#anywhere

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"Okay, Clem, that's... getting scary. Your magic really grew in the Dreaming" Emmit's voice can be heard, "not wasted time." Zara is approaching her mentor and friend. Clem confessed her dismay but is now putting on a good mask, not to upset her uncle perhaps, but more likely retreating into that stoicism that most trolls do yet Clem probably shouldn't as much.

A duck of her pale head, hangning back for the moment.

"Still nothing compared to Zara," Clem says, oddly proud ,"But yes, if this keeps up I'll be a mistress of two arts. the revealing eye is installed then?"

"Two arts, when I have not yet mastered one, Clementine."

"Sure is, but ah, we have company," He gestures, "Speaking of Zara. Hello, Zara. Busy holidays of late."

"Aye. Miriam was home!"

Clem turns and smiles at Zara, "Yeah, but i can't make glamour itself dance along da'an's webs"

Clem's voile is back to no nonsense work clothes. Indeed, it seemss a bit less feminine than it has been in years.

"you're both making this old sorcerer feel his years. Gonna come a time when I'm going to end up consulting both of you instead of being the one sought out. "

Grey lips curve into a tiny smile at that. "Aye!"

"Please, Zara, have a seat. How go your studies?" Emmit asks. "Need a lesson in one art or another? Found which one you want to focus on? Or are your eyes still to big for you belly to use the old expression?"

"You know me. I want them all. I would be a sorceress supreme." She poses dramatically, hands in the air with curved fingers.

"I'm Glad Miriam made it," Clem whispers as an aside, "I know how much you like it when she gets out for a bit with you. " Then she chuckles at the dramatic pose.

"But, truth - I think that augury is but fair fortune, with more discipline. I've pulled some tricks with that art that seem... close..."

Emmit's chuckle is louder and deeper, "Weell, Augry is a lot more precise. Yo ucan't always pick what someone will win or lose with the Fair and Foul fortunes. I might whammy Clem to get the Lotto, only to find out that she doesn't get redlights while driving for a few months."

"I'd take either of those," Clem says after thinking of it

"Truth. But I want that precision..."

"As much as you may be precise when coaxing da'an, mind."

"Now there you go, always remember to balance confidence, drive, and will with a good dose of humility. There's a reason God warned Moses he was only ready to see his back." Emmit says.

Clem raises a brow, "you're quoting old testament? you don't even believe in the same..."

"And his hair still went whi - hey! I'm golden!" She pats her silvery braid.

"I'm a teacher, I'll use what I think works for a student, we're unscruples that way, Clem. Now hush. I'll rattle on about Odin to you later"

the golden comment gets both of them chuckling much alike, with Clem adding "Zara, you're in fine spirits this day."

"I shan't jinx it, but..." She shrugs. "I have little that vexes me."

"Wise, all right," He says, "Now you've learned to see fate as a thread,... now, try finer, try to see it as sand..." he says, "Feel it going through your fingers, doesn't seem that strong does it? but if you craft the grooves into it, if you shore it up in great numbers, you can force the water of possibility into any number of avenues..."

She nods. "And water always wins...."

"In time, yes, but if you can shore up things long enough for it to pass through.." he relates to her how water's strength is it's weakness and vice versa, and so too with possibilities . That by getting them to happen at the right whens is actually as if not more important than the wheres and with whos.

"Surely, but...." And the sluagh argues of finding hidden paths, cracks to slip through possibilities....

"It's possibility we want to slip through fate, remember" A wink, "But yes, you can construct your own symbols, and working it from other angles can reap benefits in the long run, but the problem with spreading your view so myriad is your focus can lose cohesion. If you try to visualize everything, you may have breadth but no strength. Just so you know the risk"

Clem the more subdued student, takes notes rather than questioning everything, but she's not going to tune out what Zara says either

"Finesse matters more than strength, nu?"

"Finesse won't always open the picklejar" He points out.

Clem fights a smile as Zara turns another lesson into a debate.

"Pshaw! Hot water and a butter knife. Pop the seal." She sticks her tongue out at him, but nods. "I understand - but!"

"If you can't lift the butter knife..." A sigh "Fine, let's just say that the point about wanting to start with one vision THEN spread your view and experiment has some validity, okay? No need to try to fly before you can crawl let alone run."

"Oh, but I do wish to fly, sir..."

"And Clem, you smirk again I'm liable to fuddle you to speaking with an Irish accent and not know it for a week"

"oh, and we wouldn't be wanting that now would we, bucko?" Clem mutters low enough in faux Irish so her Uncle MIGHT not hear it.

Emmit quirks an eye at Clem, then bends down to Zara, "I know, Zara. But as your teacher it's my job to make sure you learn how to land before you learn how to do loop de loops. Be patient with me."

"I am - aren't I? I just... oh, I wish I had more time, but there's classwork, and the Library now. And Earl..."

"Well, Earl grumbles to me about how I steal you away too often, so I don't suppose there's any winning, "Emmit chuckles, "though he wouldn't deny you anything. Library? mmm what's this about a library? " Emmit maybe the one person who doesn't know

"Oh! Oh, you must see it! I could take you? August wouldn't say nay..."

ANd she's off to the races, whispering about the wonders "her" Library holds...

Class is on pause, and Emmit listens intently, and comments and praises "Hate to give a noble baron credit, but was a good use of Chronos...." A pause "First edition you say? "

Then he shakes his head, "No no. I don't go to Noble holds. Just not for me. "

A sigh. "Alas. I do understand - were it not for August...."

"Ah, well, August is a good man , what I hear of it. Still, Zara, it does me some good to hear that library has a sensible commoner outlook involved in it." A firm nod, "And you've a right to be proud. Sounds like an Alcove of Alexandria's Memory." Wistful

Clem is making a no no no gesture to her Uncle, hoping Zara doesn't notice. For some reason

"Alcove of... does the dreaming hold echoes of Alexandria?"