While a few days passed at the fortress, Calista spent the majority of her time in the infirmary. At first, it was cleaning up after the ravaging battle that heralded their inhabitation of the complex. Even after the hard work of the handful of adept healers following the fight that same day and the next night, there were still many injuries to tend to. Whether it was because it was a less severe injury or some other reason, slightly to moderately wounded mages still trickled into the infirmary the following week. The infirmary, of course, was also for the unhealthy, and due to the shear number of mages that had stepped through the portal the healers had a decent portion of unwell mages to care for as well. She gratefully partook of the fruit of hunters and fisherman and listened to descriptions of the surrounding countryside while wishing she could go see it herself, but she didn't get the chance in the first week from both exertion and exhaustion. She was also curious about the library she had heard about, but she had never been particularly scholarly.
Calista and the other healers had taken residence in a barracks type wing connected as an annex to the infirmary that seemed to suit that purpose. It was a long room that didn’t have a door, but from the pointed arch that led to it one could see little. Through the threshold, there was a lit corridor with small arches leading into single person rooms. The half elf took one near the front and followed the example of others by placing a curtain in her arch. It was not unlikely she would stay there on a more permanent basis. Calista enjoyed working in the infirmary.
As the last day of the first week dawned and most of the mages were gathered for the morning meal, the group was ushered to the scene of the battle. They were then joined by a member of their leading entourage. Listening intently while chewing delicately on a pear, a small sideways frown capped her visage. It did not take much thought to realize that this was the first of several if not many training exercises to develop their fighting strength. It uneased the half-elf to think she was to be put to use in a militant force, not only because she knew little about the state of such affairs but also because of the moral complications of such an act, although she knew she was now committed and did not regret her decision. Calista did care for the mage plight of this land, and thought that perhaps this was the one chance she would get to help.
At the mention of the man’s title, Calista did not react as strongly as her peers. The most she had ever heard about the Azure Sorcerer were short mentions to children misbehaving in town squares meant to frighten them into discipline. She was smart enough to know that if a man were so noted as a kingdom-wide horror story, he must have earned that reputation somehow.
Some of the mages stayed to start at that moment. Calista saw several of the fortress’s new healers retreat inside and decided she would train now, along with a few faces that were becoming more familiar as time went on. She knew the names of a decent amount of the mages scurrying around and fixing up the keep just from seeing them for healing, or they had been there for support of another. Choosing an area near some left over rubble, which was a bit ways off from the main group, Calista pulled her staff from its place across her back. She swung it in the air a few times, her black hair fluttering as she studied the environment.
The dummy didn’t look particularly strong, but as she approached it and touched its chest with her fingertips, she felt a magical prick, and the dummy flashed with enchantment for a moment before becoming lifeless once again. She retreated a few steps, and with a prayer said just in thought, and then hewed a large slab of stone from the pile of crumbled stone nearby. It didn’t take much effort, as she had not needed to separate it from a larger whole, and she did so purposefully because she believed the words of the Azure Sorcerer and wanted to reserve energy. She swung her staff behind her low enough so that the top came close to scraping the ground, and the slab of stone followed dexterously above in mimicry.
In a sudden violent movement sounded by an audible grunt, the half-elf swung her staff out in an arch and forward, toward the dummy. The slab followed behind, as if on a lax chain, and slammed into the side of the dummy. Had it just been a construct of wood and burlap, it would have imploded; instead, a comical cloud of dust erupted and a harsh crack could be heard. With a huff of breath, she yanked her staff, and thus the boulder, away, and saw a large white mark from where it had struck the dummy. With a shake of her head, she repositioned the boulder behind her once again.
When she went at the dummy again, her actions were accompanied by a mantra like prayer. She swung her staff from behind her again, but this time as her arm wielding the staff was almost vertical she grabbed the staff with her second hand. Her mantra ended in a flourishing cry as her body turned with the movement, her foot turning up in the air as she twisted to the point where her staff was in the air above her shoulder. This time, the impact was much, much louder, and a few heads turned to see Calista’s dummy, intact, swaying in a cloud of debris. The second impact was enough pressure to break the slab into a cloud of bits, shards, and dust. Calista, panting, staggered a bit as she planted her feet back on the floor. She pushed a lock of hair from her face, skin slick with a bit of sweat.
She looked at the dummy and her face suggested that it was annoying her. She backed up again, feet and arms spread, staff pointed to the cairn beside her in line with her arms. She looked to the ground but her eyes were closed and her brow was furrowed in concentration. After a few moments of whispered, reverent prayer, she brought her hands above her head, staff raised high, elephant caricature on top looking at the cloudless sky. A small avalanche cascaded down the side of the pile, and emerging from the center of the mass was a much larger boulder. In stony silence, the boulder eerily sailed to align with her staff. A few pebbles fell and bounced off her shoulder to the ground.
Her arms bent backwards, staff firm in her hands, and the boulder weaved with the heavy top of her staff. She swung over her head and to the ground, the top of her staff hitting the the stone without breaking. The boulder careened above her silently in an arc before coming down on the practise dummy. It connected with a deafening crack, and Calista stummbled forward a step as the boulder then fell to the ground with another, less impressive report. The half elf growled, sweat on her forehead, and marched up to the dummy. It wasn’t demolished, as it should have been, but the wooden shaft that acted as a spine had snapped; it bowed out of the burlap sack that was the dummy’s torso. She shook her head. That was enough for the day in her opinion.
[Calista’s Throwing Stones spell has increased in power. She now can lift more weight.