Chapter 15: A Reason to Visit

Chapter 15: A Reason to Visit

Talia declined his first request.

She did it politely, with a link to the dormitory’s equipment rules and a note explaining that prefects did not provide private ward installations.

Silas read his own message again.

I require assistance protecting a workspace in my residence.

It did sound as though he expected her to come over and do it for him.

He opened the rules. Unshielded experiments with stored mana were prohibited. Small approved devices could be used at a desk, provided they met the residence’s output limits. The regulator Evan intended to assemble would be unpowered while they worked on it.

Silas copied that detail into a new message. He explained that the parts were fragile and that he wanted to understand how a protective boundary would behave if something struck the work area. Would it stop the object? Turn it aside? Could it hit the person seated beside the desk instead?

He almost added that he had seen her ward the supplement case, then removed it. She knew what she had done. Mentioning the case might start a conversation he didn’t want.

I’m asking what protection is suitable before I buy anything, he finished.

That sounded better. Also cheaper.

He sent it and went back to Evan’s assembly notes.

Over the next three days, the maker brought practice blanks and made Silas rehearse the order in which the components would be secured. Their first session ended with Evan saying "that one" to three identical discs until Silas asked him to number them.

The second went better. Evan arrived with numbered tabs and a revised sketch. Silas could follow it without asking him to move his elbow every few seconds.

Between sessions, he practiced Boundary Ward. It still turned a gentle throw aside, but he couldn’t choose where the ball went reliably. Once it landed in his water. He moved the glass and tried again.

[Boundary Ward — Assimilation: 45%.]

Talia’s reply arrived on the final morning of the copy.

She had twenty minutes free that evening. If he wanted to discuss the actual layout, she would come by after her rounds.

Silas accepted before she could fill those twenty minutes with something else.

The temporary record expired that afternoon. He had been expecting it, but still caught himself reaching for the ward after the connection disappeared. The chalk marks remained around the practice dish, useless now.

[Boundary Ward — Temporary Record Expired.]

[Assimilation Record Retained: 45%.]

[Temporary Talent Slot: 0/1 — empty.]

He washed away his practice marks, put the dish in a drawer, and cleared the desk. Evan’s numbered blanks could stay. They gave him something legitimate to point at.

When Talia knocked, Silas was checking the corridor clock on the terminal.

Don’t look that pleased to see her.

He opened the door.

"The desk is over here," he said.

"I remember." Talia stepped inside and unfastened the small pouch at her belt. "Where will the other student sit?"

[Talent Record Available: Boundary Ward — B / Rare.]

[Previous Assimilation Record Detected: 45%.]

[Record Talent?]

Yes.

[Boundary Ward recorded.]

[Assimilation: 45%.]

[Remaining Duration: 7 days.]

Silas moved the spare chair to Evan’s usual position. "There. I’ll be on this side."

Talia looked over the blanks without touching them.

"You’re doing assembly work?"

"Remote Grasp is useful for more than scattering books."

She looked at him. Silas wished he had chosen a different example.

"I know what it can do," she said. "Is the commission registered?"

He showed her the entry. Talia checked the equipment description, then returned to the desk.

"Your messages asked about a protective boundary. The ordinary safety wards won’t stop you dropping a tool onto a component. You’d need something meant for impact."

"Would one fit here?"

"A small one. Move those pieces, please."

Silas lifted the blanks into their box. Talia drew three temporary marks on the cleared surface, leaving the side toward the empty floor unobstructed. She took a wooden disc from her pouch and set it beside them.

"Roll this toward the middle."

He used Remote Grasp to send it across the desk. The disc met the boundary and slid sharply away, falling off the edge.

Silas caught it before it reached the floor.

"That side needs to stay clear," Talia said.

"You made it go there?"

"Where else would you want it?"

He looked at Evan’s chair, then at his own. "Away from both of us."

"Then choose that before you place anything around the desk." Talia pointed to the open patch of floor. "People buy a protective plate, put it beside their work, and forget the thing it deflects still has to land somewhere."

She had him roll the disc again. This time he watched the marks through Territorial Awareness while the copied Talent responded to her work. The side facing the disc offered resistance unevenly, guiding it along the boundary toward the same clear edge.

He had been letting his practice ball escape wherever the pressure happened to be weakest.

"Again?" he asked.

Talia glanced at the clock. "Once more."

Silas sent the disc from a different angle. It took a longer path, but still left the desk on the same side.

"And if it comes too fast?" he asked.

"It gets through. This is a demonstration." Talia collected the disc. "The plate’s rating matters. So does what you’re protecting it from. Tell the supplier you want bench protection, not a doorway barrier."

She wrote two specifications on the back of Evan’s spare sketch, then rubbed out her marks.

Silas nearly asked her to leave them. He stopped himself. He had just spent twenty minutes pretending to need advice on buying an ordinary ward plate.

"That gives me enough to look for," he said.

Talia put her chalk away. "Keep the escape side clear. Including when you’re working. People move their bags."

She left him with the specifications and an empty temporary demonstration area. Silas waited until the door was locked before fetching his own chalk.

He placed the chipped dish near the center of the desk and laid a folded blanket on the floor to his right. His first boundary sent the wooden ball left.

"Other way."

He retrieved it, checked the marks, and changed the flow. On the next attempt, the ball rolled along the boundary and stopped at the edge of the desk.

Silas leaned closer. He could have pushed it off with Remote Grasp, but that wouldn’t tell him whether the ward had worked.

He rebuilt the line and tried again.

The ball dropped onto the blanket.

Two more throws followed it. The fourth caught badly and struck the dish, which rocked but stayed upright.

[Boundary Ward — Assimilation: 52%.]

Silas made a note beside Talia’s specifications before he forgot the adjustment. Then he cleaned the desk for tomorrow’s assembly.

He had enough time to eat before bed. For once, he intended to use it.