spell and then they would proceed with the spell that Aydyn had given some thought to.

"Now, the spell I'm going to teach you this brightening I've been calling Sun Showers. You see how there's clouds up there?" The dryad gestured up towards the sky where there were in fact fluffy clouds passing over the visible sun. There was a faint hint of gray to them, as if it might rain...or might not. It seemed too soon to tell. "I wasn't going to show you this spell this brightening, but the weather's perfect for it."

The dryad seemed to be in good spirits that brightening, perky even, bouncing on the tip of her toes in some evidence of excitement. "With this spell you're going to call on the clouds to rain. Some Druids use this spell to attack people because you can make the water hot or cold, if you want, but Dhwae has taught us all to use it so that it's...pleasant. So you're just calling the rain in sooner than it would fall on its own." She squinted up into the bright sky, shading her forest green eyes against the light. "You can't do this when there's not a cloud in the sky, though. I mean you can't create it out of nowhere. You're just giving strength to what already is." She looked back at Aydyn, smiling. "Can you tell me what you think you should do? To shape the spell."

Aydyn gnawed on her lower lip, thinking it over. "Abjuration to bring the clouds along, closer this way." She hesitated. "Evocation to give it energy? And..." She trailed off, frowned. "Alteration?"

"Why?" H'anna prompted.

Silence as she gave it some thought. "To focus the energy that I'm putting into it. To disperse it. Like when I'm directing the vines in Entwine, the rain needs a direction for where it's going."

H'annaeryth beamed. "That's correct. Very good. So give it a shot. Make it rain!"

[Aydyn Blair]

Make it rain!

Aydyn stared up at the sky, at the faint gray clouds scudding across the sky in the near distance. It didn't look like it would rain any time soon, but that was the whole purpose of the spell. Make it rain sooner. She looked around her to get an idea of where she wanted to direct the rain and wondered if it would just start raining in one place or if the rain would just open up and drench them as rain usually does. But...no...that couldn't be. She would be directing its fall, dictating where it should drop. It wouldn't blanket the entire woods as if it were a natural rain fall.

Aydyn delved into Clara and once she achieved it, Aydyn began to combine the different energies, Vis with Ara and then this combination with the Essence to create the Mana. She shaped it with Alteration and Abjuration, lastly working with Evocation. She shaped it in such a manner that the natural process of the clouds, both their movement and the way the water circulated within the clouds, was enhanced, made quicker. She directed the spell over the grove, almost directly above them, and released it.

The pair of them watched, eyes directed on the sky, as the clouds darkened and shifted their course until they were above the grove. They moved with a quickness Aydyn had not thought possible and it seemed that in no time the rain was loosening over their heads, a trickle of rain not quite a drizzle but nowhere near to a downpour. A steady downfall of moisture of a lukewarm temperature.

The droplets slid down Aydyn's nose, dampened her hair to her forehead and cheeks and stuck her clothing to her body. She grinned over at the dryad as she felt her mentor looking at her.

"I don't mind the rain, but now you're going to be all wet for the rest of the lessons," the dryad pointed out, grinning at her student, idly touching a lock of Aydyn's rain-drenched hair.

The druidess shrugged. "That's fine. I'll live." She wasn't bothered at all, in fact, although the clothes were incredibly uncomfortable.

[Aydyn Blair]

Instructed to do so by her mentor, Aydyn Dispelled the rain and the clouds remained overhead, gray and formidable but no longer spewing moisture onto their heads. With the rain gone, Aydyn and H'annaeryth sat themselves down on the now familiar log and got to talking.

"I want you to Create a spell," H'annaeryth informed her student. "I told you to think of one yester-brightening. What did you come up with?"

Aydyn hesitated, not wanting to sound like a fool in some form or another, but seeing no way out of it. "Animals hibernate naturally as the seasons progress--not all, of course, but some. I thought I might be able to use a spell to instigate that hibernation for a brief duration."

H'annaeryth thought about it, mouth canted, twisted as she looked off into the woods. Finally she nodded. "How would you do it? What shaping techniques would you use?"

This was where Aydyn was slightly fuzzy, but she fell silent, thinking it over. Evocation was out because it mattered where the spell was directed. It was not simply a release of energy to have at the target as it would. Conjuration also made little sense in this instance for obvious reasons. "It would affect the body so you would use Abjuration, especially because it's meant to create a longer lasting affect." H'annaeryth did not respond, but waited. "And Alteration because the energy will be focused in a certain area of the body." She frowned when H'annaeryth said nothing. "I'm not sure if it will require Divination."

"I think it would. You can't just have the animal ambling along and all of a sudden fall over into a sleep. You'd need to urge the animal to prepare for sleep. So I would say you need Divination. But you're right on the other two, also." H'annaeryth frowned and looked around her. "Do you think you would be able to use it on all animals?"

Aydyn shook her head. "That would kill some animals since not all are built to hibernate. It would be useable only on animals that naturally hibernate."

H'ananeryth nodded her agreement, glad that the girl had given that some thought. "And I know just the animal for you to test your spell. But I'll teach you a different spell so that you can find him. He lives right at the edge of the clearing, under the ground, although he might be out and about right now getting food. A hedgehog." She smiled at Aydyn's look of surprise...the Druidess had never seen one before.

"The spell is called Aura. It's almost exactly like the Detect spell you learned as an Initiate, but this one is a little more powerful. You see, in this one you use Divination and Alteration to find the spiritual auras of the creatures in the vicinity. You can use it to find those who are hidden or invisible, camouflaged and all that." The dryad gestured around her. "So go ahead and cast the spell. Find Spiny for us."

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn was given no indication where to look for the hedgehog H'annaeryth wished her to make a test subject out of. So she did it the only way she'd been given: with arcana. The druidess sunk into Clara and drew the Ara to her, combining it with Vis. She drew on the Essence for the Mana and began shaping the spell carefully, using both Divination and Alteration and spreading the weave out around her as she released it.

The area around her seemed to suddenly glow with life as the auras of different creatures were detailed to the druidess. Not only were the birds distinguished amidst the branches, but so were the myriad of insects that buzzed about the vicinity. A deer and her fawn grazed off some bushes further into the trees. Squirrels darted overhead along the branches. A chipmunk scurried out of its burrow and across the clearing of the grove. And then the hedgehog...it was on the far side of the clearing scrounging around a cluster of weeds, nibbling at this and that. His aura radiated strongly and gave him shape.

"I found him. He's over there," Aydyn announced after a moment, turning towards H'annaeryth. She waited as the dryad simply looked at her, head tilted, a smile playing over her mouth.

"You don't have to be right on top of it for your spell, your know," H'annaeryth informed her, as if sensing the dilemma.

In truth, Aydyn was almost nervous to continue, terrified that the spell wouldn't work or would go terribly wrong. She hated the idea of practicing on an animal. An unsuspecting animal. The poor thing wouldn't even know what she was about to do to it. She had qualms with that, serious qualms. Perhaps she should've come up with a different spell...

"Why're you just standing there? Go on, give it a try!" H'annaeryth urged her, mouth turning in confusion, clearly not understanding the girl's hesitation.

Aydyn nodded. She'd suggested the spell. She'd thought it out. This was the spell that she would work.

[Aydyn Blair]

Aydyn got closer to the hedgehog, the spell guiding her close to where the creature snuffled about. She stopped a good distance away, mindful of the fact that she could possibly scare it away, and again worked her way into Clara, clearing her mind of any intrusions--of the worries that plagued her--to combine her Vis with the Ara and drawing the two energies together with Essence. She began to shape the Mana and here she was careful, meticulous as she began its weaving.

The trick to making it work was to trick the animal's body into believing that the conditions were ripe for hibernation. The body would need to slow down, a gradual process that led the animal to looking like it was almost dead. She used Abjuration to give the energy that slow dispersing guidance that would change the speed that the body paced itself, so that it slowed. She used Alteration to give it the focus that it needed, directing it where it needed to be within the body. Lastly she used Divination to trick the mind of the hedgehog, to convince it that this was natural, that it was right despite the heat of the summer and that little had been done to prepare the hedgehog for the impending hibernation.

I'll Dispel it once I see if it works, little one, she promised...and released the spell around the spiny little creature.

She approached hesitantly, heart pounding, hoping that it either worked or it hadn't--nothing in between. Just don't let it be dead!

H'annaeryth was right behind her as she knelt down beside the hedgehog. It hadn't made it back to the burrow before it had decided to curl up among the weeds, its spines protecting its soft underbelly. It was still visibly breathing and moving around a little bit, not fully in the deep sleep that hibernation claimed on an animal. But slowly and surely it was sinking down into the usually winter-pushed sleep.

"Doesn't it look sweet?" H'anna crooned, reaching down to curl a hand beneath the dozing ball of spines. She cradled him against her palm, he in a little ball that she held towards Aydyn. "It seems to be working. You did a very good job," she praised the young woman. "Did you want to hold him?"

Aydyn hesitated then shook her head. "No, that's fine, thanks. I'll just..."

She Dispelled it then and though it did not happen quickly, the hedgehog began to turn until it finally unrolled in H'annaeryth's hand. The dryad smiled and stroked the spines delicately until the hedgehog rolled into a ball again, tight against the perceived threat. "No, that's fine. You can let him go." She smiled faintly.

"All right then." H'annaeryth delicately set the hedgehog down, right near the entrance to his burrow, giving his behind a small tap until he finally scurried down out of sight. "Why don't we take a break until tomorrow? You look...tired."

She felt tired. She rubbed her forehead and nodded slightly. "I think that spell requires...a little much, that's all."

"All right, well. Come back tomorrow then."