magical trevor's back from his hiatus (for knifemonopoly)

[narcmagician]

[ Even six months since being summoned to the palace, Mahad feels ill at ease.

He tries not to worry about the hometown he'd left behind - the wisewoman one village down the river had mentored him, after all, so he knows the people's spiritual defense is in good hands. He tries to take each criticism he receives from the other priests to heart, the better to become worthy of the honor which landed at his doorstep when a messenger from the Pharaoh Himself (life, prosperity, and health to him!) arrived seeking the magician with enough heka to part the Nile. More than anything else, he tries to suppress the Ring: no, he suppresses the Ring, for if he should succumb for even a moment and let it feed on his own darkness, then Kemet too will fall. This is a burden, but one he gladly bears.

No, he dislikes the palace because it is simply too large. And the larger the place he takes his apprentice......the more places she finds to avoid him.

He can sense heka emanating from a pot in the courtyard, but it contains no stain of ill will, so he doesn't bother looking in. Instead, he simply stands next to the pot and inquires: ]

Is that where you're reading your lessons, Mana?

Comments

there's no reason for the ring to sound this way yet but I DO, WHAT I WANT,,

[narcmagician]

[ "The writing kind" is the most useful sort of magic for anyone who is not a Priest, or a Prince, or a Pharaoh. Indeed, the act of writing is itself a form of magic.

But that's not what Mahad is concerned about with this boy. ]

What do You know of the other kinds?

[ "Tell him the truth," urges the Ring, the desire surging up within Mahad. "Tell him what I've eaten, what I've amplified. Tell him his justice is drenched in darkness."

The Millennium Items are tools of peace, Mahad reminds himself, firm. Because of the will of the wielder. Just because this Ring's first bearer had great darkness within his heart does not mean the Items themselves, the regime, is -

He swears he can almost hear a chuckle.

He swears the chuckle stutters. ]

It's fineeeeee

[knifemonopoly]

I know that the really powerful magicians can pick up the river and put it on top of itself! [Atem says, excitedly.] And they can cut off their heads and stay alive!

[He's misremembering some details about Djedi. It was animals, not the magician himself.]

And the ones that are pretty good can summon their ka to fight for them.

[narcmagician]

[ ......Mahad can see how the Prince and Mana get along. ]

Not merely their own. When You inherit the Millennium Pendant, You will also wield others' ka. That is why I suspect You will benefit from learning many kinds of magic.

[ Is he being too bold? He's being too bold. And yet - this boy. It's unrefined, but....the potential he senses. Not merely with the Ring, but with his own dampened senses. There's.....there's something about this boy. ]

I shall teach You and your classmates of tomb magic today. And if Your tutors and esteemed father, may he live!, are amenable, You may sit in on a class with Mana.

[ And, because this boy likes things to be fair: ]

As may your classmates.

[ Is he going to partially solve the favoritism issue by bribing the students with magic lessons so everybody will behave? Maybe. It can only help them serve their Pharaoh later..... ]

[knifemonopoly]

[Okay. Today just might be the best day ever. No classes with Sennedjem, instead he gets to see Mana, and as far as teachers go? Atem will take this guy any day over the reed-happy droning "no lions in the classroom" tutoring style he's used to.

But the light on his face clouds over for a moment, and his nose wrinkles as something occurs to him.]

...how much math is in Mana's class? And writing?

[what if he's just trading one boring symbols memorization morning for another??]

[narcmagician]

[ Mahad is the most powerful magician in all of Kemet, whose discipline alone protects its people from the horrors of the Millennium Ring.

Thus it is he can give this response without smiling. ]

None.

1/2

[knifemonopoly]

!!

[knifemonopoly]

[He continues on through the halls and passages with a new spring in his step. Is Atem humming?

He definitely is.

He reaches the door where the class is usually held, and -- pauses, just a moment, outside. Atem isn't shrinking back out of fear of the tutor, but the task ahead of him; a cowardly and unworthy and unwise part of him remembers that maybe, this would be easier if he bolted. It's not a part driven by reason or logic, just...child's instincts. He rests his hand on it, but doesn't push yet.

He glances back at Mahad. Is this going to be okay? Is it going to go the way they want?]

[narcmagician]

[ Mahad looks down at his young liege and nods his head. All will be well, Prince. Fear not, for Your priest shall make it so.

He calls out: ]

Pardon the interruption, sir tutor. High Priest Mahad, of the Millennium Ring, requires the attention of yourself and your class.

[ He can hear the children shifting, murmuring in spite of themselves, curious. Wielding this sort of power - political power - does not come naturally to him. He feels wooden-footed. Clunky. This is not his oeuvre.

But if it's to help his future King achieve a dream of fairness, he'll brandish the weapon his appointment has handed him.

So now. Let's see whether Prince Atem's assessment of the tutor is accurate. ]