Research

In the next few weeks that followed, Heron spent a lot of time in the library talking with Kuryzan.

The usually shy wizard became a lot more talkative when either talking about magic or reading. His eyes would light up and he would talk a lot easier and smoother. Also, there was some improvement as they became more familiar with each other as well.

Talking to Kuryzan for the past few weeks made Heron more able to appreciate what the elf was like.

Yeah, he was dreadfully shy. But he was also really nice. And rather smart. Heron actually thought this guy was way smarter than himself, though that could be expected. Elves, especially wizard elves, were rather known for holding a vast array of knowledge. It was only to be expected – they lived so much longer than humans that it would have been rather surprising if they didn't.

Afterall Kur was just barely an adult and had already lived longer than any human could. It wasn't too surprising he would be smarter than a teenage human.

So Heron wasn't all that surprised that Kur was smarter than him. It was only natural after all.

Though he also got the oddest impression that he might actually have more street smarts than Kur – despite being more sheltered. Maybe it was just his more recent experiences though.

Quite a bit of their time they spent together the two wizards were trying to figure out what sort of spell was on Heron. The best he could figure for when was when that bolt of chaotic magic had hit him – though he wasn't exactly sure what it had done.

Neither of them were. It was hard to tell what a botched spell would do. And none of the similar effecting spells seemed quite right.

Honestly it was a bit frustrating. While it hadn't seemed too serious what if it got worse? Heron did not want to have to deal with unpredictable fainting spells.

Elswyth also worried about it. Though she could not really add anything to the discussions she still sat in on them, wanting to know what they found.

Which was so far not much.

Elswyth was not happy and muttered that they were taking too long. Heron knew she was just worried about him though so it didn't bother him that she was being impatient. Besides it was one of her personality traits. Elswyth really did seem to have a problem with patience.

Today was the same. The three of them were in the library. Elswyth was perched on the arm of Heron's seat as he pored through one of the older tomes in the library as Kur sat nearby doing much the same.

Kur's familiar was on the back of his chair, purring loudly as it cleaned its master's head. Heron's own familiar was curled up in his sleeve. Kinda like a serpentine bracelet. And Sun was perched on Elswyth's shoulder. The hawk looked proud as it preened its mistress's hair.

Heron was enjoying the friendly atmosphere as he pored through the book. He rather liked this. And he was quite happy for the opportunity to read some magic books.

"So, you finding anything?" Elswyth asked, her fingers threading through his hair. She'd taken to doing that – it seemed just a mindless sort of thing, like she didn't even realize she was doing it. Heron kind of liked it so he never said anything.

"Not on the subject I'm looking for." He smiled up at her, "But it is rather interesting. And I like getting an even better understanding of magic."

"I know right?" Kur glanced up, his eyes all bright in excitement, "Just because you don't find what you are looking for doesn't mean it was a useless endeavor."

"Wizards." Elswyth rolled her eyes.

"Well, you don't have to hang out with us." Heron went back to his book. "You can always go off and do something else."

She just looked at him, "Oh. No. I'm not going to let you out of my sight. Not unless necessary."

"Fine. Fine." He shrugged.

He noticed that Kuryzan was picking up his notebook again and jotting down in it. He had noticed that periodically the elf would just do that. He had yet to ask about the notebook. But Kur always had a smile on his face when writing in it.