StV: Amulets

"There you are," said Cedric, as Sophia stepped out onto the front porch of the school. He'd been sitting at one of the wrought-iron tables with Abby, who was working on her Algebra and occasionally asking him questions about it. 

Neither of them had meant to become friends with the younger girl. In fact, they'd both been a bit suspicious of her motives when she'd wound up going out to see Casablanca with them as a semi-accidental date for Sophia's brother. But then Abby had turned out to have an impressive knack for sorcery, and Sophia was the only one at the school -- possible in the whole country -- who could teach her. 

Sophia sat down beside him, shifting her chair with a metallic scrape so that she was close enough to lean over and kiss his cheek. "Sorry," she said. "It took longer that I expected."

"What did?" asked Cedric, grinning. He couldn't even pretend to be irritated -- he was still entirely too thrilled that she was going out with him. 

"These," said Sophia, and laid a bundle of cloth on the table. She unfolded it carefully to display four pieces of silver jewelry, each set with a stone. "I had to shape the silver myself, then set the matrix for the container, and then hold it in place while I stabilized the whole thing. It wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done, but I'm out of practice and it took some work."

Cedric narrowed his eyes. "Like your amulet?" he asked, making the connection immediately. 

Sophia grinned and nodded immediately. "Exactly. Abby, the two with the moonstones are for you. Each one of them can hold a single spell, keeping it charged and ready until you use it."

Abby looked puzzled. "So I could save an extra energy blast?"

"You could," Sophia affirmed, "but if we keep practicing you'll be able to do those by reflex whenever you need. As you study more and expand your vocabulary, you'll find yourself using some spells very regularly, but you'll still be able to pull together other spells if you need them. This lets you pull them together in advance, so you don't have to think them through in an emergency."

"Oh," said Abby. "Oh. So, if I don't focus on combat spells -- I still don't really want to be on one of the Teams, remember? -- I could learn to, say, do illusions or healing or repairs but still keep one good attack and one good escape ready in the jewelry?" 

"Exactly," Sophia repeated. "When I go out with the Team, I have my go-to spells and we all know what to expect from them. But if I think I might need something else, I can prepare it in advance and keep it in my amulet. It gives me some extra flexibility and the ability to prepare for particular situations."

Abby nodded. "Thank you," she said. "That's... this is... Thank you."

Sophia smiled. "You're very welcome. We can start looking at how to fix a spell in there next week; it's not too different from just casting it normally. Eventually, I can show you how to make your own, but... one thing at a time, okay?"

Abby nodded eagerly, pulling the moonstone amulet over her head and slipping the ring onto one finger, then another until she found a good fit. 

"What about the other two?" asked Cedric.

"Bloodstone," Sophia said evenly. "They're for my brother. Kind of an apology, but also just... trying to help."

"Ah," said Cedric. Then, "Y'know what? Good. You're brother's a good guy. He thinks he's a bad guy, but... he's a good guy."