Return of the Runebound Professor

Isabel opened her mouth, then closed it again. She exchanged a confused glance with Todd.

“What do you mean?” Isabel asked, a tiny amount of the defiance in her voice draining away.

“You know what a rune does,” Noah said. “I gather everyone can tell me the definition that you just gave. But what is a rune? We cannot truly utilize a tool until we understand exactly how it works.”

Take that. I might not know what the hell a rune actually is, but I sure as hell do know that nearly nobody actually understands how things work at their basic level.

“I… don’t really know,” Todd admitted reluctantly.

“Neither do I,” Isabel said. “Does that matter?”

Noah grinned. “A good question, Isabel. Let’s talk about magic as a whole for a moment. What can magic do?”

“Anything,” Isabel replied.

Noah cocked an eyebrow. “Anything? There isn’t a single limit to it?”

Seriously?

“Well, it can’t bring back dead people,” Todd said. “At least, I’ve always heard that.”

“Fantastic,” Noah said, nodding. “So it cannot do anything. It has limits.”

And it most certainly can bring back dead people.

“I guess,” Isabel said. “So what?”

“Well, if something has a single limit, would you not think it has more?”

“Even if it does, how does that matter?”

“Because if you don’t know what you can’t do, then you don’t truly know what you can do,” Noah said. He tapped his chalk on the board to emphasize his point. “And the beginning of understanding stems from knowing the most basic building blocks of what you are working with. So, answer your own question – why does knowing what a rune is matter?”

“So we know what we’re capable of,” Todd said slowly. “But nobody knows what runes really are. You can’t be implying that you do.”

Good to know. Runes are still subjects of research.

“Anyone who says they know exactly how something works is either a liar or delusional. There is always something more to learn,” Noah said. He flipped his book open and picked a page at random, sketching the rune from it onto the chalkboard.

When he turned back to his students, they were both leaning forward in their chairs, their eyes as wide as saucers.

“I – is that your rune?” Isabel stammered. “You just… drew it?”

“It is a rune,” Noah allowed carefully, trying to figure out what exactly he had just done. “And it was in my book.”

“You’re just letting us look at it? For free?” Todd asked, his mouth hanging askew.

“The job of a teacher is to inform his students, is it not?”

“Someone must have hit him on the head,” Isabel whispered, but the room was so quiet that Noah still heard her perfectly fine.

“No whispering in my class,” Noah said instinctively. He had no idea how long it had been since he’d last taught, but evidently some things had stuck around. “And yes, I was hit in the head.”

Isabel jerked back to her seat. “Sorry.”

There’s a little respect. That’s more like it.

“Now,” Noah said, tapping his rune. “What is this?”

“A lesser one fire rune,” Todd said, still staring at it in awe.

Runes have ranks too? Noted.

“Ah, I see. So I can cast magic with this right now?”

 “Of course you can’t,” Isabel said. “You just sketched it. You didn’t imbue it.”

“But you just told me it was a fire rune, and a rune is simply the ability to cast magic. If this cannot cast magic, then how is it a rune?”

“You’re just nitpicking,” Todd said, shaking his head. “If you’d imbued it into the board, then you’d be binding it to yourself. That’s casting magic.”

“So runes exist to imbue things.”

“That’s obviously not true. You can also cast magic through them,” Todd said, but some of the confidence in his voice had drained away.

“Ah. Imbuing and casting magic are different, then.”

“Well, yeah,” Todd said.

“Then you have already proven that runes are more than just tools to channel magic, have you not?”

“Okay, fine. I’ll change my answer,” Todd said. “Runes allow you to imbue objects or channel magic. Happy?”

“That may be what a rune does, but you still haven’t told me what it is.”

Todd pursed his lips. Both he and Isabel fell silent as they tried to make sense of Noah’s words. He was quite happy with that. In the end, his questions were more for himself than they were for them.

Runes are a conduit to use magic. They can be used to either cast magic directly, like I did in the forest, or to somehow connect to an object. Interesting. I wonder if that’s really all they can do, though.

“I… don’t know,” Todd said, breaking the silence. “What is a rune?”

“I don’t know,” Noah replied with a wry smile. “But not understanding is the first step to rectifying the problem, isn’t it?”

Todd blinked, then gave him a slow nod.

Noah pointed at the rune on the board again. “Let’s take a look at this one. A fire rune, right?”

Todd nodded again.

Noah flipped his book to another page and drew a second rune on the board, ignoring the surprised breaths that both of his students took. This one was a good bit more complex than the previous rune had been, but he’d chosen it for a reason. It took several minutes, but the room was completely silent aside from the scratch of his chalk on the board.

“Now, what’s this?” Noah asked, finishing his work and stepping back.

“A greater one fire rune,” he breathed.

Lesser, greater. I suppose that implies the existence of something in the middle, so lesser, normal, and greater are the ranks for every rune?

“You seem a good bit more interested in this one than the other,” Noah observed. “Why? It’s just a rune, isn’t it? And the same one at that.”

“It’s not the same!” Isabel exclaimed. “How could you say a low quality rune is equally as good as a greater one?”

“I’m just going off your own definitions,” Noah replied with a shrug. “Why would quality matter?”

“Higher quality runes mean you can draw more magic and have better control over it.”

“They’re also a lot harder to draw,” Noah observed. “Wouldn’t I be better off just drawing a bunch of slightly worse runes?”

“Of course not,” Todd said, as if it were the dumbest question in the world. His eyes darkened. “You only get seven every Rank. Having a bunch of terrible runes will result in your abilities being seriously crippled.”

Aha. There we go. Seven runes per Rank, and I’m Rank One right now.

“It seems to me that Runes are a lot more than just magical conduits,” Noah said, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t you think?”

Todd and Isabel both slowly nodded. Their earlier annoyance was still there, but a nice portion of it had been replaced by genuine confusion. Perhaps it wasn’t quite interest yet, but that could come in time.

“Runes are… a foundation, I guess?” Todd said. “The better runes you get every rank, the better runes you can combine them into at the next level. I think.”

“You don’t sound very certain.” A grin traced across Noah’s face. “You’re learning.”

“Well, you haven’t been much of a teacher before,” Todd muttered.

“Better late than never,” Noah said with a wry smile. “Why don’t you think on this for a little? Bring me an answer next class. Until then, let’s move on. Keeping in the same vein – how do you access your runes?”

And this is the only question that really matters right now. How many runes did Vermil actually have access to? He had way more than seven in his book, which means there’s some form of selection process.

“You just imagine sinking inside yourself,” Isabel said after a few moments. She paused, then frowned. “I think. Maybe there’s more to it.”

Todd didn’t even bother answering. He looked lost in thought, trying to figure out what angle Noah was trying to get at.

Sorry. I don’t have any deep lessons here. Only ulterior motives. I guess that’s a lesson, if you think about it. Just not one I’m about to tell them about.

“Perhaps we should take some time to look again. Gaze with the eyes of an inquisitive child who has no idea what they look upon,” Noah said, interlacing his fingers and leaning against the wall. “Go on. Seek out your runes and tell me what happens when you finish. I will do the same.”