“Relax. Breathe,” Zina repeated. She reached for a sugar cube and dropped it into her tea. “This isn’t difficult. This is as easy as breathing, as easy as speaking. There is no strain.”

Tension released from her shoulders. She’d never thought of magic as easy. She’d always been taught it was a lot of hard work, and the years of training with it had proven that to be true. But the more she didn’t try, the easier it became to do what she needed to do.

She poured the tea, adding a sugar cube of her own.

“Now, drink,” Zina said. She raised her glass with a wink.

Kerrigan took the teacup in her hand and took a sip. “How am I doing this?”

Zina smiled. “Spirit magic.”

Kerrigan startled, a drop of her tea leaving her cup and falling onto the floor. She closed her eyes. This was the floor. That was the ceiling. Tea fell on the ceiling.

“Relax through it,” Zina said. “It’ll pass.”

“How do you know I have spirit magic?”

“Gelryn and Helly came to me and asked me to be the air master for your training program. I refused until they told me that you were a spiritcaster.”

Kerrigan’s heart soared with hope. “Are you a spiritcaster?”

Zina scoffed. “No. I have some spirit magic of my own in these old veins, and based on what the others have told me, you have much more than that.”

Kerrigan stiffened. “They told you?”

“Indeed. You can fear nothing from me, dear. I’m sure it’s as much a curse as a gift.”

Understatement.

“I have agreed to train you on your spirit magic even though I am not an adequate enough teacher for the job. I cannot access the castings that you can. There has not been one of your kind in a thousand years. But I’m as close to an expert as they could scrounge up. So, I’m what you get.”

“Thank you,” she murmured. “May I ask why you waited until now to tell me?”

“Couldn’t exactly ask you to work spirit magic in front of your classmates, could I?”

“Well, no, but we had Friday training.”

“You were always running off with your dragon, for one,” Zina said, arching her eyebrow. “And I wanted to see how you’d do under pressure. It’s usually when spirit magic is the most effective, I’ve discovered.”

Another understatement. Spirit magic continued to save her life.

“When do we begin?” Kerrigan asked eagerly.

“My dear, we’ve already begun.”

21

The Course