[b]Injimo![/b]

"Sure," said Injimo-as-Heron. "I'm down a fighter. Keep the team safe."

Mm. Too wordy. Heron would somehow have communicated the same information in half the words - maybe even just a nod, or even just 'YES' - but that niggling doubt was easy to brush away. She was actually excited for this; she'd just gotten to assign Aadya to the Injimo role. That meant that she wouldn't have to concern herself with defense when the fight did come; she could go all out. That was a rare opportunity to try to fight like Heron did; all out, invincible and unstoppable, needing and concerned with no one. It was no mystery why anyone capable of fighting that way fought that way.

[b]Cair![/b]

"Hey, hey, chill a second," said Cair, somehow wiggling one of her arms up through the cage of fingers. She's sliding out the top like squeezed toothpaste. "I [i]get [/i]it(1). You know?"

[hider=(1) Civelia, don't let Tsane see this]
Like, seriously, how to put it? The difference between being around Tsane and having Tsane's attention is the difference between looking at the stars and dancing with one of the Fallen. Wizards are like that - if they've got a theoretical framework for you they can dismiss you as just an exotic example of a type that some specialist will write a paper about, later. If you're out of scope entirely they'll come at you like the giant chainsaw mine thing from Yukisworld.

Anyway, the thing that wizards don't really get is that there's the magic that you have and the magic that you [i]are[/i]. They class it like 'orange' or 'terramancy' and stuff, but it's a whole parallel discipline called Materium. It's not just a collection of interesting facts that comes together into a bestiary entry or using a hammer as a magic wand or whatever. It's not that her hammer is a very efficient manifestation of her internal magical field; it's that she's not all who she is without it. She'd lose herself just as real without the poetry.  [/hider]

"But before we go any further then we're going to have to exchange titles properly," said Cair, squirming her other hand out the top of the fist. "That being the polite thing to do, right? But there's a fairness problem; I know yours, and you've already had three guesses as to mine. And your ratings are 'half correct', 'entirely incorrect', and 'entirely correct'. So tell you what - I'll give you three more guesses. Figure out what I am and I'll settle with you as an equal. Doesn't get fairer than that."