44 Ash 112
Just as it was for all craftsmen, Shuai reached the right age to begin his journey with the family's craft, the ripe age of twelve, best for picking an apprentice as a master could be sure if a child was good enough with their hands and patient enough to learn everything and, actually make some work of quality. Shuai's fortune was being in an established family; regardless his aptitude he could skip right past any evaluation but if the craft was not something he was interested in, tough luck. The family's expectations trumps all and he has no choice but to at learn enough to be able to proudly proclaim himself a Chisuo even if he could not perform for the rest of Kalzasi's eyes. While the Chisuo were known for two things, it was only natural Shuai started off with scrivening as it was much like letters and numbers he learned as a result of the basic education any child would receive in an urbanized upbringing. This however had the effect of making it an item of disinterest for the young boy. Not only did he have to deal with it all in his lessons, he also could not escape it in his own home where he had to do more?It was unacceptable to the young child and he did not progress far even though he started on them earlier in the season or at least, until he discovered where letters failed he could just make do with pictures- pictography as the adults insisted, to get him used to properly refer to in its technical term. All the same to the young boy they were just pictures and, over the course of searing was taught and drilled all the basic pictograph's he would ever have to use. The only reason he decided to study them with all the seriousness of a model student, although his family would be sadly mistaken in thinking such was the case, was because he reasoned if that one notebook of pictographs were all he would ever need to know, memorizing the entire thing to the satisfaction of his family would therefore mean his studies would end and he could move on. Though there were a lot of pictographs to remember, the resourceful child decided to take a week to organize, dividing them by similarities and functions. It was a hard thing to do and even harder to understand or this would have been part of the basic introduction to scrivening all initiates would be taught at the very start but this worked wonders for Shuai through his unique understanding of it.
And then when his family decided to test him, he answered most of them correctly and in record time! However that was not enough. It was not enough to be fast in scrivening, speed was something which could be left out where the goal was a safe product carrying the Chisuo brand therefore, it was more important that Shuai could be 100% accurate all the time every time. It was only by being able to do it consistently that Kalzasi could have the utmost confidence in using the talismans of Chisuo not to mention, the Chisuo would be able to use their own talismans without being worried the aether in their works would have functions out of the ordinary. "Aether? What is that? Is that some sort of special ink to write with? Or is it paint to dip the paper into?" This aether thing sounded interesting but until he could pass his tests to his family's satisfaction, it would not be a good time to learn it. "What does this have to do with Aunty Kaylee?" Aunty Kaylee? The perfect example for the Chisuo household for why there was a 'too early' to tell their children about aether, because they would want to try it with their own creations and collapse an entire house- and this was considered one of the more tamer results.
With one more goal, Shuai studied even harder. He used new methods to study the basic pictographs the Chisuo like using, constantly making pictographs even if they remained aetherless and therefore, useless according to the adults with enough reams of paper to keep a family in the heat for the whole of Frost! Ok maybe that was an exaggeration, keep the family in the heat for a month. Still too long? How about keeping a week, in a small hovel too. While it was not what his family wanted, it had come to a point that Shuai's speed had improved so much he could mechanically mark down the pictograph he wanted the moment he thought of it; practice and lots of it made perfect, almost, but as a child some flaw in the quality was to be expected and the family could not say much since they only specified a few qualities they were looking in Shuai to evaluate his future as a budding practitioner of scrivening.
And so in the next test, Shuai finished with a perfect score and his family so happy for him left him to his own devices for a break. Shuai did not know this was just a break of course as he believed he reached the end of his studies and there was nothing left to learn hence him not having to study anymore. And then he remembered there was still something else; what this aether thing was which he had to so have for his work to be considered complete. He was then treated to a lecture he did not see as an indication there was more for him to learn. There was this whole idea scrivening was a container for powers and abilities granted by the aether and how effective, how efficient and how capable it was in using this magical energy all came down to the pictographs and in a combination of pictograph by a true master of scrivening- anything was possible there. Shuai was lost for a while until they continued explaining the many different pictographs he memorized like the first type most scriveners use. The Mirror. "Oh so I just have a few of these out and they will take the aether in?" That was simplifying it but also the basics of it.
Then came the next lesson, and the next, and the next and the next. "I thought I've already learned everything I needed to. What is going on?" Shuai asked and then the surprise set in that he had only touched the surface and there was a lot more to learn. He only learned the basic pictographs but did not understand how they worked and if he did not understand how they worked, he would not be able to find flaws and inefficiencies in them and, if he did not know how to do those, he would not be able to create his own pictographs and if he could not do that, he would not have the flexibility to work with the other forms of magic or materials he would encounter and if he could not do that, he should not call himself a Chisuo. Period. While lengthy, it still had not touched the nitty gritty of it like what were considered flaws and inefficiencies, the other forms of magic out there and the usage of special inks and sand; those would be covered by even more lessons. "I think I'm going to need a break." Could it really be called a shock to him when on some level he had already realized the time he thought he was out of his studies was actually the break he wanted and he had stupidly cut it short to ask about aether? The adults were pleased with his request simply because he was taking the initiative but Shuai wished he could have had a do over so he could draw out his time of rest and relaxation for as long as possible.
At some point after having learnt as much as he needed Shuai decided to put what he learnt to practice. Totally not another Aunt Kaylee. With a rough idea of what magic was, he could also distinguish his friends from who was a practitioner and in secret, met up with him one afternoon. "So what magic can you do? You need to show me because if you show me I can show you something cool too." How cool was it going to be? Shuai did not know. He had yet to see it too. This would become his first exposure to Elementalism which having not seen much of the world, even the simple use of it controlling a small fire on a torch was impressive. "Oh wow that is so cool! What else can you do?" he asked, pestering the other boy until the other boy showed him how he made fire. "Oh my gods, I think I can make this work" he declared as he tried to remember the pictographs he so painstakingly memorized. On his notes of fire related pictographs there was something about making fire, then about controlling fire, then having the fire explode, changing colours... "Got it." He was going to stick with something simple. Not simple in function but simple in the pictographs being used since this was the first attempt whether fire or aether and, the last thing he wanted to do was make it light up like a festival and have the rest of his family know he went against their instructions to wait.
Lines and shapes were drawn into paper which did not make any sense to his friend who thought Shuai had lost it but as some form of recognizable pattern started to emerge, he thought why not let Shuai give it a go. Shuai continued with the focus of his pattern being the mirror in the middle and a few lines going out of the paper and after a few attempts and close to an hour, "done! Now we just have to put the aether in. What do you mean you don't know how to put the aether in? Didn't you learn? You only learned to control the aether? Huh... Then I guess, maybe...?" What were the subsequent lessons he had? Understanding how the pictographs worked? Well if the mirror in this pictograph worked like so and had to to do with fire, these converging paths should... "You know, maybe you can try you do what you normally do when making the fire? But just hold this talisman in your hand. No, hold it over there. Yes, like that. Then I don't know, try using your magic through it?" Or was it using it through the magic. Whatever. This was what the experiment was for.
Poof, the talisman burned up just like any other piece of paper would. That settled it, "I guess you are going to use it through the magic." and Shuai made another talisman only this time it took fifty three minutes? Yay! Progress, made even better when the paper did not burn up this time. Now what? "I don't know, maybe we have to make the pictograph work the magic now. Give it to me." They would not want to waste another hour making another talisman if this one got burnt again. Pointing it up Shuai made a few random actions in an attempt to activate the pictograph and success, like lighter, it let out a little flame on top. "I told you it was cool" he said before the talisman burned up on itself as the flames went right through it. Now that was forty eight minutes gone. And then another fifty one as in giving his assistance, his friend had Shuai make another talisman for him to use. His own cool toy but "better not let any of our parent's know about this alright? Our secret and we can make more."
