In hindsight, he probably should have stopped being surprised after the third explosion.

"Is it supposed to be bubbling like that?" asked Feyla, panic creeping into her voice.

Sedgewick jerked her to the ground and cover her head just in time for the rune disc to burst into hundreds of tiny melted pieces.

"I guess that's a no, then," Feyla muttered.

"Most definitely," Sedgewick answered.

Feyla signed and pushed herself up. "Could we just blame that one on bad craftsmanship instead of me?"

"That's what we blamed the first one on," he said, slowly rising to his feet and rubbing him aching back.

Feyla leaned against the table, still piled high with essantium shavings, other spell materials and Tyrinn's notes.  "I can knit cuts back together, pull an arrow out of a man's thigh, block someone's magic; why can't I fill this stupid disc right?"

"You'll get there," Sedgewick said, coming up beside her and squeezing her shoulder.  Another loose bit of rune disc fizzled and popped.  "Eventually.  But remind me to never recommend you for an apprenticeship."

Feyla groaned.  "What did I mess up this time?"

"You channeled too much magic into it too fast," Sedgewick said. 

"Sorry," Feyla said, rubbing her hands together.  They were probably tingling from using more magic than usual.  "It's like I'm pouring my magic into a maze-shaped mold and I keep getting lost and spilling it over the edges."

He brushed the essantium shavings off the table and grabbed a fresh rune disc.  "No, no, the problem here lies with the teacher.  I've been going about this wrong."  Picking up a finely-tipped carving tool, Sedgewick cut a quick line of runes into the disc.  "I've been designing this counter spell as if a master mage was casting it when I should have been planning as if an apprentice was.  Hand me another disc."

Feyla pulled another disc out of the crate and Sedgewick scratched a second line of runes into it.  He grabbed the first disc and faced Feyla.  "The trouble with rune discs is that what would take mere seconds to cast as a spell requires far more effort to etch into essantium.  Take a fireball spell for instance.  In normal casting, creating and launching the fireball happens practically simultaneously.  With a rune disc, however, I would need one segment of runes for the fire and a separate segment to keep the fire lit once it leaves the disc and to launch it where I want it to go.  Now, a master mage would know how to combine the runes onto one disc, saving time and materials.  But since the spell would be more intricate, it would be more difficult to imbue it with one's magic.  So, for the less experienced—" He held up the two discs, now marked with little, sloped cuts along the rims, allowing the magic to move between the discs.  "We split the spell up."

Sedgewick spread the arches of the spell-weaver apart and set one of the discs in between them.  "Try it again.  The 'maze' is simpler now."

Feyla hesitated for a moment before stretching her hand out over the spell disc.  Her eyes drifted closed as a faint pink glow encircled her hand.  Feyla's magic spiraled into a thin stream as it touched the disc.  The runes began to glow brighter and brighter and bright—

"Stop!  Stop, that's enough," Sedgewick shouted, touching her shaking arm and slowly pulling it away.

Feyla exhaled and let the glow slowly fade.  "It didn't blow up," she said as if she couldn't believe it.

"Let's see if you can repeat your success."  Sedgewick patted her shoulder before switching the discs out.

Feyla straightened her shoulders and summoned her magic.  She kept her eyes open this time as her magic spiraled into the rune disc, filling twice as quickly.  Finally cutting it off, Feyla twirled around to Sedgewick, grinning madly.  "That's it, right?  The counter spell's done and you can get your magic back!"

"Oh, goodness no."  Sedgewick slipped the other disc off and placed it on top of the first one.  He held them out in front of him and pressed a palm against their back.  A pink glow appeared seconds before a fireball blasted against the stone wall, leaving a singe mark.  "That was just a practice.  Testing the counter spell is going to be a bit more difficult."

"I guess that would have been too easy," she grumbled, setting the finished discs Sedgewick had handed her aside.

Sedgewick chuckled and refocused on designing the counter spell.  Hours passed while he bent over Tyrinn's notes, searching for anything that could unravel the curse.  Feyla dragged him away long enough to force a few bites of food in his mouth but the bread and cheese they'd gotten from Crayden stuck in his throat and he lacked the mental energy to keep swallowing.  What he wouldn't have given for some coffee...  Feyla tried to stay up with him but eventually sleep seduced her into pulling one of the mats off the wall and collapsing onto it.  Runes danced before his eyes and buzzed across his brain as things began clicking into place.  Yes...  This was him.  Skilled.  Knowledgeable.  In control.  Not the shadow of himself he'd felt like ever since his magic had sputtered out.  Tyrinn was smart.

But I'm smarter, he thought, smirking as another possible weak point became blindingly obvious.

Sedgewick finally let out a cry, slamming the carving tool down beside the three complete rune discs. 

Feyla jolted awake.  "Don't leave the baby!" she slurred, still half-dreaming.

Sedgewick slid down beside her and grabbed her shoulders.  "I've done it!" he cried, shaking her in excitement.

Feyla blinked up at him in confusion.  Recognition finally awoke and she grabbed his arms in return.  "You have?  What— Where is it?"

Sedgewick tugged her over to the table.  Feyla sucked in a breath and ran her hand over the carefully etched in runes.  "Will it work?" she asked, turning to him.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and smiled, feeling lighthearted enough to float up to the surface.  "It's only the first version so I might need to revise it to truly remove the curse but... I'm optimistic."

Feyla leaned into his hold and gazed up at him, her lips parted in a smile and her eyes filled with love and adoration.  His breath left him.  Tingles buzzed over his body as if he'd stretched his magic usage too far.  Sedgewick slowly clenched the hand that wasn't around her waist, wishing he could catch that look in it and never, ever set it free.  That wasn't possible.  But he determined to never do anything to lose that open, unwavering confidence.

"Let's test it," he choked out.  Sedgewick grabbed the three discs and placed the first one onto the spell-weaver. 

Feyla bit her lip and summoned her magic.  Even split into three parts, the counter spell was still far larger and more complex than the simple fireball spell Feyla had practiced with.  Sedgewick kept his eyes fixed on the disc while Feyla's magic began pouring into it.  Her pink glow flickered as she channeled the magical energy.  Until the magic faded with a snap.  Feyla clenched her teeth and held her shaking hand back out, calling up a shakier glow.  Magic poured in but the stream grew weaker by the second until Feyla cut it off and hissed, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.  "It's too much.  I can't do it," she gasped.

Sedgewick frowned and grabbed her hands.  They were warm, still buzzing from the energy that had coursed through them.  She wasn't at her limit yet.  "Dragon's dung.  Of course, you can."

"My arm feels like it's about to fall off!  I'm not a mage, Sedgewick, just let me wait a few hours or a day or something.  It feels like I'm trying to force a rock inside another rock!"

"It shouldn't."

Feyla huffed.  "Then what should it feel like?"

Sedgewick paused for a second, considering her question.  How could he explain something that had always been second nature to him?  Perhaps...  Yes!  That ought to work.  "Do you know why a broken marital bond is so painful?"

Feyla crossed her arms and shook her head incredulously.  "I'm a healer.  Of course, I do."

"Why is it, then?"

"Because when a couple bonds, they each get a sliver of the other's essence.  If one of them dies or is ...unfaithful then it snaps the connection.  I've heard it described as feeling like a part of yourself has died."

"Exactly!  It feels that way because our magic essence is an extension of ourselves.  When we cast a spell, we are taking a part of ourselves and using it to influence the world around us.  Now obviously, there's a bit more to it than that--"

"What are you trying to say, Sedgewick?"  Feyla asked tiredly.

Sedgewick took a breath and ran a hand through his hair.  "The point I'm trying to make is that since magic is an extension of ourselves, the best mages, the ones who have their murals painted on the halls of the Ivory Tower, the ones whose stories I used to hear as a boy, they are the ones who knew without a shadow of a doubt who.  They.  Were.  The greatest mages are the ones who know themselves.  And Feyla—" He held both her hands in his own.  "I've yet to meet a woman who knows herself half as well as your do.  Truthfully, it's a quality I've always rather envied.  And the woman I know is more than capable of filling a few silly little rune discs."

Feyla's eyes welled up and she bit her lip.  "Okay, let's try it again."

Sedgewick smiled and gently pulled her hand out over the rune disc.  He aligned his fingers on top of her own and placed the other hand on her shoulder, nodded for her to begin.

Feyla summoned her magic and it flowed into the rune disc, smoother and steadier than previously.  Sweat formed on her forehead as she clamped down on the flicker beginning to develop.

"There you go," he whispered to her.  "Now relax your fingers a bit more..."

Finally, Feyla cut her magic off and a neatly imbued rune disc sat before them.

"I did it," she whispered.

"Of course, you did, my—" Sedgewick stopped.  His ears twitched.  "Did you hear something?'

Feyla's happy face vanished as she shook her head.

Sedgewick crept closer to the door and pressed his ear against it.  Voices echoed down the tunnel, along with the sound of doors being slammed open.  Sedgewick snatched up Tyrinn's notes and the completed rune discs.  He shoved them in his bag and turned to Feyla.  "Get ready to run.  I think someone's looking for us."