Shadows over Nothross | Page 9

really knows of magic. Now, sorry to stereotype, but elves might just keep a small potted flower on a windowsill, while humans leave all sorts of junk on windowsills. Elves get a lot of light on room--not everything, mind you--and humans a little bit less. All-Infinite theorists say no one is keeping anything on a windowsill in near future."
"Ah, I see. And what you are saying is, humans may clean their windowsill from time to time, but being humans, they will accumulate more junk there in time?"
"Yes. And there's also great individual variance - a lot of people keep their junk in different places. But one of the big points of this big analogy is, our shadows are in different places."
"Shadows? Oh yes, you mean, things on the windowsills casting shadows at different places?"
"Yes - and, also, we know where our shadows are, as we do not move our plants that much, and we may even learn to sometimes move the plant just a little bit to peek behind it. Humans do that too on occasion, but they often can't find anything they left on their windowsill anyway."
"Ah, I see. You know", Gnedrnygr said, scratching his head and looking thoughtful, "One thing comes in mind from all this. I'm probably a much more experienced magician than you. Don't take this wrong, it's not meant to disparage, it's just a comment based on your level of practical experience. You're fresh out of the Academy, and by time you even started your mere 10-year course, I had been a practising magician for several decades. You are no match for me what comes to knowledge of spells, obviously, even given the elven predisposition toward magical crafts--"
"Well, I was not the most gifted student around, though I have no idea how we compare to other academies of magic..." Realn said modestly, slightly worried by Gnedrnygr's assessment.
"Don't be disappointed! I was just about to tell the good news. You amaze me - and I really mean it, you truly amaze me", Gnedrnygr said with his finger raised - "in how deep knowledge you have of the roots of the magic; you probably know a lot more of the Foundation than I do."
Realn raised her gaze from the ground, where it had fallen during Gnedrnygr's throughout analysis of her career so far, and smiled cheerfully. "It might be so; humans are practical, I've seen, and care about immediate results, while we study what makes things really work."
"Quite. And that alone tells me humans still have a lot to do to catch up with elves", Gnedrnygr said and smiled warmly.
"Anyway, to the point of all this - elves do think a little bit different, and as a result, our magic will do different. Your Abramm Thevlynson the Younger once said elves invent things that 'look the same in million different ways', and humans invent million different things that all do the same thing."
"I don't quite follow that", Gnedrnygr said, scratching his head.
"Our magic tends to be mysterious in nature - at least from the point of view of those not directly involved with the magical forces in question. The end result is a lot of flashy and cute and nice things, and - there you go - a magical thingy appears out of nowhere. Same sort of magic, varied results, yet all similar in nature."
"Hah. I still remember one souvenir that Duke Lucien sent me a while ago. It was an Elven Artefact. It sure looked like an elven item of great craftsmanship, and certainly was most magical in nature. But let my nose be bloody if I ever figure out what the widget is supposed to be, or do. It's pretty, though. Lucien was dreadfully interested in finding out too, his court mage had produced that thing one day and left everyone there a bit puzzled."
Realn giggled. "Now, and for the comparison, human spells mostly apply the idea of turning the power of Infinite into something practical, using pretty much the same methodology in every case."
"Oh, yes, and cynics would probably say the practical things are the same as well - to kill people." Gnedrnygr sighed. "But we have a lot of spells that do good things too!"
"Anyway, as you see, elven spells are like one giant mother of all spells: one mysterious force that does everything. It's raw application of the power of the Infinite to tasks limited only by creativity, which happens to be applied in quite heavy quantities. While humans have methodical approach: take some power of the infinite, use bits and pieces of the same process, and end up with a formula of spell. The end result is same: magic swords are forged, fireballs are thrown."
"So really, in the end, it doesn't matter what short cut you take, you end up in