I sat cross-legged across from Luna and Milana. It had been a few days since the thunderstorm and the three of us were about to work on teaching Luna silent casting. Things had calmed down since we left the forest just as I had been told. We've run into a few wild animals out on the plains but nothing that had been threatening. Aria had even been able to hunt some wild rabbits to add to the stew that they served when we made camp. No sign of any monsters though.

  The weather had become mild since the thunderstorm. It was still cold at night but now that we were at a lower elevation, there was less snow. The cold here on the plains reminded me more of the biting wind chill that I was used to from my home rather than the slushy snow of where we had come from. Ironcastle was now visible on the horizon as an extensive mountain range with the stone walls of the city off in the far distance. I wouldn't have known to look for it before it was pointed out though, since it blended into the mountain so well. It was nice to see our destination getting closer with each day. There would only be another few days of travel left and I was excited to get back to civilization. Or at least, something closer to the civilization I was used to.

  "Are we sure you would rather me speak for you than just borrowing Aria's ring like she offered?" I asked Luna.

  ("I feel like that would show that we don't see Aria as an equal to us. If we take her ring, then it would imply that she is only 'borrowing' it rather than using it like any of us would,") Luna replied. ("Besides, you may have interesting insights on this.")

  ("As someone who doesn't know anything about magic?") I asked flatly.

  She giggled. ("Exactly that. You have a very unique perspective. Your stunt with the lightning rod shows that.")

  "What did she say?" Milana asked.

  I sighed and turned to her. "She said that I have a unique perspective that might be valuable. She would rather me be here to speak for her than borrow our friend's ring."

  Milana nodded. "I agree. Your trick with the copper rod showed that."

  Luna giggled and I sighed.

  "Did I say something odd?" Milana asked.

  "No, it's just that Luna said the same thing."

  ("If you're really not interested, I could go ask Maxwell...") Luna suggested.

  ("No, it's fine. Let's just get started.") I turned to Milana. "Alright, are you ready?"

  She smiled and nodded. "Yes." She cleared her throat. "The trick to silent casting is to weave the sounds you would use for the casting ritual into the magic itself. You can visualize the sound like this." She began to draw what looked like a graph into the dirt in front of us. "Look at this axis as pitch and this axis as the duration. Have you learned to use graphs before?" she asked Luna.

  Luna told me some of the words I didn't know, pitch and axis, before telling me to answer yes for her.

  "Yes," I said.

  "Good, that will make this easier." She looked back down at the lines she drew and began to draw a blob. "If you don't mind, I'll use water magic as an example. This is a graph that roughly represents the first word of the first phrase of the water arrow chant." she finished the blob and began to slowly enunciate the word as she moved her finger along the line of the blob she drew.

  Suddenly something clicked for me. ("Oh, this is a waveform.")

  Luna turned to me. ("A what? Can you elaborate?")

  "Uh, one second, Milana. I had a thought and Luna is asking about it," I told her.

  She tilted her head. "Sure, would you mind speaking it aloud? I'd like to hear your perspective as well if you've noticed something interesting in my explanation."

  I scratched the back of my head. "Well... the trouble is that I might not have all the words I need to explain this in draconic. I'll do my best. One moment."

  She nodded and began to draw out more simplified waveforms in the dirt while waiting for me to talk with Luna.

  ("So... my world learned things about sound.") I began to draw in the dirt below the spot Milana was drawing. ("One of the things that we learned is that all sound is made from the vibrations in the air. That means that what Milana is drawing is a representation of that, but it could be more accurately represented like this. These are waves of sound, and the kinds of sounds they make depends on how tightly these waves are bunched and how high they spike, like this.")

  "What are you drawing?" Milana asked curiously.

  I nodded. "Okay, I'll do my best to explain. What do you call... the things across the surface of the water?"

  "Waves?" she asked.

  I turned to Luna. ("Waves?")

  Luna nodded.

  With the confirmation, I continued, "Great, waves. Sound is actually made of waves from... the bumps made from moving back and forth quickly in the air."

  "Vibrations? Like strings on musical instruments?" Milana asked. Once again, Luna confirmed all the words for me.

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  I smiled. "Yes, sound is made up of waves of vibration. What you drew is a representation of a 'waveform.' A way to represent sound. I don't know if any of this is important at all, but sound is more accurately represented like this. Pitch is represented by how close the waves are together and loudness is represented by how high these spikes are. Low sounds by comparison are represented like this," I said while drawing a longer wave in the dirt.

  Milana cupped her chin. "Interesting. I'll have to see if this would have any bearing on the efficiency of silent casting. Because you're making the spell you weave more dense by introducing the sound directly into the mana, the magic costs more to cast. The trade-off of gaining increased speed and the inability for your opponent to read your casting is worth it in most cases, but the increased cost of the spells can add up. Since our time together is limited, I'll continue to teach you this method, but I'll see if weaving this representation of the sound is more efficient on my own." Luna had to translate a few of Milana's words, but I was confident we were still on the same page.

  I nodded. "That's fine. It might be nothing, but Luna became curious when I brought it up."

  She smiled. "That's fine. Applying novel perspectives to problems often leads to growth. Even if nothing comes of it, I am interested in exploring the idea. For now, this is the best way I know how to teach this subject though. I've written out the entire chant for water arrow into these shapes. They don't have to be perfect but you can increase your efficiency with some trial and error. They can also vary to a degree based on the person, so you'll want to adjust these shapes to match the sounds you make- er, you would make, if you could." Milana clumsily stepped on the matter of Luna's disability, but she didn't pay it any mind.

  ("Will you ask her to demonstrate the weaving?") Luna asked.

  I repeated the request for her and Milana nodded. "Of course. I'll do it first with the chant and then a second time by weaving the sound into the spell so you can note the difference. I'll likely have to repeat this a few times before you can fully understand the distinction, but that is to be expected."

  "Flow and tide, fly swift and pierce my target, water arrow," Milana chanted. Admittedly, the chant was a bit goofy to my ears, but it seemed less silly as I watched the mana coalesce into a dart of water and puncture a nearby tree. "I'll now repeat the cast as slowly as I'm able without a chant. Watch closely."

  Without the chant the spell came together quickly, but I could see a bit more complexity in the mana that came together to form the final spell. I was a bit out of my depth here as I could barely tell what I was even looking at, but Luna seemed very focused on what was happening. I had never asked how exactly she perceives mana but Luna has talked in terms of seeing it. I wonder if that is something you can train or if it's a trait you're born with.

  ("Will you ask her to demonstrate both again, please?") Luna asked.

  "Luna would like another demonstration of each," I relayed.

  Milana smiled. "It's not easy to pick up. I anticipate I'll have to cast it both ways a dozen or so more times before you feel comfortable trying on your own. I made sure to pick a spell you can replicate, but unfortunately, I won't be much help for your fire-based spells. You'll have to find the shape of their incantation weave yourself. After you get the hang of this, we can try it with a few other water or ice spells, and I can show you all of the silent casting shapes I've learned so far."

  Luna nodded in response and Milana turned to face the tree she had been using for target practice. "Flow and tide, fly swift and pierce my target, water arrow," she repeated.

  The three of us spent the next two hours working at this before we had to take our turns on guard duty and eventually turn in to sleep. I could tell Luna wished she had more time to practice, but Milana promised to work with her some more tomorrow.

  "Here's the lightning shard I promised you. I know there's still more to learn with Luna, but I thought that this would be a good time to uphold my side of the bargain." I said while holding out a smaller box with a single lightning bead inside.

  Milana's eyes lit up as she took the lightning shard. "Amazing! Thank you."

  "What are your plans for that anyway, if you don't mind me asking?" I looked at the open box in her hand curiously.

  "I believe the mana this bead gives off is compatible with my sister's mana. I think that we could use it to give her some magic capabilities. There's lots to test, and we will have to be careful with this, but I've been looking for a way to get my hands on one of these for a long time. I'm very thankful we were able to work out a deal."

  "You've been doing all of this for your sister?" I asked.

  Milana nodded and smiled. "I have. I think she's a great scout, but I have always been able to tell she has the capability for magic. She just doesn't have any affinity with more traditional elements. I hope that this will work for her better than the others."

  ("Tell her that I hope it works out well,") Luna told me with a smile.

  I relayed the message and Milana nodded to Luna. "Thank you. I hope it goes well too. I'll also experiment with weaving those waveforms while I am patrolling. Keeping watch is boring and it'll give me something to do that won't be too distracting from my duties. I'll share any results I gain from it with you. Are you planning on experimenting with the lightning shards yourself?" she asked Luna.

  Luna nodded.

  "If you find any insights into how to use them effectively, I would appreciate if you shared that information as well. I know that some mages are quite guarded in their secrets, but I believe the two of us could work quite well together if you were open to sharing information."

  Luna paused for a moment before nudging me. ("Tell her I'll think about it.")

  I relayed the message and Milana smiled. "Of course. The fact you are considering it at all makes me quite happy." She turned her eyes to me. "I am also still interested in your fiancé as well, Luna. If you would like a second opinion on her abilities, I am also open to helping you with that. Since I'm one of the very few privy to your secrets, I think I would make a good partner in your exploration of that."

  I could see Luna bristle a little bit. I cleared my throat. "We'll keep that in mind. Thanks for your help."

  Milana smiled. "Of course. Thank you for this, again." She turned to Luna. "Tomorrow, we'll see if you can cast water arrow silently and either move on to another spell or begin discussing how to draw incantation shapes yourself. Whichever you believe you need help with more." She turned and walked away with a skip in her step.

  ("Are you okay, Luna? It seemed like something rubbed you the wrong way,") I asked her privately.

  Luna got closer to me and took my hand. ("I... Something about how she said that... felt like she was flirting with you. I wasn't aware of how easily I could get jealous...") she admitted.

  I kissed her on the top of her head. ("Even if she was flirting, you have nothing to worry about. I love you. No need to be jealous of others.")

  She blushed and nodded before leaning herself more against me. ("Like I said, That wasn't something I expected either... I trust you, don't worry.")

  "I'm glad. Now let's go to our post. Our watch is coming soon."

  She smiled. ("Alright. Let's go.")

  Hello! Another exploration of somewhat random knowledge having useful applications in another world! This time the effects are a bit less dramatic than her knowledge of electricity, but I think it does a good job in demonstrating how even seemingly useless information could interact with systems developed by people who haven't been able to study the natural world as closely (yet). Stories with similar elements to this make me wonder if scholars/scientists would have an easier or harder time making discoveries about the natural world with magic interfering with their observations. Probably both depending on the situation! This is why I personally think monsters serve as an important element in these stories. If nothing else they are distracting enough to disrupt the collection of knowledge. I'll stop rambling now. Thanks for reading!

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