Bodhin and Zersiax Tales

[Bodhin]

[On the First Age forum site, I created a place for imagined stories about myself and the Enchanters guild tutor, Zersiax.  A different way of creating a memoir for my character.  Nexus, mentioned here, was a bard in FA.  Firentz was my mage teacher in Mercinae, and I followed him to Parrius when he took over the Enchanters.]

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When I first moved from Mercinae to Parrius, joining the enchanters guild, Firentz introduced me to Zersiax, our guild tutor. Zersiax is a scary-looking fellow with a strange hat. I introduced myself and Zersiax said nothing. Firentz left us alone for a while to get acquainted and maybe do some lessons.

Zersiax just looked at me, studying me, and didn't say a word even when I addressed him.
"Hello there."
"Um. My name is Bodhin."
"I hear you knew Padraigh! Do you have any stories about him? Why did he break with the mages, anyway?"
"Um. It is an honor to meet you."

Nothing but attentive silence. Finally, I grew impatient and said, "Gods! You remind me of Nexus. Can't get a word out of you."

Zersiax laughed and said, "Nexus? Ha. I used to get drunk with Laertes once in a while and he would make fun of Nexus's singing voice. He's a strong bard, but he can't even carry a tune on his horse."

Happy at getting some conversation out of him at last, I pressed him, "Do you sing?"

Zersiax shook his head. "I listen."

"Do you listen in order to learn, or in order to hide?" (I thought I would impress him with a profound question!)

Zersiax said, "If you become listening, you become time and space. Everything has already been learned." All of a sudden, like the period at the end of his sentence, a burst of heat hit me like a warhorse, drying and cracking my skin while shocking the blood inside my body. Handburn.

Zersiax said, "I chanted handburn while you were talking. The most basic attack in the book and you failed to prepare because your mouth is stronger than your ears. I don't know why FIrentz brought you here, but I will do my best to teach you."

And aside from lessons, that's all I heard from him for the first year.

[Bodhin]

Zersiax was teaching me ritual abilities and after much effort I was able to dance the stormcloud ritual properly. My first attempt targeted me, and I watched my mana and my state of mind disappear in rough blotches. Soon I became nervous and undanced the ritual.

Zersiax sighed at me with grudging patience. "Put it up again, and don't flip out."

So I danced the stormcloud ritual anew, but this time I directed it at Zersiax. He sat staring at me impassively in the stormcloud rit until his face went pale and his eyes became dull. They shut, and he leaned to one side, as if about to lose consciousness.

Scared now, I undanced and began slapping his face to wake him up. "Zersiax? Sir? I am so sorry!"

With no warning, a blow from his left arm shattered my nose and sent me flying against the wall. The entire guildhouse shook (from upstairs, Firentz yelled, "What the hell??") and an ancient coocoo clock came crashing down my head as I lay there stunned and bleeding.

Zersiax clucked his tongue at me disapprovingly. "You let your guard down and missed hammerfist. Don't let your best instincts get the jump on you."

[Bodhin]

A probate named Carys recently joined the guild, a pleasant woman in a velvet dress she picked out for herself after she graduated from the Parrius school. I was teaching her first lessons in rituals and charming, while Zersiax sat on the couch and watched with an impassive expression on his face.

We were working on the spell of levitation when Carys exclaimed, "I got it! I can do it!" Quickly, she chanted the levitation spell and before I could point out she was standing near the stairs leading up from the entrance hall, she had already cast the spell.

Up she went, at a speed that surprised her, straight up the stairwell and out of view. One second later I winced when I heard the thump of her head against the second-floor ceiling. "Ow!" she said.

A silent moment passed. Then, from the stairwell: "Um. Bodhin...?"

How could I help it? I looked at Zersiax. He had one hand covering his face, and he was shaking his head.

[Bodhin]

Zersiax was in a trance, harmonizing with the spheres and contemplating the fabric of vibrations throughout the universe. I was not prepared to speak with him, and quietly made for the stairs. Nothing doing. Zersiax is always paying attention.

"What song do you sing?" asked Zersiax, gently.

"I don't understand."

"In music, there are notes and there are silences. What is your next note? Sing it for me right now."

I could not reply and just looked at Zersiax with nothing to say.

"This a good frame of mind," said Zersiax, and picked up his lyre -- a crude thing he had built himself out of pieces of pipe filched from the trash -- and began to play.