As he had told her last night Jayis did find a time to come and get her and take her to the place they had been the previous night. When she asked him where they were he replied they were on another World. The building was the palace that the rulers had lived in for thousands of years.
Jayis told Rianna that he was taking her to his residence in the palace. When they arrived there Rianna found only Ellen, the woman that had the rose coloured magic.
�I had a long talk with my Council last night after I took you home Rianna. We discussed how to get you accustomed to life on our World and how to teach you all the ins and outs of magic. Most people that have magic are born with it. You have a great deal to learn in a very short time. I think for now your time would be best spent with Ellen. Her strength is closest to yours and she is a teacher at the University. Eventually when you are ready I will teach you spells that have been passed on from ruler to ruler that no one else in our Worlds know. I would like to spend more time with you but,� Jayis paused searching for the right word, �situations need my attention and I cannot be pulled away from them right now. Spend the as much time with Ellen as you can over the next few weeks. I will try to come around as often as I can. At the moment there is someone I have to meet I will meet you in Ellen�s residence later.�
He nodded to Ellen and walked out the door.
�Well.� Ellen began. �He does like long speeches. Lets go over to my residence and find a good place to start.�
Ellen took Rianna down through the halls of the palace and eventually to her residence. By this time Rianna was completely lost. Ellen saw the look on her face and told her she would eventually learn her way around. She pulled a key from her robes and unlocked the door.
�Have a seat Rianna would you like anything?�
�No I�m fine thanks.�
�In that case lets begin.�
Ellen took a seat across from Rianna. Now call out a ball of power I want to get a better idea of how strong you are.�
Rianna closed her eyes and called out a golden glowing ball. It hovered just a few centimeters from her hand. Ellen got up, walked over to her and she put her hands a few centimeters away from the sides of the ball and called on her own power. Rianna watched as the rose colour melted into her gold. She didn�t know how to describe it but she felt Ellen�s power enter her body and begin to flow through her. She closed her eyes and reached out for her magic. When she opened her eyes again she could see her magic glowing around her and she could see Ellen�s magic mingling with hers. It reached further into her. Closing her eyes again she could see the bright glowing ball inside her mind. Ellen�s power had reached there and was slowly swirling around it. Ellen�s rose colour began to recede and Rianna followed it out back into her body then out through the ball of power she held in her hand. When she could no longer see Ellen�s magic she opened her eyes.
Ellen was still focused on her ball of power. Without shifting her gaze she asked her what she had seen. Rianna told her what she had just seen. After describing it to Ellen they sat in silence for a moment as Ellen was still focused on the glowing ball Rianna held in her hands.
A few moments later Ellen sighed, blinked and looked up. She thought for a moment and then told Rianna what she had been doing.
�When a person�s magic is new, whether it be when they are born or when they discover it when they are older, it will accept just about anything. Another person�s magic can mingle with it and it will not force them out. It can also easily be fooled. You saw my magic leave yours, but because your magic is new and inexperienced, it could not sense that I had concealed my power and given you the illusion that my magic had left yours. I actually did not leave your power until I looked up a moment ago. You have a huge amount of power Rianna. A person�s power continues to grow until they are about thirty and then it stays at that level. Yours will grow at a faster rate because you did not discover it until yesterday and you already have almost as much as I do. The power you have now is what people were born with in ancient times. It is said in one of the Prophecies that you will bring in a new level of power to the people one that has not been seen since the time of the ancients. I�ll tell you more about them later. Jayis wanted me to tell you a little about the Council. He told you yesterday that he ruled the Worlds and we are his Council.�
Ellen paused for a moment wondering where to begin. Rianna had a great power. No one had seen that level in thousands of years. Once she surpassed the Council in power there would be no one to guide her. She would have to explore her power herself while teaching her Council what to do with their power, as they to were to have the most magic people hade seen in centuries. Having no one to guide you was dangerous. For thousands of years each ruler had only had a little more power than the previous ruler so there was not much difference in what they could do, but Rianna would soon overpower her. Even though she was the weakest of all the Council that didn�t leave very many people that could help her.
Ellen thought about what she was going to say and then began �When we were children we would often play together. Most of us have known each other almost all our lives. Jayis always knew he was to be ruler. Someone had told his family that before he was born. When he began searching for his Council he knew they would be the strongest people in all the Worlds until the next ruler came. That was the way it had been since the Worlds came together. In the Council, your power determines your rank. Jammal is the strongest of the Council and is Jayis� second in command. Jayis isn�t normally considered part of the Council. I am the weakest of the council. You will know when you find someone what rank they are. I cannot explain that to you for that you�ll have to ask Jayis. There has always been nine Council members and the Ruler as a government. Each of the Worlds has their own government that deals with day-to-day affairs. I think that�s about all on that subject.
�So let me see if I got this straight.� Rianna began. �You are the weakest member of the Council but you are stronger than everyone else on the Worlds.
�That�s right. Now then, I think we should try some magic exercises. You need to be able to call on your magic faster than you are. When you called out that magic earlier you had to concentrate for a minute and close your eyes. Before we move on I want you to be able to call out your power without having to stop and think about it. Now try again close your eyes and see your Source if you have to.�
�Source?�
�Yes, the place your power is inside you.
�Oh�
Rianna closed her eyes and called her magic out onto her hand. She opened her eyes and looked questioningly at Ellen.
�That was better.� Ellen remarked. �Keep trying until you can call it out in the space of time it takes you to blink. Then you can work on calling out your magic without closing your eyes.�
They worked on this exercise for an hour until Ellen said that was enough for today. By the time they had finished Rianna could call out her power in half the time it had taken her earlier but as they spent more time practicing it became harder to shorten the time it took to call it out. Jayis came in just as they were finishing up and watched the last few trials Rianna did. He said that she was improving but agreed with Ellen that Rianna still needed to work on it.
Jayis seemed to have something he wanted to tell them, and as soon as they had finished the exercise he asked Ellen a question, which Rianna didn�t hear because she was dissipating her latest ball of magic.
�Rianna, when your magic develops its defenses I think you should begin to take courses at the University. Eventually you have to have a Masters in at least five of the subjects. It is a tradition that all the rulers have this background and I know that you will need it. Most people can only take one or two courses because each course is a four-year program. Some people have been able to challenge them. There is a spell or a test that they must pass in order to gain permission to pass into the next year and the final test at the end of four years gives them the title of Master. Rulers of the Worlds have had an ability to pass most of the tests without taking the courses; most rulers have taken ten or less years to complete all the tests at the University. Council members are also always graduates of at least two courses. The next term begins in three months. By then your inborn defenses should have begun to take shape, at least enough for you to attend the University. I did some research on inborn defenses last night. When a baby with magic is born their magic grows with them and when they become more wary of strange people and places their magic picks up on this and form the inborn defenses, which are with them for the rest of their lives. When a person discovers their magic later is has to catch up and it does not take as long to form its defenses. They should be sufficient enough for protection at the University in a few months.�
Rianna gathered that these defenses told the person that other people were trying to use some sort of magic on them and if it could it blocked used simplistic ways to try to block the spell. She would have to ask for more information on them later.
Rianna�s days began to follow a pattern. She would go to school during the day and in the evenings she would practice magic exercises with Ellen. After two more evenings of practice Rianna could call out her magic fast enough and Ellen told her to try it call out her power without closing her eyes. That took a few more evenings of practice to accomplish. After her executrices for the evening were finished, Ellen and Rianna would talk about life in the Worlds and the things that people who had lived in the magic community most of their lives would know. Rianna found these discussions fascinating. In these chats between her and Ellen they got to know each other. Rianna also began to learn her way around the palace. She couldn�t tell if the palace staff knew that she was their new Princess, she rarely ran into them anyway. Most of the areas she was learning her way around were the residence halls and the staff did not regularly come into that area. Rianna also began to get to know the other Council members but she still spent most of her time with Ellen.
Ellen explained to Rianna why Jayis and the Council didn�t want her to leave the palace, at least without one of them for now. Without her inborn defenses someone could easily find out who she was. That knowledge would spread far and would cause many complications. It could even get her killed. So for now until her power had developed some inborn defenses and she could hide who she was she had to stay around the palace. That was fine with Rianna. There was so much to learn around the palace.
About a month after Rianna learned about her magic Ellen tested her again to see if her inborn defenses had begun to form. Once again Rianna had no idea that Ellen was still exploring her magic even when she had thought she had left. Ellen frowned as she refocused her gaze on Rianna.
�There should be something forming by now, but I can�t see anything. Maybe we should let Jayis have a look. He would be able to tell better than I.�
A few minutes later Jayis arrived and he looked at Rianna�s magic. When Ellen was examining Rianna�s magic she always had to concentrate on what she was doing and Rianna could see her eye�s glaze over. When Jayis looked at her magic he did not even appear to be doing anything. He kept up a conversation with Ellen in a language Rianna didn�t understand. She made a mental note to begin learning it at her first opportunity.
Eventually Jayis switched back to English and Rianna could understand him.
�Ellen was correct. I can see no defenses forming at all. I have an idea why but I do not think that this is the time to be discussing it. If your defenses do not begin to form soon we will have to make� Jayis paused, �other arrangements.� He nodded to Ellen and Rianna and left Ellen�s suite.
Rianna was concerned by Jayis� tone when he said �other arrangements�.
�What did her mean �other arrangements�?� Rianna asked Ellen.
�He means protective spells.� Ellen replied. �They have not been used in centuries and none of this Council has ever attempted them. Also you would have to learn how to control them, and we are not far enough in your training for you to handle that.� Ellen looked unsettled but would not say anything more about what Jayis had said. Rianna decided to change the topic of conversation.
�What was that language you were speaking a minute ago?�
Ellen began to smile as she replied.
�That was the Old Tongue. At some point it had another name but it has been forgotten. Very few people can converse in it. Many spells use it but most people don�t know any more than that. We have found it rather helpful to know how to speak it though. It has been a tradition in the Councils past for them to learn how to speak it. You will have to learn it too. Many books that only the Council has access to are written in it.�
Wonderful, Rianna thought. I�ve tried to learn other languages before but it�s a skill I don�t seem to have. With these things on her mind Rianna began their night�s lessons. They did not go particularly well as her mind was on other things.
Ellen began testing Rianna everyday to see if any of her defenses had begun to form. Each day Rianna could see her becoming more and more concerned. She could understand why since these defenses acted like a sixth sense, knowing when something had invaded her magic�s �personal space�. With each day both she and Ellen became increasingly concerned. One month later Ellen asked Jayis to check again. Again neither of them found anything.
�Well, that�s it we have to try those defense spells. We have no other choice. The next term at the University starts in a month and she has to have some control over the spells in order to attend or she will be found out. Ellen, will you begin to teach Rianna how to control larger spells. When she�s not here we will have to spend some time in the library looking up those spells.� With that announcement Jayis told Rianna he would see her in a few days and he told Ellen to meet him later and left Ellen�s suite.
Ellen stared after Jayis for a moment before turning to Rianna.
�I wasn�t going to get into spell casting yet but it seems that I have to. Let me give you a bit of background first.� Ellen paused for a moment and resettled herself in the large chair she was seated in. �Each person has a different amount of power. Spells are generally used to amplify magic to make it possible for some people to do more advanced magic. People who have a great amount of power like you and I do not have to rely on spells very often. We can simply make things happen just by using our power. For example, lately we have been working on calling out your magic as light so that you can see if you don�t have a light handy. We do not need a spell for that but people with very little magic do. If someone with very little power tried to do that without a spell they probably just wouldn�t be able to do anything. If we were trying magic we didn�t know how to control without a spell we could very well die trying. Of course if you want to use a spell to call out light you can, it just takes longer. If someone who needed to use a spell to call out light tried to do these spells Jayis wants to try, they would either kill themselves or nothing would happen. I someone with average power tried those magics even with a spell they could kill themselves because it is too advanced for them. Jayis and I have never tried these magics before and we will use spells because they are from ancient times and people were much more powerful then. We could kill ourselves if we didn�t use a spell. When you are at your full power you will most likely be able to cast those magics without a spell but not now.�
Rianna thought for a moment on what Ellen had said.
�So the more magic you have, the less spells you will need to use?�
�Yes that�s it in a nut shell.�
Rianna and Ellen continued to converse for another hour or so until Rianna had to get home.