I was able to draw the snowflake a bit faster this time, having done it once before. Again, I felt the now-familiar calm of the trance-like state which seemed to overtake me while I was tattooing. My Mana responded to the process, too, and I felt that I was again being guided by something bigger than myself. I drew the spear going through the snowflake, which was the simplest part, as most of the lines were straight. I carefully wiped up the blood which seeped from the tattoo as I went.
“This is the last little bit,” I murmured, as much to myself as to Amelia. I slid the point of the dagger across her skin, quickly pricking the last detail into her skin: the very tip of the spear.
As the blue lines met at the point, the whole tattoo flashed bright blue, lighting up our faces with a cold, unnatural radiance. Amelia made a breathless little sound as the skin knitted itself back together before our very eyes. The swelling died down, and the skin was whole and smooth again as the light faded.
We both laughed out loud in our amazement and delight.
“You did it!” Amelia was almost crying. She reached out and hugged me fiercely. “You’ve shown me that I have an affinity! I can be a Mage as well!”
I hugged her back. Despite the journey, the fighting, and the days she’d spent in the slavers’ wagon, she still smelled wonderful.
“This is incredible,” I said. “I can give other people tattoos too!”
“You really are an Ink Mage,” Amelia said as she stared in wonder at her new tattoo. “It seemed too incredible to be true, but this proves it beyond a doubt.”
“I’m just glad I didn’t mess up your rune. You were shaking like a leaf there.”
She suddenly scrutinized the tattoo, as though I might have made a mistake while drawing it.
“There aren’t any mistakes,” I said to assuage her concerns.
“No, you’re right. There aren’t.” She beamed at me. “You know what this means, don’t you? I can cast spells! Although I’m not sure if the Librarians would understand if I returned to them with this marking.”
“I don’t think you’ll be heading back to them anytime soon. Until then, at least that tattoo looks mighty fine on your arm, if I do say so myself.”
Amelia laughed. “You think it looks good on me?”
“I think it makes you look even more beautiful.”
She stared at her feet and hid her face. Her reaction made me wonder if she’d ever received a compliment before.
“Well, go on,” I said, “I want to see what you can do.”
“All right,” she replied. She looked both scared and excited at the same time.
Amelia got to her feet and stepped away from the fire. I rose to my feet to watch. She stood on my left, facing sideways so that we could both see what she did with her right hand in the light of the fire.
“I’ve never accessed Mana before,” she said. “How do I do it?”
“I’m not quite sure,” I said. “I sort of worked it out just today be instinct. Can you feel a pool of it, near the back of your mind?”
Amelia pressed her fingers to her temples, concentrating. Then her eyes opened wide. “I can feel it! I’ve never felt anything there before. It’s like… I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like the first flush of buds on a tree in the spring, or… or the feeling of cool water on your body after a day’s walking down a dusty road. It feels like it completes me. Is this new?”
“Maybe you just acquired Mana when I gave you the tattoo? I know as much as you about this right now. See if you can access it. Bend your willpower on it, move it as if you were moving a limb, or visualizing an image in your mind. I think the Mana is as much a part of us as our arms and legs. I believe it can be controlled in the same way.”
Amelia concentrated again. “I think I can feel it moving. What do I do with it now?”
“Hold out your hand and think about forcing the Mana into your arm.”
“It’s not working,” Amelia said. “My willpower slips off it. It’s as if I’m trying to grip a soap bubble or catch a lizard—every time I get my hand upon it, it slips from my grasp. How do you control it?”
“I can’t really explain it,” I said. “It’s not like anything I’ve done with my body before. It’s a bit like breathing; you can’t really tell anyone how to do it. Just try slowing down and concentrating. There’s no pressure on you right now.”
Amelia took a couple of deep breaths and closed her eyes. After a moment, she spoke again. Her voice was quiet, the edges of the words blurred, as if she was speaking in her sleep.
“I’ve got it. I’ve got it now. It’s… I had to stop trying to grasp it. It doesn’t work like that, any more than it would work if I tried to pick my own legs to walk. It’s a part of me. You’re right. I control it like a limb. Ok, what do I do with it, now that I’ve got control over it?”
“Now you feed it into the tattoo.”
After another moment of concentration, Amelia raised her arm, pointing straight out, palm upward. The tattoo started to glow faintly. The glow got brighter and brighter. In the darkness of the clearing, away from the fire, the bright blue light lit up the treetops in the darkness. She opened her eyes and looked at me.
“It’s working!” she said in amazement.
“Now you should be ready to cast a spell,” I said. “Feed the Mana that’s in your tattoo carefully down into your hand.”
Amelia half closed her eyes in concentration again. “It feels easier this time, I think I’m getting a feel
