Book 2, Chapter #3: The Brothers Grim
Cato smiled at Amele as she opened the door. He had just begun to respond, about to agree with her sense of tension regarding Alergast's absence given the recent events, when the bundle of energy that was Aeren collided with his legs and required his full attention. Grinning, the scholar gave a "what can you do?" look to Amele, and allowed himself to be led by Aeren, peppering exclamations of what had transpired as best he could while Aeren did his best to bring Cato up on events (as witnessed by a child.)
"I only just returned, Aeren. Had to see the mayor, and Father Zantus, and Sheriff Hemlock first of course. Serious business." Cato pantomimed a hearty yawn. "But that was business. I'm excited to hear how you're doing."
As Aeren launched into an explanation, Cato couldn't help but picture himself as Aeren, clinging to Alkabades' leg when his older brother was heading out for the myriad of lessons that his father had deemed necessary for Alkabades' education and eventual role of patriarch of the family. Looking back on it, Cato was sure his brother had found the whole thing exceptionally dull, but in the eyes of a seven-year old boy, everything his older brother had done seemed to be of the greatest importance, and the fact that his own father regarded Cato (Petronicus) as unworthy of much attention unless some grim fate befell his older brother, while Alkabades seemed to genuinely appreciate Cato's attention, led to a fairly deep bond that was one of the things Cato regretted most when he fled Korvosa and the Hellknights.
Aeren finished his story about how Petal and him had been patrolling the house for more goblins, but had so far turned up nothing but two mice, a frog, and a small bird.
Cato smiled again. "Well, maybe you should be getting instructions from Shalelu, not from me! It sounds as though you're getting proficient at tracking!"
Aeren puffed out his lips, deep in concentration, then shook his head. "No! That's just for helping Mom! Nothing I want to do more than learn how to be just like you!"
Cato bent down, pulling out some materials for a scroll, along with a quill and ink. "Well, no time better than now to get started. I think most important is that you can see magical auras." Cato began to work, laying down the groundwork for the Detect Magic spell he had learned so long ago.
"You see, this is most of the work of the spell - you have to set it up beforehand, studying this in the morning, and it primes the magical energies, gets you ready to harness it at a moment's need."
Cato whispered another word, and traced a glowing symbol onto Aeren's floorboard. "That's an arcane mark. It will fade to normal sight..."
And indeed, the mark faded from view and the boy gasped. "But if you can master this spell, you'll be able to see it. I know it doesn't seem that useful, but it is! If you find yourself faced with magic you don't understand, it's a wizard's first recourse - you can see the arcane energies and try to understand what, exactly, is going on. I'd like you to practice everyday, and you'll know it works if you can see that mark again."
Cato worked with Aeren, going over the spell again and again, explaining as much as he could to the young, eager pupil the workings behind the simple sorcery. Finally, after a great deal of effort, Aeren shouted out in excitement. "I can see it! What does it say?"
Cato chuckled. "Well, I can teach you how to read magical writing, too. But it just says 'Cato Crispin'. It's my personal arcane mark."
Just then, the duo was interrupted by Amele, who had brought tea, milk and biscuits for the busy pair. After thanking her and enjoying their brief repast, Cato got to work on the second scroll.
"Now, this spell is a little more difficult, but it can be useful as well. It produces magical light!"
Cato whispered a word, and his staff flared to light.
He handed it over to Aeren, and the the youth peered at it with interest. "Now, try using the Detect Magic spell again, and look at the light."
Cato coached the youth through the spell again, and after a shorter interval, Aeren again gasped in amazement. "Wow! What is that?"
"You're seeing the energy that powers that spell. In this case, magical energy is being transformed into pure light. We can talk about schools of magic in more detail later, but this is called Evocation..."
Cato ran through a brief description of the effects Aeren was seeing, pleased at the boy's progress. Finally, he stood up. "What do you think? Can you study that? Pisca, Kellan, Liseth, Kerr and I have to leave town to attend to some matters." He gave a conspiratorial wink to Aeren. "Don't tell anyone," he said in a whisper. "When I get back, we'll talk about the next steps. But keep practicing! Detect Magic is especially helpful for learning new spells, because you can see the patterns of energy they use."
Consume scrolls worth of crafting supplies for Aeren.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 02:31, Tue 13 June 2017.