On a 10+, you successfully practice with Nadia and Ms. Sterling

⚅⚁ + 2 = 10.

"Now first," Ms. Sterling directs, "Let us warm you up, Ms. Corby. Wand at guard. Hold until I direct."

Aurelia Sterling, her golden hair glinting in the sun and moving with the breeze, goes through a series of elemental conjurations and has Nadia dismiss. First, a thick cloud of fog, which Nadia unmakes with ease, then a dust-filled whirlwind, snatching at Nadia's hair and robes. Nadia squints and grimaces but doesn't hesitate, dismissing the dust devil directly.

"Are you ready to continue?" Ms. Sterling asks Nadia.

Nadia's shoulders clench, and she bucks forward with a loud sneeze. Her dark hair is wildly disarranged and streaked with dust where the moisture from the fog cloud let the dust adhere.

Nadia sniffs and coughs. "Yes, Ms. Sterling," she says.

"One moment," Ms. Sterling says. "Wand down. Good." Aurelia raises her wand and incants, "TERGEO." A whirlwind wraps round Nadia again, ruffling her robes. After several whirls, Nadia's hair and robes are clean. "ZEPHYRIO", Aurelia incants. Warm winds loft Nadia's robes and hair, gently drying them. You catch a scent of lavender and warm linen. Ms. Sterling lowers her wand, but the winds continue.

Nadia raises her eyebrows as the warm winds keep flowing over her skin, lifting the hem of her robe and making it billow like a sail or a hot-air balloon. Nadia shivers from her shoulders down to her hips. Her cheeks go pink, and she blinks at Ms. Sterling.

"Wait..." Aurelia says. "Wait..." Nadia tries her best to hold out against the warm winds tickling under her robes. She trembles, her lips pressed together. Aurelia watches Nadia for a moment longer. "Now you may dismiss, Ms. Corby," she says, inclining her head toward Nadia.

Nadia takes a quick breath and snaps out a dismissal with a twist of her wand. Her robes ease down into a normal drape, hem and sleeves moving slightly with the natural afternoon breeze. Her face is still abloom with a blush. She composes herself and stands ready, dismissing Ms. Sterling's next two elemental conjurations in short order.

"Very good, Ms. Corby," Aurelia says with a smile. She brushes back her hair with one hand. "Mr. Mothwing-Marshall. Conjurations of the elements. From Chapter Four, remember? Proceed."

Fire, Earth, Air, Water. Then the combinations. Heat, Dust, Fog, Steam. The last one wobbles in the breeze, nearly scalding your chin.

"Steady, Eric, steady," Aurelia says. The roiling cloud of steam settles at your will, holding firm against the hilltop's breezes. "Better," she says.

After a pause for Ms. Sterling to critique your form and offer suggestions, the real challenge begins.

Ms. Sterling instructs, "Mr. Mothwing-Marshall, the Binding Vines. Ms. Corby, ready, wait for the conjuration to materialize, then dismiss."

You studied this one yesterday. At your command, magical vines erupt from the soil and crawl toward Nadia, menacing her. Nadia fumbles the start of the dismissal. She starts again, working quickly as the Vines twine round her legs and grope toward her wand arm. White-faced, Nadia hisses out the final syllable and the vines dissolve.

Ms. Sterling directs you in several more conjurations, each increasingly complex. Nadia's task is to dismiss them without allowing stray magic to escape. Ms. Sterling stands ready to support Nadia, but Nadia holds her own, unwinding each conjuration after it reaches its full form.

"Good, good, both of you," Aurelia says. Her face is flushed under her golden hair. Her sapphire rings sparkle as she fans herself with one hand. "Let's take a breath."

You and Nadia have been working hard, but it seems like Ms. Sterling has been more affected by directing the practice than by being part of it.

Nadia raises her eyebrows and glances toward you. You meet her gaze, then look back toward Ms. Sterling. Aurelia Sterling's supple blue robe leaves you in no doubt that her nipples are stiffly erect. That is not the way things started. Something about that? Is this why Ms. Sterling is teaching at Boarbristle Academy, and not in some higher magical office? Perhaps today's practice has given you a clue.

But before you have much more of a notion of what to think, Ms. Sterling calls you back to order.

"All right, Mr. Mothwing-Marshall, Ms. Corby, we shall resume."

Aurelia Sterling still has nipple erections poking out the front of her bright blue robe. It's exciting--manifestly, as you can feel--and, well, a little embarrassing to you that your eyes are drawn like a magnet to her tit-ons.

Ms. Sterling clears her throat. "Eric, you and I shall weave the Shimmering Cloak together. I shall leave you to hold it steady. Then Ms. Corby shall dismiss it."

Aurelia Sterling narrows her eyes, and you see a little twinkle. Or you imagine it. You shiver. Is she setting up you and Nadia for the same agonizing sensory-overflow failure as your last attempt?

"Wand up, Mr. Mothwing-Marshall," Ms. Sterling says.

Ms. Sterling lets you lead the conjuration, flowing her power into the weave of opposing energies, holding the delicate balance steady as you frame and fill in the enchantment of the Shimmering Cloak. Dark and light, firm and yielding, scratchy and silky, all wrapped up in a dazzling, shimmering rainbow sparkle of changing light and color. You look up when you're done to find that with Ms. Sterling's assistance, you've woven a Shimmering Cloak large enough to cover all of you like a great canopy.

A great canopy balanced on the will you're projecting through your wand.

"Over to you, Mr. Mothwing-Marshall," Ms. Sterling says.

A tingle of fear runs down your back. This Cloak is ten, twenty, fifty times as large as the one that escaped your control.

"Steady, Eric," she says. "Hold those edges steady. Don't let the ripples get away from you, now."

Ms. Sterling slowly withdraws her guiding will from the Shimmering Cloak, leaving you in full control. It takes all of your attention, all your concentration, to hold the vast shimmering canopy together against the opposing forces wanting to fight, to combine, to annihilate one another in a burst of magical fragments. But giving it your full attention, you feel its rhythms and its harmonies. From an unsteady rippling pattern, the Cloak steadies and begins to pulse in slow waves, the edges holding steady at your will. Your head is starting to ache, but you hold, hold, hold as Ms. Sterling keeps murmuring "Steady...steady...steady..."

"Ms. Corby, commence," Ms. Sterling says. "Hold steady, Eric."

It feels like your aura is being nibbled away as Nadia picks at the strands of the Cloak, freeing them one by one to float away and dissolve. It almost feels like you're melting as the Cloak dwindles, shudders, ripples, threatens to come apart all at once. But you'd be mortified if it happened again in front of Ms. Sterling, so you hold steady, your temples throbbing and your vision fading into sparkles and...

And then you find yourself standing on a breezy hilltop, breathing heavily, your wand pointed up at the empty sky, the last threads of the Shimmering Cloak gone. No fireworks. No unbearable pain-pleasure-hot-icy-itchy feeling all over. Done. Dismissed.

"Well done, the two of you," Aurelia Sterling says. "Well done."

Nadia is grinning at you.

"Very well," Ms. Sterling says. "I am satisfied. Unless there is something else, you may return to your House." She picks up a substantial-looking parcel warded with dire-looking protective runes. "I have some additional business here."

"Thank you, Ms. Sterling," Nadia says. "I have an appointment with Master Maurippos to see if I can be in Magical Creatures next term."

"Maurippos told you to call him 'Master'?" Aurelia Sterling asks, raising the golden curves of her eyebrows.

"Aren't all our instructors, you know, Master or Mistress?" Nadia says. "Or, well, Ms. Sterling, like how you introduced yourself."

"Perhaps it's a good sign that he's settling in as an instructor," Ms. Sterling says. "Call him whatever he thinks is respectful. I didn't think Maurippos went in for titles. Most centaurs don't."

A centaur wizard?

"Yes, Mr. Mothwing-Marshall," Ms. Sterling says.

You startle.

"No, I wasn't reading your mind, just your face." She breathes out through her nose in a quick puff, a delicate snort. "You may wish to work on your composure, Eric. You blush rather easily."

Your face blooms with heat. But nobody laughs, so it passes quickly.

"Was there anything else, Eric?" Aurelia Sterling asks.

You tear your eyes away from the front of her robe to answer her. This time it's only your ears going hot.

On a success, gain +1 XP and take +1 Forward. You have 4 XP.

You have Ambition -1, Bravery 0, Cunning +2, Diligence +2.
You have a FAVOR from Miss Wormwood, and a FRIEND, Aurelia Sterling, your Enchantments teacher.

Possibilities for a next Move:

1. You're curious what Ms. Sterling is up to. Roll +CUNNING(+3) (+2 Cunning, +1 Forward) as a Custom Move.
   • On a 10+, describe what you discover. Take +1 Forward, gain +1 XP, and immediately take ADVANCEMENT to further your interest in Enchanted Objects or Magical Creatures.
   • On a 7-9, you discover Ms. Sterling trifling with Forbidden Magic, suspicious characters, or dangerous magical beings. Gain +1 XP and roll +BRAVERY (+0) to GET OUT OF DANGER or +AMBITION(-1) to GET OUT OF TROUBLE. You may find yourself owing a difficult FAVOR, missing a piece of your memory, or put under someone's control with an enchantment: treat as a CURSE.
   • On a Miss, you're caught spying. Roll +AMBITION(-1) to GET OUT OF TROUBLE with Ms. Sterling. On a 7-9, she may lay a CURSE on you to punish you.
2. You stay to ask for a GOAL to learn more about Enchanted Objects, her specialty. Roll +DILIGENCE (+4) (+2 Diligence, +2 FRIEND, +1 Forward capped at +4). On a 7-9, you may have to prove your readiness with a preparatory GOAL, find another way to convince her, or advance the story timeline to reflect your preparatory work. On a Miss, she tells you not to be over-eager and keep focusing on the basics.
3. You go along with Nadia to meet the Magical Creatures instructor from House Leontes. Roll +BRAVERY(+1)(+0 Bravery, +1 Forward) to impress Maurippos, the Centaur stallion who teaches Care of Magical Creatures. On a 7+, you have the opportunity to DEFEND YOUR HOUSE'S HONOR by facing a challenge that he sets related to magical creatures.