The piercing quality of her eyes gave way for a moment and inverted, and Samuel felt pulled inwards, towards the feelings that ran below. The scope of his responsibility shifted into focus, but he did not feel afraid.
The runes and lines of the circle started glowing. His body reacted to the presence suddenly palpable in the air between them and shifted every fiber into alertness. He could hear, first like a faint echo, then with increasing clarity, the pulse of the magical structure that established itself as an extension of the magical pathways inherent to Themis Lyra.
"You've formed the transmutational structure. And it appears stable," he said. "It's fascinating how much the circle is influenced by the individual. It feels much different than mine or anyone's that I know."
Samuel closed his eyes, listening. Transmutation circles mirrored, to an extent, the magical supply system they were connected with—the Alchemist, or in this case, the astronomer.
His own system, he had been told, felt to others like its power was compressed to a coil, pulsating and undulating in the center of his body and then expanding outward suddenly and at a frightening speed and intensity when he started transmuting. It was highly unusual, Rosenberg had told him in his apprentice days with an expression that betrayed his uneasiness with it. Back then, when Samuel was listening in to the work of his master, it felt as though he put his hands on a steam engine: scalding, powerful, predictable.
Hers was unlike any he had come into contact with. It felt nearly cool to the touch, sharp yet airy, extraordinarily focused. That was fascinating. He wanted to close in, know more of it. But that was not his task. He was to give directions and to keep watch.
Already, she had figured out how to alter the piece of copper. He watched as parts of it turned liquid. The droplets suspended themselves in the air around it like moons in orbit.
"Excellent. Now the droplets of copper are in a very malleable state. Try to give a shape to one of them and then harden it. Conceptualize its qualities beyond the visual. Focus on how it is an object with depth and dimension, beyond being an image in your mind's eye."
The runes and lines of the circle started glowing. His body reacted to the presence suddenly palpable in the air between them and shifted every fiber into alertness. He could hear, first like a faint echo, then with increasing clarity, the pulse of the magical structure that established itself as an extension of the magical pathways inherent to Themis Lyra.
"You've formed the transmutational structure. And it appears stable," he said. "It's fascinating how much the circle is influenced by the individual. It feels much different than mine or anyone's that I know."
Samuel closed his eyes, listening. Transmutation circles mirrored, to an extent, the magical supply system they were connected with—the Alchemist, or in this case, the astronomer.
His own system, he had been told, felt to others like its power was compressed to a coil, pulsating and undulating in the center of his body and then expanding outward suddenly and at a frightening speed and intensity when he started transmuting. It was highly unusual, Rosenberg had told him in his apprentice days with an expression that betrayed his uneasiness with it. Back then, when Samuel was listening in to the work of his master, it felt as though he put his hands on a steam engine: scalding, powerful, predictable.
Hers was unlike any he had come into contact with. It felt nearly cool to the touch, sharp yet airy, extraordinarily focused. That was fascinating. He wanted to close in, know more of it. But that was not his task. He was to give directions and to keep watch.
Already, she had figured out how to alter the piece of copper. He watched as parts of it turned liquid. The droplets suspended themselves in the air around it like moons in orbit.
"Excellent. Now the droplets of copper are in a very malleable state. Try to give a shape to one of them and then harden it. Conceptualize its qualities beyond the visual. Focus on how it is an object with depth and dimension, beyond being an image in your mind's eye."
