leali arrived with a bit of good news in the form of a revised mana reservoir
the previous version had a minor flaw in that any damage to the crystal itself could cause the whole matrix to fail by explosively releasing all the stored mana at once
the new one has a safeguard that channels that released mana into a spell to recursively break the crystal into smaller pieces
in short it generates somewhat less ash and basically no casualties
i approve
it took a few hours for her contact within the arcane congress to send for us
and then it took a while to find the entry and navigate the halls of the place because they're constantly moving around
it's not harsh like the magic at imré's estate which felt like forcing lodestones to kiss at like poles
but medya's direction sense is so confused here that she can't even fly yet she insists on staying while i work
she's stronger than she knows
there's no keeping a mental map of the place but the wayfinding signs are trustworthy enough to quiet the feeling of being hopelessly lost
in not too long we found professor "margana corleis"
she's every bit as friendly as leali and she floats around on a pillowed carpet the way pegasi lounge on clouds which i find very stylish
she took us on a brief tour and showed us our temporary dorm rooms before heading to the "open library" in "skyreach" tower
the very large open library is beautiful and teeming with magic
books can be summoned directly and they flap around to where they're requested so there's a constant circling flock of self-organizing reference making a soft fluttering sound which is calming on its own but also keeps other noises from being too distracting
plus the desks have a little magic of their own to tamp down all but nearby voices so it's a great place for study
i have my own worktable so i don't have to reshelve everything at the end of the night – plus i've been assigned an assistant!
"codex" is very enthusiastic and studied enough that they've already been a huge help in getting started on the long process of translating my paper into common terminology and references
so that's day one but there's way more to do so i probably won't journal more until after we're done
medya's already asleep and i should join her