Further Lessons

        Aradiel Argentsong whistled sharply, and her raptor came scrambling out of the underbrush to fetch up against the bottom of the tree she'd spent the last four days in. She had, on reflection, decided to name him Belleroq, which had been her songbird's name back home. The Huntingmaster had scowled when he'd heard her use the raptor's new name, but had said nothing. She'd broken him; it was her choice.

        She dropped out of tree that had been her home for the last four days, and bounced out of Belleroq's saddle to land, limp-legged, in the dirt. She grunted, and stood shakily up, cramped and aching legs complaining every inch of the way. She supported herself against the raptor's lean and muscled neck, and then swung up into the saddle, glad she didn't have to walk back to the training hall. She clicked her tongue, and Belleroq began to trot homeward.

        "At least this time I didn't have to share my food with the Huntingmaster," she muttered to herself. Subsisting entirely on bristlenuts had been bad enough without giving half of them away every meal. Belleroq had brought down small game for himself throughout the four days, but the Huntingmaster had forbidden her from lighting any fires, and she wasn't quite prepared to eat raw wildkin yet. For one thing, they were intelligent enough it seemed a little bit too much like cannibalism, and for another thing, they were raw.

 

* * *

 

        Viridia Argentsong steepled her fingers and looked across her desk at the troll sitting in her study.

        "Let me get this straight. You...want to study magic." The troll nodded, long tusks bobbing up and down distractingly. Viridia tore her gaze away, and back to his eyes.

        "You didn't think it would be a better idea to study in Orgrimmar?" The troll shrugged.

        "I an' I be hearin' that elves be da best at da arcane magics, lady mon. I an' I not be wantin' to study da voodoos of da tribe."

        "I...alright," she said. There wasn't much TO say to that, when her own daughter had run off to the Barrens to roll in the dirt and chase pack-animals. At least this troll was trying to better himself.

        "And you came to my door because...?" she went on.

        "I an' I be having a friend who be having a student who be talkin' all da time about 'da Argentsong Matriarch an' her potent magics'." He paused, and tilted his head to one side, briefly. "Well, he say she be complainin', mostly. But da best teachers be da hardest, so I an' I took dat as a good sign."

        Virida unsteepled her fingers, and pinched the bridge of her nose. Even when she wasn't here, her daughter was still making Viridia's life complicated.

 

* * *

 

        On the way back to the training hall, Aradiel brought down a rangy quillbeast, and had to stop to butcher it where she'd felled it; Belleroq, for all his many fine qualities, was a sleek, compact beast, and not strong enough to carry both her and a hundred pounds of spiny carcass. Her knife was sharp, and she was in blood up to her elbows with the meat wrapped in waxed parchement in under an hour. Quillbeast was guilt-free eating -they shot back at you, if you weren't careful- and she was looking forward to a real meal when she got back to the training hall. The Huntingmaster might even let her have the night off, if he particularly enjoyed his cut of flank. She washed her hands with the water from her canteen, and absent-mindedly braided her kill's quills into Belleroq's reins as she continued on her way.

 

        When she got back to the training hall, it was to find the Huntingmaster gone. She sighed, turned Belleroq loose into the raptor paddock with a slice of meat, put the rest of the quillbeast into the ice box, and went back out into the scrub to play her mentor's stupid game. If she found him quickly this time, she might still get to sleep in a decent bed tonight. More likely, though, she'd be on her own in the badlands for another day or two before she picked up his trail. At least after four days up a tree, she smelled enough like bark that he wouldn't sniff out her coming this time. Last time he'd pulled this on her, it had taken her a week to find him, and then only because he'd let her in order to make a point.

        She looked up at the sky. The breeze blew the clouds down across the bluff, towards the coast. She set off east, knowing he'd be somewhere downwind.

 

* * *

 

        "Tomorrow I expect you to wear..." Viridia Argentsong paused, eyeing the troll's loincloth, and considered just what she expected him to wear. "...more," she finished lamely, feeling robes might be too big a step to get into right away. He might not even have any talent, and then she could just get rid of him, and what he wore wouldn't matter.

        "In any case, Jaman-"

        "J'omon, lady mon."

        "-J'omon, you'd better come into my study and show me what you can do." The troll grinned, and put one thick finger against the side of his nose.

        "I an' I can be doin' all manner o' things, lady mon. Show I to da study an'we be seein' what we be seein'."

        Well, that was it. He was going to pronounce an incantation wrong, and they and everyone on the block would die in a massive explosion. It was good, knowing. It took the uncertainty out of death.

 

* * *

 

        It took her seven days to find the Huntingmaster. Seven days in the wild without a cooked meal or a bath, after four days straight up a light-forsaken tree on a "conditioning exercise". The worst part was that after the tree, sleeping on dirt with only her arms for a pillow was pretty comfortable. She didn't even notice her own smell any more, which, it had to be said, was mostly earthy these days. It rained on the fifth day, and standing naked in the downpour with her arms outstretched was as clean as she got.

        She finally tracked down the Huntingmaster under a stand of trees a few days' brisk ride from the training hall, lying with his feet up on a convenient rock, eyes closed. She cast about for a moment, and then retreated to a safe distance before rolling around in a nearby sagebush, just to be sure about her scent. If her opened his eyes before she tagged him, she might have to go through all of this again.

         When the sagebush was flattened and she was satisfied she smelled thoroughly unlike herself, she pulled a pot of saddle oil out of her satchel and crept on cat feet over to where the Huntingmaster seemed still to be sleeping. He didn't stir, and she held her breath so as not to risk waking him. Carefully, carefully, she unscrewed the lid of the pot and stuck a finger to scoop up a dollop of the saddle oil. She bent down to smear it on the Huntingmaster's face- a sure sign that she'd beaten him- when his eyes snapped open, and she straightened up, sighing, before flicking the oil away.

        "I could hear you breaking the sagebush," he said. "Good smell, though. Would have worked if you'd been quieter."

        Aradiel shook her head despondently as he stood up.

        "See you in a week," he said, and whistled. His wolf came trotting up out of the trees, and the Huntingmaster hopped onto its back. He rode off without another word, back in the direction of the training hall. He'd be there by tomorrow, or perhaps the day after. Aradiel was on foot- tracking was easier when you were closer to the ground. It would be another seven days to trek back.

        Just before he disappeared around the trees ahead, the Huntingmaster called back over his shoulder: "Watch out for the vipers! They come out of their holes when it rains!" She grunted, and thunder rumbled overhead.

 

* * *

 

        "We summon water elementals because they're ideal for summoning," Viridia Argentsong said. "Fire is too volatile- fluid enough to be useful, but not easily contained. And earth is just the opposite, rigid and intractable, but lacking the initiative to try and escape. Air is both fluid and biddable, but is too tenuous; there isn't enough mass to an air elemental to accomplish anything, no matter how willing it is. Water is perfect, because it can take any form the caster requires, will rarely try very hard to break free, and is weighty enough to actually affect physical objects."

        She looked at her student, who true to her command had worn more to their second meeting- if only just. the loose cowl draped over his shoulders might conceivably keep off the sun, but it certainly didn't cover much. He wasn't even wearing shoes, for the light's sake.

        "I an'I be seein' all sorts o' rogue elementals on da coast back home," he said, scratching at his chin with thick fingers. "An' mostly dey be water elementals. Dey wear coral an'fish bones like armour. What be da cause o' dat?"

        Viridia hid her surprise. The question was a good one, particularly for an unschooled savage like Jaman.

        "Elementals that do break free, or that form naturally for one of several reasons, often take on aspects of their environment as a way of anchoring themselves to this plane. If they're too unstable, they have a chance of simply dissolving back into their elements, particularly if they're *too* fluid. Solid trappings help them maintain coherence. Actually, that's why you'll see even bound elementals wearing metal bracelets sometimes- mages put those on their constructs to keep them together.

        "I an'I be thinkin'on this," said the troll. "When do we get to da summoning of an elemental of our own?"

        "Later. There's a lot of theory behind the practice, and you'll have a lot of reading to do." She paused for a moment. "You...can read, right?" He quirked a bushy orange eyebrow.

        "I an' I be readin' since I an' I was a little twig, lady mon. I an' I's favourite book be da legendary Zul'jin's 'How Ta Cook Elf In Six Easy Steps'."

        Viridia blanched.

        "I an' I be joking, lady mon. Elf be best raw."

 

        When she came to, it was to find the troll crouched over her, narrow knees up around his ears, fanning her with a piece of paper from her desk.

        "Sorry, lady mon. I an' I be joking again."

 

* * *

 

        When Aradiel finally made it back to the training hall it was to find the Huntingmaster feeding Belleroq the last of her quillbeast. The raptor cooed happily to see her, and then went back to its bloody meat.

        "I was hoping to eat that myself," she said flatly, watching Belleroq swallow chunks of meat whole.

        "I thought elves only ate salad," said the Huntingmaster. She ignored him

        "We've got a new student," he said after a moment. "I want you to take her out and teach her lesson number one."

        Aradiel quirked a long eyebrow, and the Huntingmaster shrugged massive green shoulders.

        "These old bones don't move as well as they used to," he said, as though he hadn't outpaced her on too many occasions to count.

        "Fine," she said. "Where is this new recruit?"

        "Where else would she be? Knee-deep in the kodo pen."

        Of course she was. Aradiel wondered if the Huntingmaster had her reciting the shoveller's litany yet.

 

        The new recruit turned out to be a young orc, barely taller than Aradiel, and leanly muscled, bent over her shovel and clearly trying hard not to breath.

        "Hey you," she said, and the orc startled and turned around; she hadn't heard Aradiel approaching. Aradiel was a little bemused by that- she hadn't been intentionally sneaking. Two weeks in the wild had made a light tread a habit. She wondered if this was how the Huntingmaster felt all the time.

        "What's your name?" she asked the orc, hands on her hips.

        "Urgotha, ma'am," the orc said, saluting half-jokingly, half serious. Ma'am. Really.

        "You don't need to do that- I've only been here..." she paused, calculating quickly. Light, had it been a year already? "Never mind," she finished after a moment. She even looked the part, she realised. She still hadn't bathed after walking in out of the barrens, she was still striped with camouflage and streaked with dirt.

        "Call me Aradiel," she said, forging ahead. "Now tell me, Urgotha- how long has the Huntingmaster had you shovelling shit?"

        "A week and a half, ma'... Aradiel."

        "Then get your bow. It's time we antagonized some giant reptiles." She'd had enough of thunderlizards to last her a lifetime, but she was pretty sure she knew where some salamanders nested.

        "I don't have a bow," the orc said, frowning.

        "What do you have?"

        "Throwing axes."

        "That's fine too."

 

* * *

 

        "You're...really not supposed to keep fish in them," Viridia Argentsong said, looking dubiously at Jaman, and at his water elemental, which swirled with tropical fish in every shade of the rainbow.

        "I an' I was a fisherman back home, lady mon, and nobody evah accused old J'omon of needing to be told a good idea when he saw it. I an' I might get hungry later, and a little bit o' colour nevah hurt anybody. Dey be keeping him anchored, too, bettah than bracelets or coral bones. Dey be alive, after all, an' dey make him more alive too."

        She couldn't fault his logic, either, which was disturbing in and of itself. Good magecraft should at least have had the decency to be sombre and respectable. Brightly coloured fish were far from the weighty tomes of her own student days.

        "Just...keep it away from the neighbour's cat," she said. "I'll never hear the end of it if he drowns trying to catch a meal."

 

* * *

 

        Later, when she and Urgotha were running pell-mell from two tons of angry, fire-breathing lizard, Aradiel felt a certain amount of satisfaction in the fact that of the two of them, she ran faster.   

        "Lesson number one," she said between breaths, as they dashed to where she had left Belleroq and one of the Huntingmaster's wolves. "Running is the most important thing you will ever learn as a hunter."

        "Lesson number two?" Urgotha panted, running hard to keep ahead of the enraged salamander behind them, one tiny throwing axe embedded in its shoulder. Aradiel shook her head.

        "Get a bigger weapon," she said. Behind them, the Salamander roared. He was certainly going to remember *them* alright. Aradiel was actually looking forward to facing it again months down the road.

        Sweat-streaked, unguent-striped, she pictured the future, and found it largely shaped like angry lizards and raptors in the bush- and she was surprised to note that it seemed like a future she wouldn't mind having.

        "As soon as we get back...I'm bathing," panted Urgotha. Oh boy, was she in for a surprise.