Jebidiah's Change B. 01

Welcome back gentle reader

There's a bit of violence (not sexual) at the end of this chapter where I am unsure what levels or types constitute the triggering range. So just keep in mind something happens there. Once again the standard disclaimer, multiply ages by roughly two to get equivalent Earth ages. Everyone is a consenting adult.

-- Chapter 7: Bh'orel Academy --

-- Fifth Tenday of Antaen 813 AGR --

Knowledge is a destination. Truth, the journey.

- Goodkind

Jebidiah was calm, but it upset him. He and his remaining pod members stood at the center of a crowd that had all come to pay respects to the fallen of the Battle of the Promenade, which took place just a scant few days prior. Crystal, in a shimmering House Stark green dress with white sleeves, stood before him in his embrace. He had one arm across her chest, holding her against him, and she had one hand holding his arm for support. Dana stood to his right, wearing her House Tonstar blue dress with gray and white accents. She held his free hand in hers while leaning against his side.

It was a somber affair. Besides the requisite sorrow and mourning of the participants, a rare spring rain had come, mirroring their mood. It was enough of a patter of rain to keep them damp and with a slight wind chill. The memorial service was being held at the site of the battle where a stone plinth had already been erected. It would serve as the base for a monument being commissioned that would list the names of the dead. The bodies had already been transported to their homes for burial.

Through the bond, Jebidiah could feel the sorrow of Crystal and Dana, and he did what he could to send love and comfort back through it. Crystal squeezed his arm, and Dana squeezed his hand in thanks. He looked over at Joy standing on his other side. Of them all, Joy had taken the deaths the hardest. Jebidiah was close enough with Polly to regularly play their private games and on friendly terms with Henna, but Joy was friends with everyone equally. She clung to Tenner while sobbing an ugly cry feeding into Tenner's own sorrow.

Beside Joy and Tenner stood Stern, who held hands with Charlene standing on his other side. Stern looked stoic, and Charlene looked upset. Jebidiah knew that something would soon have to give with Charlene, but he was unwilling to rush that confrontation especially in the current emotional climate.

As the priests continued their sermons about overcoming grief, Jebidiah reflected on his own feelings. He felt detached from the grief he knew he had. It was like he had little emotional boxes lined up on a shelf. If he wanted to examine them, he could pick up the box and look into it, but lately it was getting harder to actually experience anything other than anger or love. While he had more than enough of both to go around, the growing anger was worrying.

When they returned to the Academy, they sat in silence at their dining table for a time. Stern broke the silence. "Do you remember that time Polly wanted me to see if I could stretch Henna to make her taller?" There was a general chuckle from a few, and Joy sniffed and said, "You dislocated one of her shoulders. She was pissed about that for a year or two." She gave a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless.

Tenner then chuckled some more and said, "You remember when Polly talked me and Charlene into stealing that case of wine? We all got so drunk... When the creche guardian Polly had a crush on came around to check on the commotion Polly tried to act calm and cool and flirt. Then she puked all over his pants and shoes. I never thought red wine would stain so much." This brought general laughter from the others. The next few hours were spent in fond remembrance of their friends.

A knock at their door came during a lull in the storytelling. A guard opened the door, admitting a young woman. She was cute, Jebidiah thought absently. Of medium height and build, her academy outfit hid what curves she might have had but her face had a smooth complexion, nice lips, a small impish nose, green eyes, and all of it framed by wavy blonde hair. She came toward their dining area and addressed them.

"Good afternoon. I'm sorry to interrupt your day, especially so soon after the memorial service, but I need to get you prepared for what comes ahead. My name is Sirene Plusk, and I am your replacement Senior Advisor for the duration of your stay at the Academy. We apologize for the difficult transition you experienced with Madeline, and hopefully, we can make some new progress."

Jebidiah stood to greet her. "Well met, Sirene. It is a pleasure to meet you. Would you like to have a seat while we go over your agenda? Can I get you a drink?"

She thanked Jebidiah for both and sat at the other end of the table. "Thank you all." She took a sip of the water Jebidiah had set before her then continued. "I have reviewed each of your curriculum vitae, and I think I have a plan to move forward with. I won't pretend to understand the reasons for the exceptions we have carved out for you, so I will just do my best to accommodate them. Did Madeline go over how the course and class structure works?" Everyone shook their heads in a collective "no."

"Well, let me start there to give some context for the rest. The full Academy training lasts two years and is broken into four blocks. Block one and three start on the first of Jantaen, directly after Winter Solstice and run through the sixtieth of Yantaen with the end ceremony on Summer's Eve. Block two and four start immediately on the first of Juntaen and end on the sixtieth of Byntaen with closing ceremonies on Winter's Grip giving everyone the month of Dentaen off. All of that means you have almost eight tendays left before the next block officially begins, and we can insert you into a normal class rotation."

"Block one is meant for everyone to get an idea of what class and specialization you wish to settle on for your Talents plus some general training in all the Talents to learn the capabilities of each for team compatibility. What I want to do here is focus on your individual Talents so you can gauge what specializations are of interest before the end ceremonies on Summer's Eve. We have three mages in this group. Instead of the individualized tutoring we tried out yesterday, all three of you will attend a class together to determine aptitude. Two of you are warriors so again you will attend class together. Dana and Charlene, since you both have a second Talent not shared, there will be some singular classes for both. Any questions?"

Joy instantly shot her hand up to get attention but then blurted out her questions anyway. "What about us Artificers? What about Jebidiah? Can I stay with Jebidiah's training regime regardless of what he decides to do? When will we start meeting other students?"

Sirene had the expression of a possum caught in the feed bag. "Um, well, Joy is it? For you, we were thinking of sending you with the warriors for training. It was decided at bare minimum you should have unarmed combat training focused on defense. As for Jebidiah, it is my understanding we are sort of at your mercy. You are granted access to the coursework you deem appropriate for you. I don't think anyone knows what to do with you."

"I get that a lot," Jebidiah replied. "I will stick with the mages for the time being. I also need access to the libraries and archives. Oh, probably around the 9th or 10th of this tenday Dana, Crystal, and I have business at the Keep."

"That shouldn't be a problem. Any other questions?" asked Sirene.

"Our guards." Crystal said more as a statement than a question.

"A squad of Bh'orel Guards are already in place. They will escort you as needed throughout the grounds." When no further questions were asked, she bid everyone a good evening and left.

They lounged around the rest of the evening in scattered conversations, most contemplating their memories of their lost friends. When it came time for bed, Crystal followed Jebidiah to his room and without any qualms stripped down and crawled into his bed before him. He got undressed as well and climbed in to lay spooning her. "I just need to be held, Jeb. Please don't let me go." He kissed her head in reply then hugged her to him. They drifted off to sleep soon after.

In the morning Jebidiah woke to a slightly cramped world. Crystal was still in his arms but there was another arm wrapped around his waist with the attached hand resting on his morning hardened cock. Through his bond, he knew it was Dana that had crawled into bed with them at some point. While a little physically uncomfortable to do on a bed designed for a single oversized humanoid, it was a sensation he could get used to. Especially the part where his hand was cupping one of Crystal's breasts.

His bladder soon got the best of him, and he was forced to wake the girls as he got out of bed. Both of them grumbled their annoyance.

After getting dressed and eating, Dana, Stern, and Joy set out as a group to resume their warrior training. The rest went to find their Mage instructor. They left their dormitory building with five guards, one for each, and retraced Jebidiah's path the day before to reach the Mage's Tower. This time someone from the front office promptly came out to greet them and led them to a large round classroom three floors down. An older man was already in the room. He wore the garb of a Master Wizard, complete with a rimmed conical hat and long gray hair with ample white strands sticking out all over. His mustache and beard looked to Jebidiah like a sodden mophead had been glued under his nose. It was so bushy and unruly that Jebidiah couldn't really see his mouth when he talked. He briefly wondered how the man ate or drank.

The classroom itself was very odd and not what Jebidiah had been expecting. When he thought about that some more, he had to admit he had no real expectations, but still, this setup was odd. There was a large purple crystal structure in the center of the room, and a round wood platform about a foot off the ground had been erected around the crystal. There was a clear area that circled that wooden platform by maybe six feet until it met the first of a series of raised tiers. Each tier held several large wooden tables laden with a variety of mysterious-looking things. There were five tiers of these desks holding what Jebidiah roughly guessed as fifty tables. The whole setup allowed students to stand at their tables while the lecturer could walk in a circle below and see everyone.

"Well met everyone. I am Loremaster Kenyen. I will be reviewing magic theory with you all, and we will work through some exercises to determine your proficiencies with the various types and schools of magic. If you would all please take a seat at one of the stations here, you will find ample materials and journals for your notations as I go through the lecture." When Jebidiah reached a table on the lowest tier, he noticed there was, in fact, a stool tucked underneath allowing them to sit. Crystal and Tenner picked the tables beside him. Charlene picked a table on the other side of the room but at least still on the lower tier.

Kenyen looked around at each of them, noting Charlene's position opposite the others, and looked at Crystal. "Crystal Stark, I presume? Your Change makes you easy to identify. And Dana Tonstar? Your family resemblance also makes you easy to identify. And by process of elimination, that would leave Charlene Crag? Yes? Ok. That leaves you..." he said. Each of the girls had nodded when he guessed their names, and when he finally regarded Jebidiah, his bushy eyebrow was raised.

"Master Jebidiah Overton." Jebidiah responded. It was the first time he referred to himself with the title, and it felt odd on the tongue, but his instincts told him it was required here.

"Ah, the infamous Master Overton in person. I am not sure an Artificer such as yourself will gain much from a magical theory lecture?" He turned what should have been a statement into a question, fishing for information. Jebidiah didn't rise to the bait and just smiled and shrugged in answer. When it was obvious no more was going to be said, Kenyen gave out a sigh and started his class.

"Can anyone tell me what the source of magic is?"

Tenner and Charlene slowly raised their hands, and Kenyen nodded to Charlene. "Primal magic is inherent in nature, and all other magics use it as their source?"

"That is basically correct," Kenyen answered. "Not many can attune themselves enough to directly connect with Primal magic. Higher Druids would be an example of a direct connection, but the Primal is mostly the purview of monsters and the Truly Lost. Through the Druids, we know that Primal magic permeates everything around us, organic or inorganic. It is a universal force much like gravity, and the physicists have been trying in vain to study it with only a working theory. If the Druids are one of the only examples of people accessing Primal magic, then how are all the other Mage types able to? Anyone?"

Crystal answered this time. "The Weave."

"Correct. The Weave. It is the fabric that rests on top of the Primal magic and allows true magic users access to the two spheres of magic."

At this, Tenner interrupted. "True magic users? Primal users do not qualify?"

"Primal magic is raw and unrefined compared to magic crafted from the Weave. To create great spells, one requires refinement." Kenyen replied.

"Refinement equals confinement." Jebidiah said without thinking.

"Ah." Kenyen eyed Jebidiah skeptically. "You've read Erickson?" Jebidiah nodded and Kenyen continued. "Erickson contended that since the Weave was refined and came with rules and the Primal is raw and without rules. An absence of rules allows a limitless amount of magic results. In a word, he is wrong. There are no observable effects that back his suppositions. Reading what the physicists have to say about magical theory is like asking a barbarian how to negotiate a trade agreement. If you want good essays to work through, I suggest Hommet, Brinks, and Everton to start with."

"Going back to the Weave, there are two main forces of magic the magic users fall within. Who can tell me those?"

Again, Crystal piped up, "Arcane users can manipulate the Weave while Divine users are granted permission through the Divines to affect the Weave."

"Correct again. This is a refreshingly apt group for just coming out of Judgment. Moving on, what about the schools of magic? How many do you all know?"

This time it was Jebidiah who answered. "Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation are the main accepted schools, though Brinks suggested Dunamancy and Psionics as possibilities."

"Yes." Kenyen had stopped his pacing to stare at Jebidiah long enough to make it awkward then continued. "Let's start with the school everyone enjoys the most, Evocation, sometimes labeled Invocation. It is called this because the skilled Evoker can conjure up energy and matter from nothing. This is also one of the better schools to start with because it so clearly shows the relationship between the mind of the mage and the reality where the spells are cast. It also helps that most people are at least partly attuned to Evocation. We'll start with a simple light cantrip."

The next few hours were a test in patience as Jebidiah watched the others struggle with the directions given. There were several hints of red glow within some of the girls' hands at one point or the other, but all left the room with Jebidiah feeling the anxiety of Crystal's failure in the bond. They collected their guards then went in search of the others next door at the Warrior's Hall. Once everyone was back together, they headed for their dormitory but heard a commotion in the distance that grew louder as they neared their building.

"What do you suppose that is?" Dana asked no one in particular. The noise sounded like a lot of people yelling, and there was an underlying beat to the noise now.

Stern started marching off in the direction of the commotion, followed by his guard, surprising everyone else at his decisiveness. They all quickly followed suit. The noise led them to the front gates of the Academy, and the underlying beat they had picked up turned into the chanting of some sort of protest. "Ugh, the Children again," Tenner said.

There were some very old structures on Tresolmar, remnants of a civilization that existed before the Great Rending, which caused the first of the three Cataclysms, leaving scars across the entire known world. These structures were all that was left of what were now referred to as The Ancients. Very few written records survived the period before or directly after the Great Rending and the mass starvations, disease, and other deaths that followed. Jebidiah had once tried to find the earliest records he could, purely out of curiosity, and all he could find in the Keep's records were some early trade agreements and population tallies from a few years after the Kingdom's founding.

The Children of Tresolmar believed that the Ancients would one day return to reoccupy those abandoned structures. Some were underground installations like the Lower Keep, and some were even towering structures of a strange material adorned with clear mirrored walls like glass that reached hundreds of feet into the sky. Nobody built their buildings higher than three floors unless they could afford the magical protection from the frequent earthquakes that would strike. There were even two of the otherwise indestructible Ancients' towers that had been found toppled, apparently by earthquakes.

Jebidiah did not understand the Children's obsession with the Ancients, so he quickly grew bored and impatient. "I'm heading back for food." He nodded to his guard and left. The rest eventually trickled back.

That evening, Crystal once again followed into his room to prepare for bed. "If this will be the new norm, I think we need to do something about this bed," Jebidiah said.

Crystal had taken off her tunic already. "We're bonded. What did you expect would happen? I'm your wife so I should be by your side."

Jebidiah sat on the edge of his bed to think about it. "I don't know. I never expected to have it happen, so I had no expectations set. I'm just sort of winging it."

Just then, Dana entered the room. "Today was one hell of a workout. What does tonight have in store?" She stretched then began to pull off her tunic, matching Crystal. "I'm sorry, I interrupted. What were you talking about?"

"Our bonds on how this works." Crystal answered. "Since we're bonded, it follows that we're married and you and I are sister wives, the first of the sister wives, right? Normally that means we get to choose where Jebidiah goes, stays, sleeps, and all of that but our bond isn't built that way."

Dana thought that over. "It's not, but how do you see this working?"

"Why did you just come in here? To spend the night again?" Crystal answered with her own question.

"Well, yeah. I want to be with him. We're bonded, why not? What are we questioning?"

"That's my point. I'm here because I want to be with him. My place is by his side. You are here because you want to be. But that's not normal. Why didn't you call him to be by your side? We are choosing where we want to be, not where we want him to be." Crystal tried to explain. "I know it sounds innocuous but I think others will pick up on it quickly. I'm not advocating we change things, I'm very happy with the status quo, but maybe we need to establish ground rules for others that come after?"

"The ground rules are easy. Jeb's in charge. He even established the bond himself, it can't be argued. Doesn't much matter what society says about it. I doubt Jeb would even be able to bond someone that doesn't understand that. Now, we need to figure out the sleeping arrangements." Dana said, with hands on her hips, breasts pushed out proudly.