[Ythri Drega Dun]

Well, that unbinding had been a little disconcerting, but nonetheless, Ythri arrived for her next lesson undaunted. After all, now the real learning could begin.

When she arrived, Master Montago greeted her, and then said, "First, I have to give you some idea as to how this process works. Everything is made of energy, and we call this energy essence. There are plenty of essences, and you don't need to know them all right now -- in fact, no one knows them all, though some people act like they do. At any rate, essence energy that has formed objects is called vis. You can use the vis inside yourself in your spellcasting. Essence energy that hasn't coalesced into an object is ara. If you mix your vis with some ara, you can use the reaction to draw energy from another plane -- the plane of music, in your case -- and then you can make a spell. You should know the plane when you see it. It'll be yellow, for one thing."


"At any rate, this can't be done unless you meditate -- and I don't mean the kind of meditation that takes place when one sees a beautiful woman like yourself." Ythri was rather taken aback by this remark, and her cheeks flushed, but she said nothing as Master Montago continued. "You need to clear your mind of all extraneous thoughts. When you can do this properly, you'll enter a state called clara, which is difficult to describe, though you'll know it when you're there. Spellcasting is only possible at this time. At any rate, you have to try it, so you might as well get started."